TRP: Abel, Azriel, and Ba'ob (Jail-time)

Izzy:

[SETTING: The port town by the Sanctuary of Eldath, some
time after the B Team returns from the quarry outside Alabaster. Around midday.
The streets are relatively busy.]

Azriel was in dire need of money, because he was in dire
need of no longer sleeping in the forest. It was, frankly, an insult to his
abilities as a musician to stand in the street and play for whatever paltry
offerings passers-by saw fit to toss into his viol case, but it was all he had
available to him. He'd picked a few pockets here and there, but he couldn't do
too much of that or people would start piecing things together -- or they would
just assume it was him because of the horns and all.

So he set off for town and set himself up on a street
corner, making his face gentle and pleasant to hide his disgruntlement. Ba'ob
and his wolf had been following him, he knew, and he wasn't sure if they'd lost
interest or he'd just lost track of them. He put it out of his mind and focused
on playing, attracting a small shifting crowd of five or six humans, letting
sparks fly off his bow to try to squeeze all he could out of them with a good
show.

Muse:

Ba'ob's purple teifling friend liked to go into town. One of
those 'civilized' people things. Usually Ba'ob preferred to stay out in the
woods, away from all those people. But today, he was feeling restless. So when
Azriel started to head out, Ba'ob wordlessly grabbed his weapons and started
following.

Upon hitting town, he promptly split, sulking around some
alleyways for a bit. Smashed in a window, the wolf terrified the family inside,
while Ba'ob helped himself to the contents of the pantry. Azriel'd probably
appreciate this kinda food more than the stuff Ba'ob brought him in the forest.
Ba'ob started wandering again, listening for the sounds of the viol to lead him
to his friend.

It didn't take him long to find Azriel. Upon spotting him,
he walked right up to him, brushing by any of the people who'd stopped to
watch, and dropped a hunk of cheese and a half-eaten loaf of bread into
Azriel's case. "Hey," he greeted, giving a toothy grin. The wolf,
quietly following along, settled down beside the case and kept a watchful eye
on the crowd.

Izzy:

He'd had his eyes closed to distract himself from the
circumstances under which he was playing -- just focus on the music itself --
but opened them abruptly when he heard a commotion, ready to charge the music
with real magic and defend himself. He already had a guess as to the cause,
however, and turned out to be completely right.

"Ah." He glanced from Ba'ob to the wolf to the
crowd, who were backing away. "Perfectly harmless, friends, not to
worry," he said, then remembered that Ba'ob hadn't liked being called
harmless, before. He shifted smoothly into the song he'd played for Ba'ob the
night they'd met -- the one about the moon -- and smiled at Ba'ob as he went
on. "I mean to say, they only bite when there's danger. Quite
peaceful."

This was a complete lie, of course, and he was positive that
wherever Ba'ob had gotten the bread and cheese from, he hadn't paid for it.
Still, it was better than the raw dead animals. Ba'ob was sweet, really, in
between being terrifying.

The crowd didn't know this, however, and seemed uneasy and
ready to disperse. He kept his smile in place, bleeding magic back into the
viol, sending little blue flames up the strings and along his bow. A few of
them were intrigued enough to stick around, at least, though they weren't
tossing him any silvers. Like Jasper, Azriel thought, Ba'ob was probably going
to get him killed or stuck in destitution for the rest of his life, but they
both meant well enough that it was difficult to be angry at them. The wolf was
even kind of starting to grow on him.

Muse:

Only bite when there was danger? Feh. Well, when Ba'ob was
the danger. But hey, Azriel hadn't said anything to Ba'ob. Been to busy talking
to everyone else. "Hey," he repeated again, louder and more
insistent. This time, he reached out and poked Azriel in the chest for emphasis.
For now he ignored the crowd, the wolf was keeping her eye out for any signs of
trouble.

Izzy:

"Ba'ob," Azriel said in a soft but firm
reproachful tone that had never worked on Jasper or Amethyst, so he didn't know
why he was even trying it. "It's not polite to poke people." Then he
realized he hadn't properly responded to the wolfboy's greeting, before, which
also wasn't polite. He wouldn't have thought that would matter to Ba'ob.
"But hello, yes, and thank you for the bread."

