Distraught at the condition of his threads after the pre dawn chase through the back streets of Zaun, Twisted Fate had changed before returning to the bar to split profits with his partner. Resplendent in scarlet velvet and draping plumage, he nearly glowed in the gloom of the bar. Of course, the man he was meeting wore the same dark homespun trousers and russet half-cape. A pistol lay on the table as a sign of good faith. It was a standard meeting between the pair.
"Where's your pretty companion, boy?" Graves asked as Twisted Fate slid into the booth across from him.
Twisted Fate scowled and called a barmaid for some ale. "The bitch took my purse and ran."
"I knew she was a thief! She was hungrier than the professional dice blowers." Graves laughed rustily. "Serves you right, anyway you didn't offer her a cut on your profits." He clapped Twisted Fate on the shoulder, with a meaty hand.
"How do you know that?"
"You never do. You're more predictable than a pickle in a pickle barrel."
Twisted Fate smirked at his accomplice's proletariat way of speaking. In addition to Grave's skill at banditry and duplicity, his mannerisms made him a foil to Twisted Fate's smooth charm. They were as friendly as two conman could be, having each other's back while simultaneously expecting to be backstabbed. Ever since they had simultaneously pulled hands of aces and led some bar thugs on a run through Zaun, the pair had been nearly inseparable. Keep your friends close. "She left me with a winning hand, at least." He acknowledged.
"How friendly." Graves remarked sardonically. His raised a glass of ale to his broad lips. "To uneasy friendship, and making new friends."
Twisted Fate sighed. "She would have been… profitable." The barmaid returned, and Twisted Fate grimaced and spat as he tasted his drink.
"And pretty." Graves whistled appreciatively as the barmaid bent to clean the spill. Her bosom was dangerously close to spilling out of her tight bodice. "Bring her back. Any gentleman would."
"I'm no gentleman." Twisted Fate slipped a bronze penny into the barmaid's cleavage. The girl was good enough to blush, although Twisted Fate knew that for a few pennies more, she wouldn't be pretending to be innocent any longer. "This girl seems to have ample luck."
"I can't argue with that." If the wisp of cheap lace covering her tits was any thinner, Graves would have an eyeful. He had had this girl before, she was a minx. "But she didn't do much for me." The girl huffed and tottered away on ill fitting heels, bosom and rear swaying enticingly as she walked. "Bring that blond around. We share, remember?"
"The little theif got through the wall at the wizard's college. I couldn't follow her."
Graves cocked an eyebrow. "Really?"
"The wizards' walls repel all the mundane, with force if need be. The wizards protect their own. And also she knocked my best men unconscious with some sort of directed wind gust."
"Well buckshot works darn near as well as a magic trick. But your luck at the cards borders on the arcane, or so I reckon." Graves snorted.
"You jest." Said Twisted Fate.
"Boy, I ain't foolin'." Graves replied. "But, I have other haunts to haunt tonight. These boots want to walk about" He rose and swirled his half length reddish cape dramatically.
"I guess I'm paying for drinks." Twisted Fate drew some coins out of his still packed purse, and dropping them on the table next to his barely touched ale.
Graves smiled cordially. "Give your blue whore a kiss from me."
Evelynn worked in a strip joint in the area. Twisted Fate had fallen in love at first sight. Unlike the glimmer users, her azure skin was natural and permanent, and very much on display. He had fallen in love with the leather clad studded exotic dancer. And she was exotic. How she had arrived in Zaun was speculated by her devoted, love struck following. Some said she was a Noxian assassin, trained by the Black Rose herself. Others said she had been exiled from Demacia for being perverse. A few claimed she'd deserted the Shadow Isles, having learned the ways of pain and misery alone. It didn't matter to Twisted Fate. After weeks of showering her with devotion, Evelynn had agreed to go dancing with him, to put aside her leather and wear a dress. He was wearing his most flamboyant crimson hat to impress her, and Graves knew it.
Their handshake was terse, and afterward, Twisted Fate opened his palm and found a piece of well worn parchment nestled inside. 'Dr. Xavier Rath: the Magical M.D.'. And a corresponding address in the city's heart were scrawled roughly across it in Grave's unsteady hand. Evelynn would have to wait a while longer, Twisted Fate had to make a stop first.