Good men were too easy, and Lavernius was good. As soon as the bathroom door shut, Thalia stood up from the bed and closed the curtains on the windows before making her way to any lit candle in the room and blowing it out. She sauntered over to the bathroom door just in time to hear the water start running. Good. The bathroom door crept open and Thalia moved inside quietly. The lights went out, the door slammed shut, and Thalia's shirt hit the floor. Lavernius had stood up and turned around in shock perhaps. Thalia pushed Lavernius against the wall, definitely stronger than Lavernius would have thought, Thalia started unbuttoning the man's shirt and pressed her bare skin against his. Her face was against the man's neck, breathing sensually. "You're too nice." She pulled back, bringing his hands with her as she placed them on her chest. Thalia was practically chewing on her lip as she stared at Lavernius in the dimly lit room, though she didn't struggle to see him. She whined at him, "I've been so bad, Lavvy. So so bad." A bit of sobering clarity washed over her, stalling her advances for the moment. She had told Faye once that she took what she wanted, so it was pretty clear to herself why she had stopped her advance on poor Lavernius, for now.

Woken up by music outside and sun getting through uncurtained windows, Faye slowly raised her upper body and sat slouching over her coverlet barely conscious. She remained in that position until she got a better hold on her bearings, after which she moved to the edge of bed and let her bare feet touch the floor. Swaying to the sides and rubbing her eyes Faye made her way to her backpack, and scattering papers around retrieved some clothing for the day as well as a brush and other such items. Locking herself in the bathroom the girl went through her morning toilet, refreshing herself a little. As she stood in front of a mirror however, trying to calm down the mess currently present on her head after drying her hair, Faye slowed down and eventually stopped brushing, instead staring at her own reflection for a while. She frowned and picked up her brush again, this time putting some more attention to her hair than usual. Instead of just combing the morning 'bird's nest' out and settling for good enough, Faye actually sacrificed these few additional minutes to make her bangs and curls well swept, even and neat looking. Well, as neat as she managed to get them to be.

She hasn't planned on attending any Thaa'nas business today, so the girl once more picked up casual clothing; Light-blue shirt white skirt and thigh-highs, very similar as the day before. She simply felt most comfortable in such design. Faye picked up her room's key, bandana and two gems, gently rubbing their smooth surface with her thumb before putting them in her pocket. Yet another night she didn't need them...The girl unlocked her room's door and stepped outside, not yet done with tying the bandana around her neck. Looking down and making her way towards the stairs, she noticed that the pitcher with water she left yesterday hasn't been moved. Faye crouched and picked the dish up, slightly concerned. "Illaya?" She knocked on the doors. No response. Noise of running water and their 'fun' muffled the sound for the duo. "You're awake?" Still nothing. The girl frowned and turned the knob, to her surprise the doors were unlocked. "Well...Im coming in." With the pitcher still in her hands, Faye walked in into a dark, empty room. There was a mess on the bed, cosmetic tools scattered around. The girl heard the sound of water from the bathroom, but hasn't been quite convinced yet. She got close to the door and called out loudly. "Illaya is everything alright?"

Lavernius looked up when the lights turned off and stood, turning around to the sound of the door shutting. "Illaya?" Was all he got out before he was pushed back to the wall. "Illaya stop, wait- we can't..." He breathed in and could only smell her hair, the smell of her sweat, and he just couldn't think. His mind clouded by the pheromones as he dug his nose into her hair and breathed in deep. His hands moved like they had a mind of their own, caressing her breasts, slowly turning as the fingers gently rolled, running down the cleave in the middle and circling back around to message the nipples. "We... I..." his arguments got quieter and he moved his head down to her ear. "I want to." Suddenly she froze and he froze with her, lifting his head up and using his hand to move her chin up so that they were eye-to-eye. He tilted his head and leaned in for the kiss when Faye's voice broke the trance.

