Thunder of Thanasis Oops

[Nadya]

Nadya lifted her head, meeting his gaze without a problem. A smirk pulled at her painted, glossy lips, taking this opportunity to look him over. "You know, you're bleeding at your arm? Anyone sees that, you're going to be pounced within two minutes." She lifted her grey eyes back to his face, studying him.

"You could thank me by answering some questions of my own. Maybe as you allow me to mend your wound."

Then her eyes flicked to where she could feel a strangeness. Seeing nothing, she looked back to the handsome male. "Gods, got you good with that brick, didn't I?"

 

[Azad]

Az glanced down to the wound on his arm, shrugging slightly as he played off the pain. "I've had worse."

Not by his own volition.

By creed and cowardice the Thief did his level best to avoid any sort of fighting. It wasn't always easy when running around on the streets of Thanasis, but by and large Azad had managed to keep himself alive through all sorts of trouble. It was starting to seem like today would be more of the same.

"You really did." He said flashing a smile, not following her eyes to where Spinny was still hiding. "Might be a good idea to see to it, but perhaps...down there."

He gestured towards the gardens. "Might do me good to sit down while I answer those questions."

Az continued, flashing a smile as tried to lead this conversation closer to the walls of the estate.

 

[Nadya]

Grey eyes peered down below to the gardens carefully lit in a soft glow of lanterns.

Somewhere she had hoped to disappear to earlier instead of coming to a balcony with no stairs to descend. "We would have to go through the party to get down there." That idea made her grimace. The thought of seeing her sister showing off her grace and pretty dress, or her mother's disappointment made Nadya wish she could retire from the evening before it was socially acceptable for guests to leave.

"Alright, fine." Nadya pulled the silk sash from her waist and began to wrap it around his wound. She was better at this, but with the limited resources she had, the blood and wound would draw unwanted attention if they were to quickly return to the party for a brief moment before escaping to the gardens below.

 

[Azad]

"We would have to go through the party to get down there."​

Azad's eyebrows rose ever so slightly at the words, a small bit of curiosity slipping into his thoughts. Did she not want to be here? Why? Who the hell was she anyway?

Questions burned through his thoughts, but as Nadya lifted her skirts and began to walk towards what he thought was the double doors he raised a hand. As he moved to stopped her, the Thief found surprise flickering over his features as she removed the sash from her waist and tried to tie it around his wound.

He flinched, a lifetime of paranoia and violence carrying him away for just a brief second.

"What are yo-" The Thief balked before coughing and correcting himself. "Oh."

Az said, shaking his head. "Right, don't want any of those pretty seeing blood. They might faint."

The Thief teased, unable to keep the grin from his face. "Though if it brings you this close to me again, I might let you throw another brick at me."

 

[Nadya]

"Yes, the likes of my younger sister screaming at the sight of blood would draw too many eyes, and that would be the absolute last thing I would like." Nadya brought no attention to his surprise at her helping to wrap his wound, but he minor flirtation earned him a wicked grin. "Oh, you're being cute."

It certainly was not the first time she had thrown things at anyone.

Linking their arms, doing her best not to aggravate his wound, she lead the handsome stranger through the party and kept to the walls like mice. "Well, handsome, which of these guests were you accompanying tonight?" She asked, pausing to let a conversing couple slowly free their path through the room.

 

[Azad]

He smiled down at her. "I'm always cute, I can't help it."

Azad winked at Nadya as she swept against his side. Gently taking up his arm and moving to lead him back into the party. Inwardly he cringed as they stepped into the display of ostentatious wealth. The part of him that had grown up in the gutter externally screaming at all the riches.

Still, he kept on his mask even as they wove their way through the crowd.

"Hm?" He intoned, the Thief hoping that he kept the surprise off his face. Eyes flickering around the room as he searched. "I don't think I see...oh. I think that's him."

Az pointed to a man that was headed up the stairs, his face turned away from the both of them. Though he wore an impeccable piece of armor made with brandished silver. "So you can understand the embarrassment that might happen."

The Thief said as he tugged Nadya a bit closer, and turned her away and towards the closest door.

