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[Belinda]

His steps, his very approach were expected. She was used to anger, she was even used to being cursed. He did none of this. She stiffened as she saw the hand swing towards her fully expecting it to strike her and instead it went around her waist. The stuttering gasp as his face was mere inches from her startled expression. She expected a lot of things to happen to her. That was clearly etched into her eyes as the rough life of someone in a den of hardened men had a way of doing that. The locked away expectations of anything better long squashed as the squalor that most chose to ignore weighted heavily in those eyes.

The pain in his eyes hurt more than anything. The power of his rage was also something akin to awe inspiring. She would have rather him hit her than have that pain. The pain she caused by her subterfuge. She would do it again for the same reason. “The knights are blind to the needs of their own people.” She said in a half choked voice. “This coin was on its way to the poor section for food, medicines and blankets. “ She tried to convey the needs of the poor in Syliras and how blind the knights were to it. The needs of Mithryn Outpost was even greater. The mysterious gifts of gold and items that appeared randomly that the people acclaimed to the gods as answer to their prayers may have filtered in. This would have been a larger haul. “This coin will do a lot of good.” She finished with this statement softly.

His face was right there her eyes did not hold the confident sultry seductress at that moment. It held the uncertainty of a girl beset with no options. She didn’t like not having options. It meant very unpleasant things to her experience. “Please don’t look at me like that.” She said in a whisper. He had her dead to rights and had every authority to take her in. She waited for his reaction. The wind was chilling her to the bone as every single black and blue that she knew well was on her body was feeling the cold. The fall had done some damage and the adrenaline that kept her going was ebbing. All she could think of was how he saw her. He didn’t look at her as a whore or as nothing. She liked that. Now what did he think?

[Alexander Faircroft]

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"

Alex paused. Something in her eyes was akin to his own past. A world she and he had been exposed too young, too early. Worlds apart yet similar. His eyes peered into hers, searching for something anything a spark of a lie that would grant him the reason to drag her in. That would validate his actions. He couldn’t find one. Only the look of shock in her face enough to let him know she expected a very different outcome. A very different set of circumstance.

He was Hurt and it was the fact that he was so hurt that fuelled his anger. But something else happened. She explained her reasons, her thoughts, what she intended to do with the coin she’d lifted from the now expired thief. His grip around her waist tightened slightly and then felt lax. He saw the look in her eyes. The pain, the fear, the emptiness. One more line stuck with him. Her voice a whisper, choked with the words of pain and lamentation. She regretted her actions somewhat. He could see that. For what reason he didn’t know, but above everything the thing he saw the most of was not the controlling woman he’d been ensorcelled by nights before, but a scared little girl.

He took his eyes from hers, he’d seen all he needed too. And lifted his hand from her waist completely. “I believe you.” He spoke with a calmness and a sincerity that belied his rage, which seemed as heartfelt as the source of his pain. “Do what you can with the coin. Give it to as many as you can. I’ll jail the remaining thief. In return I expect somethings from you.” He turned to look at her again. A source of resolve replacing the anger. He had a plan. “Belinda. You’re going to have to leave town. For your own safety more than anything else. If the remaining thief speaks of “a figure in black” he’ll be laughed at, but know. That by doing this you are potentially condemning a man to death…As am I.” Alex stared into her eyes and lifted his hand from her waist lightly to her face.

A soft touch against her jawline that spoke more than he could. “Please. If you come back I don’t know if I can keep this hidden. I can buy you time to distribute and leave. But that is all I can buy you, and I won’t be able to come to help. In exchange Promise me you wont do anything else of this like before you leave. The next time you do this it may not be me who catches you.” He spoke with a sullen remorse to his voice. He didn’t want to have to tell her this. However he had to be the one to do it. He move in to kiss her, however as he did he didn’t press his lips to hers however to her cheek. Softly. “Now please. Flee.”

He motioned away from her with a small turn picking up his sword and shield. And wrenching his knife from the wood. He slipped it back into his vambrace and cast her a lingering look. It spoke of only two simple things coupled with a last glint of pain. He knew he wouldn’t be seeing her again most likely but still the gaze spoke, “Don’t follow” And “Be safe”. With his blades shield he started to stalk off into the night. Heavy foot falls of clanking steel against stone. A part of him hoped she'd follow but he knew she couldn't.

CreditMassive thanks to Fire for this awesome template.

