Pas de Trois [Imogen, Aurin]

[Carina]

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Frost 18th 121
The Velvet Cabaret, 6pm

They had been in Kalzasi for only a few days when Carina had decided to drag Imogen to one of her favorite locales. It was close to the Golden Peacock theater (not to be confused with the Golden Peacock in Zaichaer), but it had yet to come to the day for her official meeting with Aurin. It was not too soon to have a good time, and Carina was exceptionally skilled at leveling excitement from zero to one hundred. She stood outside for just a moment to let Imogen take a look at the architecture, but she didn't waste more time than that to pull her inside. It was freezing so far up north, but it was warm, almost humid inside.

"The Velvet Cabaret. They've got drinks you know and a hundred more you've never heard of; drugs as far as the eye can see, but they're known for their whores. Isn't that fun?" Carina gave her friend a sly smile and dragged her through the main lounge filled with smoke from hookahs and incense, laughter, and barely-dressed men and women until they were at a table at the edge of the room. Carina was wearing something that had become a bit of her standard — well made Zaichaeri trousers intended for young men, and a classic blouse edged with lace that only served to contrast with the pants. Her long hair was tied in a usual ponytail, out of the way except for the pieces of hair she purposefully left out to frame her face.

"You know, I was considering playing cards but I think I'll wait until I'm a bit more intoxicated." Known to Imogen was that Carina refused to partake in alcohol — an odd choice, considering her proclivity for near anything that could be swallowed, snorted, smoked, or injected, but perhaps it was for the best that she had any line that she wasn't willing to cross when it came to recreation.

"Order anything you'd like. It's on me." Carina offered, though she wasted no time in taking out her infamous little tin of cocaine to make a line on the table, snorting it through a paper straw she had somehow sequestered from the bar. She sat up reflexively, her pupils dilated within seconds and a grin on her face. She started to shrug off her coat. "It's a nice place, isn't it?"

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[Imogen]

Imogen Ward had no such qualms about alcohol, and she wasted no time in taking her friend's offer to order a large glass of some kind of wine she'd never heard of.

“I cannot believe this shit. I thought for sure you were lying about how cold this place is. Why would the gods do this?”

Despite prior assertions, Carina had successfully bullied her friend into purchasing a (cheaply-tailored, somewhat ill-fitting) coat, which Imogen had clung to every moment outdoors. She had spent that time shivering overdramatically while glaring at the sky as though to deliver her grievances with the frozen air into the ether, a threat to any spirits who might be watching. It was, frankly, enough to make one wonder if Orkhan were actually cold-blooded like the scales suggest.

Imogen took several minutes and two glasses of unpronounceable liquid before she finally seemed recovered enough to remove her coat as Carina had done, leaning back against the wall and closing her eyes in contentment.

“Carina, sun as my witness, I could take a whore just for the warmth at this point. When we get back I'm going to ask them to send me somewhere south next Frost. Somewhere more livable, like the fucking Deadlands.” Imogen sighed, sipping a third cup of something vaguely dark and reddish. After all Carina had talked up Kalzasi to her in the past, she didn't want to disappoint her friend, or seem entirely unappreciative. “But! I will grant you that the buildings are very pretty, and it's very liberating to walk about without... you know, thinking about them.”

“I appreciate the night out, and whatever the hell I've been drinking. It's good. If I can bring myself to leave the room for more than a fe-” Imogen stopped herself there, not wanting to spend the entire night bitching about the cold. “It would definitely be nice to check out some of the sights here. Maybe even catch a show at this Peahen place you're here for? They any good?”

[Aurin]

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A cheer went up as Aurin entered the room. It hadn't been two seasons since he had managed this place for Lunaria, and he had been at that job for years. The courtesans missed how he kept them safe while the money flowed, and the regulars missed how he made them feel like big rollers and in on all the jokes. He smirked and spread his hands as if to dismiss the hearty welcome, but he couldn't get to the bar without getting glad-handed by several people. Then he leaned across the bar to have a quick, quiet discussion with the bartender; at least, they weren't audible over the music and the general hubbub.

Whatever needed saying was said, and they pulled back a bit.

"Colder than Nerix's taint out there," he said, loudly enough to be overheard, and the bartender just laughed and started making something needlessly complicated that Aurin hadn't even ordered. It was nice to come back and be taken care of; if he didn't get to be anonymous here, at least he got to see that his efforts in the past were appreciated. He talked a lot about being a bad man, but he had been good for business.

He cast his hazel gaze down the bar, noting faces he recognized, and then coming back to one in particular.

"Hello, Ms. Caron," he said when he managed to find a spot closer. He almost offered her a drink when he saw she had none, but noticed the dilation of her eyes and assumed she was partaking of other intoxicants. A toothsome smile was offered to her friend. "Good evening. I'm Aurin Kavafis. I see it's pleasure before business when you come to Kalzasi."

Not that he blamed her. He had only been in Zaichaer briefly and it had been enough to need something intoxicating.

