Sean Fletcher's Story

When Mageria had left with the group of hand picked assassins, he moved along the path towards the center of the camp. Ultimately, he wanted to get back to his room and put on yet another pair of dry clothes. Or maybe he would bring some dry clothes to a cabin with a fireplace so he could keep warm while he waited out the storm. Strangely enough, the leader's cabin didn't have a fireplace. It was probably for the better though or else the cabin would have probably burned down at some point in it's history.
As Evin walked down the trail, he noticed a man in the center of the camp where the tree had fallen on the fire pit. The man was on his hands and knee looking through mud to find something, or at least that's what it looked like from a distance. As Evin came closer to the center, he could tell it was Sean. Out of curiosity, he decided that he would check out what was going on.
Walking through the center, he caught a glimpse of something on the ground. It was something very familiar to Evin. Probably what Sean was looking for, but he decided to walk further to Sean, keeping a bit of a distance.
"Did you lose something Sean?"

Sean had been looking somewhat hopelessly for the item he had lost. It wasn't really that important to him personally, but having it turn up in camp could be a problem he'd much rather not deal with anytime soon. Supposedly, if he was lucky, no one would ever find it, but... He had been an assassin long enough to know that hoping for the best was foolish. If you wanted things to go well, you had to make it happen. "Stupid. I'm so stupid." He muttered under his breath as he searched. Rethinking everything Jake had done the past month... He seemed erratic and careless, but now it made sense. He forced Sean into moving out of his house so he could search there. He had been searching all along and now Sean wondered if knew about this little secret too, or if it was just an unfortunate coincidence that he had managed to rip it out of his pocket.
"Did you lose something Sean?"
Sean's entire body tensed for a split second when hearing Evin's voice, but it was hardly noticeable. When he looked up to face the man he had a slightly embarrassed look on his face. "Hum... Yeah, I... I ripped one of my pockets earlier when Jake visited. He sighed. "I'm probably not going to find in this mess though." He stated, standing up and wiping both his hands on his pants. Which didn't make much of a difference, since they were already covered in mud.

Evin watched him as he stop moving just for a split second when Evin spoke to him. Sean had lost something of obvious significance to him during the fight with Jake. It was strange that he found what Evin had seen on the ground significant. He probably didn't even know the man it belonged to.
"So Sean, tell me about the fight you had with Jake? Explain to me how you got a rip in you're shirt and lost this precious object of yours." He said with a friendly smile.

Sean sighed, running a hand through his hair mostly to get it away from his eyes, meanwhile he thought about the question. He noticed that Evin was genuinely interested in what he had lost, and the fight that occurred earlier. Interested enough to stop and chat in the center of camp in the heavy rain. That was odd, to say the very least, but Sean knew better than to dodge questions for any reason, it was just a stupid thing to do. "I noticed some strange movement around my house, which is something I find particularly disturbing since my brother and sister currently live there, next thing I knew I heard something move behind me and I attacked it. It was a guard, Jake had been using the man as a shield..." Sean shivered slightly, as a gust of wind hit him straight on. "At which point he knocked Ali out and I figured he was going to run so... I pushed him into fighting me. That might have been foolish since even after I stabbed him he almost managed to cut my chest open." He gave a light shrug. "Fortunately he only got my shirt and ripped my pocket open... It's not that important though, just a gift from a friend."

Evin listened to Sean carefully, taking in every mannerism and interpreting it to find some fault. He just wanted to hear or see something that didn't sound right. Evin knew that there was something wrong, but he didn't know why there was something wrong. There was no reason for it. He'd already analyzed it when he was talking to Mageria. Sean just didn't fit the profile.
"Isn't that interesting." The sentence seemed out of place. "And this pocket of yours was on the inside of your shirt, right by your heart. This thing that you are looking for must be of real importance to you."
Evin looked around on the ground, acting like he was searching for it. He already knew where it was, but he wasn't going to say anything until he got what he needed from Sean's mouth. He circled around Sean a couple of times. There was always a chance that he might have missed something, or that is what Evin wanted to Sean to think he was doing. After words, he went back to where he was standing before, facing Sean and looking through the filter that the pouring rain provided. It seemed the filtered version of this man had a lot to hide.

