Back Alley Welcome

Log Info

• Title: Back Alley Welcome
• Emitter: Culix
• Characters: Culix, Aryia, Murder
• Place: Alexandrian Docks
• Time: Octorber 2nd, 2021
• Summary: Culix is back on the beat again on the docks, and Aryia almost runs into her. The two scurry off to a covered alley to escape the rain, and warmly greet each other. It had been some time, Culix having apparently been doing some guild work out in the middle of no where for a while. Murder crashes into the alley after having beat up an escaping gnome, who gets away, but the other goblin ends up joining the other two in conversation. Aryia gives a brief rundown of what's been going on, with Murder teasing the hell out of Aryia about an important fact that she left out. Murder has to catch up with the fleeing gnome, and Aryia gives some life advice. The two then hit up a seedy bar afterwards to catch up.

It's a miserable day to be out and about, cold rain driven by fierce wind. But a certain beady-eyed gobber is out and about regardless, making her way along the docks, keeping to the eaves and alcoves over the nearby warehouses to keep the worst of the rain off her back. A hooded cloak, drawn up tight, does the rest, keeping her relatively dry and warm. The gobber seems to be rather intently looking at her hands, making odd gestures with them as she wanders along, her lips moving wordlessly as she does so.

It had been some times since they'd been to the docks. Aryia had taken a break from the work to pursue other interests as of late. But, she needed to check on a few things after recent developments.

Clad in her newer usual wear and a treated grey cloak, a pair of shimmery eyes peek from underneath the hood as the figure went about the docks, speaking with a few ship-hands with her hands before nodding and turning to go back down the road. A turn which almost makes her run straight into the beady-eyed gobber. She deftly sidesteps them out of habit, but she pauses, turns, and light gasp could be heard underneath the pouring rain. Their lips move, but it's drowned out by the waters. Instead a quick, attention getting whistle is uttered along with an energetic wave.

Culix blinks as she is nearly walked into, the sudden appearance of legs in her field of vision drawing her attention away from her hands. As Aryia steps to the right, she steps to the left, and even resists the muscle memory insisiting she ought slip a hand into any exposed pockets in such a situation. She turns, and her eyes brighten when she recognizes the similarly hooded figure. She returns the wave, and then she gestures over towards a covered alleyway out of the rain and wind nearby which she begins to head over towards.

Aryia grins and eagerly nods, her plodding after their short friend into the alleyway. Such a sight would be suspicious to any onlookers, but such thoughts never crossed the mul'neissa's mind.

Once they sought shelter, she throws her hood back, the familiar visage of the scarred shadow elf exposed. Not much has changed about her, aside from a better disposition and a three pairs of silver clasps on her ears (that'd probably fetch a pretty gold if they were pawned off).

"Hello! Good to see you!" she gestures slowly, before kneeling down and throwing her arms wide open. <Handspeech>

In said alleyway, a brief fistfight occurs. A Gnome, dressed all in black, receives several punches below the belt by a Goblin in leather. After said punches, the Gnome flees further down the alley. Leaving Murder to ponder his retreating for. She snuffles and dabs at her nose, an attempt to stop the trickle of blood from flowing.

"Henlo" Culix manages in a slightly mangled handspeech gesture. She grins broadly, pulling back her own hood, pointy gnashers on display and offers, this time aloud, "You're looking well! And well off, too." she says raising her eyebrows at the earrings. At the arms thrown open, Culix blinks, surprised, but then shrugs and hugs the Mul. "Long time no see. Been kinda busy with guild stuff." she explains. Before she can say anymore, the sounds of the fight from up the alleyway cause her ears to twitch and she turns to look that way.

Seeing it's all over as quick as it began, she glances back to Aryia. "Guess this neighborhood never changes though, eh?"

The embrace is brief and welcoming, perhaps something of the past while cracked Aryia's more firm exterior. She pulls away with a nod, bringing her hands up to explain herself and ask questions in simple signs, but that pauses as her silver clad ears twitch as well. She looks over her shoulder, chuffs, and nods in agreement.

Though, Taara's gift makes it a bit easier to see in the cloaked alleyway, her squinting before blinking wide. "Murder?" she says with a big gesture and a raised hand to greet them. "You good?" <Handspeech>

Murder leans heavily upon one of the walls in the alley, and spits onto the ground. Her ears perk up and she glances over to Aryia and Culix. She grins faintly and nods. "I'll survive. How're you two?" The Gobbo slowly makes her way towards the two.

Culix tilts her head a bit, "What'd he do to deserve the speedbag combo?" she wonders of Murder then, gesturing for her to come over. "Doin' alright." she adds, as for how she herself is. A look back towards Aryia, still a bit surprised by her change in demeanor.

