[PP-F1] The Raven and the Nightingale

[Itzal 0]

Today was a very rare day for Itzal. It was his day off. There were no reports, rumors, or trails of player killers for a few days actually. Not even the info brokers had anything for him. Either they'd found ways to kill without it being noticed, which was unlikely due to the monument, or they had finally died down a bit to where he could actually take a breather. It was surprising how many players shifted to such a lifestyle on hearing that their lives were in danger. Instead of taking a safer route they jump straight into the thick of danger. Unlike other days however he didn't allow his thoughts to linger on this subject for long. He was currently leaning against the corner wall of a tavern a player had made to earn some col without risking their life out in the field. All he purchased for himself was some jerky as this was only a pit stop on his way to another destination. Once there he'd have a proper meal. The owner of this establishment of course, had cast lots of glances at him when he had picked up his meal, and even glared at where he'd went once he activated his stealth skill. Becoming invisible to all in the tavern, which was mingling with both players and npcs.

While he ate some of his jerky, his face obscured by a shadowy mist, he watched as Aldion sat on one of the shelves next to a table where a single player sat. The raven was watching the entire tavern for the most part, as Itzal trained him to be aware of everything in his surroundings, so neither of them were paying attention to the woman. Though, that would change in a moment or two.

@Nightingale

[Nightingale 0]

OOC: as a side note, Nightingale will be portrayed at a different level than her current one for purely RP purposes. If there are any concerns, let me know!

Rosa calmly knocked back yet another glass of gin, her multicolored eyes darkening slightly as she listened to the gossip and rumors circulating around the bar. She was still on the lookout for information on the Laughing coffin, and hadn't managed to find any intel, save for some from a player from an orange guild that survived one of their raids. Unfortunately, it wasn't fresh info... which was pretty bad. actually, bad would be a tad bit of an understatement in that regard. She recalled faintly that Hidden was still on the lookout for more information regarding the guild, scratch that, Needed more intel was more accurate. Rosa had made sure that the younger girl had learned that lesson rather quickly. Never go into a situation uninformed. She perked up slightly when she spotted a raven perched on one of the nearby shelves, watching her like a hawk staring down its next meal. "... huh....?" She shot the bird a wary glance, before pulling up her hood and bandanna, hiding most of her face. Even though she was relatively well known here, she didn't want some random person knowing who she was. "That's a bit unfortunate, I'm not fond of little observers. even pretty ones like yerself. Kindly 'eff off, will ya?"

@Itzal

[Itzal 0]

Evidently his familiar's occasional glances had been taken notice of by the woman. And she didn't seem to feel all too comfortable with it, pulling a hood and bandana over her face to conceal it. Too late he thought, we'd already seen your face. Doing that just burns it into my mind all the more. Smart move would have been to realize that if she was being watched they'd have seen her face, and not draw much attention to herself. Oh well. He saw her talking to Aldion, but since he was across the tavern from them he couldn't understand what they were saying. It wasn't like he could read lips or anything... What? Sure he knew parkour and mastered tracking, hiding, combat, strategizing, and talking with people but that didn't mean he could do anything.

Meanwhile Aldion heard her talk to him and shifted his gaze from the crowd to her again. He ruffled his feathers and gave a simple 'caw' in response before looking once again at the crowd in the tavern. Aldion noticed that Itzal had moved on from the tavern, but chose to stay behind a little bit longer. Another thing Itzal taught him was that people tended to follow him, mostly for ill means. So it was useful to have another set of eyes stay behind a minute or two to make sure no one tried following him or anything. As before, it occasionally cast glances at the strange woman.

@Nightingale

[Nightingale 0]

Rosa scowled at the bird, her eyes darkening slightly. "Lemme guess, yer master already knows I'm here, doesn't he?" She said flatly, her brows furrowed. "Fantastic. Absolutely fan-f**cking-tastic. I can't even gather intel without someone staring me down." She Kept a close eye on the familiar, watching for any sign of its master within her line of sight. It was pretty unfortunate that she'd been seen, though she didn't know how unfortunate it might end up just yet. the fact that the familiar hadn't even budged told her that it was either tracking her movements, or just watching her for its master. Both options weren't going to be very nice. She moved her hand up to pull up her player menu, scrolling through her messages, replying to a message from Glenn about the people he was currently tracking. 'He's very effective, but he needs to be a tad bit more wary.. he could have easily been seen by them..' She signed off on his actions, and quickly received a ping notifying her of his affirmative response. "Brilliant. Now's the time for the waiting game." she said dryly, still keeping an eye on the Raven in case it decided to move out without her attention fully on it.

