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Zhavi · **07-29-2014, 07:56 PM**

Zhi stopped. She turned around, putting her hands up behind her head. Her turn to giggle, to sneer at him like he was stupid. But there was an acrid stench in the smell of her sweat. It wasn't as if she wanted to die, was okay with the idea. But laughing was always better than showing fear. Always.

"Ye kill me, won't solve yer problem. Yer bein' flat cockered, churl, an' that ain't me fault."

She wasn't looking at the barrel. That was hard. She was looking at him, pretending it didn't exist. Pretending she wasn't a half second away from death.

"Ye kill me, an' yer off worse."

The kid was too young and too desperate for money to have any connections that mattered. He was like Zhi. Someone killed him? There'd be precious few people asking questions. Fewer still who wanted to do anything about it.

Jager · **07-29-2014, 08:08 PM**

Jager knew that laugh, and damn did he know it well. Too many times had he laughed like that in the face of Rourk, a man who had held more than just guns in front of his face like this. She was twisted in the head, that was for sure; he actually questioned the validity of her laughter. Points to you Zhav, for that one. Still, he didn't lower the barrel, but he did lower his voice. "I can just as easily sail on out of here. Dust my hands and cut all ties I have with Limsa." Which was to say, so very little at this moment. "Go 'head, show me how big them stones are, Z. I'll show you just how loud this thing is."Â

If she didn't say anything, he'd just lower it. If she did- and god damn it if it were a snark-ass reply, he'd laugh.. but then he'd lower it, too. It was hard to gauge him like this.

Zhavi · **07-29-2014, 08:19 PM**

"If ye could turn 'round an' sail out o' here, ye wouldn't put up wi' me in th'first place."

She lowered her hands, grinning like a fool.

"Ye ain't gotten what ye want, yet. Losses look bad, mate. Real bad."

It was, of course, much easier to breathe when a weapon wasn't being pointed at you. Easier to be cocky, too.

"I ain't got time t'be messin' wi' yer shit, Jager. I ain't got no use fer yerself besides usin' yer connections, an' last time I checked I'd already got ye in me pocket."

A flicker of self-awareness, there. Soon gone.

Jager · **07-29-2014, 08:28 PM**

"And sometimes losses can keep a ship afloat. Keep the gangrene and die, or lop off the limb, take your losses and live to sail another day." He'd shrug before tucking the pistol back. Killing her honestly wouldn't do a damned thing for him. He'd neither gain nor take a loss from it. He could play the role of any generic patsy and crawl around under the finger's of anyone he wished to know more of; starting at the bottom was his only drag. If anything, he'd get half the shit she gave him on a regular basis. Things to consider.Â

"If you're not willin' to help me clear this'n up with yerself, then consider our business here done. Until I can find the rat, you're as good a suspect as any other." He'd shrug before turning away to slip back around the corner. Neither he or The Informant would come back around.

Zhavi · **07-29-2014, 08:37 PM**

The laugh, this time, was genuine. She caught her breath. "Yer th'one pissin' fire at me, talkin' 'bout how I'm th'scrag what's diggin' on ye. Whether'r not I'll help ye ain't th'question. How much d'ye trust me, hey?"

She tipped her head at him. "Meantime, standin' 'round here bein' pissy wi' me is wastin' time. Do what ye want wi' the body, but I ain't gonna hang out gawpin' 'till some scrag comes wanderin' by."

Jager · **07-29-2014, 08:51 PM**

He didn't reply right away. He'd sent the informant off a few minutes ago. As to which way he went, seeing as how this was a dead end, was beyond anyone but Jager. It didn't take him long to learn the city, especially in a way that Z had shown him. "You're still talkin', aren't yeh? That answer your question?" He'd snicker, glued to his spot against the wall with his back pressed tight. His arms were crossed and he had one boot pressed to the flat of the wall. The poor kid was still in the street, and he knew he'd have to leave it soon. But for now he needed to cool his jets before he started stomping anything and everything out like a damned fire.Â

"I mean when I say, if'n you can't help me put some things t'rest, we can finish here." He'd glare at her, but it was one filled with question; unobtainable by himself. Say something cocky- I ruttin' dare you. Say. Something. Cocky. This city was just as worse as the last.

