Young Writers Society

As the time to the meeting ticked down, the spirits of those waiting seemed to rise. Pirates from different guilds who hadn't seen each other in a while were meeting up again after a long time apart, and everyone seemed to be talking to someone else. But Callista didn't look for a familiar face. There weren't any here.

She pushed her way through the enthusiastic crowd, looking for a way to pass the time. It would be a few hours, and she didn't want to enter the guildhall earlier, so she stopped at a group of barrels used as tables where someone was serving drinks. There weren't many people living on the island, and so there weren't many businesses. It was clear that someone had just set this up.

It looked like someone had started a gambling session, and that caught Callista's eye more than the drinks did. Maybe that wouldn't be a bad way to spend her time. She stepped closer to the table to see what was happening.

The girl at the table looked barely of legal age to gamble, and yet she was running the show with the ease of someone who'd been doing this for years. Light sparkled off her perpetual smile as she dealt cards, took gold, and excited the crowd with a few carefully placed comments and winks. She glanced up and caught Callista's eye.

"Well, what do we have here!" she called out. "Come on, darling, come try your luck at my table! People have been winning big here today, isn't that right?" The crowd backed her up with a loud cheer.

Callista raised an eyebrow. Darling? The casual language was more than a little surprising to hear, but she could tell the girl was the kind of person to use that with anyone. She seemed... flashy. A bit literally, as she was wearing an outfit that was so sparkly it almost hurt to look at. Was it her gambling strategy to blind people with gemstones so that they couldn't read their cards correctly?

That thought gave her an idea. Maybe she could use a strategy like that.

"I'm in," Callista said, taking a spot at the barrel table.

The girl grinned at her. "Lovely!" She shuffled the cards, lazily flipping them from one hand to the next. "We're playing Hearts. Do you know the rules, or do you need them explained?"

"I could use a reminder." Callista knew the general rules, but maybe pirates played differently. Sometimes they put a spin on things.

"Alright! The objective of the game is to be the player with the fewest points at the end," the girl began, dealing cards to each of the players - four in total, including herself - as she spoke. "The end is when someone collects fifty points. Heart cards are worth one point each, the queen of spades is worth thirteen. Whoever lay down the highest card during the round has to take all the discarded ones."

She finished dealing and sat back on her makeshift chair. "For the first round, the first player - that's whoever has the two of clubs - lays the two down, and the other three players follow suit, discarding a clubs card. If you don't have one, any suit will do, but you can't discard a heart or the queen of spades on the first round. And we go from there. The second player starts the second round, the third starts the third, and so on and so on. After the first round, you don't have to start with clubs, you can start with any suit."

She grinned.

"Now, the fun part. You three-" she gestured to the other players at the table "-place your gold - however much you'd like - into the centre of the table, and I, as the dealer, add half as much as what the rest of you put in. Whoever has the fewest points at the end of the game get back what they put in, plus what I put in, and I get whatever's left. Simple enough. Got it?"

Callista gave it some thought, then nodded. "Alright." She reached into her pocket and tossed a handful of gold coins on the table. The other players did the same, and once everyone had put their money in, they checked their hands. Callista narrowed her eyes as she added the cards up-- this wasn't a great hand. It was probably going to take some trickery to make this a win.

The dealer examined the pile of gold, then counted out half that amount from her own purse and added it to the pile. "Lovely. Who's got the two of clubs to start us off, then?"

The player directly to Callista's right placed the card down on the table, and the game began.

For the first several rounds, things proceeded as expected, with everyone at the table collecting points about equally. The player to Callista's right - Airdrie, she'd introduced herself as - had the fewest points of them all, and was getting cocky, adding a few gold to her wager each time the cards fell in her favour. The dealer encouraged her- subtly, of course, but encouraged her nonetheless, making sly remarks about her luck and how well she chose her cards and how much she stood to win if things kept going her way.

Airdrie didn't seem to notice the gleam in the dealer's eyes that meant the dealer also knew exactly how much she stood to gain if things stopped going her way. Callista had a bad feeling that something might just come along to change that.

As Airdrie added yet another couple of gold to the pile, the dealer's gaze landed on the back of her cards, all the mischief and cheerfulness dropping from her eyes as she inspected each card closely. The other two players, more interested in how much Airdrie was adding, didn't seem to notice, but Callista raised an eyebrow. It seemed like this girl had a few tricks.

After a moment, the dealer blinked and looked away, her expression shifting back to what it had been before. "Are you sure you'd like to add that much?" she teased. "Things could change, darling, and you're standing to lose a lot if they do."

Airdrie looked a little confused by this sudden shift in attitude, but quickly wiped that from her face, giving the dealer a smirk. "It'd take some kind of unholy miracle to change my luck that badly."

The dealer held her hands up and leaned back. "You know best, darling. Go ahead, I think it's your turn to start this round."

Airdrie glanced down at her cards and did a double-take, eyes widening, before she remastered her poker face. That brief slip, however, was enough to make the dealer's smile grow just a little too wide. Airdrie scanned her cards, then slowly placed down the queen of spades.

Callista's eyebrows went up. Something was definitely afoot.

While the other players took their turn discarding cards, she found herself focusing on the hand Airdrie, who was biting her lip slightly, was holding. They seemed... off somehow, not quite like all the cards in the rest of the deck. To test out a theory, she closed her eyes, yawning loudly so it wouldn't seem strange, and then slowly, slowly blinked her eyes open again.

There. For just a moment, her vision did something strange, like it was trying to replace something she was seeing. Airdrie's cards had seemed to flicker and fizzle out before they looked normal again. The card on the table, the one that seemed to be the queen of spades, had appeared as the seven of hearts for that brief instant. Callista had no doubt about it: the dealer had changed the cards' appearances, and she'd been able to see through it in that short second after her eyes had opened and her sight had readjusted from what was really there to the illusion that she'd placed.

It was a good trick, but what the dealer didn't know was that two could play at this game.

Callista discarded when her turn came around, and then focused on what she wanted her cards to look like to the others. Most of them would be various heart cards, but she'd leave one or two of other suits so it wouldn't be suspicious and get her accused of cheating. Four people was about as much as she could fool at once. She glanced across the table at the dealer. Callista wouldn't be able to change much of her hand, or she'd guess what someone else was doing, but... it wouldn't hurt to make a few of them look like bad cards that might have slipped past her notice.

To her credit, the dealer's expression remained serenely cheerful as she examined the new cards Callista was showing her. Nowhere near as strong a reaction as Airdrie had to her illusory cards. Play continued as normal, with the dealer starting to rack up more points as Callista continued to manipulate her cards into less favourable ones. Airdrie, as well, started gaining more points, her face falling further every round as she realized exactly how much gold she'd bet and how much she was losing.

It was a clever strategy the dealer was using, when Callista stopped to think about it. Find a person with more gold than sense, manipulate them into thinking they'd win so they'd wager more, then make them lose at the last moment. Whoever had won would take what they put in and what the dealer had put in, and the dealer would get the rest- which, when they would count up all the money the poor loser had put in, was quite a lot.

Complicated. Harder to pull off than usual gambling scams. While it was highly unfair, she had to at least respect the cunning and skill of anyone who could pull it off.

Airdrie was the first to hit fifty points, which ended the game. After all the points had been counted up, Callista ended with the fewest, and the dealer counted out her winnings from the pile in the centre. "Nice game, darling," she said, pushing her gold across the table to Callista with a wink. "You really know how to get the cards to do what you want them to."

Callista smirked, and she stuffed the gold into her pocket. "You could say that," she agreed, double-counting the money to check that it was the right amount. Just to be safe, she slowly blinked while staring at it again to make sure she wasn't seeing things and ending up with gold that didn't exist. The other players were still at the table, packing up-- with Airdrie still looking discouraged-- and she added to the dealer, "I could say the same about you."

The rest of the players clearly hadn't heard, even though she'd maken no attempt to lower her voice. It was like the words hadn't even been said or reached their ears. They'd gone deaf to that single sentence.

When the players had cleared out, still oblivious to what she'd said, Callista stayed at the table, giving the dealer a thoughtful look.

"You're pretty subtle, you know. I bet you do this a lot."

The dealer swept all her cards up into a single pile, then slid them up her sleeve and out of sight. "What, play gambling games with senseless rich people?" She gave Callista a sideways glance. "Or are you accusing me of cheating somehow?"

Callista shrugged. "Cheating? I don't know about that. Maybe using a couple talents that others don't have to your advantage, but I don't have an issue with that."

The dealer paused and gave her a much more interested look. "Really now. That's an interesting take on the situation, darling. Most people wouldn't hesitate to call my 'talents' cheating." She flashed her a smile. "You know, you have some... fun talents yourself. I've never had anyone mess with my senses quite that well- most people don't manage to fool me, but it took me a good turn or two to figure out what you'd done. Have you ever considered using your talents for anything like this?"

