Steal Any Love Lately?

[Tabitha Wolfe]

Tabitha was fond of a cute little boy. Weird, right? Seeing as she didn’t like men. Well she liked him. No, not like that. Right? Screw it. She was walking around Eastern Fiore because she could. Simple as that. She had on one of her short skirts, lace up leather boots with knives hidden in all the right places, and a tank top. It served her well, and she was minding her own business. She was bored enough that she was re-braiding the braids in the front of her hair, but that didn’t mean she was oblivious.

When she happened to see someone with a Blue Pegasus tattoo on his hand, well she didn’t miss it. Blue Pegasus? In my view? Oh, that’s just adorable… He was asking about some woman’s house. A pretty young woman named Linda, apparently. It proved curious enough, and Tabitha found herself happily stalking her prey. This youngling must be new, because he didn’t notice he was being followed for a good hour. Asking around, finding his location, and… he had a paper. Bingo. There was a mysterious crash in a nearby alley, produced by a bit of her magic, and when he went to investigate, it really wasn’t her fault what happened to him.

She made her way back to the main road, and spotted a black haired boy. She was more surprised than anything else, but might have been happier once that feeling faded. She’d met him three and a half months earlier, and found he was probably the only person in her guild she tolerated on a regular basis. She worked with people when she needed to, unless it was Sharaku. She worked with Sharaku when he came to mind. It was fun. Some of her suggested “work” was making him go grocery shopping with her. She knew in the end she couldn’t make him do anything, but it was just too much fun to drag him around a bit. He wasn’t rude to her, didn’t hit on her, and he made her laugh at his awkwardness. Sure, she was fond of him. He was like an actual person, and in a guild of thieves and murderous sociopaths, she’d found those to be rare form.

“Well what’s my absolute favorite little pretty boy doing in these parts?” she asked in a cheerful voice. It sounded just as sweet and flirtatious as ever. Full of intentions she didn’t really mean, but playfulness he hadn’t been totally turned off to just yet. She was actually happy to see him by now, but she also had a use for him. She’d read over the minor details of the job, and it sounded like it might be dull. She could use his help with that, and later when she actually found out the real details of this stolen Blue Pegasus job, she would have other tasks for him. However, that would have to wait until she finally met this Linda. First thing first… convince Sharaku to help.

501/500

[Sharaku]

“A job, actually,” Sharaku told Tabitha after he’d stopped and turned to the direction of her voice. Well, he’d actually finished the job already. It hadn’t been a priority or anything, but he’d been bored and wanted to get out and see the world. Well, he’d wanted to get out and away from the majority of Shadow Heart. Sometimes it was nice to see the rest of the world free of the influence of the guild of secrets and lies. It had certainly put Sharaku in better spirits. “I was just heading back,” he informed the assassin with a casual shrug. As usual he didn’t respond to her flirts. He was getting better at ignoring them, as often as they came.

She was probably on a job too to be all the way out here. It was a ways from Crocus. Not that Fiore was a big country. “What about you?” Sharaku returned. “You come all the way to this tiny little town just to stalk me?” he joked with a slight grin on his face. He didn’t expect that this was the case, but one could never tell with a girl like Tabitha. She might stalk him just to mess with him if she was bored enough.

[Tabitha Wolfe]

Tabitha didn’t like him. Nope. She was going to ignore all of her training and all of those emotions she’d had from him saving her life. But man did she want to say something inappropriate right now. She bit the her left bottom lip for a moment, looking at him. He had been on a job. Well, that wasn’t surprising, but she was still happy to see him. Tabitha giggled at the implication she was stalking him, and moved within his personal space. They were friends. With a stranger she might do this to make them uncomfortable, but with Sharaku… well… she cared about him. She did this in teasing, and if it sincerely felt like he would be unhappy with this, she would have stopped.

Tabitha put her hands on Sharaku’s shoulders, smiling at him from only inches from his face now, “I actually haven’t been stalking you… but would you like me to start now?” she teased. The grin that broke out on her face was unual. She could keep her cool and composure in any situation… but why? She liked him… er, his company, and that matter. “Do you actually think I stalk you?” she asked him, half curious, half teasing.

