Private Tales Owing Control

A private roleplay only for those invited by the first writer

Theodore Aleson

The Empire
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Character Biography
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"Can I help you?"

Theo stood with pan in hand. A fire raging in its cooking pit in front of him. Chopped veggies and meat flipped as a large brute in hardened leather with a club on his side stood next to a more lithe man with charcoal hair watched slightly annoyed. A chubby raccoon making pleads and demands locked inside of a reinforced cage nearby the entire time.

"Your presence is demanded. Debts owed." The lithe one said putting on a rat like smile upon his face. His pig nosed brute just grunted after and frowned as he gripped his club a bit dramatically.

The scholar cook glanced at them a moment before his eyes went back to his cooking. By Alliria they always chose the worst times. These two also felt in a position of power over him and that meant if he wasn't careful they might get rougher than needed. Where was patience with their types? He was obviously cooking right now in a tavern kitchen!

A louder clatter echoed in from the room beyond the door frame. Muffled voices as the server was being aggressively lectured about their mistake by a temperamental owner and host. No doubt threats at a lose of pay to cover "costs" of what was lost. And he would be next if he abandoned his shift right now. He needed the pay to cover the costs of his room and board. He couldn't dip into his savings.

In a voice calm and straight as a stone block Theo said, "Then I suggest you sit, order, and wait till my shift is over. I am busy at the moment. Your distraction might, might, cause me to burn something."

The raccoon rattled and shook a balled fist at the humans when burnt food was mentioned. Was it out of anger or encouragement to get him to burn the food? A bowl licked clean and little specks of burnt food around her maw a clue as to which was accurate.

The brute got ready to make a move but the lithe man stopped him with a shake of his head. Then his rat eyes went to the cook. "Don't try to dip out the back on us. Got folks waiting out there with less patience.... See you soon."

The pair left out the door frame and sat at a table where them and the cook could see each other easily. No backing out of this now.

==================

Theo walked into a familiar office. Sammy riding on his shoulder still scolding him about being locked up while there was food to gobble for so long. The place belonged to a loan shark, brothel owner, gambling hall provider, and worst of all real estate owner. It was also someone he owed a rather hefty debt to as well as a sadly regular client of his talents. The show of force unnecessary from before but one this person always used whenever he was summoned before them.

And at the desk sat his for sure soon to be employer. A halfling woman with salt and pepper hair kept in a bun and braid with freckles dominating not just her face but her entire figure as well. A bit plump in a well off without needing to be as active kind of way. Eyes brown as loam. A nose slightly crooked from being broken and reset once long ago. Piercings covering her ears with all kinds of gems of various values, one in her nose, and rumors of one in her tongue as well.

Rumors had it that Miss Forrim (one did not leave out the miss part and live) was half kivren. Her voice when she spoke and sang as alluring as the old sailor tells would have you believe and her personality and tactics as ruthless as well as those sirens of the sea.

"You are late." Her gaze went from Theo to the rat faced man escorting him. "Told you to bring him here hours ago. Told you where he was. What took you so long?"

Before the man could answer, she waved her hand and the brute next to him knocked his companion out. He picked the lithe rag doll off the floor.

"He can work the shitters and docks till my business with my boy Theo is finished." She then waved at the big brute again who simply nodded and left the room without a word.

Theo watched it going down. A sweat forming on his lower back as he stood and waited for permission to be seated. It was the proper thing to do in a business meeting and also the best way to avoid getting thrown to the docks as well. The door closed behind the big boar. Things went silent. Even Sammy had gone quiet. During this time Miss Forrim motioned her permission for Theo to sit and so he did without hesitation. The food gremlin curled up into his lap and tried to hide her face away from the scary lady.

"We have a big problem. And by we have a big problem I mean I have a big problem." Miss Forrim hadn't waited for him to settle. Straight to the point as usual. She cleared a voice a bit then yelled, "Bring in the meat!"

Meat, her favorite term for mercenaries and sellswords. His eyes glanced to the door to see who was entering the room. If she was hiring someone with skill for a job then she indeed had a big problem. What was this all about exactly?

Once the new arrival was in and taken their seat as well, Miss Forrim said looking at the pair, "Somebody owes me coin. A larger sum than Alliria's tits and I need you two to find out who."
 
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Dani picked at her teeth with her knife as she waited at a table out in the main tavern. She glanced up when a stocky man waved her over. She recognized him, and she recognized the door he stood outside of. So they had gotten the other man they needed for this strange deal. Time for her dramatic entrance.

She stood and made her way through the midday crowd into the relative quiet of the hall Forrim's office was on. The door to the woman's office opened and Dani walked in and plopped down in a seat next to the man she had heard briefly about. He was older than her, and didn't really have the look of a fighter. She shrugged at him before turning to focus on Miss Forrim.

So all of this was for money? Dani had to admit, she was a little disappointed. It likely would not be a very exciting job, and she wondered what the plump woman even wanted with a mercenary like Dani. She supposed if someone owed her a lot of money that she would pay well, but even that was not highly guaranteed.

The girl sighed dramatically, slouching down in her chair a little bit. "Got any leads, or did you just want us to roam the streets asking if anyone owed you a shit ton of money?" The question was partly sarcastic and partly serious. This woman was hard to read- Dani had done a couple of jobs for her before, but they had been small jobs, so the woman could build trust in Dani. Was this the outpayment of that trust? She had other things she wanted to do in Alliria anyway.

Theodore Aleson
 
The "meat" that Miss Forrim had brought in this time was a woman. Quickly he glanced her over. There was a roughness about her. Not her face. No that was feminine as any other woman. It was the air about her and the way she dressed. Both held the roughness.

But his attention went back to Miss Forrim the moment she got to the reason the two were here. Someone owed her coin and it wasn't a small amount. The detail that got a raised brow from him was that she implied she didn't know who this person was.

Miss Forrim looked to the mercenary and gave her a look. The look was not subtle and a mix of a statement and a question: shut up and who said you could speak yet?

"You are to sit still and look pretty till somebody needs to be turned bloody. He will be figuring out who this somebody is."

No time was wasted waiting for compliance nor complaint. The boss in the room turned her attention fully onto Theo. He felt a jolt rush up and down his spine at once. Sweat instantly forming on his lower back. Panic already bubbling up hoping he could remain out of this woman's ire.

His face remained blank. He shifted ever so slightly in his seat. In a voice all too calm he responded. "What do you already know? How I handle this depends on what leads you already have."

He glanced subtly over at his new companion as the food gremlin hide under his seat.

Miss Forrim sighed as she sat back a bit. "Oddest thing has been going on. People borrowing coin, and not small amounts of it. All smiles. People not known for scamming. Always pay back what they owe. Good folk to loan out large amounts to.... Well all of them didn't pay back what was owed. Sent my big boys and girls to ask them politely what the issue was. Then they asked not so politely. Every time they were adamant they never borrowed anything. Didn't owe a thing. Pushed a few cases to the guard. Same little story. Stayed the same even when potions and magic proved they weren't lying.... So what I need from you, Theo my boy, is to figure out what is happening. Find out what, how, and who's flesh I'll be having a fine dinner of later."

Theo shifted in his seat again. By Alliria! The bloodlust radiating from this halfling woman wasn't minor despite how contained it was. Her ending comment wasn't a joke. He just knew it. He also knew if he couldn't sort this out then she was going to settle with having him for dinner instead.

Face still blank and his voice lacking any sort of hint of his emotional state Theo said, "Understood."

Gods, he better think of something fast. His mind was racing already and he had some inklings, but nothing was going to stick out till he had a better idea of what was happening.

Daniele Bergara
 
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