Callista thought back to the gold coin from a few days ago. "Oh, I don't know. Occasionally as a means of... getting away with stuff. I don't actually regularly gamble."

"Oh, I didn't meant screwing the dealer over, I meant more along the lines of screwing other people over," the dealer corrected. "You don't have to gamble to earn money from it."

Callista raised an eyebrow. "You know, this sounds awfully like you're encouraging me to do some illegal stuff. Can't have anyone hearing that." She looked around, focusing on the nearest people in the crowd, and tuned them out from their conversation. "Would be a shame if everyone went deaf to us."

The girl glanced around, then back to Callista with a new gleam in her eye. "Such a shame," she agreed. "Hey, totally hypothetical question that's unrelated to what we were just talking about: how do you feel about getting rich?"

She gestured to the pouch she kept her coins in, which was now considerably fuller than before she'd gotten here. "Well, as I have just found out, the feeling is pretty nice."

"Right, right. And how do you feel about... business partners?"

"I'd be open to trying that out."

The girl grinned. "What's your name, darling?"

Callista decided she'd have to get used to being called that. "I'm Callista Arien," she said, extending a hand.

The girl took it. "Lisa Mercier. Pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Callista glanced around the makeshift pub with a smirk. "We have a couple hours to kill before anything starts. Feel like causing a little trouble, perhaps with another game?"

"Trouble?" Lisa asked innocently. "I'd never- unless you have an idea?"

She pointed to a couple pirates in fancy clothes. "It involves a few rich pricks."

"Well, I do love anything involving rich pricks, especially if they end up less rich at the end of it," Lisa mused.

"For sure. You still got those cards?"

"Darling, if I'm ever without my cards, assume something is very wrong," Lisa declared dramatically. She tipped her hand, and the deck slid out of her sleeve and landed neatly in her palm.

"Excellent." Callista smiled, and she lifted the sound block she'd had on their voices. She waved over in the direction of the targets she'd had her eye on. "New game starting soon, take your seats if you want a chance to win big!"

And as she watched the people trickle over to what looked like a good opportunity, she realized she'd actually found herself one. Callista could only hope it would be lasting.

Against all odds, Josette found a ship leaving at dawn, which gave Meri all of two hours to pack. He brought only the necessities: a change of good clothes, the high-quality oak pipe that Mander (short for Salamander) bought him that first year on Elbrus, his map sketchbook, and his prized set of coded ciphers. And his gloves. The less contact with people, the better, for now. His Affinity was uncharted territory.

After a swift goodbye to Mander and Daedra, Josette and Meri boarded the Matronly Merrow. It was…. afloat, and that was about all it had going for it. The captain was a rather burly Affinity user, relying on their own skill at wind twisting rather than the fickle torrents of the sea. Suddenly the outrageous price of passage seemed a little more reasonable, for who wouldn’t want a ship that drove itself?

They arrived at Virakis a few hours before the meeting and were hard-pressed finding an empty spot at port to dock the Merrow. When at last their luck came through, the companions waved farewell to their unusual charter and turned to find lodgings for after the meeting. If gods willing, the whole island isn’t trying to kill each other afterward.

Meri followed Josette, marveling at the ease with which she cut through crowds. Standing at a whopping 6’5’’, Josette Jovansky was quite literally a mountain of pure muscle. Her short purple ponytail swished as she walked, brushing the sides of her shaven head.

“How's about that place?” Josette pointed to an inn up the hill from the dock. It looked high quality, made of oak, and decorated with finely carved lanterns. A couple of well-armed brutes stood at the gates around it. Meri shook his head.

“It’s too conspicuous.”
“That one?” Josette pointed at a decrepit old building standing alone at the far end of the beach.
“Too rundown. We’re a bit too clean to blend in there.”
“Well, pick somewhere!”

Meri looked around the docks, frustrated by the lack of options. You’d think if the entirety of the Guilds were being called, there’d at least be proper housing. Although, most would sleep on their ships, or in tents if they stayed the night at all. He spotted an alehouse, a makeshift tattoo parlor in the open air, and- There!
A tavern, relatively clean, looked affordable. The sign swinging above the door read “The Gangly Gorgon- rooms available!” It wasn’t the perfect place to disappear, since there were so few buildings, to begin with. But it would have to do. Meri needed a place to focus, to anchor himself in this totally new environment. He grimaced, gesturing at it, and the companions made their way over.

To the right, a lively group of people played cards on a couple of barrels. Meri noticed the clear difference in… pocket weight of the players. The majority were clearly well off; their hair was clean, their clothes were tailored, and they all shared that look of natural arrogance that would surely rob them of their coin. A few, however, including the dealer, a somewhat flamboyant young person, and an irritable scraped-up pirate looked to be the center of gravity in the whole operation. Meri hesitated, gazing somewhat longingly at the barrels piled high with gold. It would be great fun to sit for a few rounds and try his luck…

But no. He was here on business. He could save the revelry for after the Guild meeting. A little celebration never hurt anyone… that’s not quite true. Rather, a little celebration’s worth a little hurt. Tearing his eyes away, he strode into the tavern.

Despite the merry atmosphere, a strong tension thrummed through the patrons, setting Meri’s teeth on edge. He pushed through the crowd to the bar, making a beeline for the head of the barkeeper, which was a solid foot over everyone else’s.

“Might I get a room for my companion and me?” He called over the ruckus. The barkeep rolled over to him- her legs were amputated below the knee, and a pair of whirring steel prosthetics filled the space where they would have been.

“ ‘Fraid we’re full up.” She ran a suspicious eye over the two, cocking her eyebrows.

Exasperated, Meri asked again, “You’re sure there isn’t some way a room might be opened up?” It was his turn to raise an eyebrow promisingly.

The barkeep rolled her eyes, scowling. “Damn you, we don’t have any open rooms! Now, buy a drink or get out!”

Meri pursed his lips and left, grabbing Josette’s arm on the way, as she’d been inching towards a frothing tankard of mead. She rubbed the back of her head, an apologetic smile on her lips.

“Suppose this will have to do.” Scowling, he sat down with a thunk on a bench just outside the tavern.

“We don’t have long to wait. And besides, we can get passage back to Elbrus as soon as the meeting’s over. I’ve got a buddy with a ship two stone’s throws down…”

Josette’s voice faded into the back of Meri’s mind as he stared up at the volcano, smoke rising into the evening air. What secrets would he soon be uncovering in that Guildhall deep in the volcano’s belly?

The atmosphere of the astonishingly large kitchen was completely different than what Rodrin was used to. Normally, the kitchen was so lonely because of how cavernous it was, dug deep into the mountain of the volcano, but also it held a warm and comforting vibe because of the natural heat from the large coals in one corner. It was probably the best kitchen in the entire world with how it took full advantage of the volcano it inhabited.

Now, though? It was stuffy and crowded, full of bustling people. With representatives from every guild interested in being represented in this meeting coming to this volcano island, there were a ton of people just around the island, which meant there were a ton of mouths to feed, which meant there were cooks from many different islands. The amount of talking, shouting, clinking of pots and pans, rustling about, and the general assault of conflicting smells were immediately overwhelming to Rodrin.

If he were an outsider to Virakis, he would be absolutely enamored by the impressive display of food available during this meeting. To put it as a meeting was a simple understatement. This was a celebration for many of the pirates in the land. It was a time for money to be made, old sparks to rekindle, and new relationships and alliances to be built. It was really only nerve-racking to those high up on the pecking order, and only among those who weren't already busy making deals before the actual meeting. To the average pirate, this was merely a time to embrace everything that a pirate was. Unfortunately, to someone like Guilless, this was a confusing and stressful. Rodrin was so glad he wasn't in her position.

But, well, to Rodrin, this was an absolute nightmare. They were ruining his kitchen. He knew how territorial cooks were firsthand, so seeing so many different people cooking in his stead astonished and insulted him.

Guilless glanced over at him as they made their way through the kitchen. "The food smells amazing." She said innocently, but he absolutely knew she was rubbing it in that it wasn't him leading that kitchen right now. "Come, let's fine our way to our cabin, and," she leaned in, "enjoy the roles we are given, rather than the roles we wish we had."

You say that, but what is there to enjoy about my current role? Rodrin thought bitterly. This was forcing him back into old habits, ones that he was trying to get out of. There had to be some way for him to leave, to get out of this business. His stupid past was keeping him there. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

He followed Guilless through a narrow corridor that opened up with natural openings to the coastline outside, letting the saltwater air cool the atmosphere and freshen their moods. Only a partial amount of the architecture of Virakis Hold was within the volcano itself. Much of it was on the surrounding lush jungle and the coastline beyond. While the volcano hadn't been active in a long time, it had created a large island that housed floral and fauna local to only this island. There really was nothing like this island anywhere else in the world. The Pirate Guilds had carefully cultivated the land to be a huge source of income and a suitable home while not destroying the local habitat. Pirates were actually honorable people, despite their public reputation... and some of their more unsavorable practices.

