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* Dawn leaves Sylvie's whorehouse, having dropped Bienca off and spent some time ensuring that the new enforcer is behaving himself. He starts to turn toward home, then pauses and changes direction, having apparently remembered another errand. <Lily> ::several gently tilting buildings away, Lily folds up the copy of the Herald he's been re-reading, and begins to follow Dawn through the colorful populace that litter the streets of Pleasure Island:: <Violet> ::A figure in a cloak the color of the lowering clouds detaches itself from a wall across the street from Sylvie's, hesitates, and starts to follow after Dawn, moving from sheltering shadow to shadow.:: * Dawn stops every so often to speak to chance-met acquaintances, street vendors, or to eye wares on display. On heightened guard due to the recent incidents, he notices Violet after a block or so. He pauses to buy a pastry from a cart, then turns down an alley. A few steps in, he leans back against the wall to wait for his new shadow to catch up. * Violet keeps looking back nervously, and nearly loses track of Dawn altogether when he saunters into the alley. The figure hurries ahead, scanning the crowd for a glimpse of Dawn's blonde head, and pauses uncertainly near the mouth of the alley, hanging back in the shadows to get a better look at the street. <Lily> ::as Dawn enters his alley, Lily continues on his path only until he reaches a unclaimed section of shopfront, and then he leans against the wall, one leg up off the ground, sole of the boot against the wall:: <Dawn> ::In the shadows, Dawn's eyes narrow as he watches Violet hovering. He waits, patiently, for her to decide on a course of action.:: * Violet 's shoulders slump at not spotting Dawn in the street. The figure starts to turn back, and freezes still as a rabbit at sensing another presence in the alley. "N-no... please..." (The voice is faint, but distinctly female.) <Dawn> ::from the shadows:: *You* were following *me*. <Violet> ::gasps, peering into the shadows uncertainly:: D-Dawn? <Dawn> Aye. ::he shifts, just enough to let himself be seen:: Come here. <Violet> Sweet Tymora, it *is* you, I *thought* it was! ::moving quickly into the alley and throwing herself to her knees at his feet, sobbing with relief:: <Dawn> ::confused:: What the fuck is this? Get up. Why were you following me? * Violet pushes her hood back as she scrambles to her feet again, clinging to the edge of his cloak. The face revealed is scarred-- her nose has been broken at least once and set badly, if it was set at all, and her upper lip bears an old scar as if someone had broken a tooth through it once. She looks... oddly familiar. <Violet> Please, Dawn, you have to take me with you again! It's not safe here for me anymore, it's not safe anywhere on the Island for me! Please, I tithe, I know it's not much, but the Guild's supposed to protect me, isn't it? Please, please, take me with you! * Dawn frowns at her, and then recognition lights his eyes. "Wren? What are you doing *here*? What do you mean, tithe-" He breaks off, shaking his head, and gently frees himself from her grip. He tips over a discarded crate and sits on one edge of it. "Come sit down, and start over again, please. Do you want some pastry?" He offers her half of his near-forgotten pastry. <Violet> I-- I-- yes, please. ::she allows him to lead her to the crate to sit, her fingers trembling against his. She accepts the half-pastry gingerly, taking a few tentative bites and then half-turning away from him self-consciously to devour the rest, licking her fingers when she's done:: I... Althea and I moved here... maybe s-six years ago? She... she died. ::voice dropping to a frightened whisper:: The orcs. They got her. <Dawn> ::sighs:: I'm sorry. <Violet> ::sniffs:: Thank you. I-I run her salon, now. I'd gotten to know some of her old clients... I read for them, like she did. They call me Violet... ::she smiles a little, shyly, and plucks at her pale purple skirt:: <Dawn> Violet. ::nods:: All right. Go on. <Violet> ::quietly:: And... and there's a nice lady... she gives me gold, sometimes. For secrets. ::she bites her lip, eyes wide, and makes the recognition sign against her thigh with trembling fingers:: <Violet> Only... ::pulling her cloak a little tighter around her thin shoulders:: I haven't done so well, lately... some of my clients... ::she lowers her head:: I hear... there's a new guild in town. I-Infinity... something? P'sionics. ::she pronounces the "p":: They're... better than me, I suppose. * Dawn almost smiles, though he doesn't return her guild-sign. "Psionics. Mindbenders. Aye, I know a few of them. You saying your contact dumped you?" <Violet> She... the nice lady... I don't *know*! ::she shivers:: She hasn't come for awhile, and... I had a secret to give her, and I didn't know what to do, and so... I tried to... to Read for her. And... ::shivers again, wrapping her arms around herself tightly:: I think something bad has happened