He glanced back to the crowd, who had definitely reacted to
Ba'ob jabbing him in the chest and getting louder, and offered another winning
smile. They weren't coming closer again. Mask. Maybe he could teach Ba'ob and
the wolf how to busk. The three of them certainly had the appearance of some
sort of sideshow attraction.

Muse:

Talky friend had talked to him. Content, for now, Ba'ob
plopped on the ground next to the wolf and started scratching her ears. Hey.
Weren't those people supposed to be paying Azriel? Ba'ob was fairly certain
that's how it worked. "Hey!" he yelled at the crowd. "Pay
up!" while pointing at Azriel's open viol case.

Izzy:

The crowd backed up further, a few of them jumping and
outright fleeing down the street. Azriel quickly knelt next to Ba'ob, letting
his magic drop out of the viol as he stopped playing to hiss, "You're
scaring them off. Be quiet."

He meant well, Azriel repeated to himself. It had taken an
hour just to get this much of a crowd and Ba'ob had frightened them away in ten
seconds. Of course.

Muse:

"Maybe you're not scary enough," Ba'ob muttered,
crossing his arms. He'd just been trying to help and nobody'd listened to him.
He'd make it up to Azriel. He eyed the crowd, picking out a mark. Near the back
there was a human. Fat, out of shape, but, looked like he had money, and pretty
close to bolting. Coward. Ba'ob reached over and muttered a few words to the
wolf, too quiet for anyone to hear. She got up, and began circling around the
back of the crowd. Ba'ob got up, and started circling the other way. No
weapons, not yet, just take it niiiiice and slow.

Izzy:

"I'm not supposed to be scary," Azriel muttered,
standing back up to get back to playing, closing his eyes again and
concentrating. Maybe he'd lose this bunch, but he'd attract another crowd
through sheer force of will. Maybe he'd have to learn some compulsion spell to
get people to just give them their money. Might be useful on Ba'ob, too, though
he didn't like the idea of magically compelling someone he considered a friend.

Then someone screamed, and he dragged his bow roughly across
the strings one final time, infusing it with intent to cast Sleep on whoever he
needed to in order to get away. But, naturally, when he opened his eyes, it was
too late for that. People were scattering. One man, who had already backed well
away, had realized that Ba'ob and the wolf were closing in on him from either
side, and was frozen in fear.

He could ... always put Ba'ob and the wolf to sleep. Win the
crowd back over by 'saving' them. Ah, he really didn't think Ba'ob would
appreciate it when he woke up, though, and the idea did leave a bad taste in
Azriel's mouth. Instead he swore to himself quietly and lashed the spell out at
those who were making a run for it, hoping to keep the situation contained --
but he hadn't put enough time and energy into the spell, and wasn't able to get
all of them. A few got away from him, and they would no doubt be alerting the
town guard.

Azriel bent to slam his viol case closed and called,
"Ba'ob, it's time to go."

Muse:

Azriel was yelling. Not important. Their prey had froze and
with a gesture, the wolf surged forwards and knocked the man down. Ignoring the
people fleeing, he bent down and began riffling through the man's pockets.
Picked a good one, they felt real full. Ba'ob stopped a moment, grinning at the
gibbering fear the man was showing at the wolf growling in his ear. Then he
turned and tossed the purse to Azriel. "Payment!"

Izzy:

"Ba'ob, that's stealing," Azriel said,
exasperated, but automatically caught the coin pouch anyway. Well, everything
had gone south now. No reason to not take advantage of the situation. Oh, and
he would never be able to show his very distinctive face in town again, which
was just fantastic, so he might as well get everything he could while he was
here. He'd explain to Ba'ob that stealing in broad daylight was usually a bad
idea later.

He darted over to one of the people he'd incapacitated and
started hurriedly going through her pockets, swiping her rings, and waved to
one of the other two. "Get their wallets as well, then, but do it fast,
all right?"

Muse:

Ba'ob nodded, going over to rifle through the other people's
pockets. He guessed it was a pretty good haul? Azriel'd know better than he
did.

"Got it," he said, tucking the last of the
valuables in his pockets. "Drinks?" he asked hopefully.

Izzy:

Azriel gave him a dumbfounded look, so completely flabbergasted
that even though he was dreadfully aware of the urgency of their situation, he
actually stopped looting the unconscious body. "Ba'ob, we have to leave.
Forever." Well, that was being a bit dramatic, maybe. "The town guard
will be coming for us, and they'll be looking for a purple tiefling with a
broken horn and a --" he gestured to all of Ba'ob -- "a feral elf
with a wolf. We can't --."

