[FIN] A Murder of Crows

[BlackFireKitsune]

Hm, he spoke to them in English but spoke to the others in Spanish. Did he just not want to speak to them in English, or did they not speak English? It was a curious thought but overall unimportant, all things considered... and of course they were practically kids. Apprentices then, as Zevran theorized he might bring, then confirmed with his words. Taliesen had to know they knew he brought five people with him - and that he was down one as of the night before - so why...? Did he think they thought the apprentices would be those other two, or...? Hm.

Abel's hand slipped out of Caleb's fur so he could hook his thumb back in his pocket, his gaze never leaving Taliesen. Zevran's best friend, once. Still? "I didn't mean those two," the taller blond added as he canted his head ever so slightly to one side, "and Callisto made it pretty clear when she tried to kill him." He knew that too, didn't he? He had to. Abel was curious what he had to say about it though, and perhaps it'd give them a little more insight into just why he'd come; of his own accord, or sent?  

[TawnyAngel]

"Didn't you?" Taliesen laughed and his dark eyes sparkled with good humour. "Well you did ask where my friends were, I'm not friends with the hopeless arseholes upstairs. Call them down will you Diego?"

The quiet dark-skinned young man standing to Taliesen's left nodded and reached slowly into his pocket for his phone; he didn't look so very much older than the two apprentices but it was pretty clear from his carefully non-threatening movements that he had a lot more experience.

"Abel's point about Callisto remains Taliesen, or are you dodging that question?" Zevran asked archly. "You never were very good at dodging anything, let alone in word games."

Taliesen shrugged nonchalantly and shook his head. "No dodging Zev- and what did you say your name was?" The Crow's smile made it clear that he knew very well Abel hadn't given it. "But Callisto," he frowned, and pronounced her name as though it was dirty, "she acted without my authority, daft b***h should've known better on two counts. First," he checked off his thumb, "she didn't have the skill to take you alone and second," he checked off his forefinger, "even if she'd managed it I would have killed her myself... Tell me, both of you, why you do you think I came here? Maybe you'd like to go first, lovely eyes?" Taliesen finished the sentence with a gracious gesture to Abel.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Hopeless arseholes upstairs; were those the two from Callisto's house then? And Diego was the man beside him, which meant the woman on his other side was.. what was it again, Luciana? So Belladonna and Velasco were the ones upstairs, the ones Zevran didn't recognize and figured were from the same house as Callisto. That all made sense. And then that left the pair of nameless - and inexperienced - apprentices, looking for all the world like young frightened little birds. And they were, in a manner of speaking.

Hmm... Did he want to tell him his name, or did he want to keep it a secret? Well it wasn't a very unique name, and he saw little point in hiding it. "Abel," he supplied coolly as he shifted his weight onto his other foot. While he generally liked compliments about his eyes, and loved them from Zev - and the nicknames - for some reason he didn't really care for Taliesen doing it. "I thought she," he didn't bother to say her name again and simply offered an airy shrug, "made it perfectly clear why you were here."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Extremely clear." Zevran sniffed in a displeased manner. "She ruined my shirt, you know." And what he had been trying not to think about, what he had been playing light and quipping to avoid thinking about was creeping up on him slowly and inexorably. Taliesen stood there before him, speaking as casually and warmly as ever. He had a new scar on his right eyebrow but he was otherwise unchanged, and everything they had been to one another... Did it all mean nothing in the end? His mouth was dry, his muscles twanging with pent up tension, and his heart and mind screamed. He didn't want to die. He didn't want to kill Taliesen, or those apprentices, or really any of them.

"Like I said, she disobeyed my orders," Taliesen scowled and shook his head again. "You really think I came here personally to kill you Zevran? That's the last thing I want."

Zevran froze, his mask of airy indifference cracked and his eyes widened in shock. "What?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

He... didn't? While Abel found himself surprised by this news - surprised and briefly, fleetingly, tentatively glad - his eyebrows merely lifted to show it. So he wasn't here to kill Zevran... even though he'd brought two apprentices and no less than five experienced Crows with him. The glad feeling slowly evaporated in the face of that undeniable fact. He'd brought seven people with him to find and confront Zevran, and for what reason if not to kill him? Why, then? Abel's eyes briefly flitted over to his boyfriend to gauge his reaction before darting back to Taliesen. While he wanted to ask why, it felt like a question he shouldn't ask.  

