Happy Ending?

[Amber Brightwing]

Good. The Cether didn’t seem that well educated when it came to magic. Exactly what she had been hoping for. Not a certainty, but it did well enough. If he had been educated in the arcane arts he sure would have had far less trouble forming an answer. That would make her job far less risky, which was always a good thing.

And there was the impatient faerie again. When she turned around to give him a reply, she stayed silent, too surprised by what she saw. His behaviour had been odd so far and the colour of his wings had certainly peaked her interest, but now that she saw that he had taken out his blowgun she just had to know more about him. And mostly why he was behaving so weird. That he was carrying a blowgun and not some kind of sword as she had thought earlier actually made more sense, but that he was openly threatening her with it was so un-fae like… It was almost as unthinkable as a fae learning necromancy. Still, she wasn’t about to let him walk – or fly – over her so easily.

I am hurrying. I already asked that question right before you barged in, but since you interrupted I hadn’t been given an answer, so I needed to ask it again. In fact, I’m pretty sure that if you had just waited for your turn it would have been faster, given most of your time has gone to waste by telling my to hurry up.

She wasn’t going to push it though, so she gave him a quick smile and turned to the Aedile again. Even though she didn’t expect him to actually harm her right in front of a city official and with guards running around outside, she wasn’t too eager to find out if she was right about that.

Is there anything else you need from me before I can get my deed?

She would certainly do the city a favour. If she had been in his place, the faerie would have been thrown out upon his rude entrance and he would have been thrown in the goal or something for threatening people. But she didn’t complain. His spineless behaviour had reduced the cost of her home and it could only help her in what had to come.

If she had been given her deed she would put it away leave the Aedile’s room, but she would halt outside. Her curiosity was stronger then her discomfort, so she would wait until the black winged fae emerged from the office as well. She had some questions she wanted to ask him.

[Surge]

The black winged Fae sneered at her for a moment, considering her words before following up with a fast retort. “Wrong. My time was already being wasted the minute I walked through this door and found you staring like a naïve little child at my possession. The fact that I amused myself by barraging you to hurry up had no consequence upon what I’m about to do…now,” his hand traced to his side, keenly removing a small pointed object Amber could not see from her position at the Aedile’s desk. The unkempt haired faerie merely smiled at her, his lips curling upwards in a malicious nature as he tilted his head to the side in order to better gauge the Cether’s reactions to the drawing of a dart.

The Senior Aedile was quietly jolted at the appearance of the weapon, and shook his head at Amber’s inquiry to the deed as he tucked away the crowns and handed her the deed to her new home. That was one transaction finished. “I-I’ll have you know…S-sir, that weapons are a-an offense when drawn in m-my office,” the poor old chap stuttered, his alluring large eyes suddenly wide as he stared into the thoughtful, inconsiderate expression the dull Fae returned to him. “I-I don’t owe them anything!”

“Wrong! You owe the Leonathan brothers everything, you stupid twit. And about your weapon law. I suppose I should take care of that shouldn’t I?” the rather rude and posh Fae smiled menacingly, fitting the dart into the pipe with deft speed and finesse before raising it to his lips. His eyes squinted as they found their target, and seconds later it was blown, a soft whizzing black blur whirling past Amber and embedding itself into the Aedile’s neck. The Cether screeched, his hands flailing at the impossibly small yet entirely lethal dart that may have been no more than a rather large splint at his neck. He was sobbing, crying tears as his veins suddenly enlarged, becoming very real and very evident under his pasty pale skin. His eyes grew wide, fraught with fear, as the poison seeped into his bloodstream.

A moment later he was dead, slumped forward on the desk as the Fae stared towards Amber thoughtfully. “You know,” he confessed with a grudging grin, “you don’t see a lot of Fae with your sort of…spunk,” was it a compliment?

[Amber Brightwing]

With the deed in her hand she watched how the events unfolded. For a moment she thought he was going to use that blowpipe on her, making her hart beat pick up a faster pace, but it didn’t take long for her to be ‘reassured’ that that wasn’t the case. Her hart missed a beat when the dart passed her and then steadily returned to it’s normal speed. It seemed as if the Aedile hadn’t been afraid of nothing after all.

