Closed A stinky situation (caela dorin)

[Ildi]

23th summer 514 av There was a feral grin on Ildi’s face as he kept a firm grip on the bag in his hands. A pungent stink was coming from inside. Getting the fish was easy, having the patience of letting it rot for day’s till the meat nearly slaughed of the bones was the hard part. Not to mention that he had to hide it in a spot where nobody would throw it away. But he had managed and he couldn’t wait to see the face of the woman when she found out all her clothes had been soaked with liquified and rotten fish. Best part of this wasn’t just the fun he got out of it, but the fact he even got paid a decent amount of money to do this. He was getting closer to the woman’s house and he slowed down, keeping his eyes and ears open as he snuck up to the window. He carefully looked inside of the house. He didn’t see anybody inside. That was good, after the few stunts he already pulled he had been fearing that the woman would have wizened up and stayed home today. He made his way over towards the door and carefully set down the bag filled with liquid doom and fished his tools of the trade out of his pocket. The locket was simple fare. Not even a tumbler lock, but just using a set of guards inside of it that would prevent any key not fitting past them to push the levery thingy that would unlock it. Getting it open without the key just required some patience, some skill and a bit of luck or practice and seeing as he already broke into this house a few times before to leave his other surprises behind, he had more then enough practice with this particular lock. Getting the lock open only took a few moments of him fiddling with his tools, squirming past the guards in the locking mechanism and getting at the bolt inside. After that the door slid open and nothing stood between him and a very bad day for the lady. He put his tools back away, picked up the sack filled with rotten liquified fish and got inside. Closing the door behind him. He walked over towards the trunk and pulled it open. He could just pour the fish all over the floor of the house. The smell would linger for a long time, especially in this hot weather. But that would only be a problem when she was at home. No he had planned something much worse and costly to replace. Soak her clothes in the rot, would be nearly impossible to get out and either she’ll had to walk around smelling like fish that had been rotting for day’s. Or go out naked. He pulled open the trunk. Opened up his bag and was ready to coat those clothes of hers in gunk.

[Caela Dorin]

x

Caela Dorin

There were some strange things that Caela had done in her life but carrying out a stakeout from under her bed was a first.

Strange things had been happening while she was away at work. She was sure someone was breaking in while she was away, was certain of it in fact. There was no way for someone to place things in her room unless they were picking the lock. It was an idea that made her uneasy but there was no other explanation for the strange things that had been appearing in her room. At first, the dancer hadn't even been certain of an intrusion. She'd come home from work at some late bell one night and had merely stripped off and gotten into bed rather than set about creating a light source for herself. The experience had been... unpleasant to say the least. There had been things beneath the covers, wriggling and alive and seemingly in their hundreds. The young woman had shrieked and squirmed and thrown herself from her bed in horror. There had been much hopping on the spot and slapping at her body until she'd calmed down enough to procure a light. That hadn't helped at all, instead sending her into hysterics when she saw the mass of insects in crawling and writhing in her bed. Caela still didn't know exactly what they'd been but even after she'd swept them clear she was left with the feeling that there had been more of them before. No insects had ever appeared in her bed before, at least not in that volume, and they hadn't appeared since.

Since the bug invasion a few days before there had been some new and unpleasant surprise to be found in her room on a daily basis. A bloody and maggot filled chicken upon her floor. The head of a pig on her pillow. Each new surprise put fear into her. There was no pretending that it was coincidence, that things were appearing magically in her room. Someone was either playing a nasty joke or trying to send a message. So Caela intended to catch whoever was doing it in the act. She'd assumed that they would strike again today as they'd done every day for the last few days and so she'd explained to Merv that she needed the day off and holed herself up under her bed with some food and a mug of water. The urge to go to the toilet had been the only thing to drag her out from her hiding place and only for the briefest of absences. Nothing had happened and so she had begun to think that it had only been a joke, a temporary amusement for some weirdo. The only thing that changed her mind was the click of the lock and the sight of the door swinging open.

The young woman tensed as her eyes tracked the legs moving across the floor, heading for the trunk at the far side of the room from the doorway. Whoever it was didn't seem to notice the figure not fully obscured in the shadows beneath the bedstead. But she noticed him, neck stretching to get a better view of him. He was carrying a sack, hauling it to her trunk which he opened. Going by his usual modus operandi, he'd brought something to put into her trunk rather than taking something out. The dancer wasn't having that.

