inactive Odd Job Tavern

[+Ark1002]

Quote

Missed the post, lol

Ark covered the body in crystal, then lifted it off the ground. Screams of terror and rage filled his ears, and he could see corpses covering the ground.

As was his custom, he would have the victim soulcast. Then he would rest, for the next few hours.

[Elend Venture]

Nuemark walked to his table and poured one not shot of whiskey, downing it in one gulp. He resummoned his shardblade, glancing at the man who had seemingly just been murdered.

[Rushu42]

Alanis Sheneth pushed open the door of the tavern, then froze, staring at the corpse on the ground. Her hand tightened around something in her pocket. She looked around the room for an explanation, and her eyes rested on Tels. "Tels?" She asked, surprised. She glanced again at the body on the floor, noting the wounds. Aln frowned. "Did you kill this man?"

[+Invocation]

Malu grabbed his bag from under the rubble of the smashed bar section and pulled a knife out, hesitating, struggling with himself. Finally, dragged out of him, came a confession.

"I can't do this anymore," he muttered, carving a message into the bartop that remained.

CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

HELP YOURSELF

Message finished, he slung the pack onto his shoulder and walked out of the hole in the wall. New experiences awaited, even if being there meant leaving his tavern behind.

Maybe someday he'd see it again.

[+Ark1002]

Quote

17 hours ago, Invocation said:

Malu grabbed his bag from under the rubble of the smashed bar section and pulled a knife out, hesitating, struggling with himself. Finally, dragged out of him, came a confession.

"I can't do this anymore," he muttered, carving a message into the bartop that remained.

CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

HELP YOURSELF

Message finished, he slung the pack onto his shoulder and walked out of the hole in the wall. New experiences awaited, even if being there meant leaving his tavern behind.

Maybe someday he'd see it again.

Oops

 

[+ZincAboutIt]

"If we're really lucky," Laurelai said, "we'll find an open bar too, I could really use something from the top shelf."

Lita felt her mouth twist into a dry little smile. I could use the whole shelf, she thought, though she kept that bit to herself. There would be time yet for candor; many secrets were found at the bottom of a glass. Or several glasses. 

The Storm had finally broken, rain and wind dying down first to a shower, then a sprinkle, and then, blessedly, to nothing at all. Lita noticed a slight dim in the sharpness of the world around her - without the Storm, her Tin would behave like it usually did. For once, she didn't mind the slight reduction in sensation as her new spike continued to throb like a little star shoved between her ribs. She was halfway through wringing out her braid when Laurelai made a small motion with her hand, and suddenly she was as dry and clean as if she'd been back in her quarters behind the blue door all these hours.

Lita smiled at Laurelai as they rounded another corner. "Now that is a talent," she said, not a little envious. Still, she preferred her own talents - old and new. Her smile only grew as they turned the last bend and came to face the Odd Job Tavern in all its ramshackle, half-demolished glory.

"Tavern's still intact," Laurelai said, voicing Lita's own surprise. To her further bafflement, a small string of pink bubbles emanated from Laurelai's mouth with each word.

"I..." Lita stared at her for a moment before shrugging. Later. "'Intact' is a bit generous," she said, picking her way through some rubble that looked like it had come from one of the front walls. There was a sizeable hole in wall, through which Lita could see some tables and chairs overturned, broken glass, and a large char mark. Still, it was standing. Hopefully, some of the alcohol had survived.

Lita upped the burn of her tin and put her finger to her mouth, motioning for Laurelai to follow her. This was still a warzone, though the surrounding streets seemed quiet. The neighborhood had clearly been evacuated already - either that, or brutally slaughtered en masse, though Lita doubted it. She'd have smelled that much blood even without Tin. The tavern appeared deserted as she ducked through the hole, and shards of glass crunched under her feet. Lita walked up to the bartop proper, quite pleased to see the majority of Malu's liquor selection still present - though Malu himself was nowhere to be seen.

"Looks like he cut his losses," Lita said, tracing her finger along the message carved into the fine wood of the bar with a sigh. "Still," she said, hopping up onto the bar and sliding her legs over the other side to drop down before the expansive shelves of alcohol. "His loss is our gain."

She stood on tiptoe and reached for a promising-looking squat, dark bottle with a long neck, nudging it off the uppermost shelf. It fell softly into her waiting hand, and she turned back toward Laurelai. The label was easy to read even in the low light, though she should probably find a candle for Laurelai at least - not everyone had Tin. "Aha," she said, grinning and ducking down to pull two glasses out from beneath the bar. "Just as I thought - Elariel Estate port, 'Lord's Vintage.' I had this at a party once - rusts it was smooth."

She pulled the cork out with a satisfying 'puh' sound and leveled a generous measure into each glass and raising one. "To what shall we toast?"

