Stigma [M] [DragonSong!]

[wandering_giraffe]

M for sporadic violence.
TW in this post for Death

@DragonSong

Vae sat in a tavern, one hand angrily clenched around a mug full of cheap ale, and the other hand idly drumming on the table. He wasn't necessarily mad, but he was annoyed.
It had been three weeks since his last...contract fulfillment. But he couldn't stop thinking about it...............

Three weeks ago
"You've got the wrong guy! I don't know who you're looking for, but you're mixed up!"
The guy Vae had pinned to the wall looked terrified. Rightly so, for Vae had horns that were red and black, eyes that were not a natural color, and an unsettling disposition. Not to mention that Vae had a knife to the poor guys throat.
"They all say 'oh you have the wrong guy!'" Vae mocked.
"Let me show you! Please! I'll-I'll give you money beyond your wildest imaginings!" The guy frantically dug in his pocket for something, finally bringing it out of his pocket and holding it towards Vae.
Vae snatched it from the guy without looking at it, and pocketed it.
"I don't care. You match the description. I don't ask questions." Vae coldly said, before slitting the guy's throat and letting his body fall to the cold, hard cobblestone.

Present Day
The guy Vae had killed seemed really sincere. He shook his head, bringing the ensign out of his pocket and truly studying it for the first time. His face paled, his other hand stilling on the table. 

Oh shit.

[DragonSong]

Della didn't normally take jobs linked to the Ruby Hilt--then again, she didn't normally get offered jobs that paid as much as this one did. Apparently, the heir apparent to the second-largest smuggling ring in Zantaric had been found dead just a few weeks back, and his associates had put a retaliatory hit on his assassin.

Pretty standard for how things worked in this city, all things considered. And while Della didn't usually like to take jobs from the organized gangs, for fear of looking like she was choosing sides, well...she was running low on coin, and the Hilt was offering a frankly offensive amount. She'd just keep clear of the city for a few months once the job was done, leave things to settle themselves. Should be simple enough.

Problem was, now she had to find a contracted killer who no one had actually seen.

She exhaled sharply as she ducked through the tavern doorway, automatically turning her face away from the raucous group of three who were stumbling out passed her into the rain-slicked street. Even for this place, she tended to be eye-catching, which was not exactly something she wanted right now.

She dodged her way through the scattered tables to make for the bar, doing her best to keep a low profile--but she was so intent on keeping her face hidden (and her tail tucked up under her cloak) that she missed the slightly crooked leg of a chair and caught her foot on it.

"Shit." She nearly fell to her knees, but managed to catch herself on the edge of the table. Praying that the table's current occupant wasn't going to be a special brand of asshole, she started muttering apologies as she pushed herself up with one hand and tugged her hood more firmly forward with the other.

[wandering_giraffe]

Vae had been staring at the ensign in his hand, visibly shaken. He nervously scratched one of his black horns.
Vae mentally kicked himself. Why didn't he check the ensign he had taken from that man? He knew that ensign. The Ruby Hilt...gods he was in danger here. He had to leave. Now. Before something happens-
A loud scraping noise shook him out of his worried thoughts, some woman with a hood drawn about her face seeming to catch herself on his table, the motion jostling Vae's arm and causing him to drop the ensign, which rolled and landed right next to the woman. He swore and reached for it, knocking his glass of ale down to the ground with a crash.
"Give me that!" He ordered, his eyes glowing with a dangerous intensity. He had to think fast.
"They'll kill me if I lose that!"

[DragonSong]

Della skittered back from his lunge instinctively--and her hand snapped out to grab the insignia off the dirty floorboards just as automatically. If this stranger was that intent on getting it back, it was clearly valuable.

She had no interest in stealing it, but in this city there were really only a handful of things an insignia like this could be. And one of them might be very useful to her current job.

She straightened up and took a step back, fingers curling tight around the prize. "What is it?" she demanded sharply. "Why do you need it?"

[wandering_giraffe]

Vae stood up to his full height.
"It's none of your business what it is!" Vae snapped, visibly irritated.
He took an angry step towards her before he stopped, trying to get ahold of himself.
"Look, that has been in my family for generations," Vae lied, his horns subtly growing as he spoke.
"I would get in huge trouble if I lost that."
Vae had a knife in his right hand that he had drawn. He was keeping it hidden. For now.
"Look...just hand it over, and I'll forget you ever even bumped into my table."

[DragonSong]

"This is the Hilt's." It was half a guess--she'd only gotten a brief look at the design of the insignia, but she'd thought she'd recognized it. She didn't back away when the man stood taller, either intentionally or unconsciously trying to intimidate, though she did draw a bit more securely into her hooded cloak. "Main family. And you're not a member--they don't initiate non-humans except as grunts and couriers. So how'd you get it?"