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twinker-bel · 6 months ago

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How well can you juggle?

-How well can you juggle?

-I can manage pretty well, got somethin' in mind?

-Yeah I think I got something.

- - - -- - - - - -

Trying to make a living as hired hands is tough when you don't know the city. Thankfully, Ken had lived coming and going through streets and alleys for enough time to move with ease in any city, and Zerlio had traveled through enough cities to learn that their basic machinations tend to be the same no matter what country, kingdom, or apparently even what world you're in. So when earlier that day they found a freshly posted sign on the board of the tavern that they stayed in and saw the generous amount of zeroes on the reward, they didn't think twice and took the job.

It didn't require anything they hadn't done before, a scouting mission, perhaps some distractions, something slipping into someone's pocket, the usual stuff. Some lady needed a stolen family heirloom retrieved, a good deed and a good pay. But luck just didn't seem to be on their side that day for some reason.

The recon mission went well, Zerlio did a few rounds around the block disguised as different people (a wizard, an old lady, himself but human) while Ken watched from afar and read lips to understand some conversations. After piecing the information together they had the perfect plan to infiltrate the place, now they just needed to get inside the building without being noticed.

Infiltration went smoothly as well: thanks to Zerlio's talent for noise projection and havoc wreaking and Ken's expert lock picking they were able to get inside the mansion completely unnoticed. Once inside they followed the lady's instructions to get to the second floor study, and sure enough, they found the silver chain and ruby drop pendant stashed behind some papers in a locked drawer of the desk.

It all started going south when Ken saw a familiar name on one of the papers. They should have gotten out of there as soon as they secured the necklace, but nowadays nothing was ever familiar, no face on the street, no name of any person or place, not even the landscape, so when Ken recognized a name it stunned him for a second. He reached for the papers at the same time the guards came back to their stations, they had figured out the ruckus was a distraction and knew to look for the real threat. Thankfully Zerlio was still disguised as a human, so even if he was seen and followed, he only had to make it out and find a hiding place to drop the disguise without being noticed. Ken, however, was pretty easy to recognize in any crowd, dragonborns weren't necessarily unheard of but they still weren't the most common, and with the different scale colors, it was hard to find two similar dragonborns in the same town. They had to book it, fast.

Ken haphazardly took as many papers as he could and put them on his bag and made a run for the corridor through the door of the study, Zerlio followed him. They couldn't go down the stairs, the guards would see them, and they'd be on the second floor any minute anyways. They needed to find a different way out.

-There's a tree behind the building! It's really big and it's got these big ol' branches that look pretty climbable. I bet we could make it through a window.

-Do you remember which window is closest?

-'Course! Who d'you think you're talking to? I memorized 'em: first three on the left all belonged to the same room, I noticed all the curtains were the same color y'know? -they were ugly as fuck-, and the next two on the middle were another room that didn't have any curtains on 'em -though I couldn't see what was inside the room-, second one left to right in that room was closest to the big tree I'm talking 'bout. I bet we could jump out from there.

Zerlio hadn't finished the sentence when Ken had already checked the second door from right to left for traps and was picking the lock to get in. He knew from experience to flip left from right when Zerlio relayed recon info from stuff he saw on the outside of a building once they were inside. He got the door open just in time to get in when the guards made it to the second floor, and both of them ran for the window on the left side of the room where some sturdy tree branches reached for the building right outside, though not before the guards caught a glimpse of them unfortunately. With no time for opening windows and no point in leaving no trace anymore, Ken jumped right through the glass, his scales were a bit more resistant and he was bigger so it would give Zerlio plenty of space to jump too. Zerlio made it just fine through the cracked window, and where Ken landed on the tree branch on his feet and jumped and ran through the branches Zerlio dived into the tree and caught the branch with his hands, swinging gracefully right into the next one and so on. Both of them quickly made it to the other end of the tree and jumped right outside the fencing of the mansion to escape through the streets and alleyways.

Only problem now was that some of the guards had secured the perimeter and were waiting outside to follow whoever came out of the area, so they had to make a run for the nearest alleyway to try and shake them off their trail.

-So, we're fucked.

-Yeah.

-What's the plan, big guy?

They made their way jumping over barrels and crates and taking lefts and rights to confuse the guards.

-How well can you juggle?

-I can manage pretty well, got something' in mind?

-Yeah I think I got something.

-Heh, you're doin' that thing with your face.

-Huh?

-Y'know, the thing. The thing where you show your fangs and your mouth gets wider.

-...smiling?

-Well last time I accused you of smiling you got all defensive so I didn't wanna call it that but whatever floats your boat.

They had made it to the town's main square, where countless vendors and people walked in all possible directions. The guards would catch up to them quickly.

-Just- stay here and pretend to juggle for coins or something, I've got an idea. And drop the disguise.

-Aww noo don't stop smiling! C'mon it looks nice on you.

