Killer Promise

A cold wind gusts outside of the temple walls, but inside the temple is warm and cozy, kept so by magic. Dolan sits on a bench to one side of the massive main courtyard, divested of armor and weapons and wearing only shirt and trousers, both new-looking. He rubs gingerly at one shoulder, the movement cautious and careful, and watches the various activity taking place around them, from conversation to prayer. "I ought to resume training tomorrow after prayers. It's only a little stiff."

"Just don't push yourself for a couple of days in training," Andelena responds as she stands above him, leaning against the wall in a calm and collected manner. She's dressed down, too, wearing a long-sleeved tunic that hugs her muscular arms and trousers that would be loose on just about any other woman, but are comfortably filled by her built form. "If I have to accompany you to the hospital again, I'll be an extra annoying pain in your ass. But an important part of recovery is keeping what you've got in motion, otherwise you lose it."

Her steel-gray eyes focus on the people around them. She's always assessing things, always judging people.

A xian man, perhaps not truly familiar of face to the one he is looking for, enters the temple of Daeus. He looks around a bit, the raven on his shoulder perking up almost immediately before poking him in the side of the head and croaking. The noise draws his attention to the man on the bench, and after noting that the man is not alone there's a moment of hesitation before the xian man heads toward the pair. He bows his head to them both. "Greetings."

"Oh, I know." Dolan has little doubt that she'll make good on that threat, should it become necessary. "I'll take it slow. I don't want to end up back there, either." And then, they are approached, and he looks up, surveying Karasu and Wuya both with one human eye, a calm, assessing gaze, and a completely unmoving green gem set into a steel-and-bronze ring, that latter unsettling. "Brightest of days," he offers in return. "What can I-we," he adds, glancing up at his companion, "do for you?"

"Good," Andelena says firmly, her steel-grey eyes flickering back to him for a moment as she crosses her arms across her chest, still leaning against the wall. A smirk finds her face. "Otherwise I'll have to take out my frustration on some defenseless little wooden dolls. That'd be a weird fuckin' look."

She looks over the man and her eyes narrow for a moment, peering at him more intently. "Hey, aren't you the fella from the hospital? The one I body-blocked from leaving?--Sorry about that, by the way, I was kinda pissed at the time," she asks and then adds, a bit of a smirk on her face. "How're your wounds doing?"

Karasu looks between the pair, and then nods once more politely to the woman. "My wounds have healed since then." He lapses a moment into silence and seems to carefully consider his words before continuing. "Might we speak alone a moment sir?" This to Dolan then.

His raven seems to take offense to his words, tweaking its ear with his beak and giving him a solid nasty look that he completely ignores.

GAME: Dolan rolls sense motive: (11)+9: 20
GAME: Karasu rolls bluff: (8)+9: 17

Dolan sits up a bit straighter. "I trust Andie with anything that might be said to me, but it shall not leave the two of us. Speak your mind." Wait - in the hospital she was about ready to murder him. From that - to this? What happened?

"Yeah, don't worry," Andelena says, pulling herself away from the wall to stand up straighter. She gives Karasu--and his bird, more particularly--a smile. "I might be a holy woman, but I'm not the type to condemn people to death for an honest mistake. Just don't hurt Bry here and we should be good."

Her eyes flicker back to the raven. "'Sides, your birdie doesn't seem to like the idea of you leaving me out of the loop either."

The man looks at Dolan. Stares at him in fact. As if weighing him down to his last pinky toe and back again. "Wuya dislikes a great many things, but I have obligations and little trust." This is not exactly a forthcoming answer. "Can I trust you - man of many names? She might give her oath and then I know she would be trustworthy, but what of you?"

"Find yourself chased by a demon cult and see how fast you change your name and disappear." Dolan's stare is unblinking. "You want to tell me something, and then you wonder if I am trustworthy? She keeps me in line, if that's what you're worried about." She folds his arms across his chest, quickly at first and then with more care, and sharp ears can hear bandages rustling beneath the shirt. "No, I'm not going to spill it."

"I mean, didn't you come to him to begin with?" Andelena asks, a confused expression on her face as she watches the exchange. "You walked in here and asked to speak to him alone, and you suddenly ask him if he's trustworthy. Let me just say the reason why I was pissed off in that hospital at him is done and dusted if that's really the reason you want to be alone with him."

