Let's try to See Eye to Eye.

[Mari]

A day had passed during Amari’s capture or as Vincent and Fenn seemed to put it, ‘saving her’. She was restless. She promised Fenn she’d play nice, if she hadn’t she probably would have rendered half the staff unconscious and found her own way out of the damn castle. Even if she had to walk back to Salvar herself. Amari assumed she was near a Raiaeran port from Vincents words. It was a good weeks travel to Salvar from where she was. Possibly more considering half the region was scarred with fetid plaguelands.

“This isn’t going to end well…” Amari muttered to herself as she rummaged through the cupboards for a pot. She had been given free reign of the kitchen. At least it gave her something to do. Amari spent the morning making her own pasta. She had to give it to Vincent, his kitchen was stocked just as well as her family one back in Salvar, she wished the Inner Sanctum matched the quality of this - but, despite her love of cooking it was no longer something she could so simply indulge in.

Amari filled the pot with water, added a pinch of salt and set it to boil before she began to crush up peppercorns with a mortar and pestle. As she busied herself one of the workers, a maid she assumed wandered in to check on her.

“I see you’re cooking again.” Her voice was filled with a sort of trepidation. Rumours of Amari’s violent and aggressive nature had spread throughout the stronghold. “Mmm.” Amari didn’t bother to turn and glance at the blonde haired lass. “I’m still here.”

“Well...obviously…” She muttered under her breath.

Amari smirked, “Careful, Mary. Haven’t you heard? I may just rip your skin off.”

Mary hesitated before taking a seat. Watching as Amari dropped the pasta into the cooking pot. “Yes. I’ve heard, and I do worry, but I don’t think you’d be so foolish as to do so.”

“Mmm. True…” Amari murmured, scooping out the pasta once it hit Al Dente, she grabbed a measuring cup and ladled 250ml of the pasta water into it. She made quick work of draining the pasta pot of the remaining water, before tossing the still dripping pasta back into the pot. She switched the heat to low and tossed in grated pecorino, a lovely cheese she found and was the reason for the dish, crushed peppercorns, cream butter, chopped parsley and a touch more salt. Every time she noted the pasta began to dry slightly she’d pour in a touch more of the reserved water.

“You’re very adept at cooking.”

“I’m also very adept at killing.” Amari’s sentence seemed to quieten Mary. Amari tossed the pasta into two bowls. “Here.”

“W-what is this?”

“Pecorino cheese pasta. Is good. Eat it.” Amari commanded as she sat down with her own bowl.

[Cards of Fate]

“Oh is it?”

Vincent Cain strode into the kitchen, stretching his arms above his head. His messy mane of blonde hair was swept back and pulled up into a small bun. He wore a plan pair of denim trousers, and a simple green cotton shirt with sleeves that reached midway to his elbow. Compared to the flash and show of his usual robes, he seemed rather down to earth.

“Miss Amari, I will be the judge of your culinary skill.” He slammed his hands on the counter jokingly, striking a rather dramatic pose. Without pomp or circumstance the scholar took a scoop of the pasta and popped it into his mouth. Chewing for a moment, and completely ignoring how hot it was. After what seemed like an incredibly long time, Vincent swallowed.

“Not half bad…” he muttered rubbing his chin. He snapped his finger, pulling an apron from thin air and hastily donning it. As he tied it behind him, the two noticed that on the front the phrase “kiss the cook” was stitched in. “Let me show you true culinary skill!” He snapped his fingers and a pan appeared in one hand, while a large knife appeared in the other. He struck a flamboyant pose, pointing his pan at his prisoner.

“We’ll let our servant friend here be the judge! If you win I’ll let you have free run of the town. If I win, you will admit that I am a master chef!”

[Mari]

"What the fuck?"

Her captor, Vincent of the whatever-the-hell, Tarot, Raiarian....thing had burst into the kitchen. His appearance and attitude jovial. Amari didn't see the humour in his actions. "No shit..." Amari muttered. Pissed that he had insulted her cooking. Amari knew she was a damn good cook, and she didn't need the approval of some pompus, self righteous asshole to tell her otherwise.

"Judge, Jury and Executioner, my you just do it all, don't you?" Amari muttered with distaste. Throwing her own full bowl against the sink. It clattered into the metallic basin and shattered. Amari had lost her appetite. Her Tri-coloured eyes fell down to his apron.

"This isn't the time to be playing games. I need to leave." Amari insisted. Shifting the subject to more important matters. "I'm not some fuckin' subordinate you can order around. If I stay here, it'll insight a war! Do you not see that?" He seemed to ignore her plight. With every snap of his fingers more and more things appeared from mid-air.

