Calling in Favours

[Takeo]

Drinking all but his own backwash, Takeo set his bottle on the bar to claim his seat - and eyeing the bartender as if to say, Yes, I'll be back - and followed the lithe young woman outside. It was cool, and their breaths formed small clouds even before he lit up his first cigarette. It was purely for show, but he was a trained performer. Had Aria studied her reels, she'd remembered he'd been introduced to every vice he might need to know to infiltrate even the filthiest hovel. Smoking was by far the tamest, or second, perhaps, next to that swill water he'd left at the bar.

Breathing in the toxic fumes, Takeo watched the woman as she paced, and nodded gratefully to her introduction. In his ear, Jun cleared his throat, "It's somewhere near the bar. North. Can't be more than a block or two. Eyes on."

"Pleased to meet you."
Takeo smiled. "Well, as you seem to already know, I'm Takeo."
He held his cigarette down at his side, and rolled it expectantly between his thumb and forefinger. He let his eyes wander to the pile of debris and human filth in the gutter he'd noticed earlier, and took the chance to feign a little emotion of his own. Repugnance.

Curling his lip just slightly, he did seem put off by the sluice. "Come on,"
he followed her last steps, north, "It's a nice night for a walk."


Jun. "Ren's on his way. Half kilo at a run." A pause, then, "I'm on you."

Takeo scanned the rooftops, as though admiring the distant stars, and took another drag. "So you know what I do. What about you?"
He leveled his gaze on Aria as they began to turn the corner that would place them only paces from the slain drakaina...