Of Suits and Mohawks

[Harlequin]

The library didn\'t have what she\'d needed, and the meeting with the Vampire had done nothing more than unsettle her in a very real way. She needed answers, not riddles.

The one useful piece of information she\'d found had been at Risk – when she\'d visited, once, after their show, on a whim. She had only stayed long enough to find out the location of the Chambers of the Oligarchy.

And she looked up at that building now, looming up from the ground like a beautiful puzzle. Straddling her stripped-down Harley Davidson as she finished her last cigarette, Ami silently contemplated the task she was about to undertake, gazing up at this lavish temple of law.

Ami hated law, and she didn\'t have an appointment.

When the smell of the cigarette filter burning reached her nose, she sighed and dropped it to the ground, grinding it out with a heel before  approaching the building, still looking resolutely upward. She jammed one hand into the back pockets of her tight-fitting jeans and ran the other through her short black hair.

Lost in though, her shoulder collided painfully with something quite solid, and she stepped back from the force, snapping back to reality with her mouth open, intending to berate whoever she\'d just run into – despite the fact that it had been entirely her fault.

She shut her mouth, however, when she saw that that something was wearing a very dapper suit.

[Existentially Odd]

Tau scowled down at the wildly-presented woman that had just smacked into him, surprised that she hadn\'t seen him. Yes, he moved quietly, but he wasn\'t exactly small so he was not impressed that he\'d been almost swayed off his course - home - by someone.  His nostrils flared as he came to a stop and glowered down at her, scenting her very human nature and becoming instantly wary.

Meetings with the Luminary were always daunting - especially when it was being pointed out to him that one of the shifters in his care might have been caught shifting on video tape and it was now his job to hunt the footage down before the mortal who had it did something stupid like sold it to news crews - and his mood was agitated.  He didn\'t look lightly on the fact that they\'d physically collided (he was a cat, for the Gods\' sakes; his reflexes were supposedly impeccable... as long as he wasn\'t distracted by his own thoughts) and anger flared.

"What\'s the big idea?  Where are you going?" he growled, his voice deep and menacing.  Coupled with piercing blue eyes and the smooth lines of the charcoal grey suit (with blue tie) he wore, he certainly looked the part of a very together person.  Of course, his dark curls were slightly longer than business like and his chiselled features - covered with an early layer of dark facial hair - somewhat contradicted the professional appearance he had.  She would be unlikely to notice that in the dark, though.

Impatiently, the Oligarch shifted the briefcase he held from his right hand to his left, simply because the pent up energy inside him demanded movement constantly.

[Harlequin]

If he was put-together, then Ami was most certainly taken-apart in her tight jeans, and white T-shirt. Of course, the t-shirt was hidden by her studded leather jacket, which also, mercifully, hid her sleeve tattoo. The beaten copper stag\'s mask tied at her hip certainly didn\'t help her image, though.


Almost as taken aback as he was, Ami bristled, opening her mouth to tell him that her destination was none of his goddamn business, in exactly those words. Taking a second to evaluate the situation, however, she said simply, "Inside." The word was terse, wary, and her tone brooked no argument.

She jammed her other hand in her back pocket and tossed her head, looking for the Oligarch tattoo on his neck – only to find it hidden beneath his curly hair  – under the pretense flicking a stray piece of hair from her eyes, before directing her gaze slightly upward – looking frankly into his face. "You an Oligarch?" she asked, then, straight up. No pretense, no joking around.

[Existentially Odd]

He stiffened, nostrils flaring visibly as he took another sniff of her (this time less subtly).  She was definitely just human, how did she know of the Oligarchy and those that helped run it, at all?

"What\'re you going inside for?" he glowered, ignoring the question in order to establish a bit more about her.  She already knew he was an Oligarch, so although he didn\'t answer her query, it was apparent that she certainly had the upper hand in the knowledge stakes.

Mortals had been killed for hearing less.

