#intiqaam.
this was probably one of the dumbest things the young caracal had ever done in her life- and that was saying something considering all the dumb shit she’d done in the past. but meeting up with some shady dude to potentially give him dirt on marcus ? she might as well be signing her own death certificate at this point. if he somehow found out about this he would kill her- no, he’d make her wish that was what he did and then do something ten times worse. nerves were getting the better of her the longer she sat at the counter, drink clutched between her hands as she stared down at her reflection in the dark liquid.
the sound of the sack hitting the counter, even though it wasn’t really all that loud, was enough to startle her, the fur on the remaining half of her tail bristling as the muscles in her body tensed despite the pain that brought. her body hurt all over for… various reasons, least of which not being her punishment for failing to bring back the minimum required amount of lien for the previous night. there were still bruises on her arms and her neck from where he’d grabbed her, a split lip- she didn’t bother hiding them, everyone around here knew after all. the only time she hid her injuries was when she was with a client and this man didn’t count. slowly, almost hesitantly, she reached over to the sack and then quickly pulled it towards herself, opening it up and staring wide eyed at the amount of lien inside. even she could tell that this was a hefty sum, more than she’d probably make within a month.
” …marcus controls a lot of the info in the that don’t come from official sources, not that they give us much to begin with. he ain’t the only one that controls things from the shadows but he’s definitely one of the most established. he’s got a lotta people under him, some by choice some not so much. but you make it worth his while and he’ll help you out, get you access to resources or people. if you ever plan on meetin’ him don’t approach him durin’ the day though, that’s when he works to keep up appearances to the general public. doin’ that’ll just get you on his bad side. “
she’d been on that end enough to know it was the last place you wanted to be. was any of this even useful to this boy though ? if she didn’t give him information he needed he’d take the money away and she’d be right back to where she started- she couldn’t let that that happen.
mercury sniffed, briefly rubbing his hand over his nose, crinkling it with distaste. that wasn’t quite the answer he wanted, but he’d never really expected this to be easy. learning about the target was often more arduous than setting up an assassination. this was the part that required the most skills, the soft kind you never really learned from anything but being in the business for a very long time. eyes had run up and down the informant’s body the entire time, unsubtle about the intensity of his observations. he could see a liar when he saw one, but she didn’t look like she could afford to lie at this point. knowing how to get on this marcus’ good side was all well and good, but not quite enough to justify the money he’d handed over. he needed other names, other faces, whatever he could get to better reach his target — cinder had tasked him with finding someone who went by “ cosmo ”, a former spy cinder’s boss now deemed unworthy of their employ.
he settled back on the bar stool, tipping back the ice in his water to crunch it between sharp teeth. even now, in a place where it was expected the scent of alcohol and sweat - slicked skin was enough to make him wretch. mercury really hated this heat, made it uncomfortable to reach for the pack of cigarettes in his back pocket. swallowing down the slurry in his mouth, he fished out his scroll and turned the gallery on her, showing various men that had been linked to her target. most of ‘em were filthy fuckers, escapees from mistral’s underground most commonly known for faunus trafficking, known to pray a pretty penny for girls like her. he kept that to himself though, gloved finger stalling on a picture before swiping through them at a decent pace. ‘ y’ recognise any of these guys ? ’ it wasn’t essential to take these guys out, but mercury loved extra credit. he’d been dying to take out his frustrations on scum that wouldn’t be missed.