 

[Nadya]

Hmm... Nadya did not recognise who the escort was accompanying tonight, but that was not uncommon. She knew names better, hearing her parents and sisters talk about the society Nadya had opted to leave behind. "What is their name? They do not look familiar."

She didn't shy away as he pulled her closer to him, leading them out a door as the crowd before them dispersed enough for them to weave through.

From here, she knew how to navigate down the hall and into the sunroom below. She had spent an afternoon here once, enjoying tea with other ladies and her mother before she insisted on never attending the parties anymore. "Welcome to the sun room, and through there is the atrium and greenhouse, and the gardens beyond that." It was a maze, but this estate had been handed down over generations, and the Atrium itself had stood near a century.

 

[Azad]

"Oh..." Fuck.

He had no idea what any of these rich pricks called themselves. Sometimes he robbed a manor with a nameplate, and that helped, but random fancy folk at a party?

"Looking for gossip are we?" The Thief redirected, striking upon some conversational gold as Az realized he didn't actually have to answer her question. He just needed to keep her attention long enough to escape. "Because if it's scandal you're looking for, I have much better than this one."

Az dismissed as they moved from the main ballroom and towards the Atrium. The maze like manor echoing their steps as they headed further and further away from the noise. "You wouldn't believe what I could tell you about the Orseni."

The Thief said, remembering what he had found in the tower rooms of their stately manner and suppressing a shiver.

Slipping free of Nadya finally as they reached the garden, slowly peering around the greenery and letting out a whistle. "Don't think I've seen some of these plants before."

He remarked, though in reality he was searching for something else among the foliage; a little black dragon.

 

[Nadya]

Nadya watched him looking around, a small smile lifting at the corners of her mouth. "Tell me about the Orseni."

There was something about him that made her want to keep a close eye on him, but it wasn't the charm he put on display for her. She was used to that sort of behaviour, and sometimes she took advantage of it for the sake of being reckless, but tonight, Nadya was beginning to find peculiarities with this stranger.

"I like hearing a little gossip." She continued, following him and keeping close by. "My family have been in and out of such talk for years."

 

[Azad]

Oh no.

She knew.

Did she?

Fuck.

Fuck fuck fuck.

Maybe this was a mistake.

"Hah." Azad said, shaking his head as he slowly maneuvered himself over towards one of the walls. Shuffling his feet so that he almost seemed to lack a step at all. His eyes finally catching sight of Spinny as he whispered up the wall. "Guess you were just trying to get me alone to hear it all yourself then, eh?"

The Thief said with a smile. "He likes to watch. If you must really know. Likes to pretend I'm some big bad dragon rider come to take his lover. You know. That sort of thing. These nobles are so high and mighty they sometimes want to feel low."

As Az spoke, he found the words falling from his tongue surprising. The lies so detailed he wondered where he even got them from.

"Do keep me out of that story, if you choose to tell it." Azad said, offering a chuckle as he pressed himself against the wall.

 

[Nadya]

"I did hear that the Lord Orseni has a fascination with watching." She smiled, eyes narrowing as she looked to him curiously. "You did not see him watching us when we walked past him earlier?"

Her voice dropped, and she stepped closer to him. Nadya was pretty, she knew that, but the smile that never left her features was not for him. There was a daring element to it, a pretense.

"I daresay he might pop his head out soon enough. Probably thought you and I were going to do some awful things out here in the gardens, away from prying eyes." And it would not be the first time Orseni had followed Nadya. He had become fascinated with her dragon, a famed Storm Dragon, but as soon as Nadya began attending these sorts of parties, her dragon paraded in the skies, he had taken a liking to her and the Caliar name. "What if you charmed him so much, he's wondering what you are up to...?"

Her grey eyes now looked to the wall behind him, and years of visiting this estate had her know that behind this wall was the fields of farmland, and beyond that, mountains where some dragons had taken to resting while their riders were dancing and being merry. Kalyss had chosen to be closer, and on the outskirts of the farmland he would be found.

