RP:Legit Concerns

Part of the Seven Dwarves All Around Me Arc

This is a Rogue's Guild RP.

Summary: Eleanor summons Meri and Cal to Cenril to finally get their payment for the jobs they've helped for. While they're there, the couple lets their leader know that they're tired of her secrets and the threats they pose to their family.

The Street Fair, Cenril

Eleanor ; The Street Fair neither knew what day it was nor what time; forget about what time of year, too. A low fog rolled down Beloy from the sea, blanketing the busy market in a crisp chill as the sunset past the Xalious mountains. Despite this, the square hummed with an understated fervor that emanated with warmth and life. All manner of disreputable merchants slithered in the shadows now, bobbing and dashing toward late-evening shoppers, hawking spices and perfumes, preaching on the remedial advantages of their latest panacea, and even a few lured in customers with the aromatic blends of street food. It was near one of these lattermost stalls at the mouth of an alley that Fox loitered, hiding by a kitschy sign reading, 'Fryed Cenrili Fritters.' The aromas coming from the nearby vats of 'fryed' foods were enticing more than a few hungry stares edgewise from the spellrogue. Nevertheless, the majority of her awareness was actually trained toward another stall entirely; a few meters away, an aging woman sat before a table, playing at cards with a young man. The hapless youth hadn't yet realized the game was rigged, and Fox had seen him lose a week's earnings throughout several rounds. It was the woman shuffling the deck anew that had brought Fox out tonight, but not before she had sent Eun with a cryptic message to Inks and Malus, 'Street fair, C. Sunset.' Now waiting for their company in silence, she succumbed to the umbrae of her guise, melding further into the darkness between tents.

Callum || Thankfully, Cal had eaten before him and Meri had set off to meet with Eleanor, because otherwise, he would not have made it past all of these fried foods. Even still, they tempted him. Gods, what the hell was wrong with his wolf side? The damned thing acted like a teenager that would come home from school and devour anything and everything in the household’s pantry. Cloaked by his own medallion’s shadows, he chanced to sneak past one of the stalls, ever so carefully reached through a partition in the tent that covered the stall and snatched up fried donut covered in cinnamon sugar. And the people that made them? They were none the wiser. Because they were too busy with actual paying customers. He’d eventually make it over to where he could sense Fox’s medallion, and then eventually caught her scent. And once he got there, he’d tear that donut in half, stuff half into his face, and waited until Meri was close enough to shove the other half at her. Mal was nice and liked to share foods with Inks, even if his wolf side did not.

Meri 's blonde hair has been pulled up into a tight bun so that she has no issue hiding it beneath a beanie. A long sleeve shirt has been selected so that it will help to hide Meri's tattoos. Meri is not trying to completely disguise her presence, but she wanted to make sure that she was not very easily spotted in the middle of the street fair and hiding her platinum blonde hair and her easily identifiable tattoos was the easiest way to accomplish that. It's probably a good thing that Cal is distracted with food right now, because Meri is blubbering on in hushed tones about glamor spells. When you going to learn how to glamor, Cal? They could have so much fun if he learned how to do this. Example: didn't Cal want to know what Meri looked like with green hair? If Meri was even actively looking for Fox, that is questionable...but she and Callum still located her none the less. And once they did, Cal is shoving a fried sugary thing in Meri's direction...which prompts Meri to raise a brow. "Wow. Such a gentleman you are becoming." None the less, she will take the offered food, no reason not. While munching on said sweet thing, she waits for Fox to hint at why they are here...At least hints beyond staring at a stall where a game of cards is occurring. Meri picked up on Eleanor's keen interest in that stall.

Eleanor felt them just as they felt her, thanks to the pendants, but it was only as she caught Meri's comments that she pulled her seaglass gaze away from the target and toward the pair, a soft snicker coming from her shadowed cowl. Joined by the wolves, it was likely one or both of them would also notice that although she was no wolf herself, she indirectly smelled like one—or rather, one in particular, all whiskey and brine. "Guid tae see ya," she murmured, inclining her chin in a grave nod that seemed at odds with the amused tone hiding under the brogue. Feeling their attention equally pulled toward the card-playing crone, another coy laugh fell from her painted lips. Playing at her usual pretense, the rogue leader offered up a sly, "Ah, och aye .. Fancy a game?" Without waiting for their reply, she finally withdrew from the shadows of the food vendor's stall. Like Malus had moments before, she was motivated to slip one a fried delight through a crack in the canvas, popping the powdered pastry puff into her mouth before making a circuitous route through the fair's after-dark attendants. Moving fluidly around the patrons, sure and silent steps carried her ever closer to the stall in question. Fox was careful to keep the fairgoers between herself and the game's hostess, and once she had reached the stall, she cast a wary glance behind and around her before ducking behind the tent. There wasn't much room between the back of the stall and the outer wall of the theatre. Drawing even more upon her umbral glamor to keep any wandering eyes from catching sight of her antics, the rogue leader pressed her lithe form into the confined space, and she began to grope around on the wall itself. Her fingertip found the pressure plate, and with a /snick/, she engaged the mechanism. The false cobbling of the ground beneath her gave way like a trapdoor, and she dropped into the sewers below.