@Itzal

[Itzal 0]

Aldion's tail twitched in annoyance when she asked the question. When she started to complain out loud he turned to her again, opened his wings and cawed at her once before folding them up and snapping his head back to focus on the crowd once again. He really didn't like being interrupted when he was on a mission. It was times like this Aldion disliked interruptions, whether they were unwanted or pleasant. Eventually however, after a few minutes had passed, he confirmed there wasn't any real threat... Well maybe the woman beside him. He'd glanced at her when she opened her menu, but not seeing any ill intent on her face he confirmed she wasn't really a threat. Eventually he decided it would be best to catch up with Itzal. Bobbing his head once as his form of a nod he politely cawed 'good day' to her and took flight for the doorway. He expertly curved mid flight into the general direction Itzal went. He hovered mid air for a moment or two as he scanned the crowds for his master, until he found the cloaked player down the corner that lead to another street. Gliding over and landing on his right shoulder, Aldion shook his head. "Oh sweet. In that case, let's get going shall we? If we don't hurry we'll miss it."

@Nightingale

[Nightingale 0]

Rosa frowned as she watched the bird fly away from her, her eyes following it with trained ease. "Lets see where you're headed little one.." She breathed, her eyes glinting with excitement at tracking her quarry. Pulling up her menu, she tapped out a message instructing her friends to meet her down the street to cause a commotion. Perhaps taking a page out of her little wildcard's book would draw their attention. Before she fully stepped out of the building, she swapped into her standard white cloak, complete with the gold and red emblem of Arbiters hand plastered on the back. She put on a festively decorated mask and hat, not too unlike a Circus ringleader's hat. before springing onto the roof of one of the buildings. startling more than a few players. "Come one, Come all to our fabulous show! right in the town square, so don't be late!" she called out, throwing cards with her guild logo plastered on them. perhaps she could draw that man out by luring him with an orange player. She swiftly tapped out a message to her co-conspirators, hoping that they were already in position. After confirming, she made her way to the area swiftly.

@Itzal

[Itzal 0]

Hearing a low cry from Aldion, one mixed with confusion and concern, he turned over to the open area again only to see... His eyes opened wider and his eyebrows went up under the shadowy mist. An individual came out wearing a white cloak with a red and gold emblem, festive mask and hat (kind of like a tophat) and jumped from a roof before landing, inviting people to a 'show' and threw cards around. It drew a lot of attention from the crowd, and suddenly several players ran up to the area. Some of them, actually most of them had orange cursors which made him narrow his eyes a moment. He quickly pulled a pocket notebook from his inventory and turned the pages to guild information. He scanned it, looking at each name and emblem but didn't see anything. So either they were a seriously tiny and low key killing group, or they were normal players who probably stole too many times... Actually looking at them again it was probably the latter... All the same. He closed the notebook, which kept all of his notes on rumors, secrets, facts and observations by him, allies, or the info brokers. He then grabbed the shoulder of a player who was moving over to watch the spectacle. He looked like the more competent of his party. Lucky him he thought.

"Hey what the hell man?" He fell silent when he saw Itzal's appearance, but he just pulled the player closer so he could whisper. "Keep an eye on the crowd for me. Make sure no one's taken." With that he turned and walked away. If they were player killers this would be the WORST time to take them down. This would likely have been planned out, so they'd have contingencies. And besides, he wanted to make sure. If they did take someone away, it would be noticeable to anyone watching the crowd, even if they weren't a pro. They, other players, and even the guards could prevent a kidnapping after it's been spotted with relative ease, and no one could die here. So if they attempted something like that, he'd hear about it and add them to his target list. At any rate, he walked away, wanting some peace and quiet with Aldion for once. After all that's happened they deserved a day off.

@Nightingale

[Nightingale 0]

Rosa stood upon the upper part of a fountain centered around where her guild would be performing. Her guildmates were already in place, and were completely dressed in their costumes. Her eyes scanned the crowd, not spotting the person that had started to track her inside the building anywhere near the plaza. 'Oh well, I guess we should still put up a show, should we not..?' she thought dryly, glancing at the crowd, before moving to have her baton-like sheathe spinning in her hand. "Welcome, everyone! My name is Ace, and I'm here with my guild, the Arbiter's Hand*, to give you guys a cool show~!" she called out, waving at the players gathered around them. Then, at her call, all of her guildmates that were dressed as clowns began to dance and perform, some of them were juggling daggers, some were doing balancing acts, and others were doing parkour and safe-zone sparring, kicking up a flurry of blue and purple sparks as the game prevented the players from taking damage from the attacks. Various players were murmuring excitedly about the situation, their eyes wide at the performance.

on the other hand, rosa was still watching the crowd, noticing one of the players seemed to be watching her group a little too closely, eliciting a frown from her. she opened a chat menu, and sent a message to one of her non-present members to keep an eye out for anyone aiming to cause trouble. 'Getting attacked for no reason is not on my list of things to do today, thank you.' she thought, closing the menu, before moving down to one of her clowns, and engaging in a simple duel with them, the pair moving as though they were in a choreographed dance, the movements seeming impossibly rehearsed.