[Sharaku]

“you haven’t, huh?” Sharaku took about half a step back as Tabitha appeared in his face, insisting she wasn’t stalking him. At least she was kind enough to offer… right? “You do a good enough job without it,” Sharaku told the girl coolly as he allowed his own amused grin. She was entertaining, if nothing else. But to say there was nothing else would be pretty stupid. She was good-looking, even if he tried not to think about it, and she was one of the more lively guild members, even if she was the most in his face. She had a spark in her that very few members he interacted with had.

Tabitha chose to ask if Sharaku actually thought she stalked him, which caused him to roll his eyes good-naturedly. “If I actually thought you stalked me, I don’t think I’d leave the curtains on my windows open when I slept some nights. It’d get a little bit er... unnerving, friend or not.” That was true. He didn’t like being watched. Being watched while he tried to sleep… if Sharaku were an especially reactive person most of the time, he would have shuddered. He kept it mental for now.

[Tabitha Wolfe]

Tabitha had to grin back at his amused grin. It was a pleasure being around him. He was helpful when she nearly died, and he was entertaining every other time. He was even softening up for her. He seemed genuinely uninterested in the rest of the their guild mates, and so his seeming positive of toward her company was a nice sight. “I don’t stalk people unless they’re my prey… and I don’t think you’re my prey,” she told him, still teasing a bit. It was just more fun to do in this kind of situation. The extremes. Someone she liked or something she wanted to freak out. Obviously she didn’t want to freak him out.

“You leave your curtains open at night? Wow… quite trusting,” she mused. She didn’t. She didn’t want anyone to be able to see her when she was asleep. Being asleep made her vulnerable. As it happened he’d seen her at her most vulnerable, but still, she didn’t sleep with her curtains open. She didn’t want people to know where she lived.

“So, speaking of work… would you mind being absolutely delightful…” she asked, her tone still that charming teasing she liked to play with, but for the next statement she spoke plainly, “and helping me out on a job? Its nothing dramatic, just a delivery job for a guild we’re not a part of… but I’d appreciate the company.”

940/500

[Sharaku]

Sharaku was quite trusting, in a way. He was also a light sleeper, and the window had no direct view of his bed without great difficulty. He didn't trust Shadow Heart, but he did trust that they feared their leaders enough not to try anything too stupid. He also trusted Tabitha far more than one normally trusted an assassin who manipulated people for fun and profit. “I’m not your prey, huh?” Sharaku asked teasingly, “I must be misinterpreting that look you get in your eye sometimes.” He reached out and poked her nose since her face was so close to his, mostly to see if she would move or not.

“Yeah, I can help you deliver a letter… did you steal it from another guild?” Sharaku didn’t particularly care. He cared if people hurt children… but other guilds were potentially enemies anyway, and he didn’t mind getting rid of someone who might try and harm or kill him nearly as much. If they got his or her money instead… that was just one more edge they had. Sharaku shared one thing with Tabitha at the very least – a preference for controlling that which was beneficial to control. He was an intelligent strategist and talented martial artist. He would take any edge he could get over his rivals and foes. Not so much with Tabitha.

[Tabitha Wolfe]

Not all Shadow Heart members were smart enough to keep their noses out of each other’s business. In a way that included Tabitha. She was getting a bit more involved with Sharaku than she ought. Friends, ugh, how weird? Well she felt like it, and here she was. Her face lit up some when he poked her nose, her smile spreading to all of her features. “You’re an odd one. And yes, you must be misinterpreting it.” She couldn’t really say what that look meant. Maybe it was accurate to claim it was her viewing him like prey. No… a target. That was it, but not prey.

Sharaku easily guessed that Tabitha had stolen the job from some other guild. Although her saying it was from another job made it an easy guess. She shrugged, “Perhaps,” she told him, being vague just for the sake of it. She hadn’t hurt any children. She didn’t tell him about the butcher shop. She didn’t say she’d been reckless because some man had been murdering children for fun. Honestly, what would have made him care? She didn’t know his opinions on a lot of things. She knew he wasn’t a senseless murderer, so he wouldn’t want to hurt innocents. Logically.

“This woman named Linda wants a letter delivered. And it says her address. So I figure we go there… meet the lovely lady, and do the job. Also we’re with Blue Pegasus… if anyone asks…” she said, looking around, blinking a few times to smooth this over. “Or at least the kid who had the paper is, but… details,” she shrugged. She hooked her arm in his and began encouraging him to walk with her. She wanted to find out all the details to this little job.

