Scoping for ink

[Rune]

Rune had seen migraines hit like that before. Thankfully one never hit her, but they did strike her as an awful sort of suffering. Slowly she was eased of her worry regarding this girl being a threat, and her posture relaxed somewhat. Especially after Aria began flipping through a book, or journal, or scrapbook or something. It was in all that that Rune first noticed her tattoo, a beautiful double figure eight of a snake on her arm. Of course the ouroboros wasn’t unique to Atharim. It was a popular symbol after all and might be on the wall of any tattoo shop.

Rune leaned over Thalia, looking over her shoulder so to also see the address of the intended destination. The revelation slammed Rune with excitement. Nineteen Nikolskaya! That had to mean only one thing!

Rune eased back into the chair she formerly occupied, drumming her fingers on the table thoughtfully. ”You know,” she piped up, ”I’m heading that way myself next. It’s over by the Red Square, and you know, there’s lots of great photo op’s,” she explained like it were no big deal. ”I’ll show you, if you want to ride the metro together? Do you have a metro fare card yet?” Then she cut herself off with a dismissive wave of her hand, ”No worries, we can figure all that out later. You should really sit down though. I hear caffeine can help migraines. And I’m Rune, and this is Thalia.” Rune added on by way of introduction, but her eyes continually drifted toward the weapons the girl wasn’t too concerned about hiding. Granted the CCD was pretty open minded about walking around with personal weapons with the right paperwork in place of course, but there were still some places they weren’t allowed. She wondered if this girl had come across any of them yet and how she handled the situation.

But for now, regular small talk was more appropriate. ”She’s an artist, doodling up something for me I hope.” Rune glanced at Thalia hopefully, ”And i’m an exterminator. Freelance exterminator,” she corrected.

[Aria]

"You know,I’m heading that way myself next. It’s over by the Red Square, and you know, there’s lots of great photo ops. I’ll show you, if you want to ride the metro together? Do you have a metro fare card yet?" The pink spikes and the outgoing make up should have tipped Aria off with the exuberance of the girls personality. She was full of information. Aria started to fear this woman was really Atharim. It was hard to hid her disappointment, too many things were falling into place and they were going to shatter Aria's world before she ever got a chance to make it on her own.

Aria didn't have a card, she had just gotten to town, but she didn't have time to say so before she was off on another tanget. "No worries, we can figure all that out later. You should really sit down though. I hear caffeine can help migraines. And I’m Rune, and this is Thalia."

Aria nodded, "I'm Aria." Aria didn't extend her hand. That would have made matters so worse, she hoped no one noticed. With introductions now out of the way Aria knew that she wasn't going to get away with out at least sitting down, and the offer of helping her find her way to headquarters was intriguing even if it meant she was going to be in trouble when she got there. Stalling only prolonged the inevitable, but someone to show her the way was more than she had hoped for. "I suppose I'll sit for a while. I'm not in a rush to get where I'm going." She blushed slightly, it had not appeared so ever so recently. "But caffeine won't help this headache. Thanks though."

"She’s an artist, doodling up something for me I hope. And I’m an exterminator. Freelance exterminator." Aria tried to hide a small giggle behind her hand. The more Rune talked the more she filled in the gaps and Aria was more than thankful for those gaps being filled. It made her want to laugh for her previous paranoia. If Rune was Atharim she'd have the ourorobus on her arm not on a piece of paper. With a smile, "I'm sure you have found some very interesting pest in your line of work." She almost couldn't contain her happiness that she wasn't going to get told on, at not least not to anyone that mattered. "And Thalia?" Aria questioned the name, she thought she'd heard it right, but then again Aria was never very good with names. "I'm sure you get interesting clients."

Aria pulled over a chair to the table. "I can wait till you are done discussing your art work. I'm in no rush and I'd be very thankful for your help." Aria turned the chair so the back faced the table, she didn't want to take the swords from her back and make a worse show of everything that had happened. She sat down and hoped it wouldn't be long. The longer she sat in a crowd of people the harder it was going to be to stay in her little bubble. Her headache wasn't getting worse, but she could feel the tension in her neck starting to radiate outwards, she needed quiet soon or it was going to be alot worse. She could only pray that things went quickly.

