Death and Taxes [LM6, Closed]

[Akh Uur Hoon]

After her Mortuary work, Akh had some tax declaration paperwork to complete. Taxation wasn't something she was passionate about knowing much about but it was yet another thing that could be approached through studying, so she had taken a current tax code home and got down to some creative accounting.

[Will roll Investigation and Sleight of Hand.]

[Cyprian Kircheis]

Cyprian had dug through and separated the receipts. There were plenty of easy to replicate signatures to choose from. The more creative side of the expensing could be achieved nicely.


[OOC: Sleight of hand is 7, but Persuasion is 12 if you wanna have him roll that for her. Either way he'll provide advantage ]

[Akh Uur Hoon]

[Token of Past Lives: Sleight of Hand.]

"I guess I still can remember how to be a lowlife..." She said deadpan, glancing at Cyprian, then re-examining her own forgery. "Or maybe not. This receipt doesn't look entirely credible, but oh well. I won't redo it now. It's just money after all."

LM6. Taxes. Investigation, then Sleight of Hand. Both DC20.: 2#2d20k1+7 25 19

[Paying 20%]

[Cyprian Kircheis]

"You? A low-life? Never!" He teased looking at her work. "Ehh, looks passable to me."

He moves a mountain of receipts over and stretches out a yawn. Some time ago he'd found a nook to install a small burner. He wasn't skilled with alchemy but it did the job for tea, soup, and more importantly... coffee. He'd never had coffee before coming here, but now suddenly he couldn't do without it. He poured himself another mug and sipped.

"Hey speaking of money. Have you ever thought about upgrading? Maybe finding a bigger place?" He thought about how to broach the subject. "I've earned more money that I've ever made in a week here. It's not like I couldn't afford to get us a place in another district."

[Akh Uur Hoon]

"But my undeath is next door." She pointed toward the Mortuary. Some phrases presupposing living sounded funny when made situationally correct. "And Angyar needs my rent to get by." She was somehow surprised by the offer. She liked the smell of coffee though.

[Cyprian Kircheis]

He laughed softly finding her choice of words endearing. Then nodded thoughtfully. "That makes sense." He took another sip before moving to rejoin her. "Oh, shall I?" He paused indicating possibly either getting her a mug or refilling an existing one.

When he did rejoin her an idea popped into his head. "I wonder, do you think they'd like to move to a nicer district? I could pay to put them up somewhere away from... this. We could have the place to ourselves then?"

The locale didn't particularly bother Cyprian. It was a hop, skip, and a jump away from the Festhall. He could always make an additional income in the arena. And the chance of getting sick was next to nil as long as he didn't breathe to much.

"I know, random thought. I've just been considering it," he shrugged. "Not that I've any complaints with our current arrangement. I just figure a little more space wouldn't hurt." He turns grinning to her. "One benefit of living up here is its coziness. But just think, if we had more space you could make room for a clinic." He draws attention to an invisible marquis: "Doc Akh, physician and psychologist. Though knowing you you'd likely run a free clinic. I suspect that would be a tax write off." He jokes then snuggles closer. "I could even play your nurse on occasion." He adds flirtatiously.

[Akh Uur Hoon]

"I find all your ideas very interesting, Cyprian. And I think Wife-of-Angyar may be interested and could even convince her husband." She responded quietly. She didn't drink coffee per say, just like she didn't drink other brews, but she still liked smelling it. "But changing people's lives puts you deeper into commitments that may feel too much for you at some point. I have been renting this place for many years. I am not opposed to change, but you want to enact one soon after you have moved in. I wonder if we operate on the same time frames. My for the time being tends to be quite long, and forever is very long."

She brushed his face tenderly, sniffing coffee from his mug.

"At the same time, I am not just dead but also a Dead. I have been recently raised to the rank of a factotum, and expect to be in the First Circle soon enough. While I exercise my pursuit of True Death in ways that may seem unorthodox to some of my fellow Dustmen, I don't think I can make a life and living out of my death that is antithetical to my commitments and convictions. You find it acceptable now, but will it be so tomorrow, next week, next year? Especially that there is a tension between what I follow and... your natural temperament?"

[Cyprian Kircheis]

He smiled at her touch but having this topic brought up again worried him a little. "Hmm," he asked, "are you referring to last night? The sensate Factol I was dancing with?" He'd figured it would come up after the incident but it hadn't. She had been so loving he'd forgotten his fears. "I'll admit I'm a flirt but..." His voice trailed off and he sat pensive for a moment. Then suddenly switched gears entirely.

"You know, strange as it is I'm hopeful that this place might become my anchor point." He turns his body and looks at her earnestly. "This natural temperament you mention is something I've been wrestling with- umm, at least since you." He thought about how to say it. Honestly he wasn't sure if he was ready to talk about his feelings on the subject yet. But if nothing else he was keen to show that he was trying. "Hmmmmm, that is to say that I- I don't. I... oh, how do I put this?" A few more moments went by. "I don't like who I've been. And keeping down this path might make me the right fit for the Sensates but." He found the idea distasteful. "I don't- I don't want that." He shook his head. "They're nice enough people, the Factol is gorgeous, Thaddeus is quite amusing. And perhaps a different me-" He stopped because that wasn't right either.

He chewed on the corner of his mouth a little nervously. "I'm not sure where I'm going, or what I want to be. But I know I don't want to be spirited away again. I don't want to lose you. And I don't want-" His throat felt dry. "-to be without a home." He shivered. "That thought terrifies me more than anything else. So- so yes, I want this to be my anchor point. But I need a lot more time before I know the rest."

He felt the compunction to do that incredibly uncomfortable thing that humans do when they feel sad so he forced a smile.

"I hope that's enough."

[Akh Uur Hoon]

"Enough for whom, Cyprian? You are in the City of Doors, also called the Cage. If there is a place that teaches you about the ambivalence of considering homesteads anchors, it would be this one. We have discussed some problems related to you building your life in connection with my death, and they are not going to disappear just because we set up something that looks like a home. My condition, an impoverished existence that lingers only because I cannot satisfactorily end it, may not be something you can warm the hearth with."

She stroked his hair.

"This is not about any other person you may be inclined to be close to in addition to or instead of me. It is about the alignment of our overarching goals. Me, I can accommodate your desires in most cases. The real question is whether those desires can lead you somewhere you want, or help you keep running away from something you don't."

[Cyprian Kircheis]

He listens intently, finding her touch more warming than any other he'd ever received. He supposed that made it even more difficult to answer the question right away.

"I just don't know what I want, aside from keeping my promise to you. And if this is a cage then it's the one I've chosen. But as it stands..." his eyes soften and if he could blush he would, "... forever doesn't sound that bad to me. A true death with you by my side doesn't sound all that frightening. And even if I never go on another adventure, or taste another's passion fueled blood. I'd be okay as long as I continued having quiet moments like this to come home to."

Saying it felt corny.

To Cyprian this had been a helluva week, and the odds weren't great that he'd always be okay with things as they are. But he was willing to bet against them anyways. His biggest worry, warranted since she knew the kind of person he'd been up until that point, was that she'd not in fact believe him. He felt like he was dangling on a tight rope. A sensation he might not fear under normal circumstances given his litheness, but he was tired and longing desperately for terra firma. And maybe she was right, maybe he was a little too eager to get there. Yet, it's still the direction he is heading in. Now it's just a question of how he'll arrive he guessed.

"I suppose I can wait a month or so. Bring it up again in the future." He relented a tad crestfallen.