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| Details |
| Author: | Athena |
| Summary: | On the heels of Hana's revelation that Finley has regifted Hana's written Secret Song to a new paramour, Natalyah plans a heist to get it back, because that's the most obvious and natural course of action. She'll need a partner in crime. Uh, in righteous justice. 3k~ words. Personal Plot RP. |
| Rating: | M for Mature 17+ |
"Come on in," Aze says with a smile, pushing the door open. "I'm a little short on refreshments, unless you'd like some cheap wine — not really stocked up for guests at the moment, but you're still welcome."
Just inside the door is the main part of a small apartment, an open space that has a kitchen and dining area to the right, and a living area just ahead. The apartment is furnished in the Stormwind style. There's a couch along the wall and two cushioned chairs that circle a dark wood coffee table, the fabric of a cream color. The wood matches the small table in the open dining area, which has four chairs neatly tucked into it. The room is tidy, even if the kitchen looks only lightly used. It's a little dark, lit primarily from what light remains of the day, coming in through the windows.
"I'm still recovering from a surprise Badlands Bourbon at one in the morning, even with the Light, and adding in wine is probably not a good idea," Natalyah says archly as she floats ominously into the apartment. Her practical office jeans and blouse don't make it any less ghost-like. "So, obviously, yes, please. Generous pour."
"Bad ideas are the best ones sometimes," Aze says with a laugh, as she moves smoothly to the kitchen to fetch two glasses and a new bottle of wine from the cabinet. She clearly knows her way around this task, sight or no sight. She leaves Natalyah to close the door after them. "I hope everyone's alright? No bad news?"
Natalyah tosses herself onto the couch, kicking off her shoe and spreading out over most of it like she's Aze's roommate, snagging a pillow to hug in a strangely angry way. "As a matter of fact, someone isn't all right, and there is bad news. It's the sort of bad news that makes someone who is normally very practical and responsible and level headed drink an entire bottle, and then show up at your door at one in the morning, and cry on your Brooding Couch." Natalyah punches the pillow with a growl.
"It's also what I wanted to talk to you about, because I need to do something about it. The explanation of all of it isn't exactly going to be simple for you in particular, but I've run over the idea over and over and over in my head," over the course of a few hours at least, "and I know two things: if I try to do it by myself, I'm almost certain it isn't going to work, and if I try it with certain other people I know, I don't think we pull it off. It needs a certain skillset." Like…murder or…?
"So… we need to kill someone?" Aze asks casually, as she winds a corkscrew into the wine bottle's cork without removing the foil. There's no judgment in her tone. This is Natalyah, she has good reasons. "Who are we avenging?"
Natalyah either hesitates, is touched by the willingness, or is taken aback. Hard to tell. "No, not killing someone skillset. Your other skill set. The socializing and dancing and nobility schmoozing," Natalyah clarifies after a moment of pause (but not paws). "For now, anyway." Watch yourself, Boutille. "The who is part of the whole thing of why I'm being so unnaturally cagey. Believe me, it's not my first choice, for so many reasons. I hate cages."
Aze props the wine bottle on the counter to apply the leverage to the cork. That gets it partway, then she yanks it out the rest of the way with one hand and starts filling the glasses.
"Not a fan of cages either," Aze says, bringing over two glasses full to near the rim with white wine. She offers one to Natalyah. "I'm a little conspicuous as a schmoozer these days, but as long as that won't hurt our goals, I'm in. What… uh, what are our goals?"
Natalyah swipes up her wine and takes a good sip of it, and then a sniff, and another sip. She holds it one handed in an aristocratic lounging grip.
"So I can do this one of two ways, and I'm going to let you choose which one you want. Because the truth is that if this all goes really badly, you could get into a lot more trouble than me, which I hate, and I don't want that to happen. To be clear, we're not going to hurt anyone, and we're not going to do anything that would get either of us in serious trouble. No one dead or imprisoned sort of stakes. But, we could piss some people off, and they're not no one. We're righting a wrong, and we're fixing a mistake, but that's not how some people will see it, because it's nobility versus commoners, and some will just see that." Natalyah's voice is scathing for a moment, but she keeps going.
"So, I can keep you in the dark about all the details. If you don't know, then later, if we were caught somehow, and if you're asked about it, you could honestly say you didn't know. I didn't tell you, and all you were asked to do was something that sounded innocuous." She swirls her wine. "The other thing is that the person it has to do with, if I tell you about it, you have to keep it a secret from people you're close to. They can't know about it, because I promised someone I wouldn't let them know, and if I tell you, then I have to make sure that it still doesn't get to them. It's all stupid and tangled, which is why I hate secrets, but it wasn't my call on that part.
"The other one, though, if you want to know or not, that's your choice. I'll tell you the whole thing, or not. And no matter what, if it does go sideways, I will take responsibility for it, because it is my idea. I just don't know if they'll listen, or if they won't still come down harder on you no matter what."
