abandoned Wilted Lily (guy_sas x Headless)

[Headless]

Currently, what troubled her was where she stood and who she spoke with, but she couldn't exactly say that aloud. Instead, she remained stubbornly quiet for a while as William spoke of the good they were doing. His words sounded noble. Lily wished to believe them. However, she did not, and she held herself stricter than before. "The wine... I'll pass," she spoke simply and succinctly. The offer could be in the same vein as Henric's, a trap. "The slaves..." she hesitated and paused. That would be wonderful, but she only shook her head. "You will need to find someone else for that." She could not handle people and moving the stones was already a difficult enough task.

Lily wished she could leave now, but sadly, she did have further business with William. "On the matter of the stones,... stealing them was more difficult than I imagined..." Her speech was slow and low and there was a pause of some length where William could easily guess what Lily was about to request. However, it wasn't more money she asked for, "I will need your... assistance," but help, and incredibly hesitantly at that. Her lack of trust was clear, but she had thought long and hard over this choice. This was in direct relation to fulfilling William's request. At least this early in her employment, he won't have need to dispose of her. And this reasoning worked the other way around. Everything William would agree to do to help Lily was for the sake of his own interests. She just had to remember that to keep that safe distance.

[guy_sas]

William raised one eyebrow for a fraction of a second, when she refused the wine. So, she didn't trust him. That much could've been expected, and yet somehow, he thought she would've. Perhaps it was just her slow speech, or what he had learned about her in the week after she had been gone. He heard that she had been rather trusting for those who were trying to do good. Maybe she was starting to see through him. Still she was asking for help, a chance to get closer to her, make her trust him so he could start the process. Or perhaps it was a trap of her own, perhaps she was playing with him, as much as he was playing with her. Only way to find out though.

He uncorked the bottle of wine, and poured himself a glass, "Well, I hope you don't mind, if I have a glass, if you don't want it. It was a bit expensive, by the normal standard, and I'd hate to see it go to waste," he took a sip, and looked at her, "I'd be glad to help you in any way I can, what did you have in mind?"

[Headless]

Lily's eyes shifted from one side to the other nervous. She rubbed her arm. Nervous. Uncertain. Such signs were all too easy to read in her right now. "... Information," she finally answered before going into another lengthy pause as she second-guessed herself. She couldn't trust herself to trust, and this... This was usually a part of the job she would trust her own sister with. However, she had thought about it long an hard, and despite thinking about it long and hard, she still couldn't find anything wrong with this idea... or with revealing all about why she needed it. "Normally I ask my sister to help me with information..., but she is currently out on business and I can only do so much... Physical infiltration can only do so much... and I tried to... work with information... but I don't think I did a very good job." She was referencing what she had attempted to do with the three brothers, of course. What that would turn into, she had a vague idea of but was filled with only a large amount of uncertainty. "I managed to..." Lily shuddered at the memory, "... find a way into one of the Goldenleaf slave networks, but one way... can only work... for so... much..." Lily's thoughts began to slow down as she was bogged down with more and more thoughts of doubt and uncertainty. What were the words she wanted to say next? She... she couldn't think of them right now while she began to worry anew if she was telling William too much. Maybe it would be best to just stop talking now? Lily decided to stop talking after a few more last words. "If you can... give me information, I can bring more stones at our agreed upon price. However, if you... cannot... then... I will need to raise the price for my services... and I will not be able to bring in enough stones..."

What a strange woman. When it came to simple things like a drink, she remembered that she wasn't supposed to trust him, but with complicated matters like the dilemma of trusting his information, she forgot such things and fell all too naturally into the trap of trust. Indeed, this was a chance for William to gain Lily's trust... or to simply take advantage of what little trust she had accidentally let slip through.

[guy_sas]

William took another sip of the wine, and let it sit in his mouth for a moment. It wasn't great by any means, certainly not worth the price, but better than most, and that was something at least. That was one of the benefits of talking to Lily, he concluded. He had enough time between each word, to go off on little thought tangents, without having to worry about missing anything. On the subject of what she said, some of it was of great importance, especially what she said about the sister. An interesting lead he would have to remember, but he didn't want to bring it up now. Then there was the matter of this information. Was this a ploy to see if he had an information network, to see how shady he was, or perhaps she just did need information. Lily was either one of the best he had gone up against, or else the worst. Still, there was no harm in saying he had some information, and lying about more, if she asked about something a bit. . . too underground.

