It's never enough for a spy (Crono)

[Anonymous]

The sea air was an absolutely strange thing. The sea on his planet was devoid of life and of salt content. Everything was fresh water. As such, he had never smelled this before. He didn't like it either, because it smelled disgusting. The rotting stench of fish and only the Shadows knew what else was an attack on his senses. Which were very much more delicate than the humans that lived around here. That made it so he was a whole lot more...nauseous was a good word for it. He hadn't been nauseous like this before, and he wasn't honestly sure he liked it.

However, he had to be here. He needed money, and he had to deliver important information to a merchant. Once he was done with that, he'd probably be able to leave. The probably was because he could never tell if they might want to hire him again.

The strange man was dressed completely in black. Everything was black about him, he seemed like he was an assassin, not a spy. With a black tunic, black leggings, thin black boots, black gloves, and a rather heavy black cloak with the hood pulled up. He even had a scarf around his bulbous nose, mouth, and chin. All that could be seen is the white around his eyes and the light lavender colour of his irises. He skulked along quietly, though it made very little difference. Only a few guards were out patrolling, and very few drunkards were roaming.

The familiar clanging and crashing of armour struck his sensitive ears, and he dived into an alleyway suddenly. The guards walked on by, but the strange man was gone, having climbed like a spider onto the rooftop to escape just in case. His breathing was heavy as he climbed down, and he took a moment to compose himself. He smoothed his clothes down before he continued on to the merchant who had hired him. The house was dark as he approached, and he rapped lightly upon the door.

There was silence for most ears, but he could hear the master being roused and getting out of bed. A squat fat man answered the door in a pull over robe, a rather unpleasant look on his face as he squinted angrily at the tall man at his door. "Shaleus." The merchant growled as he remembered who it was. "You've completed our business?" He asked in hushed tones. Shaleus, as was his name, nodded as he stepped in after having been gestured to by the man. "I have your information." The voice from the black-garbed man was a nervous whisper, his voice was medium, a gentle mix between tenor and baritone. It gave him a young sounding voice, but not childish or teenager.

"Here are the reports...you wanted everything from his desk and...here it is." He handed over a small stack of papers, and the merchant greedily took them, reading them over. His face however, started to show anger and contempt.

"Idiocy! These are expenditures I know about, these are finances I already have seen from him! There is nothing new here! Nothing that I can use to my advantage." The tall man shrank away from the angry little man as he yelled. "I d-did what you asked! I s-searched his entire o-o-office! P-pay me what you owe!" The merchant growled at the tall man before producing a small satchel of money. He emptied a number of coins from it before hurling the satchel at him.  "This is all you deserve thief. You're lucky I even let you out with just this. Get out of here before I tell the guards." Despite being ripped off, the nervous spy swept the money up and quickly left the house. He wouldn't argue...that was useless. He wasn't very good at it anyway.

It was better to just take the money and go.

Shaleus found a quiet spot on the edge of town, away from the docks, sitting now on an overturned rain barrel, counting his little bit of money. "Fifteen...sixteen...seventeen copper...ten brass...and four silver." Shaleus closed his eyes. It was really quite a bit of money for him, and it would allow him to get meals for the next few weeks, if he didn't really care what he ate.

Which at this point in time...he didn't.

"What I wouldn't give for it to rain beer from the heavens and to have a cow roast itself." He mourned loudly to himself, staying on his rainbarrel as he looked skyward. Maybe he'd be lucky...maybe it would rain beer.

Fat chance.

[Anonymous]

It was unusual for her to be in Cerenis. Most of the jobs she took were in and around Arca but there are always exceptions to rules, right? Ceria had completed said job just a little while ago. It had been a simple matter. Go to Cerenis and kill a merchant that was getting above himself. Silly merchants. Didn't they know that it was usually a bad idea to try blackmailing nobles. He had learned that little gem of information a little too late.

Ceria was sitting on the edge of a roof, cleaning her wrist spike. She loved the little device. Easily hidden, easy to bring out, usually always deadly. It made for quick and silent kills. The assassin hummed a merry little tune as she removed the blood from her weapon, tossing the piece of cloth she had used aside when she was done with it. A normal person would probably worry that the guard would spot them, it wasn't like people sat around on rooftops every night.

