The Midnight Sun

As Calico presents the terms of his proposed deal, Madame Naoki’s eyebrows undertake a journey up her forehead.

Forty thousand gold. That’s a sizable sum.. Her left eyebrow elevates slightly.

Twenty percent stake? That’s outright outrageous. Her right eyebrow matches the left, and the two climb further together.

As he details the changes he would like to see made to the atmosphere, the two eyebrows climb even further together, reaching new heights with each proposed alteration. By the time he has finished, Madame Naoki’s eyebrows are practically floating above her head.

Once he is finished, Naoki’s face returns to its default, flat expression as she considers silently how to handle the situation.

Accepting the terms he just proposed, changes and all, is out of the question. Not only is a twenty percent cut far, far too high, his proposed alterations would obliterate business as The Midnight Sun knew it.

That left two options. Either negotiating for a more favorable deal, or, alternatively, tossing him out her office right then and there.
Madame Naoki seriously considers both options. The man didn’t seem like a skilled negotiator, nor a self-made businessman. She surmised that his fortune was made on some lucky break, such as getting another business to agree to terms as favorable for him as the ones he just proposed, or perhaps he had inherited his wealth. With her very particular set of skills, she was confident that she could convince Mr. Swartz into a deal that would at least be fair.

However. She was already in a bad mood. Who is this bird-brain to come in here and propose he get 20% of her attention, much less 20% of The Midnight Sun’s profits.

"A fool and his money are soon parted":A proverb proven millions of times over, by the very existence of The Midnight Sun. Madame Naoki decides that she will continue negotiations, but only if Calico responds favorably to some of her stimulation.

As if on cue, the lights in the room dim, almost imperceptibly. The atmosphere shifts, from a clean, professional air of business, to something ever so slightly more… mature. Madame Naoki’s expression and body language change as well, the smallest of smirks, the slight tilt of the head. None of these changes should be major enough to garner conscious notice, intended merely to appeal to Calico’s... subconscious; to grease the wheels of negotiation in Naoki’s favor.

“Hmm.” she mocks contemplation. “Yes, let’s… negotiate.”
If one observing the conversation derived meaning based solely on enunciation, they might think that Naoki had just proposed something very indecent.
“To start off with, I’m not convinced on your proposed changes… This place is already very successful as it is, and I’m not sure that trying to appeal to the upper class would result in increased profits.”

Naoki’s smirk grew. He was indeed, responding favorably. It’s hard to read his face, but his body language seems accentuated, as if to compensate.

“You raise a good point, we aren’t currently getting much patronage from the wealthy upper class. However, I believe that any changes of that scope to this establishment would be ultimately detrimental.”

She mocks contemplation again, resting her chin in her hand, maintaining eye contact with Calico.

“I think the upper class is still something we can pursue, though. Here’s my idea. Instead of transforming The Midnight Sun here, what if we founded a new establishment, in a more favorable location, with your vision of appealing to the upper class? I would be able to manage the business administration side of things, and you would provide the funding and atmosphere management in exchange for a fair share of the profits.”

“Are you inviting me out to a coffee shop?”

She chuckles softly, almost a purr.

“I’m afraid I must decline for the time being. I’ve got a lot going on this week, I’m actually attending a funeral tomorrow…”

Madame Naoki trails off, a trace of sorrow creeping into her tone, her face faltering for a moment. She snaps back quickly, and continues.

“Perhaps another day, though. I’m sure we'll be seeing a lot of eachother, if this all works out well. For now, let’s discuss the specifics. A lot of things will need to be ironed out, such as the location of this new business, the name, how it will be run…”

Over the course of the next couple of hours, Madame Naoki and Calico discuss the specifics of their business arrangement. They decide that they will, in the coming week, tour the existing businesses of The Free City, and evaluate them to potentially purchase one to shape into Calico’s vision. If no suitable candidates are found, they will co-found a new establishment, and build Calico’s vision of a high-class bar from the ground up.