Crawling out from beneath the bed as fast as she could, stealth going out the window, she scrambled to her feet quickly and reached for her dagger, pulling it from its sheathe on the third attempt as her grip failed under pressure. Belatedly, her nerves reacted in her legs sending the tingling of pins in needles through the limbs. She hobbled slightly, cursing before addressing the intruder. The whole emergence had taken about half a chime. "You'd better get the petch out of my room or I swear to the gods I'll make you pay!"

x

[Ildi]

The grin was still on his face as he picked up one of the woman’s dresses out of the trunk. Just as he was going to drop it into his bag of gunk he was startled by a loud noise. He looked to his side and saw an irate woman scramble from out underneath the bed. Looking like she was going to skin him alive with that dagger she was holding in her hand. Now, Ildi never had been the most couragous boy in sunberth, but usually he would be able to stand his ground when surprised and make a decent decision on what to do. Unfortunately for him, the fact he had been put through shame and hell by another irate woman not to long ago didn’t do his decision making skills under pressure any good. especially when another irate woman came into the situation. With the window still bolted shut and the woman in between him and the only exit. Fleeing wasn’t an option . Without thinking Ildi kicked the bag filled with fish ,rotten to the point it was more liquid gunk then fish, at the woman who was still slightly wobbly on her legs. The bag of filth harmlessly sailed past the woman,splatters of filth trailing past the projectile and falling on the floor,, before it fell on her bed and spilling the filth all over the linens. “Petch.” Ildi muttered as that plan didn’t quite work out as he had thought it would be. He chuckled awkwardly as he took a few steps back from the irate woman, keeping an eye on her, he knew she would pounce on him. She was armed as well and even though he probably had more weapons stuffed under his ratty cloak then her, he wasn’t about to rely on his rather shyke fighting skills to get out of this situation. “Er, right.. Wasn’t anything personal all of this. Just business, somebody paid me too do this.” He said immediately. Hoping the fact he was just hired help would placate the woman at least a bit. “Didn't enjoy this in the least. But whatever puts food on the table right.” He said with a nervous smile on his face. He didn’t feel an ounce of guilt at hanging his ‘employer’ out to dry. The guy had paid for planting hideous crud in her home and making her life hell. He hadn’t paid for his silence. “How about I just give a description of who did this. You let me go and we forget this all happened?” He said with a bit of hope in his voice. wearily eying the woman's dagger. Before those words had even left his mouth he knew that she wouldn't just let him go. But maybe she would be interested enough into his employer that he could use that as leverage to get out.

oocSo if you ask in your next post about the guy. Can I just make up how the guy looked?

[Caela Dorin]

x

Caela Dorin

OOCYou can try to tell Caela but whether or not she'll listen... Yeah you can just make it up because Ildi wouldn't know what the guy looked like anyway. Or at least I don't think so. The guy as Caela saw him was quiet so you've got a lot to play around with anyway.

The numbness had left her legs quickly but the pins and needles meant that moving was painful and slow for a few ticks. A lot could happen in a few ticks, like something that would raise her ire to a point where she saw red. The bag he'd brought with him went sailing towards her but it was easily dodged, her head turning to follow its path. It didn't have far to go before it hit something - the bed - and spill its contents everywhere. The smell hadn't managed to reach her before but as it sailed past she did get her first whiff. When it splattered and saturated her sleeping place though the smell was inescapable. She didn't even know what it was, the smell too overpowering for her to sniff deeply enough to identify. Whatever it was, it left her retching, the burn of bile rising up her throat. She could almost taste that stink and she had to get away from it.

The intruder was apologising but the dancer was hardly listening. She staggered towards him, one hand over her mouth as if that would keep her meagre meal in if it decided to come up. The other hand held the dagger, which she was forgetting how to handle properly in her current state. She knew which way the pointy end was though and so she managed to keep that pointed at her unwanted guest. The point of the blade wove drunkenly back and forth through the air in front of her as she almost charged the man. Caela was more eager to get away from the smell rather than run the man through but the odour wasn't escapable in the small confines of the closed up room.

"You bastard!" she gasped, uncovering her mouth to shove him weakly with her weaponless hand. It was unlikely to do anything to him unless he was already moving backwards. "I'm g-going to-" What she was going to do was lost as she gave a dry heave, her stomach clenching painfully causing her to bend forward slightly, the dagger falling from her fingers. The next heave brought up stomach acid and her last meal, splattering the contents on the floor where the man's feet had been. The dagger managed to get caught in the mess too so unless the prankster was desperate, he wasn't likely to touch it. She felt somewhat better but now she felt horrible on top of everything else. As if things hadn't been bad before, she'd added vomit to the smells that would never leave the room. The young woman could be thankful that she hadn't gotten the clothes in the trunk but it was a small blessing. She wasn't very intimidating now and the man was likely to do a runner unless he had an attack of pity or was one of those people who lost their stomach around sick people.

