The Great Games

"For a start, I should rinse my mouth out."
It was true - teeth stained with blood, the liquid having dried on his face, the blows had taken their toll on him. It was nowhere near fatal, but regardless, he didn't like to walk around with a constant reminder of his recent encounter - the throbbing in his gums was far more than he needed. Looking around, analysing, he saw nothing of even vague interest - indeed, it was as if the entire area as void of all clues. He'd have to get moving if he wanted to play the game. "Are you all right?" he asked first, however, minutely concerned for Kieara's well-being, the reason for which he assumed was that he had to look after his allies. "Did they hurt you? Are you hurt?"
 
Kieara spoke. "We'll get somewhere where you can." she said getting up and offering a hand to help him up. She then spoke again. "I'm alright, they were a little rough bringing me in, but i'll be ok." She said to him. She looked around seeing the street was empty of any clues. This was just great.....
 
Something had been playing on David's mind - he couldn't quite figure it out, his mind not quite being attuned to the social norm that so many people seemed to accept. He had to clear the problem from his mind, lest it distract him, and prevent his mind from deducing any more clues at a pace he felt was satisfactory. He turned his head to Kieara, a microscopic twinge of the slightest inquisitiveness lacing his voice, and asked her the question.
"Why is it that you care for my well-being so much? We barely know each other, we haven't been in each other's company for that long, and you could have just walked out when the pills were being dealt with, and you'd never have to worry about me again. It doesn't make sense to me - why do you care?"
He was not being rude - David was genuinely confused.
 
Kieara smiled. "Everyone needs a friend, and i'd like to be yours." She spoke to him. "We were thrown into this together, and if I have anything to say about it, we'll go out together. We need to work together. Two minds are better than one. And I couldn't just abandon you back there."
 
Still confused to some degree, David shrugged nonchalantly, unwilling to pursue the matter any further than he deemed absolutely necessary. With this, he paced forwards, taking in the unrevealing sights that surrounded his being, eventually noting that they were in a part of the city not well-known for being hospitable. The criminal underbelly of the city was most prominent her, with all shades of rogue and villain eyeing you up at every turn, their gazes usually betraying them. Some kept their head down and did whatever it is they did, others simply glanced at David and Kieara - for a gathering of criminals, there was little immediately obvious crime going on. Reason being, that this was the one place that the police dared not to enter - they needed somewhere to feel they could just go about their grocery shopping without being asked too many questions. As such, even if he stood out somewhat, little attention was paid to David.
 
Kieara was eyed a lot more than he. the reason being she was familiar here. She'd had to come here often since she'd began theiving and her life of crime for her sister. Though by this point in time she was used to the gazes, as well as the trickery that happened in this part of town. She knew to be alert, stay focused, and always be ready for a fight.
 
Male, mid-thirties, possibly a failing forger. Female, late forties, con artist laying low.
Examining the inhabitnts of the are and cracking their stories apart like eggshells, David's eyes flitted to and fro, his movements never without purpose - he wanted to know what he was doing there, and why. He suspected that he was to meet a contact, or that he was to perform some sort of task. Maybe both, possibly neither. Irrespective of this, he continued, noting the figure at the end of the street, standing with his hands behind his back - he seemed to be waiting, but for what? Or, indeed, who?
 
Kieara spoke. "My place is nearby here." She siad. "Should we head there?" She asked. She'd offer her shelter to him as well, though she wasn't sure where to head now, or if it was the best option.
 
"In a minute. I think I'm onto something here."
But, just as he spoke these words, the figure at the end of the street glanced in David's general direction, and paced off with little more action than looking towards the ground as he walked forwards. Passing it off as something menial he should not be concerned with, David shook his head, and continued. "Actually, never mind. I think we should just go to your place."
 
Kieara nodded. She led him to a small apartment. There were little girl's toys scattered about the living room area, though no one else appeared to be here, but her. She sat on the couch. "Make yourself at home." She said. Laying on her coffee table were outrageous medical bills, and beside it, there lay a paper from a funeral home, a rememberance paper. On the front wa the picture of a little girl who looked no more than four years old.
 
((You'll have to excuse me if I'm not overly-familiar with medical bills. We have the NHS, you see.))

