The Long Road Ahead

[Zhavi]

"It's obvious you can't be trusted to think for yourself, but I'm willin' to hire you until the next moon."

 

Zhi turned back around, slow, as the rest of the establishment went back to minding their own business. Curiosity had been piqued, however, and it was a given there'd definitely be folk listening in.

 

"My name is Eidinahtynwyn. You'll call me Oath Judge. I manage the strongarms hired on with the Heavy Handers. I will put you on guard detail. How familiar are you with the docks?"

[Melodia]

He heard the words. They sank in with weight. "I'm willin' to hire you until the next moon."

 

His mind was racing still, his heart pounding in his chest as his adrenaline was coursing. He had taken a risky chance threatening the woman and yet......it had given him a thrill. To lash out in such a way. He'd always managed to restrain himself, to try and supress the urge to behave as he'd done. And yet this time he'd acted. And he enjoyed it.

 

He realized she'd asked him a question about the docks and he nodded to her, slowly, trying to maintain focus and control his excitement.

 

"Know the docks fair enough."

[Zhavi]

The runt was not green enough to show weakness just yet. That was fine; Oath had outlasted any number of arrogant recruits. There were enough gangs with loose, decentralized organizational structures to snap up the sorts whose idea of proper behavior was wild bloodymindedness, and those were the same sorts whose members on the lowest rungs tended to wind up dead. The structure kept authorities guessing, but it was messy, like a garden gone feral.

 

Oath was very particular about her weeding.

 

"What name do you claim?"

[Melodia]

He cocked his head a bit, a slightly confused look crossing his face. Hadn't he given his name to her? Did she mean his other name, as she had with "Oath Judge"? Or maybe she meant....Tabart.

 

"I'm not sure what you mean..."

 

He wanted to be certain before saying more.

[Zhavi]

"Your name."

 

The big woman talked like she was speaking to the town idiot. Zhi winced to hear it.

[Melodia]

He laughed a bit, quietly as if in on a joke that only he knew and then looked at her with a smirk.

 

"It's Vivikuso. I'm certain I gave it to you already, but yeah...it's the name I claim."

[Zhavi]

"This is what you claim?" There was a sense of formality to her words, a rhythm that bespoke repetition.

[Melodia]

He nodded, a firm and serious look upon his face, his eye fized upon her.

 

"Aye."

[Zhavi]

Oath immediately started giving directions, her words rapidfire and brusque. He was to report to a small warehouse near the docks later that evening, where he would receive his assigned beat. The following morning he would report for his first evaluation (she didn't quite use the word "training," but it was heavily implied). What followed would depend on them.

 

She was staring through him when she said that last.

 

There was no reassurances in her, no kindness.

 

"Do you understand?"

[Melodia]

He ticked off the instructions in his head as she stated them. He didn't want to forget...didn't want to mess anything up.

 

Docks....

 

Evaluation...another test. Always tests for him, he thought.

 

When she was finished, the words hanging in the air ominously, he nodded to her without saying a word.

[Zhavi]

Oath stood up, and she started walking for the door. There was no backwards glance. There was no further farewell.

 

Zhi remembered her drink and casually brought it up to her lips, turning her head as she did so. She caught a glance of the roegadyn leaving -- she had not heard the scrape of chair wrong -- and felt a quiet sense of dread once again overtake her.

 

She didn't like it.

 

Why was nothing ever easy?

[Melodia]

Watching her leave he remained silent, as Oath had been. He looked directly ahead, not looking after her as she passed him, though he did catch Kink's head slightly turn. He waited until she was gone and then stood and walked back to the bar and his drink. Sitting, he took a small sip, his hand slightly shaking due to the combination of the alcohol and the excitement he felt. He stared ahead, as he didn't want to look over at Kink in case there were unwanted eyes on him.

[Zhavi]

Zhi took her time finishing her drink. She paid, got up, and left Her Highness without once acknowledging Flit.

 

She would be waiting for him outside, ready to pull him out of sight so that she might lead him to a place they could talk.

[Melodia]

He heard Kink stand and walk out, and yet still remained fixated on his drink with slightly trembling hands for a few minutes. He wanted to drink it and yet he knew he couldn't. He set the cup back onto the bar and dropped a few coins onto the surface as well for the barkeep. Muttering a small thank you, he dropped from his chair and walked out, hoping a blade wasn't waiting to run him through the minute he was out.

