Arbitrium

Casa

Hex shivered in the cool Virginia weather when he exited the plane alone. Though usually more humid than New York, the weather seemed to forget this fact and dropped temperatures to where Hex was more comfortable. Hex descended the stairs of the jet Gravedigger had sent, pouting when nobody came out to close the door so he could see at least one person in the time it took for him to fly from New York to Virginia.

He pouted further when he entered the single car parked outside the hangar and found the window between himself and the driver was bullet proof, as evidenced by the spider-web pattern that his bullet left behind in the glass. The car shuttered to life and began it's drive and Hex leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms and biting at his lips until he fell asleep.

When Hex awoke, it was to a knock on the shattered window and the rumbling of the car as it parked outside what looked like a suburban house. Completely monotonous. A two story, beige house with a white garage door and a clean shaven front yard, exactly like the rest of the neighborhood. Hex exhaled and walked into the house, not bothering to announce his entrance as he made a beeline to the kitchen. Hex didn't know what time it was but it was time for a snack.

Sitting on the kitchen island, was a girl with long, waving red hair wearing a short floral dress. That was all Hex managed to observe of her before he slid his pocket knife out and threw it in her direction. Before it made its mark, however, the girl slid backwards over the island, missing the knife entirely, and leapt to her feet with a delighted squeal.

"Hex, I just had this house renovated, please restrain yourself from making more holes." Gravedigger revealed himself from behind the kitchen counter, having been in the pantry previously. Deftly, he pulled the knife from the wall, frowning at the hole it had created, and walked calmly over to the man, handing him the knife and a box of fruit loops, which put a bright smile on his face as he happily dug in.

"Hex, I need to introduce you to our partner for this year's Purge: Casa." Gravedigger allowed the girl to scoot towards them. Hex glared darkly at the girl but that didn't deter her from skipping over to him and blinding him with a smile.

"Hi! Nice to meet you. I can't wait to work with you this year!"

Hex grimaced.

"You're a sorority girl, aren't you?"

"I was. How could you tell?" Casa looked genuinely confused, gazing at him with mellow green eyes.

"When you speak, I want to drive stakes into my ears."

Instead of taking offense as Hex intended, Casa let out an uproarious laugh. Now that Hex was closer to her, he could take notice of other features of his new supposed partner.

To say she was short would be an understatement. While Hex was by no means tall – feeling like an absolute child when standing next to Gravedigger's impressive stature – Casa appeared to barely reach the height of his shoulders. She couldn't be more than 5' 1". If anything, it boosted his confidence at least a small amount.

Casa appeared much younger than both he and Gravedigger, her soft features assisting his guess that she couldn't be more than 18. She also filled out her dress beautifully, though Hex's mind kept wandering to what her dress would look like if her blood all over it. Her bright red hair curled artistically over her shoulders, hiding what could have been straps to hold up her dress and Hex was suddenly overcome with an urge to check if the straps existed or not.

If Gravedigger was a tall, imposing dark elf, she was a small, forgiving light elf. Besides the natural brown eyeshadow, which Hex only realized she wore once she was up close, she had a pale shimmer to her lips. The red hair that kept drawing Hex's eyes to it framed her rounded face and soft features, making her appear innocent and meek, though there was something dark that lay deep within those jade eyes that made Hex want the Purge to start already to see for himself exactly why Gravedigger insisted on stringing this girl along.

Hex scowled when realizing exactly how attractive both his partners were. He wanted to gut them both.

"So you wanted me here early for something?" Hex snarled at Gravedigger, who seemed far too pleased with himself as he watched the interaction from the island.

"Yes I did." Gravedigger sauntered towards the two and Hex barely stifled a laugh at the height difference between Casa and Gravedigger. "The paramilitary troop known as Graussmann. I did some research on them. Turns out they are private contractors led by a man named Kristoff no-last-name."

"An unfortunate surname to be sure." Hex snarked, drawing Gravedigger's ire, though Hex didn't seem to care as he threw another fistful of fruit loops into his mouth.

"Mr. Martinez who hired the Graussmann has previously taken advantage of the open border policy wherein foreigners are welcome to participate in Purge activities before being deported back to their respective countries, so this is not abnormal of him to do. The Graussmann are a 30-man military troop originating from Hesse in central Germany, however it is unlikely he contracted the entire unit, so I am expecting perhaps 10 men at our necks. The group has made it known that you are at the top of their bounty list for this year's Purge."

"Speaking of," Hex interrupted again, toying with a loop, "you ever gonna tell me how much I'm worth? At least to those scheißkopf? I know I'm priceless to you, my personal apathetic cleaning service."

"Hex, on any day outside the Purge, I would trade you for a rubber band and some pocket lint. Fortunately for the both of us, the Purge begins tonight and I would like for us to be as well prepared as possible."

"Fortunately my ass." Hex tossed a piece of cereal into his mouth, horribly missing and launching it across the room behind him. "Anything else you absolutely need to tell me before I take a pre-homicide nap?"

Gravedigger sighed and shook his head, allowing Hex to make his way to the living room and throw himself on the couch.

"Well, I'm gonna take a walk and scope out the neighborhood." Casa skipped over to the door. "I'll see you boys later tonight."

Casa opened the door, once again missing the knife that lodged itself into the door instead of into her skull. As the door shut behind her, Hex tsked and threw a pillow over his head in frustration. Gravedigger simply smirked at the scene before him and went back into the kitchen to make himself something to eat before the games began.