[Harlequin]

Once more, the young woman bit back an acidic response. Jaw tense, she eyed the other. After a moment\'s consideration, she chose to give him an answer – despite the fact that he hadn\'t offered her the same. How generous. "Looking for an appointment," she said, "That against the law?"

And it occured to her suddenly that it just might be. She didn\'t know the rules of this world – though, to tell the truth, she\'d never had much use for rules of any kind, when it came to getting what she wanted; though, in this case, Ami acknowledged that she did not hold the power in this darker, scarier world. She respected that – if just enough to keep her alive.

Or so she thought.

If Ami had the upper hand, she certainly wasn\'t aware of it. She knew she had him on the defensive – but then, she had that effect on people, especially if she wanted something from them.

[Existentially Odd]

"An appointment with who?  And what for?" Tau demanded, sensing that he should probably act the part of an Oligarch and do some screening.  If this woman waltzed into the hotel and she knew about what she was getting into - but Halen didn\'t know of her - there\'d be Hell to pay.  If there was a supernatural behind her knowledge that the Luminary also wasn\'t aware of, that supernatural would likely do the paying on her behalf.

It was all a bit complicated but, boiled down to bare essentials, the shifter knew he shouldn\'t let a mortal stroll into the Chambers without understanding what her goal was.  If he knew, he could possibly dissuade her and she\'d likely live; if she went in with the attitude he was seeing in the line of her features, she probably wouldn\'t.  Something in the timbre of her voice also caused him to be wary, for though she spoke toughly, his animal instincts clanged with the thought that she was being defensive.

The only reason a person was defensive was either they knew they were doing the wrong thing or they were being attacked... and she wasn\'t being attacked.  Yet.

[Harlequin]

With his words, it struck Ami that she actually had no idea of what, exactly, she was going to do once she got into the building. Nobody had told her, really, what to do. Just where it was, and the basic idea of how it was run. She\'d assumed it was like any other government building – go in, get an appointment with some faceless official, get the resources you needed, and get out.

"No one specific," she said, slowly, in answer to the first part of his question, "Need to know somethin\'." Then, she added, "Or a few somethin\'s," she amended.

Then, eying him up and down, face impassive, she asked in a measured tone "Could you help me with that?"

[Existentially Odd]

Tau\'s lips pressed together and he looked her over thoughtfully.  The alarm bells were still ringing in his head, no other goal but keeping her from entering the ornate lobby occurring to him.  Although he was still learning as far as this Oligarchy and responsibility thing was going - and then he\'d missed a good chunk of training when his brother had acted up at the beginning, decided he was sick of city life already and returned to the wilderness permanently, which had further unsettled Tau - he knew enough to keep his cards close to his chest.  The establishment\'s, as well as his own.

"I probably could - though I may not be permitted to do so," he told her honestly, bright blue eyes meeting hers intently.  "I do know that if you barge in there and start asking for appointments randomly, without a decent story behind you, you\'re likely not to walk out again, though."  He wasn\'t trying to intimidate her, so he didn\'t put a lot of emotion into the words, still sticking with the facts.

[Harlequin]

For a moment, doubt flickered in her dark eyes, and her gaze slid from his face. It was only a fraction of a second, though. Almost invisible. But it was enough.

A breath escaped her lips, and her eyes fixed back on his. "They\'d kill me," she said, "For asking questions." It wasn\'t a question; Ami was simply confirming what he\'d already said. It felt odd to say it, after all this time. She\'d thought she\'d shaken the fear of death. Grown out of it.

"I need to know how to protect myself. My friends," She said quickly. Didn\'t want to give herself time to fall to pieces, "I just –" she paused, sighing, and bit down on the inside of her lip. Suck it up.  She inhaled deeply through her nose, as if to physically swallow her pride, "Will you help me?"