"Of course," he said, "all you had to do was ask. This is a business relationship, but you don't need to be so formal, we're also crusaders for something greater than ourselves aren't we? What do you want to know about? I'll be glad to share with you anything you think might help, though I must admit, I don't know everything. So somethings, I can't help you on."

[Headless]

William made a mental note to be cautious. A wise choice. This time, Lily meant no harm or foul with her request. It was as genuine as it could get. Lily really only sought for a way to better perform her job. The only shred of selfishness in her motives was being able to lower the chances of failing... At least for a s long as William wished to help her, a fatal weak point she hoped would be in the distant future. However, Lily was sharp enough behind that unintentional curtain of long pauses and dull words that she would pick up on any suspicious information that was to be passed to her,  even when she wasn't looking for any such hints in particular.

After another long pause, Lily finally seemed to decide on what she wanted to know from William. Her words were long, stretched out, and filled with more than a few breaks, but in the end, it was a threefold request: if there were any other Goldenleaf slave facilities, information on a direct source of slave stones, and, assuming William concealed knowing anything about the location of the Feltons' stashes, a request to work together with Lily on weaving a trap around them until they all slipped up. Of course, with the last proposal came also a reveal from Lily that she had spread a false message to all of the Feltons.

[guy_sas]

William had not been surprised to hear the reveal of Lily's plans to trap the Feltons, he had already guessed as much when El had approached him. Still to fake at least some shock, he raised an eyebrow, when she mentioned that plan, and sat up in his seat a little bit. He couldn't help but be a little paranoid, and a little excited when Lily asked about the source of the slave stones, and of Goldenleaf's slave facilities. In a second he had to decide what to reveal, and what to keep hidden.

Source of the slave stones was the easiest bit, and the first thing he told her about, which was that he knew very little, and that was true. He was no stranger to the criminal underground, but any ties he had with major players in the slave ring, were purely professional of course, and not friendly. That meant, quite simply, that he was never told any information that he didn't need to know, and the source of the slave stones was never something he needed to know. He did guess that they came from deep in the earth, that much just seemed intuitive though, since its where stones come from. He told her that given a map of all the mines in and around the city, and a day to study them, he could probably narrow it down to half a dozen or so likely sources, though there was no guarantee that any of those were right, or that they came from mines at all.

As far as other Goldenleaf slave facilities, that was something he did know about. There were a dozen he knew about, and plans to make a dozen more. They ranged in levels of obscurity, some quite well hidden. He was sure that there could be at least thirty scattered throughout the city at this point, but of the ones he knew about there were roughly a dozen. He only decided to reveal a couple of those too. Specifically he gave Lily a list of five locations he had suspicions about, only two of which were actually facilities, and quite low level ones at that. If Lily was lucky, she'd find some clues in one of them, and could continue to the others from there. That only left the last question, about how to deal with the Feltons.

"I know a little about the Felton's and from what I know, I think I can figure out what to do. Well, you shouldn't focus on El, since he's far too cautious to safely trick, and Ton can be too. . . impulsive. I think Fee, is your best choice. Get close to him, and try to find out where the meetings are being held. Then try to drug them, either through smoke, or a drug in their drinks if they serve them. Tie them up, turn them in, and investigate all of their records. It'll be a slow process going through all those records, and trying to figure out which ones are real, and which aren't. However, it's also the safest."  

Edited July 22, 2018 by guy_sas

[Headless]

There was nothing obvious, but there were little things, like how Lily slowly opened up about what she could do about the slave mines, assuming they were mines at all. If William could narrow down the options, then she could run a more direct investigation on what was left. She let it slip--though, it wasn't like she was trying to hide it either--that she would likely be trying to target the deliveries to and from the mines instead of entering the mines herself. Oh, and if he needed a map of the mines to begin with, then she'd see about pilfering one from a guild or government office. She even asked him a question that wasn't strictly necessary: There was a chance that these stones weren't from the earth? Whether or not William took the chance to have a brief chat with Lily, it was a sign that Lily wasn't as wary as she was on day 1, despite her best efforts to remain cautious and wary.

Halfway through William's explanation of the Goldenleaf Facilities, Lily eased into a chair opposite of his desk. From there, she heard him out regarding the five facilities, eyes moving to each as he pointed them out. There were a few times when she asked a piece of information to be repeated, but the way she phrased the questions implied that it wasn't that she didn't understand the first time it was said but because there was... something else. Extra information she wanted to confirm hearing or, in the case of one of the dud facilities, it was because she didn't think William's information was all correct. Though, she didn't say this out loud--granted, her eyes narrowing in disagreement probably spoke as loudly as any of her quiet mumbles would have--out of respect for having been the one to ask William for information. One did not look a gift horse in the mouth, after all. Important to note, though. Lily felt disagreement, but not suspicion. Though, she could certainly be mistaken for feeling the latter.

