A Double Cross and Deception

[Lance]

It was a warm, sunny day in the City of Fire, a light breeze cutting through the normally omnipresent heat, carrying a cool air from the frozen form of the Fire Palace. Dragons perched atop the great iceberg, attempting to melt or chip away at it with their powerful voice.

But for a lone, wealthy noble in the city, the icy prison of his King's home wasn't a concern, the impending war was not a cause of worry...because he was currently quite panicked about the long slender blade that had just perforated his skull, or he would be, if the blade hadn't ruptured his Medulla Oblongata. Said blade belonged to a man in a rather gauche outfit, though peculiarly enough, the blade was protruding from his palm, which was also curiously made of wood.

This man then silently withdrew his blade, which retracted with a near silent *click* into his hand, and then pulled the man's body into his bed, arranging the sheets as if he was sleeping. "A pleasure doing business with you my friend. Perhaps next time you won't attempt to traffic women through the kingdom for use in your little 'pleasure palaces'...oh of course you won't...because you're deceased.~"

The masked killer then proceeded to silently creep out of the room, calmly slipping out into a shaded back alley before emerging onto a street bustling with activity, the crowd not even noticing him thanks to a troupe of similarly garish fellows who were doing a tumbling act in the town square. "Ah, good, glad to see that they're still performing so nicely...heh, though with Ellie at the helm, why be worried at all?~"

The man watched from afar, his eyes fixated on a particular woman in the group, the only woman in the group...Ellie, his "Hellaquin."

[roseline]

It had been a while since Helliquin had danced, it was getting harder and harder to find excuses to do so, what with the world frozen in terror and all (pun fully intended). It was nice to do so though, it was nice to see the children scramble at her feet and grab at the frills on her outfit. While Solis might be dressed for murder she was a sight in silk and bows such that might have made her own grandmother blush....were the womans head not lopped from her body long ago.

Kids did so love sparkly and shiny things that twirled in the sunlight for them. Ellie liked them just as much back, her one weakness, evident in the way she would find flowers to present to them like a magic trick or twirl them into the dance like they were meant to be there, happy and laughing and more alive than she ever looked outside of these moments.

Then the familliar burning of eyes itched at her and she was reminded she had, not one, but two weaknesses. Setting the most recent lucky scamp down she raised up a hand and balled it into a fist as the dancers came to a stop behind her and they all took a bow.

"Thank you all! I hope the Troupe and I have a chance to perform for you again!" she called the exhileration bleeding emotion into her normally flat voice before she scooped up the donation box filled with gold coins and passed it over to one of the troupe to take away before they shut down.

Finally able to focus her attention on the one whom kept eyeing her up she didn't put much subtlty into the action, simply skipped over to her second weakness and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Didn't anyone tell you it's impolite to stare?" she teased as her voice lowered an octave or so, trying so hard to fight the smirk pulling at her lips.

[Lance]

Harlequin chuckled, seeing the ever so subtle pullings of mana "strings" as she ordered the dancing puppets to leave with their legitimate earnings while she bounced up to him. "Hah.~ I couldn't help it, with such a beautiful work of art in front of me.~"

He reached up and caressed her masked face with the back of his hand, his own deep voice a smooth, velvety croon as he looked at her through mask covered eyes. How he yearned to feel her with the same sensitivity of flesh, and not the deadened touch of enchanted wood, metal and stone. But, he reminded himself that short of raiding some decrepit and dangerous twilight kingdom dungeon in hopes of finding an actual golem...but no, he would never risk her safety like that. "My own performance is finished as well, not a drop of blood out of place.~ Now we can just enjoy each other's company, get our riches and plan our next move. I hear the earth kingdom is nice and placid this time of year, it would be a welcome change from this heat."

[roseline]

Ellie's playfulness melted away whenever harlequin touched her, it was a reflex almost, it calmed her when nothing else could. She wrapped her hand around his wooden one and didn't really give a damn that it was wooden....that was simply the Harlequin she knew, and while she always mourned his loss of humanity, she herself didn't care if he was wood or flesh....he was hers.

"Flaterer," she mumbled as a rare pink dusting settled on her cheeks and peeked out around the edges of the mask she wore. She even tried to shove his chest for emphasis, but being wood, it rather lost effect as she just avoided his eyes entirely. Helliquin, master poisoner, expert dancer, assassin-for-hire....undone by compliments!

