Blood from Stone [AU]

[Shannon zi'Marass]

''Furious? Why? Do you mean with Captain Vallen or..?''

[Coquette Blacquin]

"With me. For how I handled things."

[Shannon zi'Marass]

''Oh. I was wondering how you were blaming yourself for Will. But yes, I suspect she will want to discuss your... martyrish tendencies at some point. She seemed content for me to have first crack at tongue-lashing you.'' Shannon makes a face. ''Your mother is oddly scary for a simple housewife.''

[Coquette Blacquin]

"Nothing simple about it," she says, smiling a touch. "She caught and kept a blacksmith. That takes a strong kind of woman."

[Shannon zi'Marass]

Shannon snorts. ''Strong is a word for it. Both of them, Will and his father, have nearly a foot and a half and at least a hundred pounds on her and she still makes them cower like toddlers when she gets raring. She was... less than impressed with his heroics yesterday. I suspect that might be why she let me handle you, come to think of it. She was already spent.''

[Coquette Blacquin]

Finally, Cindy makes herself face it, look the hints Shan's been dropping in the eye. "Heroics?"

[Shannon zi'Marass]

She snickers a bit, which is likely reassuring. "Oh my yes. Your cute little brother must have some truly massive balls under those tight leather trousers."

[Coquette Blacquin]

"Brother!" She squeaks, blushing. "what did he do?"

[Shannon zi'Marass]

Voice lowering, going husky, Shannon purrs at Cindy.  I love how you look when you blush."

[Coquette Blacquin]

"I highly doubt flirting is what my brother did!" She squeaks.

[Shannon zi'Marass]

I wouldn't mind exactly but clearly you would. "I'm sure he has but not what I was talking about, no. No, his heroics involved stopping fifty or so rioters by himself, " she say dryly.

[Coquette Blacquin]

"What? How?!"

[Shannon zi'Marass]

"Yep. Forty to sixty or so- mobs ebb and flow rapidly after all. But yeah. He managed to use some stage magic and theatrics to bluff a mob into thinking he had two squads full of back up with him. Nyrains expect magic to be real or illusion, not fake. Was just him and a friend of his in truth. Some merikos elf that worked at the brothel nearby or something?"

[Coquette Blacquin]

Coquett swallows. "He succeeded where I failed," she whispers 

[Shannon zi'Marass]

Gods dammit Shan. Stop forgetting how fragile she is right now! ''No. Maybe in a grossly oversimplified way, but no. He stopped forty or so civilians with torches and greed in their hearts. You held the line against hundred of hardened criminals, many of them battle-tested killers and worse. There's no comparison.''