View source for Lies come hard to disguise

 SUMMARY: Yelrona coaches Daed in the finer points of undercover work, to help him in the sting they are planning against the Charneth slavers. They also learn a little about each others' pasts and abilities.

Daed's home is a lovely manor, with a winding staircase that leads up to a second floor. There's a libary off to the right hand side as you come into the house, with a warm little fireplace that's currently not burning, and a living room to the left. All the way in the back is a kitchen that is open to the dinning room. It's a very modern place, but without any of the touches that would have made it more homey. There's something about it that's simply impersonal. Beautiful, but almost spartian without any pictures on the walls or anything to show what the owner of the house is like. Daechir greets Yelrona at the door, steping backwards and sweeping his arm in welcome to his home.
 
"Welcome."
 
Yelrona is herself in disguise, a role she often plays of Galen, a human who works odd jobs in the warehouse district. Given her reputation by this point, after all, being seen visiting Daed's home would raise questions about this entire enterprise. Once she enters and checks out the space, though, she lets the guise drop... mostly a matter of washing her face and changing the way she carries herself... though dispelling the magical disguise helps, also. "Why, thank you! This is a gorgeous place... would it be rude to ask how you afford it?"
 
"Perhaps a little." He had followed her back to his kitchen so that she can wash her face clean of the makeup there. This area at least shows some signs of use though it is still neatly arranged. "My family, both sides of it, are very wealthy." Daechir says this as though it explains everything. "This though comes from my mother's side. She is Llyranesi and lives in their capital city."
 
Yelrona nods. "I really do have to find time to visit Llyranost one of these days. It's getting so I know the human nations better than my own people's capital."
 
Daechir does not exactly frown, but his expression seems to become more serious. "I have not seen it since I left as a very young man. Have you been there in the last hundred years or so?"
 
Yelrona laughs. "How old do you think I am? I've only been _anywhere_ in the last hundred years or so. And, no, I've never been there at all... I grew up in the Mythwood, a settlement called Yves Namvadin." editor's note: "Sweet Spring" in Sildanyari
 
"I grew up hearing stories about it, of course. My father grew up there."
 
Daechir smiles a little. "I did not presume to guess at your age. You should see it sometime, it is quite beautiful." He has a distant gaze of reminising. "It has been... well a hundred and some years for me, but I still remember it well."
 
Yelrona nods. "So everyone says. Though... political. I mean, not that Alexandria isn't -- for that matter, even Yves Namvadin had its politics. But from what I hear, Llyranost is a whole other playing field, where you can be defeated in games you didn't even know were happening."
 
"That I would know less of. After all, being born half Mul'niessa put me so far behind in such games that few even bothered to play politics with me." Daed smiles and gives a galic roll of his shoulders. "Besides I was very young when I left the capital. Though I suppose not that young by human measure."
 
"I would have thought," Rona replies musingly, "that Mul'niessa ancestry would have made political acumen rather more necessary than less? It certainly seemed that way back home... there were very few with Mul blood, and... well, they were not treated well, and had to work ten times as hard to achieve the same status as the rest of us. Though I don't suppose I have to tell you about that." She shakes her head. "I'm sorry. We are... very bad at distinguishing people from institutions, sometimes. Far worse than we ought to be."
 
"I think if I had not spent so long among the Mul'niessa that by the time I came to live with my mothers people I was quite resigned to my station. It is that feeling that led me to leave the Sildanyar nations entirely. And then..." Daed trails off abruptly and gently lays a hand on Yelrona's forarm. "You should not apologize to me. You are not responsible for the whole of our people."
 
Yelrona smiles. "No, of course not. But then, who is? Surely you have earned an apology... and more than that. If not from me, then who?" She says it quickly, as though it's an old thought, and shakes her head. "Ach, listen to me. Five decades later and still making the same arguments I made as a child. But, well... they still have force." She sighs deeply and adds "I should perhaps explain. One of my closest friends back home was a boy named Kalniss, and... well, his family was not well-liked. They were Llyranesi, but the rumors were they had Mul ancestry, and... well, you know how it is. In a settlement like Yves Namvadin, that was quite enough."
 
