Obscurity Steals The Spotlight [Aero & Liza]

"I ramble incessantly, there's no point in denying it. As for Russell, he tells me what I need to know and nothing more. As an assassin it'd be stupid of me to assume that you trust anyone very easily, as it happens I have yet to earn Daran's. He hasn't given up on being an assassin, I assure you. What has you so set on capturing him anyway? I'd venture to guess but it would be my luck that I'd be correct and you'd be furious." She paused for a moment and looked over at him like "b***h please". "Oh believe me the things I've seen people pull from their shirts, trousers, skirts, and sleeves is beyond words. Daggers simply clue me in as to your profession, Hain." The myriad of items she kept on her own person was nothing to sneeze at from her mother's will to a set of magic crystals to several books of matches, and if this blonde rogue had any idea of who she was, none of it would surprise him.

"I'll be completely honest here: - in the event that you didn't search me before I woke up - I have, on my person, my mother's final will and testament, two books of matches, a set of gauntlets, and a fairly useless dagger. Does any of this surprise you?" Didn't seem very logical to mention any of that, but it would be interesting to see how he reacted to the things she had to say. "The Finch gang calls me a harpy, but seeing as I nearly killed one of their own some time back I can see why."

Hain made a mildly disgusted look at the mention of the Finches. "Little better than a bar-room gang. I am hardly surprised that someone like you was able to best one of them." He made it entirely clear that Silence, in his opinion, was not setting a very high bar to begin with. "I did in fact search you, but since you did not have a lock picking kit on your person, I decided to let you keep your trinkets and opted for the manacles instead." He nodded toward her chains. "But that is all beside the point. If Daran did give up the life, I would assume that his trust would be given more easily to the woman that he intends to marry. Which means either he is having a hard time adapting to life outside of the profession he was raised in, that you are not truly his intended but a scheme of some sort to inherit your dowry, or that he has not, in fact, left the life at all. In which case that makes your position in all of this unclear. Assassins do not take wives." He paused a moment, regarding Silence quietly in his own time before speaking again. "And I have never known Daran to stick to one woman longer than a week or so. I am the closest thing that poor urchin boy has ever had to a father, and have known him the majority of his life. He was my apprentice once and as you could probably guess, is no longer. So, to get straight to the point, I am trying to figure out exactly why it is that Daran left Kaionar and why he chose you as the one to leave it with."

"I pretty much forced that on him. . ." Silence didn't feel guilty, just a little nervous over it. "Your little canary might have left the city but he's held on to his profession quite tightly, even gone so far as to take on an apprentice." Not like she'd muddle things further by telling this man that SHE was the apprentice. Her face did turn a bit red at hearing she'd been searched, but at least Hain didn't know anything about the importance of the "trinkets" she kept. She'd be without them if he knew they were of profound use, seeing as she couldn't use a dagger worth anything. "You've been separated from him for some time I take it? The man I know sounds very little like the boy you described to me." Her hands had nearly ceased shaking despite still fidgeting with the chains to see if she could even get out of them. "Feels strange to call him Daran since he's willingly let me call him 'Rusty' for the last few weeks he's been traveling with me."

Realizing that rambling at this point would only make things worse, she stopped herself and gathered her thoughts. "He left because I pretty much dragged him with me as I was leaving myself. He's been traveling with me for two or three months since then and knows about as much about my family history as I do." She was determined to leave the circus out of the conversation for as long as possible, to keep this "Hain" from stalking them city to city and keeping tabs on them. There were enough people doing that already. "Is there anything else you want to know? Awkward silences aren't my cup of tea."

Hain fixed her with a dry look. "Apparently not. I am surprised that someone like you would be able to drag him anywhere for any length of time, let alone the few months that he has been gone. So, daughter of the Xercies, I am assuming that you found this last will and testament abroad, and that is why you returned? I cannot imagine why a Xercies who knew her lineage would leave the city, especially since the new Viscountess is so eager to open her home to any of her surviving kin no matter how... distant."

As if waiting for the silence that would follow his leading statement, there came a rapping knock at the door. "Sir, we've got another one." Came a voice from the other side.

Hain straightened slightly. "If you'll excuse me, my Lady." He gave Silence a stiff nod of the head and turned. "Come in."

The door burst open, revealing two men who looked like they'd had a rough time in a fist fight and dragging a man between them. The young man they held was slightly built with fair skin and dark hair, one of his eyes swelling shut and promising to develop into a bruise later. "We caught him sneaking over the west wall." One of the guards said, jostling his captive slightly. "He was carrying a small arsenal, too." All of his weapons had been removed, a couple of sheaths at the waist of his leather belt hanging limp and empty. The leather and steel mesh of his armor was similar to Hain's, though less elaborate and a lighter brown than Hain's darker leather armor.

