Silhouette Pt. 1

[Eza]

I opened the door to my home, and stomped my feet a bit to release some of the harsh snow that had gained a death grip on my boots. I stretched a bit, removed my cloak, and went about building a fire to keep out the bitter cold. The blizzard had been going on in Waterdeep for close to a week now, and didn’t show any sign of slowing.
I lit the fire in my makeshift fireplace and warmed myself in front of it for a few moments, deep in thought about the strange occurances of my recent journey. A man had approached me in the town of Calimport just before I started back for Waterdeep. He had simply said that there was more to life than I was willing to let myself see, if only I had the courage to open my eyes and let everything go. Baffled, I couldn’t get the encounter out of my mind.
The grumbling of my stomach jarred me out of my contemplation, and I realized that I hadn’t eaten since breakfast of the previous day. I turned to go search my pack for what meager ration I had left to eat, and stopped cold in my tracks.
There was a woman sitting in my chair. She was leaning back with her boots rested upon the end of my bed, looking as if she’d known me forever and felt just as comfortable as she could be in my small house. Her figure was covered in tight black leather armor, and she wore a light black cloak about her shoulders. Her long red hair was done up in double braids which were fastened together at the ends with a bit of string. She sat, very nonchalantly, cleaning her fingernails with a razor sharp looking dagger.
“What are you doing in my home?” I asked cautiously. The quavering of my voice shamed me, but this woman looked dangerous, deadly.
She glanced up at me as if just realizing that someone else was in the room. She looked me up and down, smirked, and continued her impromptu manicure. My outrage at being disrespected in my own home caused me to repeat my question. When I still got no response, I decided it best to wait her out instead of provoking her. I sat upon the edge of my bed and examined her.
Upon closer inspection of the woman, I noticed a tiny tattoo under her left eye of a teardrop. My eyes lit upon numerous scars covering what little of her pale white skin wasn’t covered by her armor. She had daggers and pouches hanging from her clothes in just about every place they could without getting in the way.
I looked up from my inspection to find her staring at me, her dagger still in hand. I looked away with a blush coming to my face and I heard the first sound from this mysterious woman, laughter. My blush deepened.
She stood and started rummaging through my pack. I began to speak a word of protest, until, grinning, she brought out a bit of meat that I had wrapped in waxy leaf to keep it from spoil. She rummaged a bit in my shelves and produced a pot, and began to cook a stew. My astonishment grew even more.
Once the spices were added to the stew, and it was cooking, she returned to her place in my chair, rolled and began to smoke a loose tube of tobacco. She began to stare at me in that haunting way again, and before I could open my mouth to say a word, she began to speak.
“I was sent by a mutual ‘friend’ of ours from Calimport,” she began “I’m here to help you understand the world hidden in the darkness of the one you know.”
With that, she leaned back in the chair again and took a long inhale of her cigarette. I’m assuming to let the shock of this news settle. I had just left Calimport six nights ago, how had he gotten news to this woman and how had the tracked me down so fast, and why?
She began to laugh again, and I realized I was sitting on my bed with my mouth agape. I promptly shut it and scowled at her fiercely. She shook her head and hopped up to stir the stew a bit. When finally I found my voice again, I asked, “Who are you?”
She shot me a look that was indiscernible, turned back to her cooking, and after a few moments of consideration told me that nobody knew her real name, not even her. She said that everyone just called her “Eza”.
When she returned, she brought a bowl of stew and sat it upon my lap, then returned to her original seat. I blinked at the stew for a few moments, scared to try it. I did not know this woman’s true intentions, what reason had I to trust her? She seemed to understand what I was thinking, for she took the spoon from my bowl and ate some of the stew. Relieved, I went about sating my rebellious stomach. She watched me eat three bowls of the stew with an amused look upon her face.
When done, I set the bowl upon the floor and decided to find out what this Eza woman was all about. “So, what, you’re here to turn me into a cutthroat or something?” She smirked again and let out a little chuckle while stamping out her most recent cigarette on her boot.
Sitting forward suddenly, placing her elbows upon her knees and her chin in her hands she peered at me curiously and said, “Tell me, why did you go from pub to pub in Calimport every night for two weeks?”
“Did it ever occur to you that perhaps I’m just a bit of a lush?” I responded. She laughed again.
“These things aren’t important, they’re in the past. I’m only here to do what I have to. I’m indebted to that smelly fellow that approached you, and I’m only here to repay that debt.”
“So then, what are we to do?”
“I’m going to take you out, show you what it’s like. Give you the ‘Grand Tour’ if you will.”
I nodded solemnly.
“So when is all of this planned to begin?”
“Tonight,” I nodded again. Of course it would, Eza probably had backs to be stabbing somewhere.
“I’ve brought you a few things,” She tossed a small bundle onto my bed. “Get changed and we’ll be on our way.”