Daechir shakes his head and frowns. "That must have been very hard for him. But then... he had you at least, as a friend to keep him company." He smiles softly. "Doubt not that your kindness meant much to him."
 
Yelrona nods. "And his, to me. He was... special," she adds, smiling fondly. Nostalgically, even. "As were his parents," she adds. "They saved my life once, actually. From slavers, ironically enough."
 
Daechir lifts a hand and adjusts his low collar, looking at her with surprise. "You were nearly captured by slavers?"
 
GAME: Yelrona rolls sense motive: (10)+19: 29
 
GAME: Daechir rolls bluff: (5)+8: 13
 
Yelrona nods. "_Was_ captured, I suppose, though that makes more of it than it was... they never got as far as shipping us back to wherever they were from, let alone anything else. We were just kept in a cage for a... a few days." She seems casual about it. Perhaps too much so. "And then his parents rescued us. Still... I was a child, not even eighty. It was... a significant event."
 
Daechir's hand rubs over her arm and a soft sad expression steals over his face. His red eyes shimmer with understanding. "I am so sorry that such a thing happened to you. To spend even one day, one hour in a cage is... a terrible thing. It is why we reserve it for criminals not... children." That last word is almost harsh.
 
Yelrona places a hand gently atop Daed's. "It is," she replies. "A terrible thing." She doesn't seem to be talking about herself.
 
The half Mul'niessa man huffs out a little noise and meets her eyes. "Did you guess my secreat that easily?" Daed seems truly uncertain of himself for the first time since their meeting.
 
Yelrona smiles. "Were you keeping secrets?" she asks, mildly. "Sorry. I didn't realize. Occupational hazard for Inquisitors, I'm afraid."
 
She pauses, then adds "You don't have to, you know."
 
Daechir shakes his head. "Everyone sees me as Mul'niessa, but to have them know that I spent years as a slave?" His words are a near whisper, and suddenly there's an aching loneliness in the lines of his body. A sadness to the air around him that is as heavy as a weight bearing down on him. Daed could not seem to find words for a long few moments. "Even if it would not ruin the guise I wear now for the sake of freeing others who are trapped... I do not think I could bear to be judged by everyone on yet another thing I can not change."
 
Yelrona nods. "I understand. But I didn't mean that... I meant, you don't have to keep them from me."
 
Red eyes meet hers once again and there's more weight in his eyes. "You are a kind woman Yelrona, to offer sancuary to one that you know so little of." He smiles sadly. "It seems as though I could not keep a seacret from you for long if I try in any case."
 
Yelrona grins. "It _is_ difficult, admittedly." She shrugs. "For what it's worth, I'm also pretty good at helping people keep secrets. Indeed, that's why I'm here in the first place, isn't it?"
 
"Yes, it is." He grasps her arm gently. "And I would appreciate your help in keeping this one a seacret as well."
 
Yelrona nods. "Of course. It remains between us."
 
She thinks a moment, then asks "One question, as long as we're having this conversation, though. Between us: can you name your abusers? I'm not asking you to," she adds hastily. "Though I'll be honored if you choose to. I'm just asking if you can." Her eyes seem to bore into you.
 
Yelrona expends ONE use of DETECT LIES. (spoofed)
 
Daechir deflates the sudden tension with laughter that twinkles like ringing bells. It's a light warm sound that's only slightly strained by their topic of conversation. "It would be a very long list... But if you mean those that captured me or whom... bought me. I know very little. I was only thirty when it happened and it was... A lot of being trapped in a small dark space. I never knew the name of the woman that paid for me, only that she wanted me to call her Mistress and that..." He shudders with the memory and lifts a hand to his brow and waves it away. "Well, I know nothing useful for finding them again."
 