Ceria wasn't worried though. She was dressed in mottled dark greys and various depths of blacks to help her blend into the shadows better, there was even a hood and face mask to make her head blend easier. She found it amusing when other pliers of her trade tried to sneak into anywhere in the deepest blacks they could find. Granted, it made sense if it was a cloudy, moonless night and there where no lights on in the place, but they generally stuck out unless they used magic to aid them.

Ceria of course used magic to help her but that was beside the point. The point was that the job was done and she was bored now. Hence why the yelling caught her attention. Not many people would be yelling at this time of the night for any reasonable reason. She ghosted over the rooftops to the source of the noise just in time to see a man move away from the house, heading to the outskirts of town. Moving on a mischievous feeling, she stalked the guy until he had sat down on a barrel. While his attention was to his hand, the little assassin seemed to drift noiselessly down to the ground, such were her climbing skills in urban areas.

She move as stealthily as she was able to. Vision was an easy enough thing to trick and overcome. Sound, though, was a very pesky thing. In her line of work, the slightly scuffing of foot against an unwanted object could mean the difference between an accomplished job and death. Ceria had long since learned how to make a silent footfall. She had managed to get behind him right after he made the raining beer comment and she had to smile.

Ceria got as close to his ear as she could without alerting him before speaking in her normal tone of voice. "Crops might not like the beer as much as you do."

[Anonymous]

He heard nothing, at least, he didn't seem to hear anything. At this time, he didn't, he was too busy with the little bit of money, putting it away into his coat again and sighed to himself. Free beer would be so nice really, and yet...nothing. It wasn't even overcast, as the moon was out there and shining down upon them. He sat there, feeling sorry for himself as he stared out of the alley at the street, or what he could see of it anyway.

That was before something spoke...right into his ear.

Some people seemed to be able to jump out of their skin almost, and a few men could almost jump out of their boots...but what happened there was otherworldly to say the least. The man jumped forward, but he didn't appear to be wearing his clothes anymore. They stayed on the rain barrel, falling into a pile as he seemed to run on thin air. He appeared to be yelling, but there was no sound. He suddenly dipped into the ground, disappearing, leaving just his clothes there in a pile.

All the person would have been able to seen was a lithe, pale ghost white backside suddenly falling into the ground. Slowly however, there was a little tapping at the rain barrel. "H-hello? U-um...Are you still out there?" Slowly the lid of the rain barrel slid off to the side somewhat, a hand came out to catch the cloak. He slowly stood up, having been crouched inside the barrel. He managed to cover himself with the cloak as he stood up to look nervously at the woman who was near the rain barrel. That must have been the female voice that had spooked him out of his clothes.

His large lavender eyes stared nervously at her, wondering what he should do now. His weapons were inside of his clothes, which were now on the floor of the alley. He didn't much care about how dirty they got, he could clean it whenever he wanted to. He was more worried though about the strange, silent creeping woman who had surprised him out of his clothes.

"C-can I uh...do anything for...you?" He asked her quietly as he looked to his clothes for a moment. He really wished that he could control his ability to phase out of reality, but that was a far cry at this point. He really just wished...he had remembered to phase his clothes with him. Shadows, this was much too embarrassing for him.

[Anonymous]

That was...not the reaction she was expecting. Sure, Ceria was expecting him to jump a little, maybe give a yelp, something along those lines. Literally jumping out of his clothes? That was a new one. She waited while the ghostly figure dipped into the ground, expecting the man to reappear eventually. He had left his clothes here after all.

Her patience was rewarded when the man slid out of the barrel. Ceria didn't feel the need to answer the question, he'd see her soon enough. She raised an eyebrow at him when he stood up in the barrel. "Pale one, aren't'cha?" She didn't feel like answering him question right now. The assassin would probably apologize, eventually, but she was still feeling mischievous at the moment, so he would just have to wait and deal.

Though he did have a rather unique appearance, Ceria had seen weirder before, though she did like the color of his eyes. "You can get dressed." She bent down to pick up his clothes and felt an unusual weight in the pants. Oh ho! He was going to be running around without pants for awhile yet. Ceria tossed him everything but what she planned on keeping.

"So do you usually go skulking around at this hour? Good way to get yourself in trouble. Especially if you run around naked."

