TRP: Bretta and Larkin (Redbird)

**Jen:** at 12:09 PM

[Setting] Day 166, after the Footprints session. Basha
warehouse.

The upside of getting dragged into looking for these useless
blueprints was, Larkin had gotten a free ride to Skyport. She hadn't planned on
going back for a personal report for another week or two but here she was. And
admittedly, the ordeal had gotten her more information than the whole of her
information gathering in Glimmerton so far. Renar wouldn't be exactly happy,
but certainly interested.

She climbed the outside stairs to the top of the warehouse
and knocked on the door. The spying window slid open to reveal Shrewd's yellow
eyes, and a moment later he opened. He opened his mouth to demand she give up
her weapons or something but she cut him off. "Fucking forget it. How many
times I gotta tell you I'm not doing that dance?"

"How many times do I have to tell you it's my job and
I'll do it?"

"You're doing a shit job." Larkin looked around
the little entrance room but for once, there was no bottle around. At least he
was doing it sober for once. "I gotta go see uncle," she said and
brushed past him into the living area.

Renar's office door was closed. She knocked four times and
after a moment, it opened and Renar's right hand man stuck her head out.

"Larkin. Aren't you supposed to be in Glimmerton?"
Bretta's voice was cold rough around the edges and carrying that challenging
undertone it always did.

"Got to be in Skyport by coincidence," Larkin
said. "Thought I'd use the opportunity to report. Actually, I gotta talk
to uncle about that coincidence as well."

**Izzy:** at 12:13 PM

"He isn't available," Bretta said shortly, and
appraised Larkin for a moment. Then she backed away, opening the door further
and gesturing Larkin in, going to stand behind Renar's desk and shuffling some
paperwork around.

"Report, then. Why are you away from your post?"

**Jen:** at 12:14 PM

Larking followed in but kept standing just inside the door.
"I wanna talk to him directly. Where is he?"

**Izzy:** at 12:17 PM

Bretta's eyes cut up and her hands went still.
"Otherwise occupied. Skyport continues to move while you're away, Larkin."

**Jen:** at 12:28 PM

Just answer the fucking question. Larkin pressed her lips
together tight and grunted before saying it out loud. "Not my fucking
choice," she muttered but turned to close the door, then went to sit on a
bench near the desk.

"Things in Glimmerton will run without me for a night
or two. Place's deader than a cat in a dog pen. I got news, though, but I need
to ask you something first." Larkin paused to make sure she had Bretta's
attention. "You know about someone of us breaking into the Glimmerton
castle vault?"

**Izzy:** at 12:32 PM

"No." She looked at Larkin with an eyebrow raised,
then back to her work, adjusting her half-moon glasses briefly. "Had we
any particular interest in your guild friends, we would have sent you."

**Jen:** at 12:37 PM

Larkin nodded. "Yeah. Thought so. Just wanted to make
sure." She thought for a moment but couldn't come up with any names that
were more likely to have done the job. Whoever it was either had a spare key or
was an excellent safe cracker. Or both.

Finch.

The thought made her stomach twist and she shoved it away
quickly, with a sigh. "Hey, I'm gonna ask Sonny to be on the look out but
if you hear about anyone trying to fence dwarven airship blueprints, could you
let me know?"

**Izzy:** at 12:40 PM

Bretta made a vaguely interested sound.
"Certainly." She looked up again. "This is in connection to your
reason for being in Skyport?"

**Jen:** at 12:42 PM

"Yes." Larkin nodded again. "You remember
what I reported about the people working with the Runners? The one called Jonn
Sterling?"(edited)

**Izzy:** at 12:43 PM

"Somewhat."

**Jen:** at 12:48 PM

"Short." Larkin held her hand out, indicating the
height. "Little son of a bitch, fucked us over and caused that zombie shit
show. Works for Baron. Some of the Runners for whatever idiotic reason still
keep contact with him so they went to ask him about the blueprints and I came
along." She paused and waited if Bretta had any reaction to that.(edited)

**Izzy:** at 12:49 PM

Again, Bretta looked up briefly, then to her work.
"Continue."

