Random 68

Sylvie could not help but laugh. The idea of being more relaxed than usual in the middle of a crisis like this was too absurd. "Sorry," she brought out between giggles.

For a moment, Sebastian looked a little bewildered, but then he got the idea too. Try as he might, he couldn't contain his own laughter. "I'm absurd," was all he said, in the middle of breaths, but then bursted out laughing again, lying down, head propped against the wall, torso on the bed and feet dangling just above the floor.

"Among other things," she answered, catching her breath.

She got up and offered him a hand up.

He took it, still chuckling and wheezing. "Hopefully not all of it is bad," Sebastian said with mirth.

"No." Sylvie held his hand a moment longer after he was back on his feet, smiling, before she went to put on her cloak again. They really should be going.

There was one more thing. She hadn't figured it out, but maybe she should heed her own advice. "I still wonder about Old Ivy. In relation to ruining the Saba's reputation, I mean. Particularly Riya thrives on gossip, and if she's only half as smart as I think she is, she'd know exactly where and how to spread news for full effect."

"I'm glad," he said, watching her move and coming to the same conclusion. They needed to work, now. As for what she said later, the previous conversation, the laughter, everything, it had some influence on Sebastian. "Do you know, it's time I take your advice and stop whining. Riya is smart, and you know her to thrive on gossip, well. I'm only worried she might get too involved, but... how do you propose we act?" Oh, he still had his misgivings, but he knew he had been right about Sylvie, her intellect and her instinct.

It had been a long time since he had changed the game plan. Maybe this time would be better.

She sighed, still smiling. "I propose we keep it in mind. I'm not sure what to tell her at this point." Having kept everything from the family would make things awkward now. "Maybe I can mull it over while you fetch those keys."

A look at the ceiling was enough time for him to consider that offer. "Deal. I could..." blink "...well, I could tell her the truth, but I'm not sure she'd believe it," Sebastian said as he turned around and walked toward Sylvie, eyes focused on hers. "Let's keep it in mind," he murmured, kissing her nose whether or not she liked it or not.

"You know what you are? Distracting." She grinned and slipped her right arm around his back, turning half around to steer him towards the door. Not that she wouldn't rather stay here and get out of her damp clothes. Damn. Touch is good. I'm not nearly getting enough of it.

"And I feel sorry about it, because I can't be distracting when we actually have time for all that," he replied as they headed for the door, his left arm around her waist as he opened the door.

But there was a job to do before all that. Sebastian hoped there wouldn't have been, deeply and outwardly quite obviously.

"Hey, Tul," said Kai, having pushed himself into the estate again. Nobody had asked a question, especially not the guard he'd given booze earlier. In fact, Kai had been greeted with a cheery wave. After a short conversation full of jokes that didn't necessarily leave Sebastian feeling like a pacifist, he had headed into the compound with a merry whistle.

Tul, surprised as he was reading a book outside the kitchen, had to blink a few times before he remembered 'Kai'. "Hey there, mate. Stitches holding up?"

"Yes sir," Kai said, pointing at his forehead with a grin. "Nice job. Coulda used more booze as ana... anes... what's that word again?"

"Anesthetic," Tul provided.

"Oh. Well, yeah, that," Kai said. "Anyway, nice to see you. I ever get hurt, you available?"

"Depends on the price, mate," Tul grinned. They clasped hands before Sebastian headed upstairs and wondered, for a moment, if Ludovic was around. It would not have been a very happy moment for Ludovic had Sebastian seen him, and as luck (oh dear) had it, going into Brice's office and looking around for everything he thought important and worth the attention was simple.

That made Sebastian very nervous. Even so, he put all of the documents Brice had talked about (and some more) into his leather satchel and retrieved the keys from under the cabinet. Brice, at least by Sebastian's standards, was smarter than most people. Especially Ludovic.

He also grabbed a few silver candle sticks and a hoard of money with the intent of giving some of it to Brice and some to Kord, some to the poor.

He exited the compund after a few conversations, most of them ending with really lousy jokes that still caused laughter.

Soon enough, a dark figure with lambent eyes left and arrived at the street corner next to the compound, grim and determined, looking for someone in particular.