Guilless, head of Guild Forsaken, and Rodrin, being a prominent chef on the island, had carved themselves a nice little corner of the island, full of trees from their island and volcanic rocks that made up the pavement to their houses. Before they trekked the short distance up a hill to their house, Guilless stopped in her tracks and turned to Rodrin. "This is the part where we part ways until the meeting. Unless, of course, you want to be a part of the political proceedings before the meeting?" She added with a wry smile.

Rodrin smiled and shook his head. "No, thank you."

"Thought so. Go, have fun, make some new friends, and perhaps forge an alliance or two." She turned on her heels. "I'll see you at the meeting."

Rodrin sighed, kind of at a loss on what to do now. He fiddled with his fingers before turning and heading back to the main volcano. This time, he avoided the kitchen like a plague. He found himself in one of the larger halls, where a bit of a crowd had gathered around a table. That only meant one thing. Well, two things.

Either someone was getting murdered and people were there to watched, or...

Someone was getting swindled.

This was, by far, Rodrin's least favorite pasttime. Gambling. The uncertainty gnawed at him. With spy work, or even assassin work, there was the predictability and certainty that came with that work. Even when situations went south, there was a certain expectation and order to how things went. It was something he had come to rely on. With gambling, there was none of that.

Rodrin kept his distance, but he found himself a comfortable spot near the corner of the room to watch the action from afar.

The two gamblers— one experienced dealer and one who had just gotten into it— were having a good time. They’d played several games by now and kept getting the rich folks to come back with the promise that next time would be a win, next time would be their lucky one. It never was, but they hadn’t stopped believing in it. The sun that shone through the open windows of the hall was almost scalding on the back of Callista’s neck, and she pulled her hat down to shade it better. It had gotten warmer in the time she’d spent here, and she wasn’t quite used to a sun that wasn’t hidden by mist anymore.

The players of this last round groaned as Lisa took all the winnings— and Callista did her best to be upset too, acting as disappointed at the “loss” as she could. They’d settled into a bit of a pattern. Sometimes, they’d divide and conquer, where Callista would win the game and Lisa would get the other share of the earnings. Other times, they would both focus on letting Lisa win everything so that it wasn’t suspicious that Callista kept winning, and so that it made sense for her to come back and keep playing.

“New round starting here, for a game of Hearts!” Lisa shouted, waving onlookers over to the table.

Callista put on a smirk. “I’ll get you next time,” she said, making it seem like she was just a player who wouldn’t be leaving without a win.

“You will, darling, you will,” Lisa laughed as she collected the gold and shuffled the cards. Callista’s eyes followed the deck as the illusionist’s hands moved quickly. She was good with the cards, and she wondered how long she’d been a dealer. Probably a while.

The small huddle of pirates around them shifted to let new people in. Callista noticed they had an onlooker from another table, who was giving them his full attention but didn’t seem interested in joining the game. She shot him a glare. It’s rude to stare, her face said, and he returned it with a steely look. Well, she could only make so many friends in one day, and from his expression, she could probably count him out.

She turned her attention back to the new players, who were sharing a little about themselves. To her right, there was a certain Captain Evira of Guild Intrigue, her face grinning with the same confidence that all the wealthy pirates from before had had. The pirate sitting between the captain and Lisa was a man wearing very bright green who didn’t care to give a name or guild, so she nicknamed him Lime Guy. And the other person at the table on her left was also from Guild Rogue and introduced himself as Trigir. He said his name as a sneer, and she got the feeling she wouldn’t like him very much. He didn’t have the best breath, either.

Lisa explained the rules once more as she dealt out the hands to everyone. Callista tossed in a large amount of gold— not all that she had made while gambling so far, but a good amount— so that others would be likely to bid high as well. It seemed like it worked, because Captain Evira added even more money in, not wanting to be outmatched. Lime Guy and Trigir both put in satisfactory amounts, and Lisa counted everything up to add half again as much.

“Are we ready?” she asked, and the players nodded. “Lovely! Let’s get started.”

As Callista examined her hand, which wasn’t the best, she changed two of her cards to hearts. There was plenty of time to work in small steps. She had already altered Trigir’s hand substantially, and if she’d done it right, he would be seeing a worse hand than what he really had. The players did their first round of discarding, then their second, and all seemed well until Trigir began complaining about his hand.

“I’ve been getting the worst cards,” he whined, shaking his head despairingly, but Callista could see a sly look in his eyes. “This is unfair and this game needs to be restarted.”

Captain Evira raised an eyebrow. “Why would you tell us that your hand sucks? Have you never heard of a poker face?”

Trigir put on a pouty look. He was leaning into Callista’s space, and she was very, very close to shoving him to the floor. The only reason why she didn’t was because it would cause a commotion for sure— and normally that wouldn’t stop her, but this was not a great setting to pick a fight in. “I want a redeal.”

“Just shut up and play,” Callista snapped. It felt strange for her to say that without adding a threat at the end, and it took a lot to bite one back.

He glared at her, and then at Lisa. “I want a new hand.”

“I can’t help you there, sadly,” she said cheerfully, and Callista almost couldn’t tell at all that she was just as irritated as the rest of them. She seemed to handle angry players very differently than Callista did. “You’ll get another hand next game if you join in for that.”

Trigir grumbled under his breath and didn’t say anymore. Hopefully there wouldn’t be any more trouble there.

Callista saw the onlooker again, still watching from a distance, and she narrowed her eyes at him. Fine. If he was going to watch, then he was going to watch her win.

They kept playing, and Evira, who had been coming out ahead so far, seemed to be mysteriously doing worse all of a sudden. Unfortunately for her, she’d just added another handful of gold. More hearts appeared in Callista’s hand, this time by Lisa’s doing. Lime Guy sat almost unnoticed in the corner of the table, flicking through his cards and doing math. The stumped look on his face when he saw a card that he hadn’t noticed before almost made her laugh out loud.

This was a little too much fun— the thrill of an impending win, the money stacking up, the gleam in Lisa’s eyes every time more gold was added, like a crow that had spotted something shiny. Was this what her Affinity was for? It seemed amazingly well suited for it.

A few more rounds went by, and the two of them carefully made small adjustments to the others hands. When Trigir was the first to reach fifty points, the game ended. Callista had the lowest score, leaving her and Lisa with the winnings to split.

Evira didn’t look too thrilled to part with that stack of money she’d thrown in, but she grudgingly admitted defeat. Lime Guy didn’t say anything at all. But Trigir, as she’d thought he might be, was rather unhappy.

“I was playing right,” he insisted. “I was given the worst cards. This isn’t right.”

Callista wrinkled her nose. His breath really smelled back, and his words weren’t exactly pleasant either. “Deal with it. It’s not like you put that much money in anyway.”

“I lost the most and you don’t see me complaining,” Captain Evira added, not too humbly.

Trigir glared at Lisa. “I want my money back.” It was hard to tell whether he was actually onto them or just entitled. Accounting for his personality, it was probably the latter.

“You agreed to the rules,” the dealer said sweetly, and Callista saw her quickly stuff her share of gold in a bag behind her back. “Now, if you’ll either commit to playing again or move on, I’ll be setting up another—“

Like a snake darting for prey, the pirate from Guild Rogue lunged at the bag.

Lisa had to lean back dangerously far to avoid him, but kept her grip on the sack of coins and kept it from spilling. Trigir’s momentum carried him forward into the barrel table, cracking it, knocking it over and sending it rolling over a yelping Captain Evira’s feet. Lime Guy had somehow disappeared, having either just missed the start of a bar fight or not wanted to be involved in it.

On one hand, this was a bad place and time for a scuffle. On the other hand, she’d never liked Trigir at all.

Callista dived in to grab Trigir, still stunned by his run-in with the barrel, by the collar before he could get to his feet. He snarled and tried to flip her over, but instead she lifted him up and threw him onto the cracked barrel, which broke under the impact of his fall. Lisa was holding the bag in one hand and a gun pointed at him in the other— Trigir’s gun, Callista realized, but she hadn’t even realized she’d taken it from him. That was sneaky. Another good reason to partner with Lisa.

“I’ve worn armor heavier than you,” she challenged the pirate, who was dazed and slumped on the floor. “Want to try that again?”

Trigir gave her a glare that she matched in even fiercer proportions, but he got up and slinked away into the crowd that was starting to laugh at him. Captain Evira, who was still grimacing, gave them a short nod of approval and walked away. Slowly, everyone’s interest died down as bystanders left the scene, and Callista was left with Lisa, standing around the remnants of the barrel they’d used as a table.

