Rinkaiel: Temple of the Divine Dwarf

[Graybeard]

The madam's face relaxed a notch, into a smile that it would probably be better not to describe in detail. "All sorts of possibilities," she smirked. Two large, muscular men stepped through the door. "Double the pleasure, double the fun. Or if you want to shop on the lesbian side of the store..." She wiggled her own eyebrows.

---------------

Layla didn't wait for Bert to react; it was time to put all that morning road work to good use. If only I'd lost those last five pounds of baby fat...

However, even kicking it up to a dead run, if not a sprint, wasn't enough to keep up with the fast-moving magical watcher on the rooftops. She went three or four blocks before turning around in disgust ...

... As the magic continued heading for Tsuiraku-town.

"I've lost him," she panted as she returned to where Bert was waiting.

[Jack Rothwell]

OOC I think I mentioned this place had a bar, umm, did I?/OOC

"I'm easy either way." Eve replied, making no effort to hide the double-entendre. "But I think a little wine and window-shopping would be the perfect start to my day." She grasped one of the burly gentleman's forearms and pulled him meaningfully towards the shabby looking room which maked the brothel's excuse for a bar. "Come on handsome, I'll get the first round in and then you can show me around."

Internally, the merc was biting down her revulsion of the place. But there was no rampaging through a rough place like this and expecting to retrieve her quarry and make it out in one piece. The moment would come soon enough, she thought, in the meantime it was best to avoid suspicion.

......................

Bert stood next to Layla scratching the top of his head and switching his gaze between the house of ill-repute and the direction Layla had pointed in.

"I don't like the sound of those apples miss, what are we gonna do?" He asked, with strictly more drama than was necessary.

OOC References!/OOC

[Graybeard]

[OOC: I didn't get all those references, but I got enough...]

"I don't know," Layla answered, "but I'm nervous. You send unarmed reconnaissance out to find out where the bad guys are, then you send the big guns in to blow their asses away. That thing was reconnaissance. So what are the big guns?"

------------

Four people walked into the sort-of-bar at the brothel as Eve watched, talking among themselves. Two were obvious whores. The third was wearing a Tsuirakuan getup and had Tsuirakuan features ...

... And the fourth was Stevo.

[Jack Rothwell]

Bert cringed at the idea of heavy magic artillery as his mind painted a more vivid picture than was comfortable. He touched the gun at his side more for reassurance then anything else.

"Maybe one of us should keep a lookout." He suggested. "You know, while the other goes and see's your old employee... or maybe to drag Eve out if she loses her temper."

......................

Eve hadn't lost her temper yet, but she was bubbling. The sight of her quarry surrounded by curvacious young woman and flanked by a friend didn't do much for her disposition. And starting a ruck in a public area without support was tantamount to commiting suicide.

'So what then? Try patience?'

A decidedly unpleasant idea started to brew in the merc's head. A solution to the problem. If Stevo knew who she was then the whole thing might fall apart before the first line got out of her mouth, but she had to try.

"Just let me see who your favourite is..." She muttered, skin crawling pre-emptively at what she was about to do. "Then us lovebirds can go somewhere private... away from witnesses."

[Graybeard]

Layla thought about it. "Probably better if you go rescue Eve," she said. "If Stevo sees me there, he'll know something is up. Besides, I should go by the magic lab anyway. It's on the way to wherever that magical snooper was going, I'm pretty sure, and I should find out what spooked Galina so badly."

A few minutes later, she was at the lab, expecting trouble. However, it didn't take long for her to figure out that her friend was more puzzled than worried. "Did you find out what made Hikari bail out so quickly?" she asked.

Galina shook her head. "It wasn't what -- we were afraid it might be," she said. "Hikari said a very odd character came by ... with some sidekicks that, frankly, I'm going to have to see before I believe them."

[OOC: Opportunity to introduce Jin-Liu here, and JR, feel free to reconnect Bert and Eve while we're waiting for something else to happen...]

[Jack Rothwell]

'I can't believe I'm doing this...'

"Lead on, handsome." Eve cringed, as she followed the tipsy pair upstairs. Her skin crawling and then taking baby steps.

'Relax, just think of the sweet revenge.'

Talking the pair around hadn't been difficult, she'd played the dialogue (such as there was) between them with just the right amount of shy-flirtyness and accentuation of her curves (such as they were) to get Stevo out of his seat and fairly dancing a jig at the idea of having a very happy morning indeed. The woman he was with looked over her shoulder at the young merc following them and brushed the girl's cheek with what was undoubtably intended to be a tender gesture, but Eve had to fight down the urge to break the hooker's fingers and jam them where the sun didn't shine.