@Voidus

[Voidus]

Laurelai followed Lita into the tavern, silently at the other womans gesture. It had fared better than most of its surroundings had, and as far as a tavern in the city went it was likely the only one that still had a roof at all, but Lita was right. It wasn't exactly in pristine condition.

Well that can always be remedied later. Laurelai noted. She wasn't particularly feeling up to trying to investigate the damage to intuit the cause enough that she could reverse it, but perhaps later she could.

Lita hopped over the bar and began rummaging through the high end liquors that stood on the top shelf, finding one of the bottles and examining it in the dim light. Laurelai perked up as Lita read out the vintage. Elariel Estate was always good when one could afford it, but the Lords Vintage? Fortunate that they wouldn't need to pay for it, otherwise all the hazard pay in the world wouldn't be able to justify spending that much on a bottle.

"To what shall we toast?" Lita asked, popping the cork.

"To free drinks?" Laurelai offered, taking the other glass and raising it too. "To still being alive and the end of this too-rusting-long day?"

A couple more bubbles trailed out of her mouth as she spoke, though they diminished as she continued speaking and finally seemed to stop.

[+ZincAboutIt]

2 hours ago, Voidus said:

"To free drinks?" Laurelai offered, taking the other glass and raising it too. "To still being alive and the end of this too-rusting-long day?"

Lita raised her brows with a wry smile. "I'll drink to that," she said, clinking the rim of her glass against Laurelai's before taking a sip. "Oh by the Survivor that is gorgeous. I'll just take this," she grabbed the bottle of Lord's Vintage by the neck as she came back out from behind the bar, moving towards Laurelai. "I have a feeling we'll be doing quite a bit more toasting." 

She surveyed the tavern with a critical eye - seating was at a minimum when it came to tables and chairs. It looked like the snug in the back was potentially un-demolished, but that would put them an unacceptable distance from more liquor choices. Her eyes fell on two barstools, and she smirked, sliding into one and patting the other.

"I believe this is where we met," Lita said, taking another sip. "What was it, a week ago? Rusts I feel like I've lived half a life since last week." 

She cupped her chin in her hand. "What were you doing here, anyway? Just out for a drink, or about other business?"

Edited July 31, 2019 by ZincAboutIt
weird glitch saved before I was done

[Voidus]

Laurelai had been about to Forge one of the tables into a more satisfactory condition, lacking other choices for seating, when Lita seemed to get an amused gleam to her eye, smirking she slid onto one of the barstools by the counter, tapping the one next to her.

It took Laurelai's somewhat sleep-deprived mind a moment to catch up, but when it did a similar grin spread across her own face. It was an odd coincidence that they would end up back here after all that had happened, sipping port together once more.

"What were you doing here, anyway?" Lita asked, seeming to settle in comfortably. "Just out for a drink, or about other business?"

"When possible I make sure that my business includes going out for a drink." Laurelai noted with a small giggle. "So I suppose it was a little of both."

She took another large sip of port, taking a moment to enjoy the smooth taste starting a comfortable warmth inside her. Nothing relaxing like a nice drink and conversation. Other than possibly a nice drink and research.

"You could say that I was training in a way." She continued, allowing her shoulders to droop a little and her posture to drop to a more comfortable position. "I'm something of a scholar of human behavior. Just to help with my abilities at first, but gradually I just found it... calming. Watching people, trying to guess how they ended up where they are, what kind of a history they've had and how changing that would change them."

She held her glass up, examining the liquid within and giving it a gentle swirl. Reflecting on the decisions she'd made to arrive here. It was certainly an interesting history that they'd had since that night, but it wasn't one that Laurelai felt an urge to change, in spite of everything.

"And what about you?" She countered, looking over her glass towards Lita once more. "Were you really just looking for a job?"

[+ZincAboutIt]

Lita cocked her head at Laurelai, observing the way she slowly began to uncurl as she spoke. There was a weight to the process, like she was almost physically removing the many walls, mirrors, and facades she kept between herself and the world. Lita took another sip of port and nodded almost imperceptibly. Yes, she knew that game all too well. How much to keep back, how much to show - which version of oneself to present in order to obtain the right information. It became easy to lose oneself amidst all the fiction, and Lita imagined it would be even more precarious with the ability to quite literally Forge oneself into something else. Someone else.

"And what about you?" Laurelai directed her light blue gaze over the rim of her glass toward Lita. "Were you really just looking for a job?"

Was I? Lita tapped one fingernail lightly against her glass and thought back to that afternoon. "Yes," she said finally, "and no. Yes in that I had just finished a long contract job a month back, and I was running rather low on funds. Crime, as they say, does indeed pay, but never quite as much as one hopes." 

