A Fitting Question (Ka'Ri, Sithani)

Ka'Ri nods along, her brain delving more and more into scheme mode. "Foreign girl, rowdy niece, a 'pretty face' leads her to want to sneak to the bedrooms. Yeah, that's an easy narrative to work with. Plus free backup, an extra pair of ears, and a ready-made excuse if I do get caught rattling doorknobs."

"And he's a good choice for a second. He's a ranger by trade, so he's not going to give me away with a heavy footfall."

Ka'Ri let out an admiring whistle as she added the pieces together. "Damn, that's an airtight cover. You missed your calling to be an honest thief, I fear."

She means it playfully and positively. No one that clever deserved to waste their life performing the ingenue for a bunch of daft nobs that'd never appreciate what she actually had to offer to the world. Though maybe that was her intent and she was just doing the honest street work, just at a higher level for much larger stakes. Ones that might mean a lessening of the iron grip the nobs had on the wealth of this city.

She could certainly hope at least.

Veshti laughs at the compliment. "My dear, I'm a politician. We're thieves who attend a lot of meetings."

Ka'Ri laughs along with Veshti's observation. This was the exact thing the nob world needed and she was damn glad someone was there to do the work.

Veshti spends the next half a candlemark talking with Ka'Ri over Jewelness customs and how to comport herself as a girl of middling nobility; she will also answer any questions Ka'Ri has about the belt and its durability (which is higher than it seems, due to its magical nature). They continue plotting until a servant knocks at the door and 'Lady Sithani' is shown in for her own fitting of a rather different nature.

"I take it this is where we're playing dress-up?" Sithani asks. She's currently wearing a relatively simple yet still high-quality dress, though with practical boots visible beneath the skirts, and has her rod strapped to her belt. Her hair has been put up, again not in an elaborate style, but enough to show observers a woman who cares about displaying at least moderate wealth. "Hopefully no one's onto us at this early stage, but just in case I'm hoping people will have a bit of trouble recognising this -" she gestures at her attire - "in your muscle, whatever she'll look like."

Ka'Ri turns and has to place her hand over her mouth quickly to hide her reaction for a second. Sithani clearly has very... particular ideas of dressing down and it never fails to... astound. She quickly shifts the smile of amusement into a happy smile of greeting as she drops her hand into a welcome gesture.

"Yes, Sithani, glad you've arrived," Ka'Ri exclaims. "Let me grab the supplies and I can show you some options."

With that, she leaves the room, leaving Sithani alone for a moment with Veshti.

Veshti's eyes flick over Sithani with approbation. "Very nice, dear. Tell me, have you ever considered a career in politics?"

Sithani grimaces. "Oh gods no. I can talk for hours about the need for reform and how my peer group needs taking down several pegs, how we hoard and squander money and resources like aspiring dragons but don't have the decency to pick fights with wandering monster-slayers, but I don't really know what the oppressed need beyond 'more stuff' and 'better conditions'. Point me at someone to fund or get support for, but please don't make me do the actual work."

Veshti chuckles at this answer. "Ah, a campaign organizer. Plans the parties, schmoozes the donors. I approve heartily. You and Sunrise could be a force to reckon with together, I daresay."

She makes small talk with Sithani until Ka'Ri arrives, then quietly leaves them the run of the rooms for their dress-up.

[OOC: I'll let you two talk out disguises and whatnot, then I'll open a Nightdocks thread for you to actually find and talk to your mark.]

Sithani is a little buoyed up at the thought of her and Sunrise being a force to reckon with, and when Veshti leaves she all but bounces over to Ka'Ri in excitement.

"Alright, so, I have knives strapped to my legs, and I'm keeping my rod because I'm much more versatile with magic than pointy things, but beside those I'm completely in your hands." She frowns. "I would have brought my armour, but I thought that would have made me too conspicuous coming here."

"Ah perfect," Ka'Ri responds pulling out three outfits out of her bag and laying them out. "We can definitely work with that."

She points to and talks about the first setup, which is modeled after the bouncers of some of the less reputable bars in the slums. Black and understated shirt and pants padded slightly on the inside to give the illusion of larger muscles than one might otherwise carry. Overall the outfit was dreadfully simple but carried a simple menace of 'step out of line and I'll break your face and then go back to drinking or sulking in the corner.'

Once she is done, she moves to the second which is a variation on what she herself originally planned on wearing before the moment in front of the mirror. It's a sailor's tunic, vest, and breeches, but with a far more leather vest that looked to be hiding the promise of far more weaponry than one might expect and breeches that would deliberately leave the impression of the knives on Sithani's hips as a silent testament to her willingness to kill.