"We'll take good care of you honey. It's the first door in the left here. Step into my office."

"Love to." She managed.

[Graybeard]

"Someone for magic lessons?" Layla probed.

"Not exactly," Galina answered. "More like someone already overqualified to work on the warp gate construction, from the sound of it. Tsuirakuan expat like myself, an 'Artificer' -- that probably doesn't mean much to you, but it means somebody who's good with golems. But in this case, very odd golems, to hear Hikari tell it."

Layla cringed inwardly. She was, of course, much more comfortable with magic than most of the Gewehr; that was why she was here, after all. But golems were creepy. She'd seen a few during her years in Kiyoka, and was well aware that one of them had prevented a particular hit that her people had been contracted to do ... prevented it rather messily. That was an occupational hazard, flesh-and-blood bodyguards could do the same thing, but the notion of being all but torn limb from limb by an animated blob of clay was ... well, just yuck.

She tried to put the thought out of her mind and change the subject. "Well, before dealing with him, a question: do you have any idea who around here might have an invisible servant that climbs like a monkey and runs like the wind? Because a servant like that was stalking our friend Eve, and it scares the hell out of her -- and me."

Galina's facial expression didn't suggest that she liked that question (or at least the answer she was coming up with) very much, but before she could frame a reply, there was a knock on the door. [OOC: Jin-Liu, that's your cue...]

[Porcelain Fish]

"Ms. Scherbatcherff?" Jin-Liu waited a moment, and then knocked again. He really hoped this wasn't a bad time. He could afford maybe a month's rent and board without straining his savings too much, but he needed another source of income to replace that if he was going survive.

"She might not be home," Pai-Pai's Back said.

"If she's gone, I'm sure she'll retun shortly," Pai-Pai's Front responded optimistically.

"There's a cart parked here in the street," Pai-Pai's Left added.

Galina opened the door, and Jin-Liu tipped his hat back, a polite, hopeful smile on his face. "Ms. Scherbatcheff? I'm Jin-Liu Aikusu. I understand you're currently in charge of directing efforts for the Warp Gate?"

"Acknowledgements!" Pai-pai proclaimed with all four faces.

Jin-Liu glanced sideways at the staff, slightly embarrassed. "Pai-pai means to say "Greetings" actually."

Saiho let out a low, slow beep, the squat, sturdy golem's freshly washed steel plating gleaming under the sunlight after its fresh scrub, the massive pack with Jin-Liu's belongings on its back.

Jin-Liu patted the flat top of the recessed box that served nominally as its head. "This is Saiho. He's a Desu 26-B model."

[Jack Rothwell]

"So should I pour some wine or- urk!" The hooker didn't get the chance to finish her offer of hospitality. No sooner had the door closed behind them than the young merc unslung her belt and used it to apply pressure to the working girl's neck, she only struggled for a few seconds, turning limp as Layla's old employee finished turning around with horrified surprise.

"What in the fuck?"

He went to draw. Stevo was quick, but Eve had the drop on him, not to mention a particulary sharp knife which was quicker to draw and aim than the firearm the traitor carried. The merc had just enough time to get the pistol to clear of it's holster before the young woman cannoned him into the nearest wall with the blade pressed to his throat.

"Layla sends her regards." She rasped.

[Graybeard]

An observer would have been amused at the way Galina and Layla blinked in perfect, absolute synchronicity. Then again, they were friends... In any event, both recovered quickly enough, and Galina even managed a friendly smile.

"Yes, I'm Galina Scherbatcheff," she said. "This is Layla, my friend and student." Layla produced a weak smile of her own and a "Hi," and Galina continued. "Your informant wasn't exactly correct; I'm only in charge of the recruitment and training of local magical talent to work on the warp gate when it opens, and I'm only doing that on an acting basis. Master Portalmage Benziri is in command of the overall construction effort. His office is over at the consulate, when he's in town."

She paused and looked the young man and his golems over, made a decision. "From the looks of it, I don't think you need any magical training, do you?" She smiled faintly to indicate a joke; if the man was Tsuirakuan, that would be more than enough. "But I can help connect you with the construction project. Please, come in, I'll make tea." The three entered the laboratory, Eve's invisible stalker forgotten for the moment ... but it would be remembered soon enough.

------------

Stevo's mouth worked soundlessly, and the hooker had been silenced as well, at least for the moment. However, Stevo hadn't managed to get anything more out than "L-Layla? I don't know what you're --" when the door burst open ... to reveal the other hooker and the Tsuirakuan-looking man from the bar.

"Hey! Shtevo!" the man called, at first unaware of what was going on. "Let'sh shelebrate our deal with a little group --" And then he figured it out, and sobered up instantly ...

And started to cast a spell.