Lessons From the Devil and the Plowman [M]

DragonSong · August 22, 2016, 08:57:13 AM

"Simplified? I need backup." She smiled for the offer but shook her head. "No thanks. I've had enough tonight, I think."

Sitting up a bit, she folded her legs and let her hands rest on her knees. "Your part of the job would be simple. You come with me to my target and play lookout."

Lion · August 22, 2016, 08:44:16 PM

"Just see if the coast is clear? Sounds easy enough. How much we talking here?"

DragonSong · August 23, 2016, 06:54:49 AM

She shrugged. "Well, my employer wants things done discrete-like, so he only hired me. What do you say to a third of my pay? Decent backup is worth every coin, far as I'm concerned." She smiled and leaned back against the pillow again. "That'd come to about eighteen sovereigns for a night of work."

Lion · August 23, 2016, 04:06:08 PM

Vance tilted his head, capping the flask and setting it back into his coat pocket as he did so. "Sounds fair. I suppose because you're taking all the risk. So, what's the job itself? You ought've known I'd ask that."

DragonSong · August 23, 2016, 05:17:45 PM

Well, she had rather hoped he may forget that detail. She pursed her lips and sighed, "How badly do you really need to know? It's probably...safer for you, if you don't."

Lion · August 23, 2016, 10:34:53 PM

"If it makes you feel better, I never did put much stock in safety. It's a handy word to control people. But I can handle myself," he said, standing to move closer to her. He sat down on rhe bed, rolling up his sleeves to reveal scars and other such marks. "I'm no stranger to danger."

DragonSong · August 24, 2016, 08:56:15 AM

Aria huffed as her eyes flickered over his scars. Without really thinking about it, she ran her fingertips over a few of them, head tilted to the side.

"If you insist." She shrugged and sat back. Her hand slid under her skirt, lifting the fabric up almost to her hip so she could get at the sheath strapped to her thigh. She drew the knife and twirled it through her fingers.

"The job is this." She offered him the hilt. "Bards make good assassins. No one to tie us down, and we're never in town for more than a few days at a time. Invisible in plain sight."

Lion · August 24, 2016, 06:46:57 PM

"Makes sense," he said, watching her fingertips, then eyes flicking to the dagger that she offered him. He doubled glances back and forth until he firmly grasped it with his free hand. "No one thinks twice about you being in the room. You belong there all the same as anyone else. If you're beautiful and are invited to play for someone privately, no one would ever suspect. Maybe bards are more useful after all."

He smirked a little and inspected the dagger she offered. "What an interesting blade? You apart of some secret sisterhood of bard assassins or something? I don't think I've seen anything of it's like before."

DragonSong · August 24, 2016, 06:50:27 PM

She laughed and shook her head with a roll of her eyes. "Not exactly. That was my father's." She took the blade back with a fond little smile. "I sorta...followed in the family business, you might say."

Conveniently ignoring the fact that the family business was what had gotten her parents killed.

"So." Her head tilted and she eyed him calculatingly. "You still in?"

Lion · August 24, 2016, 07:26:48 PM

"Sure. You can count on me. Insofar as I get paid adequately. Sounds easy enough," he said with a nod.

A grin overtook his expression. "So anything else I need to know? Like where to meet you, or...should I just follow you around like a lost dog?" He chuckled, and watched her for a second, eying her neck, wondering at the pulse that beat there.

DragonSong · August 24, 2016, 07:29:46 PM

Aria chuckled again, watching his expression carefully. "Well, we could figure out a place to meet up tomorrow," she mused aloud. "Or you could stay here. Room's paid for, and there's space enough for two."

She shrugged and settled back a little more comfortably on the bed. "Whichever you prefer, really." Cocking an eyebrow, she added, "But be warned- that's not the only knife I've got on me, and I know how to use them."

Lion · August 24, 2016, 07:57:18 PM

"Same here," he murmured. And opened up his coat to see a series of blades that were close to his body. "I hope we can agree to be professional about this." He winked at her and moved a little closer to her, fixing the sleeves he'd rolled up.

"So how long you staying in town? A day longer?"