As she saw the Cether die in front of her she wondered what that would mean to her. Her job had been done for her, which saved her some trouble, but on the downside, she could be linked with the crime easy enough and with some bad luck things could get real ugly for her. The tiny dart in his throat would put the suspicion immediately on a fae and being his last customer that wasn’t a good thing. Oh well, she’d just have to see about that later.

You don’t see many fae that are that rude either, not to mention you’re the first I’ve ever seen with black wings.

She looked at the deed in her hand. Oh well, at least she had received her deed before the Cether got killed. Things could have gotten real complicated otherwise. She continued to talk while she put it away in her bag.

Don’t you think it’s a bit rash to just kill the Aedile in the middle of the day, not to mention in his office where there are guards around and a right in front of a witness even… Not that I’m planning any voluntary trips to the Prefect in case you were worried.

She hardly seemed to be affected by having a dead guy at a few feet from her.

And I don’t know what you’re up to, but it’s probably a good idea to get moving. I’d rather not explain what happened.

A bit worried perhaps that she’d get some trouble, but otherwise perfectly fine. Hardly what one would expect from any other fae.

[Surge]

The Fae stared hard at her for a moment, unnerved that she had the audacity to comment on his wings. He considered taking that blow tube right back out and fitting another dart in it, just to scare the Aeternia out of her, but decided against it as he slowly walked over to check the Cether’s pulse. Kicking open the cracked cabinet, he disappeared inside of it for a moment before he emerged with a small key hung around his neck, the blow tube stowed away.

“Hmm? No, I’m not worried. I didn’t kill the Aedile. You did,” he shrugged as he approached the doorway, thinking better of it he moved to the left side and peeked out of the window. He wasn’t paying much attention to her possession, that was for sure, though he did seem rather confident still that he could play himself out of this entire masquerade well enough. He glanced back oddly at her from time to time, his eyes traveling over her body gaudily before turning back to peer out the window. Sighing, he began to tap his foot impatiently as an uncomfortable awkward lapse of silence fell about the two, drifting only to an end when she felt the need to advise him to move. He snickered then, a roguish wink thrown her direction as he stifled a yawn and sat back on the windowsill.

“I’m not going anywhere. The Cether wasn’t the one I was contracted to do way with; word has it Mercetti sent someone else to go after him. I’m just waiting for them to show up, rub it in that I got to their target before them, then do them off. Peace of cake, you know?” he smiled pleasantly enough towards her, actually seeming to not be rid of at least a little charm despite all his earlier intentions. Perhaps it had been his façade, a cover story of sorts that spooked the Aedile. Perhaps not. With a shrug, he glanced back out the window, not bothering to make eye contact as he voiced his next question, “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”

[Amber Brightwing]

She hadn’t really meant any harm with her comments regarding his wings, she didn’t take comments on her wings too well either so she knew how sensitive such things could be, but she was just too curious as to how and why they were black to keep them to herself.

What? I didn’t…

He was going to blame her? Feth. Things started too look ugly. Even more ugly then just a moment before. And why did he have to be a faerie? Why of all races a fearie? Really, any other race would have done. She could still slip into Meditation unnoticed, but then, then she would be stuck. If he hadn’t been a faerie, then a quick Impotence spell, call for the guards and problem solved. But no, he had to be a faerie, so now he would see her casting long before she could bring any spell in the Material Plane and without doubt he’d take quick measures. Just... Feth. She needed to find a way out of this mess.

She pulled her bag a little closer, pressing it against her body with one hand. There was a dagger in there somewhere in the bottom. It wasn’t much, but better then nothing. She didn’t make any move to take it out yet though. That was something for when she really got desperate.

I just came here to buy a place to live and to ask about arcana. Nothing more.

She didn’t plan on telling him that he was the other hitman if she could avoid it. Even if he didn’t have the intention to kill her she’d rather keep such things private. What he didn’t know about her he couldn’t use against her. Not that she had lied. She tried to avoid lying when possible. Instead she just told him her true intentions, but then without the part where she planned on killing the Aedile in his sleep later on of course. It would have been nice and quiet, and when they found him it would have been nothing out of the ordinary. People died like that a lot, so none would have even suspected murder. All she had wanted from this trip was a house to dump her stuff and see if he knew any magic. Unfortunately she had received a bit more then that.

Any chance for me to get out here alive?

It couldn’t hurt to ask. You never knew he was in a good mood or something. She was still alive after all.

