Thieves and Secrets

[Itari]

Anika sifted through the reports, frowning. Break ins taking place in the middle of the night across the country with nothing stolen. Merchants and travelers attacked by mysterious figures, their items ransacked but left intact. Something was happening. Someone was looking for something. She just didn't know what. She was going to find out though. A sharp knock on the office door interrupted her thoughts.

"Come in."

"Captain. There's been a... commotion at Gerald's tavern."

Anika pinched the bridge of her nose. She already had mountains of paperwork to go through and now this?

"It's..."

"Don't say it. I know who it is." She sighed heavily and pushed her chair back from the desk.

When she got to the tavern, two bound men sat against the outside wall. One of them looked furious. The other had a bruise on his jaw but gave Anika a huge grin when he saw her. She stopped in front of him, hands on her hips, "Well, Verse, what's your excuse this time?"

@SaiseiTunes

 

[SaiseiTunes]

It had been a mostly good day for Verse. The tiefling had made a good amount of coin off the streets with his performances, and people had seemed pretty happy with the music and singing too! That purse he had stolen had sold for a pretty good price, to say nothing of all of the coin in said purse. And he'd learned of a couple of aristocrats who were a bit loose with their money, the perfect sort of target for when things truly got tough on the streets. They didn't get that tough often, but it was always good to know, yeah?

And then he got to the tavern. And everything had started to go downhill from there. Insults towards his appearance were common, he had learned to let them slide. But the big man, the big stupid man, he just had to make a comment about Verse's guitar. He had to insinuate that Verse was a little weakling. Verse may have not had much, but his pride was always going to remain intact. And he'd be damned if he'd let it be scratched.

So, maybe he'd tried to steal some shiny looking things off of the man's belt. And, yeah, in hindsight, that was a mistake. But it felt so right at the time! Most of the time, he was able to get away with it. But the big lug was more perceptive than Verse expected. And then a tavern brawl ensued. Verse got a good few hits in, and suffered a big one to his jaw, but he had figured that he was doing okay. If the man's angered expression was any indication, he was figuring right.

But then, someone just had to call the guards. And both men knew better than to pick a fight with them. So, Verse found himself bound against the outside wall, sitting next to a guy that probably wanted to rearrange his insides and outsides. Lovely. When he saw the familiar face approaching, he couldn't help but break out into a large grin.

"Captain Anika!" he said with a little laugh. "Should've known they'd send ya." He shook his head, looking up at her from his position. "Would you believe me if I said that it's for a mundane reason this time? Just a little tavern brawl, nothing harmful. Well, unless you're that guy." He jerked his head towards the other man, who gave an annoyed grunt in response.

 

[Itari]

Anika raised an eyebrow. "I'm pretty sure that's exactly what you told me last time." She pulled Verse roughly to his feet before turning to address the other guards. "Get a statement from the victim about what happened. Verse, come with me and we'll see if you need to spend a night in a cell. Again."

Anika pushed Verse, arms still bound behind his back, through the streets towards the guard house. "I can't believe you! Is it really that hard to keep your hands to yourself?"

As she approached the building, a couple of the guards standing outside grinned at Verse, "Got into trouble again, Verse?"

Anika gave both of them a withering glare and pushed the door open. Verse, who was more than familiar with the process, started walking down to her office without her asking. "Do you know how much work I have right now?" Verse sat down in front of her desk and Anika took her seat on the other side. It was the first time she had actually gotten a good look at the damage to his face. A flicker of concern flashed across her face.

"What did you even steal? We'll have to give it back to him."

 

[SaiseiTunes]

Verse grunted in mild frustration, and mild amusement, as he was pushed towards the guard house by his favorite guard. "Ah, come on, Anika! I'm still sore from the fight. Would it kill ya to be a little gentle on me?" Okay, he knew in reality that Anika had no intention of being gentle with him, or letting him off the hook easy. She never did, especially considering the sheer amount of times that Verse had come to face to face with this guard. He knew better than most thanks to some personal experience.

"I'd have a better time keeping my hands to myself if idiots didn't insult my livelihood," he responded, a small bit of anger creeping into his voice. "Insult my transgressions all you want, but don't insult my fucking guitar." The bit of anger was replaced with a warm and goofy smile at the other guards. "You know how it goes, fellas. Another day, another delinquency!"

He didn't even wait for Anika to ask before he walked towards her office. At this rate, it was all routine. He had done the same thing so many times, he'd lost all count. "Well, now you have some more pleasing work to deal with. Come on, you can't seriously tell me that you prefer paperwork to talking with your favorite tiefling, can you?"

He smirked and sat down. "Just a bruise, Anika," he said, seeing the concern on her face. "Just a bruise. But your worry is adorable." He pulled a couple items out of his belt, placing them down on the desk. "A knife, and... this thingy. It's some sort of emblem, I'm not sure. It looked like the big guy liked them a lot. I had planned to put them back on his body after he was out cold, but... well, you know how that all turned out. I can give him some coin too, if that helps. Played at a tavern a day or two ago, they actually paid quite well."

 

[Itari]

The emblem was made of metal and attached to a chain. It was shaped like a starburst with a crow being stabbed through the chest on it. Anika's eyes widened when he put it on the table and she quickly rummaged through the papers on the desk. After some searching she pulled out a paper and laid it out in front of him. A drawing of the pin was in the center of the page. "Verse are you certain this emblem came from the man? Did you see if he was with anyone?"