[Sharaku]

“Misinterpreting or not, you’re confusing when you try to be,” Sharaku shrugged nonchalantly. His voice was very nearly always even and casual. Not without emotion, but not exactly flooded with it either. He was teasing about her being confusing. Not that it wasn’t true in just about every way, but he obviously didn’t mean it to be rude or anything. As if in response, Tabitha had simply answered “perhaps” to his comment about stealing the letter. It was rather obvious, but she was being vague because she felt like it. No wonder she was confusing.

Sharaku blinked when Tabitha hooked her arm in his. His arms were, predictably, in his pockets where it was easy to hook around his arm and drag him off. A slight blush crossed his face, simply because Tabitha was a pretty young woman dragging him around like that, but he didn’t mention it. “Blue Pegasus, got it,” he nodded. His guild tattoo wasn’t easily seen while he had a shirt on anyway, and it wasn’t like people were into questioning a couple of helpful wizards. “So what, is the arm-hooking thing part of our cover?” Sharaku asked, still blushing slightly as he tried not to think much about it. He didn't think it was since they didn't need a cover as far as he could tell, but he asked anyway, more for fun than anything.

[Tabitha Wolfe]

Tabitha wasn’t confusing. Okay, that was a horrible lie. Tabitha was confused, when she wanted to be and often when she didn’t even try to be. She could be just as clear as her knives, but deception was her game. Misdirection, confusion, and chaos. As long as she was able to stand behind it all, pulling each and every delicate string, she was a happy girl. When someone else pulled her strings, she wasn’t pleased. She didn’t even like when they tried.

Sharaku was an easy catch, and he didn’t resist being pulled along. She was pleased by this. She liked when he went along with things, and she liked wining. Besides, he was fun arm candy. She noticed the blushing and just smiled, but didn’t draw any attention to that. There was no need. She wasn’t actually trying to make him blush just now. She could save that for later. Her guild tattoo was not visible in any appropriate public outfit, unless she was wearing a bikini, and that was the only time. “Do I need a reason to want to stand next to my awkward and attractive friend?” she teased him, looking at his face. Yes, still blushing. She smirked and just kept walking.

Tabitha knocked on the front door, allowing herself to be separated from Sharaku for the moment before the woman answered. An attractive green haired woman answered. Tabitha knew she was attractive, probably more acceptably than she was. She resisted the urge to frown. Normally she wouldn’t care, except Sharaku was here, and for some reason she cared.

“Hello, may I help you?” she asked. And she was nice too….

“Hi,” Tabitha said, smiling and looking completely innocent and friendly, “We’re here about the job. You needed a letter delivered?”

[Sharaku]

“Not really.” Tabitha didn’t *need* a reason to do anything. She’d made that abundantly clear plenty of times before. Sharaku didn’t care most of the time. He wasn’t the most opinionated person in the world. It was hard to judge someone else when you knew your life’s goal was stupid at best, regardless of how much you wanted it. It didn’t make it less awkward because there was no reason. If anything, it made it slightly more awkward.

Finally, they arrived in front of an attractive girl with green hair. She must have been the next stop in this person’s mission. Sharaku couldn’t help but wonder what innocent mission the pair had hijacked, but he supposed it didn’t matter now. He let Tabitha do the talking, simply saying “Hi,” when the woman answered the door.

Tabitha mentioned needing a letter delivered, and Sharaku just stood there, looking nonchalant. What girls were attractive and what girls weren’t attractive wasn’t really an important detail in Sharaku’s mind. He didn’t have time for relationships. Friendships, perhaps, but he would be doing any girl a disservice by flirting with them if he had a high possibility of disappearing sometime in the future. He was perfectly happy to amuse Tabitha for now, though. At least one of them remembered how to have fun.

[Tabitha Wolfe]

Sharaku didn’t have to care about flirting and girls, but Tabitha cared about girls. She cared about girls because she liked girls, and unfortunate because… she liked him. She could waver in her acceptance of that, but she did like him. It sucked. Why did he have to be good looking and reliable and helpful? And she liked being physically near him. It was just like girls she’d liked, except they had ended up being a fling or a girlfriend along the way. The only people Tabitha could be open toward. People who saw Tabitha, and not the black widow. Well she couldn’t go back and fix things now, she was in a guild with him.

