"Oh, you two." The cross armed guard standing just outside Miss Malachite's bar nudged his head towards the door to the place as Cinder and I approached. "You'll probably want to go talk to the twins." Cinder didn't acknowledge the man, but she didn't outright glare as she passed while I spared him a nod.
As we entered the bar, the fact that there was only a single guard outside wasn't the only anomaly.
The bartender. A few men across both floors. And the twins behind the bar, talking with a few others. The place itself might've been as busy as ever, cheers being had while people talked and ate all around, but the presence of Spider itself was sparse. Normally they made up at least a quarter of the people here at all times but with only those handful of tattooed people spread about, that couldn't be further from the case.
They were nothing more than a skeleton crew.
As we took up some seats at the bar, I took a glance around, trying to get an idea about what others were talking about. Future work and bragging. Nothing out of the ordinary, people either unaware of the Spider's diminished presence or knowing better to bring it up and just focus on their own business.
Probably some mix of both. Half the people in here were already or tittering on the edge of the drunk while everyone, every single person, never dared to badmouth or speak of Miss Malachite's business within the bar whether or not she was around.
That changing of hands she spoke of must've had something to do with whatever was going on.
"Still not ordering anything?" Melanie asked as she and her sister stepped in front of us. "You're missing out on some good stuff, you know."
"Not interested." Cinder said evenly.
"I'm good." I said, taking one more glance around before turning to the two. "I take it she's handling that business of hers."
"Something like that." Melanie frowned. "Apparently, we're more help here than with that. That damn old lady just thinks we'll screw something up."
I hummed. "Maybe but who better to trust watching things than her own family?"
"That's what I said." Miltia piped in. "Managing everyone here is important too."
"Yeah, whatever." Melanie huffed. "Unless you want to do more than what you usually handle, we won't have much work for you for awhile."
"Got it." I said.
I wonder how important this changing of hands she spoke of was to the grand scheme of things involving the people here. Whatever she was up to would obviously enforce her position in Mistral if it succeeded but what about the twins? Did any part of it have anything to do with how they ended up in Vale? Had I done anything to affect that?
Details were really the problem when it came to future knowledge from what a simple show had time to cover. Observation and guesswork based on context were the only way for me to get around those shortcomings but could never be full proof.
At least it wouldn't matter much in this context. Or at least shouldn't. Better to prepare for some part of this effecting what I was after while hoping otherwise.
"So-" Melanie started, leaning forward on the bar so her face was directly across from Cinder's. Though she backed away to maintain some distance, Cinder didn't take kindly to it, glaring at Melanie and refusing to do anything remotely close to a retreat. "-do you two got something going on or not?"
She really wasn't going to let that go.
"What?" Cinder asked, confusion easing her glare.
"Come on, you and Talon." Melanie pushed. "I tried to ask him, but it turns out our masked friend here is shier than he looks. The two of you fucking or what?" Cinder stared. Then scoffed and stood, leaving the bar behind. I shook my head and stood myself. "You two are all work."
"That's how you rack in the lien." I said, looking past her to Miltia. "Don't let your sister's mouth get you two into too much trouble."
Miltia smiled. "I don't think there's any avoiding that."
Chuckling to myself, I followed after Cinder, leaving the bar behind and walking through the cold lamp lit streets of the city's lower levels. Rather than heading straight for the gondolas to head to another portion of it, once we were a good distance from the bar, we turned into a dark alleyway.
"That was quick." Pushing herself off the wall she'd been leaning against, Emerald stepped up to us, face hidden beneath her hood and mask. "Where are we headed?"
"No where." I said. "The Spiders are up to something you don't want any part in. We won't be getting much work from them until that's over with." I could only guess they recalled the people they typically had doing work all across the kingdom as whole for our resupplies to be such a low priority.
"Really? I guess I'll just have to get by on the lien I already have." Emerald muttered, talking mostly to herself.
It was true that this slowed our income flow, but it wasn't necessarily the worst thing in the world. If anything, it was an opportunity, especially for pointing Cinder in the right direction. I doubted she'd ever be satisfied with what those behind kingdom walls would consider a normal job but that didn't demand that she become a huntress or accept having to work with criminals forever.
Like most situations, there was always some middle ground.
XOXO
"How do you feel about taking on other work together? Stuff that isn't from Spider." I asked while leaning, stepping away from, and diverting Cinder's combo of punches and occasional kicks aside.
"What kind of work?" She huffed out, refusing to slow her attacks no matter how winded she became or how much sweat dripped down her face, chasing me all throughout the empty training room.
"Escorts, deliveries, maybe some Grimm hunts. The kind of stuff huntsmen usually do."
Attempting to raise her foot for another kick, I raised my own, kicking her knee out before the attack could fully form, tripping her up. Used to losing her center of balance, Cinder was quick to recover it, only throwing herself at me harder, little space left between us as she tried to catch me with more quick attacks.