**Jen:** at 12:53 PM

"So." Larkin got up and started pacing, working
her knuckles against her palms. "Apparently, Baron's not only vanished,
she's also been replaced. Some asshole called Morgan Wyn. I'm not sure how long
ago but it's reasonable to assume at least as long as we've had reports of the
guild acting weird."

**Izzy:** at 12:54 PM

Slowly, Bretta set aside what she had been working on, and
found a fresh sheet of paper. She began taking notes. "Morgan Wyn.
Interesting. Tell me more."

**Jen:** at 1:00 PM

"Yeah. Morgan Wyn." Larkin stopped in front of the
desk and begann ticking off her fingers. "Half-elf lady, looks about mid
thirties in human years. She's called the guild the 'Sanguines', like the word
for blood. Sounded like she hasn't just changed Skyport Thieves' name, though,
but took them over with another group of her own. She has this weird
little..." Larkin snapped her fingers,"shoulder dragon? Like a dragon
but tiny. It's red. These sanguines seem to have an obsession with red anyway,
they wear it like a uniform." She halted and frowned, remembering the
encounter with Wyn. "She... knew me. Recognised me. I don't think I've
ever seen her before, though."

**Izzy:** at 1:03 PM

Bretta wrote until Larkin stopped talking, then tapped her
pen in the corner of the paper. "Troubling." She looked up, eyes
narrowed, staring into space thoughtfully. "We'll see what we can find out
about her and this guild." Her eyes snapped to Larkin, sharp. "What
does Sterling know about you?"

**Jen:** at 1:10 PM

Larkin grimaced. "He... knows who I work for,
obviously. He knows I'm close to one of the Runners but he's too dumb and not
dangerous enough to use it against me. He doesn't even seem to think he's on my
list." She shook her head, snorting disdainfully. "I never talk about
what I do for the Basha. And I'm certain enough he doesn't know where I live or
my connections." But Finch does, doesn't he? Larkin cringed internally but
tried not to let it show. Yeah, Finch would know a lot more about her. He would
not know she had moved back into their first shared place but it wouldn't be
too hard to find out. Only... would he tell? Larkin hoped not, against the
odds.(edited)

**Izzy:** at 1:11 PM

"Hm." More pen-tapping, then a couple more notes.
"What else?"

**Jen:** at 1:19 PM

"Wyn's definitely trying to expand." Larkin was
back to cracking her knuckles, one by one. "She's stationed posts in
several place outside the city and she's trying to recruit nobility." She
looked up, catching Bretta's eyes. "Wyn thinks she can put the Basha out
of business."

**Izzy:** at 1:29 PM

More pen-tapping.

Then Bretta set her pen down, and studied Larkin for a long
moment. "We're keeping this quiet," she said, slowly. "I trust
you can keep your tongue still. Renar is unavailable currently because there
has been -- an incident. Two of our cartel heads have been assassinated. Again,"
she reminded Larkin sharply -- "we aren't speaking of this. No need to
incite panic. The damage is being controlled. But it is ... an incident."

**Jen:** at 1:33 PM

Larkin froze and she stared. "Who? How?"

**Izzy:** at 1:39 PM

Bretta shuffled papers again, casually. "No cause for
alarm." She looked back down. "It's being taken care of. Not by
you." Back up, adjusting her glasses, fixing Larkin with a cool stare.
"They were taken out at once, during a meeting. Very clean. Efficient. We
doubted the Thieves' ability to handle such a job, and suspected a betrayal
from the Melaines, but this information about some other guild overtaking
Baron's people -- it's very useful, Larkin." Back down, a few more notes.
"If there's nothing else, you should get back to work."

**Jen:** at 1:44 PM

Larkin unclenched her hands, working the fingers again, then
forcing them still. "No," she said, voice dropping a pitch.
"Glimmerton's a fucking dead end. I'm gonna call off the operation or send
someone else to take care of it, whatever, but I'm not gonna go back there
while our heads are getting picked off. What if uncle's next?"

