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+--- Thread: Any Port in a Storm [closed, probably] (/showthread.php?tid=14315)
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Any Port in a Storm [closed, probably] - Zhavi - 11-17-2015
Two candles were all that lit the innards of the tiny old tailoring shop, casting dim, forgiving light. They were set in the back room, leaving the shop darkened to all but the sharpest of eyes. The sun was setting, though it was hard to tell beneath the covering of clouds; the sky was all of a single shade. It'd been promising rain for the past week, but for a few fitful spurts of drizzle here and there, there'd been nothing. Sailors and Limsa's denizens alike were getting nervous and antsy. Not a few tempers had worn thin as they waited for the storm to burst.
The air smelled of electricity, emptied bowels and blood.
Zhi looked out of the doorway of the backroom, squinting out into the half-light. The windows had steamed from the surplus of hot water some no-name girl-child belonging to the shop owner had hauled in, and she couldn't see out from her position. Her hands stilled in their task, and she waited, listening, only her ears moving as she searched for some errant sound. Nothing.
She spat down into the mess at her knees, a tangled effluvia of death and soap tainting the air. There were worse smells in the city, she reminded herself as she dipped her scrubbing-brush into one of the buckets. There were worse tasks. Unthinking, she lifted her hand to the ear-clasp that pierced her inner ear, perched fat and bloody like some old tick. She picked at it. The silence stretched but for the dim hissing of bubbles popping in one of the buckets. The girl-child had returned twice, setting fresh buckets in the lee of the rear alley-exit. There had been a lot of blood. The bodies, rolled up in old canvas and stacked neatly on a bit of ruined carpet, were a good reminder of why it was necessary that this task be properly finished. She'd been beholden to bond-holders before.
With a sigh and a few rolls of her shoulders, she bent back to the task, finding a rhythm in both movement and sound of the hard-bristled brush against the wood and soapy water. After this would come the sweet rushes and incense. It would not do for a lawful tailor shop to smell of such unpleasantness. Just like it wouldn't do for her to bear the weight of unpleasantness that would fall upon her for doing poorly at such a menial job. Zhavi Streetrunner was not especially known for being thorough, but when set to a task with the stick-carrot of pain and coin, she could fulfill and exceed expectations.
Time passed in that quiet susurrus of sound and smell.
Her guard relaxed.
RE: Any Port in a Storm [closed, probably] - Melodia - 11-18-2015
Clad in her black tunic and spectacles, Melodia stepped into the shop, her boots clomping against the wooden floor. The tailor shop had been on the inspection list for some time and the prior inspector had done little to enforce compliance. Since she'd taken the position suns before, her connections with the Yellowjackets still paying off, she had made a promise to get caught up. To ensure this list wasn't quite so long, so embarrassingly long and overdue. She had entered the shop and saw no one around. "Hello?" She called out as her eyes wandered over the wares for sale. Â
The smell hit her nose and she found her mouth slightly turn into a frown. It was blood. A smell she'd grown up around and had her own fair share of cleaning over the years. She'd spilled her own in her life and as the iron touched her nostrils her ears twitched. The next words came with a hint of caution as she locked the door behind her, one hand moving to the blade strapped her waist. "Hello? Someone in here?" She made a cautious move toward the back and the sound came to her...scrubbing. She kept her hand on the hilt of her blade and she called louder. "You in the back....come out...now." She hoped for a misunderstanding and remained cautious as she blocked the exit. While she hoped, she was not optimistic as the amount of blood she could smell was far more than a mere pinprick.
RE: Any Port in a Storm [closed, probably] - Zhavi - 11-18-2015
Everything went quiet.
Zhi looked up, hair plastered to her face, eyes wide. The shop had been closed. They'd all left, the owner, the merchant, the witless investor and his stupid, stupid bodyguards, their contacts, the apprentice --
Her hand came up off the brush and slid over the hilt of the dagger at her hip. The apprentice. Everyone had left out the alley when she'd gotten there, everyone but the tailor's apprentice. He'd left out the front. He was supposed to have locked the rutting store. Except he hadn't. Of course. Of course.
She got to her feet, knees all creaky stiff. She was splattered in blood, it was soaked into her pants and artfully daubed into her shirt. Hems of sleeves were crusted with it. There was a spare change of clothing, but . . . no. There wasn't any time.
She came to the edge of the backroom, looking out, a dim halo of light around her as she grabbed the handle of the door and shut it behind her. She was left in the body of the shop, a silhouette. She was full of hollows and shadows, bones jutting out under her skin to leave gaunt wraiths in their wake, a story of bad decisions and worse secrets. Her eyes were set dark and deep, tired smudges beneath them and framed by dank, limp hair.
Beneath the hair, she smelled of sweat. Not the clean sort of sweat, no. Hers was the last resort of a body congested with the worst sorts of excess. It smelled nasty, beneath the blood. Her skin was a study of blemishes: clogged pores, scabs, and old scars.
There was a fine tremor to her hands, one on the hilt of a hidden blade and the other pointing towards the intruder -- the kind of tremor that could be expected from a junky needing her next score.
"Shop's closed," the streetrunner said, voice gruff and harsh with too many years of drink and smoke. "Get out."