“…Maybe we should take a short break?” Lisa suggested brightly. “Wait for everyone to calm down a bit before we get back to it. It’s easier to rob a relaxed person than one on guard.”

Callista cracked a smile. “Sure. Let’s wait.”

The two found another table and started to play another card game, just the two of them, just for the fun of it. It was a little hard because they were aware that both of them were cheating, but it made for a very entertaining game. Callista didn’t even care anymore that they were still being watched by the same person. There was a bigger game going on.

It was an interesting experience, playing cards with someone that had the same Affinity as her. Lisa wasn't quite sure what her cards had been originally, they'd been messed with so many times, and everything was starting to look blurred and faded with the combination of her illusions and Callista's. There was a certain amount of times you could change a card, and they'd cheated their way past that amount a long time ago.

All in good fun, of course. Lisa didn't mind that it was starting to give her a mild headache; this was a good opportunity to study Callista's Affinity a bit and figure out exactly how she could use it best at the gambling tables.

She studied her cards, then glanced up over them at Callista and waited until the other woman was looking at her and winked, flashing her a smile. Callista, from what she'd seen, seemed like the kind of person who'd be a little thrown by that if she wasn't expecting it, and that moment of confusion might be enough for Lisa to throw down a card before Callista changed it again.

Sure enough, Callista missed the action. She blinked slowly at Lisa, with a bit of a puzzled frown, and looked down at the card Lisa had discarded. It suddenly shifted into a much better card-- apparently they were just cheating in plain sight now.

"Huh. I wonder why you'd get rid of that," she remarked.

"Hey, no!" Lisa protested. "Excuse me, that's not how this works!" She tapped the card, and it changed back to what she'd placed down. "Darling, you need to get better at cheating, or this isn't going to work out."

Callista raised an eyebrow, but it looked like she wasn't going to argue. "Alright." She set down another card, and they kept playing.

"Games like these require a soft touch," Lisa lectured gently as she changed Callista's entire hand. "If you get into the habit of cheating in plain sight when it doesn't matter, you'll do it when it does, and that'll get you in a lot of trouble and earn you a ban from five different cities."

"And what are they going to do," Callista said idly while Lisa's hand gained many diamonds, "fight me?"

"Worse," Lisa insisted. "They'll overpower you with an entire mob and take all your gold and the weighted dice it took you a week to perfect, and then throw you out when you try to sneak back in and take back what's semi-rightfully yours."

Callista's face indicated that she believed she could take on an entire mob. "Hmm."

Their conversation got interrupted by someone coughing quite loudly. Lisa glanced over in that direction to see the man who was eyeing them earlier shifting uncomfortably, like he had a rock in his boot.

"Are you feeling left out, darling?" she called out to him, giving him a friendly smile. "I could start up another game, if you'd like. Otherwise, keep your coughing on your side of the tables; I don't fancy getting sick if I don't also get money out of it."

The man raised an eyebrow, but pretended (quite horribly) that the question wasn't directed to him.

"Hey," Callista hollered at him, not at all fooled. "Got an issue that you'd like to bring up to the two of us?"

He finally spoke up. "Oh, no, no problem."

"Aside from that nasty cough," Lisa remarked quietly to Callista. "And the judgemental look on his face. If he doesn't consider those problems, though, what are we going to do about it? I win, by the way." She tossed down her final card.

The annoying man spoke up again. "I don't have a problem, unless you two were cheating people out of gold."

Callista wasn't even paying attention to Lisa's glorious victory, sadly, from the way she narrowed her eyes at him. "Well, that's an outrageous accusation. Not to mention a terrible insult to our honor as gamblers."

He scoffed. "I didn't know gamblers had honor. Certainly not one like the Pirate Code," he shot back.

Callista's eyes were darting around between three points. One being their accuser. Another being Lisa. And at last, with the most meaningful look of all, the sword on her waist.

Lisa also glanced at her sword, then up at Callista. "He's not worth the effort it would take to stab him," she pointed out, loud enough for the annoying man to hear her. "Or the effort it would take to clean his blood off the floor."

"You sure about that? I think I have plenty of time to get this over with," she replied, just as loudly. "He should be ready to back up his words."

The man, now visibly nervous - and a fair bit angry as well - coughed again. "You're getting quite defensive over something you apparently didn't do," he said pointedly.

"If you stab everyone that accuses us of cheating, there won't be anyone left for us to cheat," Lisa murmured as an aside. "And I was really turning a profit here, so please don't cause a large enough scene that I have to leave."

"But we can't just let this slide," Callista argued. "He's got to take it back before that becomes our reputation."

"... well, can you at least hold off until I can organize a proper betting pool?"

Callista smirked. "Defending our honor and making a coin off of it? That's a win-win." She turned back to the man again. "You hear that? You willing to duel over that?"

People around them were turning to look interestedly now, and the man's gaze flicked around, taking in each eager face. Lisa caught his gaze and smiled.

"Go on, darling, unless... you're too afraid to lose in front of all these people?"

The man straightened his back, his pride now at stake, and got up. "I'm not usually a betting man, but I'll make this an exception," he said shortly to Lisa. She grinned.

"Of course not." She hopped to her feet and raised her voice. "Do you hear that? Mr. No-better's betting --that he'll win the fight!"

The people once more gathered around, and she prepared to take their money.

Wordcount: 1040/2500

A young man dressed a bit too nicely for this crowd approached first, eyes sparkling excitedly. He tossed a pretty little leather bag on the table, the merry clink of coins beckoning others to the table. He gestured at Callista, "On the lady." A few watchers shifted uncertainly, and one or two more gold coins tossed for Callista, but the majority of the crowd seemed to favor the man's apparent experience and bulk.

Callista had a grin on her face anyway as she stood up and glanced back to the table at Lisa. "Thanks for the vote of confidence," she said, feigning injury, but she knew what she was doing. If more people bet on Rodrin and she won, there'd a lot more money to grab.

Lisa's only reply was a smile flicked over her shoulder.

The man glared at Callista. "Didn't know there would be an entire audience and everything," he muttered bitterly, perhaps realizing what Lisa and Callista were doing after a moment of thought. "But fine. What are the rules for this going to be?"

"We fight," Callista told him. "Right here, right now, and it goes until someone backs down."

He gave her a 'well, duh' look. "What weapons are we using, and are Affinities allowed?"

"Whatever you've got on you, and yes." Callista pulled out her sword, holding it one-handed.

The man examined her sword for a minute, and his hand hovered over his pistol as if he were thinking of pulling that out and making this duel a very short one, but eventually his fingers closed around his cutlass. "I'll try not to hurt you too much," he promised.

She scoffed. "You don't need to worry yourself over that."

"Trash talk!" Lisa cheered. The man glared at her, then sighed and turned back to Callista, readying himself.

"Whenever you're ready."

Callista smiled. "Why don't you make the first move?"

The man hesitated for a moment, searching for some kind of trick in her words, then took her up on her offer and lunged for her. His sword swung well away from her, however, as if he'd misjudged her position. Callista didn't even need to step to the side as she thrust the sword out at him, and he rushed to block against her swipe. He was fast, Lisa would give him that, but against Callista's Affinity, that wouldn't save him. He struck again at Callista, frowning with concentration.

She returned the frown with a smirk as the cutlass missed her again, and she jabbed her rapier at him, the point of the fencing blade flashing brightly.

The man disappeared suddenly, and reappeared behind her, leaving a perfect image of himself made of sand where he'd been standing before. He slashed at Callista with the tip of his cutlass. This time, she did have to dodge for real, jumping out of the path of his blade. She seemed surprised but amused, her eyebrows raised almost mockingly. "Sand?" she teased him, slashing at him again.

He didn't respond, but instead he vanished from the position she was striking at, and all of a sudden he was back in the place of the sand clone of him.

"Boring!" Lisa called. "Make it more interesting! Trash talk her back!"

He surged forward with his cutlass.

Callista blocked the blow and stepped to the left. Her opponent spun to the right, his blade coming down with purpose on empty air. A laugh went up from the gathered audience.

Lisa did feel a little bad about humiliating him like this. Her style was much more subtle than bash and humiliate people into submission. People certainly enjoyed it, though, so what did she know?

The man blinked in confusion, then refocused on Callista. "Illusionist," he spat. "This isn't a duel, this is a show."

"Sandboy," she replied cheerfully, "I think you're losing either way."

"Well, we'll never know, since you're cheating your way out of this," he returned.

"You agreed to the rules," Callista said, twirling her sword. "Affinities are allowed. Don't you remember? It can't be cheating if I'm playing by the terms we settled on."

Lisa could see the exact moment he realized what mistake he'd made, because his face fell. He grunted in clear disapproval, which the crowd jeered at.

Callista took a second to savor the moment with a laugh, but soon enough her rapier was a silver flash as the point darted towards his side again.

