290/Business Hours - Work Complete

Business Hours - Work Complete
Date of Scene:	23 August 2023
Location:	The Book Nook, Juuban Ward
Synopsis:	Coffee and laptops in the totally-not-extra-dimensional-bookstore.
Cast of Characters:	Kiseru, Kyouka Inai

---

Kiseru has posed:
    Kyouka gave her card to the owner of the bookstore. She received a call as a result. The message was simple. "I have what you asked for. Come by when you have the chance, will you?"

    Kiseru promised she'd have the information in a week or less. The message was left three days after the initial request. Whatever else she may be, she is someone keeps her word and comes through for her clients. The shop is noticeably less smokey today than it was on Saturday. It's also different. Before it was an alchemist's laboratory, or a secret library, or a display of antiquities and lost relics, all for sale... For the right price.

    Today, the inside of the Book Nook is more like a coffee shop. Enough so that someone who didn't know better might think they had walked into the wrong store, since there's an actual cafe across the plaza from the bookstore. It's open, uncluttered, with comfortable-looking seats and boots alongside wall-length windows that look out onto city streets that are decidedly different from the Tokyo that the expected visitor just stepped out of.

    It's overcast and raining, according to the view through the windows. Little streams flow along the gutters and into the storm drains, the windows have droplets running down them from when the wind blowing outside carries them beneath the roof's overhang.

    A storm, blustery, rainy, cool day in some place that is definitely not the Tokyo of the present. It looks like the same neighborhood, the same buildings, the same time period (August 23rd, 2023), just... Not the 'normal' Tokyo.

    Well, whatever. It's magic. This kind of thing happens. If it's an illusion it probably costs mana to maintain. If it's not... That speaks to either massive amounts of mana to fuel casual dimensional shifts, or a skill at doing so that requires little or no effort at all.

    It is, as with many things about the Kiseru Lady, a mystery, but one that people who don't know the first goddamn thing about magic don't even notice, and the ones who know enough just accept.

    It's the inside, however, that is the center of this meeting. And it is a very comfortable place, with the smell of coffee on the air instead of smoke, and pastries on display, and lamps and comfortable chairs to sit on so that one can read while one drinks one's beverage of choice and just chills out and hangs out.

    And behind the counter, the Kiseru Lady waits. Her Kiseru is in hand, but unlit. She is tapping away at a laptop, of all things, wheneveer Kyouka enters. She looks up, meets gazes, and smiles her mysterious smile. "Constable~." she teases. Is this going to be a thing? Calling Kyouka something different every time she comes here? That's either going to be annoying or endearing. Maybe both. Maybe neither. The purpose of the visit isn't social.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka doesn't show the first day she gets the message- it's hard to say why. She has other commitments, other demands on her time. But that doesn't mean she doesn't think this is important, and it's the next afternoon, the fourth day, that she enters the shop. Which makes it all the more impressive that the Kiseru lady seems to be expecting her. She didn't call ahead or anything. She just showed up.

    She doesn't seem to find the shifted interior strange, her levels of exposure to the magical and mystical rendering rather jaded to something that a mundane (or even a newer magical girl) might find fascinating or startling. She does glance around with mild interest from behind her sunglasses though- she seems to approve of this guise, perhaps a bit more than the last. She's not much of a reader- coffee, on the other hand, is something she is very fond of.

    She walks right over to the counter, tilting her head in an imaginary tip-of-the-hat when she is greeted by the title which is definitely not hers. "Unelected." She reminds the other woman, with a quirked smile. "Freelance, perhaps, you might say. Your message said you had what I was looking for." She leans her elbow on the countertop. "I'm practically aquiver with anticipation to see if your skills remain as vaunted as your reputation."

Kiseru has posed:
    "Mmm." is the Kiseru Lady's unconvinced response. "Well, Inai-san, I wouldn't want to keep you waiting in antici..." She turns the laptop around. It's literally made of Dark Energy, but it's structured like an actual laptop. Solid, with circuits, and a fan, and all the rest. Like someone just dunked the parts in Dark Energy and let it dry rather than some pulsing amalgam of malice, corruption, or rotten eggs. On the screen, such as it is, are some verrrrrrry interesting things. "...pation." she finishes.

