To Madesi – “I mean, who does she think she is anyway? She’s just the owner of a meadery. That’s no big deal.”
To Balimund – “Her kids are rotten to the core. Everyone knows Sibbi killed that guy just to watch him die.”
To Mjoll – “I could do a better job than Maven Black-Briar, you know? Bah, how hard can it be to hire people to collect honey and make it into mead? You know what I mean?”
To Haelga – “Seriously, Maven Black-Briar is just a big old doo doo head. The Thieves’ Guild doesn’t need her.
Before the bunkhouse matron could respond, the door opened and in walked Maul, followed by three of Maven’s men. The four men circled the petite Redguard, arms crossed and intimidating scowls in place. “I heard you’ve been badmouthing Maven Black-Briar,” Maul grumbled. “Been hearing it from a lot people.”
“And?” Anika asked, her tone bored.
Maul paused. He had expected denial and maybe even some justification. He had not been prepared for apathy. “And so she wants to talk to you. Give you a personal interview. See if the two of you can straighten this whole thing out civilly instead of you libeling her all over Riften.”
“Slander.”
“Excuse you?” Maul growled.
“It’s slander if you say something accusatory about someone,” Anika clarified. “It’s libel if it’s in print.”
“Whatever,” Maul snapped. “Are you going to come with us or not? Maven demands to see you.”
“I don’t have to do shit,” Anika sniffed.
Suddenly a huge club of a fist shot out and punched Anika in the face. The thief went down like a two septim hooker. “Fine, we’ll do it the hard way,” Maul grunted as he picked up the limb body. He tossed a few coins on Haelga’s counter before turning to leave. “For your trouble.”
The wind whipped through Maven’s hair, throwing it back as she rode Frost at a neck break pace. It felt good to be out in the sun for a while. She had decided to go out when a pounding headache had made the numbers of her ledger start to blur. She often found herself locked into meetings that lasted from the break of dawn to twilight with barely enough time to get a meal in.
It was time consuming to run your own business, especially when it was one of the most prominent meaderies in the entire country. It didn’t help that she practically had to run the local government, keep the Thieves’ Guild in line, as well as maintain her own household. There was no one else she could give the responsibility. Hemming was practically useless in terms of leadership. He was fine if you needed someone to point at a problem and tell them exactly how to solve it, but she couldn’t hope for any leaps of inspiration from him.
Ingun had very clearly and loudly declared she wanted nothing to do with the family business. Thankfully, her potions and poisons were very useful to Maven or she would have been spending some jail time with her brother.
Sibbi had managed to get himself assigned to an eight month time out. The fool had killed his fiancée’s brother almost the moment they had come home from the disastrous Thalmor party. He claimed he had done it in self-defense when Sivdi discovered he had been sleeping around behind her back and the brother had felt that he had needed to defend her honor. However, there had been no sign of any weapon other than Sibbi’s personal dagger embedded in the dead man’s gut.
Normally Maven would have gotten Sibbi off of the charge, but honestly the boy needed some discipline. If someone needed killing, fine. But you did it through the proper channels, not by your own hand. And you definitely didn’t leave the body out where anyone could stumble on it and then brag about the damn deed all over town. Idiot!
Thinking about the Thalmor party made the headache come back. That moron Mercer Frey! He had been an enjoyable distraction at first with his insistence at trying to get her attention. It had actually been nice to have someone around who didn’t need to be told how every little thing needed to be done.
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timeasmymeasure
Loud and Clear 2/?
Date: 2013-01-06 04:48 am (UTC)To Balimund – “Her kids are rotten to the core. Everyone knows Sibbi killed that guy just to watch him die.”
To Mjoll – “I could do a better job than Maven Black-Briar, you know? Bah, how hard can it be to hire people to collect honey and make it into mead? You know what I mean?”
To Haelga – “Seriously, Maven Black-Briar is just a big old doo doo head. The Thieves’ Guild doesn’t need her.
Before the bunkhouse matron could respond, the door opened and in walked Maul, followed by three of Maven’s men. The four men circled the petite Redguard, arms crossed and intimidating scowls in place. “I heard you’ve been badmouthing Maven Black-Briar,” Maul grumbled. “Been hearing it from a lot people.”
“And?” Anika asked, her tone bored.
Maul paused. He had expected denial and maybe even some justification. He had not been prepared for apathy. “And so she wants to talk to you. Give you a personal interview. See if the two of you can straighten this whole thing out civilly instead of you libeling her all over Riften.”
“Slander.”
“Excuse you?” Maul growled.
“It’s slander if you say something accusatory about someone,” Anika clarified. “It’s libel if it’s in print.”
“Whatever,” Maul snapped. “Are you going to come with us or not? Maven demands to see you.”
“I don’t have to do shit,” Anika sniffed.
Suddenly a huge club of a fist shot out and punched Anika in the face. The thief went down like a two septim hooker. “Fine, we’ll do it the hard way,” Maul grunted as he picked up the limb body. He tossed a few coins on Haelga’s counter before turning to leave. “For your trouble.”
The wind whipped through Maven’s hair, throwing it back as she rode Frost at a neck break pace. It felt good to be out in the sun for a while. She had decided to go out when a pounding headache had made the numbers of her ledger start to blur. She often found herself locked into meetings that lasted from the break of dawn to twilight with barely enough time to get a meal in.
It was time consuming to run your own business, especially when it was one of the most prominent meaderies in the entire country. It didn’t help that she practically had to run the local government, keep the Thieves’ Guild in line, as well as maintain her own household. There was no one else she could give the responsibility. Hemming was practically useless in terms of leadership. He was fine if you needed someone to point at a problem and tell them exactly how to solve it, but she couldn’t hope for any leaps of inspiration from him.
Ingun had very clearly and loudly declared she wanted nothing to do with the family business. Thankfully, her potions and poisons were very useful to Maven or she would have been spending some jail time with her brother.
Sibbi had managed to get himself assigned to an eight month time out. The fool had killed his fiancée’s brother almost the moment they had come home from the disastrous Thalmor party. He claimed he had done it in self-defense when Sivdi discovered he had been sleeping around behind her back and the brother had felt that he had needed to defend her honor. However, there had been no sign of any weapon other than Sibbi’s personal dagger embedded in the dead man’s gut.
Normally Maven would have gotten Sibbi off of the charge, but honestly the boy needed some discipline. If someone needed killing, fine. But you did it through the proper channels, not by your own hand. And you definitely didn’t leave the body out where anyone could stumble on it and then brag about the damn deed all over town. Idiot!
Thinking about the Thalmor party made the headache come back. That moron Mercer Frey! He had been an enjoyable distraction at first with his insistence at trying to get her attention. It had actually been nice to have someone around who didn’t need to be told how every little thing needed to be done.