"Depending on the job." She likes them best when they pay well. Vex doesn't quite say that aloud, but it's implied. Floating in the air. Raising the question of why it is she's chosen to invest what few funds they have after the last job on Percy. A nobleman, certainly, but one not in possession of his family's fortune or much use for his name.
Still.
She feels like it's a good investment.
"If you had hired us, there's a non zero chance that we'd still have been breaking you out of a dungeon." That does sound like them. "What would you have been hiring us for though, darling? And could you have afforded us."
"Doubtful," he admits, grateful for a moment or two to figure out how to answer the more pressing question. What money he'd had, he'd spent in pursuit of Dr. Ripley, and he was hardly flush before he caught wind of her presence in Stilben. He'd have been able to offer a fee, but it would have been more symbol than satisfaction - and he can't imagine her death will lead him to greater riches. "And I suppose mine would have been one of those jobs that sees you searching for someone."
Who becomes the obvious follow-up, but that's more easily side-stepped - especially, he suspects, if he follows up the thought with this one: "It likely wouldn't have been profitable for you. I can't imagine you'd have taken me up on the offer."
A few hours in Vex'ahlia's presence have made clear the importance of currency in her decision-making. Make it sound like a dead end, so far as filthy lucre is concerned, and he's hoping she'll have no more curiosity towards it.
Given the glance Vex gives him, considering his answer through the fringe of her dark eyelashes, it's safe to say that she is curious. She knows relatively little about this man they're taking on, a man who just ate her out pretty handily, and it's natural to wonder who he is. There's a brief sharpness in her dark eyes.
It's worth considering if he has enemies.
But then, it's worth considering if all of them do. Scanlan has probably left dozens of angry fathers, spouses and abandoned lovers behind him to stew. And at least in this case he seems to be the one doing the hunting, which would tend to imply that they're unlikely to have his quarry coming after them anytime soon.
In the end, Vex's eyes soften and she decides to let the curiosity pass.
"Well, darling, if your job suggestions do become profitable you know where to find us. And I'd say you're in no position to complain about our work."
Percy hardly dares breathe as she looks at him. Someplace behind her pretty face, she's weighing the possibility of demanding more information, he feels certain of it. She'd be right to, he knows - she has a vested interest in making sure his presence doesn't fuck up her future prospects - but he's still grateful she doesn't. It leaves him breathing a little easier, shoulders relaxing slightly.
"I had no intentions of complaining." Not thus far, anyway. They aren't doing anything more criminally inclined than he's comfortable with - though it's become clear over the past few years that he's nowhere near as priggish about petty crime than he might have assumed. "If anything, I'm hoping you'll find nothing but well-paid work that takes you all over Tal'Dorei."
He'll share in the profits, after all, and perhaps he'll pick up word of Ripley again on their travels. How convenient it would be if he could make her suffer without going too far out of his way for it.
As they near the tavern once more, he reaches out to open the door for her. Inside, he's hoping to see the room cleared out, or at least populated by people too drunk to care about their presence one way or another.
So smoothly it may be completely unconscious (it's not), Vex disentangles herself and swans into the inn's common room. She's well aware of some of her companion's appetite for a good time, and while it's no surprise to find Scanlan is nowhere in evidence (probably having run off to a whorehouse or upstairs with gods alone knew who and getting up to even they don't want to know what), it's also no surprise to find Grog still putting away ale or her brother settled into a card game in the corner
"I'll drink to that," she says, smiling as she glances back over her shoulder. "If you'd care for another round before bed?"
A round of ale, that is.
"Though perhaps I should check on Vax before he pisses off the wrong person and we all have to leave in the night?"
Percy watches with an admiring eye as Vex makes her way through the room, following a pace or two behind. He does have some sense of self-preservation, even loosened up by drink and sex. While some of the group has dispersed to parts unknown, Vex's brother is still in the room, frowning at a hand of cards with a look that's still fairly sharp despite the amount of liquor he's undoubtedly drunk by now. He's an unknown that Percy's in no mood to trifle with; while his sister's old enough to make her own decisions, the knowledge could cause the sort of strife that ends with thank you for your time, Mister de Rolo, but we'd better part ways now.