He used his disappearing sand trick to avoid her blade, appearing behind her once again as her blade sunk deep into the sand figure, destroying it. She spun around and thrust her sword at him repeatedly, making him take a step back. "Why sand?" she asked, her voice calm despite the ferocity of her attacks. "Isn't sand boring?"

"I didn't choose my Affinity," he replied, attempting to match her calm tone and failing slightly as he blocked her flurry of blows.

"You're both boring!" Lisa teased. "Come on, darlings, where's the showmanship? The sparkle? The pizazz?"

"You're right about the lack of sparkle," Callista agreed, kicking at the sand as she gained a little more ground. "This is the least exciting glitter I've ever seen."

"I don't recall words being a valid weapon here," the man muttered tiredly. "Or that she was involved in this duel."

She shrugged, another flashy swipe just barely missing his arm. "I didn't say I'd try not to hurt you too much."

To give himself some space, he sand-teleported again, but this time his sand figure glittered yellow and purple. When he reappeared, he blinked at the sand, then at Lisa, who winked at him.

His distraction cost him. Callista slammed into his side with the force of a bear.

Lisa winced as he staggered back, disappearing into sand again and reappearing as far away from Callista as he could get. "Sorry," she called to him. "Callista, that was my fault, back off a minute. No disgracing our honour in a fight for our honour."

Callista just sighed. "Fine." She beckoned the man back to her with her sword.

He put a hand to his side, presumably checking for blood and/or broken ribs, then glared back up at Callista and sand-teleported directly in front of her, leaving another glittering sand sculpture behind; this time, it was green and blue. Almost as if anticipating it, Callista leapt forward instead of backwards, ramming into him forcefully again.

Again, that quickness that Lisa had noted served him well as he almost immediately teleported again, leaving Callista to smash through a gold-red glittering sand figure while he appeared behind and slightly to the side of her and swiped viciously at her sword arm.

She blocked and then jabbed at him. The motion of the blade seemed to escape his vision until the last possible moment. It was hard to say why he'd seen it at all, except possibly for Callista dropping the illusion just in time to avoid terrible injury.

The watching crowd gasped as he barely avoided the strike, and he glanced for a moment around him as he backed away a few steps, padding his stomach for any injuries. Or, Lisa had assumed that, as he pulled out a small contraption, and smoke billowed out. Lisa couldn't see what was going on, and neither could the growing audience, who groaned in annoyance. She noticed some actually picking up their things and leaving. Bad for business.

"Finally, things are getting interesting!" Lisa shouted. "Look, through the smoke!" The smoke was already dissipating, which Lisa helped along as best as she could. The victory couldn't be decided in the shadows, after all.

The man sand shifted behind Callista, but she had predicted this and turned to face his new position. He glared at her, and Lisa could swear there was an unspoken battle happening between them in that moment, but then he sheathed his cutlass in one smooth motion. "I'm done," he muttered. "There's no point in dueling to protect your honour, since you obviously have none." He glared at his still-glittering sand figure and with one sharp gesture, dismissed it, the sand dissolving back to wherever it had come from.

Callista met his gaze, more serious than before, and nodded, sheathing her sword as well. She realized with a sigh that they'd have to shake, and she stretched out her hand. "I'd like to think that I still do have some," she said.

He hesitated for only a moment before accepting her handshake, but he didn't say anything in reply to her comment.

"Good job, everyone!" Lisa said brightly, popping up beside them with a grin. She rested her hand on the man's shoulder, and he flinched away at the suddenness of it. "Thanks for being a good sport about this, darling. Let me use some of the money I just won to buy you a drink."

Callista looked like she wasn't remotely interested in doing anything more with him, but she nodded, and a bit of her smirk came back. "It's the least we can do after that, sandboy."

"Don't call me that."

"What else? Mr. Sore Loser?"

"Don't call me that, either."

"Well, darling, what do we call you?" Lisa asked.

"...Rodrin," he muttered after a moment.

Sandboy, Callista mouthed at him, seeming to draw the syllables out even though she didn't make a sound.

Lisa took that as acceptance. "Lovely! Come on, then, let's have some fun." She steered him toward the makeshift bar, and he didn't resist her, although he didn't look exactly pleased with this new arrangement. "My name's Lisa, by the way, and my sword-friend over there is Callista."

"Gathered that already," he said with a tired exhale.

"Lovely. Barkeep! A drink for my friend Rodrin here!"

"No, please, this round's on me!" The well-dressed young man from the betting table sat on a barrel next to the bar. He tossed down that same leather bag, now with considerably more clink, exchanging a smile with the barkeep.

"It's the least I can do for an evening of fine entertainment." He laughed to himself, before seemingly being jerked back into the present, his gaze anchoring on Rodrin.

"My good man- Rodrin, is it? I must know; how does that fascinating Affinity of yours work?" He turned to Callista next, apparently pushed along by some racing current of thoughts moving faster than he could speak.

" And your swordsmanship- marvelous! I could barely keep my eyes on your blade." He leaned conspiratorially, "But by Hook's hat, that illusion work-" He raised his eyes to the heavens, "impeccable."

"Thank you kindly." Callista's face shone with pride, flattered that he'd been confident in her win. Lisa was less happy. They'd lost money on this guy.

Rodrin took a glance between the three of them, and chugged his new drink.

Go make friends, Guilless said. It will be easy, she said. Might even be fun.

Well, she didn't say all that, but Rodrin was almost one hundred percent certain she didn't exactly envision this to be how he made acquaintances. Rodrin himself didn't exactly envision this.

He went from clearing his throat to now being in a brawl. Not only that, but a brawl with bets on it (and judging from the gold that was roaming around, Rodrin wasn't nearly as sure of himself as these people were, which helped... not at all.)

Now, he wasn't saying he was old. But, he certainly would have liked some time to warm up or stretch before a swordfight. No matter. He had fought in worst situations before.

...Or so he had thought at the time, but having to fight against not one, but two illusionists before a crowd was tiring out his mind faster than his body. Rodrin was prepared for the fighter, Callista, to be an illusionist, but about halfway through the brawl, he began to realize there were more to it than just her tricks and badgering.

Rodrin figured out that the one managing the bets, Lisa, was also having a hand in the illusions. Unfortunately, by the time he had realized it, Callista had shoved a blade much too close to an artery than he would have been prepared. That's four times he should have been dead at that point.

They're toying with me. He thought bitterly.

Enough of this. He fished out a smoke bomb and pulled the trigger out. Immediately as the smoke burst forth, he could feel a tug on his mind lessen. He shifted behind Callista with his cutlass in his hand, but she was prepared for him. They were at a stalemate.

He could have killed her, then and there. Or he could have shifted behind Lisa and ended the fight that way. But, then again, Callista could have killed him at least four times over. Begrudgingly, he put down his cutlass and announced that enough was enough.

And now here he was, having a drink with them, and a particularly enthusiastic patron who was far richer from the outcome of the fight. If this was the sort of company Virakis had to offer, he wasn't so sure if he'd be sticking around to celebrate.

He took a drink.

Meri was in his element: being nosy was more familiar to him than breathing, and he was damn good at it too. Besides, he was bored, and these three were by far the most interesting thing happening at the moment. He hadn't spotted any of his usual contacts yet, and Josette had gone to reconnect with her absolutely terrifying sister, so she wouldn't be around until after the meeting. 


So far he wasn't quite sure what to make of them. Callista- was that her name?- was a formidable opponent, at least with a sword. Meridian didn't particularly want to cross her in any sense of the word. And as for Lisa... she had something up her sleeve. Maybe a knife. Maybe that illusion Affinity. Probably both, but regardless of her tricks, anyone with that much gold on in a crowd of pirates was either incredibly brave, incredibly stupid, or incredibly powerful.


 Clearly, the two women were thick as thieves- and probably thieves in a very literal sense as well. That illusion magic was certainly something. Meri could think of at least a hundred ways it'd be handy in a swindle. He couldn't quite tell who was doing all that yet, but the promise of two possible new contacts- or at least drinking buddies- was quite appealing. Who knows, maybe they would prove to have some juicy tidbit of information for him to collect. 

 

 Rodrin was another conundrum, but outwardly pretty easy to read. Meri couldn't help but feel for the man a little. Losing a fight to someone as volatile as Callista was with her words must have stung a great deal. 


He turned to the woman with the very large and intimidating sword, "It's Callista, yeah? Wherever did you learn swordsmanship like that? I've not seen the like among pirates before." 


Callista, acknowledging that was in fact her name with a nod of the head, smirked a little. "That would be right. It's not exactly a pirate technique." It was a sort of non-answer, and she seemed to know it. Asking any further wasn't likely to get him anywhere.