Yelrona nods. It's a familiar story. "Thank you," she says, her eyes returning to their normal intensity. 
 
"So!" she says, after a long silence. "You wanted assistance with disguises, right? So. Tell me about the human I met in that alley."
 
Daechir steps back and settles himself like a bird with soothing ruffled feathers. "David. He is a persona I worked up while traveling so as to appear as other than Mul'niessa. Particularly... after I was not eager to look like myself. He is friendly but not gregarious, and enjoys phlantropist activities. Giving to charities and such." Daed shrugs and smiles. "I usually go for a more human appearance because they really do not stick out anywhere."
 
Yelrona nods. "Good. Now, try it again: David, tell me about yourself."
 
Yelrona nods. "Good. Now, try it again: David, tell me about yourself."
 
Daed looks confused for a moment, but smiles and shifts his posture subtly. Then he smiles broadly in a friendly sort of way. "I live here in Alexandria, but I enjoy long walks out in the wilderness when I can. Which isn't as often as I'd like." Even his form of speech changes, growing contractions where he doesn't normally use them. "I've heard a lot about the slaves recently freed so I went up and donated some money to the hospital to help with their care." He shakes his head sadly.
 
Yelrona nods encouragingly. "That's very charitable of you, David. What do you think will happen to them, once they're out of the hospital?"
 
"I have been thinking about that." Daed leans against the counter. "I think there should be a charitable outreach for them don't you? Something to help them get on their feet. That they have a safe place to stay outside the hospital. I've been meaning to talk to someone at the hospital to see if they can't expand their usual aid."
 
"Should there?" Rona asks, curiously. "Why would they need charity?"
 
"I think there should be the option of charity if they do need it. Not all of them will be so easily alcimated to where they are now. They might need help finding work. To find homes. Certainly it's not as though they will have any money to speak of to put a roof over their heads." Daed looks at her and shrugs a bit awkwardly. "Put simply, from what I can tell they might need a little more than their cuts and bruises fixed."
 
Yelrona looks briefly skeptical, and her tongue sticks out from the corner of her mouth as she concentrates. She takes "David"'s head between her hands, tilts it to the left. "David shrugs this way," she suggests. "Not the other way. And with this shoulder."
 
She stands up, and her appearance changes. She gets about six inches taller, her skin grows paler, her clothes change. Her manner changes, as well, becoming more brittle, more refined. "Well. That's just nonsense, if you ask me. If they can't sustain themselves on their own, then they need to join a household that has use for them."
 
Daechir tries the shrug the other way, not once but a couple of times to get the feel of it. "You are really very good at that." His tone is all Daechir again, his smaller smile impressed. "But I think I understand what you are saying here. I need to make sure that David is a whole person, fill him in all the way so that I can do more than simply be him in passing."
 
Yelrona regards Daechir with a chilly gaze for a long moment, then her appearance and manner revert to normal. "Damn. She really needs a long cigarette holder to pull her off right." She tosses herself casually on a couch, sprawling. "Thank you. A lot of practice. And, right. And you need to get used to _being_ him, for extended periods of time. Even when you're tired, or angry, or frightened, or horny, or whatever. David needs to be able to be all of those things, because otherwise any of those things might bring you back at just the wrong moment. David: when and where were you born?"
 
Daechir leans forward so that he's no longer leaning on the coutnter and follows Yelrona toward the couch without actually sitting on it. He just sort of stands nearby thoughtfully. "This is indeed where I begin to have problems. Lying is to say the least... not my forte. I can dance around something until the next day, but an actual lie?" Daed sighs.
 
Yelrona nods. "So, I need you to listen to me very carefully," she says, very intently. "Dancing around the question is great for avoiding interrogations, and for maintaining plausible deniability. But if you go under cover with that attitude, it will get you killed. David _cannot_ be evasive about who he is, not if he's going to be believable."
 