[Surge]

The faerie on the windowsill was quiet, his knees tucked up about him as he leaned his frame against the wooden post, tucking his black shimmering wings in as he stared out the semi-opaque paned window. Now that he wasn’t buzzing about continuously, Amber could see that his wings were a mixture of black and gray, an off-hue of the midnight tint but still dastardly close and denoting a many great things to be assumed about his person. Actions spoke louder than words, after all, and he didn’t seem to listen to hers until her last remark.

“Possibly. I’m still waiting for that damn assassin to come; typical of Mr. Mercetti to hire a slob,” he murmured disappointedly, looking away for the window for a moment as he glanced at her curiously. “Do you have a name, Miss…?” he inquired somewhat politely, running deft fingers through his hair. Small talk, at least until this stupid hitman showed up, and then he’d be out of her hair forever.

“Ah!” the Fae exclaimed as he saw a large burly human blunder his way to the building. Turning to her suddenly, he grinned. “Alright, listen. If you want to live, I want you to pretend that you’re the assistant Aedile and distract this guy from my attention. Here, take a seat at that desk and greet him,” he murmured, pointing towards the cozy desk just to the left of the door. The wooden structure opened then, revealing a large brawny not-so-intelligent typical blonde human who looked about the room with an oafish smile.

“I need to sell house.”

[Amber Brightwing]

Now that he stood still she had a better opportunity to study his odd wings. For a moment she even wondered if he should be considered a so called ‘dull wing’ - as she was - or not. Were black and grey different colours or just the same colours with a different intensity? Could they even be considered colours at all?

Amber. And you are…?

She didn’t feel like giving her last name. Actually, she didn’t feel like giving him any name at all, but at the moment she’d rather not piss him off too much. And she’d have to try and get the idea in his mind that the Mercetti guy might not be showing up too… without him finding out that it was actually a gal and she was already here obviously. If he was like any other male fearie he’d be easily distracted from things. Even though he didn’t appear to be as air headed as any other male of her species she had ever met, he did seem as impulsive as them. He couldn’t possibly have planned to blame her for the whole thing for example, so maybe he’d never even considered that an assassin might actually want to wait, and not kill a man in broad day light with guards hanging around the place. But she’d wait for that until some more time had passed and he had gotten a bit more impatient. Or at least she could use the excuse of being impatient.

Euh, sure. I can do that… I guess.

She didn’t have a clue what an Aedile normally did or how things worked. She knew what happened when you bought a house, but that was about it. But assistant… Well she could just send him away again. A good thing that the client wasn’t among the brightest. It’s shouldn’t be too hard to fool him.

Serale sir. Well, although you certainly have come to the right place to sell your house, I’m afraid you’ve come at a rather bad time. The Aedile will be unavailable for the rest of the day and I’m afraid, and I’m not allowed to handle deeds myself, but if you come back tomorrow I’m sure that there will be a person present that will be able to help you out.

She smiled and waited until he left again. For a moment she had considered to scam the guy for what he had, with him being daft and all, but given that she might turn out to be a suspect in a murder case, it just wasn’t worth it.

[Surge]

“Feryn, pleasure to meet you.”

That had been her response, not that it mattered all too much now that the large and brawny humanoid was standing before her presence, raising an inquiring eyebrow as she tried to handle the transaction smoothly. The man stared at her dumbly for a moment, as if absorbing everything she’d said like a sponge, before his eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Why’s Habby out for the rest o’ the day?” he asked, his voice confirming his misgivings as he tilted his head to the side and observed her face flush. Turning, he let out a short gasp as he saw the old Cether faced downwards atop his desk, hands sprawled out to the sides.

It didn’t take the man long to put two things together; either Habby was very very passed out, or Habby was dead. Rushing over to the man in a few short powerful strides, he brought his hands to his shoulders and shook the Cether roughly as if to wake him. Meanwhile, Feryn was busily providing a scathing glance towards Amber and gesturing for her to keep the fool’s attention. His eyes closed momentarily afterwards, a quiet hum developing about him as he started to shift the Astral energies Amber could easily recognize. Perhaps not so useless after all.

“What’s wrong with ‘im?” the man asked, whirling about to face the Fae. Luckily, he missed Feryn’s presence, his eyes completely gazing upon her, staring with a strange intensity one wouldn’t have thought imaginable; a very pained expression across his face.

