"Ellen. Ellen, wake up. We're there!"

"Mmm?" Yin-Ellen opens reluctant eyes, letting them flutter flowly. "Hey. Time flies when you're speeding across the ocean unconscious." Yawns, and sits up to stretch.

"You should try it without a hovercaft," Alou chuckles. "We're at port. Troix insisted on calling Kaz herself, so we already have our appointment. If you feel up to it."

"I'll manage. Didn't have time to rehearse answers to potential questions in my head...but then, that's probably a good thing if Kaz is as smart as you indicate." Yawns again, and stands up.

The dock is a shockingly technological affair for a cave. The hovercraft, even as they speak, rides a heavy-duty conveyor into a subterranean bunker where Alou pays for a few 'blind eye turns' to keep their presence here quiet. It's not ten minutes before everything is done, and they are free to go into the city proper.

"Do you need anything, or shall we head straight to Kaz's place"

"I'd prefer to get it over with. Troix is coming, I assume?"

"Yeah, she loves Kaz." Alou leads the way once again through the streets of the spider city. As ever, various numbers of limbs scatter through the streets and along the walls in search of daily routine satisfaction. A few people look their way, some knowing Ellen by sight, others gawking at Troix the Buggerfly.

"Here we go," Alou nods, pointing down a stairwell that leads into a softly lit below-street-level home. "You go on inside, Yin. Troix and I will come later... Kaz'll want to talk to you alone."

She lets out a slow breath. "Yeah. Talk to you later." Smiles a bit at Troix. "See you in a bit, huh?" Hair ruffle, and then she heads down the stairs, thoughts forcibly quiet, and finally knocks on the door.

"Coming, coming, hold your corsets." A moment passes before the door swings open, revealing a techy little bachelor pad without enough room to support a humvee sized spider. A short, longeared fellow stands on the other side, appraising Yin with an alert, observant expression.

"It's not even my birthday," the little fellow chuckles. "What can I do ya for?"

"More than you can afford, I'm afraid." Eh. She couldn't stop herself. Smirks a little. "I'm looking for Kaz, actually."

"Holy dolphin hooves you're on the market?" The little guy nods some. "Kaz, eh? Well, Ellen, come on in and I'll let you in on a secret." He waves a clawed hand to an attractive looking pink porn couch, a lovely little think with well padded arm rests. "you're not bugged, are you?"

'Ellen'? Nice. Very nice, actually, if Alou didn't call ahead. She heads on inside, at least appearing unwary. "No. You're welcome to scan me or whatnot, but it would be news to me."

"Actually, Troix told me about it." The short guy with the long ears and the clawed hands hops onto a chair once the door is shut, latched, and security-coded. "I'll trust you, since you trusted me enough to hand yourself over like this-- you're still quite the commodity, you know. Oh." He smiles. "Did I tell you that Kaz is a robot? I'm pretty sure I did, or I was going to. Most people who work for him don't even know it! How funny is that, right? Anyway, I drive it. Also, I'm Menayen." He holds out a hand. "The pleasure is all in my pinky."

She blinks slowly, procesing this. Huh. Very...freaking interesting. Although it does raise the point as to what the heck this little bunny rabbit cat thing is. She takes the hand, smirk returning in amusement. "So. Last time I was in shock and you were incognito, so...it's a pleasure to meet you, too. Fancy trick, that."

"It's amazing what you can do when everything thinks that you're a giant freaking bug instead of a little one." Menayen Lothos Emille headbangs, amused. "I hear you've had a rough time with a couple of scaly asstards in Okarthel. But what do you want with an internet geek like me?"

"A means of legitimately staying involved with the Grace Tower investigation, since I know you guys are up to your elbows in it still. I may be stubborn and detrimentally fearless, but even my common sense is enough to warn me away from trying to poke my nose into this as a free agent. It'd get cut off."

"You know what really sucks about all this? I know better than to say yes. You've got a personal attachment to this noise, a vendetta to settle, and you're way too cavalier and hot to be a good spy. Good spies are like Alou. He's not sexy, he's not ugly. He's average." Menayen wriggles about in his chair, unable to keep still as usual. "But anyway. If I say yes, what do I get out of it? And do I have to watch you to make sure you don't need tazed in the kneecap?"

"You know most of what I've uncovered in the last couple of months on my own time through Alou, but not all of it. He knows everything I've found, but not all of the past connections that make things matter. You'll be fully in the loop of what I've got. Also, biased or not, I'm irreplaceably close to this situation. There's no one in the world Revilier would like to get at more, which opens up some rare strategic possibilities you can exploit. Besides, I'm not silly enough to ask a male for commitment." She examines her nails. "Just to be signed on as an independent contractor for the duration of the mission. If the going gets tough, you can cut me loose to take the brunt of whatever."

"Y'know, I'm a male. I am! I checked. You don't need to tell me what I can and can't do, I have a pretty good log of that. I keep tabs on things." Menayen hops onto the back of his chair, and poses in a 'there it is!' hunting dog position. "I'm afraid the risk to your life is too much. You need to go home to your guy Arux and convince him to give you some loving. And then, you should go about building a life for yourself. This spy business starts to get old after a while, you know?

