A stately, official looking building in downtown Julen City. It's well guarded, largely due to the potential for serious civil discord over its presence in Wyvern-country
. Though it has living quarters at its center, the building is essentially laid out like a courthouse.
Julen City
A guard checks Yin's I.D. via thumbprint scan, and hands her a ticket. "You'll find parking in the garage," he tells her, "right next to the side entrance."
Yin nods. "Thank you." She heads that way, and is soon stepping out of the car. She's not wearing a hat, of course...the horns needs to be displayed for a draconic meeting. She checks her hair and pats down her outfit, and heads for the door.
Petrovic follows, of course. Yin's clearance is high enough that they don't question people with her.
Still, at the door, an enormous fire dragoon stands in the way.
"Weapons?"
"I have none." Her usual pistol doesn't come with her to diplomatic functions.
"I am a weapon," Petrovic tells him, "as are the dragons. Stand aside."
And oddly, the dragoon does. Petrovic does have a point.
"The adjudicator's chambers are already open. You know where to go." He points down the hall, toward a congress-like assembly.
"Of course." Yin breathes out, and heads that way. Nothing to worry about. This isn't a question of whether she should be removed as the primary ambassador, it's the only logical thing to do. This should be cut-and-dried.
When Yin and Petrovic arrive at the assembly hall, it's quite empty; save for one person, a secretary.
"Mme. Iejir?" he asks quietly. "I'm sorry, your successor was held up in transit. I was told to tell you there would be an official commendation for your body of work at a later date."
This gets a bit of a cocked eyebrow, despite herself. "Hm. Well that's a surprise." She wonders who hit their head, honestly. Smiles a bit. "In any case, do you have any information on when the ambassador wants to reschedule?"
"She said she and her associate would meet you within the week."
Petrovic considers this. "That sounds a bit suspect."
Yin nods a bit...to the secretary, not Petrovic, though she agrees. "What are their names, that I can plan properly?"
"Dham Millanova is the new diplomat's name. Her associate's name is Bas, uh, Pascal." The secretary nods. "I've never seen her in person. She's supposed to be unforgettable. That's what the messenger said."
"Mm..." Yin nods. She's vaguely familiar with the names, but not extremely. No big scandals, anyway. "Well, thank you. Was there any other information to be passed on?"
The secretary shakes his head. "No, nothing. I'm sorry you had to make the trip."
"No problem. Thank you, have a lovely day in any case." Yin smiles a big, and turns to leave. Smile fades, thoughtful. Hm. Well, potentially good, anyway. She can dig into the name later. She has a bad habit of finding her own information rather than letting the Wyvern unit do it. For now, she just heads for the car. She hadn't really felt like other distractions today, anyway.
Petrovic heads to the car with her. "That was simple. Are you okay with this, still?"
"Well, now I'm curious, too." She waits until they're in the car and checked the bug detector to continue as they start off. "I was a traitor...what? A month ago? The illogical part of me hopes that everything that's happened is starting to bring the council around to seeing what I'm trying to achieve over here, but the practical one wonders what's up and why."
"Today you have more important things to worry about," Petrovic tells her. "Leave this sort of thing to Soze and I. Those names sounded just familiar enough that they warrant looking into."
Yin nods. "Point! Well, keep me posted in any case. Now it's...hm. I have a hole in my schedule, and I think everything is more or less set up for this evening." She considers. "I need a necklace, but I may just wear the one REvilier gave me. Do you have anything you need to get done, Petrovic?" It can be hard for him to get even work-necessary errands done with his changeable schedule, she knows, though he's usually able to assign underlings to it.
"Not today, no. I'm interested in setting up security for tonight, though."
She nods. "Okay. Where do you need to be? I need to call Alou, anyway, I can do that from anywhere."
A bit later, in a quiet, unmonitored room on a Julen military base--Revilier really has been working hard the last little bit to get his fiance more acceptance as a genuine authority figure--Yin dials Alou while Petrovic does his thing elsewhere.
"Yellow?"
"Pardon?" If it's a code, it's a new one on her.
"It's kind of like 'hello' only casual and with a 'Y'. What's on your mind, sweetcheeks?"
Yin snickers a bit. "Right, sorry. I don't even have the 'long day' excuse this time. In any case, do you have any plans for tonight?"
