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Innocence and Avarice [closed]


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Zhi didn't notice him. She was focused on the stairs she was taking upwards, reciting people she needed to see in her head, things she hoped to get done before her time ran out. She was normally more aware of her surroundings than that.

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He looked around him a time or two and barely caught notice of the girl before she disappeared from view up the stairs.  He jogged heavily over to the bottom of the stairs and took the first few steps quickly.  Just as she crested the top of the stairs, he called out, "'Ey!  Jozzie!"

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She heard him behind her, she really did, but she just didn't put it together until he called out. She'd thought he was gone. She'd thought she'd been careful.

 

Nope.

 

Shit.

 

She turned, tucking her thumbs into the ratty belt keeping her pants up, and put on a lopsided smile. "Forget some letters, hey?"

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Styrm continued up the stairs apace, clearing three or four with each step.  As he got closer, he spoke.  "Nah, we've had enough letters fer t'day, we 'ave.  I thought ye might be 'bout as 'ungry as ol' Styrm, what with workin' 'at brain o' yers so t'day.  So, wha's she say, then?" he said with a chuckle and a ruffle of her hair. 

 

Then, patting his pocket, "C'mon, Taru's buyin'."

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Zhi jerked her head back. Automatic gesture. Food. Joz would be hungry. Joz wouldn't turn down food. Zhavi would. Zhavi had things to get done. Zhavi needed to not feck up the take. She thought about it, biting her lower lip, eyes lowered to the ground between their feet. What would Styrm tell Lalataru if she refused? Chances were, best case, the two might think Joz was back to stealing.

 

That couldn't happen.

 

"A'right," she said, scratching her head, looking up with a grin. "Long as Master Lolotaru ain't gonna be angry."

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"Don' look so shocked, girlie.  'S not the firs' time he'll 'ave bought us food, either one o' us.  An' we'll not spend so much gil he'll be missin' it," he said.  Then, rubbing his hands together and gazing back down across the cramped expanse of Barnacles' Reach, "Now, where to?"

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Which, of course, begged the question: how much money would Lalataru miss?

 

Something to consider. If things went sour.

 

"Take me somewhere I ain't been before," she said, in the meantime. Where would Joz go? Time to stall.

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It had to be a place she hadn't been in in awhile. Or never. Never would be good -- but this was her she was thinking about. Did there exist a place that served alcohol in the city that she hadn't been to? It'd have to be one that didn't serve alcohol (or served shit swill), and that was nice enough that Joz wouldn't have been able to go.

 

A minute passed. Zhi was sweating.

 

"A'right," she said, voice chipper. "I'll lead." No shit, Zhi.

 

Three Tales was a restaurant thing run by three ex-pirate seeker siblings: two sisters and a brother. It wasn't exactly alcohol free, but they didn't serve much alcohol to begin with. Something about trying to quit drinking, trying to quit the hard life in favor of something better. Zhi'd scorned the place, for obvious reasons, as did most lowlives (barring the gang that ran a protection racket in the area). That left fishermen, laborers, and poor shopkeepers as its primary clientele. Its standards were high for the area, and little thieves like Joz would've been noticed and deterred.

 

Buuut, with a roegadyn at her side with coin to spare, that wouldn't be a problem. And she was fairly sure no one would recognize her. She casually tucked her tail up under her shirt. Precaution.

 

"Three Tales," she said, turning around and leading towards the restaurant. It was only a few minutes away, on the uppermost tier of the Reach. "Ye been there?"

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Styrm began to tap his foot impatiently, then stopped himself.  He was hungry and this was her territory, but she wouldn't have had much opportunity for eating out, beggar girl that she was.  And so he waited patiently, silent but for the heavy, rolling sounds of his stomach.

 

"Three Tales.  Ye been there?"he heard her ask.

 

"Three Tails?  Aye," he said, beginning to nod his head.  "But that ain' no place fer eatin'--wait, Three Tales er Three Tails?" he asked, pointing first to his lips then to his backside.

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Zhi laughed. The name, she was sure, had been tongue in cheek. "Couldn't tell ye," she said, raising an eyebrow. "Can't read th'sign, an' I ain't never asked. But it's run by three miqo'te." She shrugged. "An' it ain't th'place ye go t' watch lasses wi'out their clothes on." She leered, and snorted. "Ain't no one goes there t'eat, Chocobo."