Without saying a word, the old assassin pulled a small black stone attached to a thin leather cord from his pocket. Seeing it, the young man began to struggle but couldn't get very far for the guards holding him. When Hain draped the necklace over the man's neck, he reacted as if he had been punched in the gut, making a pained noise and it almost looked as if his whole body blinked. One moment he was a pale-skinned dark-haired man, and the next he was a brown-haired half elf just attaining the age of adulthood with dark skin and grey eyes, a myrad of freckles on his cheeks and a long scar that stretched from the bottom of his right jaw to the opposite side of his nose.

Breathing hard, he looked up, looking at Silence around Hain's imposing figure before meeting the old assassin's gaze. "Hello Hain. It's been a while."

"Daran." Hain replied coldly and took a short step to the side so that he wasn't standing between him and Silence. "As you can see, your betrothed hasn't been hurt in my care."

"Are you really okay, Silence?" Russell asked, sounding ragged and more than a little worried. "Has he touched you? Fed you anything?"

"I only just woke up a short time ago, food wasn't the first thing to come to mind, and I'm in one piece despite being in chains." The reaction she had to seeing Russell in such pain twisted her features into that of a pissed off dragon and she fought with the shackles on her wrists, only succeeding in bruising them. "The last thing you should worry over is me with that thing hanging around your neck!" Slowly she began to slip into a less formal speech pattern, and rightly didn't care when it was Russ in danger. "You never did get around to teaching me to pick locks you know." Her only prayer of thanks was that the older man didn't know she was a circus freak, not yet. He would soon enough if he kept torturing Russell. "So help me if I manage to get out of these chains you'll regret laying a finger on him." This was clearly directed at the guards, since by technicality Hain hadn't done anything to harm his former apprentice.

It took a while to really grasp the idea that Russell had just called her 'Silence' instead of 'Revena', but when it finally sank in she fumbled with the manacles a bit more to no avail. "You're in for hell from me when we get out of this Rusty." In her haste she realized that some of her hairpins had come loose and decided to try her hand at lock picking, despite having gone nearly a decade without using that kind of knowledge. "Now Hain, if I do by some miracle manage to get out of these shackles, what would you do? I've never taken kindly to anyone screwing with my man."

Russell grinned, though it looked like doing so hurt. "Good to see that even with your lady training, the Silence I know is still under the Revena."

Hain made a noise in the back of his throat. "Well, at least you're the informed half of this relationship." He switched his gaze to look at Silence, intending to answer her questions. "The stone around his neck is the least of Daran's worries. It is a piece of Charkoras rock, a magic-nullifying stone. For someone who spends his entire life cloaked in magic and too ashamed to show his face, having his magic sealed is an...unplesant encounter." He grabbed Russell's jaw, giving his face a brief shake before continuing. "There is no "hopeful escape" in immedaite store for you. Without lock picks, you have no hope of escaping these chains. My intention is to release you into the Viscountess' care. Given your... outburst, and the fact that your role here is over, I think that your time spent in my care is far past the point of done. I have no wish to harm a Xercies, not even an impurely bred one. And before you get any noble ideas about saving this poor excuse of an assassin, I would consider your station." His gaze narrowed, his tone turning icy. "Perhaps in your former life as an urchin of the street it did not matter who you took to your bed. But the Viscountess would not look fondly upon a match between you two, and in this city, the Viscountess' word is absolute law."

"Let him escort you out." Russell said quietly, his voice pleading. "Please."

Seeing Russell's face the way it was nearly brought tears to her eyes. "R-Russell. . ." Silence took a moment to gather her composure and looked at Hain solemnly. "V-Very well, I'll go, but not without saying goodbye properly. Just let me get myself together." She began shaking and crying for a few moments, all the while furiously working away at the lock with her hairpin. A few minutes later she felt the chain go lax and looked up from her seated position with rage behind her tears. "Just because I look and sound like a lady doesn't make me one. I'll be damned if I let anyone control me." Gauntlets in place and a blazing match in hand was all she needed: she was going to wreak havoc. "Never underestimate freaks like me, we pull dragons out of hats like you pull daggers from coats."