<Enter from A Graveyard>

Madame Naoki returns to the premises of The Midnight Sun in far worse condition than when she left. The veil she once wore has since been discarded, lost somewhere along the street. Her previously clean and well-fitting black dress is now wrinkled. One of the straps hangs off her shoulder, and the hem has been dirtied by the freshly dug dirt that would have covered Hasdrubal’s grave. Additionally, it has since begun to rain, causing the garment to fit her body more tightly than was originally intended.
Aware of her appearance, Naoki opts to enter through the back door.

 A click as the lock disengages, allowing her access to the Employees Only area. Up the stairs she goes, holding the hem of her dress up, as not to step on it.

All the way up, to the third floor, and from there, directly into her office. After waiting for Artemis, if Artemis were to follow her, she shuts the door, and throws all the locks. As she is sliding the bolts into place, she winces. Naoki’s hand was still very sore from the punch she threw earlier. Her right hand too, she wouldn’t be able to write.

As the implications of this sink in, she sighs, and curses Hasdrubal for the upteenth time. This would be a lingering anger, she could tell.

There wasn’t anything that got her quite as mad as when one of her companions deliberately worked against her. She could cope with loss, accept failure, or live with a sub-optimal decision. Those sorts of things couldn’t be helped. As so long as they gave it their best, there wasn’t much more that could be done.

But betrayal. Betrayal truly aggravated Madame Naoki. Not only the act itself, but what it implied. Betrayal stated outright that the companion wasn’t entirely loyal to Naoki, and implied that she wasn’t worthy of that person’s loyalty.

Hasdrubal had been there since the inception of the modern Midnight Sun; a significant number of years by this point. He had kept mostly to himself, and she hadn’t had very many personal discussions with him, not nearly as many as she has had with the likes of Cresno, or Screwtape. Perhaps that was why he didn’t respect her, she mused. Perhaps he just didn’t know her well enough to truly respect her.

That was a problem that she would have to fix. As soon as she stopped wanting to forcefully stuff him into that coffin, that is.

Having finished locking the door, she turns, and notices a box on her desk. Approaching it, she peers in the top to see the contents. Clothing. Specifically, Kate’s clothing, that she had left behind on that eventful night. It was now cleaned and folded neatly, along with some of her own laundry, and left in this laundry box on her desk, as was routine.

It usually didn’t take quite so long for the laundry to cycle, however. The staff have been pretty busy over the past week, and it was correct to prioritize repairs over such things as laundry, she thought.

However, the sight of the apron has a profound effect on Madame Naoki’s mood. A… pleasant effect, she decided.
The clothes would need to be returned as soon as possible. She could easily send Artemis or some other ununiformed member of staff to deliver them right now. Or, alternatively…

Madame Naoki’s lips break into a silent smirk, her plan formulated. Leaving the box on her desk, she retreats to her room, where she would sleep easily, visions of tomorrow dancing in her dreams.

Once again, Akaisen found himself in The Midnight Sun. Though instead of ordering a ridiculously large and potent alcohol like he had during his last visit, he instead sat quietly by one of the tables and made a careful mental note of the in's and out's of The Midnight Sun's operation. Specifically, he seemed interested in the regulars; the strange few who found themselves frequenting the establishment.

In addition, he also kept an eye on the strangers. The ones who looked out of place, the ones who seemed like they didn't belong. Of course, none of this snooping was obvious; he went about it in a very 'quietly drunk' manner, often appearing asleep, or incoherently mumbling to himself with glazed eyes. He hoped no-one would pay the strange man sat on his own any attention, for explaining himself would be extremely embarrassing.

A voice wafted out from the room behind the door. "Come in, come in!"

Assuming that the door was opened and the gentleman outside chose to enter, Reese would stand up from his chair and offer his hand.

"Mr. Ulciscor, is it? It's a pleasure. My name is Reese, Reese Cresno, but I've been known to respond to such things as 'Bones', 'Ol' Ribsy', and 'Skullface'."

Reese noted the impressive hat being sported, one that seemed to be reaching for the sky. Perfect. We've needed a good chef for a while, and this man must be extremely competent.

Shaking excess thoughts aside, he moved his mind to matters of business.