She took another, longer sip of the port, smiling at the pleasant warmth spreading through her throat and belly. Bless you, Malu, for stocking such excellent spirits. Then she sighed and began undoing what was left of her braid, running her fingers through her hair.

"But I meant what I said to you and Mac, believe it or not. Even spies can be honest on occasion," Lita grinned crookedly and split her hair into three sections, pulling them over her left shoulder to plait them. The familiarity gave her some comfort as she spoke. "Listening at keyholes, reading confidential contracts from across the room, tailing a man on behalf of his wife, tricking pillow-talk out of minor constables..." She waved one hand dismissively. "Dull, after a while. Everyone has the same secrets - people are largely unremarkable in that regard. I suppose I was looking for something... else. Something more." 

Lita raised the glass in Laurelai's direction. "I'm not sure what made you mention the Dark Alley, but your timing was impeccable. Actually," Lita took another sip, curiosity and alcohol pushing her forward, "what did make you mention it? You seem like someone who plays things rather close, and I should think that membership in a dangerous organization would count as one of those 'things.'" 

[+Ark1002]

19 hours ago, ZincAboutIt said:

She'd have smelled that much blood even without Tin.

Quote

After RoB, most of the city probably smells of blood and rancid flesh

We can just say this is an untouched area  

 

[+ZincAboutIt]

Just now, RayOfSunshine said:

After RoB, most of the city probably smells of blood and rancid flesh

We can just say this is an untouched area  

Quote

She could just be noseblind at this point. *shrug* It happens.

 

[Voidus]

Laurelai tipped her glass towards her, taking a somewhat larger sip this time. She should have savoured something this good, but it had been a long day. She watched Lita begin to rebraid her hair, everyone had their own little rituals for calming down at the end of the day, sometimes they told you something, sometimes they didn't. But she was seriously considering adding a bottle of this to her own end of day ritual, if she ever got enough of a pay rise to justify it.

She sympathised with Lita's views on spywork. Even before she'd joined the Dark Alley, Laurelai had tried it a few times. It had occasionally been useful for her studies on human behaviour, but mostly she'd learned what Lita had. People were boring and repetitive in their motives. Of course that in itself was interesting to a degree, how did people have such similar motivations and goals and yet go about them in such different ways? How did that handful of petty motivations create the infinite array of human experiences? But taking jobs to spy on potential adulterers was not something that would help her to answer that question.

She realized that her attention had drifted for a moment and refocused on Lita, blinking so that her long lashes would conceal the momentary dilation of her pupils as they focused in again just in time to catch Lita's question.

"what did make you mention it? You seem like someone who plays things rather close, and I should think that membership in a dangerous organization would count as one of those 'things.'" 

Laurelai smiled back, pleased once more that she had chosen to speak to Lita that day. Her ambitions were a little different than Laurelai's, but closely enough aligned that they made for interesting conversations.

"Well." She said, taking another small sip and brushing a stray strand of hair back behind her ear. "As I said, I am a scholar of human behaviour. I had enough of an idea that you might at least hear me out, and people willing to do that aren't exactly common in this city. I'm also somewhat of an odd case for someone who works with Mac, I was spiked somewhat publicly when I joined the originally. Any spy worth their metals would have been able to figure out who I was eventually anyway."

She set her now-empty glass back onto the counter, waiting for a moment before refilling it to stare at the bottom of the glass and the small dregs that remained.

"Have you regretted your decision?" She asked curiously, still staring into the glass. "Have you found your deal to be favourable?"

[+ZincAboutIt]

Spiked publicly? Lita raised a brow at that, making a mental note to research the event. Laurelai finished her glass of port, staring down into the bottom with pensive reverie.

"Have you regretted your decision?" Laurelai asked, voice light and somewhat-distant. "Have you found your deal to be favourable?"

Bit late for regret now, Lita thought, though she said nothing. Instead, she tipped the last swallow of port into her mouth and set the glass next to Laurelai's. The truth was, she didn't regret it - despite the pain, and the terror, and the sheer unfathomable depth of it all. It terrified her, this surety, this fire. A craving that could devour her, body and soul. She knew it in her heart, knew that she was walking a slender tightrope. A path that only led away - away from who she had been, and towards...what? 

"I have my fair share of regrets," Lita said quietly, reaching for the bottle and pouring herself another measure of port. It glistened dark and red in the low light when she raised it to her lips, and tasted sweeter than sin. "But this isn't one of them."

She set the glass back down on the bar and sighed, then fished around in the inner pocket of her coat, which was now completely dry. Her fingers brushed against something in the breast pocket, and she smiled, drawing out the little cigarette with half a flourish and setting it between her front teeth. Lita checked her brassminds - mostly empty from earlier, though there should be enough...

