The Cover of Darkness; The Deafening Silence (Basic Stealth)

[Larien Gil'dae]

Vaun resisted the urge to hum a jaunty tune as he stalked his stalking student, instead satisfying himself with a mental humming, his mind simply imagining the rumbling of notes from his throat as his booted feet fell silently upon the cobblestones. She was doing well -- quite well, actually. He had been pleased when she had avoided detection from the rightfully paranoid humans. Of course, had she been stalking one of their own kind she surely would have already been discovered. That was why he had given her such an easy target for her first go-round. She would learn and would one brightening (or darkening) be able to stalk more intelligent prey. One step at a time, though.

Meanwhile, Tym was desperately trying to contain his glee lest he annoy Ren with his "nonsense" again. "This is almost too good to be true," he whispered as seriously as he could manage, though there was a certain bounce to his step as the pair continued along the dark street towards some unknown destination. "Aye, we'll need to be on our guard to make sure nothin' funny 'appens... but we'll get our reward." Though he might not have looked it, Ren was actually quite deadly with a sword. He would either get his deal... or die trying. "You always get the best deals, Ren," Tym practically squealed in admiration as the two finally veered to the right into a darkened alley. Puffing himself up, Ren smoothed his plump hands over the front of his grubby jacket. "O' course... wouldn't be the leader otherwise. All we got to do is see Marley an' then it's back to the Golden Dragon with me." "Sure thing, Ren."

Having gotten the information she sought, Strae would then know she could stop stalking the unsavory humans and instead turn her energy to finding her oddly smug male instructor. Of course, should she turn around, she would realize Vaun wasn't too far off. From the nearby shadows, a thin hand beckoned her over with a flickering "come hither" motion even as a pair of crimson eyes flashed from beneath his hood. Leaning casually against the wall of the building, Vaun lazily stretched his arms over his head as he waited for Strae to approach, his face tilting so that his eyes could meet hers as she finally drew close. "Report," he hissed softly, though he already knew what her report would entail.

[Astraea Olath'barra]

As she tracked the pair as silently as she could manage, she even followed them into the dark alley, the shadows contained within her friend that allowed even easier travel without being noticed. Once she'd gained the knowledge she sought, she grinned silently to herself, her lips curling upwards in a self-satisfied smirk. What a useful skill this was...she was barely into her training and she was already reaping the benefits of the skills she was attempting to learn. Useful indeed.

She spun about and retreated, happy to finally be done with that little exercise--and that she'd managed to not only achieve her goal but keep her wallet and was none the worse for wear--she was even willing to forgive the male's excessively demanding hiss once she'd finally found him and joined him. She was feeling generous, so her words were not as vehement as usual despite his superior tone.

"They were merchants, Tym and Ren, discussing a business deal to go down on the morrow at some point. They're going to visit some being by the name of Marley, then Ren--the fat one--is returning to the Golden Dragon." As she'd intended, she didn't tell too much about the deal itself, just that she knew what they had been discussing." She cocked her hips, her hands coming to rest on the voluptuous curves, and smirked again, though it twisted into a half-sneer. Wouldn't do to look too pleased with herself. He might not only berate her--she could take only so much of that from a male--but try to ferret out the rest of the information she'd learned once he came to the conclusion that she was hding something.

"Satisfied?"

[Larien Gil'dae]

"Indeed," Vaun responded with a lazy slur as he lifted himself from his lounging position. His face suddenly wiping itself clean of all emotion, the male then started off back the way they had come from with nothing more than a whispered, "Follow me," in Strae's direction. Winding through the crowds he went, moving as swift and as gracefully as a slithering snake (though thankfully Vaun didn't have to travel on his belly). Suddenly, though, the male veered off to the left, darting down yet another darkened alley. He didn't even glance over his shoulder to make sure his student was following him -- he knew she would if she wanted to learn the rest of what he had to teach her for that lesson.

Through the shadows he prowled, moving soundlessly through the darkness before he finally came to a stack of precariously stacked and broken crates. Without hesitation, the male jumped atop them, balancing himself on one foot as he climbed upwards before finally grabbing onto the edge of the roof with one of his slender hands. Hauling his lithe form upwards, Vaun swung his leg up and over before finally bringing himself to a crouching position atop the roof. With a flickering crimson glance in Strae's direction, the Vyssie jerked his head towards Strae in a motion that clearly said, Come.