The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem

[Existentially Odd]

Helping her and her friends... it sounded complicated and messy but Tau had already decided he\'d need to take the plunge on this one.  If he could get some information from her and relay it to Halen, it would give him points of favour.  Hell, he\'d already talked to her more than he had most of his Oligarch compatriots (the phrases and colloquialisms of the Oligarchy having leaked into his being through the numerous meetings he\'d attended, however, making him far more of a conversationalist than he\'d been months ago, when he\'d arrived in the city), so he might as well continue in kind.

"Alright," he told her gruffly, glancing around them, as if a spy might already be staring at them and plotting his downfall, before he could relay any information whatsoever.  The Oligarchy had many spies, he knew.

He looked back at the wild-looking human after he\'d ascertained that there wasn\'t anyone observing them; just his own paranoia.  "We should go somewhere else.  Where do you want to go?" he demanded, thinking that it probably wasn\'t very appropriate for him to take her back to his very simple little apartment.  If she named the place they should travel to, she might also feel more secure and tell him more, so he felt leaving it as her choice was appropriate.

[Harlequin]

Shady meetings – this was familiar territory; and she chose neutral ground. "Meadowcrest." she said, refusing to indulge in the moment of surprise she felt at being given a choice "Can you hike in that?" she asked, indicating his suit with a jerk of her chin.

She chose the place becasue it was the most discreet, in her still-limited knowledge of this city. From what he\'d told her so far, he was putting himself at risk, and the last thing she wanted was trouble from his high-powered buddies.

She removed one hand from a pocket and jerked it through her limp, dark hair, making the short strands stick up in all directions before she flattened it again with another impatient gesture. Hand falling to her side, her fingers drummed on her thigh as she waited for an answer.

[Existentially Odd]

"I\'ll manage," he told her, his expression deadpan but his voice hinting at a touch of wryness.  He wondered what she\'d make of him if he turned into a cougar once they got there, to fully enjoy the surrounds, but that would certainly limit their conversation down to nothing.  And he was already unsure of how much talking they\'d do, anyway.

"Let\'s go," he said briskly, setting off in the direction he knew the woods to be in, expecting her to follow his long-legged pace.  He considered the fact that they probably shouldn\'t be seen leaving the premises together, even if they weren\'t going to be followed, but he was too impatient for his own good.  He just wanted to get this business over with so he could go home and relax.

[Harlequin]

Ami did not, in fact, follow, but called out to him, "You want to take my bike? It\'s faster." She sighed, and jogged a bit to catch up with him, "Less chance of being seen."

She wouldn\'t mind the walk, but either way, there wasn\'t a chance in hell she was leaving her bike parked outside a strange building. Knowing authority, they\'d likely have it towed for looking a little rough.

\'Rough\' was a relative term, in this case; to anyone who rode like a normal, sane person, the term \'Deathtrap\' would come more readily to mind, just to look at the stripped-down bike. It was a dependable machine, though, and two could fit on it in relative comfort.

[Existentially Odd]

Tau blinked from her to the bike and back again, almost robotically.  He didn\'t have a whole lot to do with transport machines and certainly couldn\'t drive or ride.  It was an intriguing prospect.

"Okay," he agreed and set off in her wake, not having the slightest clue of the logistics of doubling on a motorbike.  When they got to the vehicle, he stood quietly by, watching her for a clue as to what he should do, making no move to get on.

[Harlequin]

Ami straddled the bike in one fluid motion, gripping the handlebars as she rocked it off the stand and kickstarted the engine. After a moment of idling, she looked over at him, slightly puzzled. "Are you coming?" she asked, scooting forward on the seat a bit further, "I don\'t have a helmet," she added, "But I\'ll try not to turn you into hamburger," she deadpanned, eyebrow raised, as she waited for him to get on behind her.

It didn\'t occur to her just yet that he might not have any idea of what to do. Having ridden for so long, and with so many different people, it was difficult for Ami to imagine somebody not knowing what to do, here.