Chapter 17: The Season for Taking

[Toolah "Tuvi" Renee]

Tuvi finds it very generous that Calithin paid for lunch. She was prepared to go half on it with him but its nice to get treated sometimes. "Sure, 8 is fine."

She hesitates before getting in the cab. "Thank you. This was a lovely lunch. I'll have to treat you one day when it doesn't involve business. "

"See you later." She says before stepping into the cab and closing the door.

[Calithin Crest]

"Sounds great. I'm holding you to that. See you soon."

I wave her off as the cab drives away then call one for myself. Once I'm taken back to the office I have a final meeting to attend today, followed by some paper work. Holiday season or not, the show must go on. Work is work.

I finish up all I have to do, make certain that my secretary knows where to reach me in Switzerland in case of an emergency, then head home to get ready for the party.

[Jack O. Trades]

At the sight of the drug his eyes seem to go blank in an instant. He continued smiling but his focus honed in on the leaves within the pack. Reaching a hand out his gloved fingers gripped a single leaf as gently as he could holding it up to the light. Turning it every which way the rest of the world seemed to fade away as he began to inspect the leaf. Drawing in a deep breath his eyes half closed as he breathed in the scent of the item. On a whim he opened his mouth and popped the leaf into it.

As he seemed to chew thoughtfully on the crimson foliage he began to frown as if disappointed by something, only for his eyes to widen. For several minutes he held still, unmoving as a statue. Soon the two goons began to grow suspicious of this and placed their hands on their weapons only to calm as their leader shook his head absently. Licking at his lips he crossed his legs once more as if nothing had happened "Hmm, pretty decent stuff. Fresh, effective." Raising his right hand he snapped his fingers and held it open waiting as the man who had previously been cleaning his gun stood and handed him something the size of a wallet "Very well, numbers. First offer, fifty million for the entire stock." As he recited the number almost neglectfully he slid a pen from a pocket pressing it to the paper within the leather object.

[Capricious Crest]

To Dinari

Capricious arrived at the Manala Mas party earlier than she'd meant to. Of course, she looked spectacular, and had wanted more of an audience to witness her entrance. She sighed as she saw that she was among the first to arrive.

She was also dateless...again. Which was rather unsettling. Since when did she, Capricious Crest, have trouble finding a date?! It was propostrous, complete insanity. She reasoned that she had already dated all the good ones, and was just going through a slump.

Capricious noticed Dinari was also among the people there, and approached him. Something looked different about him...like he was missing something. Had he had a haircut? ...No, that wasn't it. What was it? Because there certainly was something odd. Ah, Tuvi wasn't there.

"Hey Dinari! Wheres your lackey?"

[Tuesday DeCastro]

Tuesday arrived at Hilja's in high spirits. She was really hoping that some of the other rebels showed up, this could be a great oppourtunity to form bonds with other groups. Not to mention Marxmas sounded like a ball of fun! This was her first, she'd never celebrated before, and was really happy Hilja had thought of it.

She knocks at the door and waits to be allowed in.

[Anneli Laukkanen]

Anneli nods and scribbles down a few more things. He's given her much more information than she recieved from Bishop. And Bonifaz didn't commit any crimes, so he'll be able to vacate after she's finished with him.

"Alright, I think we're about done..." She trails off, looking back through her notes, and then looks up at Bonifaz. "Is there anything else you think I need to know?"

[Toolah "Tuvi" Renee]

Once home, Tuvi sends the paperwork off to Dinari's lawyers for them to review. Never hurts to make sure everything is legally spic and span.

Once they finish with it, they will send it to Dinari. Should only take a day. We pay them to be quick afterall...

Once her work is done, she goes to her walk-in closet and starts digging for something appropriate to wear to the Manala Marx party. "I know I had a red dress or something in here...!" She growls in frustration.

[Archer Aylmer]

"Jack! You and I both know... Come ON Jack. Ugh. Your lucky I'm tight for time. This would not fly otherwise. Fine. You got a deal. Conditions: 1) you keep to yourself where you got the Red Leaf, I mean that. And 2) you have to send your boys over to our place to pick the stuff up. We deliver, but we don't deliver. Sound good?"

I take out a piece of paper and a pen out of my pocket and scribble some things down, handing it over to Jack.

"That's the address on top where you can come for the drugs, and the account you can wire the cash to on bottom. Call me once you've sent the money, I'll check it out to make sure everything is legit, then give you the go ahead to have your boys come over."

[Jack O. Trades]

With a grunt he recrossed his legs twirling a pen in his fingers "Not enough, very well ten billion." As he wrote down the number once more he closed an eye seeming to fall silent as his hand began to tighten around his pen. After one would hear the soft sounds of something cracking only for the pen in his hand to snap into several pieces "Oh....I'm lucky...?" With a soft laugh he smiled gently first. Only for the laugh to get louder as he leaned forward pressing a small button beneath his seat, a mechanical whirring could be heard from the wall.

Finally it grew into a full out cackling as the halls echoed sounding as if there were several of him. With a raised hand he snapped his fingers and the two men present in the room looked to their boss only to stand, one aiming a machine gun, the other bringing out a pistol. After he snapped several men began coming from the halls brandishing guns of various sorts. And in an instant he fell silent.

As he sat on his chair legs crossed he gave off an almost silent polite chuckle. Standing up slowly he raised his leg pressing it to the wood table. With a simple grunt the wooden table snapped in half reaching into a jacket "Now, that was rude. Haven't you ever heard of compromise?