[TawnyAngel]

Taliesen sighed and for a moment he almost looked sad but the expression was gone behind a wry smile in a flash. "Oh come on Zev, after nearly twenty years you really think that? We've always had one another's backs and that's why I'm here, I've come to bring you home."

"To bring me home?" Zevran echoed, too stunned to do anything else. Home. The kind weather, the salt breezes and the smell of the docks- Camphoreon had no such smell, he had searched for it. The markets, the plazas, the flat sunbaked rooftops so tightly packed in the oldtown you could leap from one to the next. How many times had he and Taliesen done that just for the hell of it, six stories up and not a care in the world? Home with the taste of wine on his lips, an ache in his muscles after a long day, and no thought of tomorrow because it was not his place to think of it. So simple, and joyful, and yet...

Zevran glanced at Abel for a fraction of a moment and then looked back at Taliesen, his expression hardening again. "You cannot be serious! ¡You brought so many just to find me and tell me to come back?" For all that he loved his home, for all that Taliesen had been - still was - he couldn't go back now. He had love here, love, the one thing the Crows could never give to you. He had never thought he could give it but he could, and he would not give it up.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

To bring him home?

To bring him home?

Zevran missed Antiva a great deal, he knew he did - he knew he did - but he'd known this whole time he could never go back. They'd kill him if he did, without any doubt or question, no matter how much he missed it. Abel had longed on more than one occasion to give Zevran what he missed so much, but the most he could do was provide him a place to cook dishes from his home and that was it. And now here was Taliesen, offering to actually bring him back to the home he missed so much. For a brief moment Abel was struck with an immense pang of panic that he would accept, that he'd leave and never see him again, and quite possibly - knowing how the Crows were - he'd die at some point regardless. Crushing disappointment in himself came in the next instant, because who was he to wish so terribly for his boyfriend not to go back to the home he missed so much?

Zevran swept away both extremes a moment later with his prompt response - for now, anyway - and even voiced the skeptical thoughts he'd been having a scant few moments earlier. "I was just thinking the same thing," he said, agreeing with his love rather than putting voice to his worries. No, he could never voice them -- especially not here, of all places.  

[TawnyAngel]

Taliesen just chuckled and shook his head. "Come on Zev, can you blame me for being cautious coming to this," he gestured, expansive but languid in a way Zevran did too, "this strange land? And it made sense for me to bring a few, spread out and search faster back where your trail went cold and when we got here. The longer we leave it the harder it's going to be to excuse your absence Zev but don't worry, I've got it all worked out!"

All worked out. Taliesen always had, until Rinna had been the one to have it all worked out. He'd never felt that Tali had been bitter about that and he still didn't, he was a practical man and knew his own strengths enough to admit when he was outclassed. "So, that is the only reason?" he probed, searching his old friend's face for any little flicker that might indicate a lie.

Taliesen shrugged. "The main one, yes. Callisto, Belladonna, and Velasco come as a unit and they owe me for talking the guildmaster into taking them on instead of killing them when their house was disbanded. For all that she was a hotheaded, egotistical, little-" he said a word in Spanish "- she was damn good at tracking people down. Luciana," he gestured at the woman behind his right shoulder, "owes me one for lending a hand on a job she had a little ways back, she's great with papers so she saw us through all the ports. Diego's been shadowing me a while," Taliesen glanced back at the young man with a smirky smile, "he'd've tried to swim here if I hadn't brought him along, and the apprentices will gain a lot from seeing the world. Make sense?"

Zevran flexed his hands but otherwise remained still. "Conveniently, yes." It did all make sense, but was Taliesen just playing games with him?

Whatever anyone might have contributed next was interrupted by the door to the third floor rooms banging open; a thickset woman and a small wiry man stepped through, and it was the former who spoke first.

"Taliesen!"

Oblivious to the invisible pokemon off to her side she strode down the stairs, hands clenched into fists by her sides. The woman's dark skin was adorned arms, face, and neck with white ink tattoos; her left arm bore the mark of Arainai but more angular designs dominated elsewhere.