Meri smiled, breathing out through his nose. Nothing less than what he expected, but still, disappointing.  "Alright, fair enough, keep your secrets then. I suppose we'll have enough of them out and about once the meeting's over." He rubbed his gloved hands together, as if warming them up for a hot piece of gossip, "I've been dying of apprehension; what do you all think of this Guildcall?"


"I just hope it's worth it. I did get up early to get here." Callista pursed her lips, then glanced at Lisa. "At least I've gotten some gambling experience out of it so far. Not to mention a very entertaining warm-up." She raised her eyebrows at Rodrin.


Meri chuckled, wincing in sympathy with Rodrin's bruised ego. "That warm-up may prove useful, if things end up going sour. Personally, I think we should all have our exits lined up. There hasn't been a Guildcall in years, and tensions have been on the rise. I've seen it myself." Pausing, he frowned into his rapidly emptying mug. Meri glanced at the three of them from the corner of his eye, hoping to get a reaction. 


"You seem like a young pirate." Callista spun her glass around on the counter. It was said plainly, with little way of telling whether she was simply commenting or asking about his experience. She cleared that up with her next sentence, however. "Have you been in a Guild that long?"


"Six years last month. Feels like a lifetime." Meri failed to mention that he was a member of Guild Prometheus- sometimes other pirates assumed he was using them for information or spying on their guild, and that never ended well. To be fair, he usually was. 


"Not bad," she admitted, sounding a little impressed. Clearly she was at least a slightly newer recruit. Putting that together with her admission that she didn't have a pirate swordfighting technique, she must have been something else before, and not too long ago. Interesting. "So who are you, to have started so early?"


Meri smiled, deciding that being cryptic was more fun than lying in this particular moment. "I'm searching for a treasure." He leaned back, gazing up at the smoking volcano in the distance, "Besides, who wouldn't take being a pirate over being a simple mapmaker? Where's the adventure in that?" Adjusting his cufflinks, he paused, "Ah, how rude of me. You've given your names, I've not given mine. You can call me Meridian, it's a pleasure to meet you." He hopped off his stool, giving a little bow, before leaning up against the bar. 


"Meridian the mapmaker. I'm sure you get told a lot that the name is very fitting." Callista held out her hand. "Pleased to meet you."


Meri laughed aloud, "Surprisingly not, actually. Most pirates stick to north, south, east, and west on a map, and not much else. I do get odd looks on a rare occasion however." He shook her hand, painfully aware of how only a thin layer of leather separated him from yet another vision.  At this point, he wasn't sure if this godsdamned Affinity was a gift or a curse. After a second of held breath, the moment of apprehension was past, and no vision assailed him. She gave the gloves an odd look, though.


"It's very warm out, don't you think?" she said carefully, with a weighted glance, as she didn't let go of his hand. Her grip was strong, and he could feel the muscles of her palm through the leather. Maybe she was good with heavier swords, too. "Not much of a cool breeze."


He felt himself slip, brows furrowing for just a moment before he caught himself. "Yes, it's fascinating how much volcanic influence can affect the climate of a small island such as this!" Frankly, it wasn't too hard to fake the excitement; volcanoes were actually one of Meri's fascinations, especially when used as motifs in map codes and riddles. 


However, those riddles were rarely as explosive as this conversation might turn out to be, depending on Callista's powers of observation. Meri shifted in his seat, praying that those bells would signal the beginning of the Guild meeting before all his secrets were unraveled. He scrutinized her face, searching for any suspicions.


Callista's eyes narrowed ever so slightly, searching him for a fraction of a second. He couldn't tell what she'd found. But soon, a wide smile spread across her face, and she shook his hand again before letting go and clapping him on the back. "Fascinating indeed," she agreed cheerfully as she finished the last of her drink. "That explains why I'm so thirsty. I've been drying out in this heat."


She couldn't have figured it out, but she wasn't fooled.

Callista had found herself with some far more unusual people than she’d been expecting when she’d gotten off the ship. She’d forgotten that outside of Guild Rogue, the thugs and barbarians, there were many other types of pirates. The three she had with her were all so different. The swindlers, the treasure hunters, and... the grouchy ones? It was hard to tell where Rodrin fell on the spectrum from what she knew of him right now. Lisa and Meridian were enigmatic, but at least they were easier to sort.

She raised her glass and called to the bartender for a refill. After all, she wasn't spending the money for them, and she had been telling the truth about being thirsty. It would be easier for her figure out these three if she wasn't thinking about how dry her throat was.

Callista started with Lisa. Although she hadn't said anything in response to it, she'd heard what she'd said about mobs and weighted dice and being thrown out of a city. Technically, Lisa hadn't said that had happened to her, but she was nearly sure she was speaking from experience. She gave Callista the impression of a wanderer in search of the next big thing. Why else jump on a new business plan with a near-stranger?

She knew that she definitely liked Lisa best of the three. Even though she was kind of distractingly pretty and it was frustrating.

Callista had noticed the masterful way Lisa dealt cards several times by now, each gesture clean and smooth. Maybe she had a job in a tavern like this one somewhere, with the same people coming back to lose all their money. She wondered if with their partnership, after this meeting was done, she'd be going with her to wherever that was. They'd have to talk that out, but Callista was fine with it as long as it wasn't a side job in Skirys.

That would be unlikely, since Skirys didn't have the same deep love for gambling that pirates did. It existed, and it was even legal, but it was seen as a lowbrow activity, a pleasure to waste and lose your money on in foolishness. The people who did it there were almost always down on their luck.

Callista wouldn't have ever seen herself doing it not too long ago. But that was when she'd been part of the sophisticated crowd. What shame was there in it now? Everyone here was frowned upon by Skirys. It was the easiest place to be an outlaw and have little honor.

That thought made her move on to Rodrin, though he was already very much Sandboy in her mind. He definitely wasn't happy to be there, and from his silence so far, it was clear he didn't like them. Well, she didn't like him very much either. He could sulk with his drink and give them unhappy looks while he stayed silent for the entire meeting, for all she cared.

But as much as she hated to admit it, his comment at the end of their duel about her honor had stung. She'd called him out on his accusation. It didn't matter whether it was true-- right? because she'd won that fight fair and square. And now everyone was supposed to think that because she'd won, she was in the right and Rodrin had been proven wrong. They were all supposed to move on, because the disagreement should have been settled.

It wasn't settled, though, and he still thought that. That's what bothered her. She could deal with the private knowledge of her disgrace, but it was other people finding her without honor that left what should have been her glorious victory with the bitter aftertaste of irritated pride. Callista wondered why she'd let him get to her. His disapproval of her actions felt like a weapon.

She wished Lisa hadn't dragged Rodrin over to the bar. Now, unless he made a hasty escape from this conversation that he wasn't participating in, they'd have to drag him around until they all went on their own ways. She gave him a dirty look as she took a sip of her new drink that the bartender had brought her.

Callista thought back to when she'd dropped her illusion near the very end of the fight. She would've stabbed him, probably quite badly, if she hadn't changed her mind at the last second. She wasn't sure why she had. At least she'd be able to remind him she'd had the chance if he got any more annoying.

Puzzling over the grumpy pirate was starting to get unpleasant, so Callista turned her attention to Meridian. She was curious about Lisa, and Rodrin... Well, Rodrin was about as easy to learn things from as a brick wall (and just as fun to talk to), but Meridian was confusing. She wouldn't have guessed he was a cartographer if he hadn't told her, even with such a matching name. His clothing style was very much that of the more adventurous pirate, and she could easily picture him watching the waves go by on the deck of a ship. Not so much him working by the light of a lantern in the hold, drawing maps or charting courses.

Except for those gloves, of course.

The islands the pirate guilds had made home were tropical. It was always either hot, humid, or both. That meant pirates would dress accordingly, with minimal layers and loose fitting clothes. Rodrin here wasn't even wearing a shirt, and Meridian was wearing gloves made of leather. No one in their right mind would be wearing something that kept their hands that warm, unless they regularly climbed ropes or ladders. Since that wasn't his job as a cartographer, that reason was eliminated.

Any reason past that was beyond her ability to guess, unless Meridian just lived in terrible, unbearable heat out of pure spite towards the local climate. But Callista was sure that it was for a reason he didn't feel like sharing, which meant it was about to become her business. It would be harder, now that he was aware she could tell he was hiding something, but a challenge would be fun.

Aside from most definitely having something to hide, Meridian wasn't all that bad, just a little bit obsessed with volcanoes. He'd had some faith in her winning, and then he'd bought her two drinks. That was overall a good start to a friendship.

Callista finished up her second drink. She wasn't doing too bad and could easily go for a third, but she caught Lisa, who was apparently not interested in the very thing she'd brought them to the bar for, shaking her head in amusement. Well, that would be it. She'd done the math and these people were alright to hang out with, even with a pretty clear head.