She stood from her chair and drew the curtains to the office. She opened her mouth, then closed it again. The case was a private, ongoing investigation. It would be going against protocol to involve him. In a way though, Verse was already involved. In fact, he may even be in danger. She pinched the bridge of her nose. "Shit, Verse, we've been trying to catch this group for months, and your lucky ass gets into a bar fight with one of them. Do you even-" She was interrupted by a knock on the door. After a quiet exchange with the guard outside, she began pacing back and forth across the small room, hands crossed on her chest.

"The man you had a fight with just killed himself. They know you guys fought and took the emblem now. Gods, what am I going to do with you?" Verse would be in danger if the crime group believed he had purposely targeted and stolen from the member. No, they probably didn't care if it was on purpose or not. They had seen them talking, knew he was at least somewhat friendly with the guards. She was muttering under her breath now, "We'll have to get you a guard now. Keep you hidden until we can root them out. Our only lead just killed himself... but we have an emblem now... maybe an undercover mission would be possible...?"

 

[SaiseiTunes]

Verse looked at the drawing with mild curiosity, then back to the pin, then back to the drawing. "Same thing," he muttered under his breath, before looking up at Anika. "Positive. I saw it glint on the back of his belt while he walked away. He seemed to like it a lot. All the more reason for me to yoink it." He leaned back, head tilting and eyes widening as Anika began to explain how important this emblem was. "Months?" A shit-eating grin spread across his face. "Well, looks like your old buddy Verse is helping the very same people who wanted to catch him in the first place?"

He said nothing as Anika walked out, and continued to say nothing as she re-entered and paced around the room. His smile slowly began to disappear as he noticed that Anika was clearly disturbed by something. And then she dropped the bombshell that the man had just taken his own life. He immediately shot up from his seated position. "What? I... I had never planned to keep it. I was going to..." For the first time in the whole interaction, Verse looked ashamed, and a little regretful. "I was going to give it back if I knocked him out."

The prospect of a guard was met with a very rapid series of head shakes from the tiefling. "Uh-uh, no, absolutely not. I'm captured by guards, not protected by them. When they can catch me. I don't need protection, I need a damn hiding spot. And I have plenty." He looked towards the door, officially antsy as hell to get out of there and go... anywhere that wasn't in a 5-mile radius, honestly. But something that Anika said stopped him. Verse looked at the guard with a little tilt of the head. "Undercover? What do you want me to do, get captured or something like that?"

 

[Itari]

Anika stopped and looked at him as if she had just remembered he was still there. "What? No! Of course not. I meant someone else. Someone from the guard. There's no way I could send you." She sat back down in her seat, heavily, "Look, Verse, I don't think you understand how much danger you're in. You don't have to worry. I'll ask someone I trust on the guard to watch you. For now though," She let out a long sigh, "you can spend the night at my place. Give me five minutes to pack up."

It took her longer than five minutes to clean up. Anika always kept her desk meticulously clean and organized, doubly so when she felt anxious. Before leaving, she carefully wrapped the emblem in a cloth and then tucked it into her pocket. "Sorry of the wait. Let's go."

Although she was a captain of the guard and earned a reasonable salary, Anika lived in a modest apartment just outside the city center. Truthfully, she would've liked to live slightly farther away from the bustle, but her job required her to be available to reached quickly. She was a rather private person and few knew what her life was like outside of work. Unlike her office, her home was a cluttered mess. Dirty dishes from several meals were still out on the table and various news articles, paperwork, ledgers, and books were scattered around the floor. "Are you hungry? I'll make dinner."

 

[SaiseiTunes]

Verse raised an eyebrow a little. "Why not? Not as if a criminal is worth more than a guard, right?" Then, his eyes flashed, and he smiled a little wider. "Aww, it's cause you care about me! Anika, you're too kind." He still felt a little bit off about having a guard watch him though. It felt... wrong in some sort of way. He was about to open his mouth to argue, but seeing how Anika was, he thought better of it. "Okay. Not even worth arguing with ya. Your mind's made up, isn't it?"

Verse followed Anika into her apartment, only for his eyes to widen again as he saw the state of the apartment. "Goodness... Anika, if you paid me, I would be willing to help tidy up a bit. No wonder you're so stressed all the time if this is what you come back to each day after work." His snark aside, he looked over to the guard with a small nod. "Dinner sounds nice. I'm going to find the restroom, I suppose. Clean myself up a little bit after that fight."

Verse shuffled out, stepping gingerly around the various books and papers lining the floor. In the restroom, Verse took his shirt off, grabbed a washcloth, and began to gingerly dab at the bruises, not only the nasty one on his face, but a few fresh ones that were on his chest, unnoticed by Anika during all the initial hullaballoo.

"So, you said I'm in danger?" Verse called out from the bathroom. "How badly are we talking? It's just a crime group, they can't have too much reach, right?"

 

[Itari]

"They're not just any crime group. We think they've been involved in nearly every single large crime that's happened in the city for the last five years." Anika rummaged through her pantry. She usually ate simply, due to her busy schedule. Luckily for Verse though, she had spent time making a meat pie the night before and had leftovers. She lit the stove and put two servings in a covered pan to be heated. "Right now we think their reach is limited to here, but we don't want their influence to spread up to the capital."

While the pie was being heated, Anika cleared the small table, stacking the papers and books into a piles and putting them on the floor in the corner. When the pie was warm and the table clean she set out the food. "Food's ready!" She called out to Verse. The pie was still good, even though it was a day old. In a way it was a good thing that Verse was here; she wouldn't have been able to finish the entire thing on her own. "I only have one bedroom, so you'll have to sleep on the floor out here in the living area. I still have to write a report about the incident today so I'll probably sleep late. But I can stay in my room so you're not bothered."