Faintly, out of the corner of her eye, Amber could see Feryn’s hands glowing with a slight aura about them.

[Amber Brightwing]

OOC: Hmmm, I thought Habby had slipped to the and out of view floor or something since I needed to play assistant Aedile

Feryn. Well, he had provided her with much useful information so far. His name, the name of his employer, the name of her employer, the fact that he knew the name of her employer… She was sure the ratta would find that most interesting. Now all she had to do was survive long enough to actually be able to tell him all those things.

As the simpleton ran over to the corpse she wondered what would have happened if he hadn’t been so dumb. It was rather obvious that there was something wrong with the Cether. Would he have called the guards or try to assault her? Maybe she should have just blurted out that the black winged one had killed the Aedile and maybe he’d been able to knock the little menace down. In any case, it was now too late for that. She had no idea how far exactly the fae was with his spell and she’d rather have the be killed anyway and make Feryn angry at her.

Speaking of spells, what was it with the dark arts in Paxia? This was the second time that she visited the city and she had already met two of it’s practitioners. Now that she thought about it, she had yet to meet an other kind of mage. Whatever it was, it surely made the faerie even more interesting then he had been before. Murder was already pretty blasphemous to a faerie and necromancy was worse. It had been the major reason for picking it herself, since she had wanted to oppose what her race stood for, but it puzzled her how any other fae had even considered it.

But that were questions for later. Now there was a man to be distracted.

What’s wrong with him? Well, he was still alright when I arrived, but then suddenly, in the middle of a conversation, he grasped his throat and fell over. If you ask me, I think it would have something to do with the dart that had gotten stuck in it. And there was probably some poison on it as well, but since it wasn’t my dart I’m not sure about that. You should ask the one that shot it if you really want to know.

She kept her voice friendly and tried not to speak too fast. She was running out of ideas to keep the man occupied, so she hoped that it would be long enough for whatever the fae on the other side of the room had in mind. No matter what happened, she would be keeping a distance from the both of them. She didn’t want the human to do something rash in her general direction that could harm her, and she wasn’t to fond of sharing the effects of the upcoming spell either.

[Surge]

“Huh?”

The simpleton looked at her, a rudimentary intelligence lingering about his possession as he tossed her a blank stare, brow furrowed as he tried to rationalize the situation. “Well then dun you think you should get someone?” he asked simply, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly before tossing a worried glance over his shoulder towards his Cether coutnerpart’s direction. He walked over again, lifting up Habby’s head and inspecting his chubby neck with a scrutinizing eye, frowning all the while as he tilted the chin up. Muttering under his breath, he tried to lean over the table but seemingly couldn’t balance himself on his toes to do so, so he adjusted his position with a decisive snap of the Cether’s neck as he held it up for a better look.

No sooner had it snapped than had he dropped it, a stunned expression over his face as he leered at Amber. “I-I-I…” the words never left his mouth as Feryn suddenly popped up in front of his masculine face, the small Faerie’s presence dwarfed immediately by the monolithic sized comparison of the brawny strong human. Small tiny hands immediately flew up towards the man’s temples, fingers sprawled out across them as the black aura enshrouding each fingertip suddenly plowed into the flesh, immersing into the skin before a deliciously evil smile spread over the dark Fae’s lips. As a faerie, Amber could see the astral energies shift, part of the man’s Vis deteriorating as it was absorbed through Feryn’s fingers and expanding his own.

A minute passed until the man let out a groan and slumped to the floor, quite dead, his eyes sunken and rolled up into his head. Feryn took a moment to recuperate himself, adjusting his unkempt hair before stretching his fingers reflexively. “Alright. That was Mercetti’s man,” he straightened and flew over to her, intercepting her pathway towards the door. A cold smile quickly flitted across his lips.

“You were rather good back there. Have you ever thought about a career in the darker arts of life?”

[Amber Brightwing]

OOC: How powerful was the spell? Apprentice, journeyman? Always a useful thing to know

To say Feryn’s choice of spell was interesting would be an understatement. From what she could see it was some kind of vis drain, something she had wondered if it was possible ever since she had learned to cast Drain Life. A spell that could be cast and which would not only drain the opponents vis reserves, but also restore the vis that had been used to cast it. It certainly was a very attractive spell to cast on other mages.