His head snapped up and his hands moved to her shoulders, pushing her back. "I... I'm sorry." Was all he could utter before he bolt for the door, pulling it towards him to open it. He bursted out of the bathroom and nearly ran into Faye in the small entryway. He smacked his hand against the wall to stop himself and the two just stared at each other, "Thank you." He whispered before he made his way out the door and into his room, closing the door behind him.

Thalia frowned, her better judgement finding it's way through the pills and alcohol as she really started to sober up. She pulled back just in time for Faye to come to Lavernius' rescue, or hers. Even through the shit in her mind, Thalia's intuition was screaming at her. I want to. She was bloody perfect. A swaggering young woman with a hot body and a killer personality, but she was a hazed up mess and Lavernius was right, it would be unethical. Though her body still craved flesh, she stepped out of his way and let the man retreat. Lavernius was a gentleman, but he wasn't the best. A true gentleman didn't get a lady all worked up and then practically jump out of the window. Thalia wrapped herself in a towel before standing in the doorway facing Faye, "Still sobering up, darling. Tis' a shame how squeamish poor Lavernius is. He didn't really strike me as the type." She gave Faye a weak smile, caked with innocence. "I've been worse," she shrugged, feeling judged. "It was sweet of you to come check on me."

Faye barely had any time to react when the doors were slammed open. Stumbling back as open shirted Lavernius jumped out almost bumping into her, the pitcher she held with both hands tilted uncontrollably and splashed water over her, him, her shoes and on the floor. Puzzled, shocked, surprised, these were the expressions present on her face when she turned around and saw him leave after his short Thank You...Whatever that exactly meant. The girl then looked back into the bathroom to see Illaya wrapping herself up.

"Oh...Of course..." It didn't take a genius to figure what was going on here, and what she has just interrupted.

Faye scanned the woman up and down, but there was no glint in her eyes, usually present when she has done that before. They were just kind of...indifferent, judging. Remembering the conversation from day before, the girl simply realized something. "He's an artist...one could easily figure, they tend to be...squeamish." She muttered with dry voice after remaining silent for a while. The girl then placed the half empty pitcher on the ground in front of Illaya and quickly straightened back up. "Well I'm glad you're feeling better." Its not that she was upset, but there was definitely a note of negative emotion in her voice as she left. The girl went straight to her room to change her wet clothes.

Thalia gave Faye a nod and uttered once more before the girl ran off, "squeamish." She turned and opened the curtain a bit, letting light in the bathroom before shutting the door and dropping her towel. She turned the shower on and stepped in. The water was perfect.

After she cleaned up a bit, Thalia returned to her room, keeping the curtains shut as she grabbed some loose clothing to put on. Her head still had a slight buzz to it, but the shower really helped to sober her up to the point where she wouldn't pounce on the next decent looking person she saw. She slid the drawer open to find the pills sitting on top of some loose clothing. After tucking them underneath and out of sight, Thalia went over to retrieve her bloodied dagger from underneath the mattress. It didn't take too long to clean, and she spent a couple minutes running a stone across the blade, getting it ready for it's next mission.

With a few blades tucked away, Thalia left and locked her room. Her skirt was red and loose enough if the situation came where she needed to be agile. A black vest with red threaded designs covered her red shirt, which had puffs of red tulle extruding from the sleeveless edges of the vest. Thalia's hair was completely braided with a red ribbon tied into the top of it, hanging down nearly as long as her hair. Black stockings squeezed her legs, and she wore black boots with several buckles on them that reached up her shin and disappeared underneath her skirt. She knocked twice on Lavernius' door.

Lavernius paced around his room. What has he done? What was he thinking? How could he do that to her? To Illaya? He felt ashamed, pathetic, and yet to his disgust, entranced. The event was playing through his head and the sensation was like fire through his veins. It took a lot to pull away and that realization horrified him. He looked at his wet clothes and took them off, laying them aside to dry. He opened his wardrobe and pulled himself some new clothes, going for a cloud grey dress shirt with a pine green vest with darker pocket flaps and fossil grey pants. As he changed, he heard the knocks on his door and walked over to the door, buttoning his vest. He opened the door and simply stood there, looking at Illaya. His mouth felt dry and he put his arms down before simply asking, "Breakfast?"

