>>>>>[Well, since it has been a while since we talked about this stuff, and we have some new faces in the crowd, I guess I'll lead off, then. I am a Combat Mage, pure and simple. Specialize in using spells and blades in combat. However, I've tried to make sure I am not wholly a 'magical street samurai', as one person called me. That one was very proud of her illusion spells, and didn't realize that just because I prefer straight up combat doesn't mean I'm incapable of other things. She is currently the property of a certain corporate executive in Chiba who has enjoys 'traditional' knot-work, and has a mage fetish.
Anyways, other than straight combat, I've also doubled as a Face from time to time. Part of it is the whole 'Tir noble' mystique. When I'm trying to get into places or talk to people during the legwork phase, and they hear that I was a nobleman who had to flee the country after taking revenge on the ones who killed my sister, it is a romantic image, to say the least. I don't do such things on the run itself, naturally, unless the run is some sort of seduction/blackmail thing. And I keep work and private separate. (Xerena says hi, by the way.) But this is all backed up by the fact that I stay calm, keep an eye on the exits, and have a plan to kill everyone in the room if need be. There is a famous quote by the old Chicago gangster Al Capone, “You can go a long way with a smile. You can go a lot farther with a smile and a gun.”
Which, I guess, leads into reprisals for what happens when things don't go as smoothly as I'd like. I think it is fair to say that the lucky ones wind up dead when I am crossed. I don't have the skill for inventive means of killing like Smiley and his apprentice. There is just pure violence, letting Shark free to do what he does best. Those who especially earn my ire are not so lucky. Some I arrange 'alternate employment' for, such as the mage I was talking about before. I've also given some over to the ghouls who keep watch on my safehouse in Redmond. But the most photogenic ones I turn into art. They are ice sculptures that used to be people, and while I may use this as a means of eliminating a target from time to time, I only keep a few as trophies. The rest are destroyed.]<<<<<
--Iceblade (12:54:23/08-13-2076)