Bread Bandit

Enn: 321

Talk spread quickly and easily in the Mar. Most of it Enn didn't bother with, gossip was a sign of a healthy community that didn't have food and water at the top of their worries. Sometimes he heard sounds that interested him, and other times people came directly to him to share their tales.
This one came from outside the Mar, but had found its way in. A burglary, assault, by some huge dude who was apparently now on his territory.
Sure.
Wouldn't be the first time one of his people got caught taking something, and Enn was very good at swaying guards and getting them off of peoples cases.
The only problem here was that the victim hadn't been rich. And that didn't sit well with Enn.

Jura had been seen taking this man with him, which was double odd. Didn't take Jura for the socializer, but Enn wasn't about to cast judgment there. Obviously Jura had a reason, and Enn trusted it was a good one.
The Faline guards who had managed to make their way through the Mar were escorted out again, with the promise Enn was going to look into it. He was absolutely in no way giving them any money to fix things up, he'd rather go investigate himself and directly deal with the victim. Or, well, maybe someone on his team could instead. That seemed like a far walk.

Continuously throughout the morning the event kept popping up in his thoughts, and once he was done dealing with some other issues, he took a little walk to Jura's corner of the Mar.

Clad in a dark red cloak, leather gloves on, Enn knocked on the door. He held his hand on his cane as he waited, a brief look at the tall man situated behind him. Osin had insisted on coming, at least to the door, just to make sure there was no funny business.

Jura: 390

While a good long nap was always on his mind, his own wants always seemed to be set aside by something else. Faintly, he heard a knock. An unfamiliar noise by all accounts that did a wonderful Job of wrenching him from his dreams. Had Max forgotten the key?

Sleepily, Jura poked his head out from under the covers of his blankets, hair tousled and left that way. Trying and failing to blink the sleep from his eyes. There on the chair he saw his companion, slouched in a way that Jura abruptly sat up in alarm, expecting him dead- but a little while longer spent staring at Max's back tipped him off that he was just sleeping. He noticed signs of breathing, heard soft inhales and exhales. He even heard the crackle of a log in the fire and slowly turned his head to squint at it, and soon, the little window. It was still daytime. Clearly not long enough for him to sleep and feel rested in any capacity. Now he just had a lingering fogginess to his thoughts and what he assumed to be the beginnings of another headache.

Oh. The door.

Carefully, Jura shuffled himself out from under the blankets. Immediately going to Maxin's side once he'd abandoned the warmth of his bed. Patting his friend's shoulder with a bit of urgency, Jura spoke quietly close to his ear. "Maxin. Max. Wake up, someone's at the door. Go somewhere else." If the gentle approach didn't work, he figured he could smack the guy awake, but that might get him smacked ten times as hard. He wasn't really into that. As he tried to wake the man, his eyes flitted to the table and what his company had been up to while Jura was half dead. Lots of gold trinkets… gods. What if the person… or people at his door were guards? Following Max back to Jura's. Maybe they weren't. Did they know he was home? That Max was here?

Scooping up what he presumed to be stolen items, Jura tossed the haphazardly into the clothing chest at the end of his bed and closed the lid. He then picked up his unpainted mask as he went to the door, and without a way to see out, spoke through it instead. "Who's there?" Please don't be guards.

Max: 182

The sun was warming his face, toes in the sand, and gulls singing on a gentle breeze. Maxin had a full belly and a content heart- he felt at peace and truly grateful for it. That day he had sampled so much good food and met so many rich people to steal from, how much better could things get?
Reality struck from Jura’s gentle waking method. Maxin’s eyes flung wide open and he woke up with a snort. Honestly he was a bit shell-shocked when he began to sit up a bit. As his eyes adjusted he rubbed the back of his head where his horns connected as it felt a tad heavy.
“Jura-” He grumbled. “What the hell- go where?” He hissed and began to look around in panic when the knocking on the door occurred again.
He saw the bed…. Max ran over to the bed and shoved it away from the wall. Then he took the blankets, squeezed between the bed and the wall, and threw a blanket over himself.
“Kay ready-” He growled again, this time with sarcasm

Enn: 182

It took a long while before there was any reply. Did he wake Jura up? Well, woops, but Enn didn't care as much right now as he otherwise might. Instead he let out a deep exhale before knocking again, Osin tsk'ing behind him.
This time, there was a reply. "It's Enn. I won't be long, Jura, but I have something I need to talk to you about for a moment." He waited, exchanging another glance with Osin, before the door opened.

