[b]Auriel / Althalus[/b]

Taking Auriel's hand and shaking it, he snorted at her comment about her and Zaad's 'friendship'. "Poking a demon in the face with a candlestick. Can't say that I've ever felt the need to do that, personally. Getting you back, however, I suspect might involve a heavy degree of lethality." He liked this girl. Still grinning after shoving a candlestick in a rather angry demon's face. Not many could claim they would do that. Whether it was the act itself or the grinning afterwards, Althalus wasn't sure. 

As she leaned down, Althalus took full advantage of the offered view, saying his usual response to anyone he didn't know recognizing the mask. "Have you? I took it from a corpse on the side of the road. Poor thing had gotten himself hung from a tree by the neck, somehow." She didn't seem like someone who would kill him because an enemy paid her too, but one could never be too careful, could they? Chuckling gently he added, "You could just ask and skip the games. But then again, the games are half of the fun, aren't they?"

Auriel laughed as she sat back up again, having noticed where Althalus' eyes went. "You've obviously never met him. Zaad really does deserve it. And his boss wont let him get away with anything that drastic." She took on a mocking skeptical look as he related the story of how he had come by the mask. If the reputation was anything to go by, it seemed very unlikely.

"Did you really? I heard the masked Assassin was a big, strong and handsome man. The stories say he would take three maidens after every kill, and once he was done with them several days later, he would rob a bank and give the money out to the poor and helpless. He sounded amazing." Her face suddenly changed to one of disappointment. "But if he's dead hanging from a tree, I guess I'm not interested." She turned sharply away from Althalus and pointedly focused on her food.

"I never said he didn't deserve it. And, even if his boss doesn't let him get away with it, if he suceeds you won't be in any position to benefit from that punishment will you?" Althalus pointed out. As she went on, he smirked. There had been many tales of his mask and the man behind it. Stretching from claims that he was actually a woman, to that he was seven feet tall and feasted upon Esyire flesh. Not a single one of them, however, had included any kind of generosity or charity. "Three maidens you say? From what I hear he was a very successful assassin. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the fathers of those Maidens finally caught up with him. A man can be the best warrior or assassin in the land, but if a mob gets their hands on him..." He drew a finger across his neck, following the path of the scar.

As she turned away, he shrugged. Not his problem that she was disappointed with the lie. "I apologize for not having known the man pre-death. It's disappointing that you lose interest so quickly. I had thought this was the beginning of an earnest and worthwile friendship. But, I suppose it was never meant to be." He let out a theatrical sigh, before resuming. "So, what mageblood got you into this College? The one that manipulates water? The one that sets things on fire? My own where you can manipulate shadows?" While waiting for her response, he reached into his armor to look for his old, faithful, never misplaced, coin. 

It was gone. [i]It has to be there.[/i] He thought, pulling out the contents of that pocket. Which consisted of: the Rune Mar requested(which he kept one finger protectively on), the note from his brother all those years ago with it's list of names, and a couple of loose change coins. For a moment, Althalus stared in disbelief. How had he lost it? Then, he remembered. [i]Mar[/i]. She had stolen his coin during their conversation, and had never given it back. "Son of a bitch."

Auriel turned back to face Althalus as he asked about her mageblood. For a moment she considered lying, but there wasn't much point in it now. "Oh I burn things. Trees, Taverns, I even set someones cloak on fire once." She said fairly cheerfuly, telling the truth for once. She noticed quickly when Althalus failed to find what he was looking for in his pockets. She didn't care about precisely what he had lost, that was his problem, but when he pulled the contents of his pockets out there were some interesting things. A small rune he seemed to be trying keep a good hold of, some boring looking coins and a rolled up piece of paper.

As the man cursed about having lost what he was searching for there was a sudden commotion nearby, many students gonig quiet and standing quickly, the kind of reaction people generally had when a fight was about to start. Also the perfect distraction for Auriel to get up to some mischief. Althalus looked away for a moment, probably to search for the source of the sudden disruption, and while his focus was off her she quickly leapt up and snatched both the rune and the piece of paper from Althalus' hand.