"Ready to see my party trick?" Lita said, raising her brows with a little giggle.

The tips of her index finger and thumb almost seemed to glow as she pinched them on the end of the cigarette, and she winced a bit at the heat, pulling it back into her reserve as soon as the end started curling smoke. Lita sucked in a quick breath, feeling the dry, acrid taste of tobacco and clove fill her mouth, then tipped her head back and blew the smoke up towards the charred beams of the ceiling. She looked back to Laurelai with a little smile. "Want one? I only ever smoke after a disaster."

Lita pulled another cigarette from her pocket and set it on the bar before continuing, "As to my 'deal,' well... it was hardly a delight but you said it yourself. Power comes at a price." She tapped some ash onto the floor and took in another breath of smoke. "Anything worth having comes at a price. It's rather refreshing to be amongst people who understand that, and are willing to pay."

Almost unconsciously, Lita's hand snaked down into her boot, pulling the Coin out of her sock and dancing it across her knuckles. "Remarkable, really," she murmured, not quite sure what she was referring to. The Coin? The Stranger? The Alleys? The last week in its entirety? Lita took another long sip of port, deciding to let that secret simmer for a moment.

[Voidus]

Laurelai slid the other cigarette towards herself as she listened. She didn't usually smoke, though it helped to blend in sometimes so she'd accustomed herself to it. But if there was ever a time for it, this was it. Another quick Forgery was enough to convince the cigarette that it was the one Lita had lit, and it obligingly began to smoke in her hand. She watched the smoke drifting upwards, watching it slowly diffuse, spiral out and spread. It was chaotic, seemingly random in the manner in which it spread, but she knew that with enough information it could be predicted, controlled. People and smoke were not so different, they both seemed impossible to predict at first, but they followed rules, patterns. You just needed to have enough information about them.

She pulled the cigarette to her mouth, taking a quick breath in and letting the smoke enter her lungs. She still hadn't found much of a taste for it, but as she slowly let the smoke back out she understood how people could find it relaxing.

"I'd usually say something like you reminding me of myself when I first joined." Laurelai replied, closing her eyes for a moment. "But honestly? I was much more naive. I saw answers, power, secrets and I just jumped at it."

She opened her eyes again, smiling at the nostalgia of what she had been like back then. It seemed a lifetime ago, but somehow very recent as well. The memory was crystal clear, not faded with time, but it felt like a different person. She gave a small shrug.

"In the end I don't think that's even the most valuable thing I've gained. More than the power, the knowledge, the reputation, it's the..." She paused, trying to find the right word. "Freedom I suppose? Freedom from the usual judgements, restrictions and criticisms. Freedom to ask a question and receive an answer rather than a sermon on someone's personal moral standpoint. To set your own boundaries rather than have them set for you."

She watched the smoke drifting up once more, watched as it ballooned out as it collided with the ceiling, she would have worried about staining the ceiling if it wasn't already half-charred from the damage to the building. She supposed that was another way that people and smoke were similar, they stained anything that they touched.

"Sometimes I wonder if we really know the price we pay." She murmured contemplatively.

Was some simple pain all the price that they would pay for what the Dark Alley offered? The smoke continued to curl about them both, giving no answers.

[+ZincAboutIt]

Lita covered her surprise at Laurelai's acceptance of the offered cigarette by taking another sip of port, listening to the other woman speak.

She nodded when Laurelai mentioned freedom, flicking a little more ash onto the ruined floor before sucking in another breath of smoke and letting it pour lazily out of her mouth to join the rest. Freedom was its own kind of power - one of the rarest. Lita had been surprised at the level of freedom she'd already been offered in the Dark Alley, so different than the usual bowing and scraping of life in a gang. Hell, of life in general. Even Voidus and the Stranger, who were arguably gods, seemed uncomfortable with too much deference. This was a place of discovery, of pushing limits - or of obliterating them altogether. 

"Sometimes I wonder if we really know the price we pay." Laurelai spoke quietly, halfway in and halfway out of her own thoughts.

'Then let me look at you, one last time.' The words bubbled up through the growing haze in Lita's mind, a memory of darkness, of nothingness. Of her father, begging her to turn to him. Yet she had hesitated - hesitated for her father. You were quick enough to answer the Stranger's summons, that little voice whispered, sharp and cruel as poison.

It wasn't real, she told herself, taking another swallow of port. None of it was real. Her father was back in Elendel, living out his days in peace, running his parlor and fleecing his friends at their weekly card games. It would do Lita no good to dwell on that life - she had known what she was giving up when she killed Forian. There was no going back now.