"You want to get out of here? Get a proper--- oh. Never mind. I am way too overdressed to going to the pub..." She scrunched her face, turning to look back behind her to see if there had been someone hiding in the shrubbery. "You know what? Who cares if I wear a gown to the pub."

 

[Azad]

If Azad was at all flustered by the step Nadya took, he did not show it in the least. As she whispered to him of Lord Orseni and his prying eyes though, the thief momentarily forgot entirely that he had been the one to tell her the story.

For a brief moment he found himself wondering if he had stumbled upon fact, or if the beauty before him was simply playing to his lie. Either way, he could not help the smirk that spread across his face. "Oh, I'm very sure he's wondering all sorts of things."

The Thief said, following Nadya's gaze towards the distant wall. Though allowing a single beat of his own glance over his shoulder. There, finally spotting Spinny. Relief washed over him, but he could not help the dare that now lay within his reach.

"A real drink sounds, exceptionally pleasant right now." As did getting the fuck out of here. He was still loaded with what he'd stolen, and any misstep might mean getting his head cut off.

"But if you're worried about being overdressed, I can get you into some new clothes" He offered with a smile. "'Course, looks like you may need help getting out of those one's first."

 

[Nadya]

Nadya let out a laugh, smiling at the charm he spoke with. "You are a pretty, pretty thing, aren't you?"

She looked to the wall, then chanced a calculating look towards the party. "If I buy you a drink, would you tell me your name?"

The woman turned to look at him, smiling. She was the type to befriend many, but only select few earned the real Caliar. Right now, all that was tempting her was the idea of getting out of here and out of her stuffy dress. This event had not been something she wished to have attended in the first place, but now, she could see it in his eyes that he too was eager to be away from this place.

"Ever been on a dragon before?"

 

[Azad]

"I do try." The Thief remarked with a grin, the lie slipping between his teeth without even an ounce of effort.

Azad had never much thought about his appearance, though he knew most would call him handsome. His life had been a scramble of disaster. Keeping himself alive and chasing whatever bit of coin or high he could manage to take. How he looked had never been much of a choice.

"Suppose that might be enough." He answered, taking a single stride towards her. "But, I might need some additional convincing."

The Thief said with a grin. "And Dragon's back might not be enough to impress me."

His words were bold, he knew that, but he couldn't help the tease that flickered across his tongue.

Azad had never been on Dragon back, but the truth was it never interested him in the first place. He had joined the Rising for his own good, and Spinny had been a reward beyond anything he could have asked for. A talent that matched his own. A companion with the same desire as he.

What was flying next to that. "I have very, high standards."

The Thief said, reaching up to ever so gently brush his fingers across Nadya's hip.

"I'm a man for thrills, you see." He offered with a smirk.

 

[Nadya]

She could feel the shirts to her silvery dress become disturbed at his lightest touch, the sensation brushing against her leg more than a mere touch at her hip would have been if she were in her riding leathers. Nadya caught his grin, could see the flirtation clearly on him.

"I am not here to impress you." She countered with amusement, but she stepped back from his reach. "Although it should impress you that you are about to ride on the only Storm Dragon in Thanasis." Turning, she began searching for perfect foot holds and crevices for her hands to latch onto and pull herself up and over the garden wall. There was trellis here, or at least, there was one if you could claw your way past the thick cover of ivy.

"If you are going to make me work for your name, then I guess I should try and impress you." After a few moments, she began scaling the wall slowly. Miraculously, her heels did not make her slip from her secure footing, and she made it halfway up before peering behind her and catching his gaze.

"You do drink, don't you? Most of plan requires plenty of drink and talk."

 

[Azad]

As he watched Nadya climb, Azad had to resist the urge to say; Your backside already impressed me more than any Dragon’s.

His lips remaining tightly sealed as he bit his tongue and followed in her path, glancing up at her with a smirk.

”I've been known to dabble.” Meaning he'd started early while living on the streets and had continued well into his adulthood. A practice that most of the rats he knew had kept to. Whether for better or for worse. ”In fact, I think I know a good spot for us.”

He told her as he began to scale the wall, moving with a perhaps shocking litheness. ”They might even pop a keg for your dragon.”

Az said with a grin.