"I have a date with the sleeve of my jacket at nine. Other than that, I'm pretty much freelance these days."
"That's kind of nice, actually. Less partisan stuff to wade through. But in any case, I'm getting married tonight. Want to come?"
"Tonight? I'll bring my jacket. Where? Actually don't tell me. I'll meet you somewhere else." Security, and all.
Yin nods. "Good plan. I'm not sure what car we'll be in, but I'm sure you can figure it out. How does the Greek diner on sixth sound, around seven?"
"Sounds good, I'll bring my toga. Meetcha there, baby."
"Alrightee. See you then, Alou." Yin smiles a bit. "Also, we're electing to leak this onto the military information networks, so that you know." Mostly, so he doesn't see it and try to button it like a good friend. "It won't be public, but yeah. No one can really go to the media without getting themselves and the people they're representing into deep trouble, there's not enough at stake."
"I see. Wait. Why leak it at all?"
"There's already some buzzing, people suspect something is up. It's bound to prompt investigation if the the story is buttoned down too tightly, because they think they're looking for a draconic-wyvern conspiracy to subjegate humans. Idiots. Anyway, as much as we have going on right now, I don't want this to prompt snooping around for a something that doesn't even exist and have them stumble across something that's actually important in the process."
"Check. Okay, I'll be there! Take care now, you. Should be a blast."
"Hopefully! I'll see you then, Alou. You take care too. Later."
After a round of chess with a sergeant--and getting her ass handed to her--Petrovic finished his end of things, and they were off to another conference center.
Yin leaned against the wall a few moments after this "meeting's" conclusion...breathes out. Not a meeting. A cover, avoiding starting a speculative media buzz by visiting a doctor.
Just...damnit. She needs to decide whether to tell Revilier about this one. Not tonight, anyway. She has time to decide.
By the time she heads back out to visit Petrovic, she's wearing a slight, false smile. "Alright, I'm done. And I have plenty to do for tonight. So, back to the house?"
"If you want." Petrovic nods. "You're tense."
"Well, all brides are tense. It's required, didn't you read the pamphlet?" Yin smirks a bit, and steps into the car. She wants to concentrate on driving...and on tonight.
Her phone rings as Petrovic gets in. It's a standard tone, but the message reads "Doll".
Hmm...? She picks up, of course. "Hello?"
"I wondered if I could come to your wedding, Mme. Iejir," says a soft, muted female voice. "I should very like that, and would be happy to give my official approval to the certificates. I am Dham Millanova."
Yin sits back, expression fading. How the hell...? She's quiet for several moments. It's not like an ambassador is in a position to make demands. Still, a touchy situation. The woman's in a position to blow the whole thing wide open...if she's even talking about tonight. Coincidence happens. She smiles, then, that it will come through in her voice. "A pleasure to meet you, albeit remotely. And of course. You would certainly have been invited, anyway. The guest list is mostly settled and the invitations for our late invitees are being produced, they should go out within the next week or so."
There's a pause.
"I should like to come tonight."
"I see." Yin starts the car. Interesting. The new ambassador is openly admitting to espionage? "You'll excuse me if I must question how you came across the information. It's been kept amongst close confidantes, a private affair removed from the official world."
"Then you must have a spy in your midst. If you say no, I will not come." Dham Millanova's voice lingers somehow, as if it has its own decay effect.
"I would need to talk to General Omeaux. And I really must request to know precisely who you got the information from as a gesture of good faith, that we can begin to trace any leak to its source." It's a big deal. Damnit. She just wanted to deal with her wedding. She has plenty on her plate.
"Request denied, my dear. Feel free to send duplicates of your wedding certificate to my office once I am established in Julen, so that I may sign off on them. Thank you for your time, and unless there are any questions you have that I may answer freely, I bid you goodnight."
Yin's expression darkens. Request denied. Uh-uh. After holding her up in a missed hearing today? For all intents and purposes, she's something approaching a national leader. This delusional, self-important little ambassador is stepping way, way out of line...and she isn't going about to take this kind of shit. No more. "We know the proper channels. In any case, failure to identify a serious information leak will be considered as one with espionage and an act of open aggression. There will be Wyvern delegates in Okarthel very soon to discuss the matter. In the meantime, I be filing a formal complaint and petition you to be barred from this embassy. With today's missed hearing, your position is not yet accepted from Julen's side. Have a delicious evening, yourself." She hangs up. Pauses.
