Rendezvous

[MissusHow]

Ara grinned, "Easy? If it were easy, you\'d be doing it yourself..." she paused, and then eyed the offer (with a metaphoric eye), "Allright. A fifth it is. I\'ll take you to your word, or you\'ll find yourself without ears one morning." Ara warned casually and then grinned about the part about her connections. If anything, everybody was connected to her...though she did have /some/, so to speak. She sent most of the things she got to Harold, to be sold for a large profit...and then gave most ofi tb ack to her thieves, albeit indirectly. Most did not thank her, and she did not ask for htier thanks.

"So what do you do? Now that we\'re done with business, we can chat a little." Ara said, her shoulders relaxing to the trained eye. "I\'ve got nowhere to go for the next...hour." she said, glancing outside.

[Morwen]

In vain, Estel tried to brush her fringe out of her eyes and behind her ears. \'You may have no fear of our bargain. I trust your word and I am quite attatched to my ears, thank you. As for what I do? Well, at the moment I am a quite mediocre smuggler, though I am searching for a new job opportunity. I have found that smuggling is really not my line, as you may have noticed.\'

She ordered another round of drinks, and continued, \'I have nowhere to go but home, and as they do not know that I am gone, they are not expecting my return at any given time. However, if we are to chat, I must insist on having a name to call you, even if it isn\'t your name. Fair?\'

The atmosphere had lightened up since the bargaining had concluded, and the thief seemed an amiacable type, when she wasn\'t after Estel\'s money. The bar had quieted down now, and even the siffling of the maid from earlier seemed to have subsided.

[MissusHow]

The thief lord grinned, "The name\'s Ara. It\'s my real name...I doubt you\'ll be running off to the authorities since I\'ve got some dirt on you too, Estel." she said, lifting a hand to inspect her nails. They had dirt underneath them. Ara picked up the dagger and began to clean them out. "You know, just recently I had a maid from the infamous Lady Rosalines service come running to me. I\'m hoping she\'ll make a living as a thief...she\'s got the smarts for it, though not the body. Too skinny." Ara made a face. She hated that fashion. Skinny was just...not good for you.

[Morwen]

Estel raised an eyebrow at Ara\'s honesty. While it was true she was in no position (nor had she the inclination, truth be told) to betray her new friend, she was still surprised that someone like the Thief Lord would reveal such information so freely. Reaching across the table, she offered her hand in friendship. It isn\'t every day that one makes such interesting new aquaintances.

Hearing the gossip on Lady Rosaline, Estel perked up. This was her expertise, now... \'Infamous indeed. Apparently she has been seen moping around this evening. I had assumed someone had scorned her or bested her in one of her \'games,\' but I wonder if the Lady\'s moods and her servant\'s arrival here have something to do with on another...?\'

As for the skinnyness, Estel heartily agreed. The tight corsets of today\'s fashion simply made people look weak and silly, while being painful and dehibillitating. When the girls starved themselves in order to fit into ever tighter bodices, it made them flat and bony, not to her taste at all. Malnourishment is for those too poor to eat, not those too fashionable.

[MissusHow]

Ara took it gladly, squeezing it and then withdrawing to finish off her mug of ale. That would be all she would be having tonight. "Really now? That /is/ interesting...Maybe Teresa wasn\'t lying when she said that the Lady had confessed her love. I thought she had been giving herself airs." Ara said, sounding quite amused, and rather surprised.

Lady Rosaline in love with a servant...who would have thought. "Well I imagine there\'s been a drastic change to her character. She\'s really a smart lady. Or so I\'ve heard..." Ara shrugged, relying on information she\'d gotten from Teresa and other palance servants. "I\'m sure she\'ll rebound and recollect herself in full force soon enough. Her type never stay down too long..."

Ara shrugged, "None of the nobles do, really. There are too many scandles going on at once to concentrate on a single one."

