[PP-F11] A Silver Tongue meets Deafened Ears

[Hidden 1]

The doors closed to Simmone's private quarters within The Black Odyssey, leaving the two at each other's mercy. A puff of smoke wafted into the air from a drag of a cigarette, before Simmone assured her that no one could hear her anymore. As soon as that crossed the table, the woman's words began to hold more weight. 

"Hidden, your quite the talk of the towns, you know. That secret will remain safe with me, I do not sell words but buy them." A fake chuckle escaped the silver-haired girl's lips before she sarcastically mentioned, "Funny huh? Its almost like attention is what I don't want. Make your username Hidden and everyone wants to find you I guess." The woman moved closer, forcing Hidden to make a step back. She didn't really feel the need to be any closer to this woman. 

 "So my girl the question is, why does Raidou pass his protection onto you, with your very obvious little cursor showing your past?"

Hidden stifled her laugh. "His protection huh? Our deal doesn't cover that." Hidden's expression remained wary. She knew this woman's type. One that basked in the information accidentally revealed through light conversation. "If he's supposed to be 'protecting' me nonetheless he isn't doing a very good job. Just last week someone kidnapped someone just to get at me. He wasn't there then. Though, you can't expect him to be everywhere either. Our relationship is based on... convenience." A slight pink rose to her pale cheeks. Despite this, she shifted the conversation away from her in an attempt to not reveal more information than needed. Information in itself was a weapon, and placed in the right hands it could deal damage. 

"So, what exactly do the 'Towns' have to say about someone like me? I'm going to guess they aren't flowery compliments." 

Spoiler

Name: Hidden
Level: 65
HP: 1330/1330
EN: 130/130

Stats:
Damage: 18
Mitigation: 79
Evasion: 3
Accuracy: 4
BH:66
VAMP OFF:133
HLY:8

Equipped Gear:
Weapon: <<Nato's Might>> (T2/Demonic/Dagger): HLY II, ACC I, VAMP OFF I
Armor: <<Shadow's Silence>> (T3/Perfect/Light Armor): MIT II, EVA i
Misc: <<Shadow's Blossom>> (T3/Perfect/Trinket): ACC II, EVA I

Skills:
One-Handed Dagger [Rank 5]
Light Armor [Rank 5]
Battle Healing [Rank 5]
Hide [Rank 4]
Extended Mod Limit -

Extra Skills:
Familiar Mastery: Fighter
Survival
Disguise

Mods:
Athletics
Precision
Acrobatics
Assassin
Vanish
Ferocity
Blindside
Untraceable

Battle Ready Inventory:
Teleport Crystal*1
T3 Cold Brew Coffee (+180 HP)*5

Housing Buffs:
Rested: -1 energy cost for the first two expenditures of each combat
Filling: Increase the effectiveness of a single food item consumed in a thread by +1 T1 slot.
Relaxed: Increases out of combat HP regen by (5 * Tier HP) and decreases full energy regen to 2 Out of Combat Posts.
Skylight (Hiding): +1 Rank to the Hiding skill.
Advanced Training: +2 SP to a thread. Limit one use per month [0/1]

Guild Hall Buffs:

Scents of the Wild:
Kumatetsu Statue: +1 Base Damage for a thread

Wedding Ring:

 

[Simmone 0]

A step away as the woman would take one herself backward, a soft chuckle as she knew the type. That rose tint to her cheeks was even more interesting than what was spoken. "Ah yes, the glutton." She'd take a drag and look out the window, another slow pull and exhale. "He's also a name you hear from time to time, a buyer like myself. I've seen him, but once. Shifty fellow, a bit smooth and knows how to speak to get what he wants." Leaning against the back of her chair, folding her legs and lifting them up the thing. The slit on her dress breaks and shows that illustrious ivory skin. A jingle of a bell, a cat jumps on the side and begins eyeing the piece that Hidden wished to identify. A flash and it was handled in an instant. 

"Your deal, so you have a deal with him then?" Simmone held to that phrase, spoken like a question. "A kidnapping, and you're sure he wasn't there? There is no longer a reason to hold my tongue, dear, for the owner of the information I am going to spoil is no longer living." She'd pause for dramatic effect with a coy grin on her lips. "Nothing flowery indeed poor child, they assume you a traitor, a danger and have put a bounty on your head. So if its a deal of inconvenience you meant instead, I will not hold it against you, but I fail to see anything he would get out of your little arrangement." That cloud of white bleeds out hiding her from view for a moment. "The Green Glutton, is dead." and with it her eyes flare gold.