Then the phone is flung back against the back seat at fastball speed somethingbetween a cry and a snarl. She did not need this. Not today. Can't there ever be something sacred? Something that's for Yin and Revilier, sentients and lovers, rather than Yin and Revilier the political nightmare?
Petrovic glances at her. "It can't be so bad the phone deserves aggression," he quietly says. "Don't worry. I'm securing the wedding myself, there will be no interruption. I promise you that."
"I trust you. Thank you, just...ugh. I didn't need any annoyances today. I'm getting married, goddamnit. I guess something in my brain decided that the world should shut up a few hours and let me have that."
She breathes out, and backs out the car.
"Sorry for the venting. Anyway. I haven't given the word for the leak to happen yet, but the word's out from somewhere. As few people as we've told, it came from someone in confidence, and I damn well want to know who. Also, are we allowed to petition for ambassadors to be lynched as opposed to just removed?" Puts the car in gear, and goes.
"Hardly. But if the new ambassador already knows, chances are it's at least a sanctioned knowledge on Okarthel's side. You and I know diplomats don't have that kind of pull."
"True. At least it promises lessened future complications. I still want to have her barred from entering office. She's quite disrespectful in a passive-aggressive little way, missed an important hearing and immediately called me up to request entry into what must be known to be a private function, and between that and refusing to give a name for us to investigate an information leak, she's openly flaunting national security. Granted, her bosses may well be responsible for one of more of those things, but it's still more than enough to request her to be removed, and they should be more than happy to let her take the fall. And it does clearly pass on the message that although there is a dragoon in a position of significant power now, Julen isn't going to suddenly become some suburb of the Draconic Nation for it to channel its power through. Allied or at least non-enemies, hopefully. Subjugated, no."
Pause.
"Ah, hell. I sound like a politician, don't I?"
"No. You're telling the truth." Petrovic glances out the window. "That will always separate you from the politicians. Your blushing groom is no exception. Still. You are aware that I intend to liquify whomever was responsible for this information leak?"
"Sure. But I want pictures." Yin manages to smirk-grin a little bit. God she appreciates Petrovic at this particular moment.
She breathes out, and merges onto the interstate. "Whatever. I'll get started on teh paperwork before tonight if I have time. But for now, I'm just going to worry about my wedding." She nods, as though to affirm this to herself, and they're off, back to the house.
Petrovic makes a mental note of all the people who know. Himself, the couple, Alou, Yue and whoever s/he has told... there's a wild card. Soze, and the minister.
The trip passes without incident.
Yin checks the time, and knocks a different variety of that special knock before entering. It correlates with each two-hour period of the day, part of its failsafe.
A pause. The door opens and... it's Yue.
"Hello, darling. I sent your man-toy to his room. There'll be no seeing the bride before the wedding." He's dressed the same as before, only has a sheer bridesmaid's dress on over the rest, with a hint of pale blue.
Yin chuckles. Back to wedding-land. Okay, that she can handle. "Make him suffer. Check, I like it." She grins a bit as she steps inside. "You look nice, Yue."
Petrovic concurs with a slight blush. He shuts the door, locks it, and heads over to a chair to sit.
Yue beams brightly at this. "I think so. But I wasn't sure if you would be comfortable with something this provocative. I," he chuckles, "am thrilled."
"Well, it may be appropriate to be more covered during the ceremony, but before and after, knock yourself out. I think all of the other attendees are male, so they should be appreciative."
Yue smiles most deliciously. "I need a pretty boy, yes. Someone big and strong to play with!" This as the sheer aspect of the dress fills in with baby blue, deepening until it is opaque and looks, rather, like a Cinderella dress.
Yin chuckles. Smiles a bit at the incusuccubus. "Thanks, Yue. Shall we get on with this, then? I dont' need the chance to get any more nervous," she purrs.
"You'll be in bits, darling. Come with me." The demon waves hir hand, entirely for effect, and opens a small door to Yue's Diocese. "My studio is this way."
Yin should be able to smell a touch of sulfur through there.
She hesitates, of course. That's all she needs. Disappear on her wedding day. She doesn't think Yue's lying, though...trust the instincts, or not? Finally, she follows, glancing back at Petrovic and stepping through.
Yue follows just a second later, but only after allowing Petrovic to enter first.
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