9 Cylus 721
There was a man, a human man so nothing he hadn't shifted into before, who seemed to come by a tavern in the Dust Quarter every few trials for a long night of drinking. He had a kind face. A harmless, unassuming face and a build to go with it. People would look at him and look over him... though his hair was a little red and that probably wouldn't help in Rharne. Then again, hiding in plain sight was an option. Regardless of the red hair, Revan decided the man had the perfect face to use for the darkest of deeds- he just wasn't entirely sure that it was worth committing murder to solve his problem. The woman with Jacques' child threatened to bring his worlds colliding together if she wasn't dealt with swiftly and she would not be paid off. Or perhaps Revan just wasn't persuasive enough. Killing her felt like a step too far but what choice did he have? He could not let his worlds collide like this.
His uncertainty boiled inside of him for a trial or so while he considered the face he wanted to mold onto himself. He'd learned to manipulate his illusion when he was younger and had been very careful with the skill since, but not careful enough apparently. He didn't want to make a decision that might bring down the Blackhands without giving them input so one night he called his most trusted ally, Willow, to a meeting in his house in the Earth Quarter. He locked the doors, covered the windows, and spoke quietly when he addressed her. She sat down comfortably in one of the chair's he'd provided and leaned back while she waited for an explanation. Naturally she was hoping he had a job but there was no one else from the crew here so she suspected it was something else.
"Thank you for coming quickly. I've been considering a matter that I think I need your opinion on." Revan wasn't quite sure how to go about saying it and didn't just want to spring it on Willow but his beating around the bush seemed to bother her a little.
"Well get on with it then." Willow said.
"I've been thinking about bringing an assassin into the Blackhands." Willow's eyes widened in clear surprised for a moment before her expression seemed to relax into consideration. She wasn't immediately shooting him down? He didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
"Why?" She asked with a level tone. They had talked about assassins in their glory trials. They thought assassins were cutthroats who took the easy way out but times had changed. Sometimes the easy way out was the only way out. If they'd had an assassin or been more aware of that network, Jacques might not have been murdered. However Willow had asked an important question he could not give her an honest answer to. He'd known Willow for a long time, she was better at telling when he was lying than others but they were liars by nature and so every word was met with a little skepticism anyways... how would she know the truth?
"For protection but also for if we encounter a particularly difficult person." Revan said.
"There are safer ways to deal with difficult people." Willow said. He knew the forms she meant. Bribery and intimidation did a lot when you knew how to use them right.
"Not always, not for every issue. Some people won't be moved."
"Revan, is there something going on that I should be aware of?" Willow asked with suspicious eyes. Revan grimaced and looked around the room for a moment as if he'd find his answer somewhere else. Perhaps one trial he could build a convincing lie by looking around the room but not totrial. He sighed and shook his head.
"There is a situation, but for the moment it is only my problem. The Blackhands are not at risk." Revan said with a solemn look on his face.
"What is it?" Willow considered any problem that Revan had a problem for the Blackhands.
"Ghosts of the past, don't worry about it for now. If it becomes a larger problem I'll tell you more." Revan was not sure he would ever tell her more, but he knew he had to be more careful with the face he used for Morton.
"I'd say it is a pretty big problem if you're considering an assassin to deal with it." Willow remarked. He had never done it before. Then again, he'd never thought Jacques had a child.
"I'm considering an assassin for the good of the Blackhands. You and I have never been willing to go that far, maybe we need someone who will to get the jobs done." Willow couldn't know that the conversation was more than a battle of ideology. Revan needed to know if he could cross that line.
"You sound like you've made up your mind already." Willow was right. He realized that but he wouldn't admit it.
"I haven't, I just don't know how long we can do with without having someone around willing to get their hands dirty." Revan said.
"We've been doing this for arcs, Revan, we are getting along."
"Are we?" And that was the final word of the conversation on hiring an assassin for the Blackhands.