 

[Nadya]

Nadya came to a struggle as she reached the top of the wall. The dress was not climbing friendly, and thus was quite the struggle for her to lift herself to perch either side of the wall. Her hair began to fall out from it's careful styling, the wind picking it up on a slight breeze. She waited for him to catch up with her, which did not take long, and she gave him an impressed look. "You assume Kalyss is a social dragon. He's more of the sipping whiskey at a lone table in the corner kind of dragon."

Grinning, she slowly, carefully, moved both legs to now dangle over the other side. Taking a moment, she looked to the plains behind the property, a sizeable estate. "Alright. I'll bite. Is it somewhere inside the City?"

 

[Azad]

"Well, I think he's probably going to have to stay on the roof regardless." The types of establishments he frequented weren't exactly built with Dragons in mind.

Az shifted as Nadya moved herself atop the wall, preparing to catch the Dragon rider just in case the tightness of her dress caused a wobble too far. As she lifted her leg over the wall, Spinny quickly crawled up and over on the other side of them.

The small dragons black claws digging into the stone as he slipped across the barrier and headed down towards the ground. All but invisible within the darkness of night. "Kind of."

He answered her with a grin.

"Ever been to the Rookery?" The Thief asked, dropping the name of Thanasis' notorious criminal district as though it were nothing more than another part of town.

 

[Nadya]

She knew the name, but was a part of the the city she had ventured through a handful of times. Every time on business.

"You want me to go in a dress to the Rookery?" She snorted. Of course, she had spare gear in her saddle bags, but her plan on changing once they reached their location would have to change to making a change before they left. Nadya supposed changing her attire on dragonback was something new to try...

Securing her foot, the heels kicked off to land on the ground beneath them, Nadya moved to make her descent. Her feet felt along the vines for strongholds to keep her from falling back, a height that would not kill her but leave her aching no doubt. She was halfway down before she took pause. "I arrested someone outside the Rookery a few months back... if anyone gives me shit, just know I will give them shit in equal return." And would demand they get a drink elsewhere.

Nadya at least knew some might recognise her hair, and remember that she was a Wing Leader with the Thunder. A Do Gooder, someone that believed in what the Thunder stood for, but the intended slur never landed and stuck with the dragon rider.

She made it to the ground, cursing as a toe fell on one of her heels but she stooped to pick them up.

 

[Azad]

"Well, there's plenty of women..." And men, in fairness. "...in dresses as the Rookery."

True, most of them were sex workers of some sort. Either selling themselves, or their closest cousin of some sort. It wasn't the type of place a real Lady went, was the point.

It was, however, the sort of place most young women wish they could get into. At least in Az's experience. Most of them had practically swooned and fallen over at the prospect of the danger that might befall them. Something he had always found rather...odd.

"But don't worry." He said, following after her with surprising grace. The thief moving as though here were a serpent. Every moment lithe, calculated and yet with no thought at all. Slippy's invisible form and his magic quickly slipping after him. "With the company you keep."

Glancing over at her with a worried, but also reassuring smile. "If you won't be mind, I'll make sure to keep you at my side tonight."

He asked, offering her a hand as she nursed her wound.

 

[Nadya]

Righting herself, heels hanging in one hand, her eyes fell on his offered hand. She raised a brow, lifting her gaze to meet his.

"Is that you trying to say you would protect me, as if I need it?" Nadya grinned, feline as she took his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Because the beauty of this dress means I can hide a number of knives on me, and no one would notice."

Not until she had changed of course, but she was not about to display where about they were hidden to him.

In the end, Nadya did need his light assistance to walk. Her toe still throbbed, making each step a grimace as they finally made it to softer grass, and in order to walk barefoot, she dropped his hand and lifted her skirts to keep from trailing on the ground.

A mountain of darkness was before them, waiting for his bonded rider to get close enough before he could unfurl his body and greet her with a series of beastial purrs. Nadya tilted her head, pausing a moment as the Storm Dragon communicated there was a dragon scent present. Turning to look at the male, a name she still had not asked for, she lifted a brow. "Did you come to the party by dragon?"