That he believed the human to be the assassin was a pleasant surprise. She didn’t show it, but inward she smiled at the little bit of luck she just had. The broken neck combined with the small dart stuck in the cether’s throat would puzzle the investigators (she certainly wouldn’t know what to make of it if she would be in their shoes), which would only increase her chances on not being suspected (or quickly dismissed) and simpleton had been so kind to serve as stand in for the Mercetti assassin as well. Feryn didn’t seem very inclined to kill her either, so it seemed as if things would work out well after all.

Necromancy? Me?

She was surprised at his question. It was strange enough for a faerie to learn necromancy, but surely he couldn’t have expected to have considered it for even the slightest moment. Of course, she was an apprentice necromancer, but until a few moments ago she had believed that she was most likely the only faerie that studied the dark arts in the whole of Telath. For a moment she doubted whether she would go in on his request, but the truth was that she already knew the answer. The dark winged one had made her too curious to just let him go now without at least trying to get some answers. She didn’t plan on telling him she had already started that career though. At least not yet. Perhaps later. Perhaps she would even inform him that the human had not been an assassin at all, but just plain dumb. She might switch sides or maybe work for both camps. She didn’t feel any obligations towards the ratta at all – aside from collecting her pay – so would do whatever suited her best.

Well actually, I have, but perhaps it would be a good idea to continue this conversation with a glass of juice or so in the closest tavern.

The longer they stayed here, the more chance someone would barge in, and she didn’t want to push her luck.

[Surge]

OOC: lol oh dear I’m encouraging you. >.< It was a reshaped tweaked version of Drain Life (tweaked for the cool hand effects and physical contact, really); basically. Consider it done at Apprentice level – nothing special, I just described it differently than most moderators would. Vis-stealing spells have not ever been successfully introduced into Arcanomechanics before – last PC who tried was…Iseril Al’lende, I believe.

Feryn blinked slowly at her.

“Actually, I meant assassination,” he confessed with a small frown, shrugging off her comment and turning to regard the now-dead man…that would make two, two dead men on the floor. Still, the job was done – the dirty deed finished, and now all that was left was…

“Hmm. Papyrus papyrus papyrus,” the Faerie murmured before finally letting out a sigh and ripping off a small portion from the larger parchment upon the Aedile’s table. Careful not to touch the dead Cether, he thanked Lady Luck for Cether-sized quills and dipped his fingers into the smaller ink pot and began to scribble. The note was rather tedious, a bit boring, and took him a while to contrive. After all, he had to purposefully make his print larger for the other races to read. Still, in the end, it had something to do along the lines of “Dear Mr. Mercetti, I killed your target as well as your assassin, best wishes, the Leonathan Brothers.” A small smirk and a big ‘swish!’ at the end of the letter marked Feryn’s completion of his job, rubbing the ink off his blackened hand now before turning back to Amber. Momentarily remembering, he ducked back into the smaller compartments of the drawer and returned with his blowpipe, the silver glint of metal no longer a danger to informing visitors of his position.

“Tavern? Is that a date?” he asked roguishly, ignoring his confidence and boldness for the moment as he quietly glided over to the window, peeking outside. Finally he made his way towards the door, gesturing for her to move outside before he followed behind her. “Amber, I’m going to offer you a choice. I can’t go to the tavern, I have to return the portfolio to my employer before the next candlemark, otherwise he’ll assume I failed. You’re welcome to come with if you feel like getting into the…‘business’ I suppose,” he shrugged, black wings fluttering behind him as he turned to face her with an inquiring eyebrow raise.

[Amber Brightwing]

OOC: Sounds more like a tweaked Leach spell to me though And I already had the Drain Vis thing on my ‘list of possible spells’

Oh.

Well, that changed things, although not that much. Both interpretations of ‘The Dark Arts’ were equally blasphemous and equally illegal after all. Nothing any other faerie would even consider for a second. If anything, she would disagree on calling assassination an art. Killing was easy enough. A dagger in the back – if you were big enough to do such a thing to your target of course – or some poison in the food and they were dead. Anyone could do that. Arcana on the other hand took time and skill to master, so that was way more fitting to be called ‘art’.

