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'15th of Roalis, the Dives. Aodh Elzo pays a call on Ava Weaver.'

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A large forest in Central Anaxas, the once-thriving mostly human town of Dorhaven is recovering from a bombing in 2719 at its edge.

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Aodh Elzo
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Fri Aug 16, 2019 7:25 pm

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15th of Roalis, mid morning.
It was already warm as Aodh locked the door of his workshop behind him. This early Hollow street was quiet, most of its denizens did their business in the hours of darkness.

Aodh put on a pair of round smoked glass spectacles against the glare of the sun. He adjusted the hang of his samples case on his shoulder, Aodh took his short stemmed clay pipe from a waistcoat pocket and stuck it in his mouth and lit it with a match.

He ambles down the street, as he walked a new melody formed in his mind. His long fingers of his right hand tap in on the sample case as he walked.

The few other people abroad on Hollow street ignore him, and each other. It was not the kind of place one made chit chat with your neighbours.
That suited Aodh, he didn't like folks knowing his business, that would be dangerous.

He could feel the heat rising from the cobble stones through the worn soles of his old work boots.

This morning he was dressed as Aodh the craftsman; collarless linen shirt with sleeves rolled to the elbow, under a faded but clean green waistcoat and tan trousers which stopped just before his boots as they were slightly too short for his long legs.

While it lacked his normal flash, the outfit had its advantages, to most folks he was invisible, just another wick labourer.

Admittedly his wild hair made he somewhat distinctive, that however was easily fixed. As he drew the end of Hollow street Aodh pulled the batter cap from his back pocket, stuffed his hair into it and set the cap at a jaunty angle. As he caught sight of himself in a partly boarded shop window he muttered softly, with a sardonic grin.

'Tah da, an' for my next trick.'

Aodh cut down an alleyway, glanced over his shoulder to see if he was being followed, didn't seem to be. He stepped from the other end of the twisting alleys, out into the clean streets of Painted Ladies.

Still with the same untroubled ambling stride walked down the street. Aodh smiled and nodded politely to people he passed, and got smiles, nods and good mornings in return. Still the Dives, but so different to Hollow street, checking shop signs he stopped next door Woven Delights.

Aodh paused to check his appearance in the window, knocked the ash from his pipe on his boot heel and returned it to his waistcoat pocket. Then with a friendly smile in place he pushed open the door of the well appointed shop and entered.
Last edited by Aodh Elzo on Mon Aug 19, 2019 6:51 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Ava Weaver
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Fri Aug 16, 2019 8:28 pm

Mid-Morning, 15th Roalis, 2719
Woven Delights, The Painted Ladies
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Roalis was always a hot month; this year, of course, it had taken a week or so to get started. The first few days had been cloudy, followed by a few last lingering storms, as if Loshis and Hamis were holding tight and didn’t yet intend to let go. But the rain had broken on the ninth, and the temperature had climbed steadily since, interrupted by a brief, hot shower the day before.

This morning, though – on the 15th of Roalis, dawn had come bright and early, with the particular lovely force of a nearly cloudless day. It had, unfortunately, come a bit too early for Ava Weaver, who had woken up half-beneath her sheets, clutching a book like a pillow, to the plaintive meows of a cat scratching at her window.

“Yes,” Ava murmured, sleepily. “Yes, all right,” she picked up the treatise on living conversation and set it down on her bedstand, crossed to the window and opened it, carefully propping it to stay that way, to let the little gray cat come and go as he wanted. His tail lashed, and he sat on the windowsill for a moment, staring at her with his lovely yellow eyes, before hopping into the room and striding across it confidently, as if it had always been his own choice to enter now.

Ava giggled, softly, the sound a welcome bulwark against the nightmares she'd had the night before. Living conversation – illegal treatises on living conversation – made for unpleasant reading before bed, but she hadn’t yet figured out another time for it, not if she wanted to run her business, do all the rest she did on the side, and yet still – and yet still learn more. Every word, Ava reminded herself, was as good as a weapon against the challenges that she knew would come. They were worth a little sleepiness.

