Two Sides to Every Card (Varde!)

[Lucca]

Colin nodded at Fenzik, frowning, his mind taking his rage and turning it into something he could use, something he could master...the desire for revenge and justice upon the rude, infuriating horse. He gestured the rat outside with a wing, nudging his head toward the shopkeep. This was no longer his problem, even if the two of them were going to make it theirs.

Once the two were back outside the shop, Colin turned to the Corvie again. "You're absolutely right," Colin said, voice low, and tail feathers twitching excitedly. "Not only was that guy an ill-mannered jerk, he also apparently abuses Aces." Colin's eyes flared with determination. "Even if they are the lower than the rest of us Cards, they still have some rights!" He began to pace shortly in agitation. "We need to do something. Yes, there are many cases like this, and worse, all across this realm, but this is the one that fate has placed before us. This is the one we can do something about. Are you with me, Fenzik?" He looked at him intently, hoping that the rat would agree something had to be done.

[Varde]

Fenzik studied Colin with great interest as the bird paced and ranted. He was paying attention to Colin's words but observing every detail of his body language as well. Fascinating, thought the rat. I'm no Villa expert, but... I'd say this isn't just about what happened in the shop. He's really serious about this. Fenzik found himself wondering if Colin had had some significant prior experience involving Aces, but he dismissed this question for the moment as irrelevant -- and perhaps a tad too personal for someone he'd only just met.

"...With you?" Fenzik echoed, blinking with some surprise. "I, uh -- well, certainly... I suppose," he stuttered, not because he didn't share the bird's enthusiasm, but because he wasn't entirely sure what was being asked of him. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Yes, I am with you," he said, more resolutely this time, and punctuated his sentence with a grin and an emphatic nod before the same vaguely hesitant expression once again crept slowly across his face. "...For what, exactly?"

[Lucca]

Colin was very prone to get worked up over things, especially anything that he felt strongly about. There weren't too many things he felt so strongly about, but good etiquette and a sense of self respect were two of them. Not the sort of etiquette where you knew what forks to use and the proper forms of address for all Court rankings, though those were important too, but just simple courtesies. Like, for example, not pushing past people and then refusing to even awknowledge it, let alone apologize. He also held grudges.

That being said, Fenzik was probably right: Colin felt strongly about what you should and should not do to a fellow Card, Ace or not. Whether he had discovered these feelings on the subject before today was debatable, since the only contact he normally had with Aces was as pets, and he had no issue with that provided they were treated kindly.

The cardinal stared at Fenzik in disbelief for a moment as the rat had apparently just agreed to something without knowing what it even was. Curbing the renewed surge of frustration this brought to his already frazzled state of mind, the Villa pushed the energy into his fervor for this 'mission' instead.

"For putting a stop to this nafarious criminal, that's what!" He declared loudly, before glancing around and then leaning in, lowering his voice. "I think we should shut his little operation down. But we can't talk here. Do you know of a safer place?" He looked at the rat expectantly. This was his home region, after all. Though Colin privately doubted if anywhere in Corvistowne was truly safe...it was all relative.

[Varde]

"Ah! Yes, of course," Fenzik said, nodding in agreement, although the particular term Colin used to describe the horse caused him to raise a puzzled eyebrow. "Well... I'm not sure I'd call him a 'criminal', per se," he interjected with some hesitation, trying his best to avoid further incensing the cardinal with his minor contradictions. "At least not yet. But you're right, nonetheless. We ought to at least investigate and... see if it's as bad as it sounds."

When Colin asked if Fenzik knew of a safer place to talk, the rat's eyes lit up. "Why, of course I do! I live here, don't I? We can discuss our plans in my lab! Er, my house," he corrected his wording quickly, not wishing to give the poor bird yet another reason to be apprehensive in this foreign land. "Come, come!" he beckoned, turning and pointing down a nearby stone path that led across town. "It's just a short distance from here."

Beginning down the path, he gestured eagerly for Colin to follow. "I think you'll like the place. Although I will implore you to pardon the clutter when we arrive; I certainly wasn't expecting company today," he rambled as he walked. In the meantime, the left side of his tail decided to amuse itself by picking up small pebbles and flicking them at windows.

[Lucca]

Colin rolled his eyes. "I'm pretty sure these things are always at LEAST as bad as they sound," he argued, though not seeming angry with the rat. "I know a bad egg when I see one." He gave Fenzik an odd look, then. Wasn't the nature of good and evil supposed to be his shtick? Shrugging, he let the subject be changed. His hot-headed anger was already cooling, but it left something behind, something ugly and vicious that settled in the back of Colin's mind. Something that wanted to make the Corvie horse PAY.

"...that's sort of like the same thing for you fellows, isn't it?" Colin quipped dryly, though he was being half serious. He had never been inside the dwelling of a Corvie before, true, but he'd heard that any living space they had was generally also a working space, or at least could become one at a moment's notice.

He followed Fenzik along the path, eying the shabby buildings they passed with distaste. "Not a problem," he assured Fenzik. After all, he was sure that the clutter in the rat's house could be no worse than that of the general area, anyway. More polite than most of his kind Fenzik might be, but that didn't mean he wasn't still just as weird in other ways.

[Varde]

"And here we are!" announced Fenzik at last, rounding a corner and gesturing excitedly toward an inconspicuous little one-story cottage dwarfed on both sides by large, overgrown, tangled hedges. "It's bigger than it looks from outside," he explained as he made his way down a somewhat dilapidated cobblestone path toward the front door. "The laboratory proper is underground, you see. Can't have the sensitive materials being exposed to unnecessary sunlight, obviously," he babbled. Putting a great deal of effort into shoving open the wooden door, which had not been locked, the rat motioned for Colin to enter first. "After you."

