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Melodia · **12-09-2015, 01:00 PM**

Melodia watched the woman near the door, her hand on the blade tightening ever so slightly and she nodded, a smile on her lips, though with the lighting the woman wouldn't have been able to see it.

"Aye...jobs to do..."

At the pause...that moment of heavy silence in the air, she heard her old mentor's voice in her head.

Now! Damn it girl, move!

She moved forward, quicker on her feet than one would think, not slowed by armor and she extended the arm clutching the blade toward the woman.

"Hold yer arse still! You've been more'n a bit slick since I walked in here. An' I know tha' voice..." She was mid-sentence when she finally laid eyes on the woman and her world nearly fell through itself.

"Seven hells....it's you!"

Zhavi · **01-06-2016, 10:01 PM**

Zhi jerked back, expression wobbling and motions clumsy; it was her keeper night vision that saved her from being cornered against the counter. The room was cluttered with the paraphernalia of tailoring, big and small items alike, and even her quick step-step to the side (still well within the woman's reach, still within cutting distance) didn't give her much room to maneuver.

Her wide eyes and gaping mouth settled on surprise and horror: the picture of some innocent being unjustly attacked.

"Oy!" she screeched, hands up and defensive, "oy, oy!" as if no other thoughts crossed her crowded head beyond wild panic. After a third step near backed her against a leaning bolt of cloth (which was backed by several crates, itself), she forced out, "O' course I'm meself, why'd I be wantin' t'be anyone else, but I'm thinkin' that's no reason fer ye t'be pointin' sharps at me, no how!"

If there is anything to be said for Zhavi Streetrunner, let it be this: the woman liked to drink. She liked to smoke. She liked to imbibe a good many things, the least of which fuzzed her mind and made her tipsy, and the worst of which took chunks from her memory, and distorted the rest. At her worst, she was bad for jobs when she indulged herself, her many addictions turning her hand sloppy when it should be moved with precision.

She didn't recognize Melodia, had a blank disconnect between the woman standing before her and the faint, hazy memory of what seemed to be ancient fear, and pain, and hide-and-seek, blurred under yellow smears and a sneering face she couldn't quite make out in her mind's eye.

For Zhi, the deception was still on, despite the deep and growing uncertainty that this woman standing in front of her might have recognized her from something off one of the long-since-litter bounties that had been placed on her head, most made impractical since she'd been towed out to sea too many times, for too long; hunters had better profits to chase than such a small-time scut as herself.

So, she kept up her mask of some stupid young worker, holding out to confuse the other out of whatever recollection or idea had gone off in her head.

Melodia · **01-07-2016, 09:38 AM**

The movements didn't surprise her. This one had always been a slippery sort, had gotten away like the wind itself had swallowed her whole at one point moons ago. So as she worked to evade her lunge, she believed it....understood it.

What befuddled her was the seeming confusion expressed by the woman. She hissed and her hand trembled as the blade was outstretched.

"Ye hush!" Her voice was as shaky as her hand, memories flooding back to the encounters in the Drowning Wench, how much a naÃ¯ve fool she'd been back then. "Y-Ye hush...." Her accent was back in force as she was stressed, unable to focus as she normally did. "Yer gonna sit....an' we're gonna talk, Kink....ye an' I..."

Bringing the blade closer, Melodia whispered, eyes narrowed behind her glasses, "An' I'm no' gonna take no f'r an answer."

Zhavi · **01-20-2016, 03:00 AM**

Thrice-cursed tail!

Zhavi, no real study in subtlety once the illusion had been breached, brought forth a cheshire grin, toothy and sly. Her instinct was to get somewhere high, and she obeyed it, pivoting off the floor to get a foot onto a crate, and then hauling herself up the bolt and steadying herself on the stack of crates near the bolts of cloth -- one foot on each. Precarious position, and she could feel the cloth (tall and heavy though it was) starting to give way.

She wasn't sure she hadn't been sliced as she'd moved, the blade had been that close, but with her heart pumping and her surety that the cavalry would come bursting through either door any moment, she wasn't sure she'd feel it just then.

She pulled a knife out from her belt. It was a tool meant for everyday uses (the dual blades she'd begun to train in having been banned her since an unfortunate accident with one of the heavies some rich so-and-so her boss had been contracted with kept on the payroll, who'd made one jibe too many and had caught her blade through his boot for his troubles -- when he wasn't looking, of course, since she wasn't of real use in a real fight just yet), but that didn't mean its edge was incapable of drawing blood. Or killing someone, if it came to that.

Edges were useful like that.

"Welcome t'livin'," Zhi snarled, kicking one of the bolts toppling over towards the strange and really blimmin' unwanted woman.

Melodia · **01-20-2016, 08:47 AM**

The woman was impossibly fast. She'd always been slippery and as Melodia watched Kink leap atop the stack of crates she cursed. "No! No' again!"