Lita flipped the Coin and watched the Skull wink its spiked grin at her on both faces. It's stopped changing, she realized, catching it and examining the cool gold disk in her palm. As always, it felt heavier than it ought to for its size. 

"I think a few might," Lita finally answered, still looking at the Coin. Your father might, she was tempted to say. But Lita kept those words inside her head, which she was rather keen to keep on her shoulders.

"Still," she said instead. "Even if you knew the price - the true price. Would you resist? Would you refuse the chance to peer behind the curtain, to rend the truth from the world? The real truth. The kind of secrets that can make something like this," Lita held the Coin up between two of her fingers, "in a mere moment? The kind of secrets that let you bend the world around you into whatever shape you want?"

Lita pulled more smoke into her mouth, feeling the slight pain of the heat against her tongue, relishing in its sting. She blew it out over the bar, watching the plume dance around the many bottles on Malu's deserted shelves. "People like to claim that they have morals, but I've spied on enough people to understand: people do not have morals, they have fears. Fear of damnation, fear of retribution. Fear of the law, or fear of rejection. It is our powerlessness that makes us so afraid." Her hand moved towards the ache on her right side, drawn to the steel between her ribs.

"When you remove that helplessness, you can do as you wish. Break the rules, re-write the rules. Rusts, erase the rules!" Lita leaned forward, feeling her mouth curve into a sharp smile. "Tell me, even if you knew what it would cost. Would you say no?"  

Edited August 2, 2019 by ZincAboutIt
altering phrasing

[Voidus]

"Tell me, even if you knew what it would cost. Would you say no?"

The words echoed in Laurelai's ears. To some degree she already knew the answer, she'd gone to the Nightwatcher after all hadn't she? She was more than willing to accept power at a price. She just wished she could remember why. What had she been searching for all those years ago? What had driven her to do what she assumed she'd done? For all her years of studying herself to create her Essence Marks she'd still never understood that. Would she do it again if she had the choice? Or would she choose to live within her limits, or rather the limits that the universe had placed upon her?

She poured herself another glass, using the movement to look towards Lita once more. She envied Lita her certainty, she seemed so sure that she knew what she'd do, what she wanted. So sure that if she had enough power, enough secrets that it would stop her from feeling helpless. But would it be enough to overcome the price?

"No, I suppose not." Laurelai forced her lips into a confident smile. Trying not to show any of her uncertainty.

As a rule she tried to avoid lying overtly, she'd seen too many people back themselves into a corner with their own lies. Better to deceive by omission, or implication. Let people assume you meant something without saying it, and if they came to the wrong conclusions they would only end up hanging themselves with their misconceptions, rather than you.

"Some things are worth any price."

But sometimes, a straightforward lie was the only way. And if she said it enough, perhaps she'd even convince herself.

[+ZincAboutIt]

"Some things are worth any price."

It was barely perceptible, but Lita could hear it in Laurelai's voice. Uncertainty. Lita burned a little more Tin and braced for the pain, covering her wince with a quick drag on her cigarette. She watched the other woman smile at her, and if Lita hadn't spent the better part of the last week in her company she doubted she'd have seen it, but it was there. Buried beneath years of practice, and magic, and natural aloofness - but there. A slight tightness in the corners of the eyes. A moment of thought before action. A lie.

Lita blew the smoke over her shoulder, noticing that the world was moving slightly slower now. She could feel the alcohol working its way through her blood, numbing some of her pain, removing some of her caution. Laurelai had finished her second glass of port and poured herself a third. 

Right, Lita thought. You've got questions, and so have I. Let's begin drinking in earnest, now.

She reached over and tipped the last of the port into her glass, then set the bottle down with a heavy thunk. Lita lifted the glass to her lips, savoring the sweet, heady liquor and feeling herself relax just a bit more. Then she sighed and fixed Laurelai with a knowing look.

"It's hard, isn't it? Turning it off? The secrecy, the duplicity. Always wanting an edge - always keeping one step ahead of everyone else. Knowledge is power, after all, and no one wants someone having power over them." Lita pointed at Laurelai, then at herself. "It would be terribly naive for me to assume that you trust me; likewise, you're far too clever to believe that I trust you. However," she raised one finger. "I have had a ridiculously long day, and two glasses of port, and my judgment isn't exactly what it usually is. I'm willing to bet that you have had a similarly long day, if slightly less... well, slightly less of a long day. So, in the interest of good company and excellent liquor, I propose that we bend a few of our rules. We both have questions for each other, and it's the end of the rusting world, and there's bound to be another bottle of obscenely-expensive alcohol lurking around here somewhere."

Lita raised her glass and winked. "Are you in?" 