Okay, he had obviously woken Jura up. That was a good sign? In a way? Couldn't be up to no good if you were asleep. "Sorry to disturb you," Enn chimed in, a small nod of his head in apology, "there's some talk going around I need to address with you, if you have a moment? And Osin," Enn continued, turning to the man behind him. "Du kan gå nu, tack."
It took Osin a moment longer of staring Jura down, before he mumbled something back to Enn in Siregalese, and went to leave them to it.

"Can I come in?"

Jura: 184

Oh, of all people to show up, at least Enn wasn't a guard here to arrest him. "Y..yeah?" Jura said as he sideeyed the man with his boss. He was holding the half done mask to his face as opposed to wearing it properly and seemed to be dressed in less than he usually wore. While Enn asked to enter, Jura leaned back a bit to look into the room. Either being incredibly suspicious to onlookers or simply deciding if his place was good enough to be visited. Not really… especially not with Max hiding in the worst fucking place. "Is…" he started and pointed at the man he wasn't familiar with, with an ungloved hand, "that guy coming in too?"

Apparently the man with Enn wasn't going to be for long, dismissed in words Jura didn't understand and really didn't have the brainpower to try. That wasn't new. So, slowly he opened the door, whispering, "So you don't get any surprises… my friend is here." Best to get that dealt with sooner than later, right?

"What did you want to talk about?"

Max: 117

Not a happy camper, the older man simply folded his arms across his chest and pouted next to the bed. He sighed and tried his best to eavesdrop. Maybe someone from the market got pissed and had followed him back after finding out who stole their jewelry. Maybe it was one of the old ladies Jura had talked about-- nope, that was definitely a man’s voice.
Now interested, he leaned against the bed a bit and listened to the sound of talking. Jura sounded nervous, nothing new there. He flicked his tail, caught by a sheet, and wondered how the hell long he was going to be stuck there for. Bastard people. Such a good nap- ruined.

Enn: 184

Okay well, Enn couldn't help the motion his mismatched eyes made downwards, clearly a little surprised to see Jura in so little. He'd seen him in less, yes, but he knew how difficult it was for him.
"What happened to your mask?" Some concern slipped in his voice, pushing the urge down to reach out for the other man's face.

Enn waited until Osin was gone before addressing Jura again, "No, he's not coming. And I'm here to talk about your friend then I guess- wait, he's still here?"
Wait, waait. His magic reached out on autopilot, and easily located the weird lump of blanket behind Jura's bed. And Jura was barely dressed- wait, shit.
"Ah, I see. Well I'm happy for you, but there's some accusations going on around destruction of property I'll need to talk to you both about. I can come back a bit later, sorry for disturbing, er, whatever was going on here." He made a motion with his hand to address the ~situation~, but paused his movement to step inside. Maybe he wasn't ready to see Jura's bedmate naked.  

Jura: 258

Jura looked a little self conscious while being looked over, knowing he probably looked less then put together following his nap. Hair messy, half dressed in plain gray pants he wore with his winter jacket and a black long sleeve shirt. The sleeves had been bunched up in his sleep past his elbows and showed both his multitude of scars and the bloodied bandage on his left arm. Of course he tugged the sleeves back into place by his wrists while Enn inspected. Mask lowered from his face too when the door was closed. "Uh, it broke. I'll make a new one… I just didn't have time." Not between trying to keep Maxin from being arrested and playing nanny half the morning. Food, clothes, whatnot.

What did he see? Jura turned himself entirely on his heel to check where Maxin was and what exactly Enn was viewing. Oh. Great, still sitting there as a wholly obvious man shaped… whatever. Jura couldn't help but scowl at his choices- the sour expression only dampened by Enn apologizing for disturbing them and whatever they'd been doing. "Wait what-" he started, paused for a very long while before looking at Enn with a reddened face and then regretfully back to Maxin. "I'm not- we aren't… MAX. He's my friend from…" from prison.