"At any rate, welcome, welcome," he continued as he entered and shut the door. There was still more than enough light streaming in from the large windows along each wall. The interior of the house was, admittedly, a tad cramped. The ground floor consisted of only a few rooms, each of which was scarcely large enough to hold the various furniture it contained. Nonetheless, for the most part, the area was neat and tidy, save for a few books and papers strewn about here and there, and a few dishes left over from breakfast that the rat hastily carried off. "Sorry," he excused himself. "Well, it's cleaner than I remembered, at least. Heh, the real mess is downstairs. Anyway! Have a seat, please, please," he insisted, motioning into the living room, in which there stood an assortment of mismatched chairs with peeling paint and faded, sunken cushions. "Make yourself at home. Would you care for anything?"

[Lucca]

Colin eyed the overgrown hedges and the small house that looked just as in need of a makeover as the rest of the region, severely unimpressed. He nodded absently, picking his way delicately over the broken path, as if worried of stubbing a toe or breaking a claw. "Of course," he replied, stepping gingerly inside the house and controlling his initial reaction of disgust...though, upon seeing the place, it was better than he feared.

Raising an eyebrow, Colin walked to the center of the first small room, nodding to Fenzik. "Yes, thank you for your...hospitality." After subtly eyeing a chair to make sure it was clean enough, he did sit down, lightly swinging his bag off and setting it beside him on a cusion that had used to be blue, unless his eyes were decieving him.

"Well..." He paused, wondering if the water in Corvistowne was safe to drink...surely the inventive, if eccentric, citizens had perfected some sort of purification system? Eh, it'd be easier to just go with the other option, though he sighed mentally at the thought of subjecting himself to...

"Tea, please," he said lightly, with a polite smile. "That is, assuming you have some, of course." Although really, he wasn't sure he'd ever really met many Cards who didn't like the stuff. Excepting himself, though he didn't mind drinking most blends for the sake of appearences. Tea was the drink of choice for the high class, after all.

[Varde]

"Ah, certainly," Fenzik answered, his eyes lighting up. "I do have tea -- in fact, I have quite an assortment of teas," he informed his guest as he bustled into the kitchen and proceeded to make a good deal of noise searching through various cupboards and drawers. "A number of which, if I may brag, I've even concocted myself! Mostly inadvertently," the rat added, perhaps unwisely. "You'd be astonished what you can salvage from the occasional failed experiment!" It took him a few moments to locate the tea kettle, and in the meantime his left tail couldn't resist the urge to snatch up assorted cooking implements and send them clattering to the floor.

At last, Fenzik re-emerged into the living room, where he saw Colin had taken a seat. "All right, the kettle's on," he said cheerfully, selecting a chair for himself. "Now then... down to business, I suppose." He furrowed his brow and looked at once terribly pensive. "...Not that I can say I've ever been much the planning type," he confessed to the bird. "Where do you suggest we start?"

[Lucca]

Colin smiled knowingly as Fenzik went on about tea, and how he had a lot of it, and how...wait a minute. What was this about failed experiments? The smile slowly slipped off Colin's beak to be replaced by a rather horrified expression. Maybe plain water would have been safer. For perhaps the first time, Colin found himself envious of Hearts and their fairly common posoins immunities. As soon as Fenzik came back to the room, however, the polite smile was back on Colin's face, though it was perhaps a little less sincere, especially with all the noise that had been coming from the kitchen. Just how many different pots and pans could it take to make tea, even...really weird tea? Colin could probably just pretend to drink it, or maybe wait and make sure it did nothing bad to the Rat first.

He nodded to Fenzik as he sat down, crossing his legs nervously, though he sat up straight as soon as the topic was brought to why they were really here. No more pleasantries, as much as Colin enjoyed them. "Well, I've never quite...brought someone to justice before like this," Colin admitted in turn, looking serious. "But as for where we should start...we need to find out where that lowlife who dares to call himself a decent Card hides out." The cardinal blinked for a moment. "That is, where the run-down shack he calls a home is located," he clarified, with an impatient wing gesture. "No offense to present company or location intended, of course," he added, with a slight bow.

[Varde]

"Ha! No offense taken whatsoever," Fenzik replied with a good-natured chuckle. "After all, I know this isn't quite the environment you're used to," he said, gesturing vaguely at the interior of his house, which, though generally neat, was without a doubt showing its age. "The Villa is quite a beautiful realm, to be sure," he commented off-hand, before realizing that he had digressed completely. "...Er, sorry. What were we -- ah, yes. You're right, of course. Our first order of business must be to locate the ruffian's dwelling... hrm," he mulled, the realization sinking in that this was going to be a great deal more difficult than it had sounded in casual conversation outside the potion shop. Never mind that!, he thought, pushing his doubts to the back of his mind in favor of the reckless enthusiasm that was all too characteristic of Corvies.

"Well," he began thoughtfully, absentmindedly stroking his chin with a single claw, "Corvistowne is a large realm, and I've never seen this particular Card before. However! I do have contacts throughout the realm who may know him... or at least know of him. If nothing else, he didn't strike me as the forgettable type," he said, shooting Colin a knowing smirk. "It's likely they will be able to help us, especially if we have a general area in mind. I don't suppose you happen to remember... which direction the horse stormed off in, earlier?"