krahe garvesh

...the moment she walked in, Garvesh unsubtly snapped his eyes to her. The store was deserted; a small room with a counter and a great array of objects lined up on display behind it, from trinkets to jewelry and weapons.

He recognized her, Krahe felt it. How did he know?

“Garvesh, I take it?”

“Mrrrhm. Y’know the rules,” he grumbled, pointing to a sign on the countertop. 

NO QUESTIONS ASKED

“Imraal sent me,” she said to him.

No tangible attitude shift. A reaction of feigned surprise: “Did he? Explains how you found the place… Didn’t happen to run into any baneworms on the way, did you? Some of those dregs have been causing trouble for our customers lately.”

“He did mention them. He also mentioned how a Mamon Knight that used to come ‘round to scare them off hadn’t showed up in a while.”

“That fool. Hashem’s people got to him, no doubt. He was already a big juicy target to begin with, being a Pilgrim Banisher and all, throwing himself like a wrench into the gears of their plans only gave them all the more reason to nab him.”

“Banisher? Wouldn’t happen to be…” she started, retrieving the “Banisher Kidnapping” bounty memslate and her eyebox into her pocket, slotting the former into the latter and pulling it out. With a click, she presented the projection of the bounty. “This guy?”

That bounty poster had stood out to her because it was the only one with the listed crime, and because it was the only one that looked new.

His eyes narrowed to slits and he snapped an instant response: “That’s Semzar Hashem’s newest skinsuit. He’s the offspring of the big boss, Damrus Hashem, with all the bad manners and misguided egoism natural to a mafioso’s kid. Fucker busted down my front door last month. Tell you what, since my cousin likes you, I’ll make you an offer.”

Garvesh took a piece of paper, and upon it sketched a crude map of the local area.

“A couple of Hashem’s people tend to hang out in the smokery down this alley,” he pointed to a spot on his map. 

“Semzar even makes an appearance every once in a blue moon. Pretty sure it’s run by the Hashem Family, they host prize fights and keep the losers’ corpses. You oughta be able to blend in there. If you bring me any info on Casus’s whereabouts, I’ll make it worth your while… Once he’s found.”

“What makes you think I can or intend to help you find some wannabe paragon of justice?” she asked, though she fully intended to follow through - if for nothing else, then for curiosity. 

For a few seconds, Garvesh stared at her. Then, he stated with utter seriousness: “You’ve got murder in your eyes and you walk like a loaded gun.”