**Izzy:** at 1:45 PM

"He won't be." She looked at Larkin over her
glasses. "Your job is to locate Helena Baron. Get back to it."

**Jen:** at 1:52 PM

Larkin glared back, unblinking. "I'm not just some
soldier, or headman. I'm fucking family." She emphasised the word by taking
a step forward and swatting a hand to her chest. "You should give me more
information than that and you should let me stay here and do something about
this Wyn asshole instead of-" she bared her teeth and flung her arm out at
the vague direction of Glimmerton. "Instead of dumping me in the fucking
backwoods with a bunch of street level gangsters and no real purpose!"

**Izzy:** at 1:54 PM

"I'm aware of who you are." She kept looking at
Larkin, unflinching. "You have your orders. You know who they came from.
Don't try to argue with me, Larkin."

**Jen:** at 2:10 PM

Larkin opened her mouth to keep protesting but the look
Bretta cut her let it die in her throat. Larkin worked her mouth open and
closed like a fish, but finally settled for a frustrated hiss and kicked a
chair.

"Why, though?" she said a bit calmer. "I
don't get it. Why wouldn't Renar want me to help in Skyport?"

**Izzy:** at 2:13 PM

"Perhaps you're too valuable to risk," Bretta said
idly, writing. "Perhaps you're a liability. There's a safecracker, an
arcanist, working for Baron -- for this Wyn person, now, I suppose. We've heard
him called Redbird. Do you suppose you know who that might be?"

**Jen:** at 2:32 PM

That shut her up entirely. Larkin had supposed this was
another one of Renar's attempts to cement her firmer into the hierarchy but
that- her being sent off to be kept safe- hadn't even occurred to her.
Bullshit, though. She might be family but she was no one overly important in
the cartel.

Then the rest of the question reached her. "I... don't know,"
she said slowly, quietly. Safecracker, arcanist, works for the guild. She
closed her eyes and grimaced. Ah, fuck. He'd brought this onto himself, dumping
her and starting to work for fucking Helena. This was more important than the
stupid fragments of attachment Larkin still felt for her former partner. He'd
probably spilled everything he knew about Larkin to Baron the moment she'd
taken him in.

"Finch." Larkin pinched the bridge of her nose,
sighing through her teeth. "He used to... go after safes. He'd broken into
Baron Dillahunty's special vault before he started working for Renar. Y'know,
the one uncle had specially made. And Finch has magic. He's Sterling's partner
now."

**Izzy:** at 2:35 PM

"Mm. And I suppose you realize --" she cut her
eyes up momentarily -- "that this connection could pose a problem for your
utility in our efforts."

**Jen:** at 2:36 PM

Larkin said nothing and stared out of a window instead.

**Izzy:** at 2:39 PM

Bretta kept writing and sat in silence for a moment. She
closed a notebook, stacked some papers, rolled them together and bound the
scroll up with a length of twine. Started on a new task. "Was there
anything else?"

**Jen:** at 2:46 PM

"No," Larkin said curtly, and turned to leave, but
stopped after two steps.

"Actually, yeah. The guild did a job on the Ohara
family yesterday. I tried to sabotage it but it went through. They were trying
to recruit Tessa, the daughter."

**Izzy:** at 2:47 PM

"Hm. Noted."

**Jen:** at 2:57 PM

"Okay." Larkin lingered for a moment longer,
waiting for something else, but Bretta's attention was firmly tied to her
papers again. This woman.

Larkin turned and left the room without another word,
wondering not for the first time why Renar hadn't married her yet. She was
Calish, with the same sense business and zero bullshit attitude as him. All the
strings of his empire ran through her hands. If he was the heart of the cartel,
she was was its back bone.

**Izzy:** at 3:06 PM

[END]

Title: Redbird. Summary: Larkin goes to talk to her uncle
and finds out from his right hand, Bretta Khash, that two of the Basha's cartel
heads have been assassinated. She passes on information and learns that she may
be stationed out in Glimmerton to keep her safe ... or because her ex-partner
Finch working for the enemy might make her a liability.