He can't afford to strike off on his own just now, and he's not in the mood to try. Whatever preserves his fragile entry into this new life is his preference.
"That sounds great," he says, his smile easy, then amends, "both those things. I'll get the drinks?"
She'll see to her brother, he'll put the ale on their tab, and when he comes to join her, she'll have found an appropriate place for them to sit. It's the neatest solution, as he sees it.
Vex does check on her brother. Even drunk and pleasantly distracted, Vax will notice if she's gone too long. Best to make sure he's not brooding or worried (and to see how much money he's stolen), and then finish out her night peacefully.
Anything else will be a problem for tomorrow.
While Percy procures their drinks, Vex slips in next to her bother. Confirming he's doing well and hasn't worried, she leaves him with a kiss on the cheek for luck. She's gone before anyone can start to wonder if she's whispering anything to her brother that might amount to cheating. Which is ridiculous, of course. Vax hardly needs her help to fleece a group like this.
She's in good, if more subdued, spirits when she joins Percival at a table.
He tries not to watch as Vex attends to her brother; it's something private, really, a kind of affection no doubt reserved for her twin. But his attention is on her all the same, looking out from the corner of his eye as he waits for a pair of tankards, and then as he finds a place to sit. (Away from the others, but not noticeably away - if he weren't distracted, he'd probably be agonizing over it.)
There's just something about family, others' families, that simultaneously reassures him and makes him feel bitterly alone. No, not something - he knows precisely what it is that puts that twinge in his heart - but a truth he can't allow himself to dwell on right now. More to the point, there's a swell of affection and jealousy in his chest, and he can't replace it with idle daydreaming.
So it's a lie, technically, when he answers, "Oh, no, I'm not quite so pathetic as that," and nudges a cup toward her, but it's one of an endless litany of necessary lies. "Er - how is your brother?"
"Half way to cleaning out the table. I don't even know that he's cheating to do it. They really are that bad." She says it lightly, mostly joking. She casts a last look over her shoulder even as she reaches for her beer. "Or, not cheating much."
Barely cheating.
She turns back, reassured that the game has Vax absorbed a while longer.
"And I wouldn't call being lonely pathetic. Just... a problem easily solved."
"Well - that's very kind of you," Percy says, because even he can sense that oh, no, I'm actually quite pathetic won't win him any points. At that point, however, he's run out of things to say, and he retreats to the safety of his tankard, gulping down a mouthful of ale.
(It is good that her brother's making some money, but saying so seems...inappropriately interested in the matter of the collective purse. Which would be acceptable, if tasteless, when he's better established. Right now, he's sure it'll sound too much like casing a place before stealing from it and disappearing into the night.)
The alcohol's a fine distraction anyhow, pleasantly bitter in his mouth. Pity it's also loosening his tongue - a moment's boldness takes him, and he adds, "Fortunately, it's not a problem I plan to have tonight, pathetic or not."
Vex hums as she reaches for her fresh beer, raising it to her mouth but pausing before taking a sip. There's a wicked flash in her eye and a curl in her lip. "I should imagine you won't be up too late tonight—what, tired, and it must be a relief. After your time in a cell, I mean."
Before, he might have been caught off-guard, but he's quite a bit more relaxed now - he doesn't so much as startle. His answer's painfully earnest, accompanied by a small smile. "It's been...eventful. But I'm ending the day in a far better place than I started. I wouldn't mind staying up, given the company."
Inside Vex, there are two wolves. One who'd like to stay up and flirt, bask in the thrill of new company, and especially a handsome young man who's clearly (and flatteringly) taken with her. The other is well aware that they're back with the team, that her brother isn't that distracted. That she risks giving Percy the wrong impression.
Oh, she's lovely. It's hard to escape just how fond he's grown tonight, and harder still to hide it. He doesn't try, instead allowing himself the little luxury of leaning in slightly towards her. There's a sort of happy shyness to the way he answers, the knowledge that this is not, as a rule, how he talks to people. "You'd be surprised. When I'm interested in something, hours go by in moments."
All right, hours is likely pushing it. But the idea of remaining in her company makes him inclined towards hyperbole.
