Private Tales The Kindest Devils

[Fabien 'King' D'Amour]

King rolled his eyes. She was the antithesis to Vittoria: boring.
"Oh, live a little, Wylls," he said, annoyed, as he turned away from the shelves of vials.

Arm in arm with his greatest friend, King laughed alongside her.
"Best spend your worry elsewhere, Madam. We'll cross him sooner rather than later. Ciao!"

With a wave behind him, the trio of initiates were once again back in the streets. He cocked a brow at Vittoria's proposal before giving a nod.
"By all means. We've been dragging her around thus far...let's see if she's at least capable of getting us to our next destination."

 

[Vittoria Larrainth]

Their destination was easy to find, and Eliza was the first to step through. Vittoria shared a icked glance with King and followed behind her.

The types found in this establishment were ones she was unfamiliar with. Criminals, peddlers, lowborn filth. Unused to keeping such company, pretty faces such as the three Initiates garnered some attention. Vittoria gave them each her perfected cold stare, which many averted their gaze, but a good number called out to the younger ones in a jeer.

"Awful sort." She commented, uncaring if she was heard by them. Eliza, bless her heart, kept herself before Vittoria and glared at the men.

"Let's make this quick then."

Vittoria snorted, but agreed. Reaching to squeeze the hand of her friend, it was the only warning she gave before approaching the barkeep. Older patrons stared at her, appreciating the figure they could see while dressed in Initiate leathers. "I am looking for someone by the name Erwyn."

"People come to the Poisoned Pour for many reasons, little girl. I can show you one of them." Said a handsome face beside her, alcohol clinging to his breath.

 

[Fabien 'King' D'Amour]

Well there was something to be said about Eliza's sense of direction, at least. Before long the trio was in the thick of the skeeziest slime-hole King had ever had the displeasure of wandering into.

"That's putting it lightly," King hummed back. He was perhaps surprised to notice that the girls were not the only members of the group being leered at, and the attention made his skin crawl. Vittoria snapped him out of it quickly, King returning the reassuring hand squeeze before the group dove deeper into the proverbial pit.

A drunkard at the bar was quick to cross a line King didn't care for. He clapped an arm around the man's shoulder and partially slid the blade of his sword-breaker from its sheath. King gave the man a broad smile and squeezed down tightly on his shoulder, amplification magic subtly making his grip much more uncomfortable than it had any right to be.
"What was your reason, friend? Not to die, I should think."

 

[Vittoria Larrainth]

Vittoria turned her head to see the hand on the stranger's shoulder. She knew just how much force was in that small touch, but her eyes nor face gave away anything other than witness.

"Erwyn. Is he here?" She asked her question once more, the barkeep shrugging at her but a figure from the other end of the bar stood and slowly wandered over to the Initiates.

"You know, all three of you are much too young to be in this bar." He was handsome, not at all someone expected to frequent a place like this. "And you should lower your voice when using my name." Erwyn grinned, and it seemed as if his light brown eyes shimmered in the low light.

"Are you... him?" Asked Eliza.

"No, darling. I just came here--- Kress, no need to frown like that. Well?" He sighed, looking to Vittoria then to King who still held a threat against the drunken stranger. "You coming with me or what?"

The taller male beckoned the three to follow, his golden hair bright and easy to spot as he made his way to a back room, the door labelled with a sign that simply stated Keep Out!

"We were told you could help us find someone that is hiding in the Grease Streets." Vittoria stated once the door was closed behind them all. Her gaze was void of anything, her tone pointed and clear of intention. "And I suspect you do not want many to know your name and make connection to your likeness because you possess an ability to find those that lose themselves."

Erwyn, who rounded behind a table and took a seat, only laughed at Vittoria's words. "Kress, at least they are keeping Initiates sharp still in this revolutionised Aniria..." He glanced at the three of them, studying them all carefully before settling on Vittoria, who still did not blink after watching him. "Yeah, I can find people... more like, they come to me."

