Character(s): Alucard + ???? Status: Open Location(s): Around, about, and up in the Krimnos mountains Date(s) Julyish About: General July catch all, but also feat. Alucard, Sypha, and a tiny flying horse Warnings: Added as required
I used to, yes. [Noctis understands the real meaning of used to, and Alucard starts to walk. There's a small alley that he knows will spit them out where they need to be, and so he turns down it.
It's nothing impressive, just stone walls that allow two people to walk side by side if they wish.]
I worked for collectors of historical pieces and the like. Quite a few purchases came from markets like this/
[ Noctis knows little enough of Krimnos a hundred years ago, much less now, and though he wishes he had a better idea of where they're going, he's just going to have to trust Alucard's sense of direction. The bland stone walls don't tell him much, anyway.
He glances back to the street behind them only once before jogging a few steps to draw up beside Alucard. ]
That was a long time ago, though. [ He'll leave how long to their mutual understanding. No point in saying more than necessary in public like this. ] What about now? Markets have to have changed since then. Seems like you know a lot about their current state.
I do. Some of it was curiosity and to see how the business has evolved over the years. The rest...
[Alucard pauses for a moment, considering. Noctis has been honest and open with him about the matter of what he seeks. Repaying that honest is the correct thing to do. They aren't at the market proper yet anyway, and so they won't be overheard and the dhampir fleeced by sellers.]
My father's library was a vast collection that included books on less than acceptable types of magic. I have heard rumors of the books appearing at these venues lately, and like you, I'd like to keep them from entering the wrong hands.
Oh. [ He glances off to the side, struck with volumes of understanding he doesn't adequately know how to explain. He absently twists his thumb around the base of his ring finger again, reminded that by all rights, he should have died wearing that piece of cursed jewelry.
He recalls their first conversation at the Fall, and glances back up again, still curious. ]
You said your mother was a doctor. And he was... ?
[Alucard pauses. Sypha and Trevor know about Dracula, but there is every reason for them to have that knowledge. They helped destroy him, after all. They bore witness to his actions. But the other reawakened....
...it has been so strange, living with two other people who know and understand the full of Alucard's life without having to explain an ounce of it. Now, now this is new. And he hates it.]
A scholar of a great many topics. Science and magic were his greatest interests though, and his notebooks often imagined the world as it is now. That kind of mind always will brush against those things considered unorthodox.
Sounds like the polite way of saying dangerous. [ They've opened out of the alley onto another road entirely, and Noctis is well and truly lost now, unfamiliar with these tightly-packed back streets of Krimnos.
He huffs quietly and draws his cloak tighter about him, though it's hardly cold out. ]
You ever miss him at all, or is that one of those questions I shouldn't ask?
It is. He was. [Alucard hangs a sudden and tight right, aware that this is a labryinth not everyone knows. His eyes are on Noctis every few moments though, keeping an eye on him to ensure he isn't lost.]
Of course I miss him. [That hadn't been a secret ever.] My mother as well. They both predeceased me, both in awful ways.
[There's just a few steps left before a larger plaza opens up before them. At first blush, this could all too easily be mistaken for any other market, full of bustling crowds and merchants hawking wares. But one moment's overheard conversation would quickly change anyone's mind. There are talks of stolen wares. Poisons. Curses to be lifted.
[ Noctis blinks, and then he glances away, uncomfortable suddenly. ]
I'm sorry. It must've hurt a lot.
[ At least Alucard admits it, but if there's any sign he's intruded too far and stirred unwanted emotions, Noctis can't tell at the moment; the man keeps his emotions close to his chest. Still, as his eyes shift away to the market around them and he listens in on the conversation wafting through the open air, he senses it's better not to pursue it any further at the moment.
They have other problems, anyway. His gaze snaps back to Alucard, his fingers grazing the hilt of the blade tucked away at his hip and then settling at his side. ]
This one of those places I need to be watching my back for sticky fingers or worse?
[It's a noise meant to acknowledge the real show of empathy without having to engage with it. Noctis, in the space of five mintues, has learned more about Alucard's particular past than just about any other reawakened soul that has walked the earth again. He's happy to keep it that way.]