-Dude!

-Sure, sure, I'm juggling, see? Go do your thing, I'll be right here.

Zerlio had dropped the disguise and was back to looking his regular self: with his pierced pointy ears, colorful jester clothes and makeup, and his horns, tail and red skin all back to normal. He was still the same guy as before, but in the multitude of varied peoples he blended right in by standing out a lot. He was hidden in plain sight. Right when he threw a bag with some copper and silver pieces in front of him and started juggling, the guards appeared a few blocks away and pointed at Ken.

-They separated! Look for the human, they must still be nearby! The rest follow the dragonborn!

Ken had gotten a bit further away from Zerlio and was now holding the jeweled necklace in his hand for the guards to see, he made sure they saw him put it back into his pocket and made a run right through all the chaos of the town's main square market. The first thing he did when going into the chaos was crashing right into Zerlio and almost falling on top of him, catching him before he hit the floor.

-Hey! Watch it!

-Sorry about that.

Ken smiled and quickly helped him up and ran away, getting lost among complaining vendors and customers who yelled at him everytime he took a shortcut through the produce stands. The guards all passed Zerlio and kept running, seemingly unfazed by the collateral damage their chase was causing.

-Sheesh, he really needs to watch where he's goin'. What the fuck was that!

Zerlio was straightening his clothes when he noticed an extra weight that wasn't on his pocket before. He reached in and found the necklace, quickly hid it again and finished gathering his pins. Ken hadn't taken his hand out of his pocket when he ran right into Zerlio, and caught him mid-air with that same hand, which gave him the perfect chance to slide the necklace into Zerlio's pocket without being seen before escaping again. Now the guards were looking for a guy that didn't exist and following another that didn't have the stolen item, and Zerlio knew he could trust Ken to not get caught.

After running for a bit through alleys and streets Ken was sure the guards were getting dizzy trying to follow him, so as soon as he was out of their line of sight he climbed a few walls and disappeared to the rooftop of a building. He waited there until the guards decided to search a different area and carefully made his way back to the main square through the roofs of the city. Once he spotted Zerlio Ken whistled a sign and gently waved from the rooftop before ducking out of view. Zerlio wrapped his act up, collected the last round of coins from the audience that had gathered around him, and made his way to Ken, climbing and jumping his way into the rooftop once he was out of the public eye.

-Hey! I made 'nough to get us both a nice meal and some better rooms than what we've been havin' these past few nights, I was thinking we could try out that inn with the tavern that has a stage, the one near the shady potion store. Maybe I could even get to perform if they let me-

-Sigh, sorry dude, I can't be seen anymore, and I can't do the shapeshifty thing you do, you're gonna have to go get that nice meal and all that on your own. Plus, it might be a good idea for you to go on your own to deliver the necklace and collect the reward.

Zerlio sat next to Ken, who was laying down on his back looking at the sky, and let out a frustrated sigh.

-It's not gonna be fun without you there.

-Are you kidding? Since when do you need a chaperone to have fun? You make friends everywhere with everyone, I'm sure they'll be happy to let you perform as well.

-Nah, it's okay we can do that in the next town.

Ken didn't respond right away. Then he got up and fixed his clothes.

-Alright, next town it is then. But it's going to be the first thing on our list, no quests or crazy things until you've had yourself a nice expensive meal and a comfy bed and a stage to do your magic tricks or whatever it is you do.

Zerlio's eyes glowed with excitement as he also stood up and followed Ken. The sun was setting and there weren't as many people on the streets anymore, the guards had also stopped looking for them apparently, but they still had to be careful. They hugged the walls of dark alleys until it felt safe to walk normally, but Ken covered his face and put on his old monastery uniform which always seemed to inspire a bit more respect from people and got him out of trouble for a bit longer. They carefully walked to the inn they were staying at, Zerlio chose a different disguise and went out again to meet the lady that had requested for her necklace to be retrieved. Once Zerlio was back with the reward money, they both left the city in the middle of the night and started heading down the beaten path into whichever town was waiting for them further away. Zerlio kept yapping on and on about the tricks he wanted to perform and even tried to convince Ken to help him with some of them.

-I don't know about that, I have performance anxiety.

-You're fuckin' with me right now aren't ya'?

-Yeah.

-Well you can just say no, I'm not gonna force you to do anythin', my Mimi taught me better than that.

-Maybe some other time, but thanks man.

Zerlio kept going on about his Mimi and the rest of his family, Ken occasionally responded to him or said something of his own, but to be honest, he was a bit out of it, had been for a while now. He couldn't stop thinking about the stolen papers. As soon as they stopped to rest he'd read them while standing watch, but for now he could only wonder whether this meant there was a way to go back to where they came from.

The two of them kept walking and talking into the night, heading the only direction they could tell for sure: forward.

#kerlio #sometimes i write

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