"Why don't you just take the other work those bastards have?" Cinder asked, some of the frustration from her countless misses leaking into her tone.
A question that could only come from someone with loose morals or one who hadn't thought that through. Maybe both.
"Do you want to ruin the lives of people you know nothing about? Kill them?" Cinder aimed a punch directly for my face, but I redirected it. Rather than letting it fly by, I grasped her wrist and pulled, bringing our faces closer together. Her other hand came up but I caught that too, forcing her still. "All because someone else ordered you to?"
If Emerald was any indication, most, even those from rough circumstances, would immediately reject the notion. Cinder remained silent.
"If that doesn't bother you, feel free to go back to the twins and see if they'll give you something." Slipping a leg behind her, Cinder quickly doubling down on her stance, I swiftly swept her right off her feet, that resistance meaningless, and flipped her through the air. She managed to orientated herself, hitting the ground back first and using the momentum to roll to a crouch. Her recoveries were getting better. "But I won't be involved in any of that."
Crime and society went hand in hand. Leveraging it to help deal with Salem, or even just to get by for a while, was one thing so long as certain lines weren't crossed. While I could say she hadn't crossed all the lines most would have, it also sometimes seemed like she just didn't have any of her own.
That intense look in her amber eyes, currently on me, bound by nothing but aimless, was a little scary sometimes.
Ironic that some, for all intents and purposes, kid could spark anything remotely close to fear out of me but there really was something different about her. I don't think I've ever seen another with that look.
"The work won't pay as much and will probably take up more time but it's what I'm planning on doing." I said as she stood back up. "So, want to come or not?"
"I'll go." She said with a nod, before rushing forward, barely giving herself a chance to catch a breath.
It was moments like these that I could respect that intensity. How many could throw themselves into training like this?
XOXO
"Where are supposed to get a job from here?" Emerald asked, as she eyed the wares of the various stalls we were passing by.
Mistral, due to its sheer size, and how fundamentally different certain sections of the city could be, was home to several different city centers. The one we were walking through now was just beyond the city gates and one of the few parts of the city that wasn't elevated.
People and wagons filled the circular stone paved street, a few riding up from the city's entry gates whenever they opened up. The forest that surrounded and grew along Mistral's mountain range was tightly controlled here, only a few types of trees and plants allowed to grow to provide a sense of decoration while the rest of the space was reserved for practical uses.
Traders setting up their stalls along the edges of the pathways, all kinds of people, from the shady to the clearly rich, engaging in a bit of battering for whatever caught their interest. There were a few buildings spreading out from the center too, some for government use and the others commercial.
In all of the city, this place was one of the few places that gathered people from every part of it as well as beyond it.
"Right here." I said, stopping us in front of us noticeboard, a handful of other people reading the letters posted on it.
"500…2000…whoa, 10000?" Skimming over several of the notices, Emerald muttered out some of the rewards they listed. "I thought you said we wouldn't be getting paid as much? Even split between all three of us, some of these are really good."
"Yeah, but you got to keep in mind we'll probably be out of the city for days at a time." Sure, a handful of them stated prices comparable to what we could earn in a single day from Miss Malachite but when all of them meant trips to distant settlements that didn't mean much. "Besides, we're probably not taking any of the highest paying ones."
"Any work we find on this thing was posted by people who either can't afford to hire licensed huntsmen or-"
"-or aren't being upfront about what they're up to." Emerald finished with a sigh.
I nodded, already done sorting through the ones that caught my interest along with their directions. "In mercenary work, assuring clients that they can trust us is going to be as important as making sure the same can be said about them."
"Hmmm, glad I brought my gear then." Emerald said. She was in that lightly armor get up she'd bought for our work with the Spider while I had traded my shades for my helmet. "But, uh, isn't she kind of messing up our professional look?"
We both looked away from the noticeboard, giving Cinder and her clothes a once over. They'd always been worn but with all the constant treks through forested mountains and training, they were on a steady decline.
Cinder scoffed, looking away.
"Maybe that face of hers will make up for it?" I said.
Emerald snickered. "Yeah. She looks mean enough to make it threatening. Just a little." She glared at us. "That face right there is perfect." Chuckling to myself, I left the teasing to Emerald, refocusing on the jobs.
It might not be as lucrative as running for Spider but introducing the two to work that wasn't on the wrong side of the law trumped maintaining a high stream of lien. And mercenary work fit their skillsets perfectly.
XOXO
Powerstone Goal = 500
(A/N: Cinder can be intense. I suspect that if any real and true romantic development happens between them it'll be because she decides to focus that intensity on Talon and forces him to discard some of the labels he's placed on her. If she's even capable of or wants that.
And for those interested in reading ahead to that here's the link:
patreon .com/ thirdratewriter
We're starting an interesting flashback over there.
Anyways, I am off to take some medicine. I was feeling a little under the weather yesterday but I think I'm doing better. No more migraine at least!