She narrows her eyes just a little bit, though she erases it. Well. There's a trip wasted. "It's all I've got. And I'm damned good at it. I made a mistake once. It was a big one. But I'm damned well going to rectify it and clear the air before I exit stage left."

"I knew someone once who reminded me of you. She had the same 'Oooh! The universe gonna blow the fuggup if I don't do things myself!' mentality that you've got, and the arrogance of that mindset defies anything my ridiculously high IQ can comprehend. How old are you, anyway?"

She bristles. "Fifty-three."

"God dammit, another freaking ultra-longevous person who acts like she's twenty." Menayen tumbles back into his seat, and sits quietly for a second. "Life's what's important. Is rectifying your supposed mistake - and from what I can tell you didn't do anything wrong - is that the only reason you want in on this?" He pauses again. Breathes. Looks at her expectantly, almost smiling. "I'm not usually this hostile. I'm fun on a bun! But I don't wanna see someone else Troix likes get executed behind her house."

Yin's expression clouds a bit at this. Yes, there is the matter of Troix. That's a complication. After a moment... "My gut says you're being level with me. So I'll reciprocate and be honest with both of us. Two reasons. First, I never completed my mission. That bothers me. There's still either an egg or a baby dragon out there that needs to be found. Second...I've lost everything. My reputation, my job, my life's work. For practical purposes, my home and so friends. I lost my name, for gods' sake. Finishing this out properly has a chance of getting all that back. Or, at minimum yield, give me the satisfaction of them knowing that they didn't cut loose an incompetent agent. I want them to know they lost one of their best."

"And they did." Menayen curls up on the chair, cat-like. He's all for formality, but it's been a long few weeks and he's tired. "Not many agents would've survived the attack on the tower, if they even made it inside. But Ellen, think about this." He smiles at her, scrunching his nose and wiggling it. "Well, answer me this. Are dragons prideful?"

She has to smirk just a little. "Considering my previous statement...that's a fair assumption." Winks.

Menayen brightens up at the wink. "Ooh... mama's got the goood catnip. So tell me, Ellen. Ellen, Ellen, Ellen. How do you think the dragons would react to an officially disgraced dragoon cleaning up their mess from the outside? I'd feel kinda stupid if I had a gigantic ego about that kind of thing." He pauses, smiles. "My ego's a whole different ball of yarn."

"It depends on how high it went. On the outside chance it actually went to the High Council, I'd have a chance. Otherwise...well, after some of the things certain assholes in high places said, it would make me feel better, anyway." Smirks a litte. Then more serious. "It would also help shut down some rumblings among low-level draconic officials that dragoons lack worth for dragonkind. They'll still be able to skew it to take credit for something I do right, since I haven't lost the use of my draconic abilities."

"And they'll be secretly pissed off at you and loathe you even more. Ellen, I know you think you're going to sit here and convince me. You've probably never met a man that you couldn't charm into giving you what you want." Menayen sits up a little bit, streeeeeeetches. "Well. You can't charm me, mama. So why don't you just cut your losses and get out of this mess?"

"I'm going to stay involved regardless of what happens in the next few minutes." She crosses her legs, very ladylike. "It's just a question of whether it's with you, or without you."

"See, I figured you'd say that. I swear, you could just... be happy." The kitty hops up from his chair and trots over to a chest, and pulls out a handheld game. "If you get involved," Menayen quietly says, "I'll have to consider you a threat. I don't wanna, you're alright. But I will neutralize you." He smiles. "If you get involved freelance, you'll screw up the system. You'll mess up surveillances we've got in place that you won't know about, you'll alert people that we're tailing to the danger they're in, you'll generally pop a nice pee in my shoes. And where will you get your information if you're cut off?" The way Menayen talks, with soft sympathy instead of judgmental sharpness, he hopes he's conveying that he's more interested in her safety than anything.

Yin closer her eyes. She was afraid of that. "What do you really expect me to say? If I were to say 'Okay, I'll be a good girl'..." opens her eyes. "You wouldn't believe me if you have half the brain you claim to."

"That's why I'd have you followed. Also," Menayen points up to a shelf, where eight pounds of brain sits in a jar of formaldehyde. "I've got all the brain I claim!" He reaches for a pen and a piece of a paper, and starts scribbling. "Look," he says, also holding up the paper... which reads "the room is bugged, it always is. I want 2 work wth U, but U need 2 strm out and B pissed I meet U at cafe K?"

Whether she sees it is up for debate. "'Look' at what? I came to you for help and you meet me with thinly veiled death threats." Her fangs bare just slightly, and she stands up. "The best argument you made for not staying in this business isn't anything you said, let's just leave it at that before I lose my temper where you're bound to have some sort of sfeguard. Is there anything else, 'Kaz'?"

"Hey, no one said anything about killing you." Menayen holds up the paper, just to be sure. "And of course I have a safe guard, you're technically an enemy right now. I have ten safe guards." He sighs. "Just think about what I said, okay? Go live a normal life before you don't have the chance anymore."