Sean's eyes narrowed for a moment when Evin was pacing around him. This felt like something he once heard his father talk about, something he was told wolves did when a new member arrived in the Pack, an outsider. The leader would circle him and watch him to see if he was weak, or posed as a threat. If the new member was neither one of those things, he was welcomed to the Pack, if not: He'd better run fast.
Admittedly, he was not afraid of Evin. The man couldn't possibly had watched Sean for as long as Sean had watched him, even if he had, there is very little he could have actually seen. Secrets? Surely he had them, but in that place... Who the hell didn't?
When Evin stopped in front of him again, Sean addressed the man's words with a somewhat amused smile. "It's not important to me, no. It's something I really shouldn't have, but it was offered to me as a gift. I kept it close to my heart since it's an area that is difficult to reach in any other way except the one Jake, so kindly, demonstrated." He heaved a soft and impatient sigh. "It's not important to me, but you keep saying it must be. So, are you seeking some sort of answer from me I haven't yet given? Because if that's the case, I suggest you ask the actual question before we both freeze to death." His tone was pleasant, and if anything more, curious.

"There's no real question that I want to ask. I just want to help you find the thing." Evin said, once again looking on the ground around him for a few seconds. It seemed like he was telling the truth about what he was saying. What was odd was why he would tell Evin all of this unless he didn't have reason to fear.
Evin folded his hands in front of him, and removed his ring while Sean wasn't exactly paying attention. "On the subject of lost personal affects, I have lost my ring." He lifted his hand exposing the ringless finger. "I don't think a lot of assassins do this, but I've personalized my ring. I carved a line around the inside of my ring just so it could be identified if the need arises. Another good example of this is Perry's ring." He smiled. "In a spar I had with him, I had cut his ring with my rope dart. You see, there is a tiny scratch on it, but it is still unique."
Evin stared Sean right in the eyes, not looking away for a single second to make it look even more like he knew all along. Sean must have known that this conversation couldn't have been a coincidence and of course so did Evin. Evin's closed mouth smile grew to a larger open mouthed grin. While still looking directly into Sean's eyes, he said, "oh, hey! Look what I have found."
Evin looked away to find the ring on the ground. He picked it up and showed it to Sean, exposing the scratch on it. "Is this what you've been looking for?"

Sean didn't say a word in response to what Evin was saying. Not until he had picked up the ring and showed it to him. In that moment he let out a small chuckle. "Why, yes. That is exactly what I was looking for, although I have the feeling you knew that already." He stated calmly. "But hey, if that's your friend's ring you may keep it if you want. Like I already said: It's not in one bit important to me. Although I would much rather not be caught with it. I made a habit to keep it hidden in my pocket, didn't even remember it was there until I lost it." He shrugged. "If I had shown Crys, she would want me to tell her how I got it, and she would want to look into it, you know what she was like with rules." He sighed. "I didn't want to implicate my friend, because he stole it, and you may be able to guess where he stole it from. He'd be executed if caught." He explained, his expression turning serious for the first time as if to discourage further questioning on this particular detail. "Do you need help finding your ring, or will it magically reappear now?" He asked raising a brow, an amused tone in his voice.

Evin just stared at him blankly. He didn't exactly know how to respond to it instantly, but he knew that there was more to the story than he was being told. Started tapping the ring on the palm of his other hand while he stared at Sean and thinking of what he might have been hiding.
Evin thought as he spoke aloud. "You've wanted to break bonds between us and the Black Knights since you became my second. Isn't it just convenient that you have the only evidence that there was to prove that we are innocent of killing a king? My question would be why you would be so bent on creating an enemy, but then again..." He paused. "... having a common enemy is the best way to gain support, but for what? Wait, you expressed some form of anger when I had mentioned asking Allison to be second in command before you. You want control of the Pack all together! You killed Crystal and now you want to find a way to off me so you can restore the Pack to the way your father wanted it."
Evin drew Crystal's katana and got into a proper fighting stance.
"So just do it! Call everyone out and challenge me for my position just as your brother did to Crystal a month ago! You can do it that way, or we could fight out here alone and people will just forget about you! How do you want it?"