[Thalia]

She wasn’t convinced, but neither was she invested enough to press the issue; it wasn’t any of her business, so she only nodded. Aria was polite, but distant in the way strangers usually were; Thalia accepted the aloofness as easily as she had Manix’s blatant charm, and adapted accordingly. At least Rune had relaxed, not only returning to her seat but offering to show Aria the way. It struck Thalia as curious, considering the woman’s initial standoffish reaction, but she didn’t dwell on it.

Interesting clients? She laughed at that – particularly in context of the Manix “misunderstanding.” Mostly she dealt with the nouveau riche, who had the disposable income to indulge frivolous whims but also the sorts of snobberies that precluded them from actually meeting with the artist. As such the majority of her commissions were arranged remotely - through email or occasionally phone-calls. She still sometimes did the odd portrait, particularly among the family lines still fond of the elitism found in such an expensive commodity – and in those cases she required at least one face-to-face meeting. So much could be interpreted by a person’s mannerisms that became lost in photographs, though after that it was the provided photos she worked from. Most of her clients she never even met, and that included the patron who paid the rent on her studio.

“Oh, you don’t need to wait on my account. I have enough to work with, and it’ll take me some time to draw up something properly.” Sitting outside a café was fine for doodling, but she wouldn’t do any serious work here – there were too many distractions, and she lacked the right materials anyway. Her sketchpad was cheap, the texture of its pages too thin for drawings that were not intended to be throwaway; she went through too many too quickly to waste extra cash on high quality, and she had never been precious about her work. “I just need a contact so I can get in touch when it’s done.”

[Rune]

Aria. Rune filed the name away, repeating it to herself to work on remembering it. A face, a pistol, a monster Rune could remember forever. But names was something she was horrid at remembering. Aria. Arr-ee-ah There. Cemented forever. Or at least for a while. It was a flaw probably left over from doing twelve years of public school all online from the road. Handles and avatars and chatrooms didn't exactly lend itself to linking names to faces very easily.

The comment about interesting pests was met with an impish sort of smile and nod, but Rune didn't elaborate. However she could.

Instead she turned back to Thalia at the mention of a contract. Of course Thalia would need such a thing, but Rune had no idea how to set it up. "I have my Wallet," she started, and bent over to pull the piece of tech out of her bag. Of course there were other nifty things in there, but took care to make sure present company didn't see them: namely the extra switchblade and small caliber handgun.

The tech was hardly top of the line and a couple years old, but Rune got it powered up easily enough. She offered Thalia a small deposit consistent with what they discussed earlier and made arrangements for transfer and future contact information. "Thanks again, Thalia!" She said once it was all settled. She hoped the delay was enough for Aria to feel a bit better, and flashed her a smile. "If you're ready?" She got up and chugged the rest of her coffee and pitched the cup to a nearby trashcan.

[Aria]

Aria caught a glimpse of the painting in the center on the back wall. While Rune and Thalia discussed the details for their arrangement Aria couldn't help but feel the need to get up and investigate. But she stayed in her seat instead she wrote down a simple note of the address and the reason for coming back. She doubted the huffy looking proprietier would take kindly to the swords on her back. Few did and Aria knew which they were in Vatican City, here she'd have to learn too, but that was for another time.

Off in her own little world Aria barely heard Rune ask, "If you're ready?" She saw the woman stand before she realized it was time to go. Her head felt slightly better, but no amount of sitting or anything other than complete immersion was going to make it any better. The crowd was too think and Aria's head started to throb at the thought of getting on a crowded sub-terrain train with all the flickering lights and the noises. Aria took a deep breath and sucked it up. "Lead on."

Aria stood up careful not to bump anyone behind her, she didn't need another accident like before. Aria gave Thalia a slight bow, "A pleasure. Perhaps we'll see each other again." It was a big city chances were actually pretty small, but the world grew smaller and smaller everyday.

OOC: sorry it's short and that it took a bit to get out, was sick all weekend and don't have time on my lunch due to a much needed errand. But I wanted to get something even as minimal as this out so ya'll could continue on and I should have time possibly tonight but definitely tomorrow (I hope lol)

[Rune]

((Oh noes! You poor thing!! I hope you feel better soon! I started a new thread, check it out here ))

[Thalia]

((Aaaaand, this thread is now finished ^___^))