"I hear the Madame sent you here to receive a, what did she call it..." Reese trailed off for a moment, thinking. "A cat's paw, right. I prefer the old name, but I suppose it doesn't have quite the personal touch, eh? It's really an item that allows you to speak to me, and me to you. Most of the family wears one. It's a nice manner to communicate with the others. Talk to me, I put you through to someone else. It's much more convenient than whistling someone up to take mesages, or finding the person yourself. The secondary use it to alert me if you're in trouble, but I somehow doubt a person such as you would have any such issues. Nevertheless, there's that old saying about being better off safe than sorry, am I right?"    

If Reese's hand had been shook sometime in the midst of his yammering, he'd retract it and sit down.


"What sort of item would you like? Most of the family uses jewelry of some sort for their artifa—Cat's Paw. An earring, medallion, necklace, bracelet, faceplate... Of course, other things are doable. It's pretty much up to you."

The skeleton leaned back in his comfy chair, awaiting an answer of some kind.

Having been welcomed inside by the surprisingly friendly inhabitant the demon would enthusiastically shake Reese's hand with both of his. He was taken aback by how... well just how amicable the skeleton was being, it wasn't something that Maelik was used to receiving. He waved in kind to Skarlet and stopped for a moment to consider how he was going to proceed with the meeting now that this third person was involved. It didn't take him long to determine that it made little difference, he was going to do what he always did.

"Umm... Yes, Ulciscor will do and likewise, though since I can count all my 'friends' on one hand I don't have any charming nicknames to share. Still I'm dearly hoping that little problem will come to a happy resolution during my employment here."

Maelik bent into one of his habitual bows but just barely stopped himself before his hat came sliding off of his head. Hastily adjusting it with a flustered blur of his hands the demon seemed to blush a bit as he seemed to withdraw a bit.

"A-anyways, yes our caring madame sent me to you for the Paw..." He added after collecting himself from his embarrassment, still astounded that anybody would speak in such an unreserved manner to him in full knowledge of his identity.

"As for the trinket... well how's about this?" Maelik began tentatively before thrusting his fingers into his left eye socket, grabbing a tight grip of the orb and yanking it out with a grunt.

"I'm terribly absent minded when it comes to silly little baubles and I'm liable to either lose it or jar it loose in my routine if it isn't secure in it's place. And what's more secure than snugly set in my skull?" he asked as a steady stream of his tar like blood oozed from his empty socket only to pour back into the gaping wound.

Then, just as the ultimately straightforward Demonlord was about to crack an awkward little smile his face suddenly screwed itself up.

"Do tell me that that's possible and I didn't just pop out my peeper for no reason just now... I mean, it will grow back of course but it still hurts, like the mean spirited jibes of ex lovers and the local bully. But you know, multiplied by about twenty, and it's purely physical rather than emotionally scarring."

He stood there for a moment in awkward silence, twiddling his thumbs before finally sighing and sliding a hand through his hair, slipping an eye patch over his empty eye, now conspicuously clean of any blood.
"I'm sorry, my introduction was far to rude to be considered acceptable, allow my to start again. Hello there Mr Cresno, I am Iratus Ulciscor. I'm the new help and I'm more than pleased to be here, hopefully I can be of help. And I'm sorry but I didn't catch you name miss, if I may inquire as to the moniker of such a lovely lady?" He asked after doing a proper bow in Skarlet's direction, making sure to keep his hands firmly in place to prevent his ridiculously large hat from flopping to the ground.

Ravven entered the Midnight Sun, shoulders slumped and eyes slightly glazed. He grunted in pain as he made his way over to the bar, limping, although it was barely noticable. He paid no mind to the rest of the happenings in the bar, simply waiting for the bartender to come over and serve him.

He fiddled around with his jacket, pulling the hood down and taking a map out from one of the inner pockets. He began studying it as he waited.

Ravven glanced up as Kevin approached him. He gave the man a slight nod, eyes coming into focus as he spoke to him.

"I heard that you sell a great many types of drinks here. I am in need of something that would dull pain." He winced slightly as he said this, holding his side with one hand.

"I also would like something to eat, nothing too heavy though."