[SS Tavern] Can't Win Them All (Aello)

[Till]

Till considered pursuing the issue further, but decided it would be better to drop it. No sense in getting her upset, after all. TIll was better than a man who knew nothing of fighting, but she looked like she could use that bow of hers well enough, given the chance. She had jumped from delirious to wary and ready to shoot fast enough. He didn't want that to happen to him, in the dark streets of Ravok . . . . . . Following her out may not have been the best of decisions to make. She thought he ran with powerful people? Till snorted and shook his head, smiling. "Rich? Please." He'd thought that he had . . . but then they'd been brought down, and then he knew that he had been a tiny part of a still tinier niche; a scavenger running from petty criminal to petty criminal. Now he wasn't even that. "I wake up in the morning to the smell of rancid fish, and play cards with people I find in a bar. Living the high life, I'm sure." "Since the Watchtower turned green," he told her. "They come into the bar when they're bored. I don't think they really want anything to do with me; but I'm the one with the cards." He smiled. "They put up with me, and I put up with them." Because a sword needs a whetstone, and a hypnotist needs minds. Till couldn't help but hear the sweet whisper drift through him; it would be so easy to influence this girl. She had been fighting help at every turn, and all Till wanted was to get it over with and go back inside. But Haydn had taught him better; always know your mark, know their goals or know their person. All Till knew was Aello's name, and that was not enough. Any success he had would be by blind luck alone. Instead he went for the other greatest weapon in conversation; honesty. "Balk in there," he nodded his head toward the Silver Sliver. "Has a daughter about your age, and he gets awful protective of girls like you. And for good reason." He tilted his head to the side. "You probably know this without telling me, but Ravok can be a nasty place. If you have a license to live here you might be safe from slavers, but not from robbers, or from rapers. His eyes fell to her bow for a moment. "Normally I'd say you could take care of yourself." Then he brought them up to meet her eyes. "But you were really staggering getting out of there. Lack of sleep or drink or herbs, whatever, you're in no shape to be out here on your own." "I came out here so that I can tell Balk you made it out alright," he said. "So that he won't put my head on a mantle." OOCSorry, I somehow missed this post today. I feel bad.

[Aello]

A smile formed on Aello's lips, and for an instant, her eyes seemed to light up happily, although her words were nothing to smile about. Perhaps he had amused her, or perhaps the magic was finally beginning to ware off as she said, "don't you mean rapists and your average street rat?" Aello asked. "Small children with grubby fingers and such small frames that they may slip through the cracks in the street or blow through an open window when it gets too breezy? Kids who have no idea how easy they are to spot, and how poor they are in the art of sneaking around? In defending themselves?" There was a slight pause as the girl added, somewhat lazily, "what is there about them to be afraid of?" There was another slight pause as Aello considered the rest of Till's words. Now why would he "worry" about her unless he expected something bad to happen? Or wanted something from her? She eyed him warily, wondering what more he could possibly be up to, assuming she was right, and there was something more to this man. Although, it sure didn't seem like there was. For one, he was on the lankier side, in her opinion, and not likely to pose much of a threat in a fight. Secondly, he didn't appear armed. Thirdly, he talked far too much, which could only mean he was nervous or distracted. Not only that, but if he was a thief, she would have picked up on it when she read his aura. She had picked up on his nature. She would know, wouldn't she? "As for being able to care for oneself," Aello continued, "well, one's ability doesn't go completely out the window when they're just the slightest bit tired. You don't need to be out here, in order to protect us from our invisible and generally non-existent foes." There was another pause, "and Balk, well," the girl laughed, "if he were to kill you, he'd more than likely dump your body in the lake along with everybody else. Your head included. You're not exactly the greatest prize Till. Certainly not something worth mounting on the wall." Another short pause followed along with the chirping of Aello's bird. She ignored the noise, as it slowly chipped away at the exhaustion that lingered around the edges of her eyes. The white splotches that had made everything blurry before. As Aello's vision began to slowly come back to her, she sighed heavily. "As you said, you're simply the man with the cards, nothing more," Aello said as she looked away from Till, and towards what lay directly in front of her, in the street- mainly other people, going about their day to day business, and several small wooden buildings with dark doors, and chipping paint. "Nothing less," Aello finished as she took another few steps forward and then turned left when she reached the nearest road that led away from their current path. "So Till, if you don't want to come along with us you don't need to," Aello said. "We're out of sight now, and Balk wouldn't be able to tell the difference. As far as he would know, you accompanied us home, or wherever else we may have wanted to go." She hadn't looked at him as she spoke. Instead, her eyes alternated between her feet, and the backs of those that walked in front of her. Their dark colored cloaks, and their long blonde hair. OOCOh don't worry about it.