Keep your eyes alert for pick pockets, but don't attack them beyond a hand grab. Here, it's more about the sport of it than anyone keeping your change.
[Alucard's ears pick up the word curses from the far right, and that's the way he goes. There are book dealers that he's come to know and that he'll double back to soon enough, but there. There's a teifling woman with long dark hair standing beside an empty table, idly chatting with what looks to be a satisfied customer. Alucard wouldn't have picked her for a curse specialist, but the books she's handing over? Those are titles he knows from his father's library (but are not his father's books, the edges aren't right.)]
Okay, so, here's how this goes. This is a curse specialist. She won't have the item, but she may have confirmation that it's been noted and active of late. From there, then we figure out potential sellers. Understood? Merchants here have different interlocking loops to try and muddy the waters of who is responsible for what.
[ Noctis is starting to sense he's a little in over his head at this
point, but he nods and listens anyway, casting a furtive glance at the
indicated bookseller. She catches his eye briefly and arches a brow; he
glances away quickly. ]
Right, so I guess I'll just...ask her.
[ From his pocket he unfolds his own crude sketch of what he
remembers his father's ring looking like. The most distinct feature he
remembers, really, is the stoic knight carved into the jet black metal,
gauntlets clasped over the white gem set into the center like it were a
blade - though he's no artist, and he's pretty sure his rendition looks
more like an angry octopus.
She takes one look at it and laughs at him.
A few minutes of quiet conversation later, Noctis returns to Alucard, grimacing sheepishly. ]
She said she sees a lot of jewelry pass through here and I should be
more specific. But she consults with a few different sellers in the
neighborhood. Said there was a jeweler the other day who asked her to lift
some curses off merchandise he couldn't sell - not completely successful -
and.... she consulted with a trader of not-so-legal oddities who may have
had some of his wares confiscated last week by the city guard.
[Alucard hangs back, because this? This is something you learn by doing. He hovers a few feet away from Noctis, ears perked to catch every moment of the transaction.
And okay. The sketch is totally an angry octopus but it's charming.
While Noctis takes the first steps required to really work the black market, Alucard's ears also strain for information about Dracula's library. Books of blood magic. There's nothing, because of course there's nothing, but he did come here with a purpose.
When Noctis does return, Alucard smiles thinly.]
Good, there are options. The jeweler is going to be the easier one to track down, did she give a name or appearance?
[ Noctis rolls his eyes and folds his sketch, tucking it away in his back pocket and out of sight. Yeah, okay, he knows that was pretty bad. But he got information, so that has to count for something, right. ]
Older. Balding. Got a few metal teeth he probably made by melting down his own wares. She said he sells his less, uh, above-board items out of the attic above his shop.
[ He glances down the street and waves vaguely. ]
Back alley place by a bar next street over. Seems like a shit location for a jeweler's.
Aboslutely a shit location for a jeweler's. Perfect for having a legitimate business front all while possessing much shadier dealings.
[Alucard is almost approving in his tone, be it in relation to Noctis' intelligence or the jeweler's place of business.]
Which is perfectly common among this crowd. I knew quite a few dealers that would have their every day workings in the front, but you had to have built a relationship with them over a few weeks to be permitted in the back rooms. Sometimes it would take years before I was ever even aware of their rarest things.
[But, to the shop. Alucard starts walking with a little too much confidence. It's awful, admitting how much he missed this thrill. The chase, the hunt, whatever one wants to call it. And yet, here it is all the same, hardly tempered by the experiences of Einjar.]
You'll need to come up with a reason you're looking for the item with a seller like that. Close to the truth, but not exactly. If there's sentiment, the price will be impossibly high.
[ Noctis, in spite of himself, looks up sharply, balking in the middle of the street. ] It's not sentiment.
[ And maybe that's giving away too much, too strong of a reaction to be all of the truth. He realizes it the moment the words leave his mouth, and drops his gaze once more, grimacing. ]
It could hurt somebody, that's all. Probably already has. Just trying to get it off the streets before it happens again.
