[Nexus] The Black Dragon's Den XIII

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Meeting]

The ice in Electra's expression seems to melt ever so slightly, though the chill in her eyes remains the same. Her voice remains even, devoid of emotion.

"In that case, then I need to ask you two other things before I call him. Would you be willing to meet at a neutral third location? And is there anyone else aside from you and C4 who can confirm who these people are and why they're after him?"

[Reinholdt]

"I see."

Reinholdt may or may not feel the "ಠ_ಠ" emanating from under the hood. Whether or not he does, it's certainly there. Oh definitely it's there.

There's a bit of an awkward silent pause, during which Reinholdt starts to slowly back away. Was it something he said?

"Err, well, have a good day." He finally says half-way to the bar. He then turns and closes the distance. That turned strange quick.

Ah well. Rein's not one to let disillusion, bad ideas, or disapproval stop him. He orders a fresh rum and swings his way over to where Dena is sitting. "Hello. Can I buy you a drink?" He has to figure out why she seems so familiar.

[Ashen Lilies]

The hooded figure stares after Reinholdt for a moment, then collects her belongings and leaves in a hurry.

[Shadowcaller]

There's a bit of an awkward silent pause, during which Reinholdt starts to slowly back away. Was it something he said?

"Err, well, have a good day." He finally says half-way to the bar. He then turns and closes the distance. That turned strange quick.

Ah well. Rein's not one to let disillusion, bad ideas, or disapproval stop him. He orders a fresh rum and swings his way over to where Dena is sitting. "Hello. Can I buy you a drink?" He has to figure out why she seems so familiar.

Dena looks up, pretending that she just happened to see Reinholdt. Looks like there was no avoiding it now.
"Hello there, Reinholdt. Long time, no see. I don't suppose you're here to catch up on old times are you?" She asks with a smile, not wanting to be dismissive right away considering how they had parted way last time. "Since I could take up that free drink offer." Wait, did he even recognize her anymore? It had been quite a while, wasn't he aware of her 'change'?

[Reinholdt]

"Yes?" Reinholdt says, a tad confused. He orders her a drink all the same. "I'm afraid you have me at a slight disadvantage. And right now I'm hoping I was super drunk the first time we met." That way he'd have a legitimate excuse for why he doesn't remember her.

"What was your name again?"

[Shadowcaller]

So he didn't recognize her at all. Dena should have figured.

"It's me, Dena. We met at that party?" She runs her fingers through the mass of snakes that makes up her hair. "You probably didn't recognize me due to the snakes, looks kinda weird, doesn't it?"

[Reinholdt]

"Dena?" He glances over her one more time to be sure. Yeah... yeah, he could see it now. But still, that's quite a change.

"We could definitely attribute it to the snakes and leave it at that. I like to think it's because I couldn't see into your eyes. I never forget a beautiful pair of eyes."

"What happened?"

[Shadowcaller]

Dena had seen guys (and gals) forgive more than snakes-for-hair if you had a pretty face and a nice figure, but she had heard of anyone doing it for a pair of eyes, not outside of fiction at least.
She leans back in her chair. "The hazards of adventuring, Rein. Considering most people just die, snake-hair doesn't seem that bad, wouldn't you agree?" She taps her sunglasses. "And its not that I lost my eyes, its just that you probably wouldn't want to see them. Though personally I think they still look pretty hot." She smiles faintly as the snakes that makes up her hair seem to have started observing Reinholdt.

[Murkus]

[Meeting]

The ice in Electra's expression seems to melt ever so slightly, though the chill in her eyes remains the same. Her voice remains even, devoid of emotion.

"In that case, then I need to ask you two other things before I call him. Would you be willing to meet at a neutral third location? And is there anyone else aside from you and C4 who can confirm who these people are and why they're after him?"

"Yes, and no," Adir answers. "In that order. C4 is my only connection to these people... but provided it's a location I can look after my personal safety, I'll meet anywhere you like." He inclines his head a little. "And I reserve the right to bring friends."

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Meeting]

Electra shrugs almost imperceptibly, expecting something of that nature. Her demeanor remains chilly and measured, though her voice grows just a bit more animated.

"I can't guarantee that right, but I'll do my best. I would argue to keep in mind the next best thing: to insist on a meeting before anyone's had time to plan or move anything into place. But I'm getting ahead of myself. I'll call now, and we'll see what happens." Nothing left to do, really. She places her left hand up to her left auditory sensor, as though there's an earpiece there.

"Sorry, Dena. I'll make it conference call so we can both talk to Dipsnig."

With that, she places the call to Dipsnig.

[Reinholdt]

"Ah, I didn't mean to imply that you had." Just that the sunglasses were in the way of her eyes. For what seems like fairly obvious reasons as Rein glances up and counter stares at the snakes. Staaare.

