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OUTSKIRTS OF RESPITE
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Brunilda walks to the edge the town, outside the walls. She's panting, hurting and sweating a ton - but there's no way she's giving up. She's pretty sure she saw the wolf run this way. Of course with her luck, Gareth had managed to run inbetween guard patrols, and the gate guard was asleep. She considered giving the bear a piece of her mind, but decided against it and just continued forward.
Brunilda arrives to the edge of a small thicket, frowning slightly as this is where her certainty of things ends.
Gareth snorts from behind a nearby shrub. "Persistent pachyderm, aren't ye? I'm surprised Fiora didn't kick yer arse." He stands up and steps into the open, staring at the elephant, "She let ye go, didn't she? I doubt ye'd win a straight fight against her."
Brunilda starts a bit, spinning around. She glares at the wolf: "And if I did? I'm here, aren't I?"
Gareth turns to look at Brun a little more straight on, revealing his cutlass already unsheathed and ready. "Then I'd just have to pay ye back for whatever ye did to her." He sighs and shakes his head, though his eyes never leave Brun, "Shame ye didn't just go with the plan, honestly. If he's innocent, he still has a chance to prove it."
Brunilda squints at Gareth, and loosens herself into a combat stance. She's unarmed having left her halberd behind before this all started so as to not raise suspicions. Briefly, she smirked inwardly at the slight irony of that. "Like you care about innocence or not. Reward is the only relevant thing, right?"
Gareth laughs coldly as he gives his cutlass a little flourish, waiting for Brun to make a move. "Hah, hardly. We don't get paid if the mark isn't the right person. We don't get paid fer not doin' our job."
Brunilda tilts her head: "Do you care about why your 'mark' has a bounty on them, though? I don't get the feeling you do."
Gareth smirks a bit. "'Course not. Do guards care about why beggars get thrown into jail?"
Brunilda frowns: "I do. Innocents don't belong there."
Gareth: And yet they often do, don't they?
Brunilda shrugs, still glaring: "I can't make others do the right thing."
Gareth tilts his head a little, watching Brun carefully. "So, how do you fight against that sort o' thing?"
Brunilda snorts: "Like I do right now. Either you yield Strix, or I'm go walk over you."
Gareth laughs a bit. "Well, tough luck, lass. I'm not yieldin', and yer not gettin' past me until Strix proves he's not the target." He quirks up another smile, "Ye see, lass, unlike ye, gettin' paid no matter what, I don't get fed until I turn in the bounty."
Brunilda frowns, stepping closer: "Unfortunate choice of career, then." She eyes Gareth, not really wanting to make the first move.
Gareth snorts again, his free hand casually gliding down towards his belt, and the second, yet unfired pistol. He doesn't draw it yet, but his intention is probably clear if Brun takes another step. "As though I had a choice growin' up. Please, keep talkin', as it's most elucidatin'."
Brunilda steps closer past Gareth again in the direction she thinks Strix is held: "The time for talking is over."
Gareth chuckles, drawing his pistol and readying it, but not aiming yet. "I'll keep talkin' if I damn well please, lass. This could be solved if ye just let me talk to Strix meself, but I don't get why ye insist on bein' the hero."
Brunilda snorts, but pauses in her step at the pistol cocking: "Bah. Hero nothing, just stopping the likes of you." She relents: "But fine. Talk to him."
Gareth eyes Brun for a few seconds, then laughs again as he seems to ease his stance a bit. "Funny thing, this. It's a shame the other bounty hunters all came as quick as they did. Ye knew our plan, but not all o' it." He casts a glance off to the side for a moment, "Would have explained the rest o it, if we had the time."
Brunilda eyes Gareth suspiciously: "Or I guess left me to fend for myself the moment it became beneficial."
Gareth shakes his head. "Can't necessarily trust new meat to not screw us over, just in case they get cold feet." He eyes Brun closely for a moment, perhaps slightly accusatory, "But at this point, target's captured, so no sense in not sayin'. Full plan was, capture the mark, interrogate them, send them off to Sarn if they were the real deal. If not, release them and guard them against the other hunters."
Brunilda raises an eyebrow: "And it's none of your concern as to WHY they might want him? Hmmph."
Gareth raises an eyebrow. "Ye mean the researchers at Sarn? The ones worried he might have stolen counter-gravity tech that's still highly experimental and likely dangerous?"
Brunilda gives a scoff at Gareth, but doesn't have a good counterpoint. Instead she motions vaguely with her hand "If you really think it is him, go ahead then. Interrogate."
Gareth snorts in turn again. "And what, soon as I turn me back, ye run me over, grab Strix and bail? I'm no university graduate, but I'm not a lackwit, lass."
Brunilda frowns: "About the same chances as me turning my back and you shooting at me, it seems."
Gareth laughs, amused. "Lass, I only fired when ye grabbed me. I had all this time to cut our conversation short and shoot ye. I gave ye a warnin' before ye threw me, and would have run ye through if Fiora didn't have me grab Strix and go." He pauses, "Tell ye what. We back away from each other about 30 meters, then we both turn and go. Me pistol can't reach that far with any accuracy, and I'd hear ye well before ye reach me."
Brunilda looks at Gareth, then at the gun. She considers for a moment, then relents and sighs, the fight seemingly gone from her at this. "...fine."
Gareth starts backing away. "Good choice. No way I can send Strix off and disappear anyway, if yer worried about that. I'm not leavin' Fiora alone here. That's not my style." He sheathes his cutlass once he's a comfortable distance away, "Go do what ye need to."