She puts a hand on her hip, cutting a very confident stance. "Let me put it this way. Does it look like I've got a leash on him like one of those noblewomen with air in their heads trying to keep track of their little brats? No? Then I trust him. And I think you ought to. We're a package deal, so get over it and talk or keep your silence."

Something close to amusement flickers through the man's eyes and he bows his head slightly to the pair. "You are right. I have oft been told that if you can not trust someone then asking an oath of them is like talking to the wind. Yet..." He sighs and covers his face briefly. Then, he slips his hand into his robes and pulls out a piece of paper. It has a name and a brief description of a person on it. "I have need of someone to take this man out of Alexandria in safety and in secret. It must be done whether he wills it or no."

He looks at Dolan seriously now, his face expressionless. "If this is not done, the man will die." Wuya clicks next to his ear and Karasu sighs. "I know you do not know me, nor have reason to trust me, but I am trusting you with a great deal to see this done because you have done what I have done. It gives me hope." His eyes flicker to Andelena.

Dolan blinks, but takes the paper and studies it closely, brow furrowing. He studies it, then offers it up to his partner with a frown, an unspoken _what do you think?_ in the gesture. "You think this man is in danger. You know we can't force him to leave."

Andelena takes the paper and scrutinizes it as well. After a moment, her steely gaze levels back onto Karasu, her lips pursed together in thought. "You seem to care for him, and his life's in danger, so I want to try and help already based on those two things," the Sunguard says after a moment, compassion in her voice. "Only one problem: we're not thugs who you can buy to kidnap someone."

She lowers the page from her face, but she keeps it held tightly in her hand, like she's just been handed the most important card at the table. "So here's my next question: why would he refuse to leave if his life's on the line?"

Karasu looks at Dolan. "I _know_ he is in danger. He will almost certainly die if he does not leave." Andelena's words make his left eye twitch however and he shakes his head. "You misunderstand. I do not care for him. I care that he is about to die, and wish to prevent that. As for why he would choose not to leave... People can be stupid, stubborn, and irrational. He may disbelieve the danger he is in. He may choose to take the risk. He might have some other reasoning."

He shrugs and Wuya says something else in that croaking chirp of his that makes Karasu look at him, but he doesn't respond to the raven otherwise.

"How do you know that he is in danger, and from what?" Dolan watches Karasu intently, gaze boring holes into the man. "I believe you, but it would be nice to know what might jump out and eat us."

"What he said," Andelena says, echoing Dolan. Her fingers play idly with the paper containing the man's information, her arm coming to rest underneath her elbow. "I also have to know that if we help you out, we aren't in any way besmirching our oaths to the Knight. We're here to protect people from getting murdered--so you're at least barking up the right tree there--but I'd really /rather/ not wake up and find out I've been excommunicated by aiding evil. I don't get that sense from you, but we have to cover our asses."

Karasu sighs. Seems to visibly steel himself and then looks at the pair with steady black eyes. "I was hired to kill him." This lands with all the gentility of a bomb, and Karasu seems aware that it's not news that would be terribly well-recieved. "I have no desire to end this man's life, I have no intention of doing so. But if someone is willing to hire me, they will find - someone - capable and willing."

Dolan starts at the revelation, and stands up, looking at Andelena. "I'll do it," he says at once, with a glance at Andelena to see if she is coming as well. "That's all you need to know. You're trying to redeem yourself, and that's a pretty damn good place to start, refusing to do the work of evil." _You with me?_ his silent glance at Andelena says.

Andelena doesn't flinch, per se, as Karasu admits his motivation. But she does give a profound blink. "Huh," is what leaves her mouth after the metaphorical bomb's down and the charge has been expended.

She looks down at Dolan and meets his gaze with a nod. "Yeah," she says, looking back up at Karasu. "I'm in too. Package deal, like I said."

The Sunguard finally hands the paper back to Dolan. "Like I said before, I'm not the kind to condemn you to death if you fuck up. I'd say agreeing to kill someone you didn't want to kill to begin with falls under that umbrella."

Karasu offers the pair a low bow. "I appreciate this. You have my thanks, and I will owe you a debt." He looks at Dolan. It seems the pair have an understanding of sorts. With that said however, Karasu steps back. "Until this matter is taken care of, it would be best if we were not seen together. If you have need of me however, I will frequent the inn just outside of Alexandria." Then, he turns to leave.

-End