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+--- Thread: Ante Up [closed] (/showthread.php?tid=6795)
Ante Up [closed] - Zhavi - 03-30-2014
The bag of gil was plump, and open at the top so Zhavi could see inside. It rested on the table, seductive and tempting.
"My master 'as a problem," the man across from her said.
She looked up, and leaned back. It wasn't typical for her to be invited to such a (relatively nice) place as the Drowning Wench, nor was it typical for business to be conducted somewhere so public. She didn't think she'd been contacted by this employer before. It made her cautious. More cautious than usual, at least.
"Dockrats, scabies, whatsit then?" Affected boredom was easy enough, and Zhi let her eyes slide left and then right, wondering if there were other eyes on them and whether or not they were with the big roegadyn.
"A tabby what got into t'wrong pantry an' et all t'wrong things."
Zhi didn't bother to hide her annoyance. The roegadyn smiled at her in response. It wasn't a very nice smile. Zhi hated it on sight. She bet he knew that, too, the cheeky git. She rolled her eyes and stared at him in expectation.
He didn't disappoint. "Boss wants ya ta lead t'right sorta trail to't, now. Fer the dogs t'ave a sniff at. Reckon there's a right mess t'clean, an' Boss wants t'see it put t'rights afore upper bossmen sees it."
Zhi scratched at her shoulder, getting a nail under the bug that'd lodged itself in her skin. "This now?" She nodded at the gil.
The man smiled at her.
"What about after, then? If this tabby o'yourn is a biggun, I'll be wantin' proper coin."
"This again, plus half."
Zhi considered. "Double, an' half asides if I get my arse clawed."
"If yer slow enough t'get raked, ain't me problem."
It was worth a try. "Tch. Double."
"This an' three-quarters."
"Done."
The roegadyn tightened the purse's drawstrings, put a piece of paper under it, and slid it over to Zhi's side of the table. "Map's where t'tabby gets fed. An' some other places where its made a mess. Take a gander 'round t'big blot an' y'might see summat int'restin' at sundown."
Zhi took the paper and glanced at it, glad to see there wasn't much writing. She could read a little, but too much could be confusing. She recognized the places the map alluded to -- chocobo-scratch sort of map, but plain enough -- and tucked it into the bag. She'd memorize it later and get rid of the paper.
"'Oo's me contact?" Zhi asked.
"Ol' Lubbins comes fer a drink at noon each day. 'E'll know t'find me." The roegadyn's head lolled sideways and back, and a man at the table behind him lifted his mug of swill.
Zhi stared at him long enough to memorize his features, and then nodded back to the roegadyn. She grinned. "So who let t'tabby run loose?"
The roegadyn put a hand over his heart. "Why, I'm too ashamed t'say. Cut it, Nim. Full sails, an' don't go screwin' me pantry no further, else y'find yerself without no rudder."
Zhi shrugged. "Y'think I'm some limp gutterborn, t'lecture me?" She snorted, and winked at the man. "Leave it t'me, erendrake, an' I'll see this tabby o'yorn clipped proper."
He grunted, watching her as she split up the gil in the bag, carefully storing them so they wouldn't make noise as she moved. The bag itself was then tucked down her shirt, where it would fall to the robe belt at her hips. "Full sails," she said to him, and left the Drowning Wench with a swagger to her steps.
After memorizing the map, Zhi soaked it at the docks and watched it float away in pieces. She then contacted her main informer, Brindle, and ordered him to keep watch on certain gully-holes at the mouths of the docks on his route before heading to the backstreets -- the location of the "big blot," as the roegadyn had put it -- and the collection of mismatched hovels that marked the poor's residential district, notable only for their ability to cling onto the sides of cliffs without falling. It was why some people, Zhi included, referred to them as Barnacle's Reach, though it was also affectionately known as the shite side of town. Zhi found herself a hidey hole, after ensuring she'd gotten the right crooked alley between homes and poormens' businesses, and settled in to wait for sundown.
RE: Ante Up [closed] - Sounsyy - 04-07-2014
The ambient rustle of wet rags upon deck planks provided ambiance beneath the high pitched seagull calls. The late afternoon sun beat down upon the wet planks. They shone in the light and radiated the sun's heat back towards the heavens. Had there not been so much humidity, the cleaning water would have dried up already. Instead, cleaning water mixed with sweat and the occasional trail of drool.
Saehri panted in between snippets of conversation. She, along with several other scrags, were on hands and knees scrubbing the port-side deck and railing. The vessel had been docked in Limsa for nearly four days already, and it already was caked with the litter of city grime. Saehri was scrubbing at a particularly resistant substance that had found its way aboard.