[ And it's the truth, isn't it? His father's or no, he always hated the damn thing, and now a hundred years have gone and he has no obligations of title or duty left to it. The only reason to seek it out now is... so his family's legacy can be laid to rest properly, and no one else has to come to harm.
He'll pretend that's all it is.
They come to a stop at the mouth of the indicated alleyway, which stinks of smoke and ale and even at this time of day hides the muffled sound of conversation from a door in the back. He folds his arms and tilts his head, a quiet hmm sounding from the back of his throat. ]
I'll tell him it's cursed, and we're private investigators hired by the city guard to track it down. It's killed people before and it's not safe for a common jeweler to handle, which is... well, the truth. Alright?
[Alucard almost responds with I said if, but he catches himself. He understands that only makes one angrier, and this? This is an emotionally loaded situation, even if Noctis refuses to acknowledge that. In his own youth, Alucard knows he may well have acted with the same kind of snapped back response.]
I understand.
[And that's all he says, walking quietly and keeping his eyes and ears alert in case of anything. It's not nervrewracking though - it's familiar. Blessedly so. Even stopping in front of the store is familiar. There's almost a thrill to the chase of it all, a feeling Alucard hasn't felt in some time.]
That'll work, although I wouldn't call them a common jeweler. Could infuriate egos. Just that the city guard hired us will be enough. I'll remain a man of few words until I'm needed. Shall we use faux names, or simply refuse to share them?
[ It's a noncommital noise as Noctis takes another moment to consider it, eyeing the empty brackets above the shop where a sign should be. ]
It'll be more suspicious if he asks and we refuse. Fake names are simpler. I'll be Lucian, and you can be... Alfred.
[ With no more fanfare than this, Noctis takes a deep breath and pushes through the front door of the jeweler's.
The interior of the shop is poorly lit, with a fine layer of dust on most of the cabinetry that tells him the frontside of this place sees little legitimate use. What jewelry is hung on the racks and in the display cases looks cheap to his eye, fake gemstones and lesser metals—nothing so valuable that it'd be a great loss if the drunks stumbling in from next door started swinging fists into the glass.
And maybe they have—though the floor has obviously been swept, there's still a telltale crunch of leftover something under his boots as he passes a little too close to a shelf by the entry. ]
Mr. Gretoris?
[ He feels like the dust itself shudders at the disturbance of his voice, but it's only the dust. Not so much as a telling creak or an answering greeting from anywhere else in the shop. There's a narrow door in the far corner cracked just enough to reveal a set of stairs behind it.
[Alucard repeats the name once, mostly im approval, and he laughs just a little at it. Not just because it's clever (and it is), but because the ease that Noctis has in coming up with them is pretty impressive.
He follows after Noctis in the tall, quiet, commanding way he always moves. The dust is no surprise, and the wares are...actually, it's sort of low effort, if Alucard was going to give an honest opinion. Back in his day, there was at least an attempt to look like the real deal.
The silence though. That's concerning, and so Alucard can only nod.]
[ Maybe it's just the way Alucard says it that raises the hairs on the back of his neck. He eyes the cracked door for a moment, considering, worrying at his lower lip with his teeth—and then, without much preamble, ghosts in front of Alucard, turning to an incorporeal phantom of shifting blue light but for the span of a single heartbeat.
Noctis returns to reality with his hand palm flat on the door, not enough to push it all the way open just yet. He glances over his shoulder and flashes Alucard a wan grin. ]
What, you scared of ghosts in the attic?
[ He peers through the crack into what little of the upstairs he can see for a moment longer ( just the rafters, mostly ), ignoring the way his heart tries to crawl into his throat as his imagination supplies what he can't. Then he relents, stepping aside and gesturing vaguely at the door. Casual. Like they're not breaking into somebody's stash of illicit wares. ]
[Alucard considers himself sturdier than most, and so his offer to go ahead came from a place that wanted to absorb any damage that may be laid at the entry way. Watching Noctis suddenly have no corporeal body? That took away some concern.
He nods once to Noctis, a thin smile on his face.]
Thank you, Lucian.
[In he goes then, swinging the door open. This time, Alucard is loud on purpose, announcing himself.]