"Vincent, Listen to me!" Amari was growing annoyed. She'd played his little game, she'd been patient, and she hadn't made too much of a fuss during her stay here, but she was growing anxious. She hadn't seen her Ravens, and she was long overdue to return back to the Inner Sanctum. "You want me to help with your restoration efforts, then I need to get back. I have preparations with Madison Fre-" She paused.

He waved a pan in her face. Almost mockingly as he gave her two options, both seemingly ridiculous. Free run of the town? The fuck does he think this is?

"Why the hell would I agree to that?" Amari snapped.

[Cards of Fate]

Vincent let her have her moment, breaking one of his bowls, going off on a rant about a war. Then she name dropped Maddison Freebird, and his brow furrowed. He’d figured out that Amari was not the most patient woman, and she often got frustrated easily. When she got frustrated, she seemed to let things slip and make mistakes, making prying info out of her all the easier. Playing true to the part, he flipped his pan and caught it several times as he began to speak.

“The Crimson Hand used to be the stuff of legends back in the day, but how many assassins do they actually have, hrm? Why should I be afraid if Lye want’s to march his men down here and get smashed by the combined forces of several nations, and several heroes that are as powerful, if not stronger than him?” He cocked his head to the side and gave a slight grin. “If Mr. Ulroke wants to come and die here he is more than welcome to. At least it’s warm this time of year.”

With that he lit his stove and set the pan down over the flame to let it start heating. He set his knife down and quickly fetched his ingredients, a bowl of ground meat, several jars of various spices, and a plate of tortillas.

“Frankly the fact that you’re being so rather rude when you are technically my prisoner is offensive. I could have you locked in a cold cell, instead you get to stay in a nice warm room with a comfortable bed. Humor me here.” He wet his hand in the sink and flicked several water droplets on the pan, grinning as they hissed and evaporated on impact with the pan.

[Mari]

It was clear he was trying to poke her, prod her, and blind her by her easily fuelled rage. Amari balled her tiny fists, shaking. She wanted to rip his stupid smirk off his face. "Frankly...if I had it my way, I'd push the CH away from the gross ass brutes that live there now." Amari hissed under her breath. I don't like it..." Amari muttered, glancing away. "Who gives a shit how many assassins are in it's ranks? One worthy adversary beats thirsty lewd brutes any day. You don't understand, I'd rather avoid any death, not just-" Her anger had almost subsided. Almost Her words weren't fuelled by rage but by her own desires, her own dislike of the stench of death that followed her around.

Alas, one of Amari's biggest flaws was her emotions, quick to anger Vincent made light of her Master, and his death. She rose a hand and slapped him across the face. Angry tears in her eyes. "You have no idea the things he's done for me!" She spat, clearly annoyed and almost hurt at his insinuation. "Lock me in a cell! See if I give a fuck! I've tried! I'm fuckin' trying!"

Amari huffed, throwing herself back into a wooden chair, folding her arms. "Don't think I don't know what you're doing...you're just trying to get me angry on purpose. What's the point?" Amari caught onto his tricks, but she, in her ever oblivious way - missed his reasoning. "If you want an excuse to throw me in the cells, isn't the kids death enough?" Her voice lowered. "We didn't even get to bury the brat..." She loosened her arms, rubbing her elbows. Now that she had screamed at him, and slapped him, her anger had begun to subside.

"Are you done?" He asked.

"Mmm..." Was Amari's small reply. "Look. All I want to do is go home. If I do your contest, can I at least do that?" She asked, trying to reason with him again. "We all have our own preparations to make for the upcoming cleansing, I cannot do anything sitting idly by."

[Cards of Fate]

“Your current decision is the culmination of every choice and action you have ever made, every action made against you, every ounce of help and harm you have received.” He sprinkled several spices over the meat, mixing it all in with his freshly washed hands. “Right now you are stuck in a rough spot because you got stuck in a rough spot and then found yourself being manipulated by Ulroke.” He paused and then added, “…from what I can gather.” He hummed slightly as he continued to add spice after spice, mixing it in until the meet was well seasoned.

“I cannot pretend I know everything about what or who you are. I can make a few assumptions,” he paused and set the meat aside, washing his hands in a nearby sink, clearing away bits of raw meat and a myriad of spices from his digits. “So correct me where I go wrong…” He pulled out a head of lettuce and went to work, skillfully slicing it into thin small strips. “You’re a natural healer, probably from some connection you seem to have to nature, given how you reacted to that dead raven. If I was a betting man that rather nasty attack you have where you break things down is a bastardation of your healing, the opposite of what you seem to be meant for.” He turned and raised an eyebrow. “I wonder how that happened, hrm?” he asked as he finished with the lettuce. He began to deftly dice a tomato as he continued.

