Never Come Down (Emerald!)

[Eckhart_Von_Musel]

Molly pursed her lips, puffing out her cheeks slightly. "Do not." she muttered as she followed Enoch in a huff. "The sword just likes to take the scenic route sometimes, that's all."

The beggar was unresponsive to Enoch's question, and continued staring off into space. Molly snapped her fingers twice, trying to get his attention. "Hey, we're talking to you!"

The young man narrowed his cloudy eyes. "Huh? Me?" he said, still not looking at the rangers. "Are you talking to me?"

"Yes!" Molly snapped. "We are!"

"...Why?"

Molly groaned, looking at Enoch for help...

[emeraldknight]

Enoch took a deep breath inwards, preparing himself for more frustration to come. "This is going to be a waste of time..." Still, he supposed it would be best to just get the questions over and rule the boy out for certain. He squatted down a bit, to better match the beggar's height, and, after a bit of fumbling, pulled the ring from his pocket and held it up at face-height in front of him.

"You know anything about this?" Feeling the boy may not be the sharpest sword in the armory, he added, "It's a ring." The ranger continued to hold it up in front of the beggar's face as he waited for a response. "Where it cam from, who it belongs to..."

Enoch decided to hold off on mentioning the engravings until he'd established the boy's ability to answer a question. He quickly glanced back at Molly, as if to say "That sword is crazy".

[Eckhart_Von_Musel]

Vincent was beginning to get annoyed. Annoyed, and really confused. He could hear the man's voice getting closer- was he sitting in front of him now? And how was he supposed to know anything about something he could't see? His nose wrinkled, lips curling into a smile. "Look here, jackass." he spat angrily, eyes still staring blankly ahead of him. "I don't know what's going on, but if-"

"Vincent, dear? What's going on?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Molly's head quickly turned in the direction of the new voice, eyes still wide from the boy's verbal attack. A rather round woman in green robes had approached them, a concerned look on her face. Immediately recognizing the woman as Seren's priestess of Myyla, Molly bowed her head in respect. "Hello Sister Apirka."

Apirka glanced at the two rangers apprehensively. "What's going on? Vincent isn't in any sort of trouble, is he?"

The beggar shut his eyes tightly, groaning under his breath. "I am now that you're here..."

[emeraldknight]

Before he could get angry about the outburst, Enoch turned to the source of the voice, and seeing Molly's reaction, decided he'd best do the same as her. Giving the boy one last look of disapproval, he stood up quickly and bowed his head alongside his partner. "Yes, um, hello Sister." Upon closer inspection, it was clear that he was talking to a priestess. He coughed into his hand before answering her question. "Not quite. We're from the Ranger Corps. You seem to know this one. Er, is he alright... You know, in the head? We're trying to ask him about a case we're working on, but he seems less than cooperative." He turned once more to the boy, curious about the expression on his face, before quickly looking back at the priestess.

[Eckhart_Von_Musel]

Molly winced at Enoch's remark, shutting her eyes tightly. She knew from experience just how difficult the priestess could be when she got annoyed, and an incident like this was bound to set her off...

"Hey!" the begger cried angrily. "What's that supposed to mean, huh?"

Apirka's eyes seemed to flash dangerously, though only for a moment. In an instant her expression had changed, a sickeningly sweet smile playing upon her lips. "Vincent?" she asked, voice like honey. She moved closer to the boy, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Vincent is perfectly fine- more than fine, actually!" The gave the boy's shoulder a squeeze, causing him to mutter something under his breath. Ignoring this, she continued. "I'm sure that this misunderstanding can be cleared up. What was it you were asking him?"

[emeraldknight]

Enoch sighed, oblivious to the woman's change in behavior. "This is ridiculous". He was caught between a non-compliant beggar and a priestess of Myyla in a supreme trial of his patience, and they had yet to offer a single answer as to the origin of the ring. Gritting his teeth, he once again held up the ring, this time offering up its gaudy visage to the priestess. "We found this ring, and we need to know where it's from," he explained hastily. "It has some initials and a strange marking engraved in it. We just need to know if either of you know anything, if you'll cooperate."