Around the Keeper, the other deckrats engaged in light-hearted banter about such topics as being back in the city, what one would do if they were captain, and the ever-popular measuring contest. Saehri piped in when appropriate, but her focus was held elsewhere truthfully. Through a crack between boards, Saehri could hear snatches of a conversation going on just below her. The first mate and what appeared to be a merchant were arguing in loud whispers. Saehri had to strain to catch mere seconds of the conversation over the den caused by raucous cheering in reference to a missed joke.
Something about a ready shipment of what was likely to be illicit goods and to meet a- YER MUTHER WAS TOO BUSY SCRUBBIN' SOMETHIN' ELSE T'GET THESE FLOORS CLEANED HARHAHRAHAR! Gods, Saehri moaned to herself.
Saehri had been aboard this vessel well over a month by this point. She had put every face with a name and every name to a link with some Lominsan underground agent. What she was missing was the connection. Why did this vessel house the scrappings of so many facets of Limsa's underground. They hardly seemed cohesive. She had noted the distribution of drugs, yes, but hardly enough for that to be the primary gig. No, something else was going on he-
"Oy, scrag!"
"Sirrah!" Saehri yelped, snapping to attention.
"Are I right in thinkin' these decks needin' t'be scrubbed bells ago?!"
"Aye Cap'n! N' they would, 'cept Haerahct et sommat funny n' lay waste ta aft."
The captain and crew guffawed loudly. Saehri smiled at her own joke because, honestly, why not have a little fun and shite jokes are hilarious. The captain roughed Saehri on the shoulder and went on to lay into the next scrag on deck. Saehri went back to her work. Saehri had to find what made this crew tick, quickly. But the days work was done, and the crew was free to go ashore for the night.
Haerahct, Eifakynd, Slettzoeng, and the rest of their crew were probably off to get a quick brew and lay. Saehri was actually in the mood and had half a mind to follow them. She changed her mind once on the docks. She needed space to think. Somehow this all fit together. More importantly, somehow her employer fit into this as well.
Saehri hefted a keg of wine over her right shoulder. She appeared cleaner. It was several days prior to making port. Saehri rounded the corner then redoubled back behind the wall. On the other side, the first mate and another crew member were in each other's faces. Too close though. The first mate's arms were pushing against the wall to either side of the crew member's head. His eyes were wide. The mate's were dilated and focused. The mate leaned in and the crew member whispered into his left ear. "Our asset came through with Aleport," Saehri read from his lips.
"Sajah will be pleased," the first mate said, loud enough for Saehri to catch. Saehri gritted her teeth and went the way she had come.
Saehri searched for details within her memories as she wandered aimlessly through Limsa. She didn't feel like her usual haunts today. She wanted more risk, more adrenaline. She wanted a get-it-in or scrap in the street. She was funny like that. Llymlaen obliged and guided her away from the safer parts of Limsa into the shadows of the underground. The poor district called. Saehri would deposit her stash and make her way back to the ship. What to do about the inevitable betrayal of Sajah could wait until tonight.
RE: Ante Up [closed] - Zhavi - 04-07-2014
Zhi was damp with sweat by dusk. It'd been a hot day, and she was finding even her patience stretched by her long, quiet wait. If that wasn't bad enough, she'd earned herself several scraped knuckles as she'd settled and resettled into the place she'd made for herself between a rocky outcropping and the building that perched up against it. It was only due to a partial collapse of the roof (storm damage, Zhi estimated, though she weren't no builder) that she'd been able to make of it a hidey-hole, flattening herself against a revealed support and hiding behind the crooked and patchy roof tiles. Being able to fit didn't mean comfortable which she knew from innumerable past experiences and not a few nasty wounds earned during climbs and hours spent sitting in unstable perches.
The reward for her injuries and numb extremities was, as always, the arrival of an individual. This one was not the tabby in question -- he was male, hyur, and far too ugly (which, considering Zhi's low standards, was quite the feat) -- but judging by the way he loitered in the alley, Zhi gauged he was part of the "summat int'restin'" she'd been tipped off to. It was good enough she'd been given a starting point, because asides from that what she knew was slim indeed. The roegadyn was part of a network -- clear enough from the way he'd talked -- but he'd not given her many pertinent details. She wasn't sure why, though she suspected it had to do with the "tabby" woman who'd cockered up their network from an angle that was no doubt not entirely above the board; there'd be no need to hire her if the higher-ups were fully apprised of what was going on. If they were, it would've been handled internally.
The man below looked like he was either hopped up on something or very nervous, going by the way he startled at every little shadow. So, then, was this part of the network's usual operation, or was this part of the mess she was supposed to clean up? So many questions, and as usual she found herself drawn to them as keenly as a hunting cat to prey. The mystery intrigued her as much as the coin, she was ashamed to admit to herself, and she savored the thought of discovering the answers one by one, peeling them away from whoever held them. And then, Nald'thal willing, she'd be able to trade it in for a solution, neatly cutting out the tabby from the pantry, as it were.
She smiled, and watched.