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Raga Shrine-Crusher	It's early evening just after sunset at a simple house in the lower temple district. A few rooms, perhaps spacious by the standard of some other nearby dwellings but hardly massive if you were to look further. Two figures are sitting on a rug at a wooden table over cups of tea that neither has touched. One, a large woman with the clothes of a traveler. Another, an emaciated man in torn and dirtied finery who's looking down at the cup in front of him. The scene is quiet for some time, before the larger woman slides a woven knot of copper wire set with a quartz crystal over to him that the emaciated man grasps at frantically as though it were bread. "Ballsy, coming back here." she finally says. "But if you came back on your knees, that means you really are out of options."
Serene Herald	As evening is coming down, and the sun leaves the sky, a young man dressed in nice, though not splendid, clothes. He moves with precision, and seems to be where others are not. But there is a slight thrum of...*something*...and he goes to the house's door to to knock. Gently. Politely. But with some insistence.
Raga Shrine-Crusher	Raga gets up and nods to her guest, muttering a few words as the guest tightens his grip around the small piece of jewelry. Opening the door, she sees the guest in front of her and she raises an eyebrow. "Yeah?" she asks, looking him up and down. "You need directions or something?" she asks.
Serene Herald	"Your pardon I beg," the man says in Rivertongue that is...somewhat strangely accented. "Scholar I am, of being named Perfect Question, and request I may come in? For noticed I something I would ask of, if you are being willing to listen. Else, go my way can I." Dark hair, fair--if lightly tanned skin--and eyes that have ametheyst flecks in him.
Raga Shrine-Crusher	"Sure, come in." the larger woman says, opening the door with a creak of wood as she walks back to sit down at the table before she nods towards the emaciated man. "Facet." she says, "Friend of yours?" she asks, as he shakes his head and shuffles off to the side a little bit away from the table.
Serene Herald	"Am thanking you," Perfect Question says, and though the words are Riverspeech, and the grammar seems to be Flametongue, Facet may well recognize the accent as Yu-Shan. "Something sensed I, and curious I was being as to what happened. Ah, and as I said to the lady, I am being Perfect Question." He gives a nod. "If butting in I am being, leave can I."
Raga Shrine-Crusher	Facet blinks with surprise and shakes his head, but then Raga looks over at Question. "Raga." she says, "Local fighting teacher, you want to know about some weird events?.. I can't say I have the info you want, but ask and I'll tell you if I know it. Simple enough." she observes.
Serene Herald	Perfect Question nods and looks, and then points at Facet...the wire and quartz. "For some reason sensing that was I, so curious. And pleasure to be meeting you, Raga. As for weird events?" He smiles. "Scholar am I. Seeking to find knowledge like a drunkard seeks wine always. Strange happenings speak of questions unanswered. So to answer them wish I." He gives a courteous nod to each.
Raga Shrine-Crusher	"Can't answer your question if you don't ask it." Raga says, then looks at the quartz. "Just giving an old acquaintance a small offering, probably poked some kind of... God-sense or something. He's down on his luck, y'know?" she asks, before Facet mutters something under his breath and glares at Raga, who then rolls her eyes.
Serene Herald	"Ah...a willing offering." Question nods. And then his eyes narrow slightly. "And let look you hungry. Worn...you have few enough to worship. Something that happens among gods. A story there is. I would know the beginning of it. For the beginnings have the seeds of the end, and the end is the fruit of the beginning. To know one truly is to know the other."
Raga Shrine-Crusher	There's a sense of tension in the air as Raga and Facet's eyes make contact, before she looks over and they both open their mouths to speak. "He was a dick." Raga says, finally speaking up before Facet does. "You don't keep followers when you're a dick, and gemcraft doesn't really get you a lot of blessings either. Fall on hard times for a bit and it's harder to climb up because artisans don't come to you in the worse parts of town." Facet slams his hand on the table, though it's more of a tap with his current strength. "Yes, and you're the reason why even tribute has stopped. Can you blame me? Honestly, they abandon me and so I take. You hate me for it, I'm trying to scrounge enough to get by and you think I'm /cruel/ when I've been abandoned like I have!" he calls out, possibly missing the point a bit.
Serene Herald	Perfect Question looks from one to the other, finally looking at Raga. "Two questions I have. No. Three questions have I. Wrong you did he? Deserves he another chance? And how skilled lapidary is he?" He looks at Facet then. "For if she answers in your favor. A commission of you I could make. And bring you respect thereby. If your favor she has not...ask it of her would I." His eyes narrow slightly at that, but then he smiles and steps back slightly.
Raga Shrine-Crusher	"I'm going to lay it out for you." Raga says, "Bastard owned me some years back, listened more to people telling him where he could get his next bit of, 'Tribute' or extortion than a young woman pleading about her innocence. Seeing him like this, though, like some kind of... Drug addict about ready to chop off his arm for a fix? It's not..." she says, then sighs. "I wanted him to hurt, and I still think he's a dick. But back then I would've been happier with him dying on his feet, wasting away is cruel." she says, as she glances over at Facet. "And /that/ is how we're different. I blame you for what you did to make ends meet, ideas about station and obligation aside." she notes, then looks back to Herald. "If you do give him your business, keep an eye on him. He can probably do good work, just... He's got a ways to go figuring out how to actually treat his followers right."
Serene Herald	"Fair enough, it is," Question states to Raga, then looks at Face. "To you, this offer once is. A piece of craft worthy to give a Maiden make you, and reward you will have. Mis...manage, mistreat, and beg you shall, until all have forgotten, and fade away to nothing you will." He reaches into his pocket and brings out a token of silver with a faint purple sheen to it. "To hire now. More given when you are done." It's Ambrosia. Just a bit. The tiniest amount, but actual Ambrosia.
Raga Shrine-Crusher	A quick jerk of his hand, and Facet pauses with his grasp lingering in mid air before he sighs. "...So be it." he says, taking the ambrosia in his hand as he's suffused by a glimmer and his body begins to regenerate, fill out as though he had been a mortal fit and fed his entire life. He has little to say, however, his gaze looking confused and uncertain. Raga nods, looking over at him. "Let's face it, I still think you people are about as good as us. An asshole god's no better than an asshole mortal, but a /good/ god can do a hell of a lot for the people around them. Shoulda just used what you had to inspire more people to take up your craft, if a kid sees something... They might just devote their entire life to an art." she says, folding her arms. "But hey, you've got your job." she adds, then looks over to Herald. "And whoever your benefactor is... Well, /whatever/ he is, seems like your life is going to get a whole lot more interesting."
Serene Herald	Perfect Question nods. "An investment this is being. Good you are, and good you be, means never seeking investment back am I. You watched will be, and should work will...a reckoning," he says with a slight smile. "A month is good time, yes? To restore your place and work, something to create? If so..." He looks back to Raga, "I would speak with you, if you are having no more business with Facet? Or perhaps another time?"
Raga Shrine-Crusher	"Another time, I don't have business but this might be best talked about somewhere else." Raga says. "This is going to get complicated, I can already tell."