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[Carina]

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"Of course it's cold, Immy, did you see how much further north we went? The chill in Zaichaer is nothing. I thought for sure you'd get something with at least a fur trim. That coat looks tiny on you." She reached across the table and tugged at the sleeve, thin as it was. "The Golden Peacock has good shows. They're much livelier than Kalzasi fare, usually. Less haunting operas and rote ballet."

At the mention of the Order, Carina stiffened a bit. "I still worry about them in Kalzasi, too. They have a chapter there. I can't imagine they don't keep some eye on me, so it's not like I'm openly hopping through the space between spaces or anything." She stretched her arms up and to the side and then sighed the tension away.

Carina had mostly ignored the excitement until the object of the Velvet Cabaret's affections sauntered right up to their table. She reflexively wiped her nose as if that would help. It was embarrassing to be caught high by someone you intended to have a professional relationship with, but he had told her he used to work here and she couldn't have assumed he wouldn't still haunt the place. Especially with a reception like that.

"Aurin, this is Imogen Ward." Carina gestured a hand between the two of them. "Immy, well, he introduced himself." She was all smiles, though she was a bit nervous; while drugs were common among the dancers, she didn't want to make a bad impression when they'd had a good meeting before. She didn't have the reply letter with her, either; it was tucked away, sealed in an envelope in the inn room she'd booked for a third of their stay. Carina could not stay in the same spot for more than a few weeks, though she'd lessened her usual paranoid schedule for the benefit of Imogen.

"Would she be my mistress if I didn't grab her tits soon as we were alone?" Carina deadpanned. She gestured towards Imogen. "She's never been to Kalzasi. I thought I'd show her the sights."

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[Imogen]

“Carina, you'd need to stand on your tiptoes to reach my tits. Though, I guess you're pretty good at that. Imogen admitted, begrudgingly, And good day to you too, Mr. Kavafis.”

Imogen drained her third cup and held it up to the bartender, wordlessly indicating that the thing which would truly enhance diplomatic relationships between Kalzasi and Zaichaer at this moment was a fourth. She was deep enough in now that identifying the precise nature of the forthcoming liquors didn't especially concern her.

“You seem pretty popular in here, eh? What'd you do, give out a lot of free rounds? Anyway, it's like she says; Carina's here on business, off to talk to what's-his-name, the guy at the theater. I've come with her for protection, to shelter her against the shadowy interests which seek to prevent her from... I don't know, arranging an inter-city dance competition or something, I've quite forgotten what Moritz sent you here for. Or was it Sam? Damn, maybe I should have asked for the proof on this stuff before I drank so much of it.”

That being said, Imogen utilized a heretofore-unknown Rune and caused half the alcohol to disappear in the span of an instant. After taking a second to recover, she admited:

“Well, that was a lie, obviously, Carina can take care of herself. It's mostly that the winter program at the Pfenning is absolutely dominated by historic, dramatic operas, and I can hardly sit through four hours of people singing about getting engaged and breaking off engagements and then dying. Unless it's the one where the pirates kidnap everyone in the middle of the second sad engagement song.”

Imogen loved it when the pirates kidnapped people mid-show. That's how you knew a story was quality.

[Aurin]

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"Ms. Ward. I'm sure she would grab yours if she could reach," he replied, equally deadpan, "but I believe she meant Kalzasi herself. Her mistress." Aurin smiled. He remembered.

"I used to manage this place," he admitted. "They probably think I can still get them free rounds." He laughed. He probably could, but tit-for-tat and all that. "Well, I think they do have a pirate show in the repertory this season. The Slave of Duty, or something. But they also have some boring historical drama in the works for Zaichaeri dignitaries who will be along later this season at the crown's invitation." He shrugged. "You win some, you lose some."

Aurin didn't sit without an invitation, but he lingered. The bartender brought him the complicated concoction as well as another round for Imogen. He thanked the bartender, who leaned in to whisper some snatch of information, to which Aurin smiled and patted his arm before he left them. Then he raised his glass to the ladies.

"To first times," he said, and took a sip. If he was making a dirty joke of his toast, it didn't read on his face, at least. "And I wish you luck negotiating an inter-city dance competition with what's-his-name, the guy at the theater." He did grin at that, finding the whole situation humorous. But he would leave them to their shenanigans if Carina seemed too put off by his presence. He didn't want to jeopardize their working relationship by making her uncomfortable when she was off-duty.

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[Carina]

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"Aurin, sit." Carina nodded and smiled when Aurin got her reference, and she made no further comment in response to standing on her toes for tit-grabbing. She caught the attention of the bartender for a glass of water and then turned her attention back to the conversation.

"They should mash both of the shows together and see what happens." Carina offers helpfully. "But Aurin is a guy at the theater, Immy. He might know who Sam asked us to find for him." It wasn't Sam who had given them the task just a few days before, and it wasn't Moritz either, but the who didn't matter as long as it was done. It'd be easier to keep the trail hidden if she convinced drunk Imogen who it was, anyway, because she seemed intent on talking.

"You do have to wonder why the Zaichaeri elite love to see shows that so closely mimic their everyday lives. If I had to listen to someone sing about a broke ballet dancer for four hours — not including intermission, even — I would be hard pressed to find a quicker way to drive a man to suicide." She paused. "Wasn't there a ballet about a ballet dancer driven to suicide last season? It was put on while I was here. I remember the dancers talking about it." Carina put a hand to her forehead in exasperation and pulled out a pack of cigarettes.