Ava boiled water for tea; she had the tea herself, but gave the milk to the cat, pouring a little portion into a saucer and setting it down on the floor for him. He lapped at it as she ate her toast, then settled comfortably into her freshly made bed, curling up in a patch of sunlight and washing himself.

Ava took a handful of ice from the little icebox she kept, and let it melt in a bowl of water. She soaked a cloth in it, and set it over her face, closing her eyes, holding there until the sleepy puffiness from her long night was gone, at least for now. Only then did she wipe her face clean, carefully. She crossed to her closet, and took out a summery, tan-colored dress, with sheer full sleeves laced to a close at her wrists with a small bow tied of turquoise ribbon. The sleeves ended in smooth cotton at her shoulders, and the front plunged, a long v that revealed nothing but a second layer of tan fabric beneath. The dress was tailored to her figure, curving in at the waist with a second turquoise ribbon there, and flared out over her hips, falling with smooth points at the front and back around the middle of her shins. Beneath it, a fuller brown underskirt mirrored the same shape, but nearly skimmed the floor, just barely pointed enough to reveal her ankles.

Once dressed, Ava sat again, and carefully painted on winged eyeliner and dark color for her lips. She added a little rogue as well, careful, mindful of balancing the slightly paleness left by her tiredness with the desire not to look overdone. Once finished, she gave the cat a gentle scratch behind the ears; then, naturally, he began purring, and then she needed to scratch him a few more times – and then, of course, she ended up sitting, with the little cat curled in her lap, and that meant she needed to not only pet the cat, but also to straighten her dress and take the fur he'd left behind off the fabric with a little square of rubber.

Finally, Ava was ready to go downstairs. She took the treatise with her, carefully navigating the little hatch that led from her studio to the shop below, shutting it with a quick tug to keep the cat upstairs for the day, and made her way downstairs. The treatise she stashed in its secret place behind the cloth-covered walls, and then she made her way out into the main shop. She drew back the curtains that kept the windows dark for the night, letting the bright Roalis sunlight wash over the colorful display of summery colors – greens, pinks, oranges and yellows – in the front window. Flowery fabrics were on display, not just there but throughout the shop: set out here and there, draped from shelf corners, even a few loops hanging from the ceiling. Like walking into a garden, Ava thought, and smiled.

It was a quiet enough morning, which was – in truth – something of a relief. There were a few customers who had come in before work, mostly residents looking to get an errand done before they started for the day. Ava always liked to open early for that crowd; some folks were too tired after work to even contemplate things like fabrics. Ms. Marlin had stopped by to chat for a bit and buy a bit of cloth for some new curtains, and Ava had been more than happy to pass the time. Ms. Marlin had even sent her boy, Tim, back over with some tea afterwards, which had really been too kind of her. Ava had finished the last of the tea, and was feeling considerably more awake, by the time Aodh Elzo stepped inside.

The shopkeeper had spread out a large piece of cotton on her fabric, a vibrant yellow color, and was carefully aligning a straight edge against it. Her hands stilled at the sound of the bell; she looked up, and a broad, bright smile spread over her face. “Mr. Elzo!” Ava said, pleased. “What a pleasure to see you,” she grinned at him. “How are you today?”

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Aodh Elzo
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Sat Aug 17, 2019 2:47 pm

15th of Roalis, mid morning.

Aodh swept the cap from his head and bowed slightly returning the grin, his russet hair sprang from the confines of the hat giving him a slightly wild comic aspect.


"Why I'm fine Miss Weaver an' full of joy for seein' you."

His voice was warm with a hint of Northern Anaxas where he had been born and with a roughness from many nights spent performing in smokey taverns.

"How are you Miss Weaver? I've those brushes you ordered."


As he spoke his shrewd eyes took in their surroundings looking out for customers, he crooked an eyebrow at Ava in unspoken question.
Last edited by Aodh Elzo on Tue Aug 20, 2019 6:22 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Ava Weaver
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Sat Aug 17, 2019 5:34 pm

Mid-Morning, 15th Roalis, 2719
Woven Delights, The Painted Ladies
Ava curtsied to match Aodh’s bow; she didn’t emerge from behind the counter for it, but it was an easy, sweeping motion, graceful and polite, no deeper than his bow had been. She settled her hands on the counter as she rose, careful not to disarrange the yellow cotton or the straight edge she had been adjusting.