"Hours, darling?" Vex says, her brows going up in good natured skepticism. It's not that she believes him or that she doesn't. It's that it's more interesting to tease, to see how he reacts.
To keep the conversation going.
To issue, however unseriously, a little bit of a challenge for him to prove it.
"Well, you do seem like the driven sort. I wonder if we ought to be getting you another bowl of stew to keep your strength up."
"Given, erm, sufficient motivation." It's a bluff at the moment - he does think he could manage another round, but not more. But even if it comes to nothing, just being in the company of someone else is rather satisfying.
"I could probably down another meal, too," he admits, "but it's not a dire emergency. I received my fair share of bread and water before you found me."
Not much more, but supper tonight made a dent in that ever-gnawing hunger that comes of being young, tall, and penniless. And he's still conscious of the fact that any money spent on him isn't really earned, at this point.
"Hardly enough to keep a young man's stamina up," Vex observes. There's still a flirtatious note in her tone, but also some genuine concern. As flinty eyed as she can be about money, certainly as she likes to seem, she can't pretend the idea doesn't reach her. Prison rations aren't going to keep someone fit for...
Well.
Any kind of physical exertion.
"We'll see you get breakfast before we leave tomorrow." One brow lifts to lighten the tone again. "Or something to eat, at least."
He's done more on less, when he's had to - but given the opportunity, he'd rather not have to. And it seems his luck is finally turning around on that point...and on a few others as well. There's a reason his cheeks heat up, after all, at the suggestion of alternatives to breakfast.
(How wonderful to receive tacit encouragement for another round of cunnilingus. Ever a sucker for evidence of a job well done, he's torn between embarrassment and preening.)
"I'd like that." As banter goes, it's far too earnest, but thus far, clear admissions of desire have served him well. "A slightly later start - or perhaps an earlier one. I could ask them to have some food sent up to us around sunrise."
"Wildly optimistic of you to think we'd be able to having something sent up without waking up our teammates," Vex comments, her smile serene, brows twitching with something like genuine warmth, while at the same time she pushes back gently.
She doesn't see them having the morning alone upstairs.
And, implicitly, she doesn't see them getting a room alone tonight.
But...
"However, we may be able to sneak down while the others are sleeping off their hangovers. Keyleth aside, there are not many morning people in our little group."
He's still daydreaming of space and privacy, the possibility of spending the night crammed up next to someone more appealing than a drunken half-giant. Until he's entirely rebuffed, he'll hold out a little hope.
"Under most circumstances, I'm not much of a morning person." Ideally, if he's to be awake at daybreak, it's because he lost track of time in the course of a long night - though his time on the fishing boat certainly taught him to fake his way through early rises. "But if I'm going to get to sneak around with you, that sweetens the deal."
It's the most overt flirting he's committed himself to in years, possibly ever.
Considering his obvious lack of recent opportunity, it's not bad flirting. Of course, Vex might feel that way because she picked him—she'd been interested. His honesty and the ragged way he'd clutched his dignity despite being locked in a prison cell...
Percival is an interesting man.
"I suppose I'll simply have to think of a way to energize you."
"I've a few ideas." It's hard not to, with her looking at him that way. She has the keen eye of a hunter with prey in her suggest, and he can't even profess to mind; this capture would be far nicer than the last one he experienced. "You're an inspiring woman, Vex'ahlia."
In fact - he can't resist pushing his luck, reasoning that she'd made similar overtures earlier, before they'd thoroughly debauched themselves. "Enough so that waiting for the morning might be torture."
...All right, as overtures go, it's still rather subtle. He'd rather not come right out and say it, I'm willing to give it another go if you are.
"Torture, is it?" Vex repeats the word, wondering if that's meant to be flattering, if she should take it as such. Of course, whether or not she should doesn't determine whether or not she does.
And the idea that waiting for her is torture is flattering when he's more or less just come from having her is quite flattering.
"And is there anything that might ease your hardship?"
It is not, as a point of fact, torture, and he well knows the difference - but making light of the subject might keep her from the truth of his scars. He'd had no trouble with them among prior groups, if only because no one actually wanted to share the details of their pasts...but Vex'ahlia is chatty. Inquiring. And she's seen more of him than he hopes most of her comrades will.
