"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" that red-haired aelenvari screams pleasurably from inside the Madame's office.
"Gods damn this..." one of the Madame bodyguards complains. That aelenvari had been near him quite recently...
I chuckle as I turn around, "Can't do anything about it now, she's the Madame's property."
"She should certainly turn out popular." one of the others comments
"She doesn't seem to act any different from the rest." I point out as I put down the newstablet.
"True." they answer before a bell goes off.
"I guess that means it is time for me to go in as she comes out and goes downstairs." I say as I get up and do just that. Waiting at the side of the office before some beaten-up aelenvari come and drag her away. A series of ecstatic howls fill the air as they did so. The Madame's chemical concoction was as potent as ever...
"Right, now, Darling, carry on." she says as she sighs out her stress before she puts down an electric rod.
"So, yeah, that was the red-haired one I was talking about." I say reasonably quietly. Awkwardly gesturing in the direction the echoes were coming from.
"And somehow, this doesn't mean the treasure is any closer..." she moans as she leans back into her chair.
"No, but it does give us some options."
"Such as?"
"Do what you do best, break her. Leaving me out of it, of course. And get into her head, she'll bring it here for you." I explain to her, muttering the middle in a fake cough before straightening myself out.
She raises a brow, clearly contemplating the idea, "It would be a challenge, I believe..."
"Challenge? Just another aelenvari, right?"
"You have seen it, right? She carries herself far different than any of the others. In fact, her response to my drug were rather tame."
"Honestly can't tell the difference." I tell her with a shrug.
"You didn't see it completely, Darling." the Madame giggles as she waves her hand at me.
"So what is the plan anyway? My guys can't go near that Union base at all. And the child is located in there without a doubt."
She breathes deeply and leaves her lounge chair, "We wait, that is all we can do. But, I know I have something to keep myself occupied in the meantime."
Her cackles were not particularly sweet, but I ignored that, "You won't be able to apply the drug again, though, will you?"
"Not for a short period, no. Amusing as it was, I did not appreciate wasting something I could've exploited." she says, likely referring to some her earliest endeavours in this business.
"You won't risk it even with her defiance?" I ask, just curious is all.
"Amazing as it was being presented with a challenge, no, I won't risk it. Especially with how good it will make me feel breaking a petal such as her." she explains with her usual malicious smile.
"And what kind of petal is she?" I decide to ask before I play with some of her knick-knacks. Having moved over here to occupy myself with more than just conversation.
"One whose name is love itself... A beautiful rose." she says with that smile not wavering.
"Huh, a full-named petal." I comment with some awe as those were quite the rare find. Probably even more so than a male aelenvari. She would've been at the very top of her respective birthing group or whatever it was. The Rose.
"Now, Darling, I want you to get back to work. I am a little tired now having been put through so much excitement at once." the Madame explains as she gets back into her chair.
"Of course, take care now." I tell her as a professional courtesy. Although my words were hollow.
"And have one of my attendees sent up!" she calls out just as I close the door. So I just give her a gesture of acknowledgement before I head on out.
"Now, now... To ponder what you are planning." I say nonchalantly as I prepared my pipe as I walked through the building. To say I was flabbergasted by that petal's actions was an understatement. When she suddenly knocked on the door asking for a job...
I guess it was more due to how we filled up our staff needs here. We didn't put some flyers out or pay for an ad in the dull newstablet of this town. We went on nice long walks and brought back the goods ourselves. Or, we paid others to do it for us.
"That reminds me... Hm." I ponder as Ivahstar once again crossed my mind. It was just something I could not shake out of my thoughts. The Madame was setting us up for a serious flaw in our security by not paying him. I never knew him to be the vengeful type...
But he was getting increasingly desperate with the number of issues he has had crop up. His funds were drying up regardless of how much he saved by sniping his meals. So I needed to try and mediate something... But how to satisfy him while also keeping it a secret from the Madame?