“I’m very well, thank you,” Ava replied, her voice just as warm as Aodh’s. Unlike the wick, her accent was all Vienda, somewhere between the Dives and Uptown (much liked the Painted Ladies). She could never have been mistaken for a galdor, but there was something polite and cultured in her tones all the same.

It was the middle of the morning, and edging into a lull between those first few hours when the streets were busy, and the time closer to lunch when the shop would blossom for them. Luckily for Aodh and Ava both, there was only one customer in the shop, a human woman who was browsing fabric at the edge of the main area. She glanced back up at the counter, lips parting in an unspoken question.

“If you’ll excuse me for a moment?” Ava asked Aodh, delicately. At his agreement, she would step lightly away, leaving him behind at the counter, and cross the shop to the woman, smiling at her. There was a light burst of chatter – soft laughter, exchanged between them – and then the customer was handing a bolt of flowered fabric to Ava, and there was the soft clink of coins.

The woman swept out, a bright, pleased smile on her face, and the little bell at the door chimed her departure.

Ava carried the fabric back to the counter, set it down, and tucked the coins away somewhere beneath. She smiled at Aodh, no less warmly now that it was only the two of them. “Thank you for bringing the brushes by,” she said, smiling. “I’ve been very much looking forward to them. It’s a convenient time to try them out as well, with no customers around.”

Aodh, of course, would know – from having been to Woven Delights as well – that there was a back room to the shop, with hanging fabrics and comfortable couches, where Ava often displayed fabrics and entertained customers. Her words, subtle though they were, would be enough to let him know the shop really was as empty as it looked.

Now it was Ava’s turn to crook her eyebrow right back at Aodh, a perfect little mimicry of his gesture, and smile a little wider. She was patient, as always; she didn’t rush him. She settled her hands back on the counter, and waited, politely, deeply curious as to what had brought him there.

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Aodh Elzo
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Sun Aug 18, 2019 12:58 am

15th Roalis, mid morning

As Ava busied herself with, what Aodh realised was the only customer he marvelled at her skill in dealing with folk. He lack the patience for such niceties at times, though as a musician at least a certain about of standoffishness was accepted. Aodh moved to a convenient surface and fiddled with his sample case until the woman left, he remembered to remove his dark glasses now he was inside.
After giving the departing customer a cheery smile he ambled over the counter and turned his attention to Ava.

"Now, as it's just you an' me, I reckon we can talk plain."

Again his sharp eyes swept the shop.

"Sayin' that, it may be an idea to talk in the back room?"

Last edited by Aodh Elzo on Tue Aug 20, 2019 6:24 am, edited 3 times in total.
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Ava Weaver
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Sun Aug 18, 2019 2:34 pm

Mid-Morning, 15th Roalis, 2719
Woven Delights, The Painted Ladies
Something swept through Ava’s smile, and she watched Aodh watch the shop; she didn’t look around it herself. There was no need, not really; she was aware of the edges of it already, and she didn’t need to double-check. That, and Ava knew she would see it on the cautious wick’s face if anything caught him off guard.

“Of course,” Ava stepped out from behind the counter. She opened the door to the back room, and made her way inside, holding it open for Aodh. Once he had entered, Ava eased the door closed – not quite all the way, leaving a slight gap to let the light spill through, to make sure that if the door to the outside world opened, if that bell rang, there was no chance she would miss it. She glanced at Aodh, waiting until he looked at her, making sure he would be aware of that faint, tiny crack – of its possibilities, good and bad.

It was not Aodh’s first time in the back room either. The front was all shop; yes, Ava had gone to lengths to decorate, to make it a welcoming, bright place. For the customers of Woven Delights, buying fabric was not meant to be simply a purchase, an exchange of coin for necessities. It wasn’t that Ava didn’t sell fabrics priced for her neighbors to purchase; even some of those who lived on Hollow Street, if they desired, could make their trousers from the fabrics in her shop. It was that she did her best to ensure that even those customers felt like they had bought something more than a rough, sturdy wool or plain, simple cotton. The display – the bright, vibrant colors, the way that the store drew one’s gaze even from outside, with the curtains pulled back – was part and parcel of that.