Zhavi · **07-29-2014, 08:54 PM**

"Ye like playin' deaf, don't ye?" Zhi started backing up -- she had no intention of sticking around any longer than she had to. "Or is it more that ye jes prefer listenin' t' yerself talkin'?"

Jager · **07-29-2014, 09:06 PM**

BOOM!

And just like that, he'd pull the trigger. Only this time, the barrel was aimed just shy of her head, deliberately off to the side so that it would hit the corner and shower her in a hail of broken rock. "Don't fuck wit me right now, Z." Smoke sifted towards the skies while he slowly tucked the pistol away. He'd slide down the wall, squat until he was bending his knees. Both hands were resting in between his legs and he'd just look up at her. Despite having fired the damn gun, his face had gone back to cool and complacent, near expressionless, all 'cept for the gears tickin' in his eyes.Â

"Z. Z. Heh. Never did tell me what it was short fer." He pats his shirt down and when he can't find his smokes, he rolls his eyes. "Smoke?" Pause. Shrug. "My employer ins't a nice man. This gets back to 'im, I'm done. That bloke-" he nods with his chin to the fellow that was here minutes ago, "Got t'die now. Knows too much. You. Too much. That one." He doesn't even bother looking at the kids body, "His chum warned him. Near begged him to turn the other way when I approached." Shrug. "We gamble with our lives, and every day mine is on the line. Sometimes closer than I'd like." He could really use a smoke right now. He was making the motions and everything as if he had one. "I agreed to scratch your back in turn for scratchin' mine. Took out a ship for ye to prove it. I need t'know you're not scratchin' mine with the tip'o yer dagger, right."

Zhavi · **07-30-2014, 11:44 AM**

The sound was loud. Its reverberation covered the sound of Zhi dropping to the ground. That was humiliating. It was also ingrained self-preservation. Alas, Zhavi would never be the sort of woman who could stare a man in the eyes and not flinch when he fired right past her head. And, now her ears were ringing. Eyes were fucked, ears were fucked, nose was fucked -- she'd have to reconsider her habits. She grimaced. Again.

Standing up again was a second humiliation she tried to play off as she dusted herself off. Oh, if he'd been aiming at her the little dive to the ground would have been done with the bullet (ball?) lodged in her or blown out the back. She looked down at him. Another grin lit up her face, and it reached all the way to her eyes. Sure, maybe it made her look a little deranged, but who could blame her?

Nald'thal, ye buggerin' bastard, smile!

She found a smoke, took some few steps back to him (her insides churning a little, heartbeat speeding up), handed it over. "Zhavi," she muttered, stalling. "Not that it matters, ye crazy scrag."

She considered what she had to say as she pulled out flint and steel, ready to light up the smoke once he took it. "We agreed t'be partners. Nothin's changed 'less ye don't trust me t'do me job. So, ain't about whether'r not I help ye. It's 'bout whether'r not ye'll let me. I ain't th'type what goes back on dealin's less there's a real good reason, an' there ain't been any."

The lad, in his death, had released his bowels. It stank. The blood stank.

"Ain't nothin' I can say what'll make ye trust me, Jager. Ye have t'make that choice on yer own."

Trust, itself, was a funny word. There was no trust between them, just an assurance of mutual cooperation. His decision was based on whether or not he thought she'd found a good enough reason to screw him over. It was a gamble. Dealing with people was always a gamble.

But that was what made it so damn fun.

Jager · **07-30-2014, 09:28 PM**

â€œZhavi. Heh, why did I figure it'd be somethin' just as ridiculous?â€

He holstered the gun and shifted his weight to one hip before reaching for the cigarette. Now this was something else. She was actually going to offer him one of these, after everything that had happened. She was still going to call him a crazy scrag, and above all else, she was still here. There was some mutual respect there, for someone just as insane as him. His ears rang, and they rang hard.

â€œSo long as the knife stays out of my back, we'll be fine. Let's make sure there isn't a good 'nuff reason, either.â€ He'd step past Zhavi if she let him, and past the corpse. Maybe a decade or so again, he might have felt something forthe kid laying there in his own shit and blood, but for the deadened-nerved captain standing above it, this was just business. â€œYe'kin get me back for this one 'nother time, we need to get outta here now.â€ He knew she'd not let his spying get off easy.