[Anonymous]

"It's uh...genetic...to my people." At least he had his cloak to cover himself up with. Still, he had jumped out of his shadow damned clothes. If any of his people existed on this material plane they'd probably laugh him right out of the union. Luckily, everything that happened here, stayed her. That was a good thing in his opinion, considering he'd just ghosted out of his clothes so to speak. "T-thank you." He noted that for whatever reason, she kept his clothes.

It hit him of course a second later. His daggers. She probably felt the weight of them, and he groaned. He didn't kill often with his daggers. That left too much evidence, blood and a corpse, but they were good for defending himself with. Though he would admit, the daggers had a wicked design to them, and they were meant to kill with a lot of pain.

He closed his inner eyelids and shook his head with remorse. "I had clothes, if you remember..." He somehow managed to get the thin black under leggings on, at least he didn't feel as naked. He pulled on his shirt and cloak, as well as his scarf and pulling the hood up. Finally the inner eyelids uncovered themselves as he watched the woman carefully.

"But t-then you had to sneak up behind me and scare me out of them...d-do you enjoy making a poor ho-honest man scare out of his garments?" He asked bitterly, knowing it was more his fault than anything. Doctrine of the Aphotic Seeker number twelve: Always be aware of the shadows and who might hide in them. Sadly, it seemed like forever since he'd quoted the Doctrine, or had it quoted to him. He stayed in his barrel, happy where he was at this point. There wasn't any water in it, and it didn't smell too bad at least.

"So uh...c-can I please get my pants back? A-and then I'll be on my way and y-you'll never see me again." That was the plan. Get away from the strange woman who moved so silently, and wanted to keep his pants. Who kept a man's pants, more so after he'd been scared out of them?

[Anonymous]

Actually, Ceria had enjoyed scaring him out of his clothes. It had been a treat that would have made her laugh had she known he was capable of it. She let her grin be her answer to that particular question. The assassin made a note to go after her mischievous urges more often, they might not return such responses but.... And she wouldn't be giving him his pants back just yet. It had been a boring night, the kill routine and fairly unguarded so she hadn't had much fun. It might be a little on the mean side to take out her boredom on a poor innocent but it was as much his fault as hers for providing something so interesting.

She crossed her arms under her breasts, the pants hanging from a hand. Ceria put a finger to her lips and look upwards in a thoughtful manner. "Hmmm...Nope, I think I'll keep your pants for now. For all I know, you'll kill this poor, defenseless little girl as soon as I turn my back. Then where would I be?" She gave the man a little wink. "I don't think I've learned your name anyway. So how about it? Your name in exchange for your pants? What harm could it do?"

Ceria was having way too much fun with this. Perhaps being a little indulgent to her whims was a better idea than she thought. She wondered how long the pale man, she'd call him Ghosty, no matter what his name was, would put up with her little teasing before she would have to give back his pants. While she was talking to the rain barrel guy, and while she was waiting as well, she ruffled through his pants a little, looking for the weight she had felt from the pants. Ah ha! Jackpot! Ceria produced the two daggers from the pants. "And what do we have here, eh?" Wicked looking things they were.

[Anonymous]

"B-but..." He started to struggle with the idea of her not giving him his pants back. They weren't hers, and he really hadn't planned on killing her. That left a bad taste, and it usually led to people knowing he was there. The best thing was to leave no trace of yourself, and a dead body was usually a big piece of evidence. The man, now mostly dressed, and thankful for the fact he had a pair of leggings underneath his pants so he wasn't completely naked, bit his lip as he thought about it. A name. Giving a name was a bad idea wasn't it?

The Doctrines of the Aphotic Seekers sure didn't like their spies giving out names. It was one of the tenants of the Doctrines. Still...The Doctrines didn't exist here so...it could be alright...couldn't it?

He was going to tell her, but then she started goign through his pants. Would she find the special fabric where the sheathes were hidden? Apparently so. His eyes went wide as she pulled the two daggers from their hiding spots. "Please! You shouldn't be touching those! Y-you aren't like me." The Daggers were ceremonial, sacred to a degree, and they were used more to intimidate and do mundane things. Granted, the daggers were built for killing, and they did a hell of a lot more damage coming out of a body than going into one.