And yet it was still a shop. It was fabrics, on display on shelves, neat rolls lined up next to one another. Here the colors complimented; there they contrasted. Here they drew the eye; there they swept it past. But it was shelves, white sharp lines with fabrics stacked along them, and a neat wide counter, and well-swept floors, diligently kept clean.

The back room was almost like a different world. Swaths of fabrics hung from the walls, billowing softly; there were soft, welcoming couches with pillows on them, a table set between them for cups of tea or sheets of fabric. Ava took her seat on one of the couches; she sat with her back perfectly straight, the two-layered brown skirt of her dress smooth over her legs, without a single wrinkle, as if it was the most comfortable way anyone might sit. She smiled at Aodh, hands coming together gently on her lap.

"What is it you've come to discuss?" Ava asked. "Not that it isn't a pleasant surprise, but I hadn't expected you today."

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Aodh Elzo
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Mon Aug 19, 2019 1:29 pm

15th of Roalis, mid morning
Aodh followed Ava into the warm comfort of the back room and let himself relax.
Noticing the door being left slightly ajar he nodded in appreciation, better not be caught off guard.
He lowered himself onto a couch across from Ava.
He however slouched, right ankle resting on his left knee his left arm resting across the back of the couch while the fingers of his right hand tapped slightly on his right knee.


"Well, last night I was booked to play a soiree up town. Lorenzo Antonius Blackthorn, the spice merchant! Galdor bastard is throwing a damned garden party."

Aodh pauses a grin laden with dark mischief spread across his lean face.

"It's at the end of the week, you know anything about him? If not we got time to find out."

He leans forward slightly.

"Also time to plan something.. interesting perhaps?"

Aodh spreads his hands wide like a stage conjurer after a trick, the fox like grin still playing on his face.
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Ava Weaver
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Tue Aug 20, 2019 12:07 pm

Mid-Morning, 15th Roalis, 2719
Woven Delights, The Painted Ladies
Ava smiled at Aodh from the opposite couch. Her eyebrows lifted gently as he spoke, hardly disturbing the warm, friendly expression on her face. As Aodh spoke, her smile deepened - broadened - became a grin, bright and mischievous. Something sparked in her eyes.

“Yes,” Ava said, slowly, letting herself become Silk. “Blackthorn.” It was hard to describe what had changed about her - her hands were still curled together in her lap, her posture still flawless, her legs angled every so slightly sideways, shoes just visible beneath the slow pointed edge of her skirt. Perhaps it really was only the faint wicked glint in her eyes; perhaps it was something in the faint tightening of her hands, the subtle squaring of her shoulders.

“I know the name,” Ava exhaled, slow and careful. She lowered her gaze for a moment, making sure. It was better to measure twice and cut once, and the more expensive the fabric, the most important it became. Ava felt the silken threads of memory just out of reach, slipping and pooling. She had long since learned how to reach back, how to remember without becoming lost. She could not simply forget; to do so would be to strip the weapons from her own hands.

And with time, with breath and care, memories returned. Ava snatched here and there, waiting for the string that would reveal the tapestry to her. She didn’t permit herself a grin when she found it, but she did feel satisfaction, deep inside.

“Over-leveraged,” Ava said, only a few moments later. Her eyebrows lifted, faintly, and lowered again. “Indebted, as I recall, and badly. An old family, the Blackthorns, but come down,” Ava thought of scorn, tried to keep it floating on the surface, out of the deep well of her. “Lorenzo Antonio is the new scion, trying to restore them. He borrowed heavily for it, and poured much of it back into the hands of his Mugrobi friends.”

“So,” Silk said, grinning a little wider. “Why is he really throwing this party? Why spend money he doesn’t have?” She raised her eyebrows at Aodh again. “Most importantly - how badly will it hurt him if it fails? Who might he go to - what might he be driven to do - if we can snatch this from him?”