Callum could certainly distinguish the fact that Fox had been around another werewolf, but not -who- the wolf was. Neither him nor Meri, after all, had been lycans several years ago. It was probably for the better really, because if he was given enough information to put two and two together, Mal probably would not entirely be too happy about it. The few interactions he’d had with this “mystery wolf” had not really been the greatest. Fox had offered a greeting and no sooner had she said that was she off again, and Mal and Inks were forced to follow. He’d not forgo his shadows, as Fox had, at least not until he made it down into the sewers and sighed, “What is this about? Babysitting isn’t cheap when her sister can’t deal with it. And I shouldn’t have to tell you that I -like- keeping my money. And to be honest, I’m not even sure I want to know what it is you’ve got to say, after you ran right into the Inn last time we were all together. Into a very frakking obvious trap.”

Meri lifts a brow at Eleanor's inquiry. Did they fancy a game? It is no secret that the blonde is quite adept at portraying emotions that she might not actually be feeling, or masking emotions that she might really be feeling. In this moment, she makes no attempt to cover either. An exasperated look is given to Fox, for Inks had no care to be drug into a situation without first knowing why, she has never been one to act without intent or purpose. Following after Fox into the stalls was not really something that she was eager to do, for she had no understanding of what they were looking for and why they were here. Did Fox really even need the support of herself and Malus? Were it anyone else putting Inks in this scenario, she would have no qualms with leaving them hanging high and dry...Eleanor is given a modicum of leniency in this, if only because of their extensive working relationship. Malus following also helped to get Meri's feet moving, but she will be making her annoyance painfully obvious to both Fox and Mal. She's so annoyed right now that she's not going to even use her words. She'll be responding to Fox and Mal via snorts, huffs, and grunts. Why she even tosses in a roll of her eyes. Specifically when Malus makes comments about obvious traps.

Eleanor 's full lips twisted in a devious grin in the radiance of the sewerlights (at least, that's what the spellrogue mentally called them). As soon as her bespelled boots had hit the sewer's moist flooring, she'd spontaneously summoned a trio of blue-green orbs. Each was no bigger than one of her fists and gave out a modest bit of illumination; for now, they hovered around her shoulders, waiting to be directed further into the darkness of the subsurface tunnels. Once the three rogues were hidden from the prying eyes of the fair, El allowed bits of her umbral guise to peel away, and the glowing orb lights cast her usually warm skin in a deathly pallor. "Och aye. Tha'." The woman chewed on the best way to phrase an answer for Callum's inquisition, and although her smirk still played in the corners of her mouth, there was a flicker of self-doubt in her otherwise celadon eyes. "Swatch." El drew in a slight breath and sighed it back out again before continuing. "Th' Oracle is—weel, it's complicated, Mal," she told him plainly. It wasn't an attempt at being evasive, and a hint of honest curled around her burr instead. Shooting Inks a briefly apologetic look, she ground her jaw and returned her stare toward the stormbringer. "She's got th' innkeeper an' th' client—an' hell, she's got me, aw reit?" Much as the layers of her disguise had wilted away, so too had some of her pretenses, and as she folded her sculpted arms, she fixed them each with an equally exasperated look. As she continued, her tone belied her wariness and hesitance in revealing too many details (plausible deniability and all) but she nevertheless at least was trying. "She doesnae ... approve ay changes bein' gart in Lithydel." Fox reached into the folds of her cloak her left hand curling around an innocuous grayish-brown stick before brandishing it between them like a dagger. She could already sense its dark magic calling to her, and her grip automatically tightened. Fixing the kingfishers with an easy smile, she added heavily, "An' ... Ah imagine she pure doesnae loch 'at Ah hae thes."

Callum || “I don’t give a frak what the hell this bitch approves of or not,” Mal said sharply, as Fox darted around telling the truth. He recoiled somewhat once that stick was brought out, the dark magic radiating immediately giving him the willies. It wasn’t to last long though as he composed himself again. “No more lies. No more half-truths. No more skirting around facts that we need to survive these little encounters of yours. I’m already endangering my family with having that freakish crystal-plant of yours at home, but then you pull hell like that at the Inn? Just running in there? Did you expect us to follow you? Throw down our lives for you when you just run in without a plan? You told me when I joined this guild, that I needed to trust you. How the hell do you expect any of us to do that when you throw us into things we know nothing about? Or hardly anything about.” That fiery Catalian temper of his was evident, and it was wonder that he wasn’t going through the changes to wolf form. Maybe the thought of being a wolf trapped in the sewers was enough to keep him from doing so. “I expect you’ll need help with this Oracle frakkery then, if that’s why you’ve got us down here.” Mal shifted his position somewhat, and crossed his arms over his chest. “If we’re helping you, then we need to know -everything-. Keeping secrets is great and all and I do it just as much as anyone else we know, but frak I am not helping with this again if it’s going to turn Fleur into a goddamn orphan.”