She flew a bit closer and tried to read over his shoulder what he was writing. If she managed to read it, then it would come to her as a surprise that they were being so open about who was behind it. She would wonder what the constabulary would think if they saw this. They pretty much had the name of the person who had ordered the kill.

A date? Not really, I was mostly thinking of getting away from the dead bodies.

A date had been the last thing to come to her mind. Pleasure and faeries were two things that no longer fit together in her mind, but now that he had mentioned it… Well, it’s not like she would have something against a get together to talk a bit. She still wanted to know more about how he got those black wings, where and why he had learned necromancy and why he was an assassin. And he seemed to have stopped being so rude too. She left the room as he indicated her to do and she would follow him wherever to wherever he was supposed to go. Unlike him, she still had until the end of the cycle to report back, so she wasn’t in a hurry.

Well, I’ll come along then. I can always discuss ‘business’ and see what comes of it. Who knows, I might find it interesting enough to join.

She grinned back at him, wondering what he thought of her. She must probably be as strange to him as he was to her.

[Surge]

OOC: Goodluck! ^^ Only advice I’ll add in is watch out for repercussions…twas the problem last time around. >.<

Meh…interpretations. Feryn shrugged; opinions were like butts – everyone had one and nobody though theirs stunk to high Aetheria.

“Yeah, they will start smelling eventually,” the dark Fae shrugged, a chivalrous smirk tossed over one shoulder as he tucked the note away in the dead man’s front pocket, a triumphant grin quickly overcoming the Fae’s facial features as he led her out the door. Waiting as she made her choice outside, the small faerie shrugged again, adjusting his dark clothing about him before studying the sky above for a few moments. Eyes examining something that wasn’t there, he finally made up his mind and clucked his tongue approvingly before gesturing for her to take a right. They ducked behind a twisting winding street that snaked its way along the perimeters of the bazaar, taking leave of the dead Cether’s site and the supposed Mercetti assassin that had been nothing more than an unfortunate simpleton in the wrong place at a very wrong time.

“Here we are,” he spoke finally, taking her down an alley and stopping suddenly along a very shadowy wall. It took the female Faerie a few moments, but eventually she found the very faint outlines of a blackened dim door, its edges concealed exceedingly well with the shadows – a perfect mesh that brought the illusion of empty wall space as opposed to an actual entryway. “What is said in here stays in here,” he shrugged dismally, none too concerned that she’d actually have heart to run off and blather everything she learned out to some poor hapless soul who she happened to catch ear of.

That said, it did not take him long to rap four times on the door until it suddenly opened, a large Vysstichi male standing in the entryway. He eyed Amber suspiciously but became much more noticeably calm when Feryn’s face popped into view, the hovering bug already shoving himself through the small nook underneath the Vysstichi’s arm and entering what seemed to be a very, very comfortable lobby. Turning around, he beckoned Amber to follow him – and as soon as she had entered the Vysstichi had closed the door behind her, masquerading their presence inside the building once more.

Stopping and taking a seat on a plush cushion, Feryn moved aside to make room for his new counterpart he’d taken a spurt of interest in, his head tilted to the side. “So, how long have you been in Paxia? Do you know anything about the Leonathan and Mercetti feud?” his eyes flashed with curiosity as he waited for a response.

[Amber Brightwing]

When they stopped, Amber wondered for a moment why they had done so in the middle of an alley, but a closer inspection of the wall next to her revealed the outlines of a hidden door. Certainly an interesting and easy way to hide an entrance in plain sight.

Sure.

She would keep everything that was said inside to herself. That was, unless it would suddenly become more beneficial to reveal what she had heard, in which case she wouldn’t doubt to tell everything she wanted. For the moment however, the plan was to stay silent about it, even to the Ratta. With a quick dive she followed Feryn inside.

This time I’ve only been in Paxia for about a candlemark or so, maybe a little longer, I haven’t been keeping the time that accurately. I’ve already visited the city once before though, but only for two cycles. As for Leonathan and Mercetti, the first time I heard the names was when you mentioned them a while ago, so I don’t know anything about any feuds between them either.

Although she was currently rather actively involved in said feud – having got the order to kill the Aedile from the other camp – she hadn’t known about it until a short while ago. She hadn’t even know who she was working for, as she hadn’t been given any names. Not even the Ratta’s that had given her the mission.