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She lead him to the restaurant, smirking to herself the whole walk there. The building was small, wedged in between other shops. It had two storeys, the top one being where at least one of the owners lived, possibly the other two; rumors about the siblings made Zhi inclined to believe that they couldn't live with one another without things going violent. She suspected they didn't spend much time together, their more-or-less successful restaurant aside.

 

It was carved into the stone, as so many buildings in Limsa were, mostly clean and cozy in the way small, clean, crowded, and sparsely decorated restaurants so often are. The door was propped open to let the heat out; even standing outside of it Zhi could fair smell it radiating out of the building.

 

"Ye go first," she told him, "they won't like th'sight o'me 'less I'm hangin' off yer coattails."

 

Plus, the other patrons would be less likely to stare at her with the big roegadyn leading the way.

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"Ye'll 'ave t'remind me t'get some coattails, 'en," he said as he ducked and stepped through the open door.  Gods, 's small in 'ere, he thought.  The littler folk may not notice, but a Sea Wolf always knew when a main-lander built a doorway; they never made them quite big enough for the city's Wolves to fit through comfortably.

 

Once inside he searched for a table.  It was crowded, aye, but only for being so small.  And it was dim, carved into the rock as it was.  There were no windows and the day hadn't progressed enough that they'd lit any lanterns or candles.  The only illumination was the light streaming in through the open door.  He spied a couple of low stools near a bar carved into the far wall and muscled his way over to them, trying and failing not to nudge or jostle any of the other patrons too hard.  A closer look told him he'd break the stool if he so much as leaned on it, so he shoved it to the side and sat on the floor, his head and shoulders remaining at or slightly above the level of the bar before him.  He lightly patted the stool next to him and raised his hand to catch the attention of one of the staff.

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"I know me a ragpicker," Zhi said, quiet, right behind him as he entered. He looked bigger in the establishment -- way too big. She withheld snickering as he tried to move through the restaurant without making ripples. He failed. She drifted clear and easy behind him: a leaf in his wake. One that no one even doubtless saw, except as some detritus following along behind him.

 

People shifted, moved out of the way, grumbled, and a few glared after Styrm as he made his way to the bar. But these weren't the confrontational sort, and most simply dealt with him passing through with something that could've passed for grace. They weren't curious, most of them. They wanted their food, and their drink, before they had to get back to work. No real layabouts, there.

 

Zhi, on the other hand, did react to Styrm sitting on the floor. "Really?" She asked with a snort and half a laugh. "That bad?" She glanced around him to where he'd pushed the stool, and back to him before sitting on the indicated stool.

 

Suddenly, the idea of drinks seemed like a much better idea.

 

It was sweltering inside; the heat from the fire in the kitchen and the heat outside had combined to form some sort of humid monstrosity. Zhi could feel the sweat prickling at neck and armpits, back and chest. Ugh. Gross feeling, one mitigated by drink.

 

One of the staff meandered over, clearly in no great rush to greet and recieve orders. She was a buxom lass, young, and pretty in the way of the youthful and worry free. She had one of those smiles that suggested she shared some amusement with you, and combined with her perky tits, Zhi suspected she did quite well for herself in the restaurant. Highlander lass, by the look of her.

 

"Get ye?" She asked, hoisting a large and empty tray onto the counter.

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"Really?  That bad?"

 

He waved to the stool he'd neglected to use.  "Be on the floor on me arse one way er the other, I'm jus' savin' time," he replied with a snort of his own.  He wiped some nascent droplets of sweat from his forehead and eyes, opening them again just in time to see their server arrive.  He gave Joz a sidelong look and began to laugh his slow, hearty, rumbling laugh.  "Oh Jozzie, good call.  T'day's jus' gettin' better an' better..."

 

"Get ye?" he heard the girl say.

 

"Aye, lassie.  Whatever keeps ye comin' back."  His grin was huge.

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The wench chuckled; it wasn't a dainty laugh. It suited the Reach, and Three Tales. Hells, if honesty was involved, you could also say it would have suited Three Tails, for various reasons that almost certainly had to do with the saucy way she cocked her hips and winked at Styrm.