Mr. Gretoris?
[Alucard isn't surprised by the fact that the area is plain. Just a counter and a few expensive looking vases behind it, and a single door that seems to lead to some back area. The real money pot.]
We were directed your way by a colleague of yours.
[ The only answer back is silence. Noctis strains for a shuffle of footsteps or some other indication someone in the back room is ignoring them, but hears nothing.
He takes half a step forward, only for a gap in the vases on the counter to catch his eye. ]
Wait.
[ He places both hands on the counter and leans over the edge, and sure enough, there's the missing vase—scattered in shards of white porcelain across the floorboards, toward the back room, a dirty cleaning rag tossed to one side.
This time, he doesn't say anything—just glances up at Alucard and points into the gap behind the counter, then silently jerks his head toward the back room.
He phases across the space in an instant once more, cracking the door as carefully as he dares to peer into the room behind it. What he finds there roots him to the spot and raises the hairs on the back of his neck. ]
Shit.
[ There's the shopkeeper, alright—and with blood on the floor, blood on a stained bottle that rolled up against the door, blood on the balding head of the man laying face down on the floor behind it. ]
[ Noctis doesn't really think about what he's doing—the edge to Alucard's voice raises the hairs on the back of his neck and sends him ghosting backwards on instinct, planting himself firmly back at Alucard's side and away from the door to the back room. For a second he drops back into a ready position, fists balled in front of him, searching for some other threat—but no, it's just the two of them and a dead body alone in the shop.
Somehow that knowledge doesn't really help him relax. ]
Somebody else got here first and I'm pretty sure, [ Noctis sucks in a shaky breath— ] he's dead. What do we do now?
[They don't leave finger prints. They don't leave anything behind. They should tell the police, but that will bring them too much attention. They can't be seen leaving this place either. Shit. Fuck.
Alucard pauses, then snaps his fingers.] Downstairs. We go downstairs, and I'll remain, a customer confused about the whereabouts of the shop keeper. Go back to the market. Tell the seller who recommended this shop that something's wrong, but don't give details. They'll either alert the authorities or invite something shadier to address the problem all the same.
[ Noctis hesitates, glancing at the door to the back room and then back to Alucard, caught between common sense and the whole reason they came here in the first place. He grits his teeth. ]
I have to know if it was here.
[ Was. It isn't now, or he knows he'd hear the siren whispers of the thing calling to him to claim its power like he did so often in his youth. No, if it was in the shop at all, it's gone now. And the only person who could have told them if he'd seen it has been silenced.
He huffs and relents, shoulders sagging. ]
I'll go downstairs. If you see an inventory log or something else that can tell us what's been through here, just...tell me, okay?
[In practice what that means is that if there's a ledger that is already open, the dhampir will look. If not though, well, he isn't going to disturb a crime scene no matter how badly he feels for Noctis at the moment. And oh, gods, he feels for the young man so very hard.
With Noctis gone, Alucard does the only thing he can do: float. Gently. Around the shop, eyes looking for anything like a register or ledger or some other way of keeping track of comings and goings and--
bingo.
The ledge is open. The page is almost full and there is, in scrawny handwriting, a line that reads Ring, cursed and goes on to describe the thing that Noctis has been looking for. Sold, 300 gold.
No client information, nothing but a date. Yesterday. It was taken yesterday.
Alucard goes downstairs where he said he would be, and waits.]
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no subject
It's nothing impressive, just stone walls that allow two people to walk side by side if they wish.]
I worked for collectors of historical pieces and the like. Quite a few purchases came from markets like this/
no subject
He glances back to the street behind them only once before jogging a few steps to draw up beside Alucard. ]
That was a long time ago, though. [ He'll leave how long to their mutual understanding. No point in saying more than necessary in public like this. ] What about now? Markets have to have changed since then. Seems like you know a lot about their current state.
no subject
[Alucard pauses for a moment, considering. Noctis has been honest and open with him about the matter of what he seeks. Repaying that honest is the correct thing to do. They aren't at the market proper yet anyway, and so they won't be overheard and the dhampir fleeced by sellers.]