The last is the one she thinks Sithani will be most drawn to. It's the outfit that the Osprem's chief muscle Mags wore. On its surface, it appeared to be a high femme damsel of the sea might wear. After all, the top cuts down to a v and reveals some cleavage and the dress has a slit ending just below where one would carry one's daggers, but together the entire outfit delivers a sense of unease as if watching a beautiful viper preparing to strike. Cuffs that on second glance were most useful to cut a throat and a dress designed for quick motion of feet for tripping and pinning. It was an outfit that would let Sithani feel glamorous and dangerous at the same time.

"Any of these take your fancy?" Ka'Ri asked. "I will also have to change your hair as well. Possibly dye it a different color temporarily if you consent."

"Oh, very nice," says Sithani, looking the outfits up and down. "The leather or the dress... the frock is certainly more me, but if I'm to be disguised then that argues against it, doesn't it?" She closes her eyes, spins around, and extends a finger, opening her eyes to see that she is in fact pointing at the door, but this is closest to the third outfit. "Dress it is, then. And as long as you don't cut too much of it off, my hair is in your hands."

"Don't worry, I don't intend to cut any of it," Ka'Ri responded, packing the other outfits away. "I'm just going to dye your hair and style it a little... differently than you're used to. I also have these little things if you want to change your eye color."

"So, for the mission, we'll be meeting with a street professional named Halwan. She's a gossip and a bit of a dealer, so she'll be able to tell us if anyone is shifting large amounts of dream-dust or something else similarly off menu. I'll be going as Gerrevel, a young elf on the nob side. He has terrible friends and he's not out to them about his asexuality and so he is visiting a street professional for the appearance of sexual services and has hired a bit of muscle to help protect him because the Night Docks are famously dangerous for the nobs. This will let us meet with Halwan and under the guise of wanting to talk with her, because I don't really want sex, we can ask curious conversations about dealing and anything interesting in the nightdocks."

"What do you think and what would you like your character to be named?"

"I like your commitment to the role. So my job would be to stand outside the room and dissuade people from disturbing you? Or inside the room and stop this Halwan from drugging you unconscious and going through your pockets?" She frowns in thought. "I'll go for something properly elven for the name; how about Aeglinde? The stereotypical elven propensity for beauty in violence goes well with the dress, I think."

Ka'Ri blushes slightly at the compliment. "Aw, thank you. And yes, I was thinking you would come in with me, which would allow you to ask questions as well when I reveal the 'truth' of my situation to Halwan."

In her mind, Ka'Ri plots the outfit she is going to use to say goodbye to that sad emaciated boy in the mirror. Taking from Sithani, it's a little fancy, but trying to downplay it, the sort of outfit she might have worn if she had never figured out the truth of herself. Tying and dying her hair back. The outfit of a sad noble who feels trapped and only partially understands why.

"The other people in the brothel won't be surprised at my joining you?"

"No, I don't believe so, but if it's an issue, we can leave you outside. I don't believe it will be an issue though," Ka'Ri responds.

"Fair enough. I trust your judgement in muscle etiquette." She raises an eyebrow. "Any reason you're playing a boy for this? Are people likely to recognise you down there without the additional disguise?"

"It's worthwhile in that I don't like linking my actions together, especially as we poke our noses in the business of assholes and nobs," Ka'Ri responds. "As for the boyhood..." Ka'Ri hesitates, not sure how much to tell. On the one hand, the reason is deeply personal, on the other, honesty with teammates has served her well so far.

"It... was something that came up recently. I thought... I thought it best to put to bed a past with respect instead of anger."

It comes out still cryptic, but it's far more than she intended on sharing. Already her voice cracks slightly as she moves to cover it up. There's emotions buried there, but also intention and relief. After tonight, the boy in the mirror will finally be laid to rest in peace.

"I'm sorry." Sithani looks downwards. "I didn't mean to bring unpleasant shit up."

Ka'Ri smiles softly. "It's... a difficult subject,yes," Ka'Ri concedes, "but I think perhaps not as painful as I would have said a day ago. But thank you for your regard and your help."

Ka'Ri internally gogs at herself. Perhaps it was the elation of the belt. A day or two or go, she'd be an insecure wreck in front of a beautiful woman like Sithani, but now, she felt far more stable than she'd been in a while. Still a mess... but perhaps not as disastrous of one.

[Continued in Canny Customers.]

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