"Sure," Thalia pushed her way inside of Lavernius' room and shut the door behind her, "but first," she turned the lock. She walked over to the bed and sat down on it, "Things got pretty out of hand back there, huh? Don't worry, I'm pretty sober now. Though I can't deny that my actions were completely clouded by alcohol, and other things." She stared at Lavernius, her eyes practically screaming, don't you fucking judge me. "A few hardships and bad decisions later, and my self control slipped. It's only natural for two beautiful creatures to do what we did, but even now my intuition is screaming at me, there's more." She chuckled, "I know I'm a bad bitch, the way you were poking me affirms it." It was probably a good thing that her chest was as covered up as her back always was, "I told Faye something or another about you being squeamish at my sobering up process. She's probably too smart for her own good, but she also seems blissfully ignorant, especially if you went along with it to. Regardless, I'm pretty darn good at keeping secrets, so I won't tell anyone how easily you got excited, or how much you enjoyed groping me, or how close you came to doing something that would truly betray her trust." Boom, that was it. The look on his face when he opened the door practically screamed it, but saying it out loud at him confirmed her suspicions. "I've never been the kind of person to agree with or respect marriage, but you're a gentleman, Mr. Mylarc, and I can respect your honor in that. I take what I want. Out of respect for you, I'll show an equal amount of restraint. If you want to come rip my clothes off of me and take me here and now, then so be it. If you would rather go find Faye and enjoy a nice meal and some conversation, then I would very much love and appreciate that."

She stared at Lavernius the entire time she spoke, but she didn't feel guilty or remorseful. Honesty wasn't something she exercised often. "But you've got to do one more thing," her eyes full of interest and desire, "tell me about her." It was the only out she would give the man, but she knew it was enough. Thalia had no interest in Lavernius taking the first option, especially since she usually wasn't up early enough for breakfast. And gods, she fucking loves breakfast.

Lavernius stared at the closed door as she talked, not trusting himself to turn around, until she brought her up. He turned around stunned. "How did you?" He looked crestfallen and closed his eyes, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his fingers. "I wasn't trying... I didn't wan... I wasn't thinking straight." He tried to say something, anything to make himself feel better but they both knew that would he did was irreversible and had no excuses. He did all of that because he wanted to, he was as much to blame as she was. But the glaring difference was that he did all of that, even when he had her. "Alright..." He said weakly. "As long as your promise that... this, all of this. Only stays between us." He reached for his knapsack and realized it wasn't slung over his shoulder. "Where's my? I think it's still in your room. I need my sketchbook."

Thalia shrugged, and then remembered seeing it on the bed that she didn't bother with straightening up. She stood up and walked to the door, patting him on the shoulder, "Then I'll be right back." The door barely opened, Thalia sticking her head out a little to make sure no one was around before stepping out into the hallway and quickly back into her room to retrieve Lavernius' belongings. After she had his bag, she noticed his vest and brought that back to his room with her. She handed Lavernius his things back before making her way back to where she was sitting on the bed, and sat down."Honestly, it was just a guess," she patted the empty spot beside her, inviting him over, "I give you my word that I will tell no one about the things that you did to me and about what we are about to discuss." Thalia was waiting intently for Lavernius to show off his art and tell his story.