She frowns in concentration, then continues. "If it helps... you aren't lying. You're speaking for David. You are telling _his_ truth."
 
She gets up, right up in the taller elf's face... or, well, sternum. "Never mind where Daechir was born. Daechir isn't here and doesn't matter. DAVID: WHERE WERE YOU BORN?"
 
"Alexandria." Daechir managed to say, looking a little intimidated by Yelrona, which perhaps in this situation was not entirely unwarrented. Even so he adopts that stance again, hunching slightly which puts them a little closer to one another. Much closer considering that Daed isn't curretly wearing his boots. "You don't have to yell." He smiles at her and it's a little rougish.
 
Yelrona grins broadly, clearly delighted. Then, with a completely over-the-top drill sergeant manner that...
 
GAME: Yelrona rolls intimidate: (8)+9: 17
 
...she only kind of pulls off, she shouts "DOES MY YELLING MAKE YOU UNCOMFORTABLE?!!?"
 
Daechir smiles a little. "Not at all. I kind of like it."
 
"Good." She walks away, pulls a sickle out of her belt, turns and casually tosses it in his direction. "Catch. What year was it when you turned 11?"
 
GAME: Daechir rolls reflex: (16)+3: 19
 
The sickle is easy for Daed to catch and it gives him time to do some quick math in his head before he answers her question; rattling off the number that would make him thirty-three.
 
Yelrona frowns. "Not bad. Could be better. You don't have to have _every_ detail at your fingertips -- come to that, if you asked _me_ that question I'd..." she pauses, clearly doing math in her head, "914, and now you know how old I am, but you need to know some of them that way, and get into the habit of steering discussions away from the ones you don't, to the ones you do." She smiles. "_That_ part you're a natural at. Where's your mother from, David?" she asks, then charges him, attempting a grapple.
 
GAME: Yelrona rolls cmb: (2)+9: 11
 
GAME: Daechir rolls cmb: (19)+3: 22
 
"She's from Alexandria as well." Daed sees Yelron's attack coming and deftly evades it, rolling around her hands in a move that is as graceful as one might expect from an elf if not one who's occupation is as a spellcaster. "Are you really one hundred and seventeen?"
 
Yelrona nods. "Yup. For another three months," she pauses, "two weeks, three days. David: how did you celebrate your birthday last year?"
 
Daed meets Yelrona's eyes. "Alone. I had a steak in a nice quiet resturant." He takes a step toward her.
 
"Good! The nice thing about that answer is that if I ask you David's birthday, you probably have no idea what day of the week that was last year, but David could easily have gone out to dinner any time and forgotten what day of the week it was." She stands her ground as he moves towards her, smiles comfortably. "That said: alone? David has no friends?"
 
"David is new to Alexandria. New most of the places he travels to. So he's alone." He reaches out and touches her cheek gently. Then he smiles.
 
Yelrona bursts out laughing, for no obvious reason. Admittedly, this happens not infrequently, especially since she entered Tarien's service, so she doesn't think too much of it. Still, thinking about it as she recovers her composure, she tilts her head in Daed's direction. "What inspired that?"
 
Daechir can not help but laugh as well, the sound accompanied by the twinkling of bells. "I do not think I have mentioned but we both enjoy having a little... fun now and again." His eyes twinkle with merriment and he meets her eyes. They're still within easy touching distance. "Besides, I wanted to see you smile."
 
Yelrona smiles, and raises an arch eyebrow. "Have I been so serious thus far, then? I suppose it could have been worse... you could have tickled me." She remains still, but not stiff... she radiates a sense of comfort. "And, I will admit... I've been known to have a little fun now and again."
 
"You have been serious. Even before today but then, the subjects we have discussed are not light-hearted things." He rolls one shoulder. "Forgive me? I should not have made you laugh without your permission."
 
Yelrona nods. "True. On the other hand, I have been assaulting you all evening, so I'm hardly in a position to complain."