"I can think of some worse things, yes." Maybe. Rein might order a shave if his hair became snakes. "How long ago did this happen?"

[Shadowcaller]

"A few months back, some sort of curse." Dena clarifies. "Though it probably wasn't the best curse against adventurers. Murderhobos don't usually care if they accidentally kill people while using their newly acquired gaze weapon." She shakes her head, yet the snakes manage to keep in the same positions despite the movement of her head. "But there are some real benefits, I can see through the snakes eyes, sorta. It's like having 360 degree vision, which is pretty neat."

She pauses as her attention seems to divert elsewhere for a moment. "One moment... I got a call."

[Meeting]

"I should apologize, I got a old friend here so I got distracted. Can you make the call to Dipsnig yourself, or do you need my presence?" She replies.

[Morty]

[Meeting]

It's not long before Dipsnig's rich and melodious voice can be heard.

"Yes?"

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Meeting]


As she waits for the boss to pick up the phone, Electra subvocalizes back to Dena, "I'm calling him now, but I may need you to fill him in on some details if I don't get the chance."

When Dipsnig answers, Electra will nod to Adir before speaking.

"Hello, Dipsnig, my name is Electra. I'm a license holder. I'm currently calling in regards to the contract to locate Adir Frescot and the man known as C4. I've located Adir." She pauses, adding a quick subvocalization to the end, though to Adir, it'll look like Dipsnig is talking to her. "Dena Xifhara is on this call as well."There's a subtle change to the sound of her voice when she does this, as though the mic picking up her voice changes quality. She goes on without waiting for Dipsnig to actually respond.

"Currently he's standing in front of me, just outside the Black Dragon's Den. He and I have been talking, and I've learned some rather troubling information from him." Another pause, and quick subvocalization. "He doesn't know Dena is here, or that she has been listening in on our conversation."

"It seems that C4 was employed by a less than savory organization, and Adir helped him escape them. Apparently their policy is that no one leaves alive. When they hired us, did Silus give us a reason for wanting either of them? I'm worried this may violate the anti-slavery rule." Right to the point. She can explain why she chose to talk to Adir rather than call in right away later, if Dena doesn't do it herself. This time she actually does wait for a response from Dipsnig, to help confirm Dena's earlier suspicion that the clients are enforcers sent to retrieve C4 for criminal activity.

[Reinholdt]

"A few months back, some sort of curse." Dena clarifies. "Though it probably wasn't the best curse against adventurers. Murderhobos don't usually care if they accidentally kill people while using their newly acquired gaze weapon." She shakes her head, yet the snakes manage to keep in the same positions despite the movement of her head. "But there are some real benefits, I can see through the snakes eyes, sorta. It's like having 360 degree vision, which is pretty neat."

She pauses as her attention seems to divert elsewhere for a moment. "One moment... I got a call."

[Meeting]

"I should apologize, I got a old friend here so I got distracted. Can you make the call to Dipsnig yourself, or do you need my presence?" She replies.

"I presume even adventurers have friends they don't want to turn to stone. Or at least professional contacts." Rein shrugs. "I'm not sure I'd be able to handle that much information at once."

He settles back to enjoy his rum while Dena takes her call.

[Morty]

[Meeting]

"He said C4 is a criminal, wanted for theft and murder. As a general rule, we don't ask why our clients want something," Dipsnig says, after a moment's thought. "The risk of slavers, however, changes that. There's something I've been preparing for this, actually. If you and Dena think there's cause to doubt our client's version, our occult specialist came up with something that might clear it up."

[Shadowcaller]

"As I said, its weird. You could call it a 'snake sense'. I can't really see through them if I focus, but if there is danger, they alert me of it." She pokes one of the snakes which doesn't react at all to it. "Plus, I can shape them into any hairdo I want. Just try me. Name one."

[Meeting]

"I think our current system is pretty bad, boss. Capturing people can basically be the same as executing them. either that or the person being capture can claim he'll get executed, even if he isn't. It just makes things unnecessary complicated. Have you considered just ditching the rule? Or at least change it, there gotta be a better way to protect ourselves against slavers." Dena comments. "But yeah, I'm going with Electra on this one."

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Meeting]


"I see. So the client claimed he's a wanted criminal and wanted us to help track him down." Electra frowns, watching Adir as she repeats this. Dipsnig and Dena probably get the idea she's mentioning it for Adir's sake. "I do think that check would be prudent, sir. I've seen this scam pulled before. I'm sure you have, too." She pauses again, subvocalizing once more.

"Adir did mention that the people that are after C4 from this organization are some sort of 'wizard people', to use his term. Will that be an issue for our specialist?"

[Morty]

[Meeting]

"It could probably use revision. Now is as good a time as any, since we're dealing with a conflict of rules. As for the slavery issue, I had Astrana prepare an enchanted document, with a simple yes/no question. We'll have the clients sign it with their answer, and if they lie, it'll react. It's simple, so it should be hard to fool. And if they're not going to enslave him, it shouldn't be any concern of ours," Dipsnig says. "It should be a compromise between our principles and the clients' discretion, I hope."