At this, he flashed the boy a scowl. "What is it with him?" It wasn't just his demeanor. There was something about his eyes. It was like he wasn't looking at anything, vacant, yet obviously active in the rest of his body. It was like he could see right through him. Or not at all.

"Oh, shit."

[Eckhart_Von_Musel]

Apirka lifted an eyebrow, plucking the ring from Enoch's hand. She clicked her tongue irratibly as she eyed the inside of the shank, eyes narrowing. Finally she handed it back to the ranger, shaking her head. "I can't say I recognize it. What makes you think that Vincent would know about this ring?"

Molly raised her hand slowly, laughing sheepishly. "Ahaha, that'd be me. Sword pointed us towards him." The woman pat the hild of her blade as if to illustrate this, trying not to make eye contact with the priestess.

Apirka glanced at Molly, a disapproving smile on her lips. "Are you sure it was pointing towards him, and not, say..." Apirka pointed to the building Vincent had been sitting in front of. "...The jewelry store behind him?"

[emeraldknight]

Enoch squeezed his eyes shut, as if attempting to make them collapse in on themselves so that he would not have to see the shame he was feeling at that moment. He mumbled to himself: "...Should have just killed myself years ago." Sighing, he opened his eyes once more, reaffirming to himself that it was indeed a jewelry store in front of him. Silently, he turned his head towards Molly, shaking his head for the both of them.

Deciding against his better rationality, he moved away towards the shop entrance, silently passing Apirka and Vincent. He attempted a small "sorry" as he went, but it didn't come out audibly. He felt bad about leaving Molly to deal with the shame (and the ring), but at this point he was too embarrassed to care. He just wanted to find the information they needed and solve the case.

[Eckhart_Von_Musel]

"O-oh... That, ah, would make a bit more sense..."

Molly stared at her feet, face flushed red in embarressment. She looked up briefly, immediately looking away again upon meeting the priestess's gaze. "Um... Sorry for wasting your time, Sister..." The ranger would quickly move to follow her companion, praying to Myyla that the shop would have the information they needed...

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Carly Ovalstone slouched in her chair, drumming her fingers on the glass countertop. It had been a very boring shift so far- not a single customer all day! She gazed longingly out the window, watching the festival goers pass by. What she wouldn't give to have the day off...

A bell rang as the door swung open, causing the young woman to jump. Maybe she'd be able to meet her sales goal after all! "Welcome to The Dragon's Hoard, where we Bring Out Your Inner Sparkle!" she said exuberantly, running a hand through her hair so as to straighten it. "How may I assist you today!"

[emeraldknight]

Before even looking at exactly who he was speaking to, Enoch mumbled at her. "Spare us the sales pitch". The more rational side of him had kept his voice low enough that hopefully the saleswoman wouldn't be able to hear exactly what he'd said. As Molly entered, he motioned for her to follow him, before walking towards the counter.

"We're with the Ranger Corps. We'd just like to ask you a few questions about a ring we have here. Would you mind taking a look?" As he spoke, Enoch cast his eyes around the store, looking over the merchandise. Though he would rationalize it as searching for any potential evidence, he was really just avoiding eye contact with the saleswoman. Seeing the gemstones on display, he couldn't help but let his mind wander to those he saw in older cases. Bad cases. Verdans lived and died wearing these precious jewels. He spaced out for a moment, wincing at the gruesome memories. "Topaz. Amethyst. Tourmaline..."

[Eckhart_Von_Musel]

Carly's smile faded. "Ah-hah..." she said slowly, resting her chin on the palm of her hand. "Ranger business. Gotcha." Making note of which cases the older man was eying, she scooted her chair to the nearest one. "So is this an appraisal, than?" she asked. "Would you like a closer look at anything while you wait?"

"Ma'am, please." Molly said sternly, trying very hard not to ogle at the jewelry on display. "This is a very important matter. Please don't waste our..." The ranger trailed off as she caught a glimpse of a watermelon tourmaline pendant, leaning over to take a better look. "Ooh... That is pretty..."