[Voidus]

Laurelai was in the middle of another sip when Lita fixed her with a penetrating stare. There was no mistaking the eyes of a practiced tineye when they stared at you like that, stripping through everything, seeing so much more than other eyes would. Laurelai faltered, her hand briefly shaking as it held the glass before she managed to regain control over it once more. But there was no mistaking that look, Lita had seen through her, or at least suspected she wasn't being honest.

Rusting tin. The words were harsh, but even in her own mind they were also somehow warm. Perhaps the alcohol, or just a result of the experiences that they'd gone through. But much as she wanted to be irritated by Lita's suspicions, she simply found herself amused and somewhat proud that Lita had been able to notice.

But then she asked something else entirely, something that Laurelai hadn't expected from someone as guarded as the Tineye prodigy had been. She asked for information openly, and not the kind that was usually handed out. Laurelai began turning the offer over in her mind, trying to determine what exactly Lita would be hoping to get out of it. Some curiosity about Laurelai personally? Possible, though that wasn't too likely. Secrets from the DA? More likely, though she'd attracted the Strangers attention enough that Laurelai thought that would be an easier way to acquire that kind of information. But if it was neither of those then what could it be? Could she try to lead the conversation on a little? Lita had already had more to drink than Laurelai had, and if she was discreet with some Forgery then she could keep herself sober...

She shook her head once more, clearing the thoughts out and experiencing a brief bout of dizziness as the alcohol that she'd already consumed hit her. That line of thinking was what she'd usually do in a circumstance like this, too cautious of tricks or traps to actually be willing to expose herself like that. But, as Lita had said, it was the end of the world. Perhaps it was time to take a bit of a calculated risk. And contrary to what Lita had said, Laurelai did trust her, somewhat at least. And she did like to think of herself as a good judge of character.

Laurelai dropped the smile and gave a soft sigh. It was tiring to always be putting up a front, though she usually managed to forget that until she reached home at the end of the day. She rolled her head to one side, stretching the muscle out before replying.

"What is one to do if they can't even speak candidly while enjoying a fine drink?" She asked rhetorically, beginning to take another small sip before reconsidering and downing the remainder of her glass at once. "And now we're even."

She stood up from her stool, leaning over the counter to examine the rest of the bottles that remained.

"Mostly wine." She murmured, pulling out a bottle and examining the label. "Callingfale?! Let's hope we don't need to resort to that one. The day I willingly drink a Callingfale red is truly the day the world ends."

She managed to find a nice vintage from the Elariel's, wine rather than port this time, but still better than what she'd usually be able to get. A little more rummaging around revealed a corkscrew nearby which she quickly put to work on the bottle.

"So. It's your idea, so I suppose it's only fair that you get to ask first." Laurelai managed to get the cork free with a satisfying popping sound and poured herself another glass. "Fire away."

Asking first would mean revealing her own goals before Laurelai needed to reveal hers. Opening up was all well and good, but old habits died hard.

[+ZincAboutIt]

Lita grinned in satisfaction as Laurelai began rifling through the wines, pleased that she had successfully found a crack in the woman's icy armor. Usually, the best way to get a secret was to give a person what they expected. But occasionally, upending their expectations worked just as well - if not better. And it had been an awfully long time since Lita had simply been able to talk to someone. Someone who wasn't her employer, or her target, or a shadow, or a god. Just a colleague. An equal.

"So. It's your idea, so I suppose it's only fair that you get to ask first." Laurelai managed to get the cork free with a satisfying popping sound an poured herself another glass. "Fire away." 

Lita nudged her own glass towards Laurelai, feeling her grin widen. Clever, waiting for me to go first. Well, Lita supposed she deserved it. That's what she got for being candid. Curiosity pushed her towards asking about Laurelai's Forgery, about the odd things that happened every time she used her power, about her strange ability to Forge without the tools and stone. But she still had sense enough to hold back on that account. That was a deep secret, and not one to lead with. Something easier, then.

"I feel as though you know rather a lot about me - where I'm from, what I did before I joined up, all that." She waved a hand. "So, what did you do before you were 'spiked publicly'? Which, by the way, I fully intend to follow up on. Must have been quite the party." 

[Voidus]

Laurelai raised an eyebrow at the unexpectedly mundane question. But perhaps it was best to start simple after all, they'd no doubt loosen up if they continued to drink like this. And given the amount of fine liquor that was still in sight, it definitely seemed like they would be able to if they wished.

"Well that's a broad one." She said, tapping out a little ash onto the ground with a free hand. "Professionally I took a number of small jobs around the place, trying to make ends meet. Some paid Forgery from time to time, mostly legitimate. Some 'investigative' work shall we say? Mostly illegitimate. But most of my time was spent on research, studying a number of crafts, histories, mostly psychology and people. Though most cultures have wildly differing opinions on those subjects, which makes it somewhat more frustrating."