[Reinholdt]

"Hairdo? Umm..." Modeling snakes has never been something he's considered before. Rein takes a moment to think. "Frankenstein's bride? You know, the straight up column thing?" Rein gesticulates with his hands to show her what he means.

He mostly just wants to see if the snakes can stand and stay vertical or not.

[Shadowcaller]

That makes Dena laugh. "Okay, if only since I love the challenge." She gently starts rubbing the snakes. "Now, let's see..." The white serpents starts to raise into the air at the gorgons touch and entangle themselves into one another into a delicate crisscross pattern with their heads turned towards the ceiling. Then the snakes actually appear to grow longer, raising from her scalp, until they reach about three feet into the air, creating quite a hair-cut.
Dena grins. "How's that, Mr. Cat?"

[Meeting]

"Alright, fine. A magic mumbo-jumbo solution works for now, I suppose. Just make sure to test those contracts out first, make sure you can't break them with another spell or what-not."

[Reinholdt]

"I- wow. I'm impressed." Reinholdt admits, a touch of awe in his voice. He didn't expect the snakes to be capable of growth. Or maybe they were always that long and it just seemed less when they were bunched up on her head. In which case he's impressed they're that long. Three foot snakes are nothing to scoff at.

"You've got full control of them then, huh? Seems you've adjusted quickly enough."

[Shadowcaller]

Dena shrugs. "Having to wear goggles or sunglasses all the time can be annoying, not to mention the feeling a whole snake nest crawling all over your head, but I'd never adapt if I let it get to me. This is the nexus after all, snake-hair is almost a everyday occurrence." She gestures at her hair. "As for control, I'm not sure how long I can keep it like this. They have some sense of autonomy and they don't like being stuck in complex shapes for too long. Yet I prefer that to keep it as one slithering mass."

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Meeting]

Electra makes a slightly impatient face for Adir while continuing to watch him, as though there's a lengthy explanation she's listening to, and subvocalizes a bit more.

"Sounds like it should work, as long as the wording is careful. I'm sure you've already considered this, but it bears repeating that these people may not consider what they want to do to C4 as slavery, if they are who Adir thinks they are." Her face shifts to a more serious expression as she asks another question.

"How long will it take to get the results of that check back?"

[Murkus]

[Meeting]

Adir remains silent for now, standing a bit back from Electra and taking the chance to observe his surroundings.

[Reinholdt]

Dena shrugs. "Having to wear goggles or sunglasses all the time can be annoying, not to mention the feeling a whole snake nest crawling all over your head, but I'd never adapt if I let it get to me. This is the nexus after all, snake-hair is almost a everyday occurrence." She gestures at her hair. "As for control, I'm not sure how long I can keep it like this. They have some sense of autonomy and they don't like being stuck in complex shapes for too long. Yet I prefer that to keep it as one slithering mass."

"I'm sure." Too many roommates for Rein's liking, no matter how many neat tricks they can do. "So what did you do to justify getting cursed?" Personally Rein's thankful for the lack of voodoo magic in the Nexus, for obvious reasons. Dena must have been up to something special.

[Morty]

[Meeting]

"It's a work in progress, Dena. I have more ideas in the pipeline for this particular problem," Dipsnig says. "That depends on how quickly they respond to my call. Hopefully it'll go quickly. Slavery or not, I don't like being misinformed, which looks like what they did."

[Shadowcaller]

"Justified? Please. While I did commit home invasion, said home was a temple inhabited by gorgon worshiping cultists who decorated it with the remains of all her previous victims. So while I'm not exactly a saint myself, I did the the world a big favor by taking one homicidal gorgon out, in self-defense mind you. So there is no poetic justice in this curse, just bunch of ***** being spiteful. I heard that Dipsnig and Kirk took the rest of them out after what happened to me, so their own curse ended up biting them in the ass. So it's funny how that works. In fact, they basically just made it easier to take revenge upon them if I had decided to go back." Dena explains.

[Meeting]

"Yeah, some cultures don't think of slavery, or murder, so you gotta consider that too." She pauses. "But are we done here, then?"

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Meeting]

"I see. Well, I'll hang tight then, and wait for a response, unless there's anything else you can think of that Adir might know that would help." She notes Adir's observing his surroundings, and glances around again, before subvocalizing.

"I'll try and keep him here for awhile longer if I can, unless you think it might be a couple of days. He's made it clear that any further meetings on this matter will probably involve him bringing backup of some sort, so completing this job may get messy if the client checks out."

[Morty]

[Meeting]

"It should hopefully be quick," Dipsnig says. "They're here waiting for him to be delivered, so they'll probably react quickly. If not, we'll need to adapt."