Open Chronicles Nightly business

[Leyus]

Cairou river, near Elbion, small cargo boat, middle of the night​

He was in business again.

To be honest, for the few last months Leyus had taken up almost only very legal and very mundane jobs, at least for his own standards. The most fun of them all had been a performance for some high-standing lad's daughter's birthday, which was enough to tell how horribly boring his life had gotten. He didn't even get to accidentally set anything on fire at that party.
Unfortunately, jobs within law meant lower payments as well. It was all about the risk, which determined the reward, and transporting some rugs was a rather risk-free stuff these days. Therefore he was really quite low on coin, especially since he had been spending more and more time in Elbion and, well, city prices, right?
So he needed some money, and, preferably, quite fast. He was also in a dire need for some spice in his life.

And, as it always happened, when Leyus started to look for a job on the other side of the law, a job managed to find him quite easily. This time was no exception, because after a few days of letting a word slip here and there, meeting an old friend in a tavern or two, he had a deal. Pretty straightforward one as well.
Dozen or so barrels of wine, which had lately undergone a tax increase, and, therefore, was a lot more pleasantly sold under the table; a small cargo ship, with presumably trustworthy crew; a contact in Elbion, which would let them slip past the guard. Plain and easy.
At least it was supposed to be.

But Leyus didn't really like to dwell on the possible bad outcomes. It was, after all, so easy to jinx things like these.

He knew enough about sailing to get them going from the small haven they were currently at, even more so if his fellow sailors were ready to help as well. And so they were slowly sliding down the quiet, nightly river, air cool with the dampness and filled with chirping and whistling of night critters all around. Skies were wrapped in clouds, leaving their own oil lamp to be the brightest source of light around. There was a faint breeze, enough to let them sail without much trouble even against the stream. At least for now.
Truly, a perfect night.
As if to match it, Leyus was all dark tones and angles: his hair and eyes dark, skin more toned than usual, face formed sharper than the day before. He hadn't really consciously tried to use his abilities this time, it was more a thing of style, his soul of a performer showing itself, choosing a matching costume for the occasion. After all, he had the luxury to do so.

"Such a fine night for the job, eh?" he smiled at the rest of the ship, "Truly splendid. Don't you agree, gentlemen?" now all that was left was to see whether his companions were up for a little chat or not.
It was always nice to chat a bit. Relieved stress. Bonded the group. Made opportunities for light, fun flirting. Let you know how likely somebody was to stab you in the back later. All that kind of stuff.

 

[Selene Avar]

Leyus

Being an ordinary person was...boring.

She knew why it was necessary on this particular mission, why she was doing it, but that didn't mean she liked it one bit. Her clothes were not the usual leathers and fur cloak, but rather cotton and wool. Her boots were heavy, and instead of a sword she carried a simple knife.

To anyone looking at her, even closely, she was nothing but a working woman making her by boat to Elbion. That was of course the whole point.

Today she was not one of the Dreadlords of Vel Anir, She was not Selene Avar. She was just Verin. It was boring, drab, and droll, but it had to be done if she was going to get into Elbion. That was why she was on this ship, why she was here in the first place.

Elbion was not exactly unfriendly to her kind, but for the task ahead of her it would be best they not know she was in the city at all.

Hence why she was standing on a smuggling vessel pretending to be a criminal. "Indeed."

Selene couldn't help but respond to the gentlemen, if only because he was the first one to speak in what seemed like hours. Honestly, how did the ordinary even function in this world without ending their own lives.

 

[Jeriah Thackett]

Thackett had not intended to come along for the trip. Through a few friends of friends he had made the arrangements with the guards at Elbion. The idea had been to pass on a few names and take a small cut of the bribe.

Somehow he had ended up coming along on the boat. Thackett had preferred the low risk option. The guards taking the bribe were good people - in a certain sense of the word. Not the sense of the word that a magistrate would agree with. Shifts could change, plans could go wrong.

Now he was on the boat he was quite enjoying himself. No one bothered him to do much work as he didn't really know how to help, not even on a small barge like this. Instead he was left in peace to enjoy his pipe.

"A rainy night is a good one for keeping the guard from looking too closely, but this is definitely better for the journey," Thackett agreed before taking another puff og his pipe. He blew out a small, malformed ring. He watched it dissipate, with a look of disappointment on his brow.

 

[Leyus]

"And ladies, of course," Leyus was quick to correct his mistake, when he got his first, admittedly short, reply. It was rare to meet many woman in this craft, so insulting one of the few ladies was the last thing he wanted to do. Women were especially swift with all that "knife in the back" thing after all. "And I presume, that the guards will have something far more effective to keep them from looking. If everything goes well," a pointed look to his colleague, who, as far as Leyus was aware, was at least partially in charge of dealing with that sort of thing for this little mission.
Leyus himself was here to sail the boat, deal with any problems that could arise when they finally reached Elbion, and, in general, just to look pretty. Okay, scratch that. But he was definitely here for the thrill. And it usually paid better to be as close as it was possible to the cargo. Otherwise it could get the unfortunate habit of growing legs and running magic knows where.

"We should be there in a bit more than an hour," he notified the others, after making some minor adjustments to the sails, to catch the best of the wind, "If everything goes well."
Although, he had to admit, there was barely anything that could go wrong, if not coming from the board of the barge itself. And Leyus could deal with that. Not as good as he could in a city, where a few minutes of getting lost in the crowd let him get away with almost anything, but this could be manageable as well. He, after all, had the advantage of being able to monitor at least the general gist of the emotions floating around him, even if his partners were good at keeping their faces straight. Right now the most dangerous thing he could catch was something broadly akin to annoyance coming from the woman. Nothing too bad yet.
Leyus decided to keep closer attention to that, but, for now, he could try to keep the conversation going, "So what paths have brough you here, if one may ask?"

 

[Selene Avar]

"Money." She answered simply. Peasants were always complaining about it, both here and just about anywhere else she'd been.

It was even common in the Spine. Though there it was more about getting food from whatever random caravans came through the mostly abandoned villages. Still, here it was a believable enough excuse to anyone's ears.

"Things are getting tight." She said with a sigh. "Seems like the merchants are after every copper they can get ahold of nowadays."

Selene made a clicking noise with her tongue.

The act might have been a bit much, but she thought it on par with who she was supposed to be. This was not the place for anyone to be if they weren't down on their luck or a bit shady. She had decided to play the part of the former rather than the latter.

Easier to sell herself that way.