Spoiler

Simmone, The Black Lotus
Level: 45
HP: 900/900
EN: 90/90

Stats:
Damage: 1
Evasion: 1
BLD:12
LD:8
KEEN:1
REC:4

Equipped Gear:
Weapon: Ornate Quicksilver Rapier [T1/Rare/Rapier] (Bleed 1 [9-10{12 Dmg over 2}], 1 Keen)
Armor: Gilded Lotus [T1/Perfect/Trinket] (+3 Loot Dice)
Misc: The Black Lotus - Expedition [T2/Perfect/Trinket] Recovery 2, Evasion 1

Skills:
Searching [Rank 5]
Picking [Obtained]
Energize [Obtained]
First Aid [Rank 5]

Extra Skills:
Concentration
Familiar Mastery: Assistant

Mods:
Hyperactive
Dismantling

Battle Ready Inventory:
Teleport Crystal*1
Misperception [T1/Perfect/Debuff/Instant]*3
Bird Seed (T2/Rare/Snack) Vitality 2*2
Vocal Augmentation - Resonation [T1/Perfect/Support/Instant] +60 HP*2
Cat's Gaze [T1/Perfect/Trinket] (3 Accuracy)
Requires Extended Weight Limit 2
Requires Extended Weight Limit 3
Obtained via Item Stash (Housing)
Obtained via Dimensional Backpack

Housing Buffs:
Well Rested: -1 energy cost for the first three expenditures of each combat
Squeaky Clean: The first time you would suffer DoT damage in a thread, reduce damage taken from DoT each turn by 25% (rounded down)
Hard Working: +2 EXP per crafting attempt and +1 crafting attempt per day
Filling: Increase the effectiveness of a single food item consumed in a thread by +1 T1 slot.
Item Stash: +1 Battle Ready Inventory Slot
Delicious: Turn 3 identical food items (same quality, tier, & enhancements) into a Feast. A Feast contains 6 portions of the food items sacrificed.
Relaxed: Increases out of combat HP regen by (5 * Tier HP) and decreases full energy regen to 2 Out of Combat Posts.
Col Stash: +5% bonus col from monster kills and treasure chests
Advanced Training: +2 SP to a thread. Limit one use per month [0/1]
Multipurpose: Gain +1 to LD, Stealth Rating, Stealth Detection, or Prosperity to one post in a thread. Can be applied after a roll
Decor [Potted Tanabata Plant]: This buff affects the player and their choice of up to two party members.

Guild Hall Buffs:
Lucrative: Reduce LD needed for Salvage by 5 (10+ for Alchemist crystals, 6+ for everything else). +2 EXP per craft. Rank 9 crafters receive +1 crafting attempt per day. Rank 10 crafters receive +2 crafting attempts per day.
Col Deposit: +5% bonus col from last-hit monster kills and +10% bonus col from treasure chests.

Scents of the Wild:

Wedding Ring:

 

Edited March 11, 2021 by Simmone

[Hidden 1]

"Your deal, so you have a deal with him then?" A small smile formed on her face. If there was anything that bothered an information dealer, it was not knowing. "Oh so you don't know then? We've been affiliated for a while now. I guess he keeps his cards close even with you all." Raidou was the quiet type, someone she might have found herself being acquaintances with in the real world. As someone who had been bullied in school, it was easy to connect with others like that. Of course, she hadn't in fear that befriending them would get her targeted even more.

 

"He's also a name you hear from time to time, a buyer like myself. I've seen him, but once. Shifty fellow, a bit smooth and knows how to speak to get what he wants." A frown covered her face. The Glutton? Was that the name that Risque worked under? She wasn't aware. She had been adept in his title being "Creepy Fedora Man". As Simmone asked if she was sure he wasn't there, Hidden nodded. "It was just I, Setsuna, and someone else." She wasn't going to bring Ayame into anything. 

