TSC - Chapter 3: Façades (9) - Ring Tattoos

On the floor in front was a fully covered body, apparently a man, completely wrapped from head to toe in what looked like one continuous, black roll of cloth. It was slashed however and from Lily's observations the man had been attacked with a short blade and left for dead. She then chose not to mention that the body wasn't there when she left the room. It was a strange situation as it was and it didn't needed any more complications from Eryn or Chloe. The security guard, after looking over the body, placed his boot on the neck of the man and demanded answers. He pressed down a little tighter. The man, trying to answer, started to cough blood. The bloody garbled words were useless, the dying words of man left to drown in his own essence. The guard then kicked the body onto its side and with pinpoint precision searched the body with minimal contact. There were slashes up his left arm, across his chest and on his wrists. Any exposed skin had blood on it to some degree, although most of his was seeping into the wood. He had no weapon on him  and no form of defence. He seemed not to have any worldly possessions. The security guard then examined the hands, revealing black, ornate ring tattoos at the base of all of the corpse's fingers. He was about to remove the mask but the man's eyes stopped him. He saw something familiar, something he recognised. This time without care, he ripped the cloth from the man's face, revealing him to be man's brother. As a teenager, Zarik, the newly deceased, had abandoned Mephisto and was never seen again. To that end he was not stirred by the fact that his brother had just died in front of him, which confused Lily. Nearly everyone she had met had some sort of connection to family on some level, even herself. She offered the man peace of mind, if he wanted to ask the corpse questions. He looked at her sideways, then at the other two and the sleeping merchant and weighed that with how unlikely this grouping was, it was probably in the same vein as talking to the dead, so he agreed.

Mephisto  dragged his brothers body out into reception. Margaret, who now seemed to open up a little and introduced herself, told him off for bringing the corpse too early, hours before the daily collection. He ignored her and placed his brother down on the wooden bench that was the only other seat in the room. Lily placed her hands onto the head Zarik and told the security guard to ask her his questions. Zarik, your brother Mephisto wants to know who your employers were and why you were killed. She searched his memories, each slowly fading into grave soil. I cannot tell you why I was killed, for my brother's protection. I work as a ring and I am truly sorry Tell him that. Zarik then crumbled onto the bench. Mephisto unflinchingly asked Margaret for her synth box that she carried her lunch around in. She looked over and protested but eventually dropped the box in front of him and turned back to her reading. As carefully as he could, Mephisto gathered the remains of his brother and placed them into the synth. He asked Lily why she had helped him but she stayed silent and walked back to her room. When Mephisto left with his brother, Margaret shouted she was not going to clean up his mess and would cost a significant part of his wage.      

 When Lily returned she restrained the merchant in the chair that she had brought into the middle of the room. Eryn decided the best thing to do in his situation was to ignore it, so he smoked, facing out into the corridor. Mephisto half watched, while shaking the box and watching his brothers ashes through the clear side plate. Lily leaned in close to the man and whispered a few words, he awoke as though he had just died. He did not at first look to her, instead he looked towards Mephisto and started to apologise and rambling steam interspersed with condolences and remarks of stupidity. Mephisto briefly looked over. He may of remembered the man but he had no value to him so did not care. That was until he mentioned his brother. His initial conclusion was that he was perhaps the killer. Then again he was fast asleep at the time. The man was also visibly frightened, and crying non-stop. His entire attention was not on his own situation but on Mephisto. A fact that made Lily's anger start to rise. He was questioned on his name by Mephisto, and what he knew. His simply stated that name was Steignbeck, a member of the Metricious guild of Auspar. What he knew was that Zarik was possibly a member of the fabled Rings of Melch. He hadn't told him as he feared if the other Rings hand found him, they would have killed him. Or he had imagined it, and was fleeing from phantoms of his own making. He apologised for being selfish, he regretted it all but he didn't think Mephisto knew. He was sure that was why he was restrained.

Mephisto returned to his brothers ashes, Steignbeck knew that was the end of the conversation. He looked around the room, recognising the masked girl first. From over his shoulder he could see Chloe examining the ledge on the inside of window. There were no bars or glass, so he  presumed this place was obviously safe. The property must be known to Scaler Thieves as protected. Steignbeck then knew instantly where he was. He noticed the girl lean forwards, examining a dark red patch, there were chubby lines from what he could see, attached to a oval shape. A symbol he didn't recognise. She mumbled a few words to herself before she silently jumped straight out. This was a fact nobody seemed to had noticed. In his astonishment his gaze then fell upon another recognisable figure, Eryn, who had his back to him. He lowered his head and shook it and turned to Lily. He asked what she wanted. In response she made Eryn heat up the tip of her knife and smiled. She simply stated, she just wanted to have a little fun, before she had to get down to business.