She ended with a small frown as she recalled some of the early troubles she'd had in attempting to reconcile Scadrian and Rosharan views on human psychology. Interesting as Vorin culture was, it did not make for a particularly accurate view on the nature of the male and female psyche.

"Not too much exciting to tell really." She concluded. "I'm Alleycity-born if the accent hadn't given that away, so I don't have as interesting a story as most who find their way here from off world."

[+ZincAboutIt]

Ah, too boring a question for you, then? Lita thought, watching Laurelai raise a brow. Well just you wait.

"Growing up here sounds plenty interesting," Lita said truthfully, taking one last breath of her cigarette before pulling all its residual heat into her brassminds and flicking the crumbling end away. She tipped her head back and watched the smoke curl up from her lips to hover above them like the Mists back in Elendel. "As I'm still rather new here, perhaps I'm simply ignorant of normal customs. Is it typical for one to suddenly start spitting out pink soap bubbles while walking down the road?"

Lita took care to watch Laurelai closely, keeping her Tin up to catch any subtle hints in her face or voice. Sure, they were being open with one another - as open as two people like themselves could be, anyway. But this was the game. And Laurelai had to know that Lita would ask eventually. She'd likely be disappointed if Lita left the question unasked for long enough. Rusts, Lita would be disappointed in herself.

You've seen me bleed, for the Survivor's sake, Lita thought peevishly. It's high time I get to see a bit of what's inside you.

Of course, she did know something about Laurelai - a secret so tremendous that she barely let herself think about it for too long. And all it took was a little flared Tin and a careless god. Lita allowed herself a little smile and took another drink. 

[Voidus]

Laurelai's eyebrow gracefully dropped as Lita asked her second question. This was one that Laurelai had been expecting would likely be on the table at some point, she'd certainly have been curious about it if she'd watched it happen to someone else. But the way Lita had asked didn't draw any obvious links to her unique Forging abilities, did that mean she hadn't made the connection? Or that she simply hadn't been willing to reveal that she'd noticed?

Laurelai felt a smile begin to spread across her lips, genuine amusement rather than the more sly and secretive smile she practiced most of the time. She enjoyed this, the subtle dancing about the truth, questions implied but not asked outright, answers that gave just enough to pique interest while trying to keep as much hidden still as possible. In all her years of studying people and their behaviour, this had always been her favourite part. Drawing out what you could while giving as little as possible back.

But the question was also dangerously close to one of the subjects that she'd rather not broach, regardless of alcohol. Personal topics, beyond simple history of where she'd been and what she'd done. She felt a momentary wave of tension flood her muscles before she forced them back to a relaxed state, taking another sip of wine to help the process along.

"That depends on who one's mother is and what their policy around vulgar language is." Laurelai countered, keeping the smile up. "But before you try to rephrase that one, why don't I take a turn?"

She let a little puff of smoke out, curling up to mingle with the last of Lita's, and was looking around for an ashtray of some kind before she remembered the state that the bar was in and simply crushed the head of the cigarette against a section of bar a little distance away.

"You said that even spies could be honest, so tell me. That first day we met, when Mac was speaking to you and you told him about your... former employer. Was that the whole story? You heard that he was trying to frame your father so you killed him?"

That was one piece of the story of Lita that Laurelai had always been curious about. Not every spy had it in them to be a killer, and while Lita had certainly proven herself pragmatic she also hadn't exactly seemed the type for cold blooded murder. Laurelai had met plenty, and they mostly had a certain air about them. Not exactly dispassionate, but simply alien compared with the way most people carried themselves. Was Lita simply a more accomplished performer than others were? Or had it been an accident? A crime of passion?

But more than that, Laurelai was curious as to how far Lita would go for her father. History was what shaped a person into what they were, and the history of most people began with their parents.

[+ZincAboutIt]

Lita snorted a bit at Laurelai's evasion of her question, taking a small sip of wine. I've hit on something important, she thought, taking note of the split-second tension that rippled through Laurelai before she'd given her quip of an answer. Lita has halfway through re-tooling the question when Laurelai spoke up again.

"You said that even spies could be honest, so tell me. That first day we met, when Mac was speaking to you and you told him about your... former employer. Was that the whole story? You heard that he was trying to frame your father so you killed him?"

Forian. Lita chewed the inside of her cheek for a moment, swirling the wine in her glass. "The whole story?" The low light reflected off the wine with a dark gleam. She flicked her eyes back towards Laurelai, both irritated and impressed with the woman. It was rare that Lita met someone who was her equal in the art of conversation. "You don't ask for much, do you?"

