Oathsworn [closed, probably]

[Zael Aders]

Ludivine chuckled. "Loose lips sink ships."

 

She leaned back, thinking. Of course it would need to go further. Where the brat had ended up wasn't going to be easy to deal with, which meant that this kid would either go running off and quit the job, getting some knucklehead to try to deal with it, or...

 

She rolled her tongue inside her mouth, feeling the smooth and rough of her teeth as her tongue traced along them.

 

"People like to talk, especially when they think nobody would be stupid enough to interfere with their business. And most people would back off when they heard who's involved." She grinned and rubbed the back of her neck, sighing softly. "But hey, I guess you can just up and leave when I tell ya, right? What was it? Your job was only to find him?"

[Zhavi]

Some shade of annoyance slid over Zhi's expression before it was neatly swallowed by the cheeky little grin she levered at Goutard. "Aye, but what's yer meanin' -- up an' leave when y'tell me?"

[Zael Aders]

"You got what you wanted right? I mean, obviously he's gonna hire someone to fetch the kid, but your part is done, so you can get your bit of gil and hurry off home." Ludivine made a shooing motion. "I imagine he'll pay a whole ton of gil to get him back." She whistled. "Window's pretty tight to get it done though, I mean...what they're planning to do with him..."

 

Ludivine stifled a yawn and leaned forward, rubbing the back of her neck again. She glanced around the dimly lit room, the constant noise that raised everyone's voice, yet made everything indistinct and vague. She wondered if anyone was listening in.

[Zhavi]

Blink.

 

Stare.

 

Blink.

 

Zhi's head tipped to the side as she studied the elezen, delight crinkling up the edges of her eyes. "Ye flirtin' wi' me, lass?"

 

Saying such things to a streetrunner, how scandalous. Zhi could see the edges of the elezen's game, now, could see the fire that was more than the natural scorn and wariness that came with every one of the people who lingered about lowtown. This one had ambition. Those were always the most dangerous to work with.

 

Zhavi liked dangerous.

[Zael Aders]

The Elezen raised an eyebrow. "Take it that means you want in? That's fine...but you better know what you're dealing with."

 

She leaned in, hunching over the table but keeping her voice a steady tone so as not to draw any attention from sudden silence. "Oathsworn or not, the kid picked a bad target when he put his stabber into the neck of a Blood Executioner. Heard that he tried to lay low and escape, but got picked up by another of the pirate factions, and now they're organising a trade."

 

She leaned out again, shrugging lightly. "Could get messy, three factions trying to keep hold of him. Reckon that's a storm brewing, and one enough to capsize any girl who gets the attention of one of the other sides. Can't say he's got long left anyway. These people like justice, on their own terms."

[Zhavi]

Zhi's smile turned rueful as she looked up to the ceiling. Years of smoke had made it dingy and unremarkable, but her stare was intense as she looked at it. Something the elezen said had affected her, that was for sure.

 

"Which pirates?" She dropped her gaze back to Goultard; it was a little distant. "An' where's he bein' kept?"

[Zael Aders]

"Hmm, Depth Cullers, they call themselves. That's the group that captured him." The Elezen pushed her seat back, standing up. "How 'bout I get up some drinks, before we talk more about things. What can I get you?"

 

The Elezen stood there, a smile on her face and her arms crossed. She didn't seem impatient, only guarded.

[Zhavi]

The corners of Zhi's mouth deepened for a moment. She looked down at the table, and propped her head up with her hand. "Whisky," she said.

 

She knew some Cullers. They hadn't liked her very much the last time they'd parted, but the members had been low on the ladder. Hopefully they were dead by now.

[Zael Aders]

The Elezen nods, moving around the table towards the bar.

 

As she passes, her hand moves towards Zhi's neck...

[Zhavi]

Zhavi wasn't drunk, and she hadn't been smoking. Goultard had put her on edge, and it was that edge that had her leaning -- almost instinctively -- away from Goultard as she walked by. It wasn't any obvious thing, it wasn't a sense of danger: some things the streetrunner didn't want, and there were some things that she avoided as a matter of course unless some specific circumstances were met.

 

Touch was one of those things.

 

She looked up at the elezen with a gamine smile.