Post by Seek on Apr 24, 2013 17:58:56 GMT 10
Title: Meetings
Rating: PG
Word Count: 549
Pairing: Beka/Rosto
Round/Fight: 1C
Summary: Reversal!verse. Rosto meets a new face in town.
Warnings: None.
Note: Griff has agreed to forgive me for the two BR fics I'd pre-written, under certain conditions.
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There’s a new rusher in town, or so the word goes.
I walk into the Mantel and Pullet, and flash the new server the charming, confident smile that half the rogues and Dogs and servers of Corus know well. My partner, Aniki, shoulders past me. We’ve been paired for over seven years, and nary a Puppy from Ahuda. “Move over, cabbage head,” she says, “You’ll scare the poor thing.”
I roll my eyes, and say, “I’ll have you know—”
“That that smile has charmed quite a few gixies into your pants,” Kora cut in. Kora works not as a Dog but with us; as a laundress, and sells a few charms and trinkets on the side. A mage quite a few steps better than the one they’ve got, and Ahuda knows it. Fulk knows it, and the more he tries to give Kora trouble, the more Aniki and I are on his case. Kora’s a friend, and we’d be piss-poor friends if we didn’t stop that sort of thing.
The server brings us steaming hot mince pies, and fills our jacks with ale. I sigh, and drink. Ale’s cheap in Corus, but I miss the Scanran mead, from back home. I look around, and latch onto a face I don’t recognise, and in seven years on the streets, I think I’ve recognised most faces on Corus. Dark blond hair, and braided long, now that’s strange. Most of ‘em keep the hair short so a cove doesn’t grab it in a fight. She shifts then, and then I see the spike braided into it. I nod, almost to myself.
“Who’re you looking at?” Aniki wants to know. I gesture at the girl, subtly, with a tilt of my head. We’ve been partners for so long we can read the meaning in every small gesture. So I know that Aniki is looking without seeming to look. Maybe not, as the girl looks up and glares at us. My fingers twitch; I almost make the godsmark. Icy blue-grey eyes, ghost-eyes. She’s no stranger to fighting. Got the scars to show it, too.
I’ve never seen eyes the like of hers. They make me uneasy, in my gut. I tip my head to her, and give her one of my harmless smiles. The folk of the Lower City like that; Rosto the Piper, a flirt, and a somewhat loose Dog. It’s a smile they like to trust.
She simply ignored it. Like Aniki, this one, though Aniki’s gotten used to me. The three of us, Aniki, Kora, and me—we made our way to Tortall from Scanra. Got tired of the Rogue and being hungry all the time. Now, this mot could be Scanran, but something tells me she’s definitely Tortallan. “Bet a silver,” I say, almost absently.
Aniki raises her eyebrows at me. “Bet. You going to talk to her, then?” She knows what I plan to do, even before I’ve told her. We clasped hands briefly to seal the bet. The mot had gone back to her drinks. I fixed my eyes on her, and then stood up and crossed the room to find and pull up an empty seat next to her.
“Hello there, love,” I begin, with my most charming smile.
She upends her tankard over my head.