Assassin - Cold-blooded/Heartless/Inconsiderate
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"What is your purpose, other than to be the blade of your master?"
"There is no other purpose for me. Such is the path in my life..."
"What of love?"
"There is no such thing - merely a trick in all that y'erve taught me."
"And the most important thing of the mission?
"Completion."
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σяιgιηs;
Chapter Ⅰ - Prologue.
To be seperated from a loving home, to be bereft of the touch of a mother, the reassurance of a father - such things happened to be the foundation of any stable member of civilized society. He most certainly was lacking in these departments, left to be nothing more than a throw away child in the primarily "honour" driven Japanese culture. While it may have spelled a life of poverty and self loathing for many, it seemed that this child was merely one who attempted to deal with the cards that were dealt to him by shutting the world around him out - after all, his mother was a mere nameless tramp, and his father was someone who was desperate for physical intimacy. At least, this is the conclusion that he came to in his years being around the other children of the rather sheltered orphanage on the edges of Kyoto, Japan - while one would expect the capital city to be prime for educational purposes, it seems that it was nothing of the sort - orphans really didn't have a name, and at the worst, they were treated as the lowest of the low. No family meant that they had no name, and without a name, they were literally "nothing" in the eye of the general populace, and to top it of? Adopting one of them truly meant that the family who gave them up would have to record it in their familial history, which was part of the reason why Brine himself was overlooked most times.
What, with his tainted features, many thought he wasn't full shark at all! No one wanted a tainted child, and for this reason, a very slow rising bitterness almost broiled over - he didn't even get a name of all things. A birthright that everyone had a right to was denied of him, and it was for that very reason that Brine became a loner in the first place - even at the age of seven, he found content in isolating himself from the other child, if not because of the comfort that it brought him, then an opportunity to escape from the relentless harassment that he underwent at the hands of his peers. He gained a reputation for being a "kiseichuu", a "leech" because of the way that he attempted to befriend others in order to, as the other children saw, get some form of affection that he sorely didn't deserve. Like anyone else, Brine eventually reached a level of frustration in which his aggression lashed out at others - fighting became more commonplace, and with his superior strength and sharp teeth, many were injured... damned near severely by his mounting anger. Would it ever taper down? Well, those who had use with him certainly hoped not. The child had potential - as a traveling Arab learned when he was nearly pickpocketed by the then nine year old marine creature, and even if he was backed into a corner, he refused to take the blame for his actions and instead denied it completely and utterly. To think that someone had the gall to do so was amusing to the strange man, and instead of reporting Brine, he offered him a chance at a new life.
Who knew that it would be such a foolish choice - to run away from being nothing, and becoming "something" at the cost of the instilled lessons of "honour" "dignity" and "respect" for his elders. He was, after all, just a nameless orphan, no one would really miss him if he had to be honest about it, and it was for this very reason that the youth showed no hesitation as soon as the opportunity presented itself. Who wouldn't want a chance to be free, after all? Only a fool, and Brine was far from being one. So, in the dead of winter, he was escorted from the shabby orphanage that he had grown up in for the past seven years onto a ship, and smuggled out of Japan without daring to look back. While his dialect was rough, and his stubborness legendary, the man who took him under his wing - later gave his name as Amjad - was sure to cultivate the intellect and natural bloodlust of the child of the seas, who would be merely given the codename "Brine." for no particular reason other than his relevance to the seas that his parents themselves came from.