    Tokyo's electrical grid. Some sort of silvery writing encrypted in a language of constellations. Expense reports in Japanese, English, Arabic, French, Spanish, Afrikaans... All from different Obsidian subsidiaries in the appropriate parts of the world. An inventory report for a Beryl Holdings warehouse, listing what's still salvageable after a lightning bolt struck it and blew up the interior (yeah, right).

    Also, Western astrological symbols, and Eastern Zodiac symbols arranged on a map of Tokyo at various locations.

    "I present to you, the Midnight Tokyo Project." she gestures dramatically as she pours some coffee. "Or what I could get of it anyway. Would you like some?"

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka might be a little antsy from being around so much Dark Energy. She feels it like an oily sheen in the air, smells it like a foul scent- not like garbage or rotting flesh, but more like burning oil or mildew- mild, tolerable, but unpleasant. Yet even so, she manages to appear at ease- though it's a carefully cultivated act, one Kiseru may be able to see through to some degree. But it's not going to stop her.

    She looks at the laptop screen, her lips quirking to the side in a thoughtful expression. She notes all the astrological language, the encryption and the zodiac signs. After a moment, she glances back up. "You're sure this is related to Midnight Tokyo?" She asks, glancing down at the screen again. "Not that I doubt your thoroughness. It's just.. not quite what I expected. Not that I'm sure what I expected, exactly, anyway."

    "Speaking of, do you have a copy of this I can have?" She gestures to the screen. "In.. y'know, a data format I can use on a regular computer?" She summons a smirk. "Yours isn't exactly compatible with the one I have back at the office."

Kiseru has posed:
    "Yes. Intelligence can be gleaned from the records in mundane, modern languages. Detective work, traffic analysis... Finding out why they need money for this, if someone was trying to get rid of evidence at the warehouse... But translation is more than just information retrieval. That is a separate job entirely." She then places her hand on top of the negaverse-style laptop, continues to smile pleasantly, and answers the question posed to her of if she can provide a form of this compatible with normal computers. Or even magically-enhanced ones that aren't Dark Energy.

    "I do." she answers cheerfully. Then she closes the lid and pulls the laptop off the counter. Leaning forward, the Kiseru Lady says, "But first, we should discuss payment, shouldn't we?" It is not the laptop that returns to the counter, but her little red book, and her quill pen. Her fingers find the right page without even looking, and she recites them without reading. "Kyouka-san: Information request, Saturday, August 19th, 2023 CE. Delivery Dae: One week or less. Completed as of Tuesday, August 22nd, etc. etc. Payment: Pending."

    "So." she says casually, and just looks at Kyouka with her smokey gray eyes. Her kiseru has returned to her hand. Then she just waits as she lights the pipe and tucks the not-burny end between her lips. The smoke smells like hot chocolate with marshmallows somehow once she breathes it out. "I gave you a look before requesting payment, so that you would know I had what you want. For anything else, including further work, I need compensation. Yes, even if it endangers the city or the world or whatever." She tilts her head and says apologetically. "I am a professional, and this is my profession."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka nods her head to the answer. She figured as much, that this information would be provided in a form she could actually use, but it was nice to have confirmation. Then the topic of payment arises. This is not a shock to her either- she was expecting it. She knows the deal here, and also knows that nobody does anything for free. Especially not people who are running a business. Especially a business like this.

    Still, she knows how to play the game. She heaves a dramatic sigh, leaning her elbow on the counter again. "Yes, of course. Heaven forbid you do a good deed for the sake of the city, or anything. Then again, I shouldn't really judge. I get a paycheck too." Not... exactly for doing this, but certainly 'helping to save the city' is within the bounds of her expected duties.

    "You came through." She acknowledges. "I'm.. not exactly sure what I'm going to do with this information, but I'll trust you that it's legit, and it's more than I had before, which was basically nothing. So.." She quirks her brows. "Name your price. What do I owe you, to get to take this trove home with me and try and figure it out?"

Kiseru has posed:
    The game they play. It's almost ritual for two veterans. The hero who reclutantly deals with the profit-driven merchant, the merchant who will certainly help the hero but wants those efforts not to be for nothing. The interplay of, 'If the world ends, your money will be meaningless!' 'And if I give you this, and you save the world, I'll be penniless!' That banter. A bit outdated for Kiseru though, so she gets to the point. She is not some scoundrel with a soft spot for nerfherding or a fantasy barwench with a heart of gold and the grace of a drunken mule.