She skipped back a step, out of his reach and started to unroll the paper to see what was on it. She didn't believe that he had just found the mask, and if he was an assassin, this might be the order to kill she'd just found. She couldn't resist finding out what his orders were. Or maybe it was the promise of reward. Regardless a massive grin was plastered on her face as she did this. This was too much fun.

In hindsight, turning his head on someone willing to shove a candlestick in the face of a demon was a bad move. At the unnatural silence and scraping of chairs that took over an area, Althalus had glanced over to see what was the matter. Apparently, someone had drawn a knife on another student. An accident, maybe. The next thing he knew, the rune was being yanked from beneath his finger, and the paper was gone. Auriel was skipping backwards, a grin covering her face, unrolling the paper. 

Althalus was less amused. Standing up, he held his hand out. "Come on now, give them back. There's nothing to be gained from a list of names and an old, broken rune is there? Just sentimental value to me. They're both really junk. Give them back, please." The rune bit was an obvious lie. He wasn't going to go to Mar and say he lost the damn Rune and listen to her remarks that would at least imply the words 'I knew it.' Nope. Not a chance. This was a matter of professional pride now, and he wasn't going to fail. Not when he was so close to sucess. But, he wasn't going to lunge for the paper. It was obviously old, and he didn't want to rip it in half. Or rip it at all for that matter. 
And thus, stalemate. For him at any rate.

Auriel was both disappointed and happy to find a list of names written on the piece of paper. It was probably a target list. From the look of the paper though, it was probably also old. Really old. Everyone on it was probably dead. So no use to her. She rolled it up and again and threw it back to the man. It was boring, no fun at all.

The Rune though, she could use that. If it was really broken, she didn't have to worry about accidentally triggering it. She held it up teasingly, taking another step back, keeping light on her feet. "You want this?" She said, trying to keep a straight face. "Hopefully I wont drop it, i'm very clumsy sometimes you know." Her already jovial expression was becoming even more mirthful as she spoke. She threw it in the air and caught it once, then in the same motion dropped it down into her shirt, the cold rune slipping between her breasts. "Oh No!" She mockingly exclaimed. "I've lost it! You'll have to help me get it back!" she said, looking down as if to try and spot the rune.

Althalus snatched the paper out of the air as it was tossed to him, checking to make sure it was still relatively intact. Thus assured, he glanced back towards Auriel, seeing her teasing him with the Rune. As she stepped back, he stepped forward. The Rune was far sturdier than the paper, after all. Judging from her expression, she was going to plan on doing something, and somethign soon. If he could just get close enough before she..Althalus's planning was abruptly derailed as she tossed the Rune in the air and then dropped it down her shirt. For a moment, Althalus groaned. Then, as the full implications of what had just happened began to click, he began to smile. Which turned into a grin. 

Walking towards her, he said, "I can either expansively search for the Rune myself, and eventually get it, or you can get it for me. Honestly, I would prefer the former. Far more interesting of the two options." He was within armsreach now, and fairly certain of which one she would pick. "But, it can never be said that Althalus Marik doesn't give people a chance." He raised one hand in preparation. "Well, which shall it be?" 

Auriel didn't bother retreating anymore as the shorter man approached her. Everything was going perfectly. Auriel just looked at him and put on her best innocent face. "I don't think I can do it myself..." She said quietly, leaning forward just a little.

Taking the invitation, as it so clearly was one, Althalus reached up, and then down. It didn't take long to find the Rune, all things considered. But, when one is presented such an opportunity as this, one doesn't just make it go by as fast as possible. So he prolonged the operation of retrieving his rune by a few long moments. Long moments that were perhaps more than strictly necessary, but oh so worth it. When he had finally retrieved his Rune, he pulled it out and stuck it back in his pocket. 

With an illustrious bow(still grinning), he said, "Thank you for your..cooperation. Let me know if I can help you with anything else."

Auriel was amused at Althalus' highly theatrical bow, but for the moment she couldn't think of any more ways to take advantage of him. At least none she could do publicly. Still, now he'd had a taste of her, she would have to make him work for the rest. After all, the games were half the fun. "No. Nothing else you can do for me here. I'll be seeing you another time though. I'm sure." She winked at him before turning and walking away to find something alcoholic to drink. It looked like there were barrels of something over by a strange winged girl.