"He was…" Jura started to speak again before he just lifted his hand to cover his eyes, unsure he could explain anything now that Enn thought he was here sleeping with Max, clearly dying of embarrassment. "What did you hear?"

Max: 240

The mound on the other side of the bed moved and Max threw the comforter over his head when Jura was getting frustrated with his name.
“Ya called, lil bird?” He grinned wide and fought the bed sheets over his horns. Max rolled over the bed and hit the floor with both feet, semi-gracefully. Curiosity had certainly killed the cat, the gig was up.
Now this man was not naked but instead dressed in a plain linen shirt and an equally plain pair of pants. It could pass as pajamas but, well it was all he had at Jura’s graciousness. The shit-eating grin faded when he saw this fancy man standing in front of Jura being a complete mess. Maxin bristled when he realized that he was a part of this conversation that was brought up.
“Who the hell is this guy?” His tail lashed aggressively behind him.
Up and down Enn his ever-reddening eyes traveled over the expensive taste. The cane really set him off. He wasn’t a fan of crazy rich people, granted he viewed Jura as rich, but slowly discovered that this city had some high people in higher places. Maxin was very obviously on high-alert and sensitive to whatever came out of this stranger’s mouth. With his size it was hard to see Enn as a threat, but with all these magic-using mages it was hard to tell what sort of chaos could be whipped up.

Enn: 265

Enn just blinked at Jura's utter surprise, followed by the smallest smile at the man's reddened face. Maybe he'd been assuming here, but how unexpected was that? Jura looked like he just came out of bed, and obviously someone was HIDING there.
It came to mind that maybe they hadn't expected Enn, but someone else.

The man clothed in red whispered an "I'm sorry" while trying to suppress his own grin at Jura covering his eyes, maybe this situation needed some explanation. "Ah, what I heard, well-" The man started, before getting interrupted by Max rising up from his hiding place. And calling Jura little bird- that did NOT help the initial impression Enn had gotten from the situation.

Before him and Jura now stood a mountain of a guy, horns as gold as the gilded scar on Enn's face. Enn thought of straightening his own pose up a little bit again, resting his hands back on his cane. He watched quietly as Max got an angry scowl on his face, and- was that a tail?? "Who I am? I don't think that's the right question here." Ah, fine, back to his usual role, sharp and posed. Enn didn't back down from Max' intimidating looks, even if he had to look upwards. "What exactly is going on then. I got a pair of angry guards on my doorstep this morning, demanding to know why one of my people attacked a baker and ransacked his store. But you're not one of mine." His gaze was steely and accusatory, absolutely not flinching from Max' aggressive stance.

Jura: 297
Oh no, he didn't like the tone in Max's voice and liked the face he was making considerably less, when his hands were finally lowered. His own face wasn't any less red at the lil bird nickname he was called nor did he seem relaxed with the situation unfolding in front of him between two of his favorite people. Worried, now, that the both of them would get into a fight. Or, that Max would start something with his boss and make a whole lot of things go wrong. Abruptly he stepped in front of Enn and Max, knowing he couldn't do shit if Max really wanted to beat someone up.

"Max- stop! This is my boss, Enn. Remember I told you about this being a good place for mages. He's the reason." Jura really hoped Max would remember his off handed comment anyways, because Jura certainly remembered telling him when he dragged the guy through an alleyway - Max sending half of everything crashing to the ground. Probably when they'd been spotted now that he thought about it.

"Enn-" Jura started, turning his good eye towards his boss, exasperation in his voice as he spoke as quickly as he could manage, trying to explain before they got into something he couldn't manage. "I told you about my friend… from the prison." He inclined his head towards Max again with narrowed eyes. "This is him… he didn't know any better like I didn't when I got out. It won't happen again. I heard the glass break and went to go help the baker when I saw them. I let the baker out and got Max to chase me out the other way. That's when I lost my mask -" and guards showed up, making the both of them run.