Vittoria now changed her expression to a smirk. "A siren."

 

[Fabien 'King' D'Amour]

Oh, wonderful. Another sleezebag. He popped his sword-breaker downwards in its sheath and roughly shoved the man at the bar forward, the impact of his chest against the counter top shaking the whole thing. Glasses clinked and the man steadied himself, wheeled about ready to fight, but King and the others had already gone.

The barkeep shook his head and patted the patron on the back.
"Not worth it, pal. Lemme get you another drink."

In Erwyn's private office, the inanity continued.
"Sharper than you know, Ser Siren," King retorted. He rolled his head from side to side, his neck cracking as he did so. "Though perhaps they're teaching us less patience these days."

 

[Vittoria Larrainth]

"A fault of their own teachings, I am sure." Erwyn drawled, giving King a sarcastic smile. He looked to Vittoria, still unmoving, and he sighed. "Yes, you're right. I'm a pied piper."

Vittoria did not smile. "Eliza, do you have the bounty?"

Eliza produced the parchment they had taken from the bulletin board earlier, stepping forward to offer it to Erwyn. He looked between the three Initiates and smiled wryly. "Do I get a cut?"

"You can have my share of prize money." Vittoria moved now, taking a seat opposite of his makeshift desk. "I do not care for money."

She had a fortune, title, and land awaiting her once she got rid of her step mother and step brother that tried to steal it all from her. She did not want them to have it, to keep the Larrainth name to live on. That money would be used as her dowry, to better Vittoria's chances at marrying into a respectable family and the chance for that family to own property in Vel Luin.

Prize money meant nothing to her, only the hunt.

"Fen Severin." Erwyn read aloud. "A hunter? Hmm... don't know him... might take me a bit to sing my song." He lazily waved a hand over to the right, where a lute hung up on the wall. "Love song or a song about legends, children?"

Eliza frowned. "Why?"

Erwyn looked at her, moving to sit forward in his seat. "Because I am going to be singing to every greasy sewer rat here in the Streets. You want this guy to come to you, you best start figuring out where we are going to trap him."

 

[Fabien 'King' D'Amour]

Committed as ever, Vittoria Larrainth. In truth, Eliza didn't really deserve a cut, but King wasn't one to step on her toes. Still, he hoped that she might read his mind; promising her the gold now and then denying it to her later would be funny...but perhaps there was something worse they could get away with doing to her if she did have it.

King tucked the thought away for now. Erwyn was being an annoying little prat, and that needed tending to.
"Whatever gets this done faster, Piper. We finish this tonight or not at all," he spat with a roll of his eyes. "And as for location..."

He looked to Vittoria.
"Our mark is clearly on his guard already. We'll need to trade an 'easy' capture for something unassuming if we want him to show at all. A secluded, abandoned building is going to tip him off."

 

[Vittoria Larrainth]

"Bring him here." Vittoria answered.

Erwyn gave her a look, doubt sewing into his expression the longer he stared at her.

"Anyone out there that wishes to interrupt or intervene will be dealt with."

Erwyn plucked at his sleeves, snorting at the Initiate. "Alright. The question still stands."

"Legends." Eliza answered quickly, so as to have things move faster instead of the Terrible Two playing the Terrible Two.

That was all he needed to hear.

He sprang up onto his feet and crossed the room, pulling his lute from it's mount and began to play a tune to inspire. "Right..." He cleared his throat and motioned for Vittoria to move to stand by the window. "You're the muse, sweetheart." But the dark haired girl shook her head and Eliza scoffed and rolled her eyes. Trudging over to the window, she leaned against the wooden mullions gently and peered out to the dark littering the Grease Streets.

Erwyn sung. It was a song of a famed warrior, beauty in her flaxen hair and pretty face, marred by war and trauma. It carried a tune, and Vittoria found herself swaying on her feet some, something she did not do unless it was in the classes of Proctor Urahil's Etiquette classes.

 

[Fabien 'King' D'Amour]

"Hmph..."