The blonde could get her head together better now and so the man's words had sank in. This was business? Someone had asked him to do this? What twisted person would ask someone to do what this man had been doing? She didn't have much leverage to get information out of him now but she could always try.

"Who told you to do this to me? Why? Why would someone want this done?" she asked, waving a hand in the direction of the mess on her bed. The back of her hand pressed to her mouth as her stomach gave an unpleasant roil. If he stuck around, she was going to make him clean it up. If he refused, she could always threaten to throw up on him.

x

[Ildi]

The woman wasn’t listening. Why did every single woman he met never listen to a word he was trying to say? Ildi refused to acknowledge that every time he met a woman and talked to her he usually was stealing or otherwise damaging their property. It was just a job, not as if he was doing because he liked it anyway. He quickly dodged to the side as the woman stumbled towards him with a dagger held in his hand, staggering as if she had drunk a few to many pints of ale, she gave him a weak push that the scrawny Ildi barely felt before she dropped her dagger at her feet and she began dryheaving. Was she playing it? Was the stench of rotten fish really that bad? Either way, that dagger had to get out of her reach. He winced a bit at the retching sound as the woman vomited all over her floor and her dagger. Ildi still didn’t take any chances though and kicked the dagger away as hard as he could, it landing somewhere close to the chest. Far enough away from the woman’s hands as far as he was concerned at the moment He drew one of his own daggers and took a step away from the woman, holding it defensively in front of him as he kept a cautious eye on the woman. It was a pitying sight, but usually he didn’t care a bronze miza about pity, only about his own safety. So he knew that he should be running. But he was wondering as well, why did his ‘employer’ hire him to make this woman’s life hell. He internally cursed his own curiosity and just held his ground. “I don’t know his name. He never said it. He was a short squat man with black hair. Nose like a hook and a big black beard. Didn’t have much hair on top of his head anymore though.” Ildi answered truthfully. “As for why. He said I needed to put that bitch in her place.” He hoped that her reaction could shed a bit more light on the man’s reasons. He guessed that she owing him money or him being a spurned lover were probably the most likely reasons from what he knew. At least, with the info he knew at the moment. “So any of that ringing a bell?” oocReally sorry for the long long wait. ^^;

[Caela Dorin]

x

Caela Dorin

There were certainly better ways to carry out an interrogation; this certainly wasn't one of them. Caela was far from intimidating--although that wasn't the most important thing in her mind--and so if the man bothered to answer her at all it'd be a miracle. She expected him either to leave or take full advantage of her situation. She wasn't in any state to put up a fight and the dancer was no longer armed, the dagger dropped and now beyond her reach where the man had put it. She supposed that she should be thankful that he hadn't picked it up and turned her own weapon upon her.

A dagger was drawn from somewhere and the young woman found herself backing away from the man. An attempt was made to straighten up, a hand moving to rest on the wall for support. The smell was still strong and she gave a dry heave or two even as she tried to retreat. The man had mimicked her desire for escape, something that confused her. Surely he should try to deal with her before she recovered enough to consider hunting him down to get her own back. But somehow her questions had gotten through to him, the man deciding to tell on his employer rather than slit her throat open. Apparently murdering her wasn't too his advantage.

The description of the man who had ordered her torment didn't immediately mean anything to the girl. Some vague sense that this man's words should mean something to her but nothing concrete. A frown as she tried to recall a face like the one that he'd described or to find someone in her mind who had reason to hold a grudge. Who had she succeeded in pissing off? It might not be recent, it might be more than a season although she couldn't be sure. She'd probably annoyed Eleazar before but not enough to lead to this and besides, she'd bribed him with food. He loved her now, or rather her pocket.

There'd been that man who she'd stopped from having his fun with another woman but Web and Merv had dealt with him when he came back with his friends to get his revenge on her. He was probably dead. But what if he wasn't? What if he'd decided to torment her in a way that wouldn't raise Merv's ire and bring his mercenaries down upon the man's head again. But what had he looked like? Frustration crossed her face as she tried to recall him. She'd hardly looked at him. She'd read him, in terms of personality at least, but she hadn't really focused on the external. She didn't really see men anymore, not when she was at work.

A frown as she strained to remember him and then a slow uncertain nod. "It might... I'm not really sure. There is one guy but I can't remember what he looks like. I only saw him twice and I wasn't really paying any attention to him. Did this man say anything else? Give you any more of a reason than that, or is that it?" All Caela wanted was this not to be connected with that man from the tavern. She wanted him to be dead, wanted him gone rather than continuing to hound her. She didn't want to remember him but she pushed herself, searching for his face in her memory as she waited for this intruder to tell her something that proved that it wasn't that creep.

x