"I know dismal tragedy is popular right now, but perhaps we can convince someone that it's okay to smile in the Pfenning." Carina glances towards Aurin. "Even the children's classes are forced to put on the most dreadful recitals. I've never seen such a depressed set of eight-year-olds in my life. If I could even remember what we danced when I was their age... They did just import a new Imperial choreographer, so I'm excited to see what new twists on suffering we'll so graciously endure."

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[Imogen]

Imogen raised her glass along with the toast, then looked Aurin up and down, blinking. “Oh. Right, I guess that explains how you would know each other, then. I don't imagine you just wander the city, bumping into people. Should have thought.”

The Orkhan girl budged her chair over a bit to make additional room, then shook her head at Carina's rant. "Nah, listen. The stories about the woes of the rich and mighty- mostly affairs and war and other such stupid nonsense- flatter the big money families, draws them to the Theater. And then you get not just the ticket prices and however much they buy at concessions, you can talk them into big donations in exchange for naming a building after them, or maybe just carving their names into bricks. Every season they've got to think about how much of the program to sacrifice to bait out the old money. I've cleaned vomit out of the naming stones of so many dead rich people..."

Imogen stared at her cup for a moment, then realized she had just lectured two people actually involved in the administration of theaters about some pretty obvious shit they already knew. “But the pirate thing isn't just a joke. It's like what they did in that one comedy, Amelio at Sea, right? You start a story off classically, young couple in love, separated by the war, the familiar plot points... and then bam! The pirates show up, kidnap the protagonist and now it's two hours of ocean fun. Everybody loves it. Even the kids are laughing, for once.”

Drinking with a little more restraint this time, Imogen merely sipped at her wine, formulating her thoughts. In truth, the instructions provided by the Railrunners had been uncharacteristically vague. While the Theater's coven was more prone to keeping secrets internally than the Sunsingers, she'd always gotten... well, at least a name. Had they made an agreement to buy something without even knowing who they were buying from? That made no sense. How would that even work? Courier birds with little domino masks?

“Good point about Sam's job though, Carina. How am I going to track down his friend without a name or an address? Hire a detective?”

[Aurin]

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Given the invitation, Aurin wasted no time spinning a chair around and straddling it so he could lean forward onto its back. He listened bemusedly to their back and forth about theater on stage and the business surrounding it. This was a more amusing way of keeping his fingers to the beating pulse of the people than some other ways, even if they weren't a Kalzasern audience. There was a bit of a cosmopolitan, world-traveling population and he would certainly like for the Golden Peacock to be famous in those circles, even if his name might get bandied about where he didn't want people to remember him.

He also paid attention to what they were talking around and not quite saying. He was the least intoxicated of the three in any event and he did have a sixth sense for secrets; perhaps that was why he had found Carina so interesting when last they met. But this wasn't a shake down and he was interested in forming ties between the theaters, which would rely on ties between actual people.

"You'll definitely have to take in The Slave of Duty while you're here," he said to Imogen. "You need regular dramatizations of pirate stories so you won't lose your love of the theater." He said it with a straight face, but there was a lilt of humor in his voice.

As for their unknown contact, "I'm a decent detective, and I used to know everything that was going on here in the Cabaret. If you give me some clues, I might be able to help. If you trust me."

He smiled. O villain, villain, smiling, damnèd villain! It was a face too mischievous to be called trustworthy, but it was also the face of a man cunning enough to be able to help. He wasn't going to force the issue, though.

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[Carina]

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"I've wandered the city and bumped into people more often than you'd think. I met a tailor that way. He was absolutely enamored with me for some reason." Carina shrugged, but then she nodded along with Imogen's explanation. "You can't forget admitting the rich sons and daughters into the academy. The funds are separate, but it's the same building. The most graceless children in Zaichaer find their footing in the academy because their daddy's important. At least they can't buy their way into the company." She laughed at the last thought.

"There's something about being born and raised so far from any body of water but a river that makes pirate stories so appealing." Carina commented, only even half-relevant to the conversation as she prepared herself another line to snort off of the table. "Can't have big pirate ships and naval battles on the river. I guess you get skyships and the ZADC fighting off sky pirates but it's just not the same. Say, Aurin, you get pirates on Lake Udori?"

Carina pushed her ponytail behind her shoulder so she could inhale this next line, no longer particularly concerned with Aurin. Perhaps it was addiction, or a "what happens in the Velvet Cabaret" mentality, but if Aurin was going to join them for her time off, she was going to act normal. If she were lucky, it would even bolster relations. She sat up, and then looked at Imogen as if she had a bolt of inspiration. "I'm pretty sure we're just supposed to wait for them to find us, anyway. Sorry Aurin, I don't think we'll need a detective yet." She paused, and then looked at Aurin all bright-eyed and bushytailed. "What sorts of things do you partake in? What are some Kalzasern favorites? Zaichaer likes pharmaceuticals. Morphine. Cocaine. Laughing gas, even."

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