Sylvie pushed herself off the wall which had provided a little shelter from the rain, and matched his stride. "Did everything go all right?"

"No trouble at all," he said, offering his arm. "No suspicion at all, and I only had to show Brice's letter once and tell a tall tale." Sebastian didn't sound as if he was happy about having to do that. Nevertheless, he focussed more on navigating his way to the first adress. "Nobody outside looking suspicious, other than myself?"

"Me?" She took his arm and shook her head. "Hardly anyone passed, and those who did were in a hurry." And no wonder.

She had Sebastian give her the keys temporarily, one after the other, and found that none of them held the least spark of magic.

The address belonged to a small house with and empty shop on the ground floor, in a row of similar buildings. There were a few others that were likewise dark despite the early hour - was it a matter of location or was business getting that bad? Sebastian and Sylvie circled around at the next corner to find the backalley, which was gloomy, the upper storeys built overhanging until the houses nearly touched. At least that meant some shelter from the rain. There had been enough by now to make the ground as muddy as anywhere, though.

They counted doors, and Sylvie sent her feelers ahead a little, a hand held forward at hip level, palm turned to the side, and found the count confirmed when she felt a slight tingle. She pointed and nodded, and paused, frowning. The alley was too narrow to stand as far away from the door as she would have liked, unless it was at an angle...

Sebastian only chuckled at her retort, then shrugged at her latter comment. He didn't know much or anything about the keys, but he eyed the house suspiciously when they arrived there and circled it around.

At the indication toward the door, he frowned, waking up from his need to keep an eye on their surroundings. He looked over at the alley nearby. "What is it?" Sebastian asked quietly, staring at her hand with some respect -- healthy respect for magic, in addition to what he felt about her.

"There's definitely something on that door. I'll see what I can find. Stand back?" She pointed at the side of the alley thatincluded their target and moved to the opposite side.

Sebastian looked at her with some worry, but common sense dictated that he defer to the specialist. "All right. What..." he looked around again, "what do I do if there's a mishap?" He sounded worried, not excited, and very concerned.

She hadn't really wanted to think about that. Staring at the door, brows drawn down in concentration, Sylvie answered firmly, "Don't touch the door unless I told you it's clear. Otherwise, depends how much attention it drew. I trust your judgement, but... if it went really bad, make sure you get away so you can try something else." She took and released a deep breath. "It won't."

Make sure you get away? Sebastian pondered that for a short moment, but instead of making any grand gestures, he only nodded. This wasn't his field at all -- magic and the lowly half-elf hardly mixed well, as he had indicated to many people in the past. "I understand," he said softly, touching her shoulder in a worried fashion. Then he turned to keep overwatch on the street, ready for any sort of surprise, leaving Sylvie to do her part of the job. For once, he wasn't trying to cover up just how nervous he felt.

Sylvie did not react, taking deep, even breaths and closing her eyes. Her shoulders and back relaxed from their cold-induced slight cramp. She stood right foot and hand forward, left hand at shoulder height closer to her body, very steady, and sent out thin strands of magic, from her right hand to feel for the trap Langoll had woven, from her left waiting, hoping to catch a backlash if there was any.

The itching in her palm returned, and she spread her feelers to find what it was, slowly and carefully. They passed into the wood of the door as easily as the raindrops passed through them, undisturbed. The itching became worse, and spread to the forearm across her pulse. Something powerful. Following her sense of touch, she turned her attention closer to the doorknob, finding an elastic resistance. Her breathing slowed as she tried to feel in greater detail. Carefully. Touch to feel, not to move. Time slowed down.

The resistance gave way like a breaking damn. For an instant Sylvie felt the sheer power of the spell burning her skin, at the same time speeding towards her, through the lines of her own magic. It prickled in her left hand and by sheer instinct she grabbed the near-unformed energy and slammed it into the ground with a gesture, giving it the first shape that came to mind.

It hit the ground like a rock, splattering mud in a wide circle.

Disoriented, not sure how loud that had been outside her head, Sylvie flicked a strand of magic at the door. Nothing.

"Clear," she said absently.