Ava had leaned forward, ever so slightly, matching Aodh’s own posture, his intensity. She sat back, slowly, and nodded. “We need to know more,” she said, thoughtful still. “Any sense of the guest list? It can’t be Mugrobi connections - he would have had that during the Rainy Season, when the politicians were in town.”

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Aodh Elzo
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Tue Aug 20, 2019 7:23 pm

15th Roalis, mid morning
The change in Ava hit Aodh like a powder charge, Silk had something on this up town snake!

As she finished speaking, his other foot hit the floorboards with sharp clunk and he was up practically on the worn toes of his boots.

A target, or bait for a bigger score. His long hands came together with a sharp clap as his mind raced. When he spoke it was in an excited hush.

"I'm not sure, only the entertainment see."

Aodh paced towards the door, no longer ambling, now more stalking. He stopped and pivoted his grin now that of a wolf, voice a triumphant snarl.

"But I reckon I know how we can find out. Don't care how indebted the bastard is, he'll still have servants."

Aodh made a sudo mystical flourish with his left hand, and then almost out of nowhere in his right hand a set of lock-picks appeared between his long dexterous fingers.
No magic here of course, just good old fashioned sleight of hand and misdirection.

"If not, well there are other ways into a house."

This was no longer the drab humble wick labourer, here stood Firebrand.

Proud and savage with fire dancing in his eyes.

“Just tell me what you need Silk, an’ if you can think of anyone else who’d want in o’ course.”

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Ava Weaver
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Thu Aug 22, 2019 2:14 pm

Mid-Morning, 15th Roalis, 2719
Woven Delights, The Painted Ladies
I
t was Aodh Elzo who had sat down, but he was already becoming Firebrand as he rose. She could not tell if it was Ava or Silk who watched the change, stretched somewhere between the two - not pulled taut, but balanced, a foot in each world.

“Yes,” She breathed, hands smooth together in her lap. “Perhaps you can see the location in advance? Only the entertainment, after all,” it was all Silk, now, who grinned at him. “That would be more for your side of things than mine.”

Silk thought, face still smooth. She thought of ripples - of casting a pebble into a pool of still water and watching the waves spread out. She thought of tugging on a thread, and watching the whole sheet of fabric buckle from it.

“Best to run it past Him, once you have the details sorted,” Silk said, soft. She held Firebrand’s gaze for a moment, knowing there was no need to say his name - even here, even in the quiet privacy of her back room - there was no need to speak Jon Serro’s name.

“If I could choose,” She said, finally, thoughtful. “I would want to know -“

The soft twinkle of the shop’s bell echoed through, and she grimaced. Her shoulders pulled in; her hands softened. The wicked look smoothed from her face, a polite smile replacing it - warm, friendly, welcoming. Silk winked one last time at Firebrand and Ava rose from the couch, a soft, almost invisible flick of her hands smoothing her skirt back into order (not, in truth, that it had ever quite been disarrayed.

Ava pressed the door open and held there for a moment. The tiniest frisson of tension raced through her, and the hand still out of sight made a simple Tek gesture to Aodh, one he would recognize: galdor.

“Good morning, madam,” Ava’s voice was warm but respectful - friendly, but not familiar. “I apologize for the wait,” she stepped forward and, once clear of the door, sunk into a low curtsy, without so much as the slightest need to balance against the counter. She had twitched the door half shut behind her, as far as she could without needing to look as if it were deliberate - without needing to look as if she had something to hide.

Ava rose, smoothly, and smiled at the woman. “How might I be of assistance today?”

The woman was a galdor, with a froth of wavy reddish-blonde hair loose over her shoulders. She wore a pale violet dress - last season’s style, Ava noticed, although nothing of it showed in her face.

“It has been a long wait,” the galdor said, glancing around the shop. “But - this place did come well recommended,” there was the faintest tinge of condescension in her voice.

Ava smiled as of she had not hurt it, and vowed her head. “Very kind of you, Madam.”

“Yes,” the galdor murmured, absently. “Yes. Well. I shall require a new silk for a summer dress - something vibrant, but not bright, naturally. Do you have a place where I can sit to look at them, or must I stand out here?” Her sharp golden eyes flickered to the door behind Ava.

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