"M-my name is Shaleus...Shaleus Agalieus. I-I'm an...an...Aphotic S-seeker." He decided to just come right out with it. After all, these people didn't know what an Aphotic Seeker was. Though on hindsight, he should have lied about what they were for the mere fact that he did give a bad name to his people. Not much he could do about that now though. "T-the daggers are ceremonial...w-we aren't supposed to use them...b-but we can if w-we're comprimsed on a j-job. Which I've c-completed so I w-wouldn't use them...n-not like I'm altogether g-good with them anyway." He wanted to make sure she knew that he was not a killer, and not in the habit of killing others.

Really, she should at this point be able to tell that he was not, what with his nervous disposition, somewhat alien features, and the fact that when she had snuck up behind him he had literally jumped out of his clothes. No tactic in the world ever spoke about jumping out of your clothes and losing your weapons to get the upper hand on someone. In fact that was usually on the opposite end of the spectrum and spoke of death.

Not something he actually wanted to have happen at this point. He knew she would probably be able to take him in a fight. She had that smell on her, of blood from the sentients that lived in this world. Not a little bit either, it meant someone died at her hands, and she had not just received a scrape from some careless motion. He would keep THAT bit of information to himself, because there was still a facade going at this point, and if he pretended not to know what she was, then he might just be able to get his pants and daggers back alive. Then he could run and find a tavern.

[Anonymous]

Shouldn't touch? Ceria eyed the daggers. They didn't seemed to be poisoned. Granted, if there was any magic on there that slowly killed somebody who wasn't suppose to touch them, she wouldn't have known. That seemed like too much work to go through in the enchanting process though. Ghosty was probably just being protective of them. Whatever the reason, it got him answering her questions.

Aphotic...Seeker? Her mouth twitched. Ceria knew that it wasn't what she thought but Aphotic sounded way too close to erotic for her to pass up but she let him continue. Ah. So the daggers were special to him, in a way. No wonder Ghosty was so protective of them. "And how do I know you're not good with them? For all I know this is a ploy of some kind, eh?" The sparkle in her eyes said that she didn't believe it. Perhaps it was time to stop teasing the guy though. Shaleus seemed much too nervous about everything for it to be safe to keep pulling him along. He might drop dead from it for all she knew.

"Fine." She said with an exaggerated sigh. "Here are your pants back Mr. Erotic Seeker." She tossed him the garments along with one of his knives. Hope he was a good catch. "I think I'll keep one of these though. Use it as leverage if I ever need it." Ceria would be able to put it to good use as well. Some clients liked to have their targets made as messages. While cutting off a head was a good way to send the kind of messages she delivered, nothing quite says 'you could be the next one dead' like seeing your buddy ripped open. She had done that a few times, it was a messy business with the tools she usually had and these would make it all the easier.

"Since I'm technically stealing from you right now, and I don't like doing that, how about I buy you a drink or two along with a meal to settle the price?" Ok, so perhaps it wasn't the best of ideas, but Ceria didn't like the feeling of having stolen something. A material something that is, stealing lives was all fine and dandy to her. "So what do ya say?" The assassin hoped he would agree and not make a fuss in public. She really didn't feel like killing innocents right now.

[Anonymous]

"H-how..." He was really getting ready to just give up at this point. He couldn't exactly give her any word that would show her "Yes, in fact I am terrible with these daggers." She probably wouldn't believe him anyway, so there was no way that he could ever convince the woman otherwise. Shale took a deep breath, his eyes wild as he thought about his options. Running through the streets half-naked so to speak was a really...bad idea. He wanted his weapons back.

"E-erotic seeker? N-no...Aphotic Seeker." He caught his pants, and swiped the dagger from the air. Shaleus quickly pulled his pants on and slipped the dagger back into the special sheathe at his side. Well...he had one back, that was at least a plus. Still, he kept his eye on the girl as she spoke again.

"W-what? Leverage? I don't...I don't understand..." The confusion that was on his face said he really didn't. He honestly couldn't figure out how she figured that it would give him leverage. No...that wasn't true. He couldn't figure out why she'd think HE would be useful. That's why you had leverage right? For blackmail andw hat not. "Y-you can't though, p-please...it's...Y-you can get o-one made b-but..." She couldn't take his weapon. The other Seekers would laugh at him! What if they found out? What if they could get to him, and they saw what had happened to him?

This was really bad.