I took the bundle and opened it to find assorted daggers, bottles, and other strange items inside. There was a long, thin dark cloak, identical to hers, which I took out and placed about my neck. I examined, then attached the daggers and vials to my clothes where I could, and Eza nodded her approval. She stood up, stretched her lithe body, and beckoned for me to follow.
Out in the harsh snow again, it would be almost impossible to see others as they came by. That included us. Eza told me that the Gods were in our favor that night. Thinking back now, I can’t help but agree.
She told me to stay silent, always, and to follow close behind her. We made our way from my home in the Southern part of Waterdeep to the Northern half by way of a series of dark alleys. As far as I knew, we had not passed one person. Eza however, was constantly looking about, up to the roofs, down connecting roads, even watching the ground we walked upon. We wandered around for what must have been three hours, her explaining things to me, telling me things I must and must not do, giving me the “Grand Tour”.
Finally, we made our way to the Market Square of Waterdeep. Even at this hour in the evening, when people should be home eating their supper, the Market Square was teeming with people; housewives, farmers, warriors, magicians, dwarves, humans, halflings, and more. All the wonderful life that made up this fair city. Nobody even seemed to notice Eza and I as we stood in the midst of the crowd.
She pointed to a fair, lonely looking half-elf standing to the north west of us and nodded at me. He was to be our target. We went inside the Inn east of where the elf was and sat at a table where he was still in clear sight. Eza ordered the strongest ale that the barkeep had, and tossed him a gold coin that could have been just plucked from his own pocket for all he knew. The barkeep gave a nervous little bow and quickly went to fetch the drink.
We sat silently, her finishing up more mugs of ale than I would have thought possible, me sipping my first mug slowly. “A lush, eh?” she said bemused. I glared at her. We sat in silence for a bit, her scanning the room, me deep in thought. Abruptly, she stood and motioned for me to follow.
We made our way through the tables and back out into the elements. Our elven man was making his own way through the crowds towards the Northern gates; they would be closing for the night soon. Eza moved about just as she ever did, as if the four mugs of ale she had just had were mere water.
We followed the fair skinned man to a small camp just west of the gates of Waterdeep. We watched him set a snare, catch a small rabbit, and begin to prepare it. The bitter snow did not seem to bother this man at all. He moved around quickly, with more grace than I have ever seen in a person before.
I looked at her in the darkness, and she was staring at the man with a look of utter sorrow in her eyes. I wanted to ask what she was thinking, but somehow I knew that would have been a very bad mistake. Time passed, and finally, the man laid out his bedroll and went to sleep.
She motioned for me to go, and that she would stay to watch. I nodded, and she unsheathed two long, thin black bladed daggers. She took out a tiny brown leaf from a bundle of them she had in a bag, quickly and expertly crushed up the leaf in a bowl with some foul smelling sticky substance, and began to smear it along the length of her dagger with an oily cloth. She replaced her goods to their pouches, and smiled at me wickedly. I shivered, and not from the cold, as she handed me the daggers, and nudged me towards the sleeping man.
As I quickly rummaged through the strangers belongings, and put whatever I could find of value into my bag, I wished that I could know as much about this woman and her daring lifestyle that there was to know. Since I had seen her in my chair only hours earlier, this woman had not ceased to amaze me, and I was enthralled with the prospects now open to me.
Suddenly, she was there beside me. She grabbed my hand, flashed me another stunning smile, and we were on our way again. Back at the gates of Waterdeep, she took out a tiny piece of wire and within seconds the gates were open. We slipped through, and the gates closed quietly again without even the guards noticing.
We made our way back to my home through the same dark alleys by which we had left. When we got to the door I started to go inside, but she stopped me. She said that her job was done for tonight, and she had places to be. She said that she had shown me what she could in the time allowed, and the decision was up to me now. She smiled at me one last time, and placed something cold into my hand. It was a very small beautiful glass heart, filled with a thin brown liquid.
I looked up to thank her, and she was gone. I sighed to myself and pushed through the snow into my home. Upon entering, I looked around for a moment. I nodded to myself as I came to my decision. I grabbed up my traveling pack, returned it to my back, and returned outside. It was a long way back to Calimport and I needed to be on my way.
I looked at the ground as I went, I looked down connecting roads, and I looked up at the rooftops. On one rooftop, I swear to this day, I saw the faint silhouette of a woman against the starlight sky.

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- Booty Assasin -

[Kallinar]

About damned time is all I gotta say

Folks you have no idea how hard I tried to get her to post this story a couple months ago when she wrote it. She has no faith in her story-telling ability.

I think this is one of the coolest personal rp stories I have seen on here because of its perspective. Mebby I'm biased as she says, but I do know decent writing when I read it

I love you babe.

Kallinar was here

[Turxx]

i loved it, cant wait for part 2

[This message has been edited by Turxx (edited 08-05-2002).]

[Nashak]

That story rules. I like how you told it in the third person.. quite different if you ask me. I loved it.