From the way she held herself, to the relaxed yet firm look affixed on her visage, it looked as if Aryia had finally carved out a piece of herself and comfortably nestled herself into it. Still troubled by whatever goes unsaid in her mind, but a more determined look about her than the exhaustion and hopelessness that Culix would be more familiar with before.

She rummages around in her inner cloak pockets before pulling out a scrap of brown cloth, holding it out towards Murder if they need to wipe off any life ichor. "Good. Just paying the docks a visit and ran into Culix here," she motions with smoother gestures than before. <Handspeech>

The Gobbo will take the offered cloth, and gently dab at her nose. "Said I owed him money. I said he was mistaken. He took exception to it. He's lucky I didn't set him on fire.", is Murder's answer to Culix. She glances to Aryia, "Can I keep it? It'll probably be gross if I just hand it back..."

"Literally." Culix adds on with a little snigger after Aryia's comment. "Oh, well that's fair enough then." she adds back at Murder. "So, what's been happening around town lately?" she wonders. "Job had me out in the boonies for a bit, so I've missed the gossip, an' that's dangerous in my line of work."

Aryia waves a dismissive hand towards Murder. "Keep it. Wasn't going to use it, it's from a messed up cloak," she assuages with her hands while huffing a silent laugh at her accidental joke.

The question makes her rub her arm, and look off to the side. She keeps her gestures simple and slow for Culix, still not sure of their fluency of the language. "A lot. Too much. Big demon being a dick. Resurrectionist work. I go to Charn, come back with slaves. Falling stars crash into ground. Oh, I go to prison to talk to guy we beat up, learn more about that. Uh...."

She taps her chin. Then shrugs. "A fucking lot." <Handspeech>

The Gobbo eyes the cloth suspiciously for a moment, then shrugs and stuffs it into a pouch hanging from her belt. "She left out the best part of it all. She's got a giiiirrrrlllfriend!" Murder grins toothily, and giggles lightly. She rubs at the back of her neck. "I only knew about the demon and the uh rocks falling out of the sky."

Culix follows along well enough, it seems, nodding her head with the gestures. "Seems about right." she finally settles on and huffs. "I'll need to do some snooping of my own to get back up to speed." she muses. However, any other conversation is derailed by Murder. She snorts, and then laughs, "Well that explains a lot." she says, and then turns back to Aryia, "Had that look about you. So, what's she like?" she wonders, waggling her eyebrows suggestively.

Aryia goes wide eyed at Murder's addition, the scarred grey skin gaining a dusting of ruby. "S-Shut uuuup!" she bemoans with her hands before burying her face into them.

Without looking up, she motions with one hand embarrassedly in vague answers, "... she's smart and kind, and is accepting with how weird I am about some shit." <Handspeech>

"Her name is Violet.", Murder says with a grin to Culix. "But that's all I know. Well, besides the fact that she's head over heels for her. It's adorable." She carefully reaches out to pat Aryia's shoulder. "It really is okay, you know."

Culix can't help but giggle- downright girlishly- at the poor Mul's embarassment, holding her stomach with both hands until she catches her breath. "Awww that's so sweet. You'll have to introduce me some time, less you're afraid I'll charm her." she adds then with another snigger, as she wipes a tear from the corner of her eye. "Well, that's good. You was always too hung up on worrying whether you was good enough, or needed. Now you got proof of what I was saying all along, right?"

Further teasing and giggling makes Aryia's visage grow even more crimson, her pressing her face into hands further, willing the embarrassment away and failing. Even the pats aren't enough to pull her out of her shell.

"I knoooooow," she motions with one hand to Murder as she drags the sign through the air before pulling her flushed face up to see the two gobbos. A glance to Culix, then a few more small gestures in nonverbal grumbles, "... yeah, yeah, I guess..." <Handspeech>

Murder holds out a wee hand, as if to cup Aryia's cheek, though stops short as if remembering something. "Yes, you should introduce us. I mean, she's an important part of your life now, yes? Only fair that we get to meet her."

Culix finally settles down, now, "Well, that's the best news I've heard all day. Though I'd be lieing if I said I wasn't a tiny bit jealous." she says then, offering a final wink Aryia's way. "So, uh, might have noticed I've been studying Handspeech a bit, while I was away." she says then, offering a different subject like a lifeline to Aryia, drowning in her own embarasment. "Reckon I'm getting halfway decent at understanding it, though I'm still pretty sloppy with the actual signing."

There is a glance to the hand, and a twitch at the motion, but an appreciative sigh leaves Aryia as the gesture is halted. Face regaining it's dim grey hue, she rubs her arm. "I can try. She's busy a lot," she weakly offers to the gobbers, a dust of red coming back from the wink. She coughs into a fist.

Anyways. Thankful for the topic change, she gives a light smile. "I'm glad you are learning more. It's really good to know just in general. You're doing pretty good so far if you're keeping up with me." <Handspeech>

Murder nods to Aryia. "I am sure it'll happen in its own time." she says softly. "I guess it could be really useful for communicating in silence, hmm? Aside from being useful for folks who have a hard time with talking." She rubs at the back of her head. "So uhm what do you feel up to getting up to?"

