The Cloak and The Dagger

[PrincessToby]

"The cutest darn innards you've ever seen." Jem replied, lying out the blankets he had brought for himself as he made a comfortable spot for himself. "And a heart of gold~" He couldn't help but laugh at himself, taking off his outer coat and folding it gently. He lied down on his back, kicking his boots off to the side and stretching out.


"Go to sleep. Stop being so tense. We've got things to do in the morning." Jem said, closing his eyes as he folded his arms over his chest. "We'll talk about this all in the morning. I'm tired."

 

[Jennai]

"Stop being so tense." Jennai repeated his words in her head, snidely. Ha. If he only knew.


"Sleep sounds nice," she said instead, settling in to her bedroll.


She pretended to sleep until she heard light snoring. Quiet as she could, she slipped from her blankets to look Jem over more closely.


Wary of the consequences, she didn't actually touch him, but examined his person and gear as carefully as possible. She was almost positive he wasn't an assassin sent to kill her, but her paranoia never gave her rest.


Decent array of weapons on his person, nothing she'd missed from before. He wasn't obsessive with hiding blades, like she was. No signs of poisons, or other tools of the trade. His breathing and eye movements were steady, consistent with actual sleep.


Not one sign that he intended her harm.


Good enough, she thought. I'll just set one little trap near my neck, in case I missed something.





She settled in again, this time intending to sleep. One can never be too careful...

 

[PrincessToby]

Jem slept well into the morning. He had trained to sleep where ever he was, it was part of his training with the military. All of the royals in his kingdom had to do some time in the military, and he had served in a small war a year prior. He didn't mind that sort of life, his patriotism running deep within his veins.


In the morning when he woke, he got started on a fire. He had brought some food for breakfast, and intended on starting to eat promptly. He wasn't about to waste daylight.

 

[Jennai]

Jennai woke up with a start, as soon as Jem started to make any noise.


She sighed. Not enough sleep. She never could really relax in a forest. Too many potential angles of attack.


Drawing herself to her feet, she suppressed a yawn. Another day on those horses. She pulled out her rations - standard rations compressed with magic, to take up a minimum of space - and started nibbling at it.


"Now that it's morning," she said, as she started getting her horse ready. "Planning on revealing your master plan?"

 

[PrincessToby]

"Don't really have one." Jem shrugged, his mouth half full of food. He ran his hand through his hair, trying to force it out of his face. He still looked a bit sleepy, but his cocky grin had returned to his face. He was eating while he was cooking, frying things up so they would be warm and then taking them into his mouth right after.

 

[Jennai]

She muttered something under her breath and then straightened.


"You said we'd talk in the morning, and it's morning," she said. "We need a plan, and now's the time to make it happen. So there's a few things that need to get resolved."


She shifted positions, looking more authoritative. "First, how are you wanting to get your prize back? Stealthy theft, taking it by force, making him give it back? Can't make a plan till we know the approach. Second, what kind of payback are you aiming for? Vandalism, damage to his person, something else...? Third, what sort of timeframe are we looking at? Is this a job that needs to be done in a few days, or is this an extended campaign? Fourth, how secretive does this need to be? That is, would hiring thugs or other help be in the cards, or does it need to involve the minimum amount of people?"

 

[PrincessToby]

Jem kept eating as she talked, staring at her as he did. "First. You talk a lot." He nodded to himself, placing his frying pan aside. "Now... let me think about what you said and give you a straight answer." Jem stared at her for a moment with a straight face, just looking at her as he calculated his answer.


"You and I. Just you and I. Are going to steal it back, and rough him up a little. And I want to be in and out in the course of a few weeks." He nodded his head.

 

[Jennai]

She sighed, as he mentioned her talking a lot.


I wouldn't talk so much if you didn't force me to, by your unwillingness to engage with your own damned mission, she thought to herself, irritated.


At least he finally gave me something to work with.





"Quick and dirty, then," she said, trying to hide her annoyance. "We'll head directly to Manor Trenor - it's decently protected, so we'll need to be careful. Should take us about two days to get there, and we'll figure out more details then."


With that, she stood up, and started packing up her horse.


Or, rather, I'll be figuring out the details myself, and I'll be giving you orders, she thought to herself, smirking openly. We'll see how you like that, Mr. High and Mighty.

 

[PrincessToby]

"Quick and dirty... heh." Jem laughed a bit to himself as he finished his food. He wrapped his pan up in a piece of hide to keep it from burning other things and stood. With his feet he put out the fire, kicking dirt over it and stomping out the small bits that the dirt seemed to miss. He slid his pan away into one of his saddlebags and stretched out his arms.


He shook his head as he laughed again, shaking his head. "Ready to do this then..? Quick and dirty...?" He could barely hold back his chuckles.