Trash Diving [Calliope, Laylah]

"Nope. Haha, I'm not that good at a lot of things huh."

She probably could cook but it wasn't practical to apply it to this scenario. She hadn't cooked since she lived humbly in the desert and there was no way this woman could meet the requirements that Laylah required to cook some bland food that poor people ate in the middle of nowhere.

"I bet I can boil some water though and warm up some noodles. You have food like that, right?"

Of course, she had seen how this woman lived. There must absolutely be some cheap crappy food that can be prepared in like two minutes around here somewhere.

Oh dear, oh dear. It seems it'd take a little more than her devillish charms and silver tongue to weasel out of this one. It's a good thing she was shameless if it meant saving her own hide, one might ask Laylah if that was the case then why didn't she clear this mess up like her life depended on it? That was an easy question, dear reader. She did not clean at gunpoint because this woman had no intention of killing her. It would be a pain to explain away, draw attention to this place that she was ashamed of, but most importantly the fact that she didn't shoot her immediately made her relax.

When people asked questions before shooting, it usually meant that they didn't want to kill you. It was the silent ones you had to be careful of. A little bit of wisdom a quiet guy gave her a few years ago.

"Impersonation? I'll have you know I refined it over months of practice, it's flawless. I'm... pretty good at getting into places I'm not supposed to."

She shifted her demeanour immediately with a shrug. No point pretending at this stage, she was an astute enough gold digger to catch on when someone was talking business.

"Dunno."

She said with a shrug at Calliope's inquiry as to whom was the target of her theft. She asked for honest then Laylah would give it to her. Did a soldier question whether his target deserved to die, or did he just aim the gun and shoot because he was ordered to? A hitman, a thief, a prostitute. It did not matter for people in these professions as to who or what they were doing.

The money spoke and they followed it.

"Don't take it personally. People just ask for something and I steal it because it fetches a nice price to end up in their collection. I assume the antique from before the spiritual era I was paid to steal is your's, unless it's some heritage for your group. Irregardless of all that, I don't really care whose it might be."

Laylah explained with a sheepish grin.

"IOU? Listen lady, if I gave out favours to everyone that I steal from then I'd be out of the job."

She seemed more turned off by that idea than when Calliope had first aimed the gun at her. If she wanted this exchange of goods then she'd just buy and sell rather than steal. So Laylah leaned forward and gave her a good look down the v-neck top, worth a shot right?

"A discount maybe but free? Now that's just not good for no one, don't you think... Ca~lee~ope?"

Laylah would see just how far she could swindle herself the best deal.

She leaned forward in her chair with a groan like this woman had just dropped the fate worse than death. Work with no material reward!? Was she supposed to be some kind of peasant or something? Ugh. The knife was twisting in her chest at the very thought that she might be reduced to such a state! She could've fainted and she looked visibly sick for a moment like she might pass out from nausea.

The shock wore off though. She was more resilient than that, and the deal got better! Aha. Brilliant negotiating skills that left Laylah a bit more perky.

"Aha. Sounds good. So what exactly am I stealing?"

She was already thinking of all the things that she could squirrel into her possession as "expenses".