[color=696969][center][url=https://fontmeme.com/fonts/punk-typewriter-font/][img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/240122/96b51cbc48bd377db299e57ead156677.png[/img][/url][/center][b][color=634533]Time:[/color][/b] A.M.
[b][color=634533]Location:[/color][/b] River Port
[b][color=634533]Interactions/Mentions:[/color][/b] [@mole][@Conscripts]
[b][color=634533]Equipment: [/color][/b] Knife, drugs, and wallet looted from dope peddler
[center][h3][color=634533]✠✠✠✠✠[/color][/h3][/center]
Vasco threw his head back and let out a belly laugh. Slapped his knee and everything. The way Rowan had spit out [color=93d8f1]“Zara was our friend”[/color] like it was poison, well, it told Vasco all he needed to know about how the elf really felt about the human who came before him.

Rowan’s frosty glare only tickled Vasco’s funny bone even more, sending a shiver of gleeful defiance down his spine. [color=93d8f1]“Touch her again like that, and we will be replacing you,”[/color] the elf hissed.

Vasco met his gaze head-on. Brazen as brass, he reached out and grazed Aurora’s cheek with his hand, tucked a stray lock behind her ear before trailing his fingers through her hair. All while never breaking eye contact with her steamed brother. He brought the white strands close and twirled them between his fingers, taunting-like.

[color=C2B4A7]“You’re welcome to try,”[/color] Vasco smirked. [color=C2B4A7]“But answer me this, [i]hero[/i] - what’re you gonna tell the big cheeses when you botch the job a second time on account of losing your marbles over kid sis here? Think they’ll trust you with a third human?”[/color] He shook his head. [color=C2B4A7]“Face the music, pal. Play the incompetent sap or fess up to putting me in the ground cause I got under your skin, it ain’t gonna paint a pretty picture of any of you.”[/color] Vasco threw a quick glance over at Barrock and gave him a short “alien slang” lesson. [color=C2B4A7]“Where I come from, ‘paint a pretty picture’ is called ‘looking kosher.’”[/color]

He let Aurora’s hair slip through his fingers and eased back, hands raised. [color=C2B4A7]“Believe it or not, I’m doing a good turn by not mollycoddling her. You all keep squawking on about this being a war. So, what’s she doing here if she’s gonna go to pieces every time someone kicks the bucket, huh? Doll’s hanging by a thread, but you’d rather keep her in the thick of it than send her somewhere cushy to get her head on straight. If she snaps, that’s on you palookas, not me.”[/color]

As Vasco turned on his heel, his one good ear caught Aurora’s pained whisper. He halted, just for a second before moseying over to Barrock.

The orc’s tidbit about his three-month stint as a hitman got the ex-mobster’s attention real quick. Vasco felt a spark of kinship with the big fella. [color=C2B4A7]“No kidding? We oughta bend an elbow sometime and swap stories.”[/color] He socked Barrock good-naturedly in the arm. [color=C2B4A7]“Got a few doozies of my own I could jaw about,”[/color] Vasco crowed, puffing up with pride.

While Barrock mapped out the plan, Vasco’s mind was cooking up a shopping list of the kinda hardware he wanted. Sure, going up against an army with just a blade he’d picked up on a whim sounded exciting, but even a tough nut like Vasco knew that'd be a fast track to the bone orchard.

[color=C2B4A7]“Or,”[/color] Vasco piped up when the orc had finished, [color=C2B4A7]“you could quit pussyfooting around and use me as bait to smoke them out. Save us a lotta time and legwork. And!”[/color] He shot Rowan a sly grin. [color=C2B4A7]“You’d get your crack at replacing me without getting your mitts dirty.”[/color] His gaze slid to Aurora as he added. [color=C2B4A7]“After all, I ain’t no Zara.”[/color][/color]