(knew I was forgetting something)
Ezekial Hawthorne
After some time on foot, Ezekial had stepped into the town's station, sliding the former dark elf's mask across the counter to a young, bright eyed clerk doing paperwork near a sunny window.
"My payment?" He said no further words to the woman, simply crossing his arms and waiting.

The woman seemed almost taken aback by the bounty hunter's abruptness and looked over the mask in silence before giving him a meek smile and a stack of bills. "My apologies, Mr. Hawthorne, I didn't hear you come in. We weren't expecting you back so soon."

"Not an issue, Missus. And I won't be. It seems the man had a bit of an accomplice. Does the county have any information on a Miss Ciki Verenda?"

The woman shook her head, checking the bounty board pinned up on the wall near the door. "Well, if we do, we don't have anything out on her at the moment."
She pushed up her glasses and folded her hands in her lap as she turned back to him.
"Is there anything else I can help you with, si-"

"Did you just say Veranda?" A young, red-feathered avian mercenary looking over another bounty board on the other side of the room turned back to meet Ezekial's eyes. He gave a smile to the clerk and a slight tip of the hat to her. "Don't mean to ruffle feathers or easedrop or anything, but I might know one of those Verandas. Big family of magic users, think one of them's even a big scholar up north."

"And you are?"

"Aeron Vernes, sir. A mercenary. My family is from the northern lands. My father is a wealthy landowner in the area. But we've recently hit a rough spot that has me taking what jobs I can get."

"I may have need of your eyes then, Mister Vernes, if you are in need of work. If you have information, I am willing to split my share this once. If this woman is nearly as wily as I suspect, I alone will come up more than shorthanded in dealing with her."

The bird gave him a slight chirp of acknowledgement and motioned a wing towards the door. "Let's get some air, Mr. Hawthorne, and I'd be sure glad to talk your terms."

(Nah, it's definitely pretty funny. I even made myself a reminder thread to keep track of stuff I'm trying to follow on site but I keep having this habit of clicking pings while I'm busy just to see the reply on a thread so I can think over a response and then forgetting to get back to it because the ping was auto-dismissed by me clicking it. Made even worse by people who ping me literally every post of an rp thread at this point (half of it I can't even reply to anyways) because I don't reply fast enough, so I have to dismiss like 10 pings constantly anyways, struggle to catch up while getting more pings, and usually end up even accidentally dismissing the ones I wanted to check in the process. My ability to completely space on things is legendary, I assure you. :^))

Ezekial Hawthorne
He listened intently to the bird's speculation over a cup of tea from the nearest shop. This foreigner didn't seem nearly as helpful as he had hoped, but he at least gleaned some information from him. This woman he had seen worked somewhere in the city but she seemed to be a bit of a traveler, never staying in one place too long. One could only surmise why. She was turning out to be a mystery in her own right.
He took a sip of his earl grey and thought over his next steps. "From the way you spoke of her, I expected you to know more about the woman in particular, Mister Vernes. I suppose rumors are helpful in their own right, but I cannot assume they are entirely factual. You are aware of this, yes?"

Aeron Vernes
He gave a nod, circling the rim of his teacup with a talon. "More so the family name, sir. They do have some pull after all, but I can't say I know a whole lot about them. I definitely get your caution though, kind of hard to believe this woman would have ties to a family like that. Maybe it's an assumed name or something.."

Ezekial Hawthorne
"Possibly. I'll need to get more information. You mentioned you knew some hideaways of the city that bode well for rumors? If possible, we can start with those first. Assuming her name is feigned, any description of her appearance should more than suffice in inquiring about her. Also do keep in mind that I intend on apprehending this woman alive. It may be out of your expertise, boy, but I would like to set that very straight now."

Aeron Vernes
He finished off his tea before giving the man as much of a smile he could manage through his beak.
"I understand well and clear, Mister Hawthorne. I might take some dirty jobs, but I wouldn't waste my saber on anyone without a set bounty first. We can set off as soon as you're finished."

(Haven't forgotten about this, just trying to come up with ideas still, figured I'd give you a heads up. Should have a post finally tomorrow and should be enough to get me out of this snag I've been in mentally with this setting)

(cool, I would've been fine with it anyway. I have faith in you. )

(I had a response typed up but forgot to send it and lost it.
Pretty demoralized at this point and since I've been so sluggish at replying already with this, I think I'm just going to let this one drop so I stop feeling so guilty about basically taking a week to reply everytime since I'm so strapped creativity for this setting. Thanks for being so patient and I'm sorry to let you down. ;;)

(it's okay, that's understandable. )