Brunilda backs away as well, knowing full well that Gareth can go back on his word any moment. She doesn't exactly trust him, but in current situation doesn't have any options anyway. "I will." She turns once they're far enough from each other, fully expecting this to have been the last time she sees the wolf.
Gareth stares after Brunilda as he stows his pistol back in his belt, then shakes his head and turns to head out in another direction entirely from where it looked like he was guarding. Time to see if all this trouble was for a reason or not...
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SHORTLY THEREAFTER
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Strix was awake again, and wasn't happy. He'd actually been awake for a while, and staying quiet while the other two argued, focused on trying to break the bindings. Sadly, he wasn't strong himself, and his metal arm still wasn't working right...so it was just a lot of wiggling without much end result. When Gareth turns to him, Strix stops, and glares balefully at Gareth. If looks could kill (Mental note: Strix must make StrixLaserEyes)
Gareth sighs as he draws up in front of Strix, eying him with a scrutinizing look. After a few seconds, he shakes his head and kneels down a bit. "Look, I've heard enough that I'm not completely sure yer the target. Sorry I had to snag ye like I did, but it was the only way to make sure without any o' the other bounty hunters tryin' to cut the discussion short. Those folks aren't anywhere near as nice as me and Fiora."
Strix: "Strix glad Strix was punched and beaten and thrown about by Nice Bounty Hunters" Strix had learned what sarcasm was in recent months. He'd never quite understood why you would want to use it, but now he did! Gareth was sure teaching the kobold a lot "Strix didn't know chat beforehand made that okay"
Gareth shrugs and crosses his arms, resting them against a knee as he looks at Strix. "Well, personally, I'd rather be punched, beaten and tied up than stabbed, shot and left to bleed out on the dirt, but I get what yer sayin'..." He rolls his eyes after a moment, "Anyway, point is, I'm givin' ye a chance to prove ye aren't the target. If ye aren't, then I'll untie ye, take ye back to Respite and help guard the alley so the other hunters don't get to ye. If ye are the mark, though... well, yer headin' off to Sarn fer a bit."
Strix: "Strix isn't Mark. Strix is Strix. Mark not even leave Kobold burrow"
Gareth sighs again and unwinds his arms, giving one a shake and pulling a rolled up scroll out from his sleeve. He unrolls it and holds it so Strix can see. "I mean the target. Prove to me ye aren't the one this poster is pointin' out."
Strix peers at the poster, confused for a few moments, before glaring as he gets it "Ya! Sarn get Strix's floating disks! Sarn make floaty ships.." Strix is quite agitated again (Though, to be fair, he's not exactly been calm at any point) "Sarn want Strix because Strix know how to make the floaty part of the ships! Strix not steal floatiness! Strix invent floatyness himself!" Of course, that wouldn't really matter. What's important is that he knows how to do it. In a lot of ways, the fact that he didn't steal it, but invented it himself means that Sarn would want him even more!
Gareth frowns, his brow furrowing. "So yer sayin' the kobold in this description is you? But yer also sayin' that the tech wasn't actually stolen?"
Strix: "Yes!" Strix spits out "Sarn likely think Strix just working for other inventor, because people not think Kobolds smart" *Draconic Muttering* "but Strix bet Sarn guess tech not stolen. Strix's shines work different to May shinies, and other schoolshinymakers"
Gareth turns the poster around and reads the details for a few seconds, then rolls it up and runs a hand over his face and snout. He growls, low and angry, as he squeezes the bridge of his snout. He drops his hand after a few seconds, then stares at Strix with a sharp gaze. "Look at me straight in the eye and tell me that again."
Strix rolls his eyes, but looks at Gareth "Sarn likely think Strix just working for other inventor, because people not think Kobolds smart" *Draconic Muttering* "but Strix bet Sarn guess tech not stolen. Strix's shines work different to May shinies, and other schoolshinymakers" He repeats, word for word, tone for tone.
Gareth stares at Strix, his gaze shifting from one of the kobold's eyes to the other, searching for the tiniest hint that this inventor might be lying to him. The silence stretches for an almost uncomfortable length of time.
Gareth breaks the silence with a snort as he deftly draws a knife from his boot. "Sit still fer a moment, Strix; yer goin' back to Respite." He approaches the kobold and begins to cut the ropes binding his arms and legs, grumbling to himself a bit as he goes, "Yer either tellin' the truth, or yer made o' stronger stuff than most bounty hunters and pirates I've met in me life."
Strix: "Strix not hope Bounty Hunter expect a thank you" The second he was free, he was already away, and up a wall "Strix will remember this. Strix not vengeful. Strix not, however, suggest bounty hunter comes by workshop"
Strix: "Strix will have a violence ready" Because Strix is not one for things left unstated.
Gareth watches Strix as the kobold gets up and goes. "Not expectin' much o' anythin'. Though I'll tell ye be careful o' the other hunters. Bunch o' veterans makin' moves around town, so it won't be long before they come stompin' yer way."
Strix: "Strix left guard down. Mistake. Strix won't let guard down again" and he was gone over the wall vanishing into...the mid afternoon.
Gareth hmphs as he gets up and dusts his hands, leaving the now-useless rope on the ground as he looks back towards the town gate off in the distance. He shrugs to himself as he starts walking back that way, intending to check on Fiora. "Makin' friends and enemies out here... New lands, not much changin', I guess."