The Midnight Sun

Artemis shrugs. "I could send over some of the workers when the repairs on the bar finishes, but that might create undesirable public ties between our two businesses."

She smirks back at Kate. "We're lucky to have each other, believe me."

As Kate hugs her, Artemis returns the embrace warmly. Her tonfas and other innumerable hard objects concealed in her jacket and rigging did not make for a particularly enjoyable experience, however.

"I'll see that it gets done." She pauses, briefly. "That dress does look lovely on you, by the way. She did a wonderful job picking it out."

Her eyes dull as Kate mentions Hasdrubal, and her tone flattens somewhat. "We'll continue to have the garden. We can't stop serving drinks, and we need ingredients. Kevin and some of the other bartenders can process the ingredients into the base solutions, and all of them can mix the drinks from those. Hasdrubal's death completely cripples our advances into new areas, though. We'll have to search for a new research alchemist."

Artemis places her hand on Kate's shoulder. "Rest assured, though, we will continue to require your services. Your place in the Family is secure."

"A new research alchemist... Hmh." Kate seems deep in thought. For a while she just stands there. Finally she lifts her head and smiles. Her mind still seems to be elsewhere. "I need to go. I need to... Assess the... Damages."

Kate gently wipes away Artemis' hand. She turns around and walks over the rubble on the street. Her green dress gets caught in a nail and rips a tear to the skirt. Kate doesn't seem to notice this, as she disappears into her scuffed up shop.

The imp then comes to the startling realization that it is lost. It takes up its newly-made casket and runs off, finds the stairs, and jogs back up to the top, dumping the coffin just in the doorway between the back offices and the main area.

Her mission complete, Artemis proceeds back to the Midnight Sun, taking a circuitous route to avoid any pursuers connecting Kate's store with the Midnight Sun. As she traverses swiftly through the undergrowth of the city, she idly contemplates Kate's actions.

Something felt off about the woman's actions, something that couldn't be explained by the afterglow of getting laid. Particularly after the topic turned to Hasdrubal.

She would have to keep a weather eye on Kate, especially given Naoki's dalliances with her. It wouldn't do for one of her favorite cat's toys to break prematurely, after all.

<Enters from Green's Greens>

Skarlet returns to the Midnight Sun after being missing for 2 days. She was wearing a different set of clothes, her sling for her arm remained. Skarlet's demeanor had changed from her usual gloomy self to happy.

The vampire girl noticed a lot of things different on her way in, she looked around and wondered what she missed. "Jeez, what the fuck happened?"

She had been gone longer than she originally intended, and wasn't sure if anyone was worried about her or what. Skarlet proceeded to Naoki's door and knocked, "Hello? It's Skarlet, I'm back."

A nondescript and unimportant employee wearing a white suit approaches Maelik, holding a small silken pouch in one hand, and a clipboard in the other.

“Sir?”

He consults the clipboard, and butchers the pronunciation of the name signed there.

“Mister… Irate-is…. Ulc-scissor? For your contributions to the refurbishment.”

The employee proffers the pouch to Maelik, and, assuming that the pouch is taken and he isn’t stopped, bows his head respectfully, and leaves.

Inside the pouch are eight items. Seven of them are freshly minted Eclipse tokens, and the eighth is a note, written on a small, square piece of parchment folded in two. It reads as follows.

Mr. Iratus Ulciscor,

I’d like to thank you for your help in repairing the Midnight Sun. Your work is very high quality. We spoke briefly, and you inquired about “assisting in the ‘dangerous person’ department”. I invite you upstairs to my office, so that we might speak the language of business. Take the spiral stairs to the third floor, I’ll meet you there. Show this note to any staff member that stops you.

-Madame Naoki

Maelik would find Madame Naoki standing there in the third-floor hallway, accompanied by Artemis. Naoki is wearing a business suit, the sort with the small tie that falls halfway down one’s chest, leaving the tip of the tie dangling, and the short cuffs. It conveys an air of serious business, with an undertone of mature allure.