My father's library was a vast collection that included books on less than acceptable types of magic. I have heard rumors of the books appearing at these venues lately, and like you, I'd like to keep them from entering the wrong hands.
no subject
He recalls their first conversation at the Fall, and glances back up again, still curious. ]
You said your mother was a doctor. And he was... ?
no subject
...it has been so strange, living with two other people who know and understand the full of Alucard's life without having to explain an ounce of it. Now, now this is new. And he hates it.]
A scholar of a great many topics. Science and magic were his greatest interests though, and his notebooks often imagined the world as it is now. That kind of mind always will brush against those things considered unorthodox.
no subject
He huffs quietly and draws his cloak tighter about him, though it's hardly cold out. ]
You ever miss him at all, or is that one of those questions I shouldn't ask?
no subject
Of course I miss him. [That hadn't been a secret ever.] My mother as well. They both predeceased me, both in awful ways.
[There's just a few steps left before a larger plaza opens up before them. At first blush, this could all too easily be mistaken for any other market, full of bustling crowds and merchants hawking wares. But one moment's overheard conversation would quickly change anyone's mind. There are talks of stolen wares. Poisons. Curses to be lifted.
Alucard's gaze goes to Noctis entirely.]
Follow my lead.
no subject
I'm sorry. It must've hurt a lot.
[ At least Alucard admits it, but if there's any sign he's intruded too far and stirred unwanted emotions, Noctis can't tell at the moment; the man keeps his emotions close to his chest. Still, as his eyes shift away to the market around them and he listens in on the conversation wafting through the open air, he senses it's better not to pursue it any further at the moment.
They have other problems, anyway. His gaze snaps back to Alucard, his fingers grazing the hilt of the blade tucked away at his hip and then settling at his side. ]
This one of those places I need to be watching my back for sticky fingers or worse?
no subject
[It's a noise meant to acknowledge the real show of empathy without having to engage with it. Noctis, in the space of five mintues, has learned more about Alucard's particular past than just about any other reawakened soul that has walked the earth again. He's happy to keep it that way.]
Keep your eyes alert for pick pockets, but don't attack them beyond a hand grab. Here, it's more about the sport of it than anyone keeping your change.
[Alucard's ears pick up the word curses from the far right, and that's the way he goes. There are book dealers that he's come to know and that he'll double back to soon enough, but there. There's a teifling woman with long dark hair standing beside an empty table, idly chatting with what looks to be a satisfied customer. Alucard wouldn't have picked her for a curse specialist, but the books she's handing over? Those are titles he knows from his father's library (but are not his father's books, the edges aren't right.)]
Okay, so, here's how this goes. This is a curse specialist. She won't have the item, but she may have confirmation that it's been noted and active of late. From there, then we figure out potential sellers. Understood? Merchants here have different interlocking loops to try and muddy the waters of who is responsible for what.
no subject
[ Noctis is starting to sense he's a little in over his head at this point, but he nods and listens anyway, casting a furtive glance at the indicated bookseller. She catches his eye briefly and arches a brow; he glances away quickly. ]
Right, so I guess I'll just...ask her.
[ From his pocket he unfolds his own crude sketch of what he remembers his father's ring looking like. The most distinct feature he remembers, really, is the stoic knight carved into the jet black metal, gauntlets clasped over the white gem set into the center like it were a blade - though he's no artist, and he's pretty sure his rendition looks more like an angry octopus.
She takes one look at it and laughs at him.
A few minutes of quiet conversation later, Noctis returns to Alucard, grimacing sheepishly. ]
She said she sees a lot of jewelry pass through here and I should be more specific. But she consults with a few different sellers in the neighborhood. Said there was a jeweler the other day who asked her to lift some curses off merchandise he couldn't sell - not completely successful - and.... she consulted with a trader of not-so-legal oddities who may have had some of his wares confiscated last week by the city guard.
no subject
And okay. The sketch is totally an angry octopus but it's charming.
While Noctis takes the first steps required to really work the black market, Alucard's ears also strain for information about Dracula's library. Books of blood magic. There's nothing, because of course there's nothing, but he did come here with a purpose.