Lisa, it should be noted, was actually a fairly quiet person. Sure, she dressed in as many colours as she could make work, and she adorned everything in glitter, and she was quite open and friendly at the gambling table, but in a situation like this? Sitting at a bar with a few people? She was perfectly content to just sit back and listen and absently play with a pair of dice.

She shook her head slightly as she watched Callista drain two glasses in quick sucession. She herself didn't have a drink in front of her - the bartender had attempted to pass her one, but she'd given it back with a quick shake of her head and a murmur of "I don't drink" - but it was always interesting to watch other people do so. She liked to know how much alcohol people could handle- especially if she'd be working with them. If they got stupid after only a few drinks, she might have to rethink things or keep them from drinking on the job.

She personally didn't understand drinking. It didn't even taste good, and it clouded your judgement to the point where you could get in major trouble, but who was she to keep people from what made them happy?

She flipped her dice casually over her knuckles. Were Meridian and Callista talking about volcanoes?

Somehow, that seemed on brand.

They seemed to be getting along well, at least. That was a good thing. The more friends they made, especially friends with deep pockets like Meridian seemed to have, the better time they'd have.

Speaking of Meridian's money, had he noticed that she'd picked it up off the counter? While politely refusing her drink, she'd slid the leather pouch up her sleeve and into one of the many hidden pockets sewn into the lining. She didn't intend to keep it, not even a little bit, but she did enjoy the look on people's faces when they realized their money was gone, and she especially enjoyed the look when she gave it back.

If you really thought about it, she was protecting Meridian's money. He'd just- tossed it onto the counter without a second thought, which any pirate worth their salt knew was asking to have it snatched. Even six years in a guild should've taught him that.

She hadn't realized Callista was also newer to the pirate life. The woman hadn't confirmed exactly how long she'd been around, but she'd been impressed by Meridian's six years, which meant she couldn't have been around too much longer than that.

Babies, the both of them. Lisa had joined Guild Arcane fourteen years ago and had been sailing for twelve after the mandatory two-year Affinity training period Guild Arcane required for all its members.

She glanced sideways at Rodrin, who was pointedly not looking at anyone by giving his drink a death glare. He looked older, definitely older than either Callista or Meridian. Probably had a guild history as extensive as Lisa's. She'd have to ask him later, once he was finished being mad at her for a) making money off his fight with Callista and b) making his sand statues glittery. While they'd looked very pretty, she was fairly sure he hadn't been impressed by it.

Maybe it was the fact that because of said glittery statues, he'd gotten rammed by Callista, which she assumed would not be a pleasant experience.

She smirked slightly at Rodrin, then turned her attention back to Meridian and Callista.

She was absently wishing that the 'chair' she was sitting on wasn't actually a barrel and that it was possible to lean back casually in her usual preferred position when the brass tones of a bell echoed through the air, summoning the pirates from all over the island to the volcanic guildhall.

The meeting was about to begin.

Wordcount: 2932/2500

Callista got on her feet. The sound of the bell had seemed to come out of nowhere, and she couldn't spot where it was located. Maybe there was a tower somewhere that she hadn't seen sailing in. All around her, pirates were standing up as well, moving in one large group towards a wide entrance, with wooden double doors that had just swung open. Some of them looked impatient, while others appeared bored. But not one of them was unclear on the significance of this meeting.

Her head was buzzing ever so slightly as she watched them go, which might have had something to do with the two drinks. She should probably follow them, shouldn't she?

"Well, there's our cue," she said, to the group, setting her glass down-- down to the floor. Somehow she'd misjudged the position of the counter and instead of resting on the flat wood surface, it had fallen and shattered near the bottom of her barrel seat. Oops. Oh well. The barkeep was hollering at her now for her carelessness, but she promptly decided it wasn't her problem anymore and started to follow the crowd.

Meridian got up as well, pausing to glance at the bar for a moment. His brow crinkled in confusion. He glanced at Callista first, then over to Lisa. Cocking an eyebrow, he held out one of those mysteriously gloved hands towards her.

She took his hand and got up out of her seat, the mischievous grin on her face revealing that she knew exactly what Meridian meant and had intentionally misunderstood his gesture.

He hesitated, before shaking his head and accepting defeat with a smile. He released her hand and gave a quick little bow.

"Such a gentlemanly gesture," Callista said in an overly bright voice, not missing a beat. "Lisa, feel free to some rob other people, such as ones who haven't been so kind as to pay for our drinks. There's a whole crowd of them here. And maybe consider returning his money pouch eventually."

"I'm offended that you think I'd stoop to petty thievery," Lisa replied, just as brightly. "I'm protecting the money he was so careless as to toss onto a bar in the middle of a gang of unscrupulous pirates."

"Were you protecting the money you swindled from all those on-lookers?" Rodrin started.

"Oh, please. You saw how careful they were being with it," Callista scoffed.

"Ahh, yes, because it's much better in your hands." He glared at Callista. "Tell me, what do you two plan on doing with your newfound business venture? Swindle your way to a Guild Leader position?"

She snorted. "Did you mean to make the point that only the rich have power in this world? You're absolutely right on that front, and I happen to like turning the tables."

"Please, keep the money if you desire, it's a lesson well-learned. But I would like the pouch back at some point if possible. I'm rather partial to it." Meridian intervened, chuckling.

Callista raised an eyebrow. Maybe he was a rich guy and they hadn't successfully drawn him over to their gambling table. Shame. It might not be so bad if Lisa kept a few coins. "Well, looks like you're the official treasurer now, Lisa. Come on, let's get going." The bartender still looked frustrated that she'd broken his glass, and it didn't do well to annoy the person who poured the drinks. She poked Rodrin not-so-gently in the shoulder. "Up, sandboy."

Rodrin, ever unthrilled at the nickname, grudingly got to his feet. Oh, he definitely still wants to stab me. I wonder why I told him to come along.

"You should pay for that glass!" the barkeep shouted at them as they entered the crowd that was slowly shuffling towards the entrance.

"We've got no money," she shouted back, which was about the dumbest lie she'd ever spoken. They'd just been discussing the contents of Meridian's pouch and apparently, his wealth that was so unimportant to him.

"Just put it on my tab, darling!" Lisa shouted behind her, and they chuckled at the notion. Well, everyone but Rodrin.

The bartender's yelling behind them told her exactly what he thought of that.

Meridian glanced back at the man, slightly apologetic, before pushing further through the crowd, "This way!" He weaved through the crowd, somehow finding a path through the mass of people that brought the four directly beneath the towering doorway. Callista was surprised-- usually, she'd just glare at people until they got out of her way, but this worked too. He'd cut through them all like the bow of a ship through water.

Here, though, the crowd slowed to a crawl. Callista sidled past a group of pirates chit chatting and led them down the inclined seating area. Normally, Virakis Hall contained small, windy tunnels carved out of lava paths long ago that webbed through some larger pockets of space, but this part of the volcano was deliberately carved out to hold a much larger amount of people. It was cavernous, which was a nice break from the crowded corridors that Virakis Hall was known for --which in itself was a departure from Guild Rogue's halls.

But this meeting hall was constructed to be a spectacle, and Callista had to admit that it was a spectacle, all right. This was what Virakis Hall was named after, if she had her lore right (which wasn't always a guarantee when it comes to pirates).

The ceiling of the hall was imbedded with quartz and diamonds and carved around a thick pocket of magma so there was natural light that filtered through the crystals, pouring iridescent light that ebbed and flowed with the magma above. It gave the hall below a bit of a mystical feeling. That, combined with the pillars surrounding the cavern of slow moving lava in each corner allowed the hall to be adequately lit up, even though it was deep inside a mountain.

Callista glanced up and saw slits along the top of the meeting hall that hinted towards the many, many different rooms that surrounded this main feature of the island. She could make out the hustle and bustle of pirates and merchants struggling to find their way through the maze that was Virakis Hall, probably freaking out that they would miss what all the drama was about.

The pirates were taking seats that all faced a large platform in the center of the vast guildhall, where some of the Council members and Guild leaders were seated. There were many empty spots, however. It didn't look like everyone had arrived yet. Callista caught Rodrin turning his head to look at them, seeming to search for someone. She gave him a funny look that he immediately returned with a frown.

"Looking for someone, sandboy? A sandgirl, perhaps?"

He chose to ignore the question. "Where do we sit?" he grumbled, seemingly accepting that he was not getting away from them.

"Probably best to get a spot up close. For espionage purposes." Meridian said this with a laugh, but his eyes darted over the council members with an intensity that no joking person carried. "Save me a seat. I'll be back in a moment." Again, with a swiftness that shouldn't have been possible in such a large crowd, he made his way to the base of the platform, disappearing into a side door that Callista hadn't noticed before.

Rodrin cleared his throat. "So we're spies now? Usually I get paid before the spying. Also, does he even have access there?"