"Regardless you know now." The man sighed and sat down next to Illaya. He placed his knapsack on the ground and opening the flap, pulled out the sketchbook and opened it to the first page. She was beautiful, elegant and slender in a kimono that had ribbons streaming off of it. Her hair was straight and long, going down her back. Her pose was with her back to the artist, her head turned over her shoulder as her arms were stretched out as if she was spinning, the ribbons fluttering in the wind as she laughed. "Her name..." Lavernius' fingers glided across the page, stroking the drawing's chin as his voice got quiet. "Is Shizukana Kaiyo. She's the only daughter of the Kaiyo family, a Lesser Family who governs a city called Ochiba." He smiled as he chuckled. "Her name means Tranquil which was amusing because she was anything but. She was hot-tempered and passionate and determined to have her way and strive against the odds. And I... was a mentor who was in love with his student." He smiled sadly as he turned the page.

Some had scenes scribbled in the corners or articles of clothing and other ideas, but most were dominated by portraits of the girl. Some were stoic and showed a true glare in her eyes, as if she was actually staring at you, but most was of her smiling and laughing. He lingered longer on a series of three faces, each with their mouths opened and shaped differently, as if she was saying something, a phrase. "I was hired as a tutor to teach her how to paint, how to sew, you know... things one would expect a woman to know. But she hated it, every minute of it was like torture to her. She loved to run and explore, ride horses and dance and fight." He sighed, "Six years, I was her tutor for six years, and not once could I get her to paint me scenery or sew a dress. But I treasured every minute of it." He kept showing Illaya picture, after picture, after picture until his hand stopped. "So then one day, about a year ago, I proposed... and do you know what she said?" He looked at the woman next to him and wiped tears from his face. "She said yes, even showed me a portrait that she painted of me." He scratched at his heart as if it ached. "And for a year, we were secretly engaged... her father and brother didn't approve of me... I was an artist, not a warrior or a magician, just a simple courtesan. I wanted to run away, to elope, but she said she couldn't abandon her family so on the anniversary of our engagement, I asked her father for her hand in marriage. He said no."

It was the first time the artist ever sounded angry. "He was enraged... told me I was foolish to ever think he would ever let his only daughter marry some nobody artist. So I was promptly fired and escorted out of the city." He smiled ruefully. "So then I decided to make a name for myself, decided to travel the world and paint it. I'm hoping to sell the collection and with that money in hand, even if they still disapprove, prove to them... that I could take care of their daughter, of my precious Shizukana." Lavernius chuckled dryly. "And yet here I am, groping a woman the morning after I met her, like a dog in heat." He closed the sketchbook, taking a deep breath. "So then, did that sate your curiosity?"

Lavernius Mylarc, Faye Petralis & Thalia Valgeiros, the Dancing Horseman
Suddenly, a maid of the Dancing Horseman arrived at the doorway of Lavernius' room.

"Excuse me but a woman has arrived, claiming she knows you Miss Illaya," the maid said. "She didn't give a name but she brought out this picture."

The server girl brought out a wonderfully made image of Thalia Valgeiros. Thalia herself was surprised a picture of her existed, let alone be made without her knowing.

"She is waiting downstairs, Miss Illaya," she said then noticed Lavernius was in the room, reminded this isn't Thalia's. "Shall I tell her to wait?"



Marianna Laranis, Salvation Point Jail
Mari was alerted to a new presence as the sound of steps coming from the stairs echoed in the relative silence of the jail. The man was accompanied by the lieutenant from before but from the look of things, he didn't need to. There was an air of authority around this one, one that said he had done things, seen things and been through things.

The man was taller than her, she could say that from just sitting down. He had graying hair near the ears and black anywhere else. The man wore a haori, a long and thin izukani coat, over a shirt and pants. His dark brown eyes gazed at Mari judgingly before finally speaking.

"I am a businessman, Erenzo Grayore," he said with a small nod. "I must say I didn't expect the leader of the Twin Fangs, a group that has been stealing goods from my shipments, to be quite as young as you are. I'd have guessed ten years more."

"You costed me a small fortune, Miss Mari but I don't blame you," Erenzo began. "Life is tough and competition always exists, you know this more than anyone else I'm sure."