Eventually, the performance ended, and Rosa moved to an alleyway off to the side along with one of her trustee's, Heart. With a twin flash of blue, they both were in regular clothing, though Rosa had a scarf covering part of her face in order to help prevent someone from tailing her. Heart had his hands in his pockets, hiding that he was armed with brass knuckles, custom made from heavy dragon bone and Steel. "Were you able to find anything interesting, Milady...?" he asked softly, tilting his head towards her. "And that was quite the brilliant show we put on for everyone earlier, wasn't it? They hadn't even noticed what our objective was." Rosa chuckled mirthlessly, shaking her head at her friend. "God I wish I was that good at making things sound shady as hell! Yeah, I got the Intel we needed. Our target isn't here, so I think we made our way out here for nothin'" she said dryly, turning slightly to face Heart. "And watch your tone a tad bit, someone tracked me earlier, their familiar was sittin' at my table, starin' at me." At this, Heart's easygoing smile dropped completely, and his eyes darted around a bit. "Then isn't it a bit of a problem that we're still here while you haven't concealed yourself..?!" he hissed, putting a hand on her shoulder, which she offhandedly brushed away, shaking her head.

"If they wanted t' cause some trouble, they woulda done it in the Tavern. Too many witnesses out here." she said flatly, gesturing at the large crowd that was still milling about the town. "Dammit Rosa, that's not my point! What if they're a greenie working for an orange guild!" Rosa rolled her eyes at Heart's concern, her expression darkening slightly. "Look, I appreciate the concern, but there really ain't an orange guild stupid enough to attack one of the few info brokers that'll sell them info. Especially given that ol' master o' shadows himself went into retirement."

@Itzal

[Itzal 0]

"Now then... What to do today..." Itzal said aloud to Aldion as they made their way through town towards the gates. "We could go look at some scenery. Or maybe just take a walk through nature. Or both. Or perhaps you want to spend some time at some popular sites?" There were plenty of places they could go to in order to relax. Many varieties of beautiful scenery such as waterfalls and lakes, clifftops overlooking vast rich green forests. Those brought back some pleasant memories too. Including time he spent with his friends. Hestia and Kasier, Morgenstern and Mossino, Birdie and Mina, and many others. He smiled sadly as he remembered his time with his friends who were now dead, lost, or simply distant nowadays. Aldien caught onto his nostalgia and longing and nuzzled against him. This of course lightened his mood a little bit and chuckled. "Thank you Aldion... That is much appreciated." He stroked Aldion's head, neck and between his shoulders which he enjoyed. However the little raven bird's own mood had fallen considerably fast. Itzal frowned in concern as the bird began to get all fidgety, beginning to pace back and forth on his shoulder while looking in multiple directions. He even cawed a few times, concern in it's cry. Aldion hadn't done that before, but he was guessing that the bird had noticed something he felt he should check out. "...Alright buddy, I trust you. Go scout whatever it is out. I'll wait for you when you get back."

Aldion had greater hearing than Itzal did, and farther sight. The black raven nodded it's head at the black rogue and cawed it's thanks before hopping off his shoulder, opening it's wings and taking to the air. It flew through the alleyways, darting left and right as it looked for it's target. It wasn't mean, it didn't seem to be mean anyways. But it didn't go away like Aldion had hoped. Aldion couldn't get it to leave, so maybe his master could get it to leave. Eventually the creature managed to find the plaza in which the event was being hosted. Everyone was gone by now. Figures, it seemed to have quiet down. It looked in the surrounding alleyways next, flying around until it spotted two suspicious figures. It was there, along with another. Aldion landed on a lamp hanging off of the building as he listened quietly. He wasn't listening to their words, he hadn't learned their language all that well. No, he was listening to their tones. The new thing was creepy, and gave off a sinister vibe with it's sound. It however seemed to be carefree and calm. Aldion considered whether he should lead them to his master so he could send them away, or if he shou- nah he'd lead them to his master. Master could handle this. So he cawed several times to get their attention before gliding down the alleyway and taking a turn.

@Nightingale