When the sun came up, Sin had already been awake for a couple of hours. She swiftly put on the clothes that Abris had left for her and brushed her hair nicely so that she looked like she groomed herself every day like a normal person. At the very least, she looked kempt, but the style of Abris's green dress did not suit Sin in the slightest. Once she was prepared to leave, she headed downstairs with her knapsack so she could fill one canteen with mead and the other with water. When Sin was filling up her canteens, she overheard a conversation between the innkeeper at the bar and a customer on a stool.
"...absolutely crazy. And were you here last night? You wouldn't have believed the sort she brought in with her, all covered in filth and grit.
"Aye, well with all that's going on, can't expect people to keep their heads!"
The innkeeper harrumphed at that. "Well, she's paying fine money, else I'd have none of it. All that's going on or not, we have standards here."
It was clear that Abris and Sin were the topics of this discussion, and while the men weren't exactly keeping their voices down, they obviously didn't recognize Sin after she had cleaned up and changed clothing. But another thing became apparent then, which was that Abris wasn't at all who she had claimed to be. She didn't work at the inn, and furthermore, those who owned the inn were not her family.
Sin was in the midst of filling her second canteen full of mead from a rusty spigot, after she had already deposited the water canteen in her bag. Overhearing the conversation about her and Abris caused her to lose focus and overfill the canteen, spilling the sappy alcohol onto the ground. "Shit!" she cursed, before looking at the men who were speaking. She stared openly for a few moments while she let everything settle in her mind. It was apparent that she would have to approach the woman who went by the name of Abris. Was that even her name? Who was she? What did she want with Sin? And perhaps most importantly, did she know who Sin was?
Sin bagged the canteen of mead, and then checked her person. She had six daggers holstered on various parts of her body, and she compulsively checked each one to make sure they were still there. All was good. She figured she may need them if the upcoming conversation with Abris came to a head.
All the while, Abris knew nothing of what had transpired inside the inn. She rocked back and forth on her heels while waiting for Sin to meet her outside. Her clothing was similar to what she had worn the day before, just in varying shades of blue instead. In Abris's mind, she was being perfectly careful. She was certain that she wouldn't be discovered.
Abris took some time to check out the bounty board at the front of the inn. At least to Sin's advantage, there was no one resembling her on it. If the city was aware of her at all, apparently she had not become so infamous yet as to require it. The city did have its own plethora of goons and criminals to devote valuable resources to, after all.
"Good morning!" Abris greeted Sin warmly upon seeing her. "My, didn't you clean up well. You just barely look suspicious at all now." She said it teasingly, though still far and away from cruelly, and started up back towards the mages' college. This early, the streets were only just beginning to fill in with life. The air smelled of fresh baked bread and pastries while miscellaneous vendors were just starting to open their doors. "Did you sleep well?" she asked, simply making idle chatter while they wound their way.
Sin stood back as Abris took her first few steps, assessing the situation carefully. After a few moments, she began following the woman again so that Abris wouldn't think twice about her initial hesitation to follow her. "Yes, I slept just fine," Sin lied. Then again, she never slept well.
As they were walking by one of the desolate alleyways, and nobody was aware of what was happening, Sin quickly—and silently—wrapped her left forearm underneath Abris's chin, pulling it up and exposing her throat. She then whipped out a dagger and held it against the skin. Any cry that Abris may have made was cut short upon feeling the blade to her neck. Sin pulled the woman into the alleyway, still remaining unseen. The motions all blurred together into one instantaneous movement. Abris barely tried to struggle, and simply tensed up in Sin's grasp. Sin breathed heavily a few times, waiting to make sure that they went unnoticed, then she spoke in a hushed whisper, "Alright, bitch, you'd better start talking now, or I'll fucking slit your throat. Who the hell are you?"
Abris held her own breath and blinked down to look at the edge of the weapon she could barely just see. No, there were no laughs or giggles from her this time. The fear that went into her eyes was very real. And yet, that didn't stop her from making it difficult. "I can't tell you. I don't know that I can trust you yet," she whispered back breathlessly. "Besides, if you kill me, you'll never know about object that fell from the sky." It could have been a bluff. Or a lie to save herself. Would Sin be willing to risk it if that wasn't the case?
Sin pulled up a little bit more, pressing the small serrated blade into the flesh, the flesh separating slightly and causing a very thin line of blood to emerge from beneath. The blood that trickled out from the mild cut wasn't at all what someone might have expected. To start with, it wasn't even red, but silver, and resembled something like mercury. It had a strange transparency to it and sparkled in the early morning light. Abris closed her eyes and shuddered. She was extremely averse to pain, so this sort of questioning certainly got through to her whereas probably nothing else would have.
Sin didn't notice the strange quality of the blood at first. "You think I trust you to tell you about my life, when you won't even tell me who the fuck you are??" She backed off ever so slightly, just so she would stop cutting into the woman's throat. "Why the hell did you target me? What do you know?"
"Are you in danger, Sin?" Abris asked, just barely audible. "As am I. I picked you out because you appear strong and well-traveled. But I know nothing about you beyond what you've told me." She tried to keep her voice calm and steady while talking, though that said nothing for her heartbeat that was thudding in her ears. She kept perfectly still then, if only to show Sin that she would cooperate.
Sin finally took notice of the strange, silvery blood. She was scared, but to hell if she would let it show. "What are you? I've never encountered a race or species that spilled such strange looking blood on my boots before." She sneered a bit. "And trust me, there have been many that have spilled their good-for-nothing blood on my boots."