Hidden sat herself down in a chair, her posture still defensive. She doubted this merchant was much of a threat, but who knew what items she had at her disposal. "Now that you mentioned it... I never figured out why Setsuna was around anyway. I mean the girl hates me...." Her expression shifted into confused surprise. Eyes widening in her own revelation she focused on Simmone. "He's not having her following me around like some guard dog is he!?" She settled down, noticing her voice was beginning to getting to higher volumes. A flash of harmful intent met the glint in her eyes at this thought. She wasn't some delicate flower to be kept under constant protection in surveillance. If that was the case, she'd have to teach the man a thing or two. 

"Nothing flowery indeed poor child, they assume you a traitor, a danger and have put a bounty on your head. So if its a deal of inconvenience you meant instead, I will not hold it against you, but I fail to see anything he would get out of your little arrangement." 

"I didn't assume they thought nice things of me. Its died down a bit, but a lot of people dislike me. I knew about the bounty too. It was originally placed by the Aincrad Police Department, a Corrupt meaningless organization fashioned by Hestia to give more weight to her words." That was a problem she had to deal with long ago. It upset her that it hadn't been removed after her encounter with Are who apparently had ties with her. This only proved that Itzal and Hestia were unwilling to change because she was a threat to the order that they wished to impose on Aincrad. "You fail to see anything he gets out of it because you don't know what my side of the deal is." No info broker knew everything, Simmone was no different. If Raidou hadn't told his guild that she was supposed to protect them, then she was going to keep it quiet as well. Perhaps there were those who thought they were above an orange player, such as Setsuna. 

 "The Green Glutton, is dead." Hidden frowned. Was she still talking about Risque? "If you are talking about the kidnapper, thats not true. We didn't kill him. He escaped after we backed him into a corner." Was this woman insinuating that Raidou had killed him? How would he have even known about Risque in the first place to deal with him? 

[Simmone 0]

A pause and a glance to Hidden as she would speak, elevating and fluctuating on her emotions. Simmone keeps her answers, just as truthful for she had nothing to hide. "Not at first, No. The boy in red is rather...Interesting in how he handles his affairs. Which I am sure you're aware." Simmone takes another drag and curves her lips to blow it off to the side, sprawling out on her recliner and keeping a rather complacent eye on Hidden for conversation. "Curious still, is that Setsuna would be on your tail." A lean over and suck on the top of the pure white porcelain cup at her side on a nearby table. The cat at her side rolling and showing that ID'd object completed.

"And would assist you, when she despises your cursor with a passion. Enough to kill others over it. So..." she'd pause and begin her recount what was stated back, bringing the bigger picture into full view.

A lift of her hand in front of her in a limp recount as she'd use her fingers to count all the strange moving parts. "The glutton is dead, the girl that cannot stand you just simply showed up, helped out of the blue... Without a reason that you can think of, and you're completely sure that he couldn't possibly have been found. That's a lot of lightning striking twice? No?" Setting down that tea cup and moving back for the long black rod with a glowing orange ember on its end, tapping it into a tray and allowing the light gray remnant to fall.

"I assure you Hidden, I have no reason to lie to you. I do know not who has done it, and frankly I hardly care. But you my dear, that story is more than interesting enough. There is hardly any that get close enough to that boy to speak with him, and yet..." Another pause and a sharp inhale, followed by a slow and steady exhale that builds a soft obscurity of ash. "Yet he's shown interest in you, and moreover it could hardly be a coincidence no? Was it this other that would see him killed? Are they capable of taking down the man? Did he just happen to fall by accident? These are the true questions are they not?" Her smile returns, replacing that quizzical mind and placid softness with a grin.

[Hidden 1]

The white-haired girl glossed over Simmone's words which seemed to be almost cryptic to her. In fact, instead of actually helping come up with any answers the woman just seemed to make the questions ever more complicated. She frowned before speaking her mind. 

"I find it really annoying that you seem far more able to ask more questions than you can answer. Didn't you say you were some form of info broker?" 

An annoyed sigh escaped her lips. "I think you even might be worse than Raidou with it." She slumped in her chair her nature opposing the pristine and laminated posture of Simmone. Her violet eyes seemed almost dull as she looked at Simmone, bored with the entire encounter. "I understand there's a lot of 'lightning strikes' but how am I ever supposed to know what that means? I know its weird but how is that supposed to help me bring it to a conclusion?" This kind of thinking was never her forte. 

Simmone's words had lost Hidden and had left her questioning if the woman was just trying to get her to stumble on words and reveal things about her. "Unless you are simply ignoring questions and instead seeking answers, nothing you are doing make sense. You even turned the focus of the conversation back to why Raidou cares about me for a moment." 

