Here´s the second one. Sort of an ending to the odd little Craywins prologue. Crank is a background character and will most likely remain so.
Old friends
In a cozy circular room, surrounded by bookcases embedded in the walls filled to brim with all manner of scrolls, books, tools and potions, two figures sat at the table, one tall and one short. Their faces were lit by the white light coming from an ornate old lantern hanging from the high ceiling and by the last rays of the setting sun, coming through the only window in the room.
˝So..?˝ the asura sitting by the table asked, his right eye slightly twitching in frustration. He wore a dark blue robe, with a worn scarlet sash across his waist. Like the man sitting across him, he too had a silver brooch made in the likeness of the downward pointed sword on his person. It was attached to the aforementioned sash. ˝Would you kindly tell me what are you doing here? Or rather more importantly, who is this woman and why is she paralyzed?˝
He pointed at the woman in one piece red dress that was laid down on his couch. She was awake, her eyes darting around the room in fright, her breath coming in at an uneven rate. Asura did not begrudge her for being afraid. After all, she was stuck in a small room with two strangers, one of which he suspected is responsible for her current condition.
˝Well...˝ Cray begun, helping himself to a cookie from the small bowl between himself and the visibly irritated asura. ˝... I happened to pick her up on my last job. I couldn´t just leave her in the middle of a blazing inferno. Which, incidentally, she started.˝
˝That hardly answers my question you dolt!˝ asura cried out, massaging his temple.
Craywin chuckled, reaching for another cookie. Noticing that, asura took a small device he kept under the table, a small electric charged prod. With it, he jolted the man before he could take another one of the cookies.
Yelping, Cray pulled his hand back. ˝You´re cranky today, aren´t you Crank?˝
He observed as asura twitch visibly at the joke. With a click, prod prolonged itself long enough to jolt him again. Raising his hands, he backed away from the device. ˝Alright, alright! Calm down.˝
˝Just... don´t use her joke. Its not...˝ asura shook his head, putting the prod away. There was a trace of old sadness in the voice, to which Cray felt a pang of guilt bite at this heart. He should not have said that.
˝You´re acting out of character.˝ Cray noted, flexing his right arm a bit. He helped himself to a couple of healing potions when he´d arrived in Crank´s lab, so his fractured arm mended amiably, as have all those cuts and bruises he had.
˝Bah! As if you´d notice something like that.˝ Crank shot back, back to normal himself again. He turned his eyes to the elementalist that was still unmoving on his couch. ˝So, how much of that moth poison did you use? And yet again, why bring her to me?˝
Craywin glanced at the paralyzed elementalist. She was now quitely listening, attentive as an eager pupil before his master. There was not much else she could do. ˝I´d say that your formula needs a bit more work. It was only as slight gash across her thigh and she is still out of it.˝
˝Interesting...˝ murmured Crank, writing something down, already calculating what he could have gone overboard with in the formula. Still, there was another unanswered question there. ˝Why´d you bring her here?˝ He asked, but then it dawned upon him. ˝How did you menage to bring her into the city without being arrested for kidnapping or worse?˝
Cray looked at him as if he had asked a stupid question. Knowing the man, Crank could understand. Ever since he met him, the human always had a way of finding a path to almost anywhere.
˝That was easy.˝ Cray remarked, pleased with himself. ˝A couple of Seraph I know from the tavern I go to were standing guard, so they let me through. They didn´t want to check what was stuffed into a big potato sack I carried over my shoulder.˝
Ignoring the facepalm Crank made and the wide eyed look the woman gave him, he continued. ˝Look, I know you are trying to find more people to help you out with your little treasure hunt project, so I thought I should bring her straight here, seeing as I did not have any antidotes on me. Besides, she does owe me her life now, I figured she might be willing to hear you out if it means getting back the ability to move again.˝
˝Cray... that is some roundabout way of thinking there. Your brain must´ve been wired back wrong after that tumble down the cliff you took while we were dealing with that drake. Mind you, I am still amazed you survived that!˝ Crank said as he slid down from his seat, walking out of the room.
˝Just lucky I guess...˝ muttered Cray as he recalled the event. Bloody and painful it was. Not something he´d be up for repeating anytime soon. A few minutes passed in silence before the asura came back with a small vial.
˝Now look here bookah, I know you must be quite frustrated with that buffoon of a man, but you can burn him to a crisp somewhere away from my house, is that clear?˝ he warned the woman, enciting a small, barely perceptible nod from her. While he sipped the antidote to her lips, he remarked to Cray. ˝You are paying for those potions you drank.˝
Finding it odd that there was no reply from the insufferable scout, he looked over his shoulder. The window was open and Craywin was nowhere in sight.
˝An odd man.˝ the woman remarked with an lovely melodic voice, stretching her sore limbs. Crank turned to look at her cautiously, for once refraining from chipping in with a comment. She flashed him a smile. ˝You were talking about a job?˝
All the while, Cray rushed over the rooftops of the Divinity´s Reach. Crank knew that he was broke and was most likely going to rope him in that little project of his to pay off those potions he drank today, as well as those from the last week. And the week before... As he had no desire to go on some fools errand, he bolted the moment Crank remarked on the payment. He did have a job. He just needed to turn it in and then he´d have enough money to pay off some of his debts.
As long as he did not drop by a tavern to celebrate a job well done.