to her, I didn't know what to *do*, and then I saw you at Sylvie's, and I thought... ::bites her lip:: Please, Dawn! Please take me with you again! <Lily> ::a man walking down the street starts to pass Lily, catches sight of the tall, lithe man with the long white-blonde hair leaning against the wall, turns, and approaches him, murmuring a proposition. Lily stares at him, expressionless, until the man gives up and continues on his original way:: <Dawn> ::takes her hand gently:: Slow down Wr- Violet. What did you Read, and what was the secret? <Violet> ::her hands are freezing cold in Dawn's:: Rosin... she... I kept coming up with two cards, for her Fate. I-I... watch.... ::she pulls a small bundle from beneath her cloak, wrapped in purple silk, and unwraps it, spreading the silk on the upturned box carefully:: <Violet> ::the bundle is revealed to be a deck of fortune cards, and she shuffles through them face-up until she finds a brightly-painted card of a darkly beautiful, cheerful-looking lady singing as she walks in a garden. She places it on the silk and shuffles the deck, murmuring a soft spell:: * Dawn folds his arms and watches silently. * Violet deals a fate spread around the first card, her fingers moving with the grace of long practice. She turns up the last card and places it in the "fate" position... it is a luridly-painted, snarling devil, holding a man and a woman on a leash. * Violet holds up her hand for silence, collects the cards, and reshuffles them, whispering the spell again as she deals the cards. This time, Death is the last card. She does it once more, and the Devil comes up again. <Dawn> All right, I see. I only know a little of the cards. Tell me what they mean. * Violet collects her cards again with faintly trembling hands, taps them neatly together, and rewraps them. "It's that way... every time. Those two cards, one or the other... the Devil, or Death. <Violet> The Devil is... not always an evil card. Sometimes, it just means someone who's... hungry. Obsessed? ::cocks her head, to be sure Dawn understands:: <Dawn> ::nods:: And Death? <Violet> But where it was... it can also mean *very* bad things. Someone obsessed with *you.* Ambition gone wrong. Or... ::whispers:: Enslavement. Death... ::she looks at him, eyes bleak, and shrugs:: Death is... the last change. <Dawn> All right. Rosin was your contact? I'll find out what I can. What secret were you holding for her? <Violet> ::holding herself again, rocking back and forth a little:: The Devil... the Devil is loose on the Island... I think he's taken Rosin, and now he's after me. <Violet> ::takes a deep breath, trying to calm herself:: I'm... I'm not raving. No one will listen to me, they think I'm raving, but I'm not... I've seen them before. I *know* them! ::her voice rises hysterically:: <Dawn> Shh, calm down. I believe you, I'll help you - but you need to try to stay calm. Who've you seen? <Violet> ::nods quickly, swallowing back the onset of tears:: S-slavers. There are slavers here. They're... they've been taking the lone doves, one by one. Single g-girls, like me, people with no one. ::her hand sneaks out and grips the edge of Dawn's cloak again, holding it tightly like a security blanket:: <Dawn> ::his face hardens immediately:: Well, *that's* bad for business. Did you see them to describe them? <Violet> I heard... t-two of them talking... it was too dark to see. But... I think there are men f-following me now, sometimes. Dawn, I'm so *scared*! I thought I was *safe* here! The Guild, it would keep me safe, Rosin *said*, and now she's--! ::gulps back tears again, trying to stay calm for Dawn:: <Dawn> I'll take care of you, don't worry. Did you hear accents? Codes? Anything that might be useful? <Violet> They sounded rough, and... ::bites her lip and frowns, trying to think, and finally shrugging helplessly:: A little accent, but not from here, or Suzail, but like... like some sailors get? They... ::her breath hitches again:: They said *we* were bad for business... something about... cutting losses... that our b-bodies were worth more than what we scraped in, otherwise.... ::shivers, hugging her bit of Dawn's cloak:: <Violet> I tried to tell Rosin... I waited and waited, and she didn't come, and... I didn't know what to do! <Dawn> ::his expression darkens further:: Insiders, then. Fuckitall, I was hoping... ::he sighs:: All right. Lucky you found me. For that alone, we'll keep you safe. ::he stands up and offers her his scarred hand:: Guess I'll shop for chocolates some other time. Come on, let's go. * Violet takes his hand trustingly, eyes wide. * Dawn barely whispers the words of his spell, and with the faintest rush of displaced air, they are gone. <Lily> ::after around half an hour of no sign of activity from the alleyway, Lily leans away from the wall and strolls over to the alley's mouth. He looks over the empty alley, leaning from side to side to get a good look, and then he continues down the street:: |
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