Meri did not really glean much clarity out of Fox's explanation. Blue eyes begin to wander around the area, already looking for the way out of the sewers they were currently standing in. Meri herself has no sense of the magics contained within the stick. She was a psion, not a mage, whatever forces Meri tapped into was different than what the mages did. Her lack of reaction should be unsurprising. In the years that Inks has known Fox, she has not personally developed any sort of history with this Oracle, so the fact that she offers no objections to Malus' words is also probably not that much of a shocker to Fox. Honestly, her fiance has accurately summed up Meri's current sentiments on this Oracle. "You better tell me that we're going to kill this Oracle and move on with our lives, because this is the only sound course of action that I see right now."

Eleanor allowed Callum to vent his anger, her expression shifting to a placid surface save a slight elevation to her left eyebrow; at least, until he was done, at which point she leveled her pale green stare toward him and flatly stated, "Nae." Beat. "Nae, Ah didnae brin' ye haur tae ask fur yer help wi' Th' Oracle," she continued, lifting her chin a few degrees to surveil the furious wolves. Shaking her head dismissively, Fox continued with a tense, glacial tone, "She's mah problem, an' Ah'm gonnae kill th' huir myself." Well, she had some help, but she'd rather not put Callum or Meri in the hag's path again if it could be avoided. Giving the cursed wand a trembling shake, her half-smile faltered as she masked a pained wince. "Nae ... Ah brooght ye haur tae pay ye, fur helpin' me ned thes." Her other hand pulled out a coin purse and tossed it toward the psion; despite its modest size, the spell-runed pouch held close to ten thousand gold pieces. "Tak' th' bunsens," she told them wearily, "tak' Fleur somewhaur safe."

Callum just stared at Fox as she explained and eventually tossed that money towards Meri. “Eleanor,” he said, completely forgoing the use of their codenames for the moment, his voice no longer raised now that he’d gotten out all of that pent up irritation he’d had since the last time they met with the spellrogue, “I’m a witch. I’m a lycan. And I’m a part of the Rogue’s Guild. Nowhere in Lithrydel is safe. For me or the kid. But the very least you can do, when we -do- help you, is to fully let us know what we’re getting into. Knowing that maybe, just maybe, you’ve had this batshit crazy old lady following you around for ages, keeping tabs on you, probably keeping tabs on your people, is something we should’ve known. Maybe not the newcomers right away? But the people that have tried to be here for you? It’s information we need to know to survive--for all of us to survive.”

Meri levels a hard stare upon Fox when she declares that she was not asking for their help, that she would kill the Oracle herself. The explanation that they were currently in the sewers so that they could receive payment for their last job gave Inks more questions than answers. What was Eleanor's interest in the old woman then? What was the point of traveling into the stall? She was not entirely sure that there was no connection and purpose to these actions, that this was all done merely to offer Malus and Inks payment. Based on what Callum is saying to Eleanor, he does not seem to think all of these details are adding up either, as he seems to be pleading for her to provide more information to them, because have they not proven she could count on them? Meri has a far different reaction than Callum. The blonde pivots and begins to walk away from the two of them. Callum she would obviously see later, but Eleanor earned a flat, "If you insist." This does mean that she is not there to catch the gold that Callum tosses at her. Better pick that money up, hubby to be, hopefully it does not fall in the icky sewer waters. Meri has no issues with showing herself to the exit.

Eleanor huffed out an exasperated, "Hoo in th' nine hells can Ah tell ye everythin' /an'/ keep ye safe?" Inhaling a deep breath, she took a step back and sank heavily into her left hip, stuffing the wand back into its hidden holster within her umbral accouterments. As soon as her hand released the stick, its cursed taint began to recede from her, and El worked at her palm with the thumb of her other hand. Her gaze shot toward Meri, the tone of her voice sucking the air from her lungs a second time that night. The muscle in her jaw feathered, and she released her hand, taking a half-step after the other blonde before stopping herself to cast a regretful gaze sidelong toward Cal/Mal. "Fur buck's sake," the rogue leader exhaled. "Th' less she knows abit ye, th' better, an' th' less ye know—the less she knows." The woman knew it wasn't much; it never was. She knew it was frustrating; it always was. And yet, she still struggled to compartmentalize, because, to her, it was safer this way. Nevertheless, Eleanor could feel the unfriendly reception this meeting was having and it definitely wasn't sitting well, twisting in her stomach like cancer. Before she retreated into the shadows of the sewers, she turned to Callum. Her words lowered, softening the edges of before, "Gang wi' 'er. Ah will teel ye more—when Ah can. Please—please, jist ... troost me a wee longer." Lowering her chin in a nod that was this time graver than a cemetery, the spellrogue hastened down the tunnel into the creeping darkness.