Sharaku gave the most bland gretting and Tabitha reminded herself he was arm candy. HE would make good company for the rest fo whatever they were doing. Unless it was around a lot of people, oh that would be dull. She would need to invent a game to keep herself occupied. There was no reason to assume that though, they’d only just met the client, and she was going to have them deliver something.

“Come inside,” she said, opening up her home to them. She had an arm chair and a love seat, which resulted in Tabitha sitting down on the love seat and making sure Sharaku sat next to her. “Well, you must be with Blue Pegasus,” she said to them. Tabitha nodded.

“Yep.” Lying like it was second nature, as it easily was.

“Well, I need this delivered to my boyfriend Mark, he lives in Era,” she explained. She spoke with some affection in her tone, and Tabitha felt some sort of sympathy for the girl. It wasn’t a bad thing to care about someone. To have emotions and express them. Tabitha could have missed being able to do that on a regular basis.

“I understand you must want to keep your message safe,” Tabitha told her, with sincere understanding.

“Are you two…?”

Oh. She was just going to give it to Tabitha like that? Well, Tabitha wouldn’t turn down a perfectly good cover. She put her hand on Sharaku’s knee. It was a bit odd, never having done that to him, and never having actually… felt something for a man, but she could play the game. “Yes, we’re a couple. So we’re going to make especially sure your letter stays safe.”

1929/500

[Sharaku]

Sharaku set quietly nodding at the appropriate times to assist Tabitha in her usual round of deceit. Sometimes he wondered when he became okay with that kind of stuff. Was it because he had accepted that he had thrown in his lot with the dark guild? Not that it mattered, he knew there was no backing out from Shadow Heart without repercussions, and he had to live for now. They were just sitting there, on a love seat, Tabitha acting somewhat affectionate as the other woman lovingly said she had an important letter for her boyfriend. It came as no surprise when she asked if they were a couple. It didn’t stop him from blushing when Tabitha predictably said they were.

“Er, yeah, we’ve been together for several months,” was Sharaku’s half truthful response. It sounded more like he was shy than he was lying. He was more thrown off by Tabitha than the lie itself though. “No one will touch the letter but Tabby,” Sharaku nodded, trying to sound like it was his own cute nickname for her. “The letter will be safe, just like she says,” Sharaku promised. Would it stay safe? It depended on if Tabitha was more interested in the money or the contents of the letter, Sharaku supposed.

[Tabitha Wolfe]

It was cute when he blushed, and amusing. Tabitha smiled some at it. It looked more affectionate than teasing, but maybe that was just her playing the role. Several months. It was an accurate statement, just not an accurate portrayal of the truth. She didn’t mind. She got to keep her hand on his knee, and he called her Tabby. That was a nickname of hers. But coming from him… it was certainly a new thing to be called by another wizard.

“I think he’d know what kind of a person I am,” Tabitha said with a nod. She would keep it safe, but that wasn’t the point. The point was that he was right, it came down to her preference. And he actually did know her alright. She didn’t know if that meant he felt positively about her or not. She didn’t know if she was a positive or negative person. She was just… her.

“Thank you both. Mark will meet you at his address in Era. Its on the letter. I just need to make sure this gets there safe,” Linda explained again. Tabitha nodded. She took the delivery and put it in her bag for safe keeping. She grabbed Sharaku’s hand on the way out of the house, and waved at Linda with her other hand. It was odd, and when they got far enough away from the house she said, “So Linda’s cute, right?”

[Sharaku]

Yeah, Sharaku knew her better than most people, but was that a jab or her admitting that as the truth? Tabitha was hard to read sometimes, especially when she was spending the majority of the time lying to one person and he had to guess if she was just lying to everyone or if she was alternately lying to one and telling the truth to another, or what. This was why Sharaku didn’t play mind games. He wasn’t particularly good at it, though he *was*generally decent at reading people. Even Tabitha when she let him.

Finally, the pair got up to leave and Sharaku was more than glad to. He’d been playing it down, but Sharaku did have a problem with talking to pretty girls. It was one of the reasons he’d been so quiet the entire tme. When Tabitha asked if the girl was attractive, Shraku looked away, shrugging nonchalantly. “I suppose,” he answered. What did it matter? He wasn’t dating the woman, and she already had a boyfriend anyway. There was literally no reason it mattered. “So, what, we’re talking to Era just to play mailman for this girl?” he asked, not really minding. He wasn’t that big of a fan of going home, and he was more chivalrous than he wanted to pretend he was.