He was in the process of saying we can't stay for drinks
when he spotted movement over Ba'ob's shoulder. It was too late. The guard were
already here, had already seen them. Several ideas flashed through his head:
casting Sleep again, trying to get them all? Darkness, to cover their escape?
giving both Ba'ob and the wolf enhanced abilities and hoping they could fight
off the half-dozen guards by themselves? just fucking bolting and leaving Ba'ob
to deal with this himself, keeping the guards busy? (No, that was no good, even
if it gave him the best chance of survival.)

Azriel realized he was locked up in indecision. The wolf
must have heard their heavily-armored footstep, and had turned, her hackles
rising, to growl an alert. In a second Ba'ob would be pulling out his bow, and
people would start dying, and Azriel was too terrified to move.

Muse:

Town guard. Those two words cut right down to Ba'ob's core.
He couldn't get caught by guards. He couldn't.

Wolf was growling. Ba'ob whirled around. Too late. Too late.
Ba'ob grabbed for his bow, frantic nerves causing him to fumble, stumbling
backwards. A high, nervous whine was tearing out of his throat. Couldn't get
caught, couldn't get caught.

The arrow flew over the guard's heads and clattered uselessly
to the street somewhere behind them. This wasn't happening. Whirling around,
Ba'ob grabbed Azriel's arm. "Gotta go," he managed to get out,
dragging the teifling as fast as he was able down the street.

The wolf could sense Ba'ob's distress. Snarling, she lunged
for a guard, snapping and biting and trying to sink her teeth into him.

Izzy:

The wolf was dealing with this better than either of them.
Azriel hadn't seen Ba'ob mishandle his bow, not even when confronted by spirits
-- he hadn't seemed bothered by them at all, or by bandits, or anything else.
Still, he grabbed at Azriel's arm and tried to drag him to safety, which Azriel
was only distantly aware of at all, completely unable to help. Dead weight.

The thought occurred to him, however, that when they got
caught -- and they would get caught -- he and Ba'ob would be tossed in jail,
because they were people, loosely. The wolf was not a person. One didn't throw
a wild animal into jail.

Two of the guards were busy contending with her while the
others advanced on Azriel and Ba'ob -- one loosing a crossbow bolt that flew
past them, another making a gesture with her hands. There was a faint tingle of
passing magic and Ba'ob froze up as well, and Azriel finally managed to look
back at him, jerkily, and see his eyes wide with panic. He couldn't move.
Literally couldn't.

And the wolf was pinned, snarling, with a spear pointed at
her neck.

Azriel darted away -- not away, but towards the wolf,
throwing all of his weight behind shoving the spear and stumbling from the
force. "Don't hurt her," he stammered. "Please -- she's -- don't
kill her."

He needed to use some spell but he couldn't think of one,
didn't have time for a song or a clever lie. Still, the guards hesitated, and
it was enough for the wolf to right herself and make for the nearest treeline.
One of them broke off to give chase, but Azriel was confident that once she was
in the forest, he wouldn't have a chance.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see the others
subduing Ba'ob as he was being jerked to his feet, his hands tied behind his
back. It all became rather distant again, but at least Azriel had done one
thing right.

Muse:

As soon as he was able to break free of the spell, Ba'ob
began kicking and snarling, snapping at whatever he could. All it got him was
some bruises, probably a concussion too. Wolf was gone- and Azriel was here. As
soon as they were thrown in the cell, Ba'ob skittered off to the furthest
corner and curled into a ball, shaking. At least he still had the ring. At
least he was still his own person.

Izzy:

Azriel went peacefully, which allowed him to avoid injury.
The same couldn't be said for Ba'ob, once the spell wore off, and he wanted to
try to calm him down and keep him from getting hurt, but couldn't quite remove
himself from the area slightly displaced from his body. His viol was taken
away, and its case, but he and Ba'ob were at least shoved into the same cell.

He expected Ba'ob to continue to struggle, to fight with the
bars, but instead he retreated to a corner and curled into himself. Azriel
dropped to the floor and found himself staring into space for some time -- he
wasn't sure how long, really -- before he returned to himself abruptly.