"T-The price? I...uh..." Okay. Remember the training. The training. "F-fine...whatever...I could use a f-few drinks I g-guess." He made sure he was bundled up and that the lower half of his face was hidden thanks the scarf, but he kept his hood down. They were going into a public place, and if you tried to hide, more people might notice you. Sure, most taverns were rather quiet at this time, he still didn't want people asking too many questions about him. If they at least saw his face, and his...pale condition, people would understand why he wanted to hide away. A perfect cover story.

"I s-suppose that uh...you'd l-like me to lead the way." Of course she did. Let the man you had robbed get behind you? That was of course a redundant question. He sighed as he started walking away from her, carefully of course. If she tried to stab him, he'd have to do something after all. Then again, if she wanted to kill him, she'd have done it before, while he was sitting on the rain barrel.

That helped him relax just...a little bit.

The Tavern wasn't hard to find thankfully. He was quick to get inside, where he was hoping he wouldn't be on the business end of his own dagger. Other Seekers in his world had talked about stabbing people with their daggers, and the horror stories were quite a scare. He'd yet to actually kill anyone with his daggers, and he really hoped that he'd never have to. Shale found a table to sit down at, he made sure to have his back against a wall as well. Just in case. If he got really frightened, he could just...slip through the wall after all. This time, he would remember his clothes.

"O-okay we're h-here...n-now what?" He asked his new...friend so to speak. They'd have to order sure, but he was really more interested in getting his dagger back from her. Even if he had to give up every piece of gold, silver, and copper that he had.

[Anonymous]

Ceria just smiled along to everything Ghosty said. She didn't really need to say much at all. After all, with as much as he was protesting over his dagger, the assassin thought Mr. Jumpy wouldn't just ditch his dagger with her but as long as he was protesting, she'd keep a hold of it. Besides, Ceria could use his little trick to her advantage. Just as long as she could figure out a way for him to agree with it.

But! He had offered to lead and she wasn't about to say no so she followed him a few paces back. The way he had been acting, Ceria highly doubted that Ghosty would, or even could, try to get a surprise attack in but habits from her trade kept her erring on the side of caution. In all, the trek was pretty boring.

Ghosty slipped into the inn without making a noise. That could definitely be a plus for her. With his ability to just phase through things, scouting would be a breeze. So would the kills though...but Ghosty didn't seem like the type that was cut out for the wrap up so she'd be able to stay in business. Still...

Right! Ghosty had already sat down and spent no time on small talk, asking what was going to happen right as she sat down. "Now? Now we wait to order. So tell me Ghosty, how did you come to possess your unique...talents?" She toyed with the dagger. It was a pretty good dagger. Nice balance, obviously deadly, wonder where he got it from. "And how you came across these daggers. Do you have both because you're a Seeker?"

[Anonymous]

Each step was a prayer asking not to get stabbed in the back with his own dagger. If she did, he either hoped that it would be painless, or she didn't kill him and he could get away in time. Then he'd have to try and get his dagger back...or you know...die in a gutter. It wasn't very nice to think of course, but...still, he was a man who thought of doom and destruction all the time. It helped to keep him alive at least, thinking of the worst all the time and being pleasantly surprised in the end? Oh yes, it was a great way to stay alive.

However they reached the tavern with no incidents arising.

Naturally, Shale was very happy about that. Moderately anyway. He wasn't going to let her know that he was happy. He was still nervous, and that was going to control him for the time being. He wasn't good with having a backbone, and he rather accepted it when people bullied him. It was usually safer that way really, Shale just had to be careful and not let people bully him too much.

"U-unique talents?" What exactly were those. His mind was racing as he tried to figure it out...until it suddenly dawned on him. The phasing thing. "I-it's part of who my p-people are. We can uh...cause our bodies to simply...er...slip between matter. B-but I'm not really g-good at it...a-as you saw." He coughed, his face growing darker but luckily she really couldn't see anything under his black clothes and mostly covered facial mask.

He bit his lip as she began to play with the dagger. It was a finely crafted dagger, in the right hands it could maim a man and leave him alive for hours but unable to move, or it could quickly pluck their heart from their bodies. She was obviously a woman who knew how to use them, she wasn't a normal citizen. He didn't very much like that particular mystery. Something was up with here...she had some talents of her own it seemed.