Max: 220

A faint voice felt as if it were whispering in his ear.
Listen to your friend, Max, Stop.
A chill ran up Max’s spine then faded just as quickly away. Great- that idiot was back. Sometimes when things were silent he missed the voice but, lately he’s been just fine without it. Better off, actually. Especially with someone living to speak with.
Whether it was Jura or Jim’morin, he did visibly relax his shoulders and shift his stance to no longer be quite so squared off and ready to spring. With these things though his tail still flicked around behind him.
“Right.” Max grumbled, he vaguely remembered the conversation while being pulled through piles of junk.
A variety of colorful snarky words bubbled up but he fought to keep them from spilling out, it was as if he was standing in front of the warden and forced to watch his tongue. It gave him a mixture of negative emotions.
He seemed to be no longer interested in the conversation and sought out a chair by the table to plop down into. A bit of air left in a sigh, especially when he realized he was still wearing Jura’s floral scarf. Probably not very intimidating. His eyes never left Enn, but for Jura’s sake he got his blood to cool down.

Enn: 306

Enn watched as Jura got in between them, feeling like he could've handled that himself, surely.. But something told him he needed to be quiet here, let the rogue control the situation. And he was curious how Jura would.

The compliment was nice. He'd done his best to create that safe haven, yes, the recognition was appreciated. As Jura explained this man was his friend from that prison he'd informed Enn of recently, his mismatched eyes wandered back to Maxin. No wonder the dude had survived that. He looked like he could fight a bear if he wanted. Whatever linen he was wearing did little to hide that.
"Alright." Enn chimed up, gently putting his hand on Jura's arm. "You're not in trouble. The Faline guards will take any opportunity they can get to pin the blame on us somehow, and while this situation isn't ideal, I will have it handled. The baker will be paid off, and the guards, eh." He waved a hand dismissively. "I'll have Osin handle those as well. I just needed to know what was going on, and make sure you're alright.

Jura's mask always seemed to be in some kind of trouble. "Let me know if I can help you there in any way, if you need funds or a craftsman." Materials, too. He kept a side-eye on Max though, before letting out a deep exhale he didn't know he'd been keeping in.
"Right. Suppose I know enough. If everything is alright here then, I will be leaving. For now, I will not need reimbursements." His words directed at Max, his gaze obviously on the man who seemed less than interested. "Next time, I will. You're not with my people, so I won't tell you what you can't do in your spare time. Don't let it become my problem though."

Jura: 313

Well, Max seemed to relax his posture enough for Jura, so he shifted himself sideways to be able to see Enn when his arm was touched, "I'm sorry for bringing trouble your way." He paused to offer a small smile, "I'm fine… that baker should be too. Maybe he's a little frightened but Max didn't break too much but the window and …" Maybe a table or two, he couldn't remember what exactly had been thrown at him while he was in the building.

He couldn't remember a lot with how tired he was and just turned his head a bit to see what Max was doing now. Sitting, pouting maybe, but he didn't look like he was going to try and throw Enn around. Turning his attention back to Enn as the mention of masks and craftsmen, he lifted the one in his hand to look at it. The shape was also owl-like, as he tended to enjoy their features, but unpainted and unstained. Raw wood with clearly unfinished details and raised points that needed more carving. "I liked the other one… but I have spares hidden around. Uh, yeah but if you have suggestions..?" He said slowly, like he was hesitant to accept the offer of assistance. He couldn't just keep telling people no all the time. Baby steps, he figured. Besides, Jura could use the same new materials anyways or just figured looking at others' work would be insightful.

At the mention of departing following his lecture, Jura turned fully to face Enn, "Oh, you could stay for a bit if you want. It's a long walk back to your office… unless you ate lunch already." As he asked this he squinted at the little square of light on the floor again, figuring it was still the afternoon based on that and the headache he had from lack of sleep.

Max: 251
Oh- it sounded like that mask had really been a big deal…. Now he felt like a total ass but… had he not removed it how would he have known who was under it? He blamed Jim for telling him to do it.
Max was about ready to stand up but then heard Jura invite this dude to lunch… lunch? What?
His tail flicked and he let out a bit of an irritated growl but distracted himself by playing with the scarf on his neck.
What the hell were they going to feed this guy? It’s not like he had a gold plated loaf of bread sitting around in his house. Maybe they’d go out to eat.
Maxin perked a little at that idea. A lot of food- and he could actually afford it this time…
He got up from his chair and walked over to the bed where his money and jewelry had been shoved into the chest. Lots of clothes in here and unfortunately his coin had been scattered. Max grumbled and retrieved them, then shoved them in his pockets. He took the parcel that was tossed in as well and stood back up. Max pushed the bed back and walked up to the pair.
“Right, food. We eatin’ or what? Jura this is for ya. Can’t replace the mask but… eh.”
He tossed the little parcel to him and flicked his tail, waiting to go and shove more food into his face, even if he had eaten already.

