Marigold had told Zzan today was the day. Jasper had come to her last night, wild eyed and begging. He'd just gotten clubbed, by the looks of it. Marigold never much liked Jasper but when her brother was out (as he was, Gods preserve and keep him from harm), Jasper was calling the shots.

So she was meeting Zzan by the Widows walk... from there it was only a short walk through the rickety streets to where she wanted to go.

She was armed, but not too fancily. Too many weapons meant clinking noises. And the Old Man was crazy enough without thinking he'd be hearing things in his own house.

She hadn't gotten any of her Crew to come with her. This was for the Chief and the scapegoat alone. Zzan was expendable. She was not.

Either way it didn't matter. This was meant to be a quick job, before Old Man lost his marbles and ran off to club whoever was with his daughter on the haed this time.

She'd heard the stories.

All those men, skinned clean and chopped up and then fed to the sharks. Wasn't a graceful way to end up, in her opinion.

And she wasn't planning on dying today. If anyone had to die it'd have to be that poor bugger Zzan. But she wasn't going to push him off the cliff...let's just say, if he didn't get out in time she wasn't about to offer a friendly, helping hand.

Now where was Zzan?

Aye was walking around the harbor, she was trying to go everywhere in one day too show off her new tattoo. She was pretty sure she was supposed to keep it covered though, which ruined her showing off of it anyway.But she didn't care, she was going to walk around and pretend to show it off, which is how she ended up near the Widows Walk. Walking, And pretending to show off.

She looked around, trying to see how many other people had tattoos, and if any of them were similar to hers. She smiled and rubbed her arm where it was, "One day you'll be out, an' everyone c'n see yeh!" she thought, for some reason compelled to talk to her new tattoo...

She looked up and saw a girl standing not far from her, looking angry and impatient. Aye smiled and waved at her, "Hesta, chip, benny mornin', eh?"

"Neh." Marigold replied, short tempered. Zzan had forgotten. She knew it. Who the hell was she going to get to go with her now?!

"One o' the boys what owes me sommat harn't payed." She growled, crossing her arms and glaring the green haired girl.
Unless... She looked the wick girl over a second time, this time with an appraising eye. She liked what she saw.

"How many years 'ave you got under yer head, then?" Keen brown eyes latched on to Aye's like a curious sparrow's. Marigold tugged at her at her dirty, matted hair, her mind working fast. She didn't have much time. Jasper would be on her tail soon... She really needed someone else.

She raised an eyebrow and listened to the girl.



Aye shook her head, "Thats Old Rose fer yeh..." she thought, half frowning, half grinning.



Ayes eyes widened and she perked up, wondering why this girl was asking her such a question. "I, ah, I'm ten..." she said, scratching her head. The look she was getting was starting to make her worry, just a tad bit.

"Arright, that'll 'ave ter do me. Whatcher say to an adventure, kid? It'll have some pay and what'ave you." Marigold was lying through her teeth, but this was okay with her. She'd deal with that afterward. If there was an afterward.

"If yer up to it we're goin...mmm... now. Jest involves searchin' and findin' real quick-like."

"A-Adventure?" She chewed her lip and squinted. How long had it been since she had been on one of those? A day? An hour? She nodded, yes definitely was due for a new one. She smiled at the girl, "I say lets do it!" Something about how she spoke the word 'pay' and then mumbled something hurriedly struck Aye as odd, but she didn't care. She was being paid to go on an adventure!

"What sort of findin'... An' what are we after?" She asked, squinting again.

"We'll talk as we walk." Marigold snapped, pulling the ten year old along at a quick pace towards the building she knew Kathis was no longer in. If everything had gone according to plan, anyway.

"We're searchin' for a key, like. An' once we find th'key we'll need th'door. And when we find th'door we'll need ter find some boxes. Ye gettin' all this?"

Aye stumbled as she was pulled, but then kept up with the other girl. "Yes, have any idea where the key might be?" She asked, looking over at the building.

"An' what's in the boxes?" She asked curiously, "Anythin' good?" If there was she might just steal some, then again, she didn't know if she wanted to steal from this girl or not, Marigold may just be able to make her wish she had never been born... Of course she didn't know if the girl was actually dangerous, but in the harbor, who knew?

"Nonna yourn business. Doncha know yer not t'ask questions or someone'll off ye?" Marigold grinned, and it wasn't a nice smile. "Th'key's about em. Key size. I dunno. Jest bring things what look key-like t'ye and we'll test 'em out on any doors what look...wrong. Shadowy an'th'like."

It was hot. Too hot for Marigold. She didn't like the feeling in the air. It was dangerous. This kind of heat made men go mad and jump ship. She quickened her pace again until she was running, only slowing down when she knew she was close. Looking out into the street she thankfully noticed it was empty.