“If you were just working with Freebird well…I’d be more willing to let you go. I understand her to a certain degree. We have a bit of a…connection. But if I release you back to Ulroke, I’m afraid of what’s going to happen to you. If he’s the one pushing you down this path, it might be too late the next time I see you.” He turned back and set the tomato cubes aside. “I’m worried you’re being pushed down a path that you don’t want to be taking, and by the time you realize what’s going on it’ll be too late to turn back.” He turned to her and dumped the meat on the pan, a loud sizzle filling the room. He carefully prodded the meat with a spatula, turning it over and making sure it was getting fully cooked.

“It may seem like nothing now, but nothing that Ulroke can do for you will be worth the price of your humanity, nor will it be worth the isolation and loneliness it will bring upon you.”

[Mari]

"Oh?" Amari mused, hearing his philosophical rant. Amari never really received help, just false hope. Foolish endeavours, nothing more than idealistic dreams. from as early as she could remember she was being primed to be nothing more than an obedient plaything by her former brother, Lamont. "Master Ulroke pulled me from the slums of Rubbletown, after I had escaped the Brothers of Castigar - their leader wanted me dead." Amari glanced to the side, she didn't like the thoughts of Shinsou, nor the feelings that bubbled up from it. "Who could blame him, I had accidentally killed one of his own. Ah - but I get ahead of myself. Before that - I was in the 'care' of ruthless bandits, oh, before that - perhaps you would have liked to have met my brother, Lamont. He wanted me as a sex doll, don't you know?" Amari gave a defeated laugh. "So you see, Vincent. I don't believe in choice. Just cause, and effect."

She paused, nose wrinkling at the smells wafting up from the meat. He was using various spices, and she hadn't been paying much attention as to what. It smelt...surprisingly good, not that she'd give him the satisfaction of knowing that.

"I can't say if you are wrong, or right." Amari said as Vincent started to make assumptions. "I don't know what I am, well- I have a name of my 'supposed' race at least. But to hell if I'd give you that information." Amari started to trace the black cracks that had recently formed on her skin. "You cannot blame Master for my abilities - I've met one other who claims to be like me, and I could hazard a guess that he has equal abilities to my own. Pray tell, was that Master Ulrokes doing too?"

Vincent showed Amari some sort of....was it concern? She wasn't sure. She wasn't sure if he was just playing to her emotions and sympathies. "Too late?" Amari leaned back in the wooden chair, it creaked from the shifting weight. "Such a term.. it was
too late' the moment I was born, Vincent. Some Manchild like my Master isn't going to change that.


Amari thought about the instances she saw humanity in her Master. How he cracked under the pressure of her initial 7 days with him. How he questioned himself. She may be oblivious to a lot of things, but the one exception to that, was Lichensith Ulroke. She caught every steeled gaze. Every click of the tongue, every threat. She caught his softened gazes, his caring gestures. Snippits of conversations she was not privvy to hear - Lichensith was extremely possessive of her. Almost manically so, but, in an odd sense - Amari could only guess that she was the one constant in his life. The one being he could look to for support. Just what would happen to him if that were taken away? Vincent spoke of loneliness and isolation, but both things were nothing new to Amari - rather, Ulroke's presence was the very thing that kept those two concepts away.

Amari didn't want to dwell on it. "I am loyal to him - and nothing you can do, say, or threaten will ever change that."

She paused, Vincent seemed to know Madison. She could play to that, and she could do it whilst being completely honest. "Madison is one of my dearest friends, I promised her I'd keep an eye on Master Ulroke, and keep him in line." Amari pushed herself off the chair and took two steps toward Vincent. Leaning on the counter next to him. She placed a chin in her hand. "How are you and Maddison connected?"

[Cards of Fate]

Vincent raised an eyebrow as she rose from her seat and started on her tirade. “I imagine if you have similar powers, they come from similar causes? Perhaps…a perversion of your inherent nature?
Something that you were pushed into?” he turned and looked at her, his gaze hardening into an icy glare. “If that is truly your choice than so be it, but you are lost.”

He carefully pulled the pan from the heat and set it aside. He reached into a cabinet above his head and fetched a large metal bowl with a cloth carefully laid out over the opening. Setting it down on a nearby counter, the scholar pulled off the rough cotton cloth to reveal a rather large lump of dough. Pinching off about six golf ball sized portions and setting them aside on the cold countertop. One hand reached up into the same cabinet to retrieve a small barrel of flour, whilst the other snapped and brought forth a rolling pin. He set the barrel down and grabbed a small fistful of the white powder, sprinkling it gingerly over the counter, and the small balls, before he grabbed the first ball and set it on the now powdery work surface before bringing the rolling pin down with a loud…

THWAK.

