[Flashback] A Liar and a Thief (Avari)

[Crismento Miren]

Cris stood in the cool rain and watched the Konti pick the lock of the 801st warehouse. It was a useful skill to have but even growing up in a place like Sunberth he hadn’t picked it up, instead always relying on an actual key. However the swindler wasn’t so much admiring the woman’s criminal abilities as much as her cautiousness. She didn’t bring him to her own place either, so he could tell the wariness was mutual, but on the upside the Konti was yet to attempt robbing him. Also he now knew of a sometimes vacant warehouse, which could have been useful should he ever manage to get the damned key from its lock. Once inside he waited for his partner in crime to light the lantern before moving deeper into the warehouse. It would have been a silly place for an ambush, but dark shadows had always been intimidating and mysterious until consumed by light. The ridiculously elaborate plan would have needed some incredible foresight, but then again, her fabled kind was known for that. What it was not known for, at least not to Cris, were the felonious tendencies. Perhaps this intriguing detail was one more little factor that could explain why the con artist hadn’t left her on the ice after her brief and helpful interruption. ”Well, I couldn’t imagine anything we would need more than this place provides,” he said pulling back his wet hood and looking around the warehouse. ”It has a roof to guard us from the rain, walls to fight away the wind and privacy that I’m sure we will both appreciate. It is a wonderful place you have brought us to, my dear.” Crismento sat down on one of the smaller crates and leaned back against a larger one behind him while bringing up his left ankle to rest on his knee. A smile swept across his face when the Konti asked about the business they have just attended to. ”Oh, but it was hardly a trick, my lovely aid, for I merely asked him to share some of his wealth with me and just with the help of a few slight mistruths, of which you have provided one, he gladly agreed. He will go to bed happy tonight, so he has purchased the bliss he wanted, just not as justified as he had hoped. Perhaps some of the promises I have made could be considered more wicked sins than simple misguiding by some, but I am not a philosopher of any kind to try and tackle such deep issues,” he winked playfully to the woman. From behind his coat the man produced a pouch of coin that was now lighter than when he had received it from Chaz and tossed it in front of the Konti. ”Sometimes, however, it takes more than my words to convince someone. Tonight my plot had nearly been destroyed before you showed up. Had it not been for you, my dear, it might have been bruises and not money that I would have escaped the tavern with. So it is my belief that half of what is in that pouch belongs to you. Consider it not as a payment for your services, but rather as a reward from fate for your actions.” ”Now I’d be more keen to know your secrets,” Cris leaned forward putting his both feet on the ground and pressing down his elbows on the knees. ”I do not ask why you did it, I think we know each other as much already,” he flashed a small smile at her. ”But your reading was very much what I wanted it to be, and yet we both know very well it is not the future you were seeing in his palm. Was it not the first time that you have listened to the two of us talk, or is fortune-telling an even more mysterious subject than I have previously imagined?”

[Avari]

Indescribably relieved that the blue-eyed man was indeed playing her fair and behaving honorably toward her -- or at least, as honorably as she would expect from a champion liar and a self-confessed swindler -- Avari gladly scooped up the pouch of coins he'd tossed to her. Her face broke into an impish little smirk, full of admiration and amusement, as she opened its clasp and rapidly counted the pouch's contents. Considering that she had begun the evening not a miza richer than when she'd woken up this morning, the unexpected largesse felt like a gift from the gods. From Ovek, she suspected. It had been mere luck that she had wandered into the Kelp Bar and overheard the blue-eyed man's conversation with the sailor, and a risky gamble to speak up and aid in his trickery. Avari decided that she'd better to say a prayer of thanks to the god of gambling before she went to sleep tonight, just to stay on his good side.

The man's last few words drew a chuckle out of her. "You'd have to offer me a lot more than this," she remarked, rattling the pouch playfully, "for me to consider telling you all my secrets. But I dare say that such a generous reward from fate entitles you to a few answers. It seems only fair, after all, and you have been very fair with me this evening, much more than I would have guessed."

She considered her response for a moment, unwilling to tell him the entire truth about her Konti gift of insight. "Let's just say," she said at last, "that there's a significant difference between fortune-telling and true divination, or future-telling. The latter is the truth, which you and I both know is a slippery and unreliable thing." She grinned briefly up at the man, her eyes shining in the lantern's guttering light, and continued, "The former is more about what the listener wants to hear. You could say that I have a gift for knowing what others want to hear. It is usually not terribly useful, and hardly a talent of which the poets sing. But I'm glad it managed to come in handy tonight. You are quite welcome for my little, shall we say, intervention."

Avari shrugged lightly and spread her hands wide, palms facing upward in a gesture of openness and candor. "Still, I can take no credit for my reading or my talent. It was something I was born with, and it's not as though I had any choice in the matter! I'm prouder of the skills I acquired on my own through hard work and study, like picking the lock just now.

"And you, sir," she went on, pointing one small finger at him, "possess some very formidable skills of your own. Me, I need at least a pair of lock-picks to open a door, but it seemed to me that you can use words to open men's minds. I think you are surely exaggerating a little when you say your plot was nearly "destroyed" before I spoke up. I was quite impressed by how willing you made that stingy-looking sailor to turn over his money to you. I can't imagine what you must have told him about Syliras to have him hanging on to your every word the way he was."

Her voice dropped low. "If may ask, how were you able to do that? I thought I was pretty good at fooling and swindling people, but I've never seen anyone who could unravel the knot of a man's greed using just their tongue." Softly, almost wistfully, she added, "I wish I could do that."

[Crismento Miren]

Cris watched with satisfaction as the Konti gladly inspected and counted the coins. When she was done taking her share, he reached forward to receive his half back. Fairness wasn’t as important as the illusion of it. Although the swindler was confident that he could have justified to the woman perfectly well why her help would have only been worth a third, or with a bit more effort perhaps even less of the spoils, the perception that they were sharing what they had earned equally was worth more than meaningless power play. ”On the contrary, my dear collaborator, I find that such talent is a gift worth cherishing,” he wasn’t certain what exactly her words meant but carried on like he usually did, with vague confidence fuelling his words. ”People only accept the truth that corresponds to what they desire it to be. Knowing their truth saves you half of the journey towards convincing them that you are the gatekeeper to their destiny and fortune. And that, my friend, is power; power to reward yourself for being gifted. So I compliment you for being special even among the mystical Konti race.” He nodded his head as if acknowledging her for a commendable achievement. ”Oh, but you shouldn’t disdain something that you possess just because you didn’t work to gain it,” the con artist rose his hand in protest, though his smile did nothing to support the gesture. ”Pride after all is useless and, at the end of the day, your skills, abilities and talents are only as important as how well you can employ them, not how much you value them.” A curious feeling ran through Crismento’s mind and body when the Konti began complimenting him. It was over a year since somebody was talking about him and probably about half a decade since he was being painted in an arguably positive light. It was not a mask or a persona she was praising, and neither did he guide her to say those things. It was not a lie but the lying that she was admiring. Caught off guard Cris looked away for a moment. It probably didn’t even last a couple of breaths, but it to him it felt like several chimes before he regained composure and returned his eyes on the woman. The blue light in them was just the same as before and perhaps only the smile on his lips was a little wider. ”My only skill is words,” he shrugged lightly. ”It is a powerful tool, one that I handle like an amateur. But in a talented mind that wields a brilliantly twisting tongue, they can and actually do wonders. I may have the tongue, but I certainly lack the mind,” he tapped his temple with his fingers. ”But the very core of what earns the gold-rimmed coin for me is the same basic principle that lies behind your talent, or gift, as you say. As long as you promise them what they want to have, they are willing to give you what you ask in return. Humans, my fair Konti, are pathetically simple creatures wishing for same rewards from their life, and I’m just as painfully plain as the rest of the sorry lot at that tavern myself. I am a puppet that sees the strings and tampers with those of the others. I keep them interested because those are the stories that I would want to be told to me.” Cris shook his head and a smile flashed a set of white teeth hiding behind the lips. It was not an entirely truthful answer and even though there were times when his method was just as simple as he had described to his companion, it was not what had guided and moderated the mark's moods and intentions that night at the inn. His art, however, was beyond revelation. ”Perhaps there are things that we can both learn to do,” Cris leaned a little closer as he finally was moving towards the reason why he shared a third of his earning with the woman. After all, it was an investment and not compensation. ”Learn to do better than we do now. We may not have been born in the same lands, but our minds embrace the same culture. I feel that it would be a crime worse than the one we have just committed if we did not explore what the two of us could be capable of.” He extended his arm to her again, but this time to greet her. ”I am Samiir Jafa, my friend.”

[Avari]

A look of surprise crossed Avari's face when the blue-eyed man extended his hand to her and introduced himself, followed quickly by a wide-eyed expression of awe. Her lips parted slightly and involuntarily as her mind contemplated the possibilities of what this Samiir Jafa seemed to be suggesting. An alliance, perhaps even a partnership with mutual learning, shared talents, and, most importantly, possibly equal pay...

Even as a child, Avari had always known that telling a seamless blend of truth and lies was by far the best way to trick money out of people's pockets. She had always excelled at finding out the truth inside people's hearts, while Samiir clearly was vastly superior in telling lies and spinning tales that changed men's minds. Tonight, they had collaborated together by sheer accident and managed to coax a wary and suspicious sailor to part with his mizas. What could they be capable of, if they worked together on purpose toward this goal?

The question made a smile blossom across her face. More correctly, perhaps, what couldn't they be capable of together?

She extended her gloved fingers forward to place into his waiting hand, when for a moment a cold wind of caution blew through her mind. Could this be another lie he was telling her? Might this be another trick, like the one he had played on the sailor at the bar, only geared towards a Konti's hoard rather than a sailor's savings? Her eyes raked him from head to foot, sobered by this thought.

No, she thought stubbornly, though even she couldn't tell if the denial was motivated by an instinct for the truth or by simple wishfulness. If he were not sincere, would he have told me his name? Or given me this money? Why would he take so much a loss from the start, if he were not sure he could recoup it with bigger and better spoils?

Surely he couldn't think he could get it all back from me, either. Avari hesitated and looked down at herself, ruefully regarding her thin canvas gloves, worn black tunic, and salt-stained breeches. No, I don't look wealthy at all. He has to be sincere. He has to be.

I want him to be.

She had gambled on him once already tonight. Why not a second time?

Avari came to a decision. Once more, she raised her gloved hand and placed it in his, giving his hand a slight shake to signal her agreement.

"You certainly do have a gift with words, Samiir," she remarked. "I couldn't have put it better myself. It would be a terrible crime indeed if we didn't see what we could do together if we tried, instead of just blundering into each other by accident like tonight." She allowed herself a wry smile. "Forgive my hesitation. I am not used to being anything but lectured and punished for the life that I've embraced, much less to being offered a partnership. For that is what you are offering, isn't it? The two of us, learning from each other, helping each other out, and being equal partners in the future?"

She lifted her gaze to his, looking him directly in his clear blue eyes. "If so, then I would be happy to learn from you, teach you, and work with you. My name is..." She paused for a moment, before blurting out the first name that came to mind. "Ari. I am very glad to have met you tonight."

[Crismento Miren]

”That is indeed what I propose,” Cris nodded softly and reassuringly. ”We have begun our dance like partners, despite how unexpectedly that all happened, and I see no reason that would prevent us from carrying on in an equally successful fashion. I trust I can learn from you and gain from our cooperation not any less than you, so it is certainly not a favour that I am doing for you, as much as a favour that I am doing for myself, and like you are for yourself. The path that we follow is meant to reward, and we will reap those spoils with you as our right hand and me as our left one.” A moment of hesitation in her voice, just before she spoke her name. A sign of wariness or poor, hasty lie? Didn’t matter much, for it told the same: Ari was careful, or at least tried to be. The slight staggering and wavering whenever Cris pushed her forwards with his intent reassured him that he was leading and not being played, unless she was a player of an entirely different league. Konti's betrayal at this point would almost be regarded as an upsetting loss – she seemed to be a pretty good company for a non-human. Everything seemed to flow more and more beautifully as the rainy summer day was closing to its end, but Crismento had already been running ahead of himself for a while and he would trip, stumble and collapse if he didn’t stop to see where he was and think. A capable associate was good to have, at least in theory, but Cris had nothing more to do with that at the moment aside for patting himself on the back for a job well done. ”I think we both need time to rest and enjoy our prizes,” he spoke standing up and brushing over the wet sleeve of his coat with his hand. ”Let us meet again by the Laviku Monument in three days at noon, shall we? By then we should have our minds clear again to see where this partnership could take us.” Cris flashed Ari a smile for one more time before hiding his head beneath the hood. “I will see you then, my colleague.” A nod of goodbye later he turned around and left the warehouse into the rainy night.

[Paragon]

Crismento : Crismento Skill XP Reward Hypnotism +2 Rhetoric +2 Persuasion +2 Acting +3 Socialisation +2 Lore: Life of a Grifter, Working Together, Silver-tongued, Ari (Collaborator) Other: N/A Avari : Avari Skill XP Reward Acting +3 Fortune telling +3 Larceny +2 Observation +2 Persuasion +2 Socialisation +1 Lore: Working Together, Lifelines, Defiling Avalis, A Whole Lot of Trust, Samiir Jafa (collaborator) Other: N/A Fantastic! I absolutely loved this thread, and I genuinely can't wait to see more of this partnership in future. Good going guys - if you have ANY questions or concerns about this grading, don't hesitate to PM me.