However this was supposed to work, King didn't understand. When Erwyn had spoken of "singing" he hadn't thought the man had meant literally. It was like Erwyn was fearless...did he not understand that he was dealing with a trio of Dreadlord initiates? At a moment's notice they could simply end his miserable life, yet he was flirting with Vittoria. Fuck's sake.

King glanced to Vitt and quirked an eyebrow at her. It must have been magic if even she was stifling a dance. Though admittedly, the song didn't sound too unlike something that Eva might've played on her violin. It was...nice. He didn't care for that fact.

"If he tries something uncouth I'm killing him," he whispered to Vitt.

 

[Vittoria Larrainth]

King's whispers brought an amused smile to her lips, her eyes narrowing with their shared humour as she turned her head towards him, but her eyes still keenly watching Erwyn. "And I will help hide the body."

How many times had they said a variation of those words to each other in the years of knowing one another? Vittoria's gift in concealment allowed them both to get away with many wrongdoings at the Academy, hiding all the incriminating evidence and only few were game to interrogate the girl.

But together, they watched as Eliza cleared her throat and turned back to the room, giving them all a grim smile that did not reach her eyes. She was feeling awkward, unsure, and Vittoria reveled in watching someone squirm.

The song continued, a story being read to the accompaniment of lilting tunes of the lute, but finally, after almost ten minutes, there came a knock at the door.

Life sprang to her eyes, and Vittoria moved towards the door first. Wrenching it open, it revealed a familiar face they had seen on the bounty poster earlier, but now their eyes glowing gold all over as magic entranced him to move forward into the room. A cat that watched the mouse enter with no true escape, Vittoria smiled in all her feline-like glory as she closed the door and leaned against it.

"Well, well, well... remember my friends, this one has to go in alive."

 

[Fabien 'King' D'Amour]

A knowing and sly half-smile was cast at Vittoria as she confirmed their mutual distaste for their current helper. Getting rid of the cur would be an easy feat, if history served.

Ten minutes passed, Eliza suffering all the way. If it weren't for that the time spent would have been woefully boring. King was nearly ready to accuse their siren of being a hack, but just then their quarry simply waltzed in through the door, entranced.

"Hmph. Impressive," King admitted as he watched the vagrant bounty shamble onwards. He pulled a set of manacles from his belt and moved behind the man, ready to finish the capture. "You weren't all bluster, then. Splendid."

A bit anticlimactic, if you were to ask him, but not all things in life needed to be filled with senseless melodrama.

 

[Vittoria Larrainth]

Vittoria remained by the door.

Her eyes never left Fen, who began to slowly piece his surroundings being foreign and panicked. It made her chuckle, a rare sound from her that Eliza looked at her in amazement before standing up straight.

Their bounty was here, and a prize soon to be in their hands.

But Vittoria and King had other ideas than simply bringing this wanted hunter into the authorities and claiming that bounty on his head.

It was why she held the exit. Eliza was unknowingly guarding the windows, and King was free to prowl within the room.

Sea green eyes fell on the siren-voiced bard, saccharine smile just for him. "Now, dear friend. You would not wish to make enemies of three Initiates, do you? How will we know you would not charm us each and take the bounty all for yourself?" Playful. Her tone was playful and warm, as if this was her natural setting than the unnerving and calculating demeanor synonymous with Larrainth.

"He wouldn't." Eliza caught on, narrowing her gaze at the older gentleman. "And if you even attempted to do so, you're an idiot. You don't even know what those two are capable of."

Erwyn spluttered and looked between them all, stunned by how quickly they turned on him. "I am no scoundrel and detest that you believe me to be!"

"But we do not know you, Maestro Erwyn." Vittoria's portrayal of innocence was down in her unnerving fashion, her voice still that natural sweetness. "We at the Academy have been taught to eliminate all threats... and this is us simply covering all bases." Then she rolled her eyes, pretense dropping. "Wylls, get a chair for our hunter here and keep him seated."