Culix nods her head a bit with a grin, "No rush. Just curious to see what sorta woman could get through your shell is all." she says to Aryia. She stuffs her own hands into her back pockets, rocking on the balls of her feet a bit. "Getting up to?" she wonders of Murder. "Hadn't given it much thought. 'spose there's the usual. Drinking, eating, being merry. Reckon I could stand to get out of the cold and the wet, at any rate."

Aryia's gaze goes a hint unfocused at the mention of it. A warmth in her chest that made her stomach tingle. Unknowingly, a warm, lax smile spreads across her lips.

Yeah. She's smitten, and she doesn't even know it.

The elf shakes her head, focusing on the now as the smile stays. "Same. Was finishing making sure there weren't any more weird shipments going out to Charn. Uh, to be honest, I'm not really doing anything at the moment. Taking a break from dock work for the time." <Handspeech>

Murder grins and glances at each woman in turn. "Both laudable and attainable goals.", she says with a wink to Aryia. Glancing the way the Gnome went, the Gobbo sniffs. "I guess that's a far enough head start." She offers a cheeky salute to the two. "I've got a Gnome to track down. Gonna see where he's scurried off to, and maybe work out who put him up to that. You two take care, ya?"

Culix dips her head at the departing Murder, "Don't get in too much trouble." she teases, and then takes a step back to lean against the wall in the alleyway. "Sounds like you've been doing work not too different from me. Only mine was out in the middle of no-where sneaking stuff into carriages rather than sniffing out what was already there." she says then. "Said you come back with some slaves, right? I'm taking it to mean you freed 'em. Manage to get a little bit of that vendetta settled?" she wonders.

Aryia reaches out to pat Murder on their small shoulder. "Go get them. Be sure you get answers out of them before you knock them out. Good to see you, catch you later." She flashes a light smile and waves.

The mute woman turns her attention back to Culix. She was still sitting on the damp cobblestone, eye level with her friend that she hadn't seen in a while. She gives a little nod, the warm smile on her face turning... a bit more fitting for a mul'neissa. Sinister. "As fucked as it is to say, I enjoyed it. When I saw them beating them into cages, I snapped. None of them lived." She cracks her knuckles. "But yes, we freed a shit load of people. Like, maybe... forty? Fifty? Something like that." <Handspeech>

Culix sniggers again at Aryia's account, "Course you enjoyed it. You got the strength to do something about it, now. And you did. Got the strength you wish you had, strength you needed, way back." she says then and shrugs her shoulders. "Might not be the same folks what made your life hell, but it's the same sort of folks, and that counts." she adds then. "'sides, you did some good, too. An' the folks up at the temples are always trying to tell me that feels good in itself. Me, personally, prefer coin as my reward than warm fuzzies."

Aryia gives a nod, a sigh leaving her as she rests her head against the stone wall. "Yes. I'll do it again if I have to. Both to punish the ones doing it, and to make sure people don't go through the same shit I did."

She falls a silent, hands stilled, at the last bit. "Coin is good," she motions slowly, starting to build up something abstract. "Coin can be a motivator. But at the end of the day, week, month, your life, the people you brush against along the way to help push you forward is worth more than any amount of gold a noble dumps in front of you."

Her head turns, looking at Culix with a shimmering gaze. It softens. "As they can help you reach heights than you never thought you can have gotten to before."

She smiles. <Handspeech>

Culix looks a bit bashful at the lecture, extracting her hands from her back pockets, one of them rubs the back of her neck as she averts her gaze- somewhat. She still keeps one eye on the hand signs, so she's not ignoring it completely. "Yeah... I guess." she says, awkwardly. "I mean, I've caught myself sticking my neck out couple of times when I ought have just turned tail." she admits then. Her tone, and the way she carries herself, one would think she's owning up to kicking a ball through someone's window, not being selfless.

She clears her throat then, "Guess some of the goody two shoe types are rubbing off on me or somethin'" she admits then, with a helpless shrug. "Still, though, I aint about to start working for free." she says then, clawing back her toothy grin. "Anyway, shall we make tracks 'fore our tits up and freeze off in this weather?" she says then, glancing out towards the street wherethe freezing rain is, by now, falling horizontally. "Know a pub round here I haven't been barred from yet, cold barmaids and warm cider." she says, and thumbs further down the alleyway.

Aryia chuckles, a voiceless, breathy noise as she reaches out to pat the goblin on the shoulder reassuringly. "Of course. Can't work for free," she motions with her free hand before rising to her feet.

At that, she snorts, giving a nod. "Yes, please. It's so fucking cold out here," she signs, gesturing to lead the way before hiding her frigid hands into her warm cloak. <Handspeech>

-End Scene-