Come on body, just hold it in. Suppress the emotion for a few more hours. We can die from embarrassment when we get home. -- Anon Guest
He might have said they called him Sap because he was a blunt instrument. There was a story he told about being found in the woods, covered in tree sap and using it to trap and eat small animals to survive. The truth was, he was a City Tief[1], raised in the gutter, educated by osmosis, and like the city rats, steeped in cunning and guile. He called himself Sap because he still believed in love.
What he was now - besides beaten, bruised, and bloody - was also betrayed. He didn't say, "You said you were my friend" because creatures like himself didn't get friends. The closest a Tiefling could get were temporary allies who currently found the Tiefling in question to be convenient. He did say, "You let me think you liked me. Well played."
The villain of the piece - a temporarily convenient ally - seemed put out by the fact that Sap didn't let them scoff and preen. They tried for it anyway. "What, like it's hard? Your kind are anyone's for a gentle touch and a kind word."
"That's true for lots of us," said Sap. He had never studied acting, but that wasn't too hard either. You just made up someone in your head and did everything they would do. Today's role was Sap The Victim. He had an artistic appreciation for everything that inevitably happened to him. "In your case, it was more than one. Just the right measures of respect for personal space and the appearance of genuine concern. If I wasn't tied up, I'd applaud." What he was doing, with superb sleight-of-hand, was worrying at his bonds with a small file manipulated only by his fingers. He let his tail lash in mock agitation.
"Wow. You've been around. And yet you still fall for it. Either you're too stupid to recognise the signs or too desperate to let even the slightest chance go by." The enemy smiled. "That? That's really pitiful."
Sap let them laugh. "I have to ask," hands free, he extracted an Orb of Recall from a strategic pouch and activated it. "How do you plan to frame me for all of this? I have witnesses that put me in other places during a solid half of your exploits."
"Pfft. All Tieflings look alike," scoffed the enemy. "You've 'fit the description' of several criminals while we were working together. I have lots of trace that can mess up a scryer. I've left your blood and hair in many of my scenes. It's really a work of art. And when I kill you in 'self defence'? The courts will exonerate me and I can move on to my next scam."
"That's going to be tricky to do," said Sap. "I might be a Sap, but I'm not stupid. That? And I've been a Watch Informant for almost a decade." The amulet would work even when he wasn't wearing it. They had told him so and they had been accurate so far. All he had to do was say the safe word. "Protectus."
In a flash, he, and every object or creature he was touching were transported to a safe room in the nearest City Watch House. It would set off alarms, and there would be guards with crossbows, but all Sap had to do was assume the position and wait.
Evidence. Confession. Proof. All squirrelled away in a certain pouch. All ready for the officers of the law to do their thing. Sap was running on spit and spite by the time Cleric Lachasse turned up.
Lachasse knew just by looking at him. "Another heartbreaker, huh?"
Sap couldn't nod, but the aborted toss of his head was close enough.
"All right. The rest of you goons leave us alone. I gotta patch him up."
His name, for want of a better one, was Sap. He didn't believe in anything but love, which he had yet to find. Though a Cleric's blessed touch burned, it was a fire he could stand because Lachasse was so damned gentle.
His name was Sap, and though he had no home, the only place he felt safe enough to break down about this entire mess was in Lachasse's careful arms. That was home enough, perhaps love enough, for him. For now.
[1] It must be noted at this point that 'Tief' is a reclaimed slur, and only harmless in the mouths and minds of other Tieflings.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / AlienCat]
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