Hidden hated this kind of people. Those that spoke smooth words, changing the course of action through words instead of strength. It was people like this that had caused the most trouble for her. 

[Simmone 0]

An inhale of that ash before covering the ceiling with it, a thick white swirl of the stuff. "On the contrary, dear, I am no broker." Simmone answered rather softly. "The answers I can hardly give you, as an interested third party alone. I cannot make those decisions for you. It is worth thinking about." Her attentions dig through the scoff, an intense stare at the girl in platinum white locks. A look to her rapier in its scabbard propped up against a wall, and to the weapon on Hidden's hip. "Purely conjecture, a conversation alone. I can see that these little questions you've never looked too deeply into."

She'd lean to her right and grab that cup again, taking a small sip of the ever cooling coffee. "The answers to these little insights, these observations from an outsider looking in. I believe they will even beckon further questions, but your conclusion is there. I believe that everything that has transpired has and does have some connection. You would see them as isolated cases, where no two could possibly meet." She begins to rim that cup with her opposed hand after setting down the rod in her clutches.

"But I beg to differ. The way I see it, is Raidou, the APD's interest in you, this glutton seeking you out and attacking you, before dying. Setsuna is proof that they are not isolated, but fully conjoined in some large web to which you my dear." She places down her apparatus and her vision scans to Hidden with a soft bat of an eye "You are right at the heart of that web, unaware that it is being altered and built around you." A slink up in her chair finds her legs crossed and a lean across her own knees. "How does it feel my dear, to be the center of attention, when you thought that you were doing your best to hide?"

[Hidden 1]

"On the contrary, dear, I am no broker."

Hidden revealed no emotion to this, but she understood what the woman had meant. She was a buyer of info, but had no intent of selling. She was just someone who liked to stick her nose in others business. Simmone was simply someone who knew her because she bought the information about her. Despite purchasing this information, she had no intention of being useful at all. 'I'm not too sure I like her... at all.' 

 The way I see it, is Raidou, the APD's interest in you, this glutton seeking you out and attacking you, before dying. Setsuna is proof that they are not isolated, but fully conjoined in some large web to which you my dear.... "You are right at the heart of that web, unaware that it is being altered and built around you."

Hidden frowned. This was something she couldn't believe. "And... I think that settles it. Despite you sounding really smart, you are just a conspiracy theorist. It all just happened like that. The APD wants to get rid of me, Setsuna just harbors her own native feelings towards me, Risque wanted to fulfill his fantasy of fighting someone as merciless as he was and Raidou... I don't even understand what he wants from me. Or if he just wants to change me." 

Letting out a heavy sigh, she would answer Simmone's question. "I'm not interested in being the center of attention. I didn't mind my life where everyone seen me as just some passing stranger. Now I gotta worry about some random people trying to fight me like i'm some sort of trophy to be hunted."

Hidden grabbed the hilt of her dagger that remained strapped to her arm. Unsheathing it, she placed the weapon over the Handwritten Letter of Appreciation that rested on the table. With a flash of light, the dagger shifted into something far from its original basic design. Now resting in her hand was a wide-blade amethyst dagger. The words "Nato's Might" drifted over the weapon until in an instant it changed into the words: "Kura yu yami". She sheathed the weapon, casting her gaze back to Simmone. 

[Simmone 0]

"In a way, yes." Simmone spoke to Hidden's quip about her being a conspiracy theorist "Despite your lack of interest, I cannot help but see it as a true fact. Of course evidence is a scarcity, all theory starts unfounded. I would not be where I am today without questioning the world around us." Her eyes advance to the dagger as it begins to shift from one color to the next, being transformed in an instant to what it was true. "Merchants have a way of seeing through what something is, what it truly is. Yes, it's a skill, but also a lesson my dear girl, taking things at face value is the quickest way to be burned." A drag of her cigarette finds more of that smoke, as appraisal reads back the daggers enhancements easily.