With a bark of laughter he raised his leg kicking the pack off in a random direction ignoring the leaves that had fallen leaving his side to the two only to twirl around with a bit of a flourish, a handgun resting in his hand aimed for the one who had insulted him so "Ya come into my humble little getaway, asking a favor" He motions with the gun to the one who had taken the coffee "Accepting my offer of hospitality....and you think to rush me, and snub a tidy lil opening offer?"

With an absent minded shrug a broad smile went across his face his eyes glittering as if he was privy to a grand joke "Now....I have seventy billion here, alone. I could sprinkle that amongst the lawn" Raising his fingers he made a slight motion as if pinching off seeds to the ground "And set all of it ablaze. Now, that platform doesn't come down except for a switch - that only I'm privy to, thanks to the capturing of scientists" With an exaggerated shrug he rolled his eyes " They did well...hindsight almost a shame I used them for a game of operation"

With another shrug he began to pace between the two who he wished to kill, though for business ethics probably would not be a good idea, and the fifteen men aiming guns "And the second my heart stops, this place goes up in a mushroom. Heh mushroom......" Giggling insanely for a second he turned about with a large friendly smile "Now, I wouldn't think twice about shooting you both in the stomach and leaving you down here to die with you're intestines missing.." Blinking twice his face brightened with excitement his lips spreading out in a toothy grin "Or....... I could just shoot you both in the knees, saw off your legs and test out my new pet project which would leave ya with a grin."

Standing ram rod straight he folded his arms behind his back his tongue running out between his lips to lap at his scars once "Or...as colleagues....make offers and counter offers till we can agree on a nice respectable sum....." Bringing his right arm around slowly he aimed the gun at the seated man pulling the hammer back slowly " and thank you're lucky stars that I'm a man of my word. You're choice" As he began to speak his lips spread into a wide smile, his lips spread wide to the point it was surprising his scarred lips didn't rip open, and for those with a sharp eye would notice his finger on the trigger twitching

[Calithin Crest]

I pick out a nice blue suit for myself and spend what some might consider an inordinate amount of time fixing my hair in the mirror. After placing one last phone call to the office to make sure everything is running smoothly I head over to what is... Actually Dinari's house I guess.

I walk up to the door and ring the bell. As I wait to be let in I look down at my nice black shoes. It's the shoes that make the outfit.

[Archer Aylmer]

"I can't stand all this..."

I motion to the grand spectacle that has now erupted in the room. I look around at all of the mindless men with guns and feel considerably shaken. More so than this though, I am annoyed. I frown and narrow my eyes intensely as I bring my gaze back to Jack.

"Such a spectacle, and what for? Stop being dramatic. I don't know what you think you're threatening with all this. My life? Whatever. Kill me if you want, I assure you I will be very much the same. I have no values and that includes valuing any and all life."

I take a deep breath and cross my arms over my chest. This may not be the smartest thing to say in such an unfortunate situation, but I don't care. I mean it. I cannot stand pretense and this is all very obnoxious and unnecessary.

"I didn't come here for this. I came here to make you a deal. You want the drugs. Fan. Tast. Ic. You know the street value for that type of quality is 80 mil, minimum. You're doing me a favor, sure. But don't low ball me. You know how things go in our line of work. Be reasonable. Sit down. Do you smoke?"

I pull out a pack of cigarettes from my pocket and hold it out to Jack.

"Let's do business. We're all in this together, my man. This is not the time to burn bridges. I meant no offense. Besides, I think Heikki is about to pass out. He's sensitive. Not use to this sort of thing. Sorry sorry. Apologies. I just... Hate amusement parks. Alot. Mia culpa."

[Toolah "Tuvi" Renee]

"One second!"

Tuvi checks herself out in the mirror. The red dress she finally dug out of her massive closet looked great on her. She takes a peek at her perfect appearance again before jogging to the door and opening it for Calithin.

"Ello... you look good." Tuvi says, smiling.

[Calithin Crest]

"Yeahhh! You do too. I like the red. Very festive and appropriate. High fives for general hotness."

I hold my hand up for her to high five but as I do so notice the time on the watch clasped to my wrist.

"Oh wow. We're late. We. Are. Late. We better get to teleporting. You know how those people are about punctuality."

[Jack O. Trades]

As he held the gun still for a moment listening to the man speak he grinned once more "Good to know you can take a joke." Sliding the gun into a holster within his jacket he hummed quietly to himself waving the men behind him to stand down as well as waving off the offer of a cigarette. Taking a seat into the large arm chair once more a small smirk played across his face as he brought out the small book once more and began writing down somthing once more "What people...value, or care about....doesn't really matter. What does matter is..."

Raising his eyes from the book he pointed it at the man licking his lips once more "Courtesy. We're all crooks and sneaks here, doesn't mean we can't act civil." Finishing his little note he closed the book to toss it over to the man "There, account number for an initial ninety mill." With a wave of his hand he motioned towards the bag he had kicked "For that. Will settle the rest for three bill to the account, will go for pick up and everyone's happy"

[Archer Aylmer]

I put the cigarettes back in my pocket and sigh. You could really knock me over with a feather. People can say what they may about Jack, but I get it. No one understands what it's like to live within our line of work. I smile graciously and put my hand out for Jack to shake.

"You've got yourself a deal, mister."

I stand up, keeping my hand extended, and shoot Heikki a reassuring glance. He must be two seconds away from fainting or crying or both.