"Why not be a spy, just this once?" Callista shrugged, then looked to Lisa. "Should we see what he's up to? There's still going to be plenty of seats."

"Absolutely!" she said cheerfully. "It's an unwritten rule that you have to follow people when they're being suspicious. Except for the times that it gets you murdered in a dark alleyway. Besides, I still have to give him back his money eventually, and when's a better time than now?"

"You're right, where's the problem in that?" Callista grabbed Rodrin by the arm. "No time to waste."

"Actually, I think I'll get a seat--" he started.

"No, you won't." Too bad if he didn't have a great time. She yanked him through the crowd, Lisa right by her side.

They were having a bit of a harder time getting through the crowd than Meridian had, but at least Callista's usual glaring trick still worked. It also helped that she was towing a very big man behind her, and that told people to get out of the way. When it came down to being run over or step back, any sane person would choose the latter.

"Where's that hidden door again?" She squinted at the wall, hoping to intimidate it into giving up its secrets.

The estate that belonged to Lord and Lady Kirvira had many secret passages, and she'd learned all of them. They were all disguised differently, but once she'd learned the trick, it became easy to tell what they looked like. A stone brick in a wall would be a different size, or a tile in the floor would be shifted slightly out of place. Callista scanned the wall, looking for a tiny difference.

There-- just a few of the wooden boards were a touch paler than the others around it. She rapped the lighter boards, then the ones around it. Sure enough, there was a hollow sound when she knocked on the pale boards, indicating there was an empty space behind it. "Here it is."

"Is it a pull or push door? I don't even see a doorknob," Rodrin said, interested despite himself. "How did he--"

Callista kicked the hidden door fiercely in the center. There was a cracking sound and the boards fell down into the space behind the wall, revealing the outline of the door-- or rather, the doorframe, since the door was now lying on the floor.

Rodrin stepped in, examining the hinges, which had been on the inside. "It's a push door from that side," he said, although it no longer really mattered.

"There are no push or pull doors, only ones that you can break down on your own or ones that need dynamite." Callista stepped aside for Lisa. "After you."

"Was... just regular doors that you open not an option?" Rodrin asked.

"Those are boring doors for boring people."

"I like my boring doors..." Rodrin mumbled.

"I hope you enjoy being boring then."

"Yes, I very much do."

"Suit yourself, sandboy." Callista rolled her eyes. "Can we get moving?"

"You really are on a property damaging spree, aren't you darling," Lisa said, stepping delicately through the door and over the broken wood, pushing a few of the larger splinters aside with the tip of her cane. "If this is how you get after only two drinks, then I'll have to keep you away from alcohol in future. Of course, if this is just how you are, then I'm quite screwed, aren't I?"

"Hopefully you can get used to it," she said as she followed them through, looking around the hidden space. They were in a dim hallway that led them forwards, and she couldn't tell how far it went. "Look at this place's security, there's no one even coming to check it out. I'm just reminding them to be more careful in the future."

"A very violent way to point out security flaws," Rodrin noted dryly.

"So what? It gets the job done."

They walked for thirty seconds more, before Callista heard voices speaking softly in a room ahead and gestured to the others to quiet down.

"Are you really stooping to eavesdropping?" Rodrin protested quietly. "First thievery..."

"Yes, I am. We are all going to eavesdrop, even you and your high horse. Now shut up." She peered through a crack in the door to the room.

Rodrin opened his mouth to say something, but stopped and gave in. Good call on his part.

The room itself was small, with nothing but a desk and another door on the opposite wall. Meridian stood in front of the stone wall to the left of the door, shuffling through a stack of... code ciphers? With him was an elegant woman in a figure hugging blue dress. She seemed on edge, as though she was expecting an assassin to jump through the door at any moment. Luckily for her, Callista could confirm there were none waiting outside, just the three of them trying their hand at spying.

"Remember, there's a five minute recess in the middle of the meeting. Figure out whatever it is they want you to decipher, and then stall until we have our recess. I need to know the contents of that case, and just how significant they'll prove to be. It's the only way we'll ever make a name for Guild Prometheus!" She paced back and forth, wearing a frown that didn't seem to suit the rest of her pristine look. "And I swear to Lord Poseidon himself, if you mess this up- nobody will ever hear of the 'Ghost' on Elbrus- or anywhere else in these godforsaken lands- again!"

Meri nodded, before placing the stack of papers and a few tools -cartography related probably- into a satchel, facing the wall once more. A strange look crossed his face, as he slowly pulled off his gloves, placing them into the same satchel. He seemed to touch everything gingerly after that.

"Do we need to stop him?" Rodrin hissed. "We don't know if--"

Callista found that the most discreet way of silencing him involved a time-saving gesture with a certain finger.

Their security really was awful. That door falling had to have been very loud, and now Rodrin wasn't even being quiet. Clearly, the two of them were not being very cautious. Well, they'd probably spare a little more attention to their secrecy after this, so really she was doing them a favor by letting them know they needed to invest in stronger hidden doors.

He'd taken off his gloves. Why now? There didn't seem to be anything on his hands that she could tell of, no scars to cover up or anything else unusual. It had to be something else. A feeling of worry settled over her that she didn't like-- it made her uncomfortable not to know what was going on. She took a quick sip from her bottle, still watching Meridian.

The strange pair went through the other door, revealing its contents. From what Callista could tell, it seemed to be a fairly large chamber, with a long wooden table and seats enough for every guild leader in the Lawless Lands. And it did seem as though every guild leader was in there. She could tell from the sheer amount of murderous tension emanating from the doorframe. The woman Meridian had been speakign to sat down in a chair nearer to the door, but he walked further into the room, just out of Callista's line of sight.

"I can't see them anymore," Rodrin mumbled.

"Yeah, well, I can't either," Callista shot back.

"Then move somewhere you can," Lisa suggested sweetly. "Like, further into the room."

She frowned. "Uh, won't they see us?"

Lisa gave her an amused look. "Not if you're an illusionist worth your salt, they won't."

"...Ah." Callista stared through the crack in the door. She never really did that this much. She'd gone from hardly ever needing to use it to starting a gambling career off it. "Well... you make sure they don't see us, and I'll take care of making sure they can't hear us."

Lisa shook her head at her. "Really, darling, you forgot about your Affinity? We just spent an hour using and abusing our Affinities, and you've forgotten already? No alcohol for you anymore." She snapped her fingers, and though nothing visibly changed about the group, she looked satisfied.

"Yeah, yeah," she muttered, focusing on the people in the other room and how suddenly, they wouldn't be registering the sounds coming from this way. She slowly pushed open the door, not caring about the creaking sound it made, and the three of them stepped into the other room. The excitement made her shudder a little. This had to be fun.

Or it could be bad, she thought again. Listening in on her fellow knights hadn't gone so well for her, had it?

With a sigh, Callista took one last sip from her bottle and corked it again, putting it back on her belt. She had better not run out. This was taking a toll on her.

Meridian tried to clear his head as best he could- Helena had a certain dizzying effect on him. Although, the jury was still out on whether or not that was her or some strange underhanded Affinity. Maybe it was the near constant death threats. Yes, that would add up. Either way, now was the time to focus. He made his way quickly to the other end of the table, grateful to get away from Helena's smothering gaze. Not that Furia's disdainful glare was any better. A seat was reserved for him, just to the left of Furia. He cleared his throat nervously and began to arrange his tools in their customary order.

"A quick word before you begin your work, little Ghost." Furia's voice was quieter than he expected, but it held the intensity unmatched in any tone Meri had heard before.

He nodded in deference and stepped close to her chair. Meri could feel the pressure of powerful eyes upon him, emanating from everywhere in the room.

"A piece of advice. Guildleaders are escapable. There are always other guilds, other ships to sail on. But Alliance Leaders?" She chuckled grimly. "Harder to evade."

Meridian blinked. A threat from the most powerful pirate in the Lawless Lands- not exactly something he'd envisioned for today. He nodded, fidgeting with his tool case.

"I'm glad we understand each other. Now, please, do what you came to do here." She gestured to a leather map case hanging off the tall back of her chair. It was emblazoned with the sigil of the Alliance Leader. Meridian lifted it gingerly, acutely aware of the ungloved state of his hands.

As he finished arranging his tools, Furia stood up. Even a simple movement of hers was enough to capture the attention of every Guild Leader in the world.

"Shall we begin then?" She sat down, looking incredibly bored. The rest of the council rushed as much as they could to follow her lead, while still maintaining an air of power. Once they were all seated, Furia began with the formalities. Meridian's attention shifted to the leather case.

He gently twisted off the top, holding his breath- whatever was in this case was the reason for this meeting. Furia might be stalling with minor issues and Guildleader rivalries, but this- here in his hands- was cause for the first Guild meeting in years. And he was going to get to hold it in his hands.

Meri reached into the case, forgetting in his curiosity his ungloved hands...