Instantly the match was the catalyst for a long stream of fire aimed at her captor with every drop of fury she could manage. What damage she could do with that wasn't very relevant, it was more a distraction for her actual work of getting Russell freed and making use of his professional skills. After the initial blast she let loose, she lit a candle and went to work throwing fireballs, aimed as best she could get them, at everyone that wasn't Russell. "What makes you think I WANT to be a noble? I'm a circus freak born and bred and there's nothing anyone can do about that! Who I keep in good favor is nobody's business but mine anyway. I'm a bastard: I'm no heir to anyone's legacy. The Viscountess knew nothing of me up until now, so what makes you think she suddenly governs me just because we're related and I came looking for answers about my heritage? My station is the ringmaster of a circus thank you and he's a first-class tightrope walker and my mentor damn it!" If she burned down the building around her with her anger then so be it, but nobody was going to tell her where to go and what to do!

"A final goodbye? How disgustingly romantic." Hain mumbled under his breath and rolled his eyes.

"It'll be okay, Silence. You'll see, I-" Russell would never tell her exactly how he planned to get out of this latest perdicament of his when he saw the chains go slack. "Silence! No-!" But the damage had been done. She was casting her fire already. The two men at his sides holding his arms released him in favor of dodging the flames, ducking into the hall to try and keep from being scorched. Russell, once free tried to move out of the way as well but could do little more than fall to his knees without someone there to hold him up and gasped in pain as his splintered ribs protested the movement. The flames did little more than ruffle his hair however, despite it brushing against him more than once.

Hain made no such attempt to dodge out of the way. He quietly stood in the hallway, lifting his hand slowly to gently rub the black ring on his middle finger. Like Russell, Silence's magical flames seemed to do little in the way of harm, just barely rustling his hair and clothes. "This is exactly the kind of foolharty insanity that I would expect from a Xercies." Hain muttered darkly as her fire began to catch the building. In one swift movement he drew a dagger from the sheathe on his arm and threw it straight at Silence.

It was a close shave in missing the dagger, but in her haste to face her opponent she turned too soon and found that her top had split about a third to halfway down in the front. In favor of saving at least a scrap of her dignity she did her best to fasten the tear shut before picking up the dagger that was thrown at her and advancing toward, and past, Russell. "You think you can tell me what to do? You tried to take something very precious away from me, now you will pay. You should know better than to screw with someone you know nothing about." Her first instinct was to try and roast him, but she noticed that no matter how close he was to the flames, they did nothing to him. Meant she'd have to go at him with what few hand to hand skills she had. 'That a-cursed anti-magic stone again. How the bloody hell do I get close enough to him to figure out where it is and get it away from him?!' Her thoughts were frantic and jumbled, but she knew what she had to do. Knowing and doing were two different things, and getting close to this man terrified her beyond reason.

Still, she had to try or she and Russell were dead. With all her weight forward she charged blindly at Hain; not really intending to land a hit, but at least throw him off balance and see if she could figure out where that stone was. If she could just keep his arms away from his daggers she'd be set! Russell didn't seem to be in too much danger where he was at, and she was between him and the assassins in the hallway, so that was one less thing to be concerned over.

Russell was working desperatly to try and right himself and managed to get to his feet just as Silence came streaking over to his side. "Silence we have to get out of here, we have to- No!" Desperate he reached out as Silence charged forward, trying to stop her from recklessly throwing herself against Hain, but he missed her arm as she charge.

Hain stood his ground against her reckless charge, moving aside at the last moment, sweeping back on the balls of his feet and drew his knee up under Silence's arm as she passed into her stomach, slamming his hand against the back of hers that wielded the knife to push it away from him as he drew another dagger from one of his shoulder sheathes and brought it down at Silence's back.

There was a split second where everything went black, but when she came to she felt the cold blade brush her skin as she rolled to the side to avoid it. It was no mortal wound, but it would bleed and need to be bandaged when all was said and done. At that point she had a moment of clarity and began to question why she was doing this when all Russell wanted to do was run. In a hazy twilight-zone moment she stood and faced Hain one final time only to look rather dazed from the hit she took. "You really want me to run, Russell...? What about you?" Blood loss wasn't really a problem for her at that moment, but she knew if she stood still for too long she'd be a good standing target for throwing daggers. Silence inched back closer to her friend and blinked, still feeling uncertain about everything he kept saying. "If I run I'm trusting you to know where to find me, got it?"

That place was the roof of old Baldasarre's shop where they'd first met, and what was more romantic than visiting the place where you first tried to kill someone you care for? "Where glass when it shatters turns to purple venom, and music is found in Silence." 'You had better be able to find me or gods help you when I track you down.' With that, she was a blazing line of fire out the nearest exit with naught but a parting look to Russell, hoping he'd be able to get back to her.

» Family Reunion (Liza, Jula and Aero)
» Lovely Butterfly Wings [Kat x Liza]
» A Game of Cat and Mouse ((Echo/Aero))
» Disappear! (One on one, Aero Gorath and faeriethief)
» Fun and Games~Aero and Tegan