So what was the purpose of taking a nameless child, and giving him food, shelter, and education? Love wasn't going to be on the top of his priority list, and interaction was kept sparse - the reasonings behind Brine being taken from Japan happened to be quite simple. It wasn't that he was some heir to a grand fortune, or that he was returning home to a family that desired to have their lost child back, it was because he had potential. Potential to be a cold, ruthless, and efficient weapon. Sharks, for all of their negative stereotypes, weren't all that bad unless "moulded" to, and it was rather unfortunate that Brine himself was taught from the day after his "rescue" how to harness his anger and loathing in order to become a professional killer. Details of his training are sparse, but allegedly Amjad was training the child to get revenge on his own former allies - he was growing old, and he saw potential in a child that nobody wanted. It all worked out in the end, and by the time Brine was 12, he was capable of outperforming most children his age in athletics and agility, a martial art that focused on quick, precise strikes, was taught to the youth - and the training was purposely made to break his mind and leave him cold... indifferent to the thught of taking away another life.
Mediocre performences in tests were met with criticism, and the desire to please the one who took him in often pushed him on past what should've broken his mind and left him but a mere doll a few years before. Brine's sharp mind (sharper than average for a shark to be serious) and strong body provided the results that Amjad so desired, and his first assassination was to be given on his thirteenth birthday as a "passage into manhood". A baptism in blood, a test to prove his worthiness to the man who was the antithesis of a father in every way - he was to stake out a male who was standing in the way of a bill passing through legislation. Quite simple to deceive him as a lost child searching for his parents, to get into his guard, and then disable him in an instant. It certainly was exhilerating to watch him beg for his life, and in that moment, Brine found this to be the only way to feel alive....
He was no longer nothing when he held lives in his hand, he was everything. And life had never felt any sweeter.
Chapter Ⅱ - Leaving the nest.
In the few years that followed, there was often a begrudging sort of respect for his master - Brine hadn't had anyone to look out for him in the way that Amjad had. It was the only way that he grew to knew, and there was nothing short of a melancholy acceptance of the fact that he was a killer. While Brine may have taken the lessons provided a touch too seriously, there was still always that flicker of life that his master could never beat out of him. Once he got accustomed, there was little need to attempt to charm the boy - he was given training in seduction, but never sex, like the Kunoichi of his old home, there were times when Brine had to disguise himself in order to fit into places that he was sent. While it may have been a touch frustrating, or maybe even a touch emasculating, there was no denying the fact that whenever his teacher wanted something, Brine could get it with excellent results for the both of them. At age sixteen, it became a bit too much for him to handle - the man was dying, persumably from some cancerous lesions growing in his neck. The news, while devastating, also pleased Brine; free access to anything and everything he wanted, the small amount of wealth that was collected from missions would be enough to support him.
It took all of a year before Brine was left alone, without purpose, and although he had previously thought it wouldn't be the case, devastated - what was a weapon without a master to wield it, after all? As he sat beside Amjad's bedside, he was faced with the task of finishing the assignment of tracking down those who ousted him from the ancient order of the Ḥashshāshīn; the original Assassins, and picking away at any rivals that led to his elder being ostracized from the community. It was dirty work, and while Brine may have found that it stroked his killing instinct quite a bit, he did tire of the outright boredom that came from the typical "who brought you here." that his targets tended to spew off. His prowess was phenominal despite his age, and the scrolls left behind from his Master allowed the youth to refine his skills until he became something akin to an unorthodox "master" of the Ḥashshāshīn way of life.
without a master to guide him, with every assignment given to him completed and forced to "adjust" the past few years haven't exactly been easy to him. As he has just entered adulthood, coming into America was something that was on his mind for a substantial amount of time. Arriving to Dark City and interacting with others happened to be enough to set him up with a home - it seemed that Amjad looked out for him just a touch bit after all. If he was going to continue on with this way of life, it was his choice, and if not? Well, finishing school certainly seemed to be what his master wished for. Even if Brine was a cold-blooded killer, there still proves to be a sufficient enough time for him to 'change'. The only thing that really matters of course, is whom he interacts with. Depending on who he encounters, he may develop into a stable member of society once more, or just shut himself off from the outside world completely and go back to his life of killing relentlessly. He still does it of course, nothing pays better than snuffing out lives that others tire of, and someone has got to do it.
And if Brine has to pick an occupation above anything else, why not do something that he enjoys the most?
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