â€œGot somewhere to lay low for a few?â€Â

Zhavi · **07-31-2014, 02:06 PM**

Another time, another day, Zhavi would have fired something back at his complaint regarding her name. Right then? She didn't quite dare. Not about something so trivial.

She followed him, for once, stepping up alongside him like it was her place. Like he hadn't just shot at her. Not like she hadn't done crazier things; flipping on someone, for example, required you to be just peachy with the idea of working for someone who may have been trying to kill you. Today? He was fracturing, and that put her ill at ease.

"Aye," she said, swallowing her comments about his comments. Her knees felt watery. Her head was near empty but for the rushing flow of blood.

What a rush.

She stepped past him, taking the lead. Most days she liked being in the lead, but there was a spot between her shoulders that crawled. She was taken with the notion of him shooting her in that spot, just aim and bam, no more Zhi. How much would that hurt?

She didn't look back on purpose.

He could climb, she'd seen him climb, so the first good handhold she saw she took, hoisting herself up hand over hand, foot over foot. They hit the top, and she started running. She kept them low, as out of sight from the street as she could muster. Once they were a pier across onto another spire, she lead him into an old stone building -- one used for storage. One not kept very well secured. It was damp, musty, stank of mildew and rat droppings. It was quiet, cool, and totally empty.

"Workers come in once a day, late night." It was one of Skarp's dropoffs, one that Zhi delivered to fairly frequently. She knew their schedules backwards and forwards; they'd come in on the guard's blindspot.

Jager · **07-31-2014, 06:04 PM**

Jager could see the whole attitude of this encounter had changed. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't content with it, either. Shady business was all fun and games, until someone started getting stabbed in the back. A young lad had died over this, and not one, but two business partners nearly lost their heads for it; metaphorically and quite literally. He'd not say much as he followed. Her silence was welcoming, if only to show that she understood how close to fractured he really was. When the time came to climb, he'd keep right on her tail and fled across the roof tops with little effort. He'd glance about while she showed him inside the storage depot, cautious at first. He wouldn't put it past her to lead him to an ambush for pulling what he had.Â

"This is perfect."

Zhavi · **07-31-2014, 06:14 PM**

Know when to fold.

Zhi was folding. He'd outplayed her. She'd put her cards down, and now he was collecting. She'd get her own back. Maybe it would be a few days from now, maybe a few weeks -- hells, maybe longer, but it wouldn't be today. He had better weapons, better muscles, better. . .

he didn't have better night vision.

Something to keep in mind.

It was dark inside the storage. No windows, all exits shut. She didn't light a lamp, wouldn't unless he asked. Folded? Yes. But that didn't mean she couldn't stack her advantages for the next game.

She took a seat on a half-barrel, feet skimming over the ground, and rested her elbows on her thighs. Her hands were clasped, fingers digging in until she forced them to relax.

"Yer lead. I'll follow. What's th'plan?"

Jager · **07-31-2014, 06:37 PM**

"Plan's already set in motion, we just wait. My employer runs plenty o' transport ships 'cross this ocean. Surprised the pig didn't figure it out, the day we brought him on. Regardless, it'll be in port by the end o' this week." He'd pat his chest down for the last of a few hand rolled cigarettes.Â

He was content with sitting in the dark. He didn't have to look at her; didn't have to read her eyes. The tone between the two was stiff, it was hard to gauge her right now. Naturally, when the smart-assed and cocky went rigid and silent, meant they were bound to blow. He almost had.Â

"Yer all fer equal trades, yeah? Thinkin' is'bout time I lent you a man or two, ifn' you're workin' to get D t'help with my little rat." He'd shrug. It was wasted in the dark.

Zhavi · **07-31-2014, 06:45 PM**

"I will," Zhi said. She weighed her options. She was watching him, even with her head hanging low. She was watching his expression. "I'll take yer men, if ye've some t'spare." Would saying no piss him off?

She wanted to kick him, hit him, tumble him to the ground and stand over him with her usual sneer.

Her nails were digging in to the backs of her hands.

"Ye need help trailin' them what need shuttin' up?" Casually offered. And then, because it was so typical. . ."need a light?"

She didn't want to know what he'd done with the last one she'd offered him.

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RPC has moved! These pages have been kept for historical purposes