"Accept nothing for what it appears to be." The tone was rather firm, a decree from the heart. "I wonder if you will ever have the answers you unknowingly seek, I would ask of you." She pauses as she rises to the side of her chamber, to a cover on the far right opposite the windows that were offering light within. "If you were to see yourself in an ideal form, what would you see?" Approaching the oddity covered with a rather plain white blanket of cloth, she reaches out and begins to peel it loose. Revealed is a solid <<Platinum Mirror>>, traced in embossed silver. "Would you like to see what it might be? Who you might be? I picked this up in the middle of a cave on floor 22, down a flight of stairs. Do you want to take a look?" This mirror was bought from an NPC for quite the penny, some version of familiarity and a link to calming the soul in the same.

[Hidden 1]

Despite Simmone's words seeming outlandish, Hidden couldn't help but ponder some of her questions. She doubted they were all connected, but what if Raidou had been the one to kill Risque? What if he had sent Setsuna to follow her around to protect her? It seemed unlikely, but if it were true... then their promise meant nothing. She wasn't protecting anything, they were all risking themselves for her. Something she hadn't asked for. She didn't want their protection. Pushing down the uneasy thoughts, she would listen to Simmone who was now gesturing to some large mirror. 

 "If you were to see yourself in an ideal form, what would you see?"

"Um..." 

'My ideal form? What does that even mean? And is it just me, or does this mirror look the one from Harry Potter?' 

"Would you like to see what it might be? Who you might be?" 

"I guess..." 

She stood, stepping forward to the reflective surface. Her eyes peered forward gazing what just happened to be... nothing. An unamused expression set on her face. "Is this some kind of joke? Or is your mirror broken? There's nothing in it." No image displayed itself in the mirror, not even herself. She turned away from the mirror, her gaze turning on Simmone. "How about this, what do you see in the mirror?" 

[Simmone 0]

A slink out in front of the mirror shows Simmone, in her combat attire despite wearing her yukata in actuality. As it slides along the floor within her reflection it simply is not shown. As she turns to face the image, it peels free a rapier. The one from the case that was still left without use. The reflection turns its left hand and offers a snap before a wink, sporting that blade that she coveted so. "I see what I can become, or what I wish to be. I am unsure as to why your image does not wish to be known. Curious." She leans close and eyes herself with a tinge of pride, before her attention snaps back to Hidden.

"You can see mine if you like, I have nothing to hide." The black cat responds that that hair of snow, a single batted lash. Stranger still this girl was so brash and bold, despite not a single falsehood presented. Simmone excelled at making others think, but even still she was unconvinced that she had scratched this girl's interest. There was a tension in the air despite pleasantries and nothing more then an olive branch presented. Such was dealing with someone so on edge, and for good reason. The merchant was no stranger and understood the some of the girls plight. It must be difficult to be the victim that plays the part of murderer, why else are you so focused my dear guild master. her deductions starting to come to a point.

[Hidden 1]

As Simmone stepped in front of the mirror her reflection became visible; however, it was different. Her attire had changed completely. A frown appeared on her face. It was only her standing in the mirror. Appalled, Hidden stepped forward, beginning to question everything. She reached out, touching the mirror with her pointer finger. The image's surface rippled for a moment but nothing changed. Hidden turned away. 

"I... I don't want to see that." She admitted to Simmone before waiving it off with words. "It probably wouldn't have been that good anyway." Hidden now turned to Simmone herself. "You said yourself that Merchants have the ability to see things for what they truly are. Even if I can't see, can you see it?" Curiosity was driving this question, there was no mistaking it. Who was she really? Was she the monster everyone else made her out to be? Was she the misjudged girl that others promised her she was? She had been told so many different things, she was unsure of who to believe. 

[Simmone 0]

A flair of gold upon her iris as she intended to 'apparise' the girl like some trinket or bauble. A close inspection of the reflection that she saw, a soft slide behind Hidden as she perused the silvered surface. "Well now, isn't that interesting." Simmone offers coyly as she leaves the mirror and takes to the cup of tea at her bedside, reclining in that sofa with a langthy and deliberate pour of herself over it. "I see a choice, an image with no simple distiction." The cat spoke in a honest yet cryptic tone. "A curse on a flower, a darkness in the pond." Taking a soft drag of her cigarette allows a layer of white to escape her lips toward the ceiling. "The reason you cannot see it is because it is yet to exist. Once that choice is made, you'll have a reflection to see. The question is, what choice will you make... Wilting Lily?" The last few words fall off her tongue in pieces, like a cat toying a ball of yarn with one heavy bat of a lash and another sip of that tea.