She sees it. Scowls the littlest bit, though there's an even slighter nod behind it. "I've been in this business for thirty years. When exactly did an official discharge make it that easy to just slip out of it? I think we're done here." And she turns to leave...though instinctively wary for her back.

"I'm sorry I can't help you. I really am." Menayen, amused, draws a mustache on himself with the pen. "You're welcome to come crawling back with an apology, though!"

"You're welcome to continue pleasuring yourself nightly with a test tube," Yin half-purrs, half-snaps. The door more or less slams behind her.

Menayen grins a little. "You oughtta see the size of the test tube," he snickers, and goes to get ready. Maybe she'll meet him. Few have connected the little short cat-freak with Kaz, so public is pretty safe.

Ellen is a bit peeved...but some of that is method acting she's trying to shake off. Not all of it, but...she'll see what he has to say. She takes out a compact--spy or not, she has a completely normal compact with some vital touchup makeup and a small mirror--fixes her hair and checks her face, and then breathes out slowly. Really, she's trying to not to think about the enormity of everything going on. Here, now, and the very next step. Tunnel vision and focussing soley on the task at hand makes for very effective coping. That done...she'd noticed the cafe on teh way here, and heads in that direction. takes a small table outsid and plays idly with the new dangly thing hanging from her horn-ornament, waiting to see what happens next.

"Hey, look at that. It's Menayen!" A spider sitting with his wife at a table nearby gestures towards the trotting Serinian en route to the cafe. "Hide the silverware."

Menayen orders some cocoa and looks around. Pauses when he sees Yin, and steps over to her.

"Hi! I'm cute, and you're hot, so we might as well sit together, right?" He beams at her, ears wiggling.

"May I throw toothpicks at your ers until I pierce one?" She sips a familiar black-red substance from a small cup she'd brought with her, gazing at him from over the top of it.

"If it means I get to flirt with you, be my guest." Menayen sits anyway, setting down his mug with a gentle clatter. "So what do you want, anyway?"

"I've just heard a lot about the quirky fellow with the ears who wanders around Tarantella occsionally." Swirls her cup, gazing thoughtfully into it, before looking back up to him. "I have a lot of free time on my hands suddenly, so I thought I'd track you down and see if you can show a girl the kind of good time I'm sure is an exagerration." Smirks.

"The things I can show you would boggle the clothes right off your back." He winks. "I have rules, though! I'm a ruler, I need them. As tall as a ruler. Anyway... if you wanna hang out with me, you're gonna hafta go topside and get a phone from La Rosa. I'll add you to my contact list and everything!"

"I don't care if it's cute," the spider says, "it's a geek."

Ellen raises an eyebrow. "I second the 'geek' bit. So you realy won't talk to a apretty face until she has the right tech toys, huh?"

Menayen pauses a moment. "Now, now," he drums his fingertips on the table, noticing the other Spiders chattering about them, "how are we supposed to have nasty freaky phone sex without the phone?"

A pause, then she snickers. "Fine, fine. You get a pass this time. Enjoy it; next time I'm going to take your phone and give you a new accessory prison shower style. Freaky phone sex and all." Smirks, carefully pours the rest of the blood into her trusty flask, and screws it shut, ready to leave.

"Mama does know what I like!" He grins. "Here ya go, baby." Gourd, but Menayen sounds like a pimp as he lays some local currency in front of Ellen. "That'll cover."

It's not a parallel she's oblivious to. "Why thank you, sugar. Scour for undercover cops for me yet?" Winks, takes the money, and stands up, amused. She certainly doesn't trust Menayen yet, but he is amusing whatever else he may be.

"Those two are cops." Menayen points two tables over, where two men quickly look away. "They're pretending to check you out, but at least one of 'em's gay. So shimmy that ass to LaRosa's."

"Wouldn't want to keep you awake." Puts her things away.Hand held over her shoulder a moment as she turns to leave in a mock-wave. "Thanks. Bye bye for now."

"Bye then!" Menayen yawns a little bit when she's gone, and looks at the various onlookers. Pauses, considering them. "What? You wouldn't hit on her?"

Yin ponders the matter of LaRosa's as she heads off. A phone book will be her next stop, except on the likely possibility that she runs into Alou first.

"... so what'd you think of him?" Of course she would meet Alou first. "Was he what you expected?"

"I'm not sure what I expected, but it wasn't that. He's...amusing." Yin smirks a bit. "By the way...what is he, anyway? Those ears are something else."

"I have no idea. He's a... something or other." Alou falls into step beside her. "You've got a little blush, you know. I'll bet he spent half the meeting hitting on you."

"Half?" She raises an eyebrow. "You underestimate him. Also, I think he's my pimp now. Anyway... need to grab a phone from 'LaRosa.'"

"Lucky him. LaRosa. Oh, I see... that's no problem. There's an antique shop about two blocks down. The owner's daughter has what you'll need." Alou walks slowly next to her, pondering. "Troix's with a friend of mine."

Ellen nods a bit. "How's she doing?"

"She's kind of upset. She saw herself in a mirror and... well, it freaked her out. She wanted to come, too, and kinda threw a tantrum about it