RE: Any Port in a Storm [closed, probably] - Melodia - 11-18-2015
Melodia was tense, sweat beading on her brow as she heard the door creak. The scrubbing had ceased and the quiet enveloped the shop as the sun set, draping everything in orange and black as the shadows settled. She took a cautious step toward the door and left her fingertips dancing on the hilt of her blade while she spoke in reply. Her head tilted slightly toward the door, ears twitching now.
"I'm no' here for a sale...finishing up my inspection rounds." The blood scent was tearing through her sense now and she was widening her stance defensively without realizing she was doing it. That voice...
"You can come out. Just need to check some figures and I'll be out o' your hair." Every word was laced with nerves and her eyes were locked to that backroom door.
RE: Any Port in a Storm [closed, probably] - Zhavi - 11-18-2015
Zhi thought quickly.
"Shop's closed. Was an accident. Shop boy stuck hisself wi' his master's shears. Now I'm cleanin' up. Owner ain't here. Come back t'morrow."
She stayed in front of the now closed door to the back room, unmoving.
RE: Any Port in a Storm [closed, probably] - Melodia - 11-18-2015
She listened to the words as they sailed through the air and her eyes narrowed.
"Sounds like a bad day f'r the shop boy. But I still need to do my inspection. Have a full day tomorrow...so why don't we just get this take care of now. Come on out and I'll be out of your hair."
Another step, the sound of the leather boot against the floor nearly deafening in the silence that hung through the shop, despite her efforts to be quiet in her movement.
RE: Any Port in a Storm [closed, probably] - Zhavi - 11-18-2015
Zhavi stiffened. "If yer wantin' inspection, ye'll need th' owner. Else yer breakin' yer own laws. Fancy me fetchin' a jack?"
Her smile was a sharp edge aimed outwards.
RE: Any Port in a Storm [closed, probably] - Melodia - 11-18-2015
Her expression hardened as she set the clipboard down. "I'll call them for you...save ye the trouble." Her mind was burning as she tried to pin that voice. It sounded so familiar.
RE: Any Port in a Storm [closed, probably] - Zhavi - 11-18-2015
"A'right, but I'll not have it said I let ye in on me own willin'. Go on, then. Fetch th' jacks."
She stood there, smiling, almost friendly, and waited.
RE: Any Port in a Storm [closed, probably] - Melodia - 11-18-2015
She pressed closer to the door quietly, her blade now drawn as she spoke, her voice loud enough to hear by the person in the backroom. "Aye...this is Melodia. Possible disturbance over here at the tailor shop...aye tha' one I told ye I was headed to. Owner not on site, someone in the back...send in a few f'r backup. I'd appreciate it."
She stared at the door and said in a faux pleasant voice. "Aye, they're on their way now, so we can get this cleared up."
RE: Any Port in a Storm [closed, probably] - Zhavi - 11-18-2015
As Melodia had initially spoken, Zhi had silently turned and headed for the back door that lead out into the alley, near to the door into the back room, at the rear of the shop.
"Ain't losin' me job over this," she said airily, as she got hold of the latch and opened it. "I'm fetchin' th' owner."
It was beyond time to go.
RE: Any Port in a Storm [closed, probably] - Melodia - 11-19-2015
Her ears twitched again, the sound of that voice lilting into them and she clacked her teeth, the old habit dying hard as she spoke.
"I think we got off on the wrong foot. You don't need to get the owner if you just talk to me. I'm here on official business...if you're an employee, then maybe you can answer what I need and I can be on my way. It's a matter of just a few moments of your time."
RE: Any Port in a Storm [closed, probably] - Zhavi - 11-19-2015
Zhavi came to an abrupt stop, and slowly turned around. "Few questions, is't? If it's so simple. . . mayhaps I was speakin' too soon, fancy? If it's such as I can aid, then we've no need fer jacks after all, aye?"
RE: Any Port in a Storm [closed, probably] - Melodia - 11-20-2015
"Aye....no need to muddle this with any more red tape...or yellow." She gave a chuckle, her face still stern though as she watched the back.
With the blade in hand, knowing the front was locked she backed up a step. "Can step out...I know there's blood and ye've told me why it's there. Besides...I need to have a face I'm talking to...not a phantom voice." She pulled the linkpearl out of her ear and set it on the counter. "See? No pearl....no Jacks....no need to be so nervous. This is a routine check..."
The bead of sweat rolled down the side of her forehead as she spoke.
That voice. The smell of the blood.
Her grip on the blade tightened.
RE: Any Port in a Storm [closed, probably] - Zhavi - 12-09-2015
There was a hard glint in Zhi's eyes, there a moment and gone. What followed was nervous cheer, and babble. "Ain't wantin' t' get meself done up in knots over this, yer understandin', aye? Won't be yer own head gettin' chewed up an' spat out, no it won't, will it? Ye've yer tasks t'do an' I've mine, that's th' way of it, 'tis."
She moved as she talked, with the jerky stiffness of a servant who's spilled the dirty mop water. "Ye'll let yer jacks know not t'come here, aye? If me master hears naught o' it, I'll be set back out on th' streets, that I will."
Positioning herself opposite the stranger, she stood looking at the abandoned linkpearl, wringing her hands.