Thalia shrugged, "was a bit more than I was looking for but I'm happy that you shared. Even if we met just a day ago, I believe there are people in this world that you meet and find that you instantly have some sort of connection, y'know?" She rubbed Lavernius' back and offered him a friendly comfort. "She was seven the first time I met here, and I think I was fourteen at the time. So innocent and carefree, but her parents had sold her off as a slave to a whore house. She would work as a servant girl between lessons and when she was old enough for men to find her of interest, she had to start working to pay off the money that she was bought with. I was on the streets by then, working with the fisherman down in the slums to help keep myself fed, and I would always seen her near that house. It killed a certain part of me to know what her future held. She hated it. I never knew a seven year-old could hate so much, but she did. She stumbled into the alley that I was sleeping in one night and we became friends." Thalia rested her head on Lavernius' shoulder, staring down at the sketchbook emotionless as she continued, "The next day after they had found her my heart stopped when I saw the way they had beaten her. She was so terrified she didn't even speak to me, she just ran back to the house and didn't speak to anyone. I would always bring her extra food when I could afford it, because they weren't feeding her much. After a few years, it was showing that she would end up being a bad investment, and they didn't like that one bit. They put her to work, actual work, and I didn't see her for a while. When we would find time for each other, she was usually very optimistic and caring about others' and me and the world, and had dreams about one day escaping from it all, but after she started working it all changed." Thalia took a deep breath and exhaled, maintaining her coldness, "she was ten. I'll never forget the last night that I saw her, broken and frail, completely destroyed by the evil in this world. She had one wish, one last request that she begged of me until I swore to her on everything that I could think to swear on, that I would do it, and I did." Thalia sat up, still looking at Lavernius' sketchbook, "I couldn't save her. I had gotten myself in some trouble a few days before the end and wasn't able to get to her. I never went back to that alley after that, stopped talking to people too. I made a mistake, and it cost the life of someone I cared about deeply, like a younger sister. We all make mistakes. We all have debts to pay." Thalia turned and looked at Lavernius, "she was the cheerful and polite spirit that I wished I could have been, and her name was Illaya Astapor." She stood up from the bed, "a secret for a secret."

Thalia moved towards the door, "now that that's all taken care of, breakfast?" There was a knock, and then someone called out obviously for her. The door opened, revealing a maid holding a picture. Thalia didn't look phased at all by the picture or the fact that she was being asked for by a name that she had only told two people of in this town. Her paranoia was back. "Yes, tell her I will be down stairs in a few minutes." After sending the maid off, Thalia marched across Lavernius' room and walked out towards the balcony, she opened the doors to see if she could see anything unusual outside, and if it looked normal from there she would go out onto the balcony and look below to scan for any signs of trouble.

Mari's eyes carefully scanned the man. He obviously knew who she was, but the woman had a hard time understanding why he was there. If he simply wanted to see her pay for her crimes, he could have just awaited the execution. She stood up and slowly made her way to the bars, being face to face with the man (so to say).

"Age only influences skill, but doesn't determine it. What do you want?" she bluntly asked.

He nodded, "A secret for a secret. So I guess I'll have to find something new so that I can learn your real name." He tried joking but the bitter taste of betrayal was still in his mouth. Even though she said it wasn't something he should feel ashamed about, he still felt pathetic. When the door knocked, he got up to get it but it seemed it was for Illaya and the woman brushed past him to look out the balcony. Confused, the man put the sketchbook away and looked at her back. "Illaya? Is everything alright?" She didn't look alright but if he had learned anything from their talk just now, she wasn't going to say anything she didn't want to say. "I'll go get Faye, see if she would like to join us for breakfast." He walked over to the entryway and out into the hallway where he paused. He didn't know which room was Faye's and contemplated turning around to ask Illaya when he looked at the ground to see shoe prints, one pair going from Illaya's room to his, and another going to a different room. The artist followed them and knocked on the door they led to. "Faye?" He asked cautiously. "Are you there? We're going to grab some breakfast if you would like to join us."