"I don't really care if…" Aze cuts herself off with a gulp of wine, as she settles in the chair nearest Natalyah's head. "No, you're right. I really don't want to mess things up for the Aspenwoods. Or for the Fallons, because people know I'm a friend of their family. But I could always say I was just asked to do something innocuous, whether it's true or not. And you know, we're good at what we do, we probably won't get caught. And if I know what's going on, then if things go sideways I can improvise in a way that helps instead of gets us all ki—caught."
Aze settles back, swirling her wine absently. It almost sloshes over. "As for secrets, that's not usually my thing, but I can keep them, if you tell me to. I'd give examples, but, you know, they're secret. So yeah, I'd rather know. Who is it we're against, Amerith? Ooh, or wait, Lescovar?"
"The Noonins," Natalyah says. "You've never heard of them. Probably. They're a minor family at best, and they're not at best anymore after what happened to Duskwood. Politics, politics, stupid gendered bullshit someone wrote into their title inheritance which should prove a good cautionary tale to anyone looking to emulate it, and now they're in an even worse situation that makes it so they probably want to get cozy however they can to someone who sounds important. That includes the Fallons. Which is why this gets all sorts of complicated."
Natalyah downs more of her wine. "The person we're helping is Hana. She ended up falling for the Fallon's Finley Boutille. It didn't go well. He flirted with her, got bored or whatever he does, and moved on. That's tragic in itself for her, but what is wrong is that she wrote him this secret song on her harp that was supposed to be between just them. Except the person Finley's now into is also a harpist: Julissa Noonin. I guess he wanted her to have it or something, so he asked Hana for the music, and she gave it to him to give to Julissa. And it's destroying her," Natalyah says with that growl, fingers digging into Aze's pillow.
"And it was a horrid thing for him to do, and there's no reason Julissa would even care about it, not the way Hana obviously does, so we're going to go in to a party at the Noonin's, and we're going to take back the song, which means having at least one person to ensure no one walks in on me taking back said song. Just that — take back the song. Well, I'm going to leave some rat droppings in her music storage and tear up some small other music papers to make it seem like a rat got into the music, but other than that. I'm not going to attack Finley or anything. He's a stupid, b — mmm ogre of a man, but he's Siamus' ward at the end of the day, and Hana wouldn't like it anyway.
"You can't tell anyone about it, but especially not Elle, and not Isla, and probably not Siamus, because then he'd also have to keep it from Elle. Hana doesn't want it getting to Elle in Pandaria."
Aze listens to the whole story like it's really the most interesting society novel she's read in years, hanging on every detail. It probably is, since she hasn't been able to read in years, and she hasn't had spicy noble dramas to keep her occupied in a lot longer than that.
"I don't really see why this is a secret, but I'll keep it," Aze says, nodding agreeably. "Sounds like a feelings thing. Embarrassment? Or I suppose I could see if… she didn't want Elle to think badly of Boutille? But then maybe Boutille should've thought of that before he fucked with Elle's people's feelings, and he deserves what he gets. Of course, that's just me as a complete outsider, I don't know Hana and I don't know Boutille well. Though given how he is with Isla, it's weird he'd turn around and treat someone else so badly."
"But anyway, it sounds like I wouldn't even have to lie about it being completely innocuous," Aze says, with another gulp of wine. "We're not doing anything bad, just reclaiming something that doesn't really belong to the Noonins. So my job's to be distracting? Am I crashing or… will you get me an invite? Or am I entertainment?"
"See, that's what I think. Men are stupid with feelings though, and I don't know what Hana sees in him really. But for secrecy, I think she's concerned mostly that if Elle thinks bad thoughts or worries about her, that the sha will eat him in Pandaria. I do know how she feels with that. I worry about doing the same thing with Lathrik accidentally." Natalyah blows out a loud, angry sigh.
"As for how and why we get in. You're my date, not like a romantic date, but a bit like my incentive. I'm a bit of a scandal in the noble world, and you're interesting because unusual and people are curious. Together, we're basically catnip to bored socialites, and it's a guaranteed invite. And then, you can not only play lookout, you don't look like you possibly could. You can see me through a wall, and you know how good my hearing really is. Which means if anyone comes by while I'm in there, you can keep them occupied without seeming suspicious, make sure they're not facing the direction if I'm by the door about to walk out, and warn me where I'd hear it so I know to either wait or move fast. No one else has all those skills except you and me."
Oh. She really has thought about it. Maybe she also hasn't been reading enough spicy novels to stay entertained. Either that or maybe she needs even more enrichment in her enclosure which already has detective work, lepidopterist work, several hobbies, friends activities, family drama… you know, maybe Natalyah is just A Lot, no matter what you put in there.