David simply nodded in response, and placed himself next to Kieara, with little else in mind as to what to do. With nothing to go on regarding the figure that had seemed to catch his eye, and with no other clues, he figured that he might as well ponder the events, or attempt to unveil more of Kieara's inner mechanisms while he still had the chance. Death could lurk round any corner, whether in the form of a drunken gunman, or a hired assassin paid to dispose of David because of a sudden change of heart. He began by asking a question he had conjured up on the spot, one that only he could ask without even thinking of what would be running through another's head at its mention.
"You seem like a nice person, with looks to boot. If you're having this much trouble, why not simply find a nice guy? The police probably can't trace you - I wouldn't have thought your DNA was on their databases. And those plain-clothes policemen were probably planted by our captor - real ones wouldn't carry such conspicuous handguns."
 
((Tis fine))

Kieara looked over at him. She rose a brow. "This much trouble? You mean me being involved in crime?" He was a bit vague on that statement. She spoke after a moment of wondering why he'd care. "Well, I have no time for that....at least I didn't anyway." She said thinking of her sister's recent passing. "As for that, it's hard to find a man you can trust, that will also accept me for what i've done....but I've always had the thought i'll die old and alone. I don't believe i'm really cut out to be anything like that to anyone." She spoke honestly.
 
David shrugged, his knowledge on the subject quite abysmal - he looked upon matters of the heart with cold, unfeeling logic, disallowing him from really understanding the complexity of such a situation. He could understand why people would be opposed to being with Kieara, though only in the sense that he was attempting to deduce the inner workings of the average human mind. Face not quite sullen, but far from pleasant, he mulled over asking another question - this time, he did not know whether it would be inflammatory or not, and whether he should in the first place. He settled upon not saying anything - instead changing the subject.
"So what do we do now? I may hve a leaad, but we cannot just rush out willy-nilly, and expect to survive."
 
Kieara looked over. "I may have the mind of a criminal, but i'm no mastermind. I don't have a fraction of the brain power that you have." She said to him. She looked down. "Personally I just think that we're sitting ducks." She said to him.
 
"We're not that vulnerable. He has to keep us alive to play, remember? Even if you aren't - strictly speaking - necessary, he knows that killing you would have little to no effect on me. He's probably saving our deaths until the right moment. We have to use this time in order to strategi-"
David never got to finish. through the letterbox in the door ((I'm assuming there is one)), came an envelope, brown and crisp. Sealed with a blood-red, wax seal, the item - too widened to be a letter-containing envelope - gave little away about what was in it. Somewhat cautiously, the object was picked up, turned over, and handed to Kieara. "It's not polite to open other people's post, though I think those are breadcrumbs in there."
 
Kieara rose a brow. She jumped slightly hearing the envelope come through the door. She then gently took it from him. "Oh...." She inspected the seal more closely, before looking for a return address only to find none. When she couldn't decipher anything about it, she opened the envelope and took out its contents nervously.
 
"Breadcrumbs... Just as I thought."
A small amount of breadcrumbs were contained within the envelope, their purpose a mystery. Taking the envelope, in a moment of inspiration, David peered inside, checking for anything else inside the container. What he found were simply some words written hastily in the inside of it, a cryptic message that seemed hard to decipher. It was not that it was not in plain English - it was simply that it held no immediately obvious meaning. "Every fairy tail needs a good old-fashioned villain... What could that possibly mean..."
 
Kieara looked utterly confused when she saw this. She couldn't fathom what they could possibly do with an envelpoe of breadcrums. She saw him lift it to inspect it and spoke. "Anything unusual about it???"
 
"Hrm... This may require some thought..."
Sitting on the floor, David's face contorted, showing his concentration in a visible expression. His mind underlined and emboldened the key points pf the text - anything could be related to it, but more often than not, something had to stand out.

Every fairy tale needs a good old-fashioned villain.
The envelope contained breadcrumbs.
Fairy tale, villain, breadcrumbs.
A fairy tale relating to breadcrumbs and a villain...
Hansel and Gretel.

"Hansel and Gretel. Do you remember the old story? About how the children lay a breadcrumb trail to get home? They want us to follow someone, or something, relating to them. They're leading us on a trail, Kieara."
Closing the envelope, he sat down, elbows on his knees - his fingers in a pyramid, he continued to ponder, but only the smaller details, about what could go wrong, and how.
 
She lsitened to him and nodded. "Yes I remember that story...." Once she heard the explanation, she was shocked. "I...well....." She wasn't sure what to say. "What trail? How will we know if we're following the right one?" She asked him. She had a feeling the answer would be more tests to endure like their earlier Russian Roulette ordeal.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back