It was cold in here. He'd only just noticed. Maybe that was
why Ba'ob was shaking -- maybe it was a good excuse for why he was. (He'd never
been in jail. He'd always talked his way out of it. Abel or Gabriel had always
come for him. Jasper had fought them off. He'd managed to get away. His parents
had paid people off. He'd never been locked up, never been powerless to stop
it, never.)

He looked at Ba'ob again. It clearly wasn't the chill of the
stone cell -- Ba'ob was not dealing with this. So, Azriel realized, he had to.
Like Abel would. He scooted closer to the wolfboy, not sure if he might still
lash out if Azriel got too close, and slid his hand across the floor towards
him, humming that song again softly, making a tiny illusory moon and stars spin
slowly in the palm of his hand. Maybe it would be enough to distract him from
his distress.

Muse:

Ba'ob was trapped. Steel bars between him and freedom.
Between him and escape. The woods were free. The woods were safe. In the woods
nothing was out to hurt him for the sake of hurting him. Things died, that was
part of nature. But what wasn't part of nature was cruel people with sharp
boots and vicious fists. Wasn't part of nature to have a white-hot band around
your arm that you couldn't get off.

Wasn't part of nature to be so afraid of what was coming
next.

He registered movement before sound, flinching and snarling
before recognizing it was just Azriel. Just his friend. Humming, that song he'd
liked. The snarl died almost as quickly at it had come, but he remained
watchful. The illusion got a brief glance- but then he looked up and at
Azriel's face. Not sure how to react to this. He'd been crying. It showed.

November 3, 2018

Izzy: at 12:06 AM

It seemed to calm him a bit. Not entirely, but that was only
fair. Azriel's humming faltered, and the little moon with it, but he cleared
his throat and tried to keep going. Since Ba'ob had only snarled for a moment,
he moved a little closer. He wasn't -- entirely a fan of the way Ba'ob tended
to grab and hug him whenever he felt like it, but he didn't mind it that much
either, anymore. And if it would make Ba'ob feel better, luring him into it
seemed like the appropriate thing to do.

Muse: at 12:18 AM

Azriel continued not to say anything. And for once, Ba'ob
was keenly missing them. He shook a little with repressed laughter- Bry would
have something to say about Ba'ob missing words.

And then he felt Azriel's hand bump against him, and
something snapped. He lunged out, away and whirled around snarling once more.
One hand had already been pawing at the cuff on one wrist. The rags usually
covering it had come partially undone. Mostly due to the way Ba'ob was now
clawing at his arm in an attempt to get it off. Not that it worked. It never
worked.

Izzy: at 12:33 AM

Azriel scrambled away, the gentle humming turning to a
sudden, "Oh, fuck," as Ba'ob snapped. But, as he stumbled to his feet
as though there were anywhere he could go (had his rebuke, didn't really want
to set Ba'ob on fire, maybe he could hum out a vicious enough tune to fend him
off, but it might just make him angry) -- he realized Ba'ob had been moving
away from him. Like he'd felt threatened.

And he was scratching at himself, at his own arm. Azriel
hadn't paid it much attention, before, but had vaguely registered the bandages
wrapped around that arm. Now that they were loose, he could see the metal cuff
underneath them. Ba'ob wasn't much of one for material possessions, clearly,
and the bracelet -- well, it seemed to be the cause of his distress, really. A
dog clawing at a chain around its neck.

He didn't know what to make of this, but slowly, he moved
away from the wall he'd backed himself up against, showing Ba'ob his palms and
singing quietly, now, in a halting and unsure voice -- no magic in this, only a
lullaby someone had sung to him when he was too young to remember their face.
It was in Infernal, which he didn't expect Ba'ob would know, but he thought it
sounded soothing, either way. The words weren't terribly important, anyway; a
sweet meandering nonsense story about a puppy that was friends with a canary.

Muse: at 12:49 AM

The singing jolted Ba'ob. A splash of cold water on his
raging panic. Bry?- No not Bryseis. Azriel. Azriel was singing him a lullaby.
The clawing at his arm slowed, and he stared. He didn't recognize the song, but
the words- he missed Bry. A shudder wracked his frame. A shaky sob forced its
way out of his mouth.