[Tabitha Wolfe]

Mind games were so much fun. It was fun to give people enough rope to hang themselves, and enough light to either find their way out or get irreparably lost. It was fun to see what they would guess, and it was just fun being vague. It was safer, easier, and more amusing. Not that she enjoyed people playing games with her head. No, that wasn’t allowed. She wasn’t the dummy, she was the ventriloquist.

Still, she wasn’t going out of her way to lie to Sharaku. They left Linda’s home and were heading toward Era. Tabitha had never been to Era. Or if she had, it was when she was homeless and running around. So nothing memorable. Apparently Sharaku didn’t much care about the attractive woman. Tabitha arched an eyebrow, then tapped the tip of his nose as he’d done to her earlier. “Are you like… completely not into women, Shar?” Okay, so there was the issue of going to Era and playing mailman. “Yes, I figure we can just do the job. She seemed nice. And I’ve got to get all the mileage out of our dating as I can, right?” she teased, nudging his shoulder casually as they kept walking.

[Sharaku]

Sharaku would have rolled his eyes if he was an animated person. She was asking a question she should know the answer to, at least based on the way she could make him awkward and his general disdain for most other males. Instead, he just shrugged as he often did. "She has a lover," he reminded her. He wondered if that would stop her if she were interested in someone. He wasn't especially keen on finding out, he supposed, so he didn't ask.

"We're not dating," Sharaku reminded her, though he wasn't sure why He didn't try to stop her random affection either. "At least not for real." If it were for their cover? Sure. Little things like that to throw people off of their trail in the future were good things, he supposed. Not that he tried that hard to cover things up, save for his status as a dark guild member. He rubbed his shoulder where she'd nudged him as if it hurt, finally grinning a bit. "Besides, I'm pretty sure I'd be a terrible date," he decided aloud.

It wasn't that he couldn't be a good date. He absolutlely would for the job, but his mind wasn't generally on things like dating. Finding love was one of the last things on his mind. Sure, Tabitha was cute. Sure, he was actually just barely reckless enough to take a chance with a girl like her. But this was real life, and in real life, Sharaku practically died around women he was actually interested in. Not to mention the whole issue of what might happen in the future, what with throwing in with Shadow Heart.

[Tabitha Wolfe]

Okay, so Tabitha knew girls made Sharaku awkward, but that didn’t directly mean he was interested in them. She assumed as much. He had this charming gentleman thing going for him, masked under the dark allure of a cunning fighter. Why did she have to think of it that way? Now it sounded even hotter. Okay, well regardless, her question was meant more that he wasn’t interested, than that he didn’t find them attractive. Linda had a lover, right, so that… was really important for now.

“That doesn’t mean you can’t act like a man. She’s hot, last I checked guys liked that,” Tabitha shrugged. It was actually a pretty honest answer, but chances were her general vagueness would just leave him as confused as ever. Such as, why would she bring this up? Yeah, it was random, outside of hr own head.

She frowned at him. Yeah, they weren’t dating. At least not for real. Oh he just had to throw reality back into her happy playful afternoon. She still nudged him, and he still rubbed his shoulder. She thought for a moment he was acting like being near her was painful, but she supposed that wasn’t it. “Oh, I don’t know about that. I doubt I seem like a good date, but my exes would probably contradict that,” she mused, “There is more to dating than being capable of flirting without turning red. Its…. Not important,” she shrugged.

She wouldn’t like him getting himself hurt, but she didn’t know his plans. She supposed she should just walk and keep teasing him. Being serious wouldn’t really help anything.

[Sharaku]

“I know there’s more than that. I have more reasons,” Sharaku shrugged as they walked. It was a bit of a walk all the way to Era, but at least it was time not spent at his new home, and with someone he didn’t mind being around. “Besides, last I checked not all men had to drool over someone because they were good looking,” Sharaku responded to Tabitha. A slight grin crossed his face. She had a way of making him joke a little more than normal. “If I did, I might need a bib, and people would think I had some sort of mental problem,” he told her with a shrug.