Sean stood in front of Evin with the most sincere shocked expression on his face. "W-whoa, Evin... You're not making sense. I hate the Black Knights, that's not a secret, but I would never harm the clan this way. And my father?" He made a pause when he realized he was close to raising his voice. Taking a deep breath he continued. "My father was Dani's friend, he was like an older brother to her, he was Crystal's godfather and he died protecting this camp. He died in the hands of that woman, who is now leading our actives into Blackpond and possibly making it look like we are openly supporting Newhaven. My brother couldn't deal with his death and he snapped." He shook his head. "I'm not going to fight you, so unless you want to execute me for something you have no proof of, or insult my family some more... I think we're done here." He stated, crossing his arms in front his chest, frowning slightly. "And like I said... The ring was given to me by a friend. He works at the castle, recognized it as being a ring from the Pack and returned it to me. Nothing more, nothing less."

Sean pretended like there was nothing in Evin's words, but Evin knew that he must have been pulling at strings to keep a believable story alive. Evin wasn't going to deal with any of this bullshit. He reached in his left pocket for something, but to anyone, it wouldn't be able to be seen. Without any notice, he made a pulling motion with that hand and the wire wrapped around Sean's legs, forcing him onto the ground.
"You know Sean, Mageria might have been right about your abilities. If you wont so focused on other things, you would have noticed me laying down the wire when I circled you."
He walked closer to him, standing over him with authority. "You're father was supposed to be married to Dani wasn't he? That's what I had always heard. And that would make him second in command wouldn't it? I could see why you would want to become a leader and why you would want things to be done your way too, with the killing of your father and all. Maybe if he was skilled enough he would still be alive and you wouldn't be bitching around the way you are right now."
"I might not kill you now, but I'll be sure to make your life a living hell. As of this moment you are no longer an assassin, but simply just another worker. You will return your ring and weapons and you will no longer be allowed anywhere near a weapon. I will have you doing the lowest of the low jobs, the ones that no one else in this camp ever want to do. And to top it all off, I'll be watching you for any mistake you make. I will take any reason to have you punished or even better, executed even if I have to frame you for the things you do. It's over for you Sean so just give it up!"

Sean laughed out, laying back on the floor where he had landed. "My father never wanted to marry Dani, everyone knew that. And even if he had... Nothing guarantees he would be second in command. Second command is the leader's choice despite who she's married to. So, you are way off there." He looked up at Evin still smiling. "And what is it with you and this woman, huh? Something tells me she wouldn't wander into our territory so sure of herself if it wasn't for you... Are you two friendly with each other Evin?" He laughed again. "That just makes me sick, but I suppose you two make a cute couple in a way." He stopped laughing with a sigh. "That's just hilarious. And you know what... My father might have been defeated, that's true, but at least he made it to instructor unlike yours. If that's how you want to play it." He sat up resting his arms on his knees, the same amused expression across his face. "And did you know that the simple workers in this camp outnumber active assassins? Three to one. And some of them are just as skilled as actives, if not more." He stated, removing his initiation ring. "Such a waste isn't it?" He tossed the ring on the mud and looked Evin in the eyes, the smile turning into a defiant smirk. "You want to make my life hell? Go ahead, give it your best shot. However, I think you and I have very different definitions of hell."

Evin ignored the comments about Mageria. He didn‘t want to say anything that may have been compromising to his position, even to a low life like Sean. "You know Sean, you don't know the half of it. Those workers all lack a specific skill important to being an assassin. They might be better in one area compared to some of our assassins, but they are not up to requirements in other fields. My dad decided that killing wasn't the right thing for him and he took a different path. I'm not afraid to admit that, unlike you who can't handle you're father's shortcomings so you have to prove to the world that you could do better. Truth is, you will never reach what little your father did. Just like him, you were my second choice."
Evin once again circled Sean. It seemed like he was intimidated the first time it happened, so he hoped that it would work the same as last time. His katana hovering over Sean ready to strike.
"I think the most pathetic thing is your brother Lionel. He couldn't kill Crystal, a blind woman. After that, you wanted to prove you're worth even more didn't you, but then you figured out that you couldn't do it either so you hired Blackpond to do it for you. That's pathetic Sean, really pathetic. So Sean, when are you just going to admit to me the truth instead of hide behind your laughter... Pathetic."
Evin started walking away. Sean meant nothing to him anymore. He was just another low life in this world that Evin didn't have to look at or even think about.