Azriel couldn't touch the ring. Couldn't. He kept trying to
come close- but he couldn't touch the ring. "St- stay back," Ba'ob
said. Words, not growling. Hollowed out by fear and desperation. Bry'd be
proud. Ba'ob didn't retreat however, remaining where he was, hugging his cuffed
arm and watching Azriel carefully.

Izzy: at 1:01 AM

"Okay." Azriel stopped moving, keeping his voice
soft. He wasn't sure if he should keep singing -- it had helped, but he was
also kind of starting to forget the words the further he got into it.

The right thing to do, he still thought, would be to hug
Ba'ob, but he couldn't exactly do that from this far away. Words didn't usually
have much effect on him anyway -- no amount of please don't do that and Ba'ob,
no and that isn't polite -- but on the other hand, he had said a couple quite
clearly, there. Maybe when he was stressed, he actually got more coherent.

Azriel tried to think of anything anyone had ever said to
him to make him feel calmer, or safer, and came up blank. "Would you ...
like me to keep singing?" he tried. "And I'll sit down, and you can
sit down, and if you want to come closer, later, you can. Okay?" Would
that ... work? He didn't usually just say things straightforwardly. "I
just want you to -- not scratch yourself."

Muse: at 1:09 AM

Ba'ob glanced down. Huh. He was bleeding. "Hadn't
realized," he mumbled. Maybe he should let go- even at the thought he
could feel his hand tighten around the cuff. No. Not yet.

Sit down. Listen to Azriel sing. Maybe edge closer if and
when he felt like it. "Okay," he agreed quietly, shuffling so his
back was up against the wall and sinking down to the ground. "Can- you
keep singing like that? With the- with the words." That sounded like
something Bry'd make him try again with. "Words," he repeated again,
this time in Infernal. Hopefully that was enough.

Izzy: at 1:20 AM

Azriel was taken aback by the Infernal, even if it was only
a word. He wanted to ask how and why Ba'ob knew any Infernal, and how much he
knew -- tried to remember if he'd off-handedly said anything to Abel in their
language around Ba'ob, anything important, didn't think he had -- but it really
wasn't relevant right now.

"Of course." He sat down where he was, crossing
his legs. Where had he been? Oh, it didn't matter. He cleared his throat and
started the song over, eyeing his friend's wrist but trying to not be too
obvious about it. He hadn't had the time to think of Ba'ob as anything but some
strange elf who'd been left in a forest to be raised by wolves. Hadn't
considered that bad things happened to wild animals all the time, and bad
things must have happened to him.

Someone had put that cuff on him, and he'd clawed himself
bloody trying to get it off. Azriel kept his voice sweet and soft and
considered the things that he and Abel and Jasper could make happen to that
person. He didn't have the stomach for it, of course. But he could certainly
enable his siblings.

November 4, 2018

Muse: at 11:50 AM

Ba'ob couldn't really relax. But the singing gave him
something to focus on than steel bars and stone walls. It took a while before
he started slowly inching towards Azriel, still clutching his wrist. Azriel
just kept singing. Soft, soothing- safe? Ba'ob hesitated when the space between
them was down to inches. Couldn't risk Azriel taking the ring. Couldn't. But he
wanted to hug him so bad.

So he suddenly dove across the remaining space, shoving his
cuffed wrist behind Azriel's back and clutching him with his other arm. Face
buried in Azriel's shoulder, almost vibrating with tension. Waiting to see how
his friend would react.

Izzy: at 3:13 PM

Azriel kept singing when he ran out of words -- just
faltered for a moment and started the song again. Kept singing as his throat
grew sore and his voice started to become hoarse. He wasn't going to stop as
long as Ba'ob kept edging closer. And Ba'ob was edging closer, and he didn't
dare move in case all of the progress was lost in a single twitch.

For a moment he thought he must have shifted without
realizing it when Ba'ob jolted into motion, but then the wolfboy collided with
him, nearly knocking him over and clinging to him. Azriel automatically
returned the hug, wheezing a little from the force, his song cut off. Ba'ob was
shaking and he did his best to hold him steady, petting his back. "There,
there. We'll be all right." He wasn't sure of that, but luckily, Azriel
was very good at lying.