He blushed slightly when he said it, mostly because complimenting peoples’ appearance wasn’t something he did. He didn’t put that much stock in appearance. People liked how he looked and he was hardly a good person or someone they should date, so he knew better than to think that way with other people. He stuck his hands in his pockets again as they walked, not minding if Tabitha clung or whatever else she did. She was an odd one. She would be a good date. She could read people and give them what they wanted, if she wanted. If she thought she didn’t seem like a good date, she hadn’t seen the way people reacted to a girl with looks and smarts like her.

[Tabitha Wolfe]

“Well we’re friends, and you should share them. I mean…” she cleared her throat, as if getting into character, “We’re a couple… today. So you should tell me why you can’t date,” she was teasing. She didn’t necessarily need to know. She could like him without it amounting to anything. She liked him, but she supposed that didn’t mean she wanted to date him. She wasn’t entirely sure what she wanted, even if she could have had anything she liked.

“No, not drool. Just… appreciate. I can appreciate a good looking woman, a lot more than a good looking man,” she said without explanation. She couldn’t help but laugh and lighten up when he said he’d need a bib. “Way to ruin a good teasing, Shar. I don’t want you drooling on everything I suppose, so you win… for now.”

Tabitha felt like Shar was a reasonably good person, but she was a biased judge. His hands went in his pocket and she hooked her arm around his again, putting her head against his shoulder. She could handle making the long walk this way. It put her somewhat at ease. That wasn’t smart for work, but were they really working? They were walking along and happened to have a harmless letter. She doubted they’d get in trouble for it. So she relaxed. She felt like asking him about himself, since she had the joke that they were dating to pull out as a reason. Yet it seemed a bit too invested. She didn’t want him to shrug it off. “I like taking jobs with you,” she said instead.

[Sharaku]

Sharaku didn’t mind winning every once in a while. Usually she won their little “contests,” if you could even call them that. He usually let her without much work, she seemed to enjoy that. Besides, her games weren’t his cup of tea, at least when it came in doing them himself. “Good, because I forgot my bib,” he answered her as she attached herself to him. They really were quite the couple. Anyone looking at the pair would think they were lovers walking down the road. Appearances, as far as that went, weren’t really something he was concerned about. What other people thought about him was unimportant, at best.

“You’re my favorite partner,” Sharaku agreed when Tabitha insisted that she liked taking jobs with him. It was the simple truth. Of the several people he’d worked with over time, Fayte and Tabitha were easily the best. Fayte because she kept to herself, didn’t ask questions, and was efficient and strong. He liked Tabitha because she made things less boring. She was also a pretty good partner in a fight, he thought as he remembered their tussle at the graveyard. “Who else would steal a letter and invite me along?” he asked as if it were the best trait a partner could have.

[Tabitha Wolfe]

Yes, Tabitha liked winning. She liked a good sport. Someone who would let her play around and let her have her way. It wasn’t a matter of pride, it wasn’t a matter of competition or control, it was a matter of… she wasn’t sure. Some things that didn’t usually cross her mind. Kindness. Generosity. Character. It was just fun to her because when he let her have her way, she knew it was his choice. It wasn’t something she won, it was something he allowed. She didn’t have to worry about resting control from him, because he just let things go. It was annoyingly sweet. Not him, he wasn’t annoyingly sweet. The thought process was annoyingly sweet. She wasn’t even sure what she was thinking.

Tabitha remained attached as they walked. She was his favorite partner, hm? Well that was… sweet. “I don’t work with other people. I never like to think I need anyone. They’re just there to make me feel inferior…” she said. It didn’t… what? Her eyes moved to the ground, but she couldn’t say for sure what brought that to mind. It was true. A combination of things. Generally speaking she considered people too stupid to work with, or too slow, or too picky. The reason she didn’t let anyone close to her, besides her exes, that was the rest of what she’d said. That was based on her childhood though.

“I’m good at stealing things. And dragging you into weird situations.” She had a lot on her mind, but supposed it would probably be best to just walk and not run her mouth to things she didn’t normally discuss.

