She raised an eyebrow as she continued to wrap the bandage around his chest, again and again, slipping it behind his back until she had bandaged a crude covering of the scrap of stripped rag now underneath and she tucked the end underneath the horizontal weave to keep it in place. She was silent as she packed what was left into the sack that had been handed to her and pulled the top closed, it was a silence that was telling. She was far from the fool and Buras had responded to nothing in their second round of actual verbal exchange beyond what was productive for himself. She had learnt that he was naive more than he was shrewd in the few words he had chosen to respond to her with. She had offered him so much he could have asked about and yet he took no interest.
Perhaps he truly does just want what he wants but I am more inclined to believe that he has little wisdom when it comes to dealing with the darker side of Sunberth. He talks a good game but it grows increasingly doubtful that he could actually do it. I’d probably end up carrying him and he'd just want the rewards she told herself as she squatted and looked at him carefully, a hard gaze filled with critical assessment.
“Pretty words that would work upon one with little experience and far fewer years than I possess, a decent try perhaps but truthfully filled with little but an empty promise,” she responded with softly, there was a hardness around the edges of her words now, she had had too much of promises and not enough of repayments in her life, “whether you believe that you would repay it or not changes little as what truly matters is whether you could or not” she stated simply as she looked hi in the eye.
She rubbed her jaw with the back of her hand as she considered whether she should say anything further - he was unlikely to be able to harm her and though it was her absent curiosity that had made her assist him at first she knew she had worked with less able tools. At least he had proven himself able to kill - even if it was some scuffed up scrawny boy from some corner somewhere in the slums. Still, she doubted that he could truly help her with much beyond simple tasks in her world without much invested training and coaching. She held the sense that he believed himself to be greater than he was, to try to barter so with one such as herself. He must have seen her fight in the cage and the way others looked at her, the way she dealt with them. She might as well have written him a note stating that he was outclassed but she was not sure there would have been admittance of that fact even then.
“In my world negotiations are achieved through more precise matters than stating ‘I owe you’” she chose the words thoughtfully, carefully, “you ask for much and are very specific about what you want but then when asked what you offer in return is vague and non-committal. A sign that either you have little of worth to offer or simply do not wish to offer anything specific to be trapped with. Crafty but you are dealing with someone who has probably been being crafty since before you were fully grown” she looked aside then and into the crowd, wondering where the dead opponents friends were and whether they would jump upon Buras the moment she left.
Perhaps they would, he does not seem to even notice that my presence might be all that could keep him alive. Or perhaps he does but is loathe to admit it. I could instruct him but beating someone so skilled would be pointless she mused internally, there was no honour to be found in kicking someone easily kicked.
“You asked nothing about my associates, who they are or what they stand for. You did not even suggest that you could meet them to judge for yourself whether you would be suitable to work with them, or they you. You want to take over a harbor but don’t comprehend that the most dangerous opponent is not out there but is yourself. Did you ask how I would accomplish things for you, or whether it would petch with those who really shouldn’t be petched with?” she asked him rhetorically.
“No…you didn’t. You will have to improve yourself if you wish to play games with giants. I offer you nothing but fighting instruction until such a time as I deem you able to not send my own schemes astray,” she stated, “not without more specific reasons to trust you and your abilities though I may be able to se you in my own plans, the smaller ones, to see whether you can enlist my aid. Make no mistake that I hold the power there, I decide who I work with and why and…ultimately…what I get out of it”
“I bandaged you and kept you from being mobbed by your defeated opponent’s friends…for a time at least. Though I suppose that they are still lurking around here somewhere. Perhaps you owe me a favor already, perhaps not. If you wish to climb the ladder in Sunberth then you will need to pick the right allies. New winds are filling the streets and soon there will be greater change than you can imagine”
“I am part of that change. I can help you but am too old to plunge in without stated recompense, thoroughly stated, and a reason to do so beyond someone wanting me to do so. Taking on the Daggerhands when you get cut up by the Blood Pitts could be considered suicidal and Robern’s death has, if anything, made them more violent and unpredictable” she muttered bitterly - she was never happy admitting that perhaps his continued existence would have been better for everyone.
She simply watched him, wondering if he would latch onto the idea that whatever schemes he held, whoever he was banded with, could be of far more use if given direction than by striking out alone and unprepared into a war that would be hard to win even for herself and Bitzer. She didn't even need them to sign a contract and promise to be a Scar. She just required someform of committment beyond the hazy conjunction of verbiage. With time she could convince most of the right course of action to take, if they held a mind capable of using that was.
If not then she would find her own way of negotiating with him but he could be sure that the promise of favors held little interest to her unless they could be backed up with specifics and abilities.
"So, I ask the same question but in a different manner. What can you do? What are you good at? Bad at?"
by Buras on May 31st, 2014, 12:12 am 
If you have any issues with the grade, or any questions, feel free to PM me.