Muse: at 3:27 PM

Azriel's hands were on Ba'ob's back- good place, far from
the ring. He let out a wheeze and relaxed slightly. But just. Azriel was making
promises- promises Ba'ob didn't see how he'd be able to keep. But the wolf had
gotten away. She'd find Jasper, Abel. They wouldn't be here forever. Not unless
the others got caught too.

"How long?" he asked quietly. Needed more words.
"We- here. Before." He growled a little, frustrated with the way the
Common words were clogging up his throat. "Jasper. Abel. How long
before?"

Izzy: at 4:16 PM

Azriel hesitated. He could do vague comforting platitudes
all day. But when it came to specifics -- well, he was hoping Abel would notice
they were gone soon, but he hadn't exactly announced his departure and he was
sure Ba'ob hadn't either. It might be nightfall before anyone realized they
hadn't returned. Or, perhaps more reasonably, the next morning. There had been
that one time he'd been out all night, and no one had been worried about him
then. He just hadn't been in danger then (for the most part), so he hadn't
considered it.

Then Abel would have to work out that they were in jail,
although that one frankly shouldn't be so difficult, and ... Well, there was
really no reason to worry Ba'ob over the details.

"I don't know," he admitted. "But they will
come -- they always do. We look out for each other. And I'll sing as long as
you want until then."

November 6, 2018

Lina: at 8:47 PM

Footsteps approached from up the corridor. Slow and careful,
boots crunching over the grit of the stone floor. They paused every few paces,
louder and closer each time they picked up again.

Abel stepped into view outside Ba'ob and Azriel's cell. He
stared down at them, expressionless, green eyes glinting in the torchlight.

Izzy: at 8:51 PM

"Oh, thank fucking Mask," Azriel blurted, his
audible relief probably giving away how little faith he'd had in Jasper or Abel
showing up any time soon.

Muse: at 8:53 PM

Ba'ob flinched at the sudden outburst, whipping around to
see what had caused Azriel's outburst. It was the other teifling. Abel. He was
up in a flash, charging over to jerk on the door. Still locked.
"Out?" he whined, staring up at Abel.

Lina: at 8:56 PM

Abel continued to stare for a while, taking in Ba'ob's frantic
pawing at the door with mild fascination. He looked back to his brother, and
stared even longer. Finally, in a voice betraying some decently-contained rage,
he said, "Do you know. How much. They are demanding for bail?"

Izzy: at 8:59 PM

"Abel, please, just kill everyone and get us out of
here. We're already fugitives. What's a little more crime?"

Muse: at 9:01 PM

"Out!" Ba'ob repeated, more insistently, jerking
on the bars. "I'll help!"

Lina: at 9:06 PM

Abel continued on like neither of them had spoken.
"Three. Hundred. Gold pieces. I don't have three hundred gold pieces,
Azriel," he spat. "More crime? What's a little more crime? I don't
know, why don't we sit here and add it up? Oh, no." He patted his pockets.
"I've forgotten my abacus. I suppose we'll have to do it in our heads. You
and I may be fugitives from some cities, Azriel, but my preference is to hang
on to one or two places on this godforsaken earth where I can actually show up
and pay for a decent meal and a bed without having headhunters after me. Do you
understand?"

Izzy: at 9:09 PM

Azriel rolled his eyes. "I said kill everyone. There
won't be any witnesses. Really, Abel, you're out of practice. Look, Ba'ob and I
have already been seen, so we're a lost cause, but I promise we weren't
purposefully trying to keep you from a hot meal in a disgusting tavern. Are you
just going to leave us here to die, then?"

Muse: at 9:11 PM

Ba'ob turned around to stare at Azriel briefly, horrified.
And then turned back and attempted to grab at Abel through the bars (with his
non-cuffed arm). "Ooooooouuuuuut," he whined, pleadingly,
desperately. "Don't wanna stay here. Want out."

Lina: at 9:27 PM

Abel swiped his hand out of Ba'ob's grasping range. "No
witnesses? Oh, and what a mystery that will be for the local magistrate to
solve. All the guards murdered, one cell busted open and empty, and two
prisoners missing. Funny, it's the last two whose names were added to the
register. How the fuck are we ever going to figure this one out?" He
slammed a hand against the bars, making Ba'ob let go and flinch backwards,
growling. "Were you or were you not raised by Jade Melaine, and do you not
possess enough common fucking sense to avoid landing yourself in jail over the
most basic of cons?"