"Well y-yeah...when you enter the academy you uh...y-you get the daggers, they're t-tailored just for a specific p-person. K-kinda. I m-mean anyone can use them but t-they're made just for my h-hands. T-to me they have the right balance and the r-right amount of grip." Shale explained carefully to her as he tried not to stutter through the entire thing. He did of course, but he was still trying his best wasn't he? "O-only people who join the academy get them...and even i-if you flunk out of the academy you g-get to keep them...I g-guess they want you to c-commit s-suicide. I didn't flunk out though! I p-passed." It wasn't a high score, but it wasn't a fail either. He probably would have killed himself at that point but he had been able to get through the whole thing fine.

[Anonymous]

The assassin nodded along in places she thought was appropriate. If there were more like him, why hadn't she been put out of employment? Unless they were like Ghosty here, or just incredibly secretive, they'd almost be the perfect assassins, spies, or anything that required slipping by defenses and eluding detection. After all, if you could just pass through things easily, walls couldn't stop you and guards couldn't catch you. It was a question for later though.

This academy interested her though. A place where you could be trained in this type of stuff? If only she'd been fortunate enough, but, alas, she had had to learn under somebody and those were not pleasant memories, but back to the matter at hand. Ghosty had passed, eh? Then why hadn't she heard of him? Ceria would be the first to admit that she didn't know every assassin from everywhere but she would have at least heard rumors - this guy could pass through solid objects for Gods' sake - but she supposed that he was too jumpy a character to make it in her business. Still, she could use his...unique skills.

Ceria realized that she had been spacing out for the past minute or two and hadn't caught anything he might of said. Before she was able to ask, however, the tavern wench appeared next to the table. "Good evening to you two." She said with a smile. "What would you like?" The assassin pondered for a minute how much she had overheard. Secrets fetched a high price everywhere, the more so when the information docked the price of any killings you might want to do. "I'll have an ale." The assassin wasn't in a killing mood though. She decided to let it slide. "You said your talents are shared among your people" The woman asked after the waitress had the orders. "Though I think I'd hear about any large group of people that could just slip through whatever they wanted to. So. Where're you from?"

[Anonymous]

The thing that Shale kept forgetting, was that she probably wasn't used to the idea of inter-realm travel, and honestly he couldn't really see the idea getting around. He didn't really...even want to mention HOW he ended up here, but he knew that question would come eventually. It was not the best thing in the world, but at least to some people it was uh...interesting? Yes. That's what it was.

Interesting.

When the woman approached wanting to take his order, Shale once more jumped slightly, having been more focused on his story and telling her about his...academy. It wasn't anything bad thankfully, he didn't jump out of his clothes and through a wall though. "Uhm...An ale a-as well please." He managed to stutter out. The woman was gone in a second though, and he relaxed slightly, though, it was barely noticable.

"We're n-not from uhm..." He bit his lip under his mask as he thought about it. This was it, she could think he was crazy...though she had uh...seen him...er...naked in a way. She knew he wasn't from this place. "We're not from here. I uh...I come a different realm...a different w-world y-you see. I'm from the P-plane of Shadows, where all m-my people are from. Uhm...I'm the only o-one here in this w-world. O-one day I got um...r-really s-scared...I can't remember t-the reason but...I uhm...I j-jumped literally t-through the lines of r-realms and into this one." He rubbed the back of his neck, looking downward at the ground as he thought about it. He had jumped so powerfully that he had even kept his clothes, his weapons, and even the chair he had been sitting on. The worst thing was he had even brought pieces of the tavern floor with him that he had been in.

Ugh. He'd never live that down.

"We uh...we heard about t-that sort of s-stuff in the academy. S-some spies managing to er...concentrate t-their ability so finely th-that they just...d-disappear forever. We c-called that the Void Jump...w-where people would j-just...jump into Death itself...b-but I g-guess they probably a-all ended up l-like me."

[Anonymous]

Plane of what? Most of that explanation went right over Ceria's head. "So basically, you got so scared that you had the overwhelming urge to get away and 'poof!' you're here?" Sounded a little far fetched to her and the explanation would probably either bore her to death or be comprehensible to her. There was still one thing that bugged her, though. "You said that this had happened to others before. How do you know that you're the only one here and why did you come here instead of appear in a 'Plane' that you didn't just die in." She pronounced Plane weirdly since the concept was far beyond her.

