The Angel of the Undercity & A Homecoming

[Oriena]

Juliana ought to know better than to step between Oriena and quarry, for the challenge might only make her more inclined to cruel play. The flat of her gaze pinned Juls, but on the flip of a coin she accepted the distraction. Her lips twitched to behold those pretty little blushes, but Ilesha was silent, and Oriena much prefered prey that bit back. The other woman seemed equally mute but for the breath of a word Ori barely even caught. Unless either little mouse fathomed the courage to squeak, she ignored them both. Though neither did she chase them away from her company.

Her nails tapped the arm of the chair. The power still suffused her with delicious warmth, though she no longer did anything with it. Nox wasn’t exactly a common name. A brow rose, consideration plain, though she doubted Juliana had any idea why she would be interested. Yun had been looking for him. Since the little fucker was also a traitor to his own murderous kind, he was only likely to bring trouble to Kallisti’s door, though admittedly that didn’t concern her much. It wasn’t like Oriena didn’t court trouble of her own.

Whispers scratched the edges of her mind, dulled by Zeke’s narcotics. The tablet.

But what she asked, was: “Why would either of them care about a child?”

[Nox]

Juls wasn't surprised that Ori already knew Nox's name. She wondered where she might have heard his name, but she didn't look surprised or even questioning it. Just their interest in Sterling. That was all she cared about really. "Sterling is Nox's cousin. I don't know the whole of it, but Raffe cares cause Nox cause. They are cute together."

There was no rule that said they couldn't hook up with employees. There was no fraternizing with the patrons though. Nox wasn't a patron. "Nox helps make sure we don't have another incident like Katsun. He's a pretty good dancer and a choreographer too. Well good enough for our shows anyway." She added just so she knew Nox wasn't a patron.

[Ilesha]

Ilesha didn't like the look of predator on Ori's face. She was scary. She was the first time she'd met her, and the second and probably every time after this. And even in the borrowed sweats Ilesha felt uncomfortable.

"I should go." She said pointing her way towards the door. Juliana or Claire were easy to deal with in this exotic place, but Oriena not so much. She wasn't a toy to be played with, but she didn't have the backbone to stand up to a powerful woman like her. It was something she would need to learn, but not something she was willing to try right now. Ilesha didn't move, she waited to be dismissed. The last things she wanted was to be banished from learning here. The more she'd come here the better it would get -- the more like home it would feel. Or maybe not, but Ilesha could only hope.

[Oriena]

Oriena laughed a little for the adorable amount of effort Juliana went to to ensure it was understood that neither Nox nor Rafael had broken Kallisti’s arbitrary rules. If the two men were fucking, it meant precious little to Ori. Even had it transpired otherwise. No fraternising with patrons might have served a purpose, once, but that was now as obsolete as the club itself. The remnant of such a rule was little more than an insurance against the tax on prostitution. Of course, just because Ori didn’t care, didn’t mean she would not choose to retaliate if the mood took her.

A finger traced the line of her lower lip. “I see,” was all she said. A sharp smirk toyed with Juliana’s fears, the coy slant of Ori’s expression suggesting the woman had given up a weapon anyway, just not the one she thought. Webs of compulsion made things easy, and she’d use them on Nox without hesitation to get the information she wanted from him. But leverage was so much the sweeter tool. That revelation alone was probably worth the visit. 

Still, whatever she’d thought to find in the club tonight, it was not here among the meek silences of these women. She offered them a place to belong, and power if they chose to take it. Not that Oriena was surprised to find only disappointment in the trembling way they looked at her instead. Even Ryker had had to be coaxed to find his balls and act on the impulses squirming like poison under his ruined skin.

The man she had compelled to fetch her drink finally returned, and Ori stood to meet him. Her fingers wrapped the crystal without recognition of the service, the ice clinking as she snatched. Her other hand pressed dismissal against his chest, and he went without complaint, confusion furrowing his brow. By now the currents of Oriena’s mood shifted, and her interest in this motley gathering faded like a night bereft of stars. Her gaze captured Ilesha. The little bird of a woman was posed as though awaiting permission to flee -- permission she did not need, nor should she want. Ori pressed the drink to the woman’s stomach, and let go so that she must either accept the gift or let it smash to the floor.

“Loosen up a little, Ilesha. You might even enjoy it.” She winked, though the smile on her lips was nothing short of cruel, and did not pause to hear anything the woman might squeak in return. Nothing, she suspected. Her path took her from the club’s public face and into the shadowy rooms beyond. She took the back way out.

[Ilesha]

Ilesha took the drink that was shoved at her but once they all watched Oriena leave with as much pomp and circumstance as she entered Ilesha set it down and waved to Juliana. "I'll bring the clothes back another day." And then she left. Going to Kallisti had been a bad idea to begin with.