"C'mon. This way."

They walked up to a nice white house. This may not seemed like much anywhere else. But houses that weren't falling apart in Old Rose were hard to come by. This man was obviously rich.

"This is it." Marigold tied her hair back and walked up to the door, trying the handle. It was locked. They'd have to do this the hard way.

"See if you can find a window or summat unlocked. I'll go get some rocks."

The girls eyes widened slightly, and she looked down. "A'right, she's dangerous, or she's talkin' 'bout other people bein' dangerous.... Don' like th'idea of bein' "offed" " She thought, gulping and looking back up at the girl when she spoke.



She nodded, she had seen her share of shadowy doors, course she had never really walked into the rooms they've hidden. This was turning out to be an adventure, and they weren't even in the building yet!

She ran to keep up, stopping short behind Marigold when she stopped running, and waited to follow her. She saw the house and would have whistled, had she known how. "Wo chet, fancyyy!" She said in quiet awe, she hadn't come across this house before, it was almost a nice change from the horrible state of the buildings everywhere else in the harbor. She shook her head and walked up to the house, following it around back, and finding a window. She smiled when she saw one, gripped it with both hands, and tried to push it up.

(( don't know if the window needs modding or not gah ))

The window was stuck fast, but the next one looked a little looser.

It had stuck! "Great!" She thought sarcastically. "If none of these're unlocked we'll have teh use rocks..." She thought, remembering Marigold talking about finding rocks, or something like that. She looked over at the next window, sighed, walked the few steps it took to reach it, then grabbed the window and tried again.

The window slid up easily.

"HAH!" Aye yelled at the window as she pushed it the rest of the way up. "'Ey, Marigold!" She called out. She turned to look for the girl, keeping one had on the window. "I got it open!"

Marigold had been about to throw a rock through the front window. She stopped midthrow and looked over at where Aye was standing. "Well fcuk me sideways yer useful after all." She said with a grin, running towards the window and looking in.

It looked to be some sort of moldy study. There was a layer of dust over everything. "What a nutter." Marigold said as she climbed in and then gave Aye a hand to pull her up.

"Orright. Start your search. I'll look in the upper levels and you stay down 'ere. Start with this room wont you?"

Marigold glanced around and then left through the door that lead to the rest of the house.


Aye was left in a room with a large oak desk, and several crates. There was a suspicious looking space on one of the shelves, as if some sort of box was supposed to be there but had conveniently disappeared.

She took her hand and climbed in, looking around. The girl nodded at Marigolds instructions and looked around the room after she left. "Course I'm useful," she thought to herself, rolling her eyes. She noticed the empty spot on the shelf, and walked past the crates to get a closer look. "Hmm.." She reached out and ran her finger across it, there was definitely a suspiciously dust-free spot on the shelf. She glared at it for a moment, then turned around to see the desk.

Aye walked over to it, sat on a nearby crate, and started opening drawers. She opened the top drawer, and looked in.

There were several papers with diagrams of the human body in exquisite detail in the first drawer. No key, however.

Aye closed the drawer, well, no key there. The drawings did not particularly interest her, they were a little scary actually. "Wonder why we're goin' through some kovs home anyway," she thought, "besides stealin' things there isn't much reason fer it." She squinted as she opened the second drawer.

In this drawer there were different sharp implements that looked as if they were regularly oiled. They glinted menacingly.

Thunder rolled outside loudly. The room seemed suffocating and frightening. Dust seemed to float everywhere.

Her eyes widened, "Ooooh, sharp!" She reached into the drawer and picked one up, "Ew." She put it back in the drawer, oil was gross, especially since she couldn't tell what else was on the tool. She closed the drawer and opened the last one.

This last drawer did have a key. It looked like a regular key. Nothing sinister about it at all.

"Hmm..." She grabbed the key and put it in her bag, just in case. There was still that missing box to find, maybe that was hiding something else. She stood up and looked at the crate she had been standing on, there were nails in it, she doubted she would be able to pry it open with her hands.

Aye turned to the desk, reopened the drawer with the tools in it, and pulled out something that looked like it could be used as a crow bar. She pushed on it, and pried it open slowly. The girl smiled when it was open, set down the tool, and pulled off the lid. She then looked into the crate, wondering what could be in it.

There were wax molds that were covered in wood shavings, but Aye couldn't see what the molds actually shaped.

Aye closed the lid, the smell of wax and wood shavings together caused the girl to wrinkle her nose. She turned to another crate, and used the same tool as before to pry it open.

There was more wood shavings and molds in this crate. Aye noticed that the sides were all labeled-- but she couldn't read what it said.