Running Into Unexpected Interference

[Alistair Blackwald]

"'Scuse me! Coming through!" He said right before slipping around someone in the plaza. He didn't even look back at the person he'd cut off. He was already far enough away that it didn't matter. Speed was his domain, which was helpful since he was a messenger. He had to be fast. Especially in this case. It was a letter from one noble to a council member. So it had to be important, especially if the captain had let him take the mission.

Just thinking about the letter made Alistair check to see if it was still there. When then made his heart properly stop when he felt it was gone. Alistair stopped dead in his tracks and rechecked. Still gone. His head whipped around. Until he noticed a particularly familiar looking head dart off somewhere. Alistair blinked before dashing off after them. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that she was behind this. "Bo! Hey, hey! Give that back!" He protested.

[Bo Riddle]

Bo was already leading Alistair off towards a less populated area when she glanced back at him and grinned. "Oh come on Alli! Don't you want to read it?" She tauntingly shook the letter she'd swiped from him.

Once she'd seen that head of hair in the crowd, she couldn't help but tease the boy.

She was already picking away at the seal on the parchment even as she ran. She made sure not to break it though. It was definitely official. Once she got it unraveled she started walking backwards quickly.

"'To my dearest Cosette: how I long to feel your-'" Bo abruptly stopped when she spoke the first words. She almost tripped too. Was this a joke? She read further into the letter. Then promptly burst out laughing.

"You're delivering a fucking love letter?"

[Alistair Blackwald]

Bo Riddle. A blast from the past that Alistair was both glad to see, and not. They were friends- or at least as far as he could tell. She always gave back what she stole from him, so that had to count for something. She'd definitely return the letter she'd just taken. But that didn't mean she wouldn't open it. Like she was suggesting now. "No! I most certainly do not!" He replied. Of course, that wasn't the complete truth. Naturally he'd be tempted. Who wouldn't? But he didn't want to screw things up with his new father.

Unfortunately Bo appeared to have different plans. To Alistair's horror, she was already picking the seal off. The only good part was that she kept it intact. The bad part was that he'd have to re-seal it. "Bo!" He protested. That is, until she started reading. It didn't completely register in his mind at first. All he was concerned about was making up for the distance between them and snatching it away from her. But finally he noted her laughing and her last comment. It was a love letter?

"Wait... What?" He said, instinctively looking down to read. It couldn't be true. But as Alistair read, his face grew more inflamed by the second. "You've got to be kidding me." He groaned, rubbing his face.

[Bo Riddle]

Bo, for the life of her, could not stop laughing. She snorted several times too, particularly at the expression on Alli's face when he realized she was telling the truth. Her laughter renewed.

"You're running about like some all important idiot, and you're just delivering smut between nobles!"

He'd left the thieving life for some supposedly better one, only to be doing something like this? Bo snorted again and held her growing Kt aching stomach.

"Some 'better, honest job' you've got, yeah?" She breathed between laughs. "Really a step up there, Alli!"

[Alistair Blackwald]

To say Alistair was embarassed was beyond an understatement. He'd thought he'd been doing something actually important. But this? He doubted Lionel knew what it actually was. The laughter from Bo was beginning to be infectious. Despite his burning face, Alistair couldn't help but join in. It was absolutely ridiculous! As Bo teased him for. Alistair puffed up indignantly, but there was no way he'd be able to successfully defend himself on this one. Certainly not from her. "Usually they're important!" He responded, insistent.

Some honest job he had. The mocking statement made Alistair scowl, although he couldn't truly be mad. "Hey, I've actually got a steady income and no threat of getting my hand chopped off or being stuck in a cell forever." He replied. He'd left the thieving life. Or at least tried to. There were still ties to it he couldn't cut completely. He'd made enough friends and enemies alike. The guild definitely wouldn't forget. Fortunately Bo wasn't a part of it, or this could've been far worse. Especially with the ease she'd found him.

[Bo Riddle]

Bo rolled her eyes as her laughter finally settled. "Yeah, but you've just replaced one pain in the arse for another, and the guild doesn't have all that clunky armor to warn you they're coming." Personally Bo had thought he'd made a stupid decision.

Not that she was surprised.