When Noctis does return, Alucard smiles thinly.]
Good, there are options. The jeweler is going to be the easier one to track down, did she give a name or appearance?
no subject
Older. Balding. Got a few metal teeth he probably made by melting down his own wares. She said he sells his less, uh, above-board items out of the attic above his shop.
[ He glances down the street and waves vaguely. ]
Back alley place by a bar next street over. Seems like a shit location for a jeweler's.
no subject
[Alucard is almost approving in his tone, be it in relation to Noctis' intelligence or the jeweler's place of business.]
Which is perfectly common among this crowd. I knew quite a few dealers that would have their every day workings in the front, but you had to have built a relationship with them over a few weeks to be permitted in the back rooms. Sometimes it would take years before I was ever even aware of their rarest things.
[But, to the shop. Alucard starts walking with a little too much confidence. It's awful, admitting how much he missed this thrill. The chase, the hunt, whatever one wants to call it. And yet, here it is all the same, hardly tempered by the experiences of Einjar.]
You'll need to come up with a reason you're looking for the item with a seller like that. Close to the truth, but not exactly. If there's sentiment, the price will be impossibly high.
no subject
[ And maybe that's giving away too much, too strong of a reaction to be all of the truth. He realizes it the moment the words leave his mouth, and drops his gaze once more, grimacing. ]
It could hurt somebody, that's all. Probably already has. Just trying to get it off the streets before it happens again.
[ And it's the truth, isn't it? His father's or no, he always hated the damn thing, and now a hundred years have gone and he has no obligations of title or duty left to it. The only reason to seek it out now is... so his family's legacy can be laid to rest properly, and no one else has to come to harm.
He'll pretend that's all it is.
They come to a stop at the mouth of the indicated alleyway, which stinks of smoke and ale and even at this time of day hides the muffled sound of conversation from a door in the back. He folds his arms and tilts his head, a quiet hmm sounding from the back of his throat. ]
I'll tell him it's cursed, and we're private investigators hired by the city guard to track it down. It's killed people before and it's not safe for a common jeweler to handle, which is... well, the truth. Alright?
no subject
I understand.
[And that's all he says, walking quietly and keeping his eyes and ears alert in case of anything. It's not nervrewracking though - it's familiar. Blessedly so. Even stopping in front of the store is familiar. There's almost a thrill to the chase of it all, a feeling Alucard hasn't felt in some time.]
That'll work, although I wouldn't call them a common jeweler. Could infuriate egos. Just that the city guard hired us will be enough. I'll remain a man of few words until I'm needed. Shall we use faux names, or simply refuse to share them?
no subject
[ It's a noncommital noise as Noctis takes another moment to consider it, eyeing the empty brackets above the shop where a sign should be. ]
It'll be more suspicious if he asks and we refuse. Fake names are simpler. I'll be Lucian, and you can be... Alfred.
[ With no more fanfare than this, Noctis takes a deep breath and pushes through the front door of the jeweler's.
The interior of the shop is poorly lit, with a fine layer of dust on most of the cabinetry that tells him the frontside of this place sees little legitimate use. What jewelry is hung on the racks and in the display cases looks cheap to his eye, fake gemstones and lesser metals—nothing so valuable that it'd be a great loss if the drunks stumbling in from next door started swinging fists into the glass.
And maybe they have—though the floor has obviously been swept, there's still a telltale crunch of leftover something under his boots as he passes a little too close to a shelf by the entry. ]
Mr. Gretoris?
[ He feels like the dust itself shudders at the disturbance of his voice, but it's only the dust. Not so much as a telling creak or an answering greeting from anywhere else in the shop. There's a narrow door in the far corner cracked just enough to reveal a set of stairs behind it.
He glances at Alucard. ]
Maybe we should just... go upstairs?
no subject
[Alucard repeats the name once, mostly im approval, and he laughs just a little at it. Not just because it's clever (and it is), but because the ease that Noctis has in coming up with them is pretty impressive.
He follows after Noctis in the tall, quiet, commanding way he always moves. The dust is no surprise, and the wares are...actually, it's sort of low effort, if Alucard was going to give an honest opinion. Back in his day, there was at least an attempt to look like the real deal.