Enn: 261

"Look, I trust you well enough. If trouble comes my way in your name, I'll fix it. And that baker, I'm sure it's not as bad as the guards try to make it look." But he had his reservations about this Max guy. Kept that quiet though. A prison was a bad place to make friends, but he could see how it might've pulled them together too.

He eyed the mask as Jura seemed to hesitantly accept his help. A first! "I do. We can discuss that in detail some other time. Maybe after a good nap?" Jura looked like he needed a few.

The invitation was unexpected. "I did not have lunch yet, of course. I suppose that wouldn't surprise you." Why was he so bad at this?? How hard was it to consider your own needs once in a while? He watched as Maxin got up, shoved a whole lot of cash in his pockets, and then walked over to them to pay Jura off. Enn's eyebrows had raised far enough they could've touched his retreating hairline. Really? This guy obviously had the means to take care of the baker and the damages himself, but he was very fine having a stranger take care of it for him.

Oh Jura. The people you hang out with.

"Sure. We can go get some lunch, unless you'd like to stay here Jura? Then I'll just borrow your friend for a fetch-quest, and we'll bring the food over." His look at Maxin did not offer any opportunities to turn down the suggestion.

Jura: 301

Jura tiredly watched Maxin shove the bed back to it's rightful place against the wall,  glad he didn't have to ask, or for that matter, do it himself. It would just end up being a 'later' kind of nuisance that he pushed off again and again. As a wrapped package was flung his way and caught, he was halfway to saying the mask wasn't important- alas a wrapped parcel was a mystery and he didn't like those. So he peeled a corner of the wrapped back to find fabric inside, or folded up a scarf which he figured to be a replacement for the one Max had taken a liking to and now wore. It was pretty, that was certain, with golden threads mixed into the patterning. "Don't worry about my Mask, I already told you I can make another." Jura said with a little smile, looking at his friend for once as opposed to Enn, "Thank you."

Of course, Enn spoke afterwards and drew Jura's eyes away from Max yet again, his voice quiet again when he spoke. Calmed now that there wasn't an impending fight, "Yeah, I was sleeping when you came and knocked… I'll go bother you about it sometime later."

Was it a good idea to send Maxin and Enn off together? Clearly Jura was weighing that option in his mind and stared a little between the both of them. Staying behind would give him an opportunity to catnap, maybe take a little something for his headache and stop ignoring his arm… but going with meant he could diffuse or at least attempt to diffuse conflict between them. " Max?" He said faintly after a few moments of silence, "Can you go with Enn? He knows the city… you won't get lost."  Please be nice to each other.

Max: 255

OHHHH boy! He was going solo with this Enn dude with the slicked back hair and fancy dancy outfit. Maxin almost snorted out a laugh, he looked like a total rift-raft here. Max preferred that though. He gave a glance towards Enn then Maxin stared down at Jura for a second, sucked in a breath of air- and sighed.
“Ya, ya I can go.” Though his tail swished lazily, the idea of going out with this guy gave him unsure feelings. Sure he wasn’t intimidated by him or his cane anymore, his nature made him feel a little funny. He was still a total and complete stranger, but if Jura trusted him, maybe it would be ok.
Then there was that tenderness to Enn that totally made him feel like there wasn’t much to fear there at all. Ugh. He should probably not be a total ass.
“Aight then, Enn… is it- lead the way. Got enough pocket change for a few meals yet, Cya Jura.”
He moved to the door and held it open for Enn to exit through, tossing back a funny smile to Jura before heading out completely. He had to duck so his horns wouldn’t smack into the doorframe.
The sun was showing a little further down the sky above the clutter of buildings. It was afternoon, probably 2, Max’s stomach wasn’t quite growling yet but it was definitely on its way.
“I can’t read and don’t know much ‘bout the places here. So ya can pick somewhere an’ I’ll follow.”