&& A PEACEFUL CONVERSATION [HEL][C]

Hel walked along the alleyways of the 3rd District, glad to be back in her home turf; sure, there were still heartless here to clear, but at least she knew her way around. As she walked back towards her base, she reveled in the near-silence; only her own footsteps could be heard over the gentle hum of the lanterns. She listened as her own footsteps echoed back to her.

This area had always been quiet. Most people stuck to the first two districts, where there were guards, and safety in numbers. But Hel preferred the silence, the solemn quiet of the night. This was her territory, the place she owned. She didn't have any particular feelings for it, per se, but she did value it; a place where she didn't have to be on constant guard from enemy attacks. Where she could relax, just a little bit.

Hel stopped as she stepped into the courtyard. It was quiet here...it always was, but tonight there was a strange feeling to the silence. It was almost...expectant. She became sure she was being watched. Without moving from where she was standing, her eyes scanned the shadows of the courtyard; left and right. "I know you're there. Nice try, but your not nearly as subtle as you think you are." Hel bluffed, acting like she knew where the watcher was. She didn't see him (or perhaps her?), but she had no doubt that they could hear her. She crossed her arms disaprovingly, using the motion to disguise drawing her knife, just to be safe. "What brings you to my neck of the woods? And don't waste both our times with the cliche 'you did' answer: what are you intending to get from this excursion?"

Hel paused for a moment, listening intently for the sound of motion. Where could they be watching her from? She had commited to pretending she knew where they were; if she turned her head to look around, she would reveal her bluff; she was risking the lie just by looking around with her eyes, but she trusted that she had the distance that they couldn't tell where she was looking.

They definately weren't in the courtyard with her; none of the shadows were deep enough to hide someone. So they must be in one of the buildings, or side paths. But where? There were too many openings to cover all at once!

[OOC: She is assuming he's standing at ground level, which is why she's failing to notice the man standing above her]

"ah...you caught me." Hel's head snapped to where it was coming from. Above her. Hel mentally cursed herself for not thinking to look up. Feeling more confident, now that she knew where her visitor was, she stepped toward the fountain, stopping at a distance that was close enough she could close the remaining gap wihout having to worry too much about if he was a ranged fighter, but far enough back she could watch him without craning her neck back.

He hadn't been hiding? Well, standing there above the fountain, he couldn't have been, unless he teleported up there. Still, not the normal place for one to stand. Not hiding, huh? Well you could have fooled me, standing up there where most people wouldn't notice you." Hel could tell from his tone of voice, his posture, that he had already seen through the earlier bluff, but she wasn't about to just admit she had messed up. If he pressed it, then that just meant he felt a need to put her down. Which made him hostile towards her, regardless of any claims of peace.

She intrigued his underlings? So he was someone in charge? An authority? Well that was just great...shown up by an authority figure...but intrigued? That wasn't an acusing word, was it? It had something to do with interesting. He asked if it was ok he was 'intrigued'? What would he do if she said it wasn't?

"You have underlings? Who are you? Both as in your name, and as in your 'intrigued' group? You want to meet me? Well congradulations, you've met the one and only Hel. Now what?"

Intrude. There was another one. This man really liked fancy 'in' words. Hel would have to devote some time to improving her vocabulary at some point; this was twice now she'd struggled to keep up with what someone was saying...So 'intrude' sounded like 'intruder', which she was pretty sure was a word for someone going where the authorities said they shouldn't. Again, he was apologizing? He didn't look like he considered her a threat. The difference between his confident pose and his...weak? there was a better word, she was sure, but she didn't know it...words was confusing. Did she have the strong ground here or not?

It was her territory; he had the high ground. She had a knife in her hand, hidden in the fold of her arms; he could have a concealed weapon just as easily as she had. She had been caught in a bluff; he spoke like she were his better. But he was an authority of some sort, so that was crap-tastic news. She watched him for his response.

Hel frowned as the stranger walked down to her level at the fountain. He was giving up the high-ground? So she was the one in control here? He was definately making subtle peace offerings, along with the claims. But could she trust them? She could trust them enough to let the man continue talking, for now at least.


"Hmph. Yeah, better..." Again he claimed that all he wanted to do was talk. Alyxx. At last she had a name for him. Aside from Trouble, at any rate. He was...second in command of his 'intrigued' group? Damn. He was exactly the kind of person she didn't like dealing with...


That was when Hel noticed his eyes weren't on her. In fact, they weren't on anything. He's blind? Their second in command is blind? Pencil Pushers, the lot of them! Hel wondered how he found his way down the stairs if he couldn't see them. But if he was blind, then there was no point in trying to hide the knife; either his other senses had already found it, or he wouldn't be able to tell she was armed anyway. Hel relaxed her stance somewhat, keeping her arms crossed, but not bothering to keep the knife out of sight anymore.


He was still talking. What had he said his group was made of? Nobodies? Weird...he didn't strike her as a nobody; he walked like he was somebody important, in fact. Hel pretended she understood what he meant.


"Ok, so you have a gang, I'm a special interest, you're here to talk. So let's talk: Is this about your group trying to move in on Traverse Town? Obviously, you're from out of town; I'd recognize you, or at least your group, otherwise. So you'd either be taking territory from me, which I don't think you're stupid enough to try, or you're wanting a truce while you take down some shared foe?" Hel motioned with the dagger hand while she spoke, using the blade to point to non-existent bullet-points as she verbally worked her way through her points. Now that she wasn't trying to hide it, she had all but forgotten it was in her hand.


"Only notable faction in this district other than me is the heartless. If you're hunting them, then I'm game." Hel made a mental note that she still didn't trust Alyxx, but he was clearly willing to play the part, and she was more than happy to use him until such a time as he revealed his true intent.

Hel didn't like it when the man turned back and smiled at her. It felt like he was laughing at her. He then brushed his hair back; definitely big-headed. Hel was tempted to take him down a notch, but he then explained he was hoping to hunt a big heartless in her territory. It stole something from him? Really?


"This is the first I've heard of a heartless stealing anything other than someone's heart. What did it take from you that's so important?" Even as the words left her mouth, Hel realized that it was possible the man in front of her was like her; his heart removed by the heartless. Was it possible there was a group of such people? Hmm...That was an interesting line of thought, but now wasn't the place to hunt it down. That was a topic for a different day, after she knew more about this rival gang.


Besides, it might be he was lying to he had an excuse to come with; see her in action. She might have tried the same thing, except it was a two-way street, and she preferred to spy at distance, where she didn't reveal as much.


"Like I said before, I'm game for a hunt. I usually stick to nests over individual targets, but I guess your gang has the troops to not worry about numbers, am I right?" Hel was fishing for information here, but she figured it was the kind of thing he might give her even if he did catch it. After all, what harm could it do for her to know if they were big or not? And if he lied? Well, she was already assuming he was at best telling half-truths, anyway. But what he chose to say, lie or not, revealed plenty on its own.


"Speaking of which, you didn't say what you're groups' name is...?" While Hel waited for an answer expectantly, her mind reviewed what he'd said earlier: 'I don't know if you've sensed it yet'. Sensed. Not discovered. Not Found. Sensed. Interesting...She didn't ask, because that would be revealing just how empty her hand really was right now...but she had a suspicion that asking him or another member of his group was going to be the only way to learn what that meant...