[Morwen]

\'Teresa, that was the name of the servant? Teresa... oh! I think I met her once, at a dance? Or saw her at least, Rosaline seemed pretty harsh to the poor thing. Is she deadly skinny, with those large eyes and black hair? Looks like she\'ll fall down dead any minute? If she is, and she is staying with you, for Talon\'s sake feed the thing. She looked like she hadn\'t eaten in a month!\'

Estel remembered seeing a small girl with Lady Rosaline at the last ball she had been too. Not a terribly pretty girl, and her mistress seemed so against her talking to anyone, that was what had stuck in Estel\'s mind. Poor thing was probably better off with Ara.

\'As for Rosaline, she probably just felt neglected or ignored, and decided to stir up some scandal around herself. I could definately see her doing that. Makes more sense than her falling in love with anyone, much less her own servant.\'

[MissusHow]

Ara grinned, "Aye, that\'s the one." she said, wincing as she dug her dagger too deep into her nail. "I was going to go after her about that in a week. First she\'s got to feel comfortable with us. She could still chose to run away." She didn\'t add that the girl had pledged herself to Ara...that was gossip looking for trouble. Ara nodded conversationally to the comment about Lady Rosaline, "Mmm. Well we never know the minds of women, but you say you\'ve been to court? Have you met a character called mmm Lord Dagger? He\'s offed a few of my thieves."

She didn\'t say that she\'d met him in person, because quite frankly that gave away too much about herself. Even if she was friends with this woman, seh had just met her...and really she could never be too careful...especially at these heights.

[Morwen]

Estel searched her memory for everything she knew about Dagger, which wasn\'t much, just second-hand servant\'s gossip. \'I have been to court on occasion, though I do not get there often. And while I have never met Lord Dagger, I know a few bits about him. Mostly just rumours and gossip, and nothing you have not heard, I am sure.\'

\'For instance, I was not aware previously that he contributed so... avidly to the law enforement in Oberon. What had your thieves done, to deserve such select punishment?\'

Idle gossip was a fun sport, especially when one could just talk about anything, without worrying whether a slipped name would become next week\'s news. Estel was sure that Ara would not hesitate to tell people anything that she heard from Estel, but at least the thief might sell the gossip instead of giving it away freely.

[MissusHow]

Ara grinned rougishly, "Well they tried to steal from him, didn\'t they?" Oh yes. Dagger was a dangerous character, to say the least. She hadn\'t met him personally until a little while ago, and he reminded her a little of herself. He had the same awareness of the room, and somehow in battle she felt she could best him-- but only because she had more tricks up her sleeve than did he. "Well they went into his room to do it...it was rather foolish in the first place, and he cuaght them running out, and he knifed \'em. Twas before I was up in my place, though. My thieves don\'t steal from Dagger. I know better than to ask for less people."

"And the las pickpocket\'s hand got clobbered. Better than anything /I/ could have done to him...Or about the same. He was being foolish." Ara shrugged, putting the dagger back into its sheath and folding her fingers. "And he\'s involved with the captain...which I just recently found out about...never good to try and steal from a man who\'s involved with the captain of the guard."

[Morwen]

\'No, I dare say it wouldn\'t be...\' Estel mused, trying to imagine the stately Lord Dagger \'knife-ing\' someone. She failed, and tuned in again to Ara\'s graphic representation of the thieves\'s fates. Ara certainly knew so many interesting things...

\'Excuse me miss, Lord, but the bar is closing now,\' a barmaid came up and interupted, \'Unlessn\' of course you want us to keep it open longer, Ejipcia... we could do that of course.\'

Estel shook her head and stood up. \'No need, I should be getting gone, for my part. It was nice meeting you, and doing business with you, Ara. I\'ll stop by in two days, to see how things are going, sound good?\'

[MissusHow]

"They\'ll be going wonderfully, I\'m sure." Ara said, getting up and giving the maid a copper, knowing better that to give her more was asking for trouble from the bartender, who would end up taking the money if it was more than petty cash. "I\'ll see you, Miss Estel." she called after the woman and left herself, traveling in the opposite direction like a cat in the dark.