"Damn woman." I curse as I step outside to smoke my pipe. Moving around the building and heading out onto the decently quiet street. One hand in my pocket while the other held the prized wooden piece. And as I walked, I mixed in tuts and tsks between puffs.
Eventually, I climbed up the metal stairwell and got onto the viewing platform once again. Looking to my right for nostalgia purposes as that red-haired aelenvari was now ours. I then stroked my chin as I remembered her that day. Something was bothering her...
But it was before they ventured out and kept the child from us... So what drove her to come so eagerly towards us? She was clearly struggling with problems before. So was it that or more recent?
Others might have seen me as a little paranoid, but I did not trust the Madame for one bit. That petal she just drugged is strong, very strong. Were it not for the Union nearby, she'd be the strongest witch here. This once-upon-a-time ravineer settlement had nothing that could compare.
Maybe that was her plan, then? To drag the Union into our business by simply just... Letting it all out... Being drugged like that would certainly loosen the control of her magic...
Yet, I could not feel anything myself, even from up here. So maybe the Union wouldn't either even if they did have war-witches and mercenary ones coming through here. I sure hope so. We wouldn't be able to withstand such a force coming upon us.
"Trauble?" Heiya asked as she made her presence known to me.
"You alright, Shortie?" I jokingly asked back as I gave her spines a quick, downward brush.
She giggles before she does anything else, "Yeaaah, but, yau?"
"Don't mind me, just pondering some issues."
"It's gaad ta taaalk aaabaut them." she somewhat correctly says. Sure, it helped get it out your system. But it also just reminded you of a problem that could never be solved a lot of the time. Just an excuse for you to get angry, really.
Not that I had the energy for that kind of stuff.
"The other petal we had you track, she just walked straight into the Madame's establishment. And now she is bound for the usual."
"Maaaybe she is just stupid?"
"No... No," I start to say, shaking my head at it, "ain't no way that is the case, not when she has a full name."
"Full naaame..." she repeats in what I was just going to call awe for the moment.
"I don't quite get it myself, but, these are the top... Like the very top for the aelenvari. Best education, greatest influence! The kings of the aelenvari! Or, queens, rather."
"Beaaar in mind, they're quite paaampered." she points out.
"So's the Madame, but, explosive as she is, I would not go so far as to call her stupid."
"Yau might just be averthinking this."
"No, I have a bad feeling about this. Gut has never been wrong before."
"Yau ance tald me thaaat yau're gut waaas bathered when yau aaaccepted this jab."
"It was wrong then." I quickly answer.
"Then it caaan be wrang aaagaaain."
I huff in amusement, "I suppose."
"Naw, I knaw yau like the paaay aaand aaall. But, haaave yau cansidered leaaaving it aaall behind?"
"Doing what I did earlier to you, then?"
"Paps is nat haaappy with haw the Maaadaaame is treaaating him." she says before I roar in laughter. She then pouts and me and glares.
"I-I'm sorry..." I wheeze out before I get a control of myself. I know it was just her accent, but to here Madame pronounced that way just amused me. I guess because of how informal it was in comparison to how I did it.
"Jump dawn far me." she says with that same pout before she puts her mouth against her crossed arms. Right against the railing.
"I take it your old man put you up to this?" I ask, to which she nods.
"Yeaaah."
"Heh, conspiring against the Madame on behalf of a friend, huh?"
"Yep!" she chirps.
I let my air out through my nose, amused by the prospect, "Now, that is quite the security concern."
But she doesn't buy my words for a second, "Came jain us aut af tawn!" she tells me before she runs to the higher floor of the platform.
So I decided to look up and wave at the shadow above me. However, all it did back was make a slight, relatively unseeable gesture before it moved elsewhere. And as the hwardgon went elsewhere, I looked ahead once again. Briefly pondering the offer as I cleaned and emptied my pipe.
"Well, I always did hate the smell." I comment to myself. Agreeing to the terms without telling them.