It's a dangerous game to play, deception, but he's gotten better at it over the last few years.
Also dangerous: overtures. He's can tell he's trifling with fire here, and yet he can't resist the opportunity to burn his hands. "The, ah, pleasure of your company?"
"Is that so? It seems to me you're enjoying the pleasure of my company as we speak." Her brow arches a little, teasing but lightly. There's no effort to discourage him. More playful swiping.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2025-04-11 12:43 am (UTC)Still.
She feels like it's a good investment.
"If you had hired us, there's a non zero chance that we'd still have been breaking you out of a dungeon." That does sound like them. "What would you have been hiring us for though, darling? And could you have afforded us."
no subject
Date: 2025-04-11 02:14 am (UTC)Who becomes the obvious follow-up, but that's more easily side-stepped - especially, he suspects, if he follows up the thought with this one: "It likely wouldn't have been profitable for you. I can't imagine you'd have taken me up on the offer."
A few hours in Vex'ahlia's presence have made clear the importance of currency in her decision-making. Make it sound like a dead end, so far as filthy lucre is concerned, and he's hoping she'll have no more curiosity towards it.
no subject
Date: 2025-04-12 06:56 am (UTC)It's worth considering if he has enemies.
But then, it's worth considering if all of them do. Scanlan has probably left dozens of angry fathers, spouses and abandoned lovers behind him to stew. And at least in this case he seems to be the one doing the hunting, which would tend to imply that they're unlikely to have his quarry coming after them anytime soon.
In the end, Vex's eyes soften and she decides to let the curiosity pass.
"Well, darling, if your job suggestions do become profitable you know where to find us. And I'd say you're in no position to complain about our work."
no subject
Date: 2025-04-12 03:10 pm (UTC)"I had no intentions of complaining." Not thus far, anyway. They aren't doing anything more criminally inclined than he's comfortable with - though it's become clear over the past few years that he's nowhere near as priggish about petty crime than he might have assumed. "If anything, I'm hoping you'll find nothing but well-paid work that takes you all over Tal'Dorei."
He'll share in the profits, after all, and perhaps he'll pick up word of Ripley again on their travels. How convenient it would be if he could make her suffer without going too far out of his way for it.
As they near the tavern once more, he reaches out to open the door for her. Inside, he's hoping to see the room cleared out, or at least populated by people too drunk to care about their presence one way or another.
no subject
Date: 2025-04-15 03:29 pm (UTC)"I'll drink to that," she says, smiling as she glances back over her shoulder. "If you'd care for another round before bed?"
A round of ale, that is.
"Though perhaps I should check on Vax before he pisses off the wrong person and we all have to leave in the night?"
no subject
Date: 2025-04-16 05:15 pm (UTC)He can't afford to strike off on his own just now, and he's not in the mood to try. Whatever preserves his fragile entry into this new life is his preference.
"That sounds great," he says, his smile easy, then amends, "both those things. I'll get the drinks?"
She'll see to her brother, he'll put the ale on their tab, and when he comes to join her, she'll have found an appropriate place for them to sit. It's the neatest solution, as he sees it.
no subject
Date: 2025-04-20 07:55 pm (UTC)Anything else will be a problem for tomorrow.
While Percy procures their drinks, Vex slips in next to her bother. Confirming he's doing well and hasn't worried, she leaves him with a kiss on the cheek for luck. She's gone before anyone can start to wonder if she's whispering anything to her brother that might amount to cheating. Which is ridiculous, of course. Vax hardly needs her help to fleece a group like this.
She's in good, if more subdued, spirits when she joins Percival at a table.
"You didn't get lonely without me, I hope."
no subject
Date: 2025-04-28 11:36 am (UTC)There's just something about family, others' families, that simultaneously reassures him and makes him feel bitterly alone. No, not something - he knows precisely what it is that puts that twinge in his heart - but a truth he can't allow himself to dwell on right now. More to the point, there's a swell of affection and jealousy in his chest, and he can't replace it with idle daydreaming.
So it's a lie, technically, when he answers, "Oh, no, I'm not quite so pathetic as that," and nudges a cup toward her, but it's one of an endless litany of necessary lies. "Er - how is your brother?"
no subject
Date: 2025-04-30 05:59 am (UTC)Barely cheating.