    "A Grief Seed. As close to fully used as possible without going over the limit."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka considers this. If she considers it a steep price, she doesn't indicate so, but rather seems like she might be inclined to haggle. Then again, what's she going to do, say 'half a Grief Seed'? They both know it doesn't work that way. "That's not something I just keep on hand." She points out, without indicating one way or another whether she is going to protest or agree. "You'd have to give me some time."

    "I can probably get one, but it's going to take finding one of my Puella contacts and negotiating with them for it. Couple of days, at least."

    She smiles, putting on her most charming face. "I don't suppose you'll let me leave with anything until I pay up, hmm?"

Kiseru has posed:
    Kiseru smiles sweetly and in her most charming voice says, "I'll accept a promissory note in place of the item this time, but it will be magically enforced. If you are fine with a geas being placed upon you, and the consequences that go with that, you can have a copy of the information." Fairly reasonable, all things considered. She looks back to her little red book, and flips to somewhere in the back. For such a small book it seems to have a lot of pages... Yeah, probably magically infinite. The usual. The Kiseru Lady writes up the details, all in some form of Gaelic (or Goidelic, if you prefer), and then tears it from the book to place it before Kyouka.

    After rotating the paper so it faces her, Kiseru asks, "Do you require a translation?" She also offers her pen, if desired. "If you would rather have a third-party come read it to you, I'll wait."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka considers this offer for a moment.. tilting her head to the side. "That's very generous of you.. but I'd prefer to avoid that. If I can." She smiles a lopsided smile. "Not that I don't trust you. But I don't like having magical compellments placed upon me when it's not an absolutely dire situation. Which this isn't... yet." She glances at the promisory note placed in front of her, and taps it with a finger. "Hold onto that. If it takes me longer to secure a seed than I think it will, I might have to take you up on it."

    "As it stands, I think I can get one pretty quickly. In which case, I'll be back with it, and I'll take the information without the accompanying geas." She smiles sweetly. "A much cleaner deal for both of us, I think."

Kiseru has posed:
    The unaging, always-beautiful, always calm and understanding proprietess of the Book Nook (such a quaint name for a place that deals in such unquaint business), bows her head slightly and withdraws the contract. "I hope it will not be necessary then. I do not care for others having power over me either, to be honest. It is why I generally insist on payment first. Contract magic is dangerous, which is also why I write a geas in Old Gaelic, a summoning in High Arcadian, and the like." She is looking... Very meaningfully into Kyouka's sunglasses-covered eyes. Like 'read between the lines' meanginful.

    Hmming thoughtfully, she does add on a little something more overt. "Do you know much about Astrological Magic? If not, it might be useful to do some research on it. Fascinating form of sorcery, even if very, very old. Perhaps it will be useful when you have what you desire."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "Hunny, I don't know much about anything other than how to punch people and how to work an angle." Kyouka says with another lopsided smile. "But part of that last one comes with knowing a lot of people. I recognize star-signs when I see them, even if I have no idea how a ritual like that might actually work.. but I'm pretty sure that I can find somebody to help me puzzle it out. Or rather, tell me who needs to get shanked to stop it. I suppose that's the really important part."

    She straightens up from the counter. "Either way, this is definitely valuable information, and I don't regret coming to you." She meets that gaze solidly, sincere in her thanks. "I'll get you your payment. Day or two, tops. I have several Puella training under me at the school. Just hang onto that information... and watch yourself out there, huh?" A little grin. "I have a feeling the folks at Obsidian are getting pretty steamed at me just about now."

Kiseru has posed:
    The Kiseru Lady straightens up, putting her little red book and quill pen away. "You and me both," she says with a laugh. "Coffee before you go?" It's already in a cup with a lid. The ones with the drinking spout, designed so that it doesn't spill easily. "Black, but you can add whatever you like to it from the selection." She gestures with her kiseru further down the counter and then brings the pipe back to her lips to draw in and breathe out another puff of hot-chocolate smoke. She's aiming it away from Kyouka, but still. Chocolate is chocolate.