He didn't even seem the least bit concerned about if she was physically capable of completing the task or not, for almost immediately after his head jerk, the male was creeping slowly up the side of the roof until he reached the top. Lowering himself onto his belly, Vaun turned his head away from the direction of his student and instead towards the other side of the roof, his eyes narrowing as he observed the street below him.

Hopefully, Strae wasn't afraid of heights.

[Astraea Olath'barra]

Strae's time below had made sure that her muscles were well-toned and that her sense of balance and alertness was impeccable. She followed as best she could while maintaining her own sense of stealth--as much as was possible, at least--and as she went down yet another alley, she looked at the stack of crates the male vysstichi had ascended easily and noiselessly. She studied the crates carefully, making sure to test them silently to make sure they were balanced properly. There was hardly anything stealthy about the sound of crashing boxes. Once she'd tested it to make sure she could ascend--odds were it would hardly be as quick, soundless, or smooth as the teacher had made it appear--she could climb. She was approaching this as though she truly were infiltrating a place, and the slightest sound greater than might normally occur would wind up with her death...such an approach was likely the only way she would succeed, as weak as her skills were currently.

She ascended to the best of her ability while trying to keep as silent as possible and trying to keep the crates from crashing or making any noise. Hopefully it would occur in the end, thought doubtless after more time and care was taken on her part than on his. Once she reached the roof--hopefully it was not an 'if' situation--she she would crouch and step carefully as she advanced to the top of the roof as well before dropping slowly and noiselessly--as much as she could make it so, of course--to her belly, mirroring her instructor's movements.

As she gazed down as he was doing, wondering what he was looking for, she came to the realization that though she was creature of the underground, she was not in fact afraid of heights. Just because one came from beneath the ground did not mean that in those caverns there were not drops of similar height, and luckily it was not a fear she held...most of her fears had been beaten out of her as a child, as was expected of a highly placed woman of a Vysstichi House.

She would sit and wait as noiselessly as possible until she received instructions or until his intentions for her became clear...there was little else for the dark elfess to do at this point.

[Larien Gil'dae]

Vaun was just as wary of Strae knocking over the crates as the dark elfess herself was, though the male kept his face carefully dispassionate and his crimson eyes averted as his student slowly made her way up onto the roof. By the grace of the gods -- or perhaps just sheer beginner's luck -- the female managed to ascend without disturbing the crate's in any fashion. Had it been otherwise, Vaun's plans might have been compromised somewhat. His muscles tensed, the male waited for the other to make her way up to his location before finally lowering herself down to her belly in an exact copy of his own position. His thin lips twitching into a small smile, he glanced up at his student from beneath his hood, his eyes oddly devoid of the amusement he felt inside.

"Do you see that window there?" He whispered softly, his voice barely stirring past his parted lips. The window he was looking towards was on the building across another alley from the building whose roof they were currently lying upon. It was cracked only slightly and there was a soft light (as though from a candle or two) glowing from within. "I want you to slip over there and peek inside -- without being seen from those below or those within. Tell me what you see."

Ducking his head slightly to hide his smile from the other, Vaun pretended to be all business as he turned his gaze back towards the window in question, his eyes narrowing as he tried to penetrate the shadows there. "Try not to fall."

There were two ways Strae could make it to the other roof. The alley wasn't very wide and it would be fairly easy for the female Vyssie to slip down to the edge, stretch across, and swing over to the other side. From there she could crawl along the edge of the roof until she reached the window. Seeing as the window was closer to the roof than it was to the ground, Strae could easily lower her upper half over the side of the roof to peek in through the window and complete her task. Or, if she was afraid of falling, she could always shimmy down the side of the building, dart across the alley, and climb up the wall of the other building. Either would -- in theory -- work just fine. The only challenge was not being seen.

[Astraea Olath'barra]

(OOC: *politely offers the middle finger before continuing the thread*)


As she listened to the instructions of the still-unnamed male, she nodded silently before glancing at the surrounding area. It looked like it wasn't that far across the alleyway, so it should be easy enough to cross. Crossing too far forward would make her obvious, though, so she slid as far in the middle of the alley as she could so she hopefully wouldn't be noticed by anyone on either side of the building. Maintaining her quiet breathing and smooth motions, she looked out as far as she could in all the various locations where she spied people, making sure none were looking her direction, before making a hopefully smooth but quick transition to slide to the other side of the alleyway from building top to building top, given the narrowness of the alley.

Once she'd crossed, she would crouch and slide-step slowly across the building until she was close to the window. Once there she would drop down onto her belly and lie there for a moment directly above the window. She was not so stupid as to shove her head into the window that was cracked open without listening first to see if people where nearby. If they were she would wait a moment to determine how close they were to the window and if they were facing it--and thus projecting their speech towards it to be louder or turned away to be quieter.