[Belinda]

He was letting her go. His words struck to her very core as that deeply buried heart came to her eyes. He let her take the coin to give as she needed. He.. was agreeing with her. No one agreed with her. She was speechless during his words, his plan and his actions. She stood there a stark black against the grey and snow. Her gloved hand felt her cheek where his lips had been, where his words still shifted on the cheek like silk.

In an act that was rash and completely an act of passion, she ran up to his retreating steps. The woman grabbed him turned him towards her and pulled his head down into a kiss that was utterly and fiercely passionate. It had no control. The kiss held into it the raw fury of her fire that raged inside. That fire which fueled the controlled movements. That fire which fueled the passion of her dance. It was long and deep and she held his face in her hands for a few moments as if to etch it into memory for all time. She picked up her mask and head wrappings to tuck them into her belt. In a few movements she had disappeared into the shadows with nothing left behind but a memory and regret.

[Alexander Faircroft]

Description "Alex Common" Alex thoughts "Myrian" "Fratava" "Others"

Against the cold chill of the wind Alex stepped, the only sound for a few moments the ringing of his own steel clad footsteps against the cold stone and snow. He trudged, shoulders slumped and a deep regret lingering in his heart. The sound of silence splitting his ears, deafening almost heart breaking, it was rare to find someone who had been through something similar to him. Thrust into a world they didn’t belong in and coming out with a stronger sense of what was right. He could still see her eyes as clear as day.

Then something broke the silence. The padding foot falls behind him at pace.
Please. Don’t. I won’t be able to let you go. Please. It was already too late, he felt the firm tug on his arm and spun to meet her and her hands grasped a hold of his face. A shared moment of nothing but driving passion. The burning fire of two souls who knew of each other’s pain and could see it clearly. He kissed her back. A flame of ever burning want to do good. To burn away what blocked his path. He reaches his hand softly behind her head and into her hair. When the kiss finally burned out a shared look passed between them. He fought with everything he had every ounce of his power to let her go, to stop himself from clamping an arm around her and tell her it was going to be alright.

In the end she broke off slipping through his fingers like grains of sand in an hourglass. And before he even realised it her form clad in silks as black as the night vanished into the darkness. Once again he stood there. Alone. He tilted his head to the sky and closed his eyes. He tried to be strong. To brave through it, but something inside him was too powerful a memory long doused in pitch and tar. Smothered in the blackest parts of his soul. That something began to spill from his eyes, slowly. A small trickle.
I know you’ve a plan for me. His thoughts rolled through. But why, why must you give me such pain…Why show me a kindred spirit only to drive a wedge in the space!? Am I forever to be alone? Unloved? In the silence there was only one onlooker. One sole viewer, and almost in pity the light of leth dimmed if only to Alex. He hung his head wiping his face, and steeling himself for what he had to do next.

Only one sound now echoed through the snow filled streets. The foot falls of a boy. Abandoned, long ago...

[Yisanareysin]

The ssssssnake hassss your gradesssss...

Belinda

Skills

‡ Weapon: Rapier +2
‡ Climbing +1
‡ Stealth +1
‡ Observation +5
‡ Tactics +3
‡ Acrobatics +2
‡ Running +1
‡ Intimidation +1
‡ Acting +1
‡ Planning +1
‡ Subterfuge +2
‡ Rhetoric +1
‡ Persuasion +1

Lores

‡Subterfuge: Using snow to imply a false trail
‡ Using snow to bog down an enemy
‡ Acting: Pitching your voice as a disguise
‡ Tactics: Un-armouring a foe
‡ Alex Faircroft: Blind to social inequality

Rewards & Retribution

‡ One purse of 30 GM

Alexander Faircroft

Skills

‡Observation +5
‡ Running +2
‡ Planning +3
‡ Endurance +3
‡ Tactics +2
‡ Weapon: Bastard Sword +2
‡ Brawling +1
‡ Intimidation +1
‡ Subterfuge +1

Lores

‡ The night shift is terrible
‡ Shortcuts to the merchant quarter
‡ Getting trapped by your own armour
‡ Subterfuge: Drawing attention to one hand
‡ People do terrible things for coin
‡ Belinda: Steals to give to the poor
‡ Belinda: Passionate Kisser

Rewards & Retribution

‡ Split knuckles - 4 days to heal with treatment

Comments
This was a fun read. I found both of their emotional arcs to be very compelling. The only thing is, both of you are playing slightly above your skill levels in combat. At novice, neither of you should be quite that precise with your weapons. You still got points for those actions, except for the throwing of the dagger. At novice, you would definitely not be able to accurately hit a target at a distance in the dark. Aside from that, great thread

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