Izzy: at 9:35 PM

Azriel shot up. "And you don't know how to fucking burn
a register, or open other cells to cover your tracks? Don't drag our mother
into this like you're her prize pupil. Also --" he covered the short
distance to the bars and jabbed a finger at his brother through them --
"fuck you, Abel, I wasn't pulling a con, I was just trying to make a
little money playing music. I'm not an idiot. There aren't any other purple
tieflings with broken horns in this town -- I know how to keep my head
down."

He realized, just before he said more, that he was a breath
away from selling Ba'ob out, and stopped short. Actually -- Abel wasn't an
idiot, either. He probably already had.

Muse: at 9:42 PM

Too many words. Not enough action. Ba'ob rubbed at his wrist
glancing back and forth between the two arguing brothers. They wanted to get
loud and shout? Fine. Ba'ob could do that too. He threw his head back and
howled. "OOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUT!"

Outside, they could hear an actual wolf joining in Ba'ob's
howl.

Lina: at 9:45 PM

Abel let go of the bars, whirled around, and disappeared up
the corridor.

Muse: at 9:48 PM

This wasn't out. "HEY!" Ba'ob yelled after Abel's
retreating back, lunging forwards and vainly attempting to grab him. "Want
out! Out out out out!" he yelled, rattling the bars. Panic was settling in
again. They'd come so close. And he was leaving.

Izzy: at 9:50 PM

Azriel half-tried to put a hand on Ba'ob's shoulder to
placate him, but was slightly more occupied with yelling over him, "What
the fuck, Abel?"

Lina: at 10:00 PM

A few minutes later Abel returned, smelling like the air
after a spring storm, his hands smoking. He'd brought a ring of keys with him.
He tried a few out until he found the one that opened the lock on their cell.
He swung the door open, dropped the keys on the ground, and strode off up the
corridor again.

Muse: at 10:06 PM

As soon as the door swung open, a ball of dirt, leaves, and
wolfboy bolted out and pushed past him on the way towards the door. He was out.
Finally. He charged through the entry room, smelling of smoke and burnt meat,
and outside. Where the wolf was sitting and waiting. Collapsing to his knees,
he grabbed ahold of her and buried his face in her fur. He was out.

Izzy: at 10:12 PM

Azriel started to chase after Ba'ob, but now that they were
out, he decided he'd had enough -- just for the moment -- of trying to keep him
on a leash. He stopped by the table his viol and its case and Bao'b weapons had
been left on, to collect them, then hurried to keep pace with Abel.

"Listen," he said quietly, covering his mouth and
nose with a hand to block out the smell of cooked meat. "Thank you for
coming for us. Ba'ob would have lost his mind in there. How someone so clearly
agonized by being in a cell hasn't gotten better at avoiding them is beyond
me."

November 7, 2018

Lina: at 2:38 PM

Abel came to a stop outside the jail, eyeing the boy and his
wolf rolling happily on the ground. Frankly, the wolf seemed to have more
common sense. It hadn't gotten itself arrested, for one thing, and it had known
where to go for help. "And what exactly happened, that led the two of you
here?" he asked Azriel.

Izzy: at 3:22 PM

"Well." Azriel tried to think of how to put this
diplomatically. "As I, ah, angrily shouted at you before"
(acknowledgement was close to apology, right?) "I was playing on the
street for tips like some sort of common bard, and -- well, you know, Ba'ob
gets oddly quite protective of me, and he thought that I wasn't being paid enough,
I suppose, so."

There was really no way he could spin this that made Ba'ob
sound reasonable, was there? Not without lying outright, claiming that someone
else had started it and Ba'ob had rightfully defended him. Abel would probably
see through it anyway, and in the next town Ba'ob would just do the same thing.
Azriel couldn't cover for him forever.

He sighed. "So he and the wolf attacked a man and stole
his wallet, and I wasn't able to keep all of the witnesses contained, so I set
about stealing whatever else I could in preparation to leave town." He
shook his viol case, making it jingle with pilfered goods. "The silver
lining here is that we aren't broke anymore."

Muse: at 3:26 PM

Ba'ob looked up when he heard his name. Azriel was telling
the story. "Helped," he said. Although now he couldn't be proud of
it. His arm still stung from the gouges he'd carved into his own flesh.
"Food too," he reminded Azriel. People and their obsession with
money.