Lita considered letting the matter lie - Laurelai had evaded her question after all. Why not do the same? But then again, Lita's past was of little danger to her here. Her father was safe: an ordinary man, unremarkable, possessing no great secrets or powers, and tucked away in another universe altogether. Laurelai didn't seem the type to hold his safety over Lita's head. And some honesty might go a ways towards figuring out her strange talents. Lita sighed, then took a somewhat deeper drink of wine, turning the Coin over and over in her other hand.

"My father ran a Soothing parlor in Elendel," she said slowly, softly. It had been a long time since she'd thought about this in its entirety. The whole story. "For all his subtlety, he was completely blind to what was going on around him. I was his eyes and ears, running drinks, keeping tabs on who was who, what was going on. No one knew I was a Tineye, they just thought I was a Brass Ferring. It worked well enough, for a time. Then, we started getting a new crowd in the parlor - some minor nobles, a few high-ranking conners. Father was thrilled at the income, relieved that we were finally starting to get some 'respectable folk' in the back room."

Lita sniffed ruefully. Oh Father, always willing to believe the best of someone. She flipped the Coin once, then continued. "I was nineteen when I met Forian - well, met him properly. His little club had been meeting in our back room for some weeks, and I'd taken to listening in. People like to think they're safe in a Soothing parlor - aluminum in the walls, you know. Useful against a Tineye listening in. Unless, of course, the Tineye is inside the parlor serving you brandy." Lita smirked. "Unsurprisingly, Lordling Tekiel was not the upstanding citizen my father thought him to be. He and his friends were running quite the tidy little smuggling operation," Lita waved her hand dismissively. "Guns, black powder, some opiates - the typical contraband. Anyway, one night I stayed late serving them drinks; Father had gone up to bed. Forian wasn't a subtle man, he'd been eyeing me for weeks. He gave me a proposition, and I gave him one in return. Told him I wanted in, told him I was a Tineye. It wasn't hard to convince him after that."

"We worked Elendel's upper ring for a good few years, but Forian started getting sloppy. Made a few bad deals, and made more than a few enemies. We were pretty sure that someone in the Constabulary was getting close to sniffing us out. Forian was a wreck, he was convinced that his own family would put a hit out on him if what he was doing came to the light. I believed him - nothing riles the nobility quite like getting their name dragged through the mud." Lita considered lighting another cigarette, but decided against it. She sighed again, tapping the edge of the Coin against the bartop.

"One day, he came to me with an idea. 'I've solved it,' he said to me. All we had to do was pin the smuggling on my father, you see. We'd still been meeting in the back room, and sometimes we kept part of a haul there, down in the cellar. My father would take the fall, and we'd get off free and clear. It was almost too easy." Lita felt a muscle spasm once in her jaw, and she drained the last of her wine. "I spent the next week making my preparations, then sent my father off to his favorite pub. Closed the parlor and invited Forian, told him I wanted to discuss things. Then, I fixed him a glass of brandy, like always." Lita felt her mouth splinter into a sharp smirk. "Well, this glass was a little different than usual. Cyanide does tend to cut the night short."

The image of Forian's face floated before her vision for a moment, and Lita was surprised at the absence of her usual sorrow over his death. She'd loved him...hadn't she? Hadn't she?

"I made sure everything was in place - his ledger book, my confession, all of it. I sent a runner about a death at the parlor, ensured my father was away all night, and then I was in the wind," she finished with a shrug. Lita set the glass down on the bar and licked her fingertip, running it around the rim of the glass. The note rang out hollow and eerie - a fitting sound. She looked over at Laurelai. "And that's the whole story." Or enough of it, anyway.

[Voidus]

Laurelai watched silently as Lita finished her story, watching for any signs of deception or obfuscation. It was unlikely she'd be able to catch everything from someone as accomplished as Lita seemed to be, but she reasoned that with such a personal story most people would have some small tell, no matter how small, some incongruity. But Lita seemed sincere throughout her entire retelling, though perhaps a little cold considering the subject they were discussing. Was that the alcohol? Or something else?

The silence stretched out for a few more seconds after Lita finished speaking before Laurelai finally broke it.

"Intriguing tale certainly." She said, eyes carefully watching Lita's reaction to the words. "You must have cared for your father a great deal to risk something like that. I imagine that regardless of what your Lordling might have done that he still had some friends who might want to track down his assassin."

She swirled the wine a little more, watching the sanguine liquid cling to the sides of the glass before slowly slipping back to the bottom.

"Was that your first time?" She asked. "Killing."

The smoke stained scent of the wood seemed to become suddenly overpowering, and for a second she felt as though there was another scent there, something else burning. She raised the glass to her lips again, draining another large sip from it before setting it back on the table and pulling her eyes back to Lita, waiting for her answer.

@ZincAboutIt