The Midnight Sun

Hasdrubal ponders for a moment,

"If you're to work here, we'll have to find you a job. If you wanted to work under me, you can either assist me in the labs, or work as barmaids. I'll leave the choice to you. Regardless, we should go see Madame Nakoi."

He leads the two up to the bar.

"Artemis, would you be so kind as to take these two to see Madame Nakoi? I wish to hire them."

"Thank you, sir."

They follow him upstairs in silence.

What with Mama and Papa say?

Papa will be angry that we let the man touch them.

Shh...relax. We'll be able to get someone else soon. Didn't you hear Mama last night?

Ok...fine.

This'll turn out fine. We'll work as his lab assistants.

When they reach the top, they smile vacantly at Artemis.

"Hello, miss."

Their voices are in sync and neutral again, all traces of worry gone.

As Hasdrubal and the girls ascend the stairs, she observes, with some surprise, that the twins are still visibly intact after being in close proximity to him for a meaningful length of time. At his request, she nods, and turns her attention to the twins.

"Hello, girls. Good to meet you, I'm Artemis." She smiles, faintly. "Follow me, please, and I'll show you to the Madame."

Turning, she leads them to the third floor office, and knocks rapidly again.

OOC: Since you guys timeskipped to morning, I'm just going to post as if in that timestream as well, rather than as if in the office. RP time, go!

(OOC: Due to the number of simultaneous discussions waiting to take place with my character, I'm engaging time magic. That is to say, the posts will come in whenever they do, but in character, first was Ms. Green, then sleep, then the twins come in the morning, and then after that, I'm going to go speak with Skarlet.)

"One moment," Naoki's voice calls through the door.

A moment passes, and some movement can be heard inside. A chair sliding across the carpeted floor, and the closing of cabinet doors.

The door swings open once more, and Madame Naoki is there to greet the twins.

"Hello, I'm Madame Naoki, owner of this establishment. Pleased to meet you both."

She beckons The Twins inside, and raises an eyebrow towards Hasdrubal. It wasn't often that he came upstairs, and never with guests.

The reinforced door at the back of the bar opened and Grandma shuffled out of it, once again, the maid locked it behind her. Deciding that Skarlet needed some attention, she headed to Naoki’s office to make sure that Skarlet would be meeting her soon. She knocked on the door twice with her cane and then entered.

To her surprise, she found Naoki with the two twins from yesterday. They had survived the night with Hasdrubal? Truly, this was an interesting occurrence.

Putting on her best grandmotherly face she shuffled into the room. “Why Naoki, are we going to be having some adorable new guest here!? I do hope that’s what you plan on, because those two are just picture perfect together. Also, I must remind you, Skarlet is waiting to see you...”

She then turns her attention to the twins, “What are your names dearies?”

"Awww, you two are so adorable, talking at the same time. You both seem so in sync with each other," She nods her head to herself about something, still smiling.

"I happen to have an errand I'd appreciate for you to run once you're done with the Madame. If you don't want to do it, that's fine as well. But it would involve some free candy for you!"

After hearing their response, Grandma then shuffles to the corner of the room and sits in a chair waiting for Naoki to finish with them.

Candy? Seems suspicious.

No, old ladies always have candy. It might just be picking something up from the shop.

I dunno though...she worries me.

It'll get her to trust us more. Anyway, if it's too bad, we can just say no.

Alright, fine.

The twins look up at grandma with wide eyes.

"Maybe."

They turn their heads to Nakoi.

The speak calmly and simultaneously.

"We want to stay here, and work for Mr. Hasdrubal. It looks nice here, and we're tired of being alone on the road."

They smile innocently, although something still seems a bit off.

"Our parents died in a fire, ma'am. It's just us."

Naoki reaches over and grabs a quill from the cabinet, as well as a bottle of ink and a large piece of paper, upon which she starts to draft a formal agreement.

"With business deal like this, I understand it's common to keep a written record of the specifics of the deal, so both parties can refer to it. I should really hire someone to write these sorts of things for me...."

Assuming Ms. Green's cooperation and no interruptions, the two hammer out the specifics of the supply deal, and sign the contract into being. The contract is then rolled up and placed with others in a cabinet to the left of Naoki's desk.

"Alright. It has been an absolute pleasure doing business with you, Ms. Green. There's just one more thing I'd like to tell you about."

Madame Naoki opens a drawer in her desk, and takes out two items. A black ribbon, with a red jewel embedded into it, perhaps ten inches long, matching the one worn by Artemis, as well as a small ring, thin and silver, with a small purple gem embedded in the top. She slides them both across the desk to Ms. Green with the tip of her tail.

"I'd like to give you these. The ribbon serves an important purpose here in the Midnight Sun. It marks the wearer as someone who shouldn't be trifled with. The bouncers will come to the aid of anyone wearing one of these in the Midnight Sun if they are being harassed. We hand them out pretty freely to anyone who wouldn't like some of the more... intoxicated patrons trying anything with them."

"The ring is my unique gift to you, to commemorate today; hopefully the start of a long and mutually prosperous relationship."

Naoki purrs a bit, and continues.

"Oh, and it'll work like a key. Press on the little purple gem, and doors will open. On your way out, I'll have Artemis show you an alternate entrance you might find more convenient."