 

Zhi was smirking. She didn't reply to Styrm, though she'd waggle her eyebrows at him if he looked her way.

 

"What's good?" Zhi asked the wench, drumming her fingers on the bar. Zhavi did not look like she had money to satisfy any appetite. She was eyed and dismissed -- Styrm would receive the lion's share of service coddling.

 

Didn't mean she couldn't enjoy the show.

 

The wench had tucked her free hand across her body and around her waist, her upper arm pressing against the side of her bosom and causing her décolletage to become much more impressive. "Bouillabaisse is on t'night, if ye can take th'heat."

 

She was all but batting her eyelashes at Styrm.

 

Zhi covered her snicker with a ghastly sort of snort. She cleared her throat. Pasted on an innocent smile.

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Styrm bit his bottom lip, just for a moment, then rocked back and laughed slowly, saying, "Oh ho ho ho ho absolutely.  'Ells, sweatin' a'ready, I am, an' it's only gettin', eh, warmer longer we're 'ere heh heh!"  He again nudged Joz with his elbow and tucked his finger under the hem of the collar of his tunic, tugging at it two or three times.  "Aye, so bring on the boo--boola--booloola--ah shite, ye can say it an' I'll jus' eat it."

 

He raised a finger, then two, then paused and cocked his eyebrow at Joz.  "Me er we?" he asked her.

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"We," Zhi said, sharing her grin between Styrm and the wench. "Little bit o'heat never scared me."

 

She earned herself a brief glance, and a flicker of uncertainty. But then the wench was back to simpering towards Styrm. "An' anythin' t'keep yer mouth. . .wet?"

 

Zhi was patting her hand on the bar in lieu of the laughter that wanted to spill out.

 

The wench's chest -- that which was visible -- was perspiring. It glistened in the light spilling in from the doorway. It was only through a massive amount of effort that Zhi kept her ribald suggestions to herself, though she gave Styrm a very pained look.

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He took note of Joz's expression and smiled all the more.  Immediately, he returned his attention, and his smile, to the serving-girl.  "Aye lassie, I'm one t'put lips t'what kicks hardest." 

 

He whispered (insofar as his booming voice was capable of whispering) an aside to Joz, "Oh if I was a subtler man...but subtlety's Taru's game; Styrm aims fer broader targets."

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The lass gave a little dip, her smile deepening enough to reveal dimples, and then she was off and away into the depths of the kitchen.

 

Zhi watched her go. "Her tits're pretty broad." She didn't mean to say it, really. It just sort of slipped out. "So's her ass." Okay, maybe that one was on purpose. Just a little bit.

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Zhi laughed. If it was just a little too wild and enthusiastic for what the small joke was worth, well, it could be put down to stress. But what could she do? Her job required her to bandy words with a funny man who, on any other occasion, could have been someone she used as a steady drinking or gambling partner. Her job also required her to haul ass to get other things done.

 

She couldn't have both. She still tried.

 

"I'll drink t'that," she said, nodding as the lass reappeared with two steaming bowls. It was impressive that they were steaming, considering the heat in the restaurant. Zhi wiped her forehead with the back of her hand, almost groaning in anticipation as the wench delivered the bowls and went back behind the bar to pull them their drinks.

 

She seemed to have latched onto Styrm as being willing to part with a few extra coins for an extra show; whether or not that was her intent, she leaned over as she set down the drinks. Her cleavage would be on Styrm's eye level.

 

Zhi lifted her mug to the wench, who asked "Anythin' else?" in a sultry purr. Aimed towards Styrm, of course.

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'Bout time the girl loosens up a bit more, he thought at Joz's over-loud cackle.  He turned back to the bar in front of him as the server set down his food in front of him and looked up as she set down his drink.  He sighed contentedly; it was so very rare for anything to meet him at eye level.

 

"I can't hardly think o' but one er two things to be missin' jus' now," he answered her, "an' them not fit fer mentionin'."

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"If ye think o' anythin' fit fer mentionin', ye just let me know, darlin'." The wench winked. Then someone else was calling for her attention, and she sauntered off.

 

Zhi turned to watch her leave, mug already up to her face. One, two, three gulps, then she slammed it back onto the bar with an appreciative gasp. "Think ye might have a chance there, Chocobo." There was foam on her upper lip. She wiped it off with the back of her hand.

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