"Oh speaking of earth kingdom, a claimant has emerged for that!" she declared suddenly before pulling harlequin into the alleyway so they could talk 'buisiness' as it were.

"Basically mom wanted to use her daughter as a puppet, daughter said screw you mom, and they had a bit of a public spat. Unfortunately she said something racist about halfbreeds in earshot of the king and it went...poorly. She's no longer noble, but she's got money, and she's willing to pay for revenge. One of her goons cornered me before the show," she explained and something about the memory made her stiffen and look away, a dark faraway look in her eye, one she hadn't worn for decades now.

"Rude guy, smelled, but i mean money is money and it sounds like alot. She used to be a duchess," she murmured as she instinctively chased off whatever memories haunted her by wrapping her arms around Solis' waist and burying her face against his chest. Pine and wood may be stiff and uncomfortable to others but to her it was home.

[Lance]

Solis noticed Ellie's stiffening when she recounted the memory, his hand tensing for just a moment as the sweet, sweet mental image of him jamming a knife into said goon's throat floated through his "brain". But he banished the thought and simply placed a hand on Ellie's head, nodding at her gently. "Do not worry my love. I'm right here.~"

The masked man's tone was gentle, comforting,  surprising given his profession, but Harlequin had always possessed a knack for defusing tensions. "This woman is not too bright, she says she was high ranking enough to know of us but apparently thinks we're just some knives for coin? Tch."

Harlequin looked around the market, scanning for threats and finding none. His other bodies were likely in their carriage right now, inert and waiting for him to return. "I will have a word with this woman once we get things taken care of from today's outing. I don't kill just because she was an idiot and didn't watch her mouth, let alone after she abused her child."

The killer's tone was all business as he spoke, patting Ellie on the head again. "Do we need any herbs or materials for your craft my love? I have some coin for supplies, if you'd prefer to maybe get some air while I tend to the rest of the troupe."

This was a common thing for them, after a mission, they would separate for a bit, lower suspicion in the event their dirty work was found earlier than expected. If only they knew what the day would bring to their routine...

[roseline]

Ellie let him touch her, a high honour considering she usually slit the throats of men for less, and just relaxed under his touch. It was easy to get caught up in the memories, the thoughts of what might have been, but she had Solis now and while she didn't know the depth of his protective nature (let alone the fantasies he was currently entertaining) she at least knew he loved her enough to keep her safe like he had all these years.

Any remaining tension was diffused when the man scoffed at the blow to his assassin pride. She restrained herself from reminding him they were just knives for hire, sure customers came to them more than they sought them out, but she never shared Harlequins superiority complex about it as she snickered at him.

She arched an eyebrow at the mention of child abuse, she hadn't been aware of that, and now was no more keen to help her than her partner as she moved away and glared at the town square.

"If i'd have known she was an abuser I would have sent her messanger back a eunach as a friendly warning," she scoffed in a voice both detatched and bitter all at once, the one she only ever used when on the job with her love, not a good sign for diana seeing tomorrows sunrise.....or todays sunset.

While his next words were perfectly routine a weird sense of forebodeing settled over ellie even as she nodded. "Yeah, running dry of most of the airborne stuff, at this rate i'll actually have to trick someone into eating my poisons," she teases as the glum mood fades and she snatches the coins from his pouch before he can offer them to her with a cheeky smirk, practically daring him to retaliate.

[Lance]

Harlequin smirked at her snark, and even chuckled at her snatching his coin purse out of the blue. He didnt seem to retaliate at first...until he slid behind her and gave her a light, admittedly flirty swat on the behind, his expressionless face still somehow managing to give off the impression of a Shit eating grin at his young partner and lover before patting her on the head one last time. "I'll see you at the inn come sundown.~ We can relax, maybe take the rest of the week off before heading out, I know we've been on the move quite a bit recently."

Little did the pair know that from above, a pair of eyes were watching them, peeking ever so slightly from behind a chimney. The man was young, with a mop of curly, almost poofy hair and a boyish yet still mature face hidden behind an owl like mask. his body was clad in black, with the only real splash of color being his red gloves. He was a famous thief in these parts, the Phantom Prowler: Arsene Lupin, casing the building of the noble Harlequin had killed to steal his ill gotten riches.

But now he had something far more valuable...information. The young man smirked softly, hiding behind the chimney again and pulling out a note book, muttering to himself. "I should write this down...~"