"So 'important' letters or smut, you've got a bunch of sneaky people probably looking to stick you." She swiped the letter back from him and read it again. A snicker escaped her as she turned it to him. "People would pay to see this shit. It's not even good either! All mushy and 'oh how I love thee.' Pffft, waste of paper."

[Alistair Blackwald]

The moment Bo brought up the guild, Alistair froze and frowned. Everything she said was right. The guild had much subtler and stealthier means to get rid of him should they want to. He really didn't like to think about it. They were probably worried he'd snitch. Tell the guard something about the system. Not that he would ever. He wasn't that stupid. But he knew they'd be worried. He was now the guard captain's son. That was a pretty big deal.

People would pay to see the letter? Alistair was ripped from his worries when the paper was similarly ripped from him. He glared at Bo and stole it right back. He did not want to read it again. "Whatever Bo. Even if it's just...the personal relationship between two people, I still need to deliver it! And you've broken the seal! How am I going to hand it over when it's open like that? They'd be suspicious, and who knows what punishment I'd get." He responded. Hopefully this wasn't some secret affair, or that would make it even worse.

[Bo Riddle]

"Oh come off it. You're acting like I've got no idea how to reapply a seal." Bo rolled her eyes, hands on her hips. She hated it when people doubted her skills.

Even if this wasn't exactly a well practiced one.

Bo turned on her heel and trotted off. She only absently waved Alli to follow. "If you're not too good to be hanging around a common thief, I can reapply the thing before you have a fit." She glanced back at him and smirked.

"If you haven't already, sounding like some panicked fool."

[Alistair Blackwald]

He could never understand how Bo could be so flippant about everything. It was almost as if she thought she was invincible. Sometimes it was impressive how so much confidence was contained in such a little girl. Other times it was just plain annoying. At the moment, Alistair couldn't decide which it was. But she'd agreed to help him, or at least it seemed that way since she was waving him along. Alistair quickly moved after her, making sure to keep the girl in his sights.

Too good for her? Despite the way she posed it as a joke, Alistair couldn't help but wonder. Did Bo resent what he did? Was she angry at him for what happened? She never seemed like that, but then again Bo was nearly impossible to read when it came to her emotions. She hated dealing with them, whether they were her own or someone else's. So he could only guess or ask. But for now he decided to just play along. That and puff up a little from her remark. "Hey! I'm still the same guy! I just have a different job now. And I'm not having a fit! You'd be pissed if I took something from you, so why can't I be?"

[Bo Riddle]

"Hell of a job change you went through then." Bo rolled her eyes. It was one thing to change from a fletcher to a hunter. It was an entirely different thing to go from a thief to a guard. It made a lot of past relationships awkward.

Arresting friends was never a fun thing to do.

"And yeah, I'd be pissed but only if you didn't return it." Bo turned around to walk backwards facing Alli, hands on her hips. "I know you'd give it back, yeah? That or I'd hunt your mangy arse down and get it back. Besides, I already said I'd help you out. So relax!" With a smirk she turned back around.

[Alistair Blackwald]

Hell of a job change? Alistair snorted. That didn't even cover half of it. For as glad he was, or claimed to be, he still was a bit mystified over how he'd gone from being an orphaned thief to the guard captain's son. Not that he'd had too much choice in the matter, but it was still odd to him to he'd said yes. That or the fact the captain had made the offer in the first place. Clearly he saw Alistair as capable of something, but for the life of him Alistair couldn't tell what.

Only if he didn't return it? Alistair eyed Bo even as she turned around. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that she'd still be peeved if he took anything from her. Even if he did give it back. Otherwise she would indeed hunt him down. Alistair hardly doubted that part. Still, she had said she'd help him. That was at least a little reassuring for him. Although he still felt impatient to get this over with. "I'll relax when I finally have the re-sealed letter back in my hands and I'm on my way!"

[Bo Riddle]

"What? Afraid you'll disappoint daddy dearest?" Bo cooed the last words mockingly. Alistair seemed so much more uptight since he'd left the thieving business. It was like they'd taken their "justice" and shove it right up his ass. This was definitely not the Alistair she remembered. Similar, but not quite.

She was not exactly pleased with that.

"Look we're almost there so just can it, yeah? Jeez it's like the guard sucked all the fun out of you. Now you're boring. I hate boring."