"Oh, right, the sha," Aze says, with the lack of concern of someone who has never actually seen a sha. "Elle seemed pretty steady, I thought. Maybe I need to get to know him better. I'd be more concerned he'd come back to… challenge Boutille to a duel, maybe? I don't know if that's a thing people do. It doesn't matter, though, because he won't find out. So…"
A little more wine, and then Aze continues, "You've really thought this out. People probably know we work together, so it's not that weird we'd go to a party together while your lover's away. And yeah, I can keep watch, warn you if anyone creeps too close." She brightens. "Ooh, should I flirt with Julissa? Just to mess with B…" then she winces, "…or on second thought, maybe I should not try to make things more tangled and painful for everyone involved."
Natalyah is not the best person to help de-escalate a messy situation into less of one, and though Aze can't see her expression, she can certainly hear the biting tone. "Isn't it just 'harmless flirting,' as men so often call it? If they're so easily messed with, then perhaps they deserve to be messed with. They were the ones who started it first with Hana," Natalyah snaps out sharply, a fight fire with worse, bigger fire person. She does, however, pause. "Just not with Finley Stupidcad. That I think would bother Hana, even if he would deserve it to have someone do the same thing to him, let him see how it feels. She really does care about him, a lot." She flips her hair over her shoulder, managing not to spill her wine through sheer practice. "But Baby — uh, Lady Julissa or whatever she is now, I think if she has her head so easily turned, then he deserves that."
"I don't think I even could turn Boutille's head," Aze says with a laugh. "He seems pretty cautious of his reputation, and I'm… well, I'm me. Julissa it would really depend on if she's into girls, and then if she's into elves. Not everyone is, you know." Aze says this last as if it's a truly baffling reality she's discovered.
"But yeah, anyway, I wouldn't usually use flirting as a weapon," Aze continues, gesturing with her wine glass. A few drops slosh out. The upholstery appreciates her choice of white wine instead of red, today. "If I were flirting with somebody I liked, and then I realized they were really serious about it, I'd probably find a way to kind of gently cool things off and back away. I don't set out to hurt people with that sort of thing — that's not to say it's never happened, on my side and theirs — but I don't go in with that as a goal. I'd only do that if Julissa seemed like she was really just having fun."
Natalyah's head cocks to the side in a canine tilt. "Wait, what is his reputation? I know you said you don't know him well, and you call him 'Boutille,' which probably also means something since you're not especially formal minded usually. Isla talks about him a lot, but she doesn't really talk about him like that, because he's her brother, ward-brother, whatever."
"Oh, you know… he just asked me to, early on," Aze waves her free hand vaguely. "Because if I go around calling him Finley, people will make assumptions. So like, protecting his reputation and mine, such as it is. I guess I'm supposed to call him Mr. Boutille, but that seemed kind of weirdly formal right now. He was also kind of… twitchy… about Amar'uel? He did not like the idea of Isla learning it. Or of me teaching her. One or the other, or maybe both."
"I really don't know him well," Aze sums up. "But I guess I just took from that… he's kind of a proper sort of person."
"It's a little one in the morning blurry, but I remember Hana said something about that. About how she was 'Hana' and then he switched to 'Miss Levesworth,' again, and she was upset about it. Formal types will get all caught up in titles things like that, so it did probably mean something," Natalyah says with an annoyed sniff and sip of wine. "What's the amumemel? And why didn't he want Isla to learn it? Did she want to learn it? He isn't in charge of her, no matter what he seems to think."
"Amar'uel? Oh, it's just a style of dance I like," Aze says, rising to her feet and holding the wine glass above her head. She executes a few steps, the movement rippling seductively through her hips and chest. Then she spins in place, letting her free arm wrap around her body with the momentum and then trail down her torso as she comes back to face Natalyah. She settles back on the couch casually. The whole sequence of moves causes far less upset to the wineglass than conversation-gesturing had been doing.
"I was teaching it over at Fallon House, kind of a cultural exchange thing," Aze explains. "They said Isla was too young for it. I think she was interested in learning, when she got a little older. I can check back with her. It's not up to Finley, for sure, but he did find the idea upsetting."
Aze can't see the evil smile on Natalyah's face, but it's pretty audible. "Oh no, how terrible for him. Especially now that she's an adult." She should be rubbing her hands together while cackling but she's too busy drinking her wine.
"Ooh, now that could be a way to rub Boutille the wrong way deniably," Aze says, with a start of a grin. Evil smiles are apparently contagious. "Maybe I should check in with her, and soon." She punctuates that with a sip of wine. "And he went from Hana to Miss Levesworth — from what I know of him, that's definitely not an accident. That's intentionally telling her where she stands with him, which is polite acquaintance. Brutal, if they'd been going at it before. Going at… flirting, that is."
"Flirting. There was something about taking care of her when she hurt her ankle, carrying her to her bed, so she has to burn her mattress now, but — " Natalyah breaks off with a shrug. "It wasn't a metaphor or euphemism for anything. I'm pretty sure she really means he literally just carried her there, and plop. So, he gets to live."
For now.
Watch yourself, Boutille.