The wiry man following behind her carried a similar pattern of markings, though his own were black against his relatively pale skin and restricted to his arms.

"Oh, Bella, always a pleasure," Taliesen said with tangible sarcasm. "Abel was wondering where you were, so as a show of good faith I thought I'd call you down. And, let me remind you;" he showed his teeth, "This. Is. In. Good. Faith."

Belladonna snarled and rattled off a brief, vicious sounding sentence in Spanish.

Zevran shifted his stance slightly so that he could keep both the approaching Crows and the ones standing before the doors in his field of view. "She is not pleased about this," he translated roughly, and probably unnecessarily.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Strange land...? The phrase gave Abel pause for a moment because he'd never considered Kodo a strange land, having come from Sinnoh, but he'd almost consider Thedas a strange land -- so that was fair enough. But, he had it all worked out... They'd excuse his absence, meaning explain it away or something? And then no one would kill him. Who knew he was gone, then, and what did they think about it if it could simply be excused with minimal difficulty? It was a question he wanted to ask but the situation rolled right along before he could do so. Taliesen's introductions gave a little more insight into the named - and confirmed his earlier guesses - and he didn't miss the fact the named were explained but the apprentices, still nameless and still a pair, were not. Not really, anyway. 'Getting more experience' didn't tell him much except that they were inexperienced.

Abel, too, twisted in place so he could see both the Crows by the door and the two approaching them at once; Belladonna did not sound pleased, not even remotely. "Mmh, I figured she wouldn't be," the taller blond replied to his love, not taking his eyes off the rather aggressive woman. The three were a unit, and one of them had tried to kill Zev but had been killed herself instead; one of their unit was dead now, and while he didn't have a clue how close-knit the trio had been, he could only assume the remaining two would be pissed as all hell about losing their third.

Up on the catwalk Sonia showed her teeth as well in a silent snarl - not that any of them would see - and watched the situation unfold intently, waiting for even the slightest of hints of when she should act. Meanwhile, down on the floor and very much visible, Caleb unknowingly shared his teammate's response; his ears slicked back and his lips curled to reveal all his fangs, a deep, bass growl rumbling up from his throat.  

[TawnyAngel]

Belladonna advanced, spitting a few more phrases.

"Oh, she demands revenge, how original," Zevran said dryly, his hand beginning to drift towards his pistol.

More words were hissed;

"The plan has changed, she has decided-"

Belladonna reached for her pistol, started to draw, and then she fell as the retort of another weapon rang out through the warehouse.

Taliesen's expression was hard as he clicked the safety of his gun back into place and holstered it. "******** stupid," he growled, "and you wonder why your house fell Velasco? Are you as stupid as those dead women, or have you gained some sense with your new ink? ¡Answer me!"

One down. Zevran flexed his hands.

Velasco had been standing a little behind Belladonna, and now he was a little splattered by her blood. His mouth opened and closed once or twice but then he drew in a breath, wiped his face clean with his hand, and composed himself. "Sir, the mission objective was quite clear. I regret that my comrades were too arrogant to accept your generous patronage," he said quietly.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Oh, very original," Abel agreed with a nod, acting unfazed by her aggressive behavior but tense and poised to draw his own weapon should he need to--

But then she dropped to the ground like so many bloody rocks, no longer any kind of threat to anyone, and he relaxed a little. Just a fraction, because even though one threat was removed, that still left six others. Her death meant absolutely nothing to him beyond that, and used to death as he was he didn't bat an eye at hers, instead commenting somewhat idly, "I'm gonna guess she was the one calling the shots back at her own place. Hard habit to get out of, I'd think." And then there was Velasco; outwardly he didn't appear to be following the same path as his comrades but it was plain to see he still struggled with the proper way to react. Unfortunately it left his real thoughts hidden and obscure.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Her?" Taliesen snorted, clearly unfazed by the fact that he had just taken a life. "She wished she was! Callisto was above her but she was no big fish herself. Most of the high ups died along with the house, captains go down with the ship right? We took a few in besides these three but really, they should've known better than to take a job that opposed our own house. Can't help when people won't see sense though."

The crows flanking Taliesen showed little reaction to his words but the pair of apprentices nodded emphatically for a moment before seeming to realise that they shouldn't and abruptly falling still again.