If they were facing away or a distance away--or if there was no sound after several seconds of listening--she would peek before slowly sliding over the edge to peek down, keeping as close to the edge as possible so as not to give away her presence, but still trying her best possible to silently peek in as requested by her instructor. If there were people and they were near the window she would wait to see if they grew distant and walked away, meantime listening in curiously to whatever they were talking about.

During all this Strae had a feeling, but said nothing, about where exactly they were. Time to see if she was right.

[Larien Gil'dae]

OOC: *politely accepts offered middle finger before continuing the thread*

IC: Vaun watched quietly as the female surveyed her surroundings before sliding across to the other roof, her feet only slipping slightly upon the angled surface as she moved to a crouched position. So far so good, he thought with a smirk, not having realized until then that he had been waiting with baited breath as his pupil had made her way to the other building. So odd... he normally would have enjoyed seeing her slip and fall off but for some reason, he truly wished to see this particular student succeed. He would have to be sure to make a few more jabs against her general character once she completed her latest mission in order to make up for it.

A chill wind whipped around Strae's lithe form, running across her body with all the sharpness of tiny razors that threatened to rip into her skin as she prowled across the rooftop. Below her the lowlifes of Vortex slithered through the streets, so caught up in their own business that they didn't bother glancing up and spotting the Vyssie crouched upon the roof of the residence like a sleek gargoyle, while above her a cloudy night sky stretched, providing only the barest of light from the peeking stars. Of course, darkness would be no problem for either of the dark elves.

From the slightly cracked window, sounds of clinking rang forth, almost as though from the moving of dishes or eating utensils. "Henry, I'm just concerned..." "Shut up, Irma." "But what about the children?" "Damn the children. They'll be fine." The sound of sobbing was soft indeed, but not so soft as to be inaudible to the sensitive ears of the Vyssie female. "But what if they're hurt, or... or...?" "You're still fertile aren't ya?" The sobs escalated into full out cries of pain, momentarily masking the sound of a soft crash, like wood hitting wood. Heavy footsteps rang out, thudding and shuffling and then there was another crash. Then, silence.

When Strae carefully lowered herself to peek into the window, she was met with a most curious scene. A well-to-do seeming woman (perhaps the wife of a merchant) was crouched over something on the floor, her back slightly turned towards the window. A body. A man's body. Seemingly the body of her husband who had held so little regard just a few moments previous for the children that had come from her "still fertile" womb. A pool of blood was slowly leaking out from a hideous gash in his throat while his eyes stared unseeing towards the ceiling where a few moths lazily fluttered. Odd, considering the temperature outside...

Strangely calm, the woman stood from her crouching position, moving slowly to wipe her bloodied steak knife upon the dinner napkin that was close at hand. "Such a shame we were robbed and the robber saw fit to murder poor Henry..."

[Astraea Olath'barra]

Strae watched the argument silently and with great amusement. The male's impertinent attitude was well deserving of some fixing. Of course she wasn't a fan of humans--the only races worse than humans were those damned lightborns. Of any race, even the hated, women were to be treated with respect and worship, not the superior arrogance this man seemed to display towards the human woman. Strae found herself sorely tempted to leap in and kill the woman on principle, but to torture the man until he begged for death until eventually granting it to him for his mistreatment of the superior sex.

It seemed such temptation was unnecessary, however, as when Strae peeked down after hearing the crash, she saw the woman finally grew a spine and found her way to slashing the impertinent man's jugular, and was already trying to think up a convincing lie. Good thing most law enforcement wasn't too thorough. She smirked to herself quietly and considered using herself as a legitimate excuse so that she could steal some things from the well-to-do folk's home, but decided against it.

Bitch is human. She deserves to twist if she can't find a convincing way to explain why nothing was missing but her husband was dead. Not my problem. She retreated and scampered as quietly as possible back over to the other side using her same route before, rejoining her male instructor while being as careful as possible not to be spotted or heard, a twisted smile on her face.

"Seems come the brightening, a murder will be reported," she started off quietly, amused at the entire scenario, "The woman will claim a robber did it, but she slashed his throat wit a steak knife; I presume he was her husband. Served him right, after disrespecting a woman as he did." Not exactly the most subtle of hints towards his own behavior, but they both knew nothing would come of it...not yet, anyway. Now all that was left was for her further instruction.