This discussion was way beyond what Ceria had wanted and she needed to bring it back into her control. "You said this academy of yours produces a lot of spies. What about assassins?" The tavern girl came back with their drinks and Ceria gave her the money for both before taking a drink. She eyed Ghosty over the top of her glass. He wasn't one that could pass himself off as a purchased hand of death but, with a little help from her, he could be shaped into something useful.

[Anonymous]

"That's...m-mostly it yeah..." It wasn't like that exactly, but she didn't seem to understand most of what he was saying, so a simple explanation like that would have to do. Not that he minded, thinking about it made him embarrassed because so few of his people did that sort of thing. They didn't just...get scared enough that they would suddenly disappear into a whole new realm of existence. He couldn't even control his ability that well, it was a reflex action at this time. That was something terribly embarrassing.

"Well...I haven't heard of any others like me...and we're not exactly...easy to blend in here. I haven't heard of any others like me..." Shale told her as he rubbed the back of his neck. He liked that at least none of his other people could make fun of him. They would too, they were notorious for that sort of thing, and in his academy days they had really made fun of him for his inability to walk through things at will. Here however it was like a big show when he did it and everyone seemed very impressed.

It was nice actually.

"Assassins?" He took up his drink, pulling the face mask down so he could drink. "We uh...well...we were always taught that assassinations were a poor investment. You could control people with the fear of being killed n-next but...you c-could control everyone with the r-right knowledge. H-however...some of the friends a-at the academy f-found it...a c-challenge to kill people. M-murder was illegal of course but y-you needed proof t-to be accused of m-murder, physical proof. S-so you could brag all you w-wanted,but it w-would result in you b-becoming the prime suspect." He took a long drink of the glass of ale before placing it down in front of him, looking at it. "I s-suppose that...o-our uh...skills could be used in assassination as e-easily as...spying." They were taught to be stealthy, to be invisible, for no one to see them, to move without sound. The only difference was that spies didn't kill people, they stole information and killed reputations...but rarely killed people.

"W-why?"

[Anonymous]

She took a sip of her drink. He made a good point about assassinating versus just spying but nothing could compete with the thrill she always got when her target's eyes shot open to she her standing over them, the deed already done. It was an ecstasy that had very few rivals.

But Ghosty had asked a question that left Ceria in thought for a bit. How much did she dare reveal? True, just because she admitted to being an assassin wouldn't land her in jail, but if the guards found out about her and linked her to the merchant's death, she might have an 'accident.'

She looked at her tablemate for a minute. She seriously doubted he would go running off to the guards. He seemed much to jumpy to be able to talk to them, let alone squeal on her about anything. Still, as Ghosty had said, information is a very valuable resource and one that shouldn't be handed out to just anybody. But...Ceria was aware of his special talents and she doubted he willing shared something like that. Fair's fair, right?

"Why? Because your abilities would be very useful to me. You can get into places I can't. You are able to killer targets that have heavily guarded without anybody knowing what happened. Hell, for all I know, you can drag somebody down into the ground with you and that opens up even more possibilities." She took a drink of her ale. "So what do ya say?"

[Anonymous]

It never sat well with Shale the idea of taking a life. He had been taught never to ever...take lives. Not only was it unprofessional, but it was also horrid. To take a life? Shale had been taught about souls and what not, and how that it was best not to release one from the body. That of course, could have been another way to stop people from murdering, Shale wasn't very sure...what he was sure of was that he was sure he would be very uncomfortable killing people. Even...hurting them made him jump a little. Screams were weird.

She seemed to be judging him, she seemed to be watching him and trying to think of something...well...he wasn't sure just what she was thinking. But her gaze was getting him very nervous. He coughed nervously and averted his eyes to look at his drink. Alright, he had said something wrong...and he couldn't believe his bad luck. She had his dagger! Of all the things! She had at least given him his pants but damn it. His daggers were more important, and she had taken one of them. This was unthinkable!

"I uh...well I erm..." Shale rubbed the back of his head as he thought about. Okay...he could tell her the truth...hadn't he already? Yeah, she knew, he was sure that he had told her. "Well uh...I would but...I'm not very good at the whole...walking through walls or the ground. I really wish that I could help you b-but...I can't really...control my powers. I r-really wouldn't be any use to you." How could she help him either, she didn't know how to use his ethereal abilities, she didn't know how to train him in them. He would have to learn and practice on his own, and he spent most of his time doing jobs so he could eat every day.