Upon catching sight of Maelik as he ascends the stairs, she approaches him, and offers her hand to shake. Her expression is neutral, and doesn’t reveal much about her mood.

“Mr. Iratus Ulciscor? It’s a pleasure to meet you formally. You’ve done a great deal of work for us, and for that I thank you. I’m Madame Naoki, proprietor of this establishment. My office is right this way.”

Gesturing, Madame Naoki leads the way to her office door, which stands ajar. Opening it fully, she gestures again to the visitor chairs in front of her desk. The desk itself is, rarely, not at all cluttered. The only objects that mar the mirror-like ebony surface are a single quill, a small stack of parchment, and a bottle of ink.

After Maelik seats himself, assuming he does, Naoki would take her seat opposite him, and Artemis would stand in the corner after closing the door.

“So, Mr. Ulciscor. You mentioned, if I remember correctly, wanting to offer more formal assistance, specifically regarding security. You also mentioned you had some magical talents. Before I offer you a job, I’d like to hear a bit about yourself. Tell me about yourself.”

Skarlet waited outside the door, she could hear a lot happening on the other side. Once the door finally opened Skarlet entered as invited. "H-hi... the place looks different."

Skarlet looks around at all the documents everywhere before taking a seat. "Oh, I am? Well, thanks I guess. Sorry I've been gone the past two days, I got... distracted."

She looks away and blushes, trying to hide her reddened face with her left hand. She figured she might as well be honest, "I met a guy actually... a really handsome guy~. -Er, I couldn't make it back here because I'd get caught in the sun. I just wanted to explain why I've been gone."

She'd continue after her explanation, bringing up something that's been on her mind,"I'm still anxious about uh... what is it you have planned for me? Surely I'm not just staying in one of your rooms for free out of the kindness of your hearts... I'll do some sort of work for you guys to earn my keep once I'm fully capable!"

Maelik followed the two women to the office and made himself comfortable in his seat. He crossed his legs and bent ever so slightly forward, because even a conniving hate filled psychopathic monster can appreciate a good view when he saw one.

"First off I'd like to say thank you for your time as I know there will be much to do in the near future, so I shall not waste your time any longer than necessary. So bear with me as I formally introduce myself," Maelik said in his most polite tone before grabbing himself by the upper and lower jaws and giving a mighty pull.

From that came a loud snap as the bones were broken and dislocated with his hand widening the gap between the two jaws, though beyond that Maelik made not a peep. Wider and wider he stretched it out until a hazy red light flowed from the crevice, and from there slowly rose the huge helmeted head with eyes glowing crimson and fangs reflecting the lights hue. This continued on until much like a snake that was shedding it old skin Maelik had discarded his disguise to stand in front of his chair in all his terrible glory.
He was the picture of power, his warrior physique coupled with the air of iron fisted authority he exuded was something that he usually wielded to a more devastating effect than his actual weapons. And he threw that image away by roughly grabbing his human skin suit, plopping himself back down into his chair and introducing himself via ventriloquism.

"This dummy here is known as Maelik, Demon Lord of Wrath and Caretaker of the Fifth Circle of Hell. He likes long walks on the beach, affectionate cuddles and word is he's a wonder in the kitchen!"

Maelik flashed a razor toothed smile and dipped his head in a pseudo bow before dropping the skin sack unceremoniously on the ground beside him.

"But please just call me Maelik, an honor and a pleasure to meet you fair madame and loyal butler. I don't make it a habit of revealing myself but I find that honestly makes for a good start when it comes to business. And on the topic of that I'd like to reiterate that I'm here merely for the opportunity to be employed in this wondrous place and not to cause a ruckus or the like."

His taloned feet clicked against the floor once before he lifted himself from the chair once more to perform a great sweeping bow. His tail coiled around is ankles as his wings carried through with the motion, making a grand gesture out of it all. "If you'd prefer I can recount some of my earlier achievements to make myself a better sell, but of course I'm open to whatever questions you may have my lady."