The knife came into view and she knew there was a real danger for her. Of all the time she'd encountered and pursued the wily Miqo'te she'd never once had a weapon drawn on her.

Until now.

When the bolt of cloth was kicked down upon her, she let out a scream of frustration and as she moved to dodge it as best she could, knowing she was going to take a hit, she swung her blade hard against the crate. Her voice was a near growl of rage. "Down here ye slippery lit'le bitch!"

The words were harsh but she was no longer in the mood for games with this one. The prey she'd obsessed about for moons was in her grasp and she was not letting her escape into the winds again.

Zhavi · **01-20-2016, 01:00 PM**

Zhavi sneered, cackling in delight as she kicked off another bolt of cloth and transferred all of her weight to the stack of crates. As it turned out, the stack of crates was not quite built to handle so much weight, scrawny though she was. Her foot broke through one of the slats, trapping her leg and throwing her off balance. Melodia's kick was the final straw for the stack, and it tipped. "Shit!"

Then, dragged by the contents of the pile, Zhi crashed back down near to Melodia, arms and legs tucked in as best as she could manage. It was still a bad landing. Zhi was bleeding. She yanked at her leg -- it was stuck right good - and held up her knife.

With her other hand, she pulled out a small bag of coin. "Call 'em off?"

Her grin was not quite disarming.

Melodia · **01-20-2016, 01:12 PM**

The crash surprised Melodia but she'd been trained. She knew this one better than Kink had assumed. Taurin, her old mentor, was in her thoughts at that chaotic moment, voice sure and calm. "You have her...relax and take the situation in hand."

She extended her blade toward the fallen woman and she hissed. "I don' want your coin and put that knife away 'fore it winds up somewhere that'd do harm."

She was breathing heavily and she let out a small frustrated shout. "Gods damn it woman! Ye make it nearly impossible t' even talk! I'm no' tryin' to take ye in....or run ye through. I will if I need t' do it but I. Simply. Want. T' TALK!"

Her voice was angry and she was breathing hard but...

She couldn't help but smile. The entire moment was insane and she hadn't expected to see Kink again, let alone here. So it was absurd....and yet she smiled because of it. And because it reminded her of her youth. For the first time in a long time....she was a kid aboard the pirate vessel again.

Zhavi · **01-20-2016, 01:17 PM**

The grin faltered but didn't quite disappear. Neither did the coins. "Call 'em off." She was wheedling. She was bleeding onto the bag. Blood money. How appropriate.

Melodia · **01-20-2016, 01:31 PM**

Melodia let out a sigh, shaking her head which was still a bit rattled by the cords having been toppled onto her. She noted the blood...could smell its freshness and she gestured with the sword. "Drop th' blade...an' put that coin away. Hells I don' need yer money." She nodded to the wound.

"You're hurt...drop th' blade and let me get you out of that. But know if ye try anythin'...I'll slice ye open and ensure the Jackets find yer corpse later."

She waited a beat then followed with, "I ain't anglin' f'r a scrap...I think ye an' I past tha' stage anymore."

Zhavi · **01-20-2016, 01:48 PM**

The coin did disappear, but the knife didn't. With a three inch blade, it wasn't exactly the most threatening weapon in the world, but Zhi handled it as if Melodia's name was carved into the metal. With a twist and a hop, she got her leg free of the crate, took two steps back and stumbled over the spilled contents of another crate, and wound up in a crouch. She was hissing out curses, and deaf to Melodia's reasoned words.

"They'll never take me," she said, "so call 'em off or I'm gone."

Melodia · **01-20-2016, 01:58 PM**

As she watched the scene unfold, the stumble and the wounded woman before she felt a sting of an emotion she thought she'd never feel for this one: pity. The small blade and the bleeding limb....how in her own mind had she created this crafty devil that was so elusive and yet in reality...she was just a person with flaws and weaknesses like she had.

She maintained her stance and shook her head. "Ah down with it already....no Jacks're comin'...not for th' two o' us." Her next words came as someone who would let fate decide. "Put the blade away...so I can do the same...I jus' want t' sit an' have a drink f'r love o' th' gods."

Zhavi · **01-20-2016, 02:16 PM**

With her mouth open to protest, Zhi realized that, in truth, she'd been played. "Shit," she said, casually, and rose. She kicked a piece of fallen debris at Melodia, and stalked over to the counter. She pulled herself up on it, and rummaged beneath; her reward was an elaborately carved pipe and a bag of something that smelled spicy. Sure, she'd get knocked about for ruining her sense of smell, but right then she didn't care.

She spoke as she packed the bowl. "If yer here 'bout Skrit, that's old news." Old as in two days ago, when she'd been sent to deliver two packages. One had smelt of flesh and old blood. She hadn't stuck around after leaving it, but a few things had shifted in lowtown the day after.

"An' me debts been settled, me honeypot, so if yer here 'bout me boss, I'm busy. Ye can have a meetin' t'morrow."

She exhaled a cloud of sweet, spicy smoke.

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