The silence though. That's concerning, and so Alucard can only nod.]
Yes. Do you object if I go first though?
no subject
Noctis returns to reality with his hand palm flat on the door, not enough to push it all the way open just yet. He glances over his shoulder and flashes Alucard a wan grin. ]
What, you scared of ghosts in the attic?
[ He peers through the crack into what little of the upstairs he can see for a moment longer ( just the rafters, mostly ), ignoring the way his heart tries to crawl into his throat as his imagination supplies what he can't. Then he relents, stepping aside and gesturing vaguely at the door. Casual. Like they're not breaking into somebody's stash of illicit wares. ]
After you, Alfred.
no subject
[Alucard considers himself sturdier than most, and so his offer to go ahead came from a place that wanted to absorb any damage that may be laid at the entry way. Watching Noctis suddenly have no corporeal body? That took away some concern.
He nods once to Noctis, a thin smile on his face.]
Thank you, Lucian.
[In he goes then, swinging the door open. This time, Alucard is loud on purpose, announcing himself.]
Mr. Gretoris?
[Alucard isn't surprised by the fact that the area is plain. Just a counter and a few expensive looking vases behind it, and a single door that seems to lead to some back area. The real money pot.]
We were directed your way by a colleague of yours.
no subject
He takes half a step forward, only for a gap in the vases on the counter to catch his eye. ]
Wait.
[ He places both hands on the counter and leans over the edge, and sure enough, there's the missing vase—scattered in shards of white porcelain across the floorboards, toward the back room, a dirty cleaning rag tossed to one side.
This time, he doesn't say anything—just glances up at Alucard and points into the gap behind the counter, then silently jerks his head toward the back room.
He phases across the space in an instant once more, cracking the door as carefully as he dares to peer into the room behind it. What he finds there roots him to the spot and raises the hairs on the back of his neck. ]
Shit.
[ There's the shopkeeper, alright—and with blood on the floor, blood on a stained bottle that rolled up against the door, blood on the balding head of the man laying face down on the floor behind it. ]
This just got way more complicated.
no subject
--Alucard doesn't follow after Noctis. He knows better than to go further than this point when a word like wait is said.]
Get back over here. Now.
[Away from the body. Away from leaving evidence near it. Shit. Fuck!]
no subject
Somehow that knowledge doesn't really help him relax. ]
Somebody else got here first and I'm pretty sure, [ Noctis sucks in a shaky breath— ] he's dead. What do we do now?
no subject
[They don't leave finger prints. They don't leave anything behind. They should tell the police, but that will bring them too much attention. They can't be seen leaving this place either. Shit. Fuck.
Alucard pauses, then snaps his fingers.] Downstairs. We go downstairs, and I'll remain, a customer confused about the whereabouts of the shop keeper. Go back to the market. Tell the seller who recommended this shop that something's wrong, but don't give details. They'll either alert the authorities or invite something shadier to address the problem all the same.
Okay?
no subject
I have to know if it was here.
[ Was. It isn't now, or he knows he'd hear the siren whispers of the thing calling to him to claim its power like he did so often in his youth. No, if it was in the shop at all, it's gone now. And the only person who could have told them if he'd seen it has been silenced.
He huffs and relents, shoulders sagging. ]
I'll go downstairs. If you see an inventory log or something else that can tell us what's been through here, just...tell me, okay?
no subject
[In practice what that means is that if there's a ledger that is already open, the dhampir will look. If not though, well, he isn't going to disturb a crime scene no matter how badly he feels for Noctis at the moment. And oh, gods, he feels for the young man so very hard.
With Noctis gone, Alucard does the only thing he can do: float. Gently. Around the shop, eyes looking for anything like a register or ledger or some other way of keeping track of comings and goings and--
bingo.
The ledge is open. The page is almost full and there is, in scrawny handwriting, a line that reads Ring, cursed and goes on to describe the thing that Noctis has been looking for. Sold, 300 gold.
No client information, nothing but a date. Yesterday. It was taken yesterday.
Alucard goes downstairs where he said he would be, and waits.]