Lina: at 3:31 PM

Abel snatched at the viol case, but Azriel wouldn't let it
go. That was fine. Abel dragged both the case and his brother close, pulling
the case up to his chest and lifting Azriel a couple inches off the ground with
it. Abel stared him dead in the eye. "I charge one fifty for a jailbreak.
Pay up now, or it's interest added."

Izzy: at 3:32 PM

Azriel glared at him. "Do I get a family
discount," he deadpanned.

Lina: at 3:34 PM

"Twenty percent, but interest's calculated on the full
price."

Izzy: at 3:36 PM

"That seems very reasonable." Azriel let go of the
viol case, letting himself drop back down to the ground and dusting himself
off. "I was going to share anyway, asshole."

Muse: at 3:40 PM

Oh good. They weren't arguing any more. Ba'ob latched onto
Azriel, standing on tiptoe so he could rest his chin on Azriel's shoulder and
stare at Abel.

Lina: at 3:43 PM

Abel cracked open the viol case. He scooped his hand through
the monetary contents a couple times, transferring some of it to his pockets.
He noted the peeved expression on Azriel's face as he handed the case back to
him. "Service and material fees," he explained. Then he turned his
attention to Ba'ob, peering over Azriel's shoulder. "Do you understand now
that you were not, in fact, helping?"

Muse: at 3:58 PM

Ba'ob's grip tightened a little and he scowled briefly.
"Tried to help," he muttered sulkily. But then they had ended up in
jail hadn't they. "Didn't mean to."

Lina: at 4:04 PM

Abel had to take pity on him. He was young and would likely
be naive no matter how he'd grown up, but add in the fact that whoever raised
him had not been--how to say--civilized further complicated things. He wasn't
grasping the behavioral expectations of normal society. "Do you know why
it went as badly as it did, Ba'ob?"

Muse: at 4:06 PM

Ba'ob didn't react for a second, before slowly shaking his
head. "Nobody died," he muttered. Guards showed up for murder, Ba'ob
knew that. But they were just- collecting money. Some of 'em had it to spare.

Lina: at 4:21 PM

"Listen to me. People will get angry with you long
before you've killed them. If you take their things without asking, or if you
destroy their things, or if you touch them and dig in their pockets." He
snarled and snapped his teeth, letting his fangs show. Hopefully, that was more
the kid's language.

Muse: at 8:39 PM

Ba'ob flinched back, letting go of Azriel. Humanoids didn't
usually growl back. Hunching over further than usual, he shuffled around to
kneel in front of Abel, letting out little whimpering noises. But Abel'd want
words. "Did bad," he whined. "Sorry."

Lina: at 8:56 PM

"Just learn from it. Alright? Azriel's good with
people. When he tells you to back down, you should listen." Abel wasn't
quite sure how to handle the kneeling thing, so he just did to Ba'ob what he'd
do with a remorseful dog, which was to rub his head affectionately. He stopped
short of rubbing his ears, though.

Muse: at 9:01 PM

Ba'ob twitched a little under Abel's hand. That was- not
what the wolves would do. But humanoids seemed a lot less fond of licking. It-
probably meant about the same? He nodded rapidly. "Listen to Azriel,"
he repeated. "Keep from going jail again?"

Lina: at 9:02 PM

"Yes. Yes, there you go. Listen to Azriel, keep from
going to jail." Abel raised an eyebrow at his brother. "Azriel's very
good at avoiding jail. Isn't he."

Izzy: at 9:05 PM

"Best in the family, isn't that right, Abel?"
Azriel touched Ba'ob's shoulder and offered him a hand up, giving Abel a wide
grin.

Muse: at 9:15 PM

Slowly Ba'ob accepted the hand, allowing himself to be
pulled back up to his feet. Azriel, good at avoiding jail. Right. "Don't
like jail," he said, rubbing at his wrist. Sensing some distress, the wolf
stepped forwards and leaned against his leg.

Lina: at 9:18 PM

"I don't much fucking like it either, Ba'ob. And we all
need to get the hell out of here before someone notices what we've done."
Abel led the way, scanning up and down the street for witnesses. There were
people out and about, but none of them were paying attention, which satisfied
him.

[END]