[Till]

Till raised an eyebrow. "It’s a figure of speech," he said. "If the man was going to kill me over that I wouldn't play cards with him." It was good sense to be on good terms with anyone you dealt with regularly, but perhaps this girl didn’t have good sense. Just push her . . . But she was too obstinate. There was no weaker person for him to work off of, no sensible person to instill emotion in to speak for him. She seemed set in her ways, whatever those were. Till had met these sorts of people before, the ones who went against the wind no matter where it was pushing them. And the temptation was too much. The best way to deal with them was, in Till’s experience, to leave it all behind him. The temptation and everything else. Fine, he thought. She didn’t want him following her, so he wouldn’t. But if we went back in, Balk would know that he hadn’t helped her as he wanted. So instead Till turned and walked off in the opposite direction. Just a little walk, then I can come back, and Balk will be satisfied. Till couldn't move Aello; that was fine. Sometimes it was best to know when to walk away. He was no saint, after all. He stepped out into the darkness until the only thing left was the fading sound of his footsteps.

[Aello]

Aello said nothing as Till faded away. We're better off without him anyway, she told herself, as she walked quietly through the streets. No one seemed to pay her any mind, and after awhile, all the other people seemed to disappear too, and the girl was left alone with her bird and her belongings, stumbling from time to time as she went along, looking for a place to rest. After several minutes of silence, Yune began chirping and flapping her wings wildly. "Something wrong Yune?" Aello asked, as a blood curdling scream reached her eyes. She stopped dead in her tracks as her eyes grew wide, and she took a look around, wondering where the voice had come from. Her muscles were tense, and although she was tired, her body seemed as though it were ready to spring into action. The cry of pain shot through the air again, and it was then that Aello realized that it was a woman's voice. Well that can't be good, Aello thought, as Yune flew off her shoulder and onto the roof of the nearest building. Aello watched her go, and couldn't help but feel a little sad; alone. Another cry rang through the air, and Aello's eyes darted from her bird, back to the city streets. The edges of the buildings were still a little blurry, but all in all, Aello's vision was beginning to come back to her. "What in the world is that?" Aello whispered as her eyes darted from one side of the street to the other. She was tempted to load her bow, but knew that if she could not see too far, she wasn't likely to succeed with it, which left her knife. A weapon she was unlikely to wield successfully while she held her bow, and her vision remained blurry. She could get rid of the bow, but where could she put it to make sure it remained out of the way and other's hands?

[Till]

And there it was. Well, Till thought. That was faster than expected. But no, it wasn't coming from where Aello had gone. He was not particularly keen on participating in whatever carnal pleasure; perhaps they had found a non-citizen somewhere. That would explain their not gagging her, he supposed. Then he stopped, his back suddenly straight. What if Balk heard? He wouldn't have of course, the tavern had been noisy when he'd left. No way sound would have found a way through that din of noise. He was no saint. He was no saint. This was Ravok, and if good was ever done in this place it was incidental, practical. An odd thing, in the city of the God of Chaos. Surely it's over by now. Perhaps it was even the Ebonstryfe at work. But if it isn't, someone will get them and they can take care of it. Would they? In this city? Might as well check it out. After all, it might be a citizen, and if it was, maybe he could trap the Ebonstryfe into doing some good. Till stood at the corner in the dark, at war with himself. He shut his eyes and made a decision.

[Aello]

Aello found herself moving forward. Her steps small, shaky, no more than a few inches ahead of the foot she had left behind, firmly planted into the street. Her throat felt dry, and her breath was caught in it. Her heart was pounding in her tiny rib cage, and her palms felt sweaty. Her eyelids felt heavy, as well as sweaty, and Aello couldn't help but wonder what was compelling her to move forward. After all, she didn't want to be moving. If anything, she wanted to stay in one place, curl up into a tiny ball, and sleep. But of course, such a thing would be too much to ask for, and the girl was headed towards a place that may prove even more hazardous to her health than her excessive use of magic. Heck, for all she knew, whatever she was headed towards could kill her. "Why are we doing this again?" Aello whispered as her body continued to inch forward. She was halfway down the street, and now, every bit of color had oozed out of her face, leaving her a ghastly white color. "We just wanted to go to sleep right?" she asked herself. "We just want to stay away from danger for once, have a quiet day. So why is this happening?" By then, Aello had reached the end of the street, and had begun to turn right, down the next alleyway. Her body was trembling ever so slightly, and her lips were growing paler and paler. She was chewing on the bottom portion absently, partially to give her some sort of distraction, partially to make sure she didn't cry out suddenly should anything scare her. Or perhaps that was what you were supposed to do, cry out, so that someone could come to help you? But who would help a girl in Ravok? It's bloody Ravok, not Syliras. As Aello crept forward, she continued to wish she knew why she was doing this. Why she couldn't just turn around and pretend she hadn't heard a darn thing. She was barely breathing when she noticed a shadow against the far left wall. Maybe that has something to do with what we heard before, she told herself as she continued to creep closer and closer to it. For the closer she got, the more likely she was to be able to determine just what exactly the shadow belongs or belonged to.

[Till]

He knew that it had been a bad idea almost immediately. And not just because of the man-sized shadow he saw. Suddenly Till realized how utterly dangerous this was. He was a fan of many things, and even some sorts of danger, but walking through the dark after a screaming woman was not one of them. He should have just found the Ebonstryfe and ended it there. Yes. Good citizenly thing to do. Now he was going to die. A very stupid thing to do, in his opinion. Till clenched his fists, and began slinking backward. Away from the shadow, to do something sane, like run home maybe, forget Balk and girls and . . . Then he saw Aello's face lit by pale moonlight. "Oh," he said, feeling very stupid. "Hello again." Till paused, then added. "Don't kill me."

[Aello]

Aello laughed, "now why would anyone do that?" she asked. "You're hardly what one would consider a threat, don't you think?" Aello's head was tilted slightly to the side as she spoke, and her eyes seemed to have regained most of their usual vibrance. "After all, you are asking someone if they'd try killing you." Aello giggled again, and then fell silent for several moments, waiting for Till to reply to her. "What are you doing back here anyway?" Aello asked, before adding, "did you hear it too? The scream? It sounded like a woman didn't it?" There was a slight pause, "she's probably dead by now, so her body has got to be around here somewhere." The girl could have sworn that Till was looking at her funny, perhaps it was merely her imagination, but she exclaimed, "oh don't look at me like that, you're just as curious as the girl you just met!" There was another slight pause as Aello took a moment to collect herself. The next time she spoke, Aello's voice was far quieter. She was leaning into Till a little, so as not to be overheard, despite the fact that it seemed as though they were the only two around. "You can come along if you'd like," she said. "Surely... if you're worried about your own well-being, you'd be better off traveling with someone else. Unless of course, you were the one who caused that woman to scream." Aello passed her eyes up and down over the man's body, taking in every inch of his person. "Although, that seems rather unlikely," she mumbled, with a slight smile. Aello leaned back, and then decided that if Till hadn't seen the body along his way to her, then it had to be down one of the side streets that led away from the one they were currently on. "It sounded like the scream was coming from that direction, right?" Aello asked as she pointed to a narrow side street to their right with a sudden tilt of her head. "So, if you want to come along, we should head that way." The girl paused again, and then passed her gaze over Till again. He definitely didn't do it, Aello told herself, convinced that she could see him shaking. "Come along," Aello quietly called over her shoulder as she proceeded towards the alley to their right. Her steps nearly inaudible now that she was walking so slowly, and taking the time to raise her feet higher than usual. As though she were marching, before placing them tenderly back down on the ground, and repeating the process. Surely it'll be best for you to remain as quiet as possible. After all, if anything dangerous is still around, you wouldn't want to alert it to your presence. You always want to have the upper hand in a fight... and the element of surprise, well, that surely gives you an upper hand, now doesn't it?

[Till]

He stared at her. The intensity of her posture was gone, and what was left reminded Till of a girl much younger than Aello seemed to be. There was no logic to the ways her mood swung. One minute she was ready for violence in the middle of a crowded bar, the next giggling with a stranger in a dark alleyway. Her girlish enthusiasm for finding bodies struck Till as rather . . . morbid, to put it lightly. Till was in no rush to encourage further swings of mood. "Yes," he said, a little too quickly. "Yes. Good idea. You go up front. I'll . . ." He liked his lips. "Cover the rear." It wouldn't hurt to have someone between him and wherever the screams were coming from, as well. That was also important. "I take offense to that," he said, remembering that the best way he could keep the mood light was by keeping up with the banter. Though it was clear as day that he was anything but offended. "I am a ruthless killer." It was the closest thing that Till could make to a joke. But though he was little harm to most, Till could do some things. He licked at his lips again, moving in his best attempt at quiet through the darkness and having marginally more success than an elephant wandering over broken glass. He could hurt anyone who didn't know better, and he had . . . tricks.

[Aello]

Aello nearly laughed when Till's words reached her ears. Him? A ruthless killer? Her mind said incredulously, please. There was a slight pause, the man couldn't so much as hold his own in a bar fight... with a drunk, who was half his size. Aello was biting her bottom lip as she thought quietly to herself. After all, it'd be embarrassing if she began to laugh, and had to make up an excuse for her doing so. As Aello crept along, her eyes passed from the right side of the alley, to the left. Everything was cast in a milky white glow, courtesy of the moon, and just about everything seemed otherworldly. A chill shot up her spine, as her encounter with the Chained Ones came to mind. It was on a night much as this, in an alley just as dark as this one, if not more so. Aello could feel a growing level of fear coursing through her veins. Her breath had caught in her throat, and her heart was pounding in her chest once more. Hopefully those monsters don't pop out of the dark and drag us away again, the girl thought, as she shook her head slightly, hoping it'd get the thought to go away. But it did nothing. Doing that once was more than enough, thank you very much. Aello shuddered, as the memory of their cold, white hands hit her. Stop thinking about it, you're only scaring yourself, Aello finally told herself. She gave the slightest of nods, before imagining herself physically pushing the thought away, into the inner reaches of her mind. When the thought had been buried, she glanced down at the ground, and noticed something up ahead. She said nothing, however, to Till as she continued to walk as silently as she could. Instead, she merely peered over her right shoulder, and raised a single finger to her lips. She pressed it into her flesh, and gave the universal sign for keep your damn mouth shut or else. As soon as Aello was certain Till had time to see her gesture, she turned back around, and continued walking at a slightly slower rate than before. When she had walked another few steps, she noticed a few red droplets glowing in the pale moonlight. Instantly, the girl lowered her body into a kneel, so that she may inspect the red droplets. She tried to sniff the air, but couldn't pick up on much of anything. "Do you think it's blood?" Aello whispered as she stood back up. "The blood of the woman or whoever may have killed her?" There was a slight pause, "or do you think it's the blood of a rat?"