She turns back, reassured that the game has Vax absorbed a while longer.
"And I wouldn't call being lonely pathetic. Just... a problem easily solved."
no subject
Date: 2025-05-04 09:03 pm (UTC)(It is good that her brother's making some money, but saying so seems...inappropriately interested in the matter of the collective purse. Which would be acceptable, if tasteless, when he's better established. Right now, he's sure it'll sound too much like casing a place before stealing from it and disappearing into the night.)
The alcohol's a fine distraction anyhow, pleasantly bitter in his mouth. Pity it's also loosening his tongue - a moment's boldness takes him, and he adds, "Fortunately, it's not a problem I plan to have tonight, pathetic or not."
no subject
Date: 2025-05-11 01:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-05-11 02:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-05-14 07:41 pm (UTC)But surely a little banter doesn't hurt.
She leans closer, propped on one elbow.
"And just how long do you think you can keep up?"
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Date: 2025-05-15 03:53 am (UTC)All right, hours is likely pushing it. But the idea of remaining in her company makes him inclined towards hyperbole.
no subject
Date: 2025-05-16 01:08 am (UTC)To keep the conversation going.
To issue, however unseriously, a little bit of a challenge for him to prove it.
"Well, you do seem like the driven sort. I wonder if we ought to be getting you another bowl of stew to keep your strength up."
no subject
Date: 2025-05-16 02:52 am (UTC)"I could probably down another meal, too," he admits, "but it's not a dire emergency. I received my fair share of bread and water before you found me."
Not much more, but supper tonight made a dent in that ever-gnawing hunger that comes of being young, tall, and penniless. And he's still conscious of the fact that any money spent on him isn't really earned, at this point.
no subject
Date: 2025-05-16 05:36 pm (UTC)Well.
Any kind of physical exertion.
"We'll see you get breakfast before we leave tomorrow." One brow lifts to lighten the tone again. "Or something to eat, at least."
no subject
Date: 2025-05-16 06:14 pm (UTC)(How wonderful to receive tacit encouragement for another round of cunnilingus. Ever a sucker for evidence of a job well done, he's torn between embarrassment and preening.)
"I'd like that." As banter goes, it's far too earnest, but thus far, clear admissions of desire have served him well. "A slightly later start - or perhaps an earlier one. I could ask them to have some food sent up to us around sunrise."
no subject
Date: 2025-05-18 07:00 pm (UTC)She doesn't see them having the morning alone upstairs.
And, implicitly, she doesn't see them getting a room alone tonight.
But...
"However, we may be able to sneak down while the others are sleeping off their hangovers. Keyleth aside, there are not many morning people in our little group."
no subject
Date: 2025-05-19 02:40 am (UTC)"Under most circumstances, I'm not much of a morning person." Ideally, if he's to be awake at daybreak, it's because he lost track of time in the course of a long night - though his time on the fishing boat certainly taught him to fake his way through early rises. "But if I'm going to get to sneak around with you, that sweetens the deal."
It's the most overt flirting he's committed himself to in years, possibly ever.
no subject
Date: 2025-05-19 10:00 pm (UTC)Percival is an interesting man.
"I suppose I'll simply have to think of a way to energize you."
no subject
Date: 2025-05-20 12:44 am (UTC)In fact - he can't resist pushing his luck, reasoning that she'd made similar overtures earlier, before they'd thoroughly debauched themselves. "Enough so that waiting for the morning might be torture."
...All right, as overtures go, it's still rather subtle. He'd rather not come right out and say it, I'm willing to give it another go if you are.
no subject
Date: 2025-05-20 05:35 pm (UTC)And the idea that waiting for her is torture is flattering when he's more or less just come from having her is quite flattering.
"And is there anything that might ease your hardship?"
no subject
Date: 2025-05-20 05:45 pm (UTC)It's a dangerous game to play, deception, but he's gotten better at it over the last few years.
Also dangerous: overtures. He's can tell he's trifling with fire here, and yet he can't resist the opportunity to burn his hands. "The, ah, pleasure of your company?"
no subject
Date: 2025-05-22 06:03 am (UTC)(no subject)
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