As William began explaining how to sabotage the Felton's, Lily looked extremely hesitant. Getting close, as obvious as it was, was something she perpetually avoided. However, in an act of temporary trust in William, Lily eventually, very slowly, nodded. "I will... try...," she spoke uncertainly, "This will... Not my specialty so it will... definitely take time..."

Well, with that, Lily had nothing else she wanted to say. She stood from her seat. "Then... if there is nothing else..."

[guy_sas]

William shrugged when she asked if there was a chance that they weren't from the earth. Once again he agreed to be pretty much completely honest with her, as he really didn't know anything that useful. Specifically, he had heard rumors of other planes of existence, and that some powerful mages could access them. It was plausible that the stones came from one of those planes, if they existed, though he considered it somewhat unlikely. He noticed her hesitation when he went through the facilities, but didn't comment on it. After all, he didn't believe that there was anything that would give him away from that information. Besides, he couldn't think of anything to say about her hesitation that wouldn't make him sound more suspicious, if she was sharp enough to catch some minor detail that made him seem fishy.

William nodded when she mentioned that would definitely take time, "of course, work at your own pace, this isn't a race," and when she asked if there was anything else, "well, there is one thing. My client and I have been talking, and, we both agree that it's in everyone's best interest that you're as best equipped for this job as possible. As you already figured out, money is no object for us, so if there is any equipment you want, but don't currently have, now is a good time to say so. If I can get it for you, I hope to have the next time we meet."

[Headless]

(OOC: Ahhhh. Shoot. I made a mistake in my previous post. I thought William had told Lily about the possibility that the stones weren't from earth. Rip T u T .)

The patience and the offer of new equipment caused Lily to widen her eyes in a mix of surprise and disbelief. Though, shortly after, she shook her head to get it back in the game and erase that vulnerable look of surprise off of her face. "You... certainly seem serious about helping others..." she commented conservatively. However, she didn't turn down the off, either. At least not completely. "I can source my own equipment, at least. Like I said, what I am most lacking is information..."

Lily paused for a while.

Then, against perhaps better judgment that was clouded by her innate desire to trust, Lily offered, "That being said,... if you need my help to gather said information, then feel free to ask me.... I'll even... understand if you can't provide me with the details why.... I've been doing this long enough to know everyone has their own reasons," in her usual slow, deliberate way of talking.

[guy_sas]

"Well, that's very generous of you," William sat back as she offered to help get him information. He still couldn't understand what level Lily was working on. This seemed so much like a trap to get him to reveal information, that he could only assume that it wasn't. Still, not knowing what her angle was, he decided to play it safe. He requested that she get him information from all major mining companies, as much and varied info on each one, as possible. The idea was that if some of them were exporting Slave Stones, then there might be signs in the their records, inconsistent or unusual numbers. He also asked her to share any info she discovered on those facilities, if they proved to be real, since there might be some clue to help find more. They were all things he was personally interested in, and he gave her simple reasons for why he wanted info on each one, though the reasons weren't hard to guess. "That's all I can think of," he said as he finished, and reached his hand across the table, "Well, I suppose that's it for our meeting this time. I must say it was very productive, and I look forward to the next time. I assume its around the same time, next week?"

[Headless]

After some hesitation, Lily reached out and accepted William's hand. Compared to how she had refused his wine when she first came in, this was a definite sing of improvement in the trust development. "Yes..." Lily slowly agreed, "Next week." Then she turned and left to accomplish this week's worth of work. Though, before that, she did briefly visit an orphanage she regularly helped with funds, and gave them the majority of the money she had just received, keeping only what she knew she needed for food, board, and supplies plus a little extra for savings.

[guy_sas]

William watched her go, with his hands crossed, and a faint smile touching the corners of his lips. While he still wasn't sure how much he could or couldn't trust Lily, he had a good feeling. One thing he was certain of though, was that Lily was still far too cautious. He could try to slowly build up her trust over the next couple encounters, however that was a bit too slow, and he had been given a flat payment for this job. He needed something to make her afraid, because he could exploit that. He knew that if he played his cards right, he could even give himself plenty of good opportunities to expose her to the stones, and start the process. An idea sprung into his head, at that moment. He called up his servant, and decided to set up meeting with El, for tomorrow.