[Sharaku]

“That you are,” Sharaku nodded when Tabitha insisted she was good at stealing things and dragging him into weird situations. She most certainly was. No one was as good at getting Sharaku into odd situations as she was. Mostly because she was the only one he actually let drag into situations that weren’t direct orders, and so far other forces had used him as more of an enforcer than an agent of awkwardness. Which was his general preference anyway. “You’re lucky your situations are amusing enough I keep letting you,” Sharaku teased.

He let out a gentle sigh as they walked. It was a bit awkward with her head on his shoulder, at least when it came to walking. She looked more content than normal to him, which was probably good. Sharaku couldn’t remember how far it was to Era from here. He hadn’t been home in a while, and he’d rarely gone there from where they had left. It didn’t matter. He had his camping equipment for emergencies, and he would at least be stuck with the one person that didn’t get on his nerves.

“Why do you enjoy teasing me so much?” he asked curiously, not really expecting a serious answer from her. She would either tease or avoid, most likely. It wasn’t that important. Knowing other people’s reasoning ran the risk of getting a low ranking dark guild member into trouble, and it wasn’t a habit he intended to get into.

[Tabitha Wolfe]

She was content. It wasn’t very common for her, but she felt mostly content. Perhaps not entirely content, because Tabitha just couldn’t be that way. She had things she wanted, but how many goals did she really have? One thing she wanted was to find a purpose, but until that happened all she was doing was continuing on. It was her decision to make, and that was good enough most of the time. It allowed for a sort of contentment, but also a common trap of boredom. Sharaku at least allowed her a high entertainment value.

“I aim for amusing. It keeps me from being too bored. I get stupid when I get bored,” she explained simply. She wasn’t a genius, by any measure of the term. She wasn’t stupid either. All Tabitha was… was… there. Well, she didn’t know. She wasn’t educated very well, but she was smart enough to survive. She had instincts that helped her out when her better judgment was gone. Sharaku was smarter than her, and probably more educated, but they didn’t exactly talk about their pasts.

“Why?... because you’re… good company. You’re my friend, and I enjoy how you react.” Him sassing back was amusing, him blushing was cute. It was pretty well a win-win for her. “Why did a guy like you join a group like us?” she asked. She didn’t know if he’d answer. It just… didn’t make sense, “You’re too good a person.”

[Sharaku]

Well what did you know? An honest sounding answer. Sharaku had hardly expected that from the likes of Tabitha. Not because he thought badly about her, obviously, but because she loved to not tell the truth and give coy answers at best. Sharaku blinked a couple of times before making a small amused sound as he shrugged to himself. He liked that she’d actually answered his question, despite not having cared particularly if she didn’t.

It was enough to make the ebon-haired wizard boy decide he might as well answer her question at least partially. “My father was a member of the Magic Council,” Sharaku explained, fully aware that sounded like he should have been some goody-two-shoes council mage instead. He looked over at her, a serious look on his face, and a slightly dangerous look in his eye. “Someone had him killed as a setup. I don’t know who, but Shadow Heart promised to help me if I helped them.”

His posture was slightly more tense, but after a short moment he visibly relaxed back to his normal posture, and he grinned at her. “Sorry, you gave me a real answer. I figured I would give you one too. It’s not a pleasant thought though.”

[Tabitha Wolfe]

She was capable of an honest answer. She simply rarely felt like giving them. She did want an honest answer to her question though. And he gave her that. She frowned. He looked so… different talking about this. She didn’t like it. She liked the sweet and confused and strange boy she’d had moments before. He looked like she did when she got angry. Stupid. He was too smart for that. She hoped.

So he must have had a good father. She pulled back from him, no longer clinging to his arm like some lost pet. She crossed her arms, feeling the knives at her back and legs. They were her protection. She didn’t need to feel so uncomfortable. So he joined Shadow Heart as a means to some vengeful end. She wasn’t stupid enough to tangle with the Magic Council. They had some weird crusade against guildless mages. It would only fuel the fire. Whatever power they had right now could be easily snuffed. Still, she didn’t mess with the council.

“I’m sorry,” she sighed, still standing separately from him. Her arms felt  cold away from his body heat. “My father is a *******. He kicked me out because I wasn’t good enough for his new wife,” she told him. One more honest answer. She didn’t even pay attention to his apologizing for giving her an honest answer. “Human beings are not good creatures…” she said thoughtfully, looking at the road ahead, “Its why I don’t need any of them… I’m sorry about your father.” There wasn't much else she could say.

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