"Who were they?" Zevran asked, he couldn't help but be curious. Home. He missed home, the intrigue and excitement though not the death. A little bit the violence perhaps, the thrill of the chase. He should not think that, and yet he did.

"Cardoso," Taliesen replied, his eyes still trained on Velasco. "One bad job too many, and Velasco if I wanted somebody to lick my arsehole I'd find somebody prettier than you willing, or pay for the privilege failing that. Just do as you're told and stop simpering; get over here!"

Velasco jerked into a straighter stance and crossed his right forearm over his chest before hurrying across to stand just behind Diego's shoulder. Belladonna's body lay still and unremarked upon at the bottom of the stairs.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

And there was a bit more information for them, albeit nothing of great import; neither she nor Callisto were anyone that important, so it seemed at least one (re)acted with a bit more emotion than the other despite the fact that Crows shouldn't have emotions or feelings or any such things. And yet some did, despite that. Taliesen obviously did, if he went through the trouble to gather people who either looked up to him or owed him favors.... which in and of itself was significant. None of them had been assigned; it could be excused, passed over, explained away. That was very telling, and what it tried to tell Abel was that Taliesen was there of his own accord rather than on orders. If so, that made all the difference. It meant the Crows themselves as a whole weren't after Zevran. Taliesen seemed to just want to bring his old friend - his best friend, even if Crows didn't have feelings - back home.

But was that it?

A million thoughts and questions whirled around his mind and with the threat to their side nullified and the remaining threats before them, Abel resumed his previous posture of fully facing the Crows with his thumbs hooked loosely in his pockets. Despite his outwardly relaxed posture he remained keenly alert for any subtle shifts in mood or anything that could suddenly, drastically change the situation - anything at all - just in case he needed to react. As stressful as this was, it wasn't going that terribly so far; granted a weapon had been fired and someone had died, but it was someone who had every intention of killing Zevran, so the taller blond couldn't find it in himself to really care about her fate all that much. "Mmh, that's fair; captains do love their ships, after all... but anyway," he said with an airy shrug, but left it at that. The subject would be changed one way or the other, he was sure, but he couldn't help but feel like he shouldn't be the one leading it. He could try, of course, but it just didn't... seem like the best idea, all things considered. All people considered.  

[TawnyAngel]

Zevran looked over at Abel, let out a slow breath, and then turned to Taliesen again. "Anyway indeed. I... will not be accompanying you my old friend. I am sorry to make you come so far for nothing but so it goes! I am quite content here, but thank you for checking." Would that be it? He could not believe it would be so.

Taliesen sighed and rubbed his face, he looked tired and disappointed but not really surprised. "Well I didn't think it would be easy to persuade you," he said after a moment with a wry quirk of his lips. "It's been some time, you've... Seen other things, I guess. But Zev, you're not really going to turn your back on me are you? After everything?"

After everything. Zevran's hands tensed again. "You killed Rinna. ¡You- you cut her throat! And you think I can forget that?" He remembered the colour, her eyes bright one moment and dull the next. "How could I stay after that Taliesen? How could you do it?" His voice wavered a little at the last but did not crack, he would not break in front of these strangers even with her dead eyes glaring into his soul. Taliesen had killed Rinna as good as with his blessing so who was he to throw that in his face?  

[BlackFireKitsune]

When Zevran looked his way Abel met his gaze, his own steady and unwavering. They were in this together, and they would leave together. He would make sure of it. It wasn't his fight or his place - not this time - and like Zevran did for him, he remained steadfastly by his side and ready to help however he was needed, as he would continue to do the rest of the evening -- and for much, much longer, if he had anything to say about it. Right now, the most help he could offer was to remain silent and ready to act when the time came.

And it was coming soon, he knew quite well. Just because Taliesen didn't look surprised didn't mean he was okay with the answer, though as yet Abel wasn't entirely sure what he would do about it. Persuade him, would he try to persuade him -- try to force him? Or just try to kill him instead? Because he was quite sure Taliesen wouldn't just shrug, give up and leave. And that was something he'd been curious about; did Taliesen regret Rinna's death as Zevran did? At the very least he hadn't left the Crows, so he couldn't help but hazard the guess that it didn't bother him quite as much as it did Zevran.