Mag Paget, Shotgun Knight (clippedwing) wrote in emillion, @ 2014-03-19 14:05:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, !narrative, magnolia paget |
this is the end, hold your breath and count to ten.
Who: Magnolia Paget & Kamon Leradine (NPC)
What: A plea of help. (Narrative)
Where: Mag's apartment
When: Tonight (3/18)
Rating: PG-13. Mentions of a pretty bad breakup, otherwise tame.
Status: Complete
The doorbell rang in the middle of a swordfight, with the lost farmer boy being driven back by his opponent―who was actually not left-handed―and revealing that, in fact, he wasn’t left handed either. Mag stood up with the book still clutched in one hand, relying on muscle memory and peripheral vision not to walk into a wall. The doorbell rang again, and she rolled her eyes and folded the corner of the page, left it gingerly on the floor before answering the door. Had King Weyland IV been standing in her threshold, she might have been less surprised. “Hey, Mags,” Kamon said. “I need your help.” “You’re early for Aries’ Fools. Try again in a couple of weeks.” She placed her free hand on the frame of the door to keep from balling it into a fist and pushed. Inches from closing, Kamon let out a yelp. Her eyes went down to see him withdraw his foot from the jamb. “Faram, are you―” No, not all right. “Are you stupid?” “Yes,” he wheezed out, wincing. “And this isn’t a joke. You’ve got to listen to me, Mags. I’m in big trouble.” Are you ever not? But she knew the answer to that. “You look better than last time I saw you.” Jaw clenched, the alternative to punching him or shouting. “You found some clothes.” To his credit, he averted his eyes. So perhaps he had a sliver of decency in him still, or he was desperate to get on her good side. “I’m really sorry about what I did. I wish I hadn’t. And I wouldn’t be here asking for a favor if I didn’t really need help.” He ran a hand through his hair, pushing the bangs out of his face. There were dark circles under his eyes. “I’m a dead man, Mags.” She nodded her head at the apology. It wasn’t forgiveness. He had tried to sell her to a gang of sky pirates; an apology was too easily spoken to compensate for that. But it was an apology long overdue. “I’m not going to kill you.” Maybe Aspel, if she finds out you had the gall to come here. “So who is? According to you.” There was a flicker of hope across his features, as though he thought her question meant she was already on board. He looked five years older than she knew him to be, but the small smile he flashed her was exactly that of the man she had fallen for, years ago. “A buyer. I don’t know who they are. I have to meet them tonight, in a warehouse near the Aerodrome.” He spoke quickly now, and some of the anxiety returned to his expression. “Fallon told me this’d be an easy job, just a delivery, make the exchange and our debt is paid, but it seems too good to be true. Something smells fishy about this. I need you to come with me, in case things go south. Please, Mags.” “So you can use me as bargaining chip or dump me when things do go south. No deal.” He winced again. “Listen, I’ve got a bad hunch about this cargo. I took a peek, some kind of ring and a scroll of parchment with weird things written on it, but―” A scroll, perhaps like the ones Vivi sells sometimes, she thought, the cogs in her mind turning before she remembered that it did not matter, because she wasn’t going to help him. Kamon was ranting about the cargo, about the buyer, about how he was sorry for everything―and she was so, so tired. “Don’t stick your foot in there again if you don’t want to break something,” she said, and closed the door. Through the wood she heard him shout please and I’m sorry as she stepped away. She picked up The Damsel Bride from the floor and made her way back to the living room, and as she went his pleas grew weaker. She sat down on the couch and hugged her knees to her chest, eyes stinging with imminent tears. He rang the doorbell a few more times. Then, silence. She had to assume, then, that he was gone. From her life, forever. To the man she had once loved, she whispered, “Goodbye.” |