No, he was pretty sure that she should just return his daggers, pay for the drinks, and then they could go on their merry way. Personally the woman frightened the ever loving hell out of him, and scared him out of his pants. He was just lucky it hadn't happened again....he would just...well he hoped he'd jump to another reality and not have to deal with her.

[Anonymous]

"So you need control."

Ceria took a long drink and set her empty mug on the table. "If you need control, I can help you there. I can't exactly teach you what you need to know, of course, but I can give you the time you need to learn on your own. I make enough from my...excursions that supporting another shouldn't strain me too much."

She idly looked around for the bar wench before putting her eyes back on Ghosty. "You're free to refuse, if you want." The smile she took wasn't pleasant. "But you'll probably be missing this for quite a while." She held up the dagger she had taken from him and twirled it around a bit.

She carefully slid the dagger up her sleeve. "Don't think I'm offering this because I'm a nice person. My benefit will come after you feel that you can be of sufficient use to me. I'm not doing this for free." She grinned. "So what do ya say? You'll get a steady supply of food, a place to stay, and time to practice your abilities to your heart's content." She paused as the serving wench came by to take finished mugs. Ceria said that she wouldn't be drinking any more.

"How about it? We can talk about you paying me back later."

[Anonymous]

What I need is for you to give me my damn knife back! Always a polite gentleman, or was it a scared gentleman, Shale wouldn't dare say this out loud. That would be an absolutely horrible thing to do, and she probably was more proficient with daggers, and...she was probably more into the mindset that killing would be of no consequence. He couldn't imagine living like that, where taking a life was so easy, like blowing out a candle and stabbing a person in the neck four times had no distinction to it. She was a cold person, obviously, and he couldn't fault her. That was just how she had grown up. He had grown up a nervous wreck who jumped at his own shadow sometimes.

Then she began to talk of things that made the inner being within him come alive.

She could give him the space he needed. She could support him while he practised his arts and tried to learn his powers better. He wouldn't have a teacher, but he could remember the lessons, he could remember what his class mates had told him about shifting to become ethereal. However...he saw how it was though. She would not be doing it out of the kindness of her heart, she would be keeping track no doubt, she would be supporting him so eventually, the reverse would happen. She wanted to make him into a finely tuned killing machine. Maybe so SHE didn't have to work in the end.

Why couldn't he just have been a farmer?

"W-wait...you're g-gonna hold that over m-my head too?" His eyes were large in both sadness and surprise. If he refused, she would keep his dagger. If he accepted, she would make him into an indentured servant and become an assassin. None of this was at all fair. He was caught between a rock, and a hard place, and usually when that happened he just became ethereal and was able to walk right out. This however, could not be solved by losing his clothes...again.

"..." He couldn't say anything as she finished her speech. He'd be taken care of but...he'd be sacrificing everything. And he COULDN'T lose his dagger. If she had given it back to him, he might have said yes...er...easier. His main concern was his dagger, it was an extension of himself, and he needed it to be a complete person. It was like she took one of his hands. "I...I don't have a choice. You won't g-give the dagger back to me, a-and if I try to t-take it from you then y-you'll probably just k-kill me...and so...I h-have to accept your o-offer." There was a million things going through his mind. He could get the dagger, and then hopefully she would frighten him so much he'd disappear...or he could learn his abilities, and then one he was a master, he could just get the dagger back and be on his way.

This was actually looking slightly up.

"F-fine...I...I guess I h-have to...a-accept." He was still frightened and nervous of course, but in the back of his mind, he saw this as a wonderful opportunity for him. Perhaps this wouldn't be a smart idea for the woman. What if he became stone cold like his name, and like her heart it appeared, and when he learned his power, ghosted into her room one night and stuck the stolen dagger into her heart? There wasn't a way to keep him out after all, and she couldn't hide the dagger in any place that he couldn't get to. By the end of this, he'd hopefully be able to control even the specific body parts that were in this world, so if she kept it in a safe, he could just materialize his hand, grab the dagger, go back to being ethereal, and no one would be the wiser.

Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea after all.

Couldn't hurt.