Growling, the scholar brought his bodyweight down on the pin and began aggressively flattening the ball, working from its center outwards, stopping occasionally to flip it and work the other side. After he had one plate sized disk perfectly flattened out, he turned and grabbed a pan from a nearby drawer and threw it over the heat, letting it warm up as he went back to working the remaining five balls. By the time he was finished preparing all six, heat was shimmering off of the pans surface, bringing a grin to the scholar’s face as he flopped the first tortilla down.

“Maddison and I met over lunch a short while ago, but we’ve been intertwined now for about…two years.” The scholar broke the silence as he watched small pockets of air begin to form and pop. “We both helped change the fate of this country together, and now we’re sorta bound by Fate.” He flipped the tortilla and waited for a moment. “I managed to convince her to join my efforts with a little bit of bribery.”

He pulled the first tortilla, and set the next disk and let it cook as he turned and grabbed several plates. He set one down in front of Amari, one in front of the servant, and one by himself. He flopped a tortilla down on each as they were pulled from the heat. With a free hand, he scooped several spoonfuls of meat and set them on top of the tortillas, following up with shredded lettuce and diced tomatoes. “I’d add some cheese, but I didn’t think to prepare any ahead of time…” he admitted shaking his head. “But behold! Tacos, the greatest culinary gift to ever arrive of this world.”

[Mari]

Amari watched Vincent work absently as she listened with mid interest his discussion about his relationship with Madison. She ignored his comment about her being 'lost' it wasn't the first time she had heard it and it most certainly wouldn't be the last. It was all because of Lichensith Ulroke. Amari wondered just how many enemies the man had made, it seemed like the entire free world was against him. The red headed woman's heart went out to her Master, it must have been a very lonely existence for him. With a slight shake Amari pushed her thoughts away from Ulroke and back to Madison and Vincent.

"Changed the fate of this country..." Amari repeated aloud as her eyes drifted upward toward the vents in the ceiling. Absently watching the steam waft up through it. Amari knew of Madisons work in Eiskalt, the plague that she had unleashed. Amari wondered if the Briarheart was the reason for the plague in Raiaera. It made sense.

"I'm not going to question your connection." Amari mused, "I think I'm beginning to paint a picture. I assume your bribery was information, books and the like." Amari offered Vincent a wry smile, taking a stab in the dark with her next comment. "I suppose having the person who created the plague working on the restoration of the region has its perks, no?"

He flopped what looked like a heap of mess onto her plate, and muttered something about culinary mastery. Amari exchanged a concerned look with Mary who had been quiet so as not to intrude on the conversation. "This is just a pile of random food on a piece of flat bread." Amari said dryly.

Vincent clicked his tongue in disapproval as he wrapped up his ingredients and took a bite. Gesturing for the two women to do the same.

Amari sighed as she mimicked his actions and bought the strange meal up to her mouth, letting her teeth bite into the soft texture. Amari wasn't entirely sure what to think of it. First up, there was too much tomato, it dripped and squished between the other ingredients and overpowered the overall flavour of the mince, and he was right. This would be far, far better with cheese. She appreciated the blend of spices he used in the mince, and how the fatty juices dripped down the side of her mouth. Amari swallowed. "Mmm..it's ok I guess. I'd have used different ingredients in this Tah-Koh. I also feel that it'd be better if it had some sort of crunch, I think-"

Amari stopped herself.

What the fuck am I doing?

She realised she was playing right into his hands, he was distracting her with his silly food competition. Amari shook her head and set the half finished wrap down on her plate. "Vincent. I need to leave here soon, surely we can discuss the conditions of my return to the Sanctum."

[Cards of Fate]

“Created the plague?” Vince asked between bites of his food. “I imagine given the time and energy, she could have made this plague. But sadly, it’s not that easy.” The scholar took another bite and frowned, silently cursing the difficulty and time it took to prepare cheese in this world. “No, she’s simply working with me to help undo the mess this necromancer made, most likely just to spite his legacy.” He set his food down and cracked his neck for a moment, grunting as he did so.

“As for the crunch comment though, some people used to make these with a hard shell, but those people are heathens and don’t know the true culture behind the taco.” He let out a dry chuckle as the woman caught on to his charade. “Why are you so eager to go back? Hrrm?” He took a few steps away and hoisted himself onto the counter, taking a seat elevating himself over the two of them.

“You don’t have a torture date or something do you? I’d hate to get between you and some good ole fashioned kinky shit.” He shot her a smirk before continuing. “But let’s say I did let you go. How do I know you will repent? That you won’t go back to killing small children.” Both of the women tensed up as he spoke. “I might be a big sweetheart who’s willing to put up with a lot, but child killing is a big no-no.” He kicked his feet slightly as he took another bite of his food, finishing his taco.

“Understand my position here. I, unlike your boss, am a hero. I have a zero tolerance policy on this sort of stuff. Sell me your case, convince me.”