[Hidden 1]

Hidden watched as the woman's eyes flared with the use of a skill and for a moment, it looked as if the woman was trying to peer into her own soul. However, with closer inspection it turned out the merchant was actually appraising her reflection in the mirror. After a few short moments, the feline-like girl retreated to her sofa and tea. It must've served as Simmone's safe place like how the Stygian River was for her. Simmone's safe place looked much more relaxing than her own, she would admit. 

More cryptic words escaped Simmone's mouth as if she was imitating an oracle. Her words spoke of a choice to be made that would be the deciding factor of her reflection in the mirror. The choice that would decide who she was to become. That wasn't the end to her words, as Simmone questioned what choice she would make. 

'Wilting... Lily?'

The nickname was very specific and equally bizarre. Why was she wilting? Was she going down the wrong road? Was she making the wrong choices? The uneasy feeling deep down was telling her so, whispering her own insecurities to her. 

A pang of irritation would burst from her. "How am I supposed to make a choice if I don't even know the question? How do I decide which road to take when I can't even see them?" The Platinum Mirror angered her. It was a stupid item. It was perfect for a woman like Simmone, allowing her to speak like some card reader at a booth. Talking in sentences nobody understood, she liked doing that didn't she? 

There was only one thing in her words that might've made sense. 

"A curse on a flower, a darkness in the pond."

The world she seen within the depths of her mind. The world of purple flowers. The pond of darkness that she drowned herself in. It was odd to her that Simmone mentioned those specifically. What exactly was she able to see from her reflection's appraisal? 

[Simmone 0]

"Thats the largest curosity isn't it? What is the question your reflection is asking of you?" Simmone had her own interpretations, her own hunch on what that reflection could mean. But that was all they were and more over they would likely not offer the girl any clarity. She was the seer, how she chose to understand what she was given would be on her. "Well my dear, what is it you want to be? It is as if something dark preys on your mind. Some failure that sticks to you like a curse. Only you could cure such a thing. I wonder what that could be?" The black cat bats another lash toward the sky, another wash of white that billows in a huge wave.

Thick like clouds

"You really are something, and I am interested in seeing just how far you'll go..." Simmone trails off for a moment before her attentions shift to Hidden. "Or how far you will fall, before you find the strength to find it out." A lift of her cup, an intense stare through Hiddens almost paper white skin. Appraising the girl with a golden glow through her iris.

Edited June 20, 2021 by Simmone

[Hidden 1]

Simmone's question made little sense to the white-haired girl. How was she supposed to know that? "I don't know what its asking me. I don't even see myself in the reflection. The only question that's there is..." 

'Why am I not in there? What if she is doing this on purpose? Is it a trick? Does the mirror only purposely reveal her? She is a merchant and a shifty one at that.'  Her thoughts came to her almost as a whisper, but the whisper was cold and uncaring. Simmone kept questioning, the questions coiling around her like the smoke that spewed from Simmone's cigarette. Every new string brought further questions, all of which she couldn't answer. Another cloud of smoke wafted into the air. Annoyance was plain on the girl's face. The questions irritated her. Simmone didn't bring any answers to the table, just more questions. Questions at a rate that left her in the dust. 

"You really are something, and I am interested in seeing just how far you'll go... Or how far you will fall, before you find the strength to find it out."

Hidden's eyes searched Simmone's, still golden from the appraisal skill. The stare was unnerving. Just seeing it made Hidden feel like her entire being was being watched from all sides. She felt a piece of her crawling back as if to escape the detection.

"I'm not going to fall. I'm strong enough to deal wi-" Her talking was interrupted as she choked on the words she was saying. 

'Don't let her try and deceive you. There is nothing wrong. You don't need anyone telling you that there is.' 

[Simmone 0]

A declined slide, back into the depth of her chair as she winds about her sofa. There was an unease in the air, that had almost a smell in its full thickness. "I see you have some... turbulance" Simmone toyed with the phrase, knowing full well the girl was still so confused. "Something seems to be troubling you, but you wont find me pry. I just offer what I see, in some cases..." She trailed off as she looked to the daggers hilt "It's items. But others are not so readable..." As her eyes trailed back to Hidden.

