The mansion were quiet. So quiet. The marble tiles were shining and while staring at it Q wondered if some service maid was, as a magician, coming to clean the place in his absence. "of course they do" he though. And also they must spie every piece of informations they can. Q was certain this safe and huge mention that has been given to him was just a rat house made to better control him. He though that now the things were becoming more structured he should have his own place. It was a good thing he received a sponsorship approval the very same yesterday.
For the sake of sanity he decided to let this though apart and went for a breakfast. As he arrived in the dining room, without much surprise, the long old wood table was full of cliche dishes, such as "just out of the pan, pancakes" odd jelly flavors (with one marked "milk" jelly), honey (Q was almost certain bees had disapeared, so that musth have been made of the less know "flies" honey) some sort of tofu beacon, vegetable eggs, some fruits and colored juice in iced buckets. Luxury. Something peculiar in this mantion was the discretion of the staff, you could almost never saw them, as gobelin acting in the shaddow, afraid to encounter their master.
As he was enjoying some maple sirup french waffle fellicia arrived with slow morning pace. Eye bag was and hangover haircut, (despite that hangover was surely a thing of the past) She seemed abnormaly tired and anxious, she had something worrying her, but Q knew better than to ask her, he also knew it was not safe anymore to talk here, and went for small talks, which she gladdly jumped in, visibly today it would be a rainy day.
At some point they went back to the room and found the third sleeping beauty manly asleep, snoring in a very authoritative position, Q smirkled.
As they approached her she opened one eye, and quickly regurgitated her snoring, as to pretend nothing happened, and that's what Q and Felicia did.
A shower later they were on they were to the ingeering district. It was time to make their own home.
As they approached a mushrrom designed building, visibly one of the most popular designer company in the entire circle, they were welcomed by the impressive opening of 2 giant doors, tied muscular doormen, and a tokyo red carped. It was almost too much, but as they were walking, some creature in a tight dress proposed them some red tea that was very welcome, they arrived on a tea room with a thin tall man sitted inviting them to do the same.
"I heard you need privacy" the man said, and Q knew immediately he was in the right place.
Some beautiful women were ponctually pooring tea inside Q's cup. As often a certain awkwardness was toward the 2 women accompanying Q, as it wasn't clear for the staff if they should be treated as staff or as guest, and some coordination missmatch could be observed, such as when the teapot was left hanging near Felicia for her to serve herself. Felicia gave a grave look to the model woman who suddenly had a sort of despair look in her face, immediately pooring tea inside Felecia's cup. This kind of things were frequent and kind of amused Q, but Q also knew the group was a disaster away and it was more than time to put a clear hierachy for the group. It was in fact time to create a proper clan. But for that he needed privacy, and he went back to focus on the designer's speech:
"... and as I was saying Mr. Q, the key here is that in the cite the land belong to the government and the air to the people, so by elevating your mantion instead of creating a new one, we are in our very rights."
Q looked the man perplexly. He knew Q was coming for privacy, was that meaning all his guest was coming for this, a simple sale trick, or was that because he knew something else?
"But what assure me that the "extention" as you said, will not itself be bugged"
The man looked at Q amused
"My price Mr. Q, my Price assure you that I will not bug your house, or that no other party will."
That was an honest answer. Q knew his reputation from the recent party, and he knew that company was building ambassies in far circles. That seemed possible.
"What are my other alternatives"
"There is actually 2, Sir Q, first is an always moving sort of vehicule. But that is in my opinion not optimal as you will need to secure permits and will definitely end up bringing attention. The usure cost is also inevitable and an opponent can simply damage your mention to immobilize it, and then there is not much you can do. "
And the last option ? Asked Q
"The last option is to "squat" a team of mention that are only rented to you, this way you never have the same place and your privacy is assured at everychange. That require more staff as your things will need to be moved always. The initial cost is lower, but it's a continous cost that is important. To be honest with you, Mr Q, this kind of solution is what is used for some of my highest client, but not from this circle."
So basically Q had 3 options, "upgrading" his mention with a kind of private floor upstairs, having some kind of caravane, or being homeless"
"let's go with the first option" said Q.
"that's what i thought" completed the designer.
They spent the afternoon talking about design details such as the rooms location in the floor and the general design. The price was never mentioned, but Q knew it would be expensive anyway, that's what happen when the price is not mentioned at the first place, this is the kind of things that didn't changed he thought.
As the night was becoming to flirt with the day, the engineer decided it was time for a break and everyone agreed, and they were invited to a nearby restaurant that was said to have been designed by the said designer's father.
And what a restaurant! The place was small, in fact they had to bend to enter though the arche, but inside it was like a trip to some distant civilisation Q never knew. Some kind of arabic script in gold letter, very elaborated drawing with a clear story.
They walked to a living room where giant jar were serving tea as it was wine, with guest dressed with fine thin tissue, mostly women accompanied with some greassy men with wealthy look. One of the man was lying down on his object breast and the staff was patiently feeding him. "How could he not chock!" though Q.
Then the dining area appeared, instead of private small table as in the living room, a giant long table was in the center, and guest were sharing dishes Q coudn't tell made of what, but looking like real meat (rare thing in the circle) with perfume of orange flower and honey. They were invited to seat at the table and could start to eat immediately. Despite the sharing set up, guest around didn't looked at them directly, and minded their own business, simply lowering their voice.
A room noted "love room" was frequently open and it wasn't hard to understand it was for the proper use of the guest ressources.
Q went to bathroom and was undressed at the "pre" bathroom and led by a model woman to the real bathroom. There he was cleaned and left with a delicate perfume smell on his penis, which made him felt more incomfortable than anything.