Fen had gone ignored, his carrying on turned into a surprised yelp as Eliza used her telekinetic force to seat the man into a chair and kept him there with her magic.

"What do you say, King? Leave the bard with a reminder not to cross us, or perhaps we can believe his good word?"

 

[Fabien 'King' D'Amour]

With Fen in manacles and pinned down by Wylls, that let the Terrible Two focus on more pressing matters: the loose ends.

"Ohhh, 'scoundrel, piper, siren'...so many synonymous little titles you have, Erwyn," King said playfully, slowly circling the man. It was time to make him sweat.

"What do you say, King? Leave the bard with a reminder not to cross us, or perhaps we can believe his good word?"

A thoughtful glint shone in King's eye.

"That is the trouble, isn't it? If we leave our siren friend unharmed he could be of use to us again," he considered as he circled like a ravenous shark. King stopped as he rounded Erwyn's front and unsheathed his knife once more and waggled it in the bard's face. "But that magic of yours is potent, friend. Cutting that tongue out would be an easy way to make sure you don't sing that pretty song at us."

King studied Erwyn closely.
"So what would make us more foolish? Disposing of a useful, if dubious ally? Or leaving a threat unanswered because he pwoooommissed he wouldn't betray us? Hmmm..."

 

[Vittoria Larrainth]

The way Vittoria and King worked over the years had allowed them both to learn and lean on each other.

As King spoke their options, it sparked thinking for his dearest friend.

"There are ways to ensure a promise is kept." She smiled, happily at that. Even Wylls cowered at the sight of it.

Vittoria left her position and joined King, leaning to whisper softly into his ear.

"Make them Bound the promise and Eliza the anchor. If he betrays us, then he kills an innocent... and he does not seem the type to want to harm her..." But Vittoria was his muse, his fascination. Such deep emotions could turn him and he would not care about the Initiate that was hard to please.

But Eliza, with her large doll eyes and perfect blonde hair, she was the picture of innocence.

To betray that, one would be kicking themselves.

 

[Fabien 'King' D'Amour]

King quirked a brow and twisted his lips in mischief. An elegant solution as ever. Erwyn would be made a living pawn, and Wylls would be subject to one final torment as a reminder of whom she dealt with.

"No good deed goes unpunished, after all," he hummed back to his dearest friend. "Very well. We play it your way, Vitt."

 

[Vittoria Larrainth]

"Well Larrainth?" Eliza tried her best to smother the anxiety, but it was still in her eyes as she stared at the Terrible Two. "What way is that?"

Vittoria peeled her attention from her closest and dearest friend, eyes settling on Eliza. She was smaller than Vittoria and King, was the very weak and feeble type they would have squashed if the rules had not changed, but there was no doubting how strong she was with her telekinetic abilities.

But she was one of the many younger Initiates that grew up with the kindness that the Republic brought to their futures. She was a dreamer, a girl with emotions even if she learned how to mask or bear it.

To break her slowly was something Vittoria enjoyed doing.

"A binding oath. You serving as anchor, dear Eliza Wylls."

Erwyn let out a nervous chuckle, shaking his head. "There is no need for that."

Vittoria's head angled to one side, watching him closely. A cat playing with their kill. "You are a stranger to us, how are we to believe your trust?"

The siren bard sighed, deeply and slowly agitated. "Binding oaths are for greater things. Why waste it on this?"

Her predatory eyes never left him, but her hands twitched and found King's. Questioning Vittoria's motives struck her towards a carnivorous intent, to bare her teeth and bite. But it had been King that taught her restraint, to play the game and enjoy the show. She was crushing his hand, but she had held it worse in the past. Reassurance, someone on her side, that was all Vittoria needed at that moment.

Of course, they both knew this was a game, and the Terrible Two being the only ones clever enough to start.

"Death, then?" Vittoria asked kindly.

Eliza shuddered.

The siren's expression hardened. "May I make a counter offer? A favour owed, to each of your three."