"I would hope that you take what I say and run with it my dear. No harm in trying right? and what I say is up for interpretation. I am an uninterested third party here. Take it or leave it." A soft pull from that cigarette again, waiting for some answer to be found from the girl in white. That wilting lily is faltering, swaying in the wind and the poor thing didn't have anything to cling to. She'd flow in that breeze and end up somewhere she had not expected, for better or for worse. Simmone was curious which would happen first.

[Hidden 1]

Simmone seemed to take a step back, realizing she was infringing on the girl's very fraying mind. She admitted that it was harder to read people than it was people. Hidden shook the questions from her head. It was almost as if the woman designed it, she would begin to question her own existence and the reality around her. This woman's weapon was her tongue itself. She needed nothing else. 

 "I am an uninterested third party here. Take it or leave it." 

Hearing those words made Hidden feel like her thoughts were screaming at her, disagreeing whole-heartedly. It happened so fast, as if she did it automatically without telling herself to do it. The words came from her, but she doubted they were entirely hers. 

"Really? I don't know how you even expect me to believe that. You seem interested in everything, me especially. You've seem to go out of your way to learn stuff happening around me. You know things that even I don't. There's more going on than you are letting meet the eye. You say my information is being kept private, but if its all true how was Raidou supposed to know who Risque was to hunt him down?" 

Hidden turned away from Simmone, her hand resting on the closed door. "There isn't anything left for me here. I think I'll leave." 

[Simmone 0]

A coy grin toward Hidden, it seemed whatever darkness that was troubling her was more malignant than first perceived. Weakness obvious to all but the wielder. "Suit yourself, dear, and it would be foolish to underestimate that boy. I certainly did once..." She took a soft puff of her cigarette, breathing it off to the side as she allows her hair to pour over her shoulder as she'd tilt her head. "If you think he needs my help to discover anything, I can assure you that he has never asked me to dig, not one time. My interest, is happenings and word of mouth. Wilting Lily, there are those that cannot stop talking about you. That makes you interesting. You've sated my curiosity, and that is enough payment for the ticket you've received. Nothing more, and nothing less." Another heavy puff of the thing sees it glow red-hot at the end of the black rod it clung to. "If you need any more answers or have any more questions, you know where to find me." and even still, it seems like Simmone is toying with a ball of string, wanting to see if it would remain together or unravel.

[Hidden 1]

Underestimate Raidou? She had to be kidding. Even if he was putting up a tough act, he was like her. He was still that boy getting pushed into the snow. He let others use him, let her use him. As Simmone went into the topic of Hidden's popularity, a cold stare would be shot at her. "I had no interest in being center stage. I was put there." However, this was a play and she was the antagonist of the story. At least, that is what part they told her to act. 

 "If you need any more answers or have any more questions, you know where to find me."

A low, short chuckle. "You called those answers? Those were just more questions." Hidden pushed through the wooden door, moving back into the Appraiser's main store. As she did, the blue-haired NPC walked straight into her, fumbling back and dropping the item in her hands at Hidden's feet.

"Watch where the hell you're going kid!" Picking up the item, she examined it for a short moment. This piece of light armor was cool to the touch, the cold found to be refreshing even. "Here take it back. It's yours right?" Hidden exclaimed impatiently, holding out the armor for the girl to grab. 

[Simmone 0]

That tinge of intrigue Simmone wasn't a stranger to, the piece had caught the girl's eye the moment they'd fell upon the armor. The way her fingers played with the material before attempting to hand it back, Simmone takes another sharp drag. "You can keep it if you'd like." The black cat toyed with a coy turn of phrase. "That will be all Moro, thank you." The Blue haired girl folds into a bow and dismisses herself, leaving the armor in Hidden's clutches. "The best answers are the ones that lead to further questions. My answers are nothing more than a guiding point to what you must answer yourself. You'll learn that soon enough, Wilting Lily. Let rest the black pond, leave that dream behind. Figment on white pigment, burned by time, and a hand in black. Pursuers that would see a burial, and blood on the horizon so thick that it's easy to confuse for one's own. Is it? Was it always yours? The mirror tells no lie, for an object cannot produce a lie." A playfully slow blink and when those eyes open they are riddled with gold light. Witches Brew was in full effect. "That sorrow that you drown in seems so...infinite. It won't be my hand to pull you free." Those final words spoken, you can hear a simple chuckle from the woman. It's hard to tell if it's sinister or not, but it was as if she knew more than she made known.