[Zhavi]

Luckily enough, there wasn't a blade waiting for the lalafell when he disembarked the floating bar.

 

There was Zhi.

 

Not everyone would call that better.

 

It didn't take much for him to slide him out of the admittedly sparse crowd, and into a quieter pathway. Limsa's alleys might be short and stunted, but there were cracks and crevasses for those who knew where to look. Zhi knew the streets in all the ways that mattered. She found them a quiet place, shady and out of the daylight.

 

"Today, ye've a new mate t'go wi'yer new job."

 

She'd stopped them along a narrow walkway. It was near to Flit's new place, and not wholly outside of the range for eavesdropping, but nothing was ever wholly certain. Zhi wasn't in the mood to bother for particulars, and the giddyness she'd inhaled bells prior was wearing off faster then she'd like. Even with alcohol in her system, it wasn't enough. She was hopping for more, ready to tear off from Flit to go and get it before her next meeting.

 

She squinted down at Flit, lips pulled to one side in consideration.

[Melodia]

The words surprised him and he looked a bit taken aback.

 

"A new...mate? You mean someone to work with me? And who'd that be? I thought you were working with me." He looked genuinely confused but was begining to be unsurprised by the twists and nuances that Kink's plan seemed to entail.

 

Simply put, he was no longer surprised at being surprised by this woman.

[Zhavi]

The squint got squintier, one eye narrowing to the point that it was unlikely she was seeing anything useful out of it. The corners of her mouth pulled down, the whole of her mouth forming a moue. "I didn't say I wasn't, now did I?" She sighed. "I'm bringin' in another. Ye'll play as his mate. He'll be askin' ye 'bout certain goods, an' ye'll be so kind as t'point him t'yer new bosses. Ye followin' along or do I need t'speak slow?"

[Melodia]

Ruru gave her a look of dismissive scorn, mouth in a tight frown and all, at the last comment since he'd been a bit prepared something was going to be said.

 

"No, I follow. When this man shows up and starts looking into things, I simply direct him to the supervisors. Seems simple enough."

[Zhavi]

Zhi's hand snaked out with the intention to hit the lalafell upside the head. Whether or not she connected, she'd hiss, "An' how would Flit know t'take his mate t'his supervisors? He ain't old hat in Limsa, and he'd no cause t'know they're pushin' mixed goods. Ye'll have t'trade patter, get one o' them annoyed enough at yer gabbin' t'come an' overhear things. Ye'll have t'get their interest first."

[Melodia]

He flinched as the hand darted toward him. It was her first physical reaction to his lack of knowledge and he knew it would likely not be the last. As she explained the pitfalls he felt incredibly embarrassed he'd assumed it would be so easy.

 

He nodded as she finished and looked up at her, with a hopeful smile on his face. "I can be jabbery if I need to be. I'm half stupid anyway....won't be much of a stretch to play full."

[Zhavi]

Zhi's upper lip curled. "Work on it. Stupid means mistakes. Mistakes mean dead. 'Sides, yer 'ployers won't like it if ye act dumb -- jes chat up yer ol' mate. Guardin' is right borin' nohow, specially if ye haven't been assigned a beat often afore. Once we've an in wi'the Handers, we'll take ye back t'Thatcher t'see if she's other uses fer ye. Otherwise yer gonna play spy."

 

Her grin unfolded like a perfect roll of dice, one tooth at a time.

[Melodia]

He watched her grin, and understood something much bigger was at stake and he coughed to get her attention.

 

"I have a question. When do I see Tabart?"

[Zhavi]

The grin faded. "When th'boss is ready t'move, if she wants ye in on it. Not before."

[Melodia]

Ruru bristled a bit at her words...

 

"...if she wants ye in on it..."

 

Reaching his hand up to point and tap her arm, hoping to get her attention, he said in a low voice, "Look....I get that I'm an employee....but I've risked a lot coming here. I have others depending on me now....I better be in on it because I owe him one."

[Zhavi]

Something in his tone, his words, affected her: her expression shifted. It lost a little of its energy, its lightheartedness. The skin around her eyes tightened.

 

She crouched. "Lissen here, ye little shit: there ain't no such thing as fair. When yer workin' under someone, ye either do as ye say or ye get th'feck outta th'way. Ye'll do as Thatcher bids ye, or I'll see ye taken care of afore ye go 'round muckin' things up. Ye understand?" Her voice had gone low. She was staring right at his eyes.