DragonSong · August 24, 2016, 08:20:31 PM

She eyes his blades with a sharp nod of respect. "Fair enough." Moving over to give him a bit more room, she nodded again. "Yeah, just until this job's done, then I'm out of here."

A small glint entered her eyes as she tried to shift to give him even more space and realized she'd run out of bed. "Look, not for nothing, but I don't share my bed unless I'm- sharing my bed, get me? Just a quirky little personal rule. So either strip or grab a blanket and hit the floor."

She turned onto her side, expecting him to take the latter option, or possibly opt for a room of his own.

Lion · August 24, 2016, 09:36:23 PM

Would they? Could they? Could he?

Of course he could. He had enough to drink and she had been more than generous with her company. Vance was sure he'd made his own interests clear. He didn't have much if any money on him. The worse she could do to him was probably kill him. Men have died for worse things.

So he stripped, taking his jacket off and throwing it onto the chair and pulling his shirt up from his belt and over his head. "So is this a one strip party, or are you just going to sit there and enjoy the show?" he asked with a quirk of his brow, his hands working deftly on his belt.

DragonSong · August 25, 2016, 04:39:11 AM

Aria sat up, a bit surprised. "Huh." Her eyes flickered over him appreciatively and she smirked. "Adventurous, aren't ya?" she chuckled- he'd seen that she was armed, and she knew the same was true of him.

Well, she supposed it was only polite of her to return the favor. And he was rather attractive. With another little chuckle she undid the lacing of her corset- a half garment that really only wrapped around her waist and wasn't nearly as tight as a proper one- and tossed it onto the chair with his jacket.

Freed of that, the loose fabric of her dress was easy to pull off over her head, leaving her in her smallclothes. And what looked like bandaging, wrapped loosely around her body from just under her arms almost to her hips. It was meant to keep her wings pressed to her back, hidden.

Lion · August 25, 2016, 10:23:21 AM

Vance admitted he watched her a little bit more eagerly than he was in undressing himself. Even with her in her smallclothes, he was chewing on his lower lip, curious, and he liked what he saw. Damn if she wasn't...firm.

He carefully dropped his trousers from around his ankles, watching her again, saying nothing, curious as to why her breasts were still covered, but keeping that to himself. It wasn't a requirement. He was in his own smallclothes, as he crawled over on the bed.

"Are you the love 'em and leave 'em type?"

DragonSong · August 25, 2016, 10:28:30 AM

"That depends." She smirked, fiddling with the edge of the wrappings that covered her torso. "Are you?" She'd had one or two flings that lasted more than a week or so, but she didn't really expect anything from her romantic encounters.

"Here." Aria took a small breath and handed him the wrapping she'd been fiddling with. "Hold that." Might as well get this over with- if he didn't like her wings he could always change his mind and leave, and she was so sick of having them pinned to her back. Felt like it had been days since she'd unbound them.

She shifted off the bed and made an almost absent, graceful little turn, the wrappings unwinding in a blur until they fell to the floor. With a sigh of relief she let her wings relax, spreading open slightly and primaries shivering as she shrugged her shoulders.

Lion · August 25, 2016, 03:44:56 PM

Well it certainly was a surprise, but not because she was particularly abhorrent. The wings made him curious, and he leaned forward to gently caress the top of one of them.

"Wow. How'd you manage to keep these tucked away? You're...one of them Yer-ecky type foll aren't ya? Never met one before in my life."

DragonSong · August 25, 2016, 04:23:43 PM

Aria laughed quietly, forcing herself to hold still as he touched her wings. "Yoreiqi," she corrected with a chuckle. "Half, anyway. My mother was a native."

Carefully, she sat on the edge of the bed and said with a rueful sort of smile, "It's not easy keeping 'em hidden, and they get sore, but it's better than drawing too much attention." Without the wrap to cover her, she was left in a thin breastband and loincloth, and she shivered slightly.

Lion · August 25, 2016, 06:58:31 PM

Vance crawled over to her, laying on his side and folding his arms underneath him as he looked up at her. "I dunno. I think they're kinda sexy. I don't want to break them or anything. I'm sure they're strong though, right?" he said, reaching up to lightly touch her arm.