When the Thief Speaks (Open)

[Jerico]

Jerico seemed annoyed at first. Then taking a deep breath and he stood up giving the group a forced smile ignoring most of the laughter and comments coming from echoing around the room in the process. Noticing Bob and his remark to Jerico’s current situation a coy smile spread across his face as he thought of a fitting answer. It seemed obvious that he knew Cade and Mok, so if he was going to have to leave, he might as well give them something to talk about while he was gone and what better way to remove himself from the spotlight than by giving them something more interesting and funny to talk of? “If it’s music you want then it’s music you’ll get, I’ll be right back.” He paused looking up at Bob. “It’s good to see you here Bob, but whatever are you doing here? Last I heard you had a date with Leiwinn or were you pretending to be a cat again? It was quite a performance you put on, showing everyone how to meow.” Without waiting for an answer Jerico turned heading for the door. Once outside he removed his vest, trying to see exactly how much vomit had actually hit him. Thankfully most of it not only missed his mandolin, but also missed his shirt. His vest on the other hand was going to take some time to clean fully. Without much enthusiasm he started to look for something to wash it off with.

[Arryn Veseere]

ooc: I apologize for my late response! It's been a crazy few days >.<

Mok took a seat beside her, all traces of his previous anger gone and a jolly, drunken smile taking it's place. Arryn smiled at him, relieved that the man wasn't threatening to take her outback anymore. Althought she didn't admitt it to herself, she had been very afraid in the face of that temper. And he hadn't even been angry! Gods, she thought, he's better as a friend than an enemy. She looked over to Jerico, a ghost smile on her lips. "Appearences rarely pay heed for names, although admittedly from time to time there has been a Limp Lem or something. I like to think that I'm going in the right direction with my life, and Kismet is fitting." She answered, a sly look in her eyes. He was smooth, a fraction too smooth, if truth be told. It wasn't that Arryn had never experienced male attention before; just one not so practice. Even as silly as his comments were, she couldn't deny the slight thrill of pleasure that she got from them. I must be very weary of this one, she thought to herself, her eyes studying Jerico intently before leaving him. Another man came up to their table, much shorter than your average man. She tilted her head in curiousity, wonder how such a small man could live in Sunberth and still be alive. With his wits and his friends, she realized as he greeted each man around her table by name. What a clever little man, she thought after a moment and caught the look in his eyes. I get it, asshole. I am the outcast and you belong in my seat. At last he addressed her and held out his hand as if to kiss her's. Arryn raised a cool eyebrow, not at all impressed with his courtly mannerism. "I'm hardly a bloody lady so don't treat me like one. Pull up a chair and join us... as you said, the more the merrier." And big friends around you is something these patrons wont forget. Belatedly she realized the same might be said of her. Strange, she never did have friends before, and though these men didn't qualify as friends (afterall, she did just meet them, and they likely had their own agendas) it was a curious feeling to be a part of something, even just for the night. Her thougths were interupted, however, when the drool man roused himself from sleep. Cade looked over to her, seeing her for the first time. "You have pretty boobs." He said bluntly, and Arryn smiled. "And they have their uses." He then proceeded to violently projectile vomit all over Jerico. Arryn laughed nearly as hard as the men. "It appears our friend Cade has mistaking you for a latrine." She called, a grin on her face. She watched as Jerico got up, and the smile he gave them didn't reach his eyes. Arryn, strangely, felt instantly contrite, as she watched the man depart with some of his own sass and leave the tavern. "Musicians, eh." She said, as if it explained him. "They're all so sensitive." She stood up and excused herself, calling for a pitcher of water (warm if they had it ready now, cold if not) and a bar of soap, didn't matter what kind. Freckle-face quickly came back with the items she requested and Arryn left the tavern to find Jerico outside, his vest already off. "Does this happen to you often, singer?" She asked, walking over and offering the pitcher and soap. "Or is it my lucky day to see misfortune befall you?" She chuckled softly. "Get yourself cleaned up quickly so we can hear a song."

[Bob Barton]

How cold. It was only Fall and Bob was already feeling the chill. Why is it always that the women like this have such an undesirable attitude? Well by asking him to take a seat, Bob still had a chance. It was not like she turned him away immediately. With a sly grin he continued "So how would like to be treated then? I am very accommodating though when that time comes the more won't be merrier." Pretty blunt but then these things were always a hit or miss.

And it was Bob who failed and not Jerico and the musician had the gall to bring up something like a sore loser? Not like Bob was complaining, Jerico was only pointing out how awesome Bob is. "Well you know, she really likes the cat thing. Maybe I should ask her out again?" trying to turn things around. Those things were probably not true but it didn't seem like Jerico knew anything else. "Would you like to learn how to meow too? At least you can get some Pus-" but Jerico was off. Here Bob was trying to be a nice guy and he was ignored just like that.

Kismet went right after him. Curses. Bob will just have to contend with Leiwinn then. Bob took the drink Mok handed over to him and heard the offer. Was Bob really that obvious? He looked back over the shoulder at the entrance to see if the little man was following him. Seeing that he was not around, Bob looked back at Mok "No, there is no one." at least not yet, looking over his shoulder again. "But if there is you and Cade will be the first people I'll come to. I know how much you boys like your fun" which was just as much as the women.

[Antar]

Ah, the night. It was an interesting time, and even more interesting means of being about. Unlike many of his kind, Noth was both a creature of the night and the day, easily at peace with one or the other. On this night he was having a rare bit of fun. He did not partake of any alcoholic brew like others of his group, but rather deemed that alert senses beat bleary ones any day of the weak.

Antar was experimenting tonight, trying to weave amidst the town's night life as a shadow would. Flitting from corner to corner, and keeping a sharp eye out for danger. Sunberth was a dangerous place though, a place where even a moment's weakness or inability to focus was capable of being the end of someone, no matter how dangerous their talents were. It was a lesson he strived to remember after a day's labor in the forests.

But for now, now Antar stood outside the Pig's Foot, about ten yards behind a man that looked as if he was having the devil of a time cleaning himself off and a lady of some interest in the way she moved (no not in a sensual way, but rather in a stalking gait of one smoothly eclipsed in shadows). They were both... intriguing. A musician of some sort and a thief, perhaps? The woman did not bear the physique of an assassin like Kiara, but rather the steady gait of one accustomed to silence.

Interesting.

Silently he strode towards the pair, walking with careful steps, rolling from heel to toe, to muffle the sounds of his feet and approach underneath the raucaus sounds of the bargoers inside. At five feet he stopped, and reached into the folds of his robe to withdraw some thing from his sleeve. At three feet Noth stopped, wondering if his presence had been detected. He paused a moment, before he extended a silken black hankerchief, the color of night over the woman's shoulder as he whispered, "Perhaps this might work better to soothe the troubradour's situation then that rag?"

Noth stayed there, ever smiling slightly as his hand remained extended, the black handkerchief merely being held out as his offer suggested. Whether Antar's attempt to sneak up upon the two was successful, he'd leave such thoughts to them to see if he had spooked them.

[Arryn Veseere]

Arryn answered the little man's grin for grin. Now this was more like it, sit down, have a few drinks and throw some lewd comments back and forth. "If I told you that would make it easy for you, and someone as clever as yourself would enjoy a challenge, I think." She caught the man's comment about cats and meowing and burst out laughing, suddenly enjoying his sharp tongue. As she turned to leave the table she put a warm hand on his shoulder. "I'm Kismet, by the way. Keep my chair for me?" And with a wink she left. Outside she watched patiently as Jerico scrubbed at his vest with little reward. The pungent smell of bile and alcohol wafted from the poor man, and Arryn had to stiffle another laugh. It was a really shitty situation to be in, truth be told, but Jerico was taking it with considerable better humor than Arryn would have. "It's not too bad," Arryn said, trying to console the musician. "If you'd like I can hold your instru-" She stopped mid sentence when she caught something out of the corner of her eyes. A hand hovered over her shoulder clutching some sort of dark material. Arryn didn't get a very good look because she yelped in shock and jumped back even as the figure was speaking, her heart pounding in her chest cavity. With a hand over her heart Arryn tried to compose herself, realizing that the newcomer - a man of some considerable height - obviously meant no harm or else she'd be dead. "Gods be damned, do you do that to everyone?!" She demanded, now angry that she, undoubtedly, had given him the reaction he so wanted. She admitted grudgingly to herself that he was good and the thief reassessed him even in her anger. Arryn approached the man, appearing confident and nonchalant but in truth very tense and a little nervous. Even though he had the advantage not moments before and didn't attack didn't mean he wouldn't. There was a lot of negatives in that observation, she thought to herself as she took the cloth from him, and her eyes narrowed now that she was closer. "Who are you?" Her attention was drawn elsewhere when four men came strutting down the street, bold as you please. Arryn quirked an eyebrow at them and moved a little to the side when it became apparent they were entering the tavern. She couldn't be sure, of course, but they had the stink of syndicate on them. She wondered if she should even go back in now. Syn boys were more often than not arrogant talentless whelps who thought themselves untouchable behind their gang affiliations and willingly picked fights.

[Jerico]

Jerico paused as if thinking, from his look it seemed as if the more recent events weren't the only misfortunate things to have befallen Jerico today. “It must be your lucky day or maybe just my unlucky day. I‘ve seldom found myself in situations like these.” Jerico gave Arryn a thankful nod, so far he had little luck with cleaning off the vest and the pitcher of water and soap were a godsend when it came to cleaning it off. At Arryn’s call for music he grinned and laughed. “You too huh? Looks like everyone wants to hear a song tonight. I was beginning to think it would have been safer to just go home.” Turning back to the vest he paused, slipping off the strap to his mandolin and setting it down next to him. With it no longer hanging on his back he scrubbed the vest furiously until the vomit was gone. Having not noticed Antar’s approach or his voice as he spoke, Jerico stood and pulled his vest back on. Reaching down he picked up the mandolin and pulled the strap back on, this time with it hanging in front of him where he could reach it. “No need Kismet, I‘ve finished with my vest and…” He trailed off, seeing the man behind Arryn. She too stopped mid sentence and turned to face him. It was startling to see a stranger randomly appear from almost complete nothingness, though Jerico could see Arryn had been startled as well. Not wanting to give in to his first instict, which was of course to shout or swear, he took another deep breath and forced a smile once more. “Well, I can see you've got this covered Kismet…I‘ll just wait over here.” With that said he took a few steps back, not really wanting to be near the man or the four men who approached the tavern. While waiting he brought his hand down across the mandolin lightly to check if the instrument was still tuned, obviously unhappy with the resounding noise he reached for the dials at the top of the instrument and twisted them left and right before strumming again. In a city like Sunberth, the best thing to do was just go with the flow, accepting whatever came your way. In Jerico's case that meant playing his mandolin and staying calm.

[Antar]

Smiling slightly from the crook or his mouth Noth merely nodded politely to Arryn and then once to Jerico. Neither confirming what they had said , nor denying anything at all as the four blokes of some minor gang from the wolf's den strolled into the bar, Antar directed his full attention back to the pair sure that anyone within would just have to deal with any altercation's from the gang members arrival. Most of them were harmless hooligans searching for a big score that never came and settled on petty larceny.

When he was asked his name his smile merely grew a touch larger and he shrugged, "Ah... Kismet. What a lovely name, and the troubrador would be ... Jerico was it?"

As Jerico ventured a short ways distance, Noth smile grew a little louder as he gestured for him to come back and get a little closer."No , no... young Kismet and Jerico. You two have no need to be afraid of me- At least for tonight. I merely wish to propose a challenge to you both. A profitable one of course." Whether or not Jerico followed his words or his eyes, Antar gauntleted hands rose until both palms were out flat just under six inches below Kismet's nose. Curling them both up, he shucked both arms out to the side, allowing two small coins to fall into his palms before bringing them back to their relative position where she might see them.

Opening the left palm slowly a flash of a coin worth five silver mizas was apparent to the naked eye, and opening up the right a single gold miza piece was shown, "For a meer second I propose that you, dear Kismet, shall find the price of one of dear Jerico's songs, by guessing merely which hand will carry which miza, to see if you can spot my trick. Should you guess incorrectly then you will receive nothing and the coin you pick shall go towards the troubradour for the price of a song. But should you guess correctly, a gold and five silvers shall be yours as well as that amount given to the minstrel in return. Should either of you fail to guess or not wish to take part in this little game of mine to pass the time... then I shall pay only a copper to you both for Jerico's tune, and hear your voice sing as sweetly as can be along with it if you can Kismet."

He moved his hands again transfering the coins down along the back knuckles of his hand until he snapped his wrists back out again making the coins vanish back into the sleeves of his robe as easily as a certain dwarfish man he knew could shuffle skifters into a deck of cards.

Turning from one to the other, still amused by this little game of his, Noth finished, "And if either of you can even take it one step further to guess my trick, then for a change, the rate of three gold mizas you shall range. All for a night of song to grace the fact your luck might turn?" With a slight gleam of amusement in his eyes the rogue awaited their answer... just to see if they would play his little game.

[Arryn Veseere]

Arryn tilted her head slightly, and studied the newcomer. Even though he declared he didn't plan on harming either of them tonight -though it implied that that may not be the case in the future, she found herself strangely interested. He moved furtively, even now, as one does more accoustomed to shadows. He had a dangerous aura, however, certaintly more so than a common thief. There wasn't many people with the same skillset as a thief but were not thieves, and she did not want to think that she spoke to one of those people now. Unfortunately, no matter how hard she tried to imagine something else she knew infallibly that this man was an assassin. And despite her apprehension - she refused to admit fear - she was intrigued, and a slight thrill of danger and exhiliration shivered through her. An assassin! She did not fail to notice that he didn't share him own name, but Arryn fully understood; she herself used an alias nearly everytime she spoke to someone. Arryn leaned forward slightly, her curiousity overcoming her hesitation. That is, of course, until the assassin's hands appeared under her nose abruptly. Arryn yelped and jumped back, tense to run, to fight, to do something, anything, just so she wouldn't find herself on the wrong end of a dagger. She blushed slightly when she realized that he was just holding a few coins in the palm of his hand, embarrassed that she would reveal her fear of him like that. Clearing her throat Arryn stepped back up to him, feigning a confidence that she did not feel, especially with a still racing heart. The thief listened intently to the assassin as he laid out the rules and her brows furrowed. A game? Her singing? 'Oh gods, I should just walk away now.' She thought, even as she watched the assassin rolling the coins across his knuckles and tucking them away. She opened her mouth to decline - than closed it again, thinking. She couldn't pass up the opportunity for more coin; it wasn't in her nature. Arryn narrowed her peculiar eyes, and throwing caution to the wind she said; "I'll play your game. "There are no coins in either hand, you sly bastard. That way, if I picked either you wouldn't have to pay anything to either myself or Jerico." Despite the bravado in her voice, she doubted that she had the right answer. It's just how she would have conducted the game.

[Jerico]

Jerico continued to tune his mandolin until it was perfect. Now that the instrument was in tune Jerico could play without the annoyance of it being off tune. Having listened to the conversation so far he chuckled when Arryn yelped and jumped back. It was a strange sight to see her act like this, mainly due to her attitude before when they were in the bar. “Right…so we get paid if we guess the right hand, there‘s two of us and as far as I can see you only have two hands. We could just guess different hands and one of us would win…” He trailed off in thought, it didn’t seem right that Antar would offer to play a game that he would surely lose. Which meant he had some other trick up his sleeve. Before he could say more on it Arryn spoke up, Jerico smiled as the answer to his own question was answered. It made sense too, so Jerico silently decided to agree with Arryn. “Well if she‘s right then I do believe you owe her a few coins. Though there is one thing that I must ask before this game goes any further, Kismet can you sing?”

[Antar]

ooc:P Arryn- FYI for your skills list: Pickpocket is not a separate skill- it already falls under your larceny score ^-^. That frees you up 15 points. The same thing goes to you Jerico- pickpocketing is larceny

The rogue looked at the two and smiled and continued his amusing game of verbal wit and witticisms, "Congratulations are in order I guess. You seem to have passed my little test. You guessed my trick in but a tick, and to keep my word to each of you shall be; A gift of gold mizas three. Now I can only hope for a song, I hope you two will not tarry long. For in the future you will find; that to my friends I'm somewhat kind."

Staying true to his word, the rogue's hand sprung to the side again, this time three gold mizas each fell into his palms and he promptly gave each of them their share before spinning on a heel to march inside the tavern. His eyes spotted the rest of the revelgoers, Cade at the bar, Mok , and Bob sitting at a table and he waved to them.

But he did not sit with them even though he chose a corner table nearby. He was here for a meal to sate his belly, his long night of sneaking bearing fruit to make himself hungry as he wondered what his little falcon might be thinking, all at home in her little cage. It made him wonder some time that he might know why the cage bird sung.

And with that thought in mind as a barmaid came to take his order, Noth pondered whether Jerico would actually sing this night, and if kismet would join him. The Pig's foot could use a source of entertainment, aside from perhaps ruffling up the four bargoing toughs who had come in as bold as brass. They were sitting a short distance away from Mok's table, and Noth knew that was always a volatile combination. He even thought he recognized them as belonging to a small gang of the Wolf's Den known as the Canaries, as they all bore yellow sashes.

'Yes, yes... tonight might just be entertaining indeed." When the serving wench brought back his pitcher of redberry, he began to sip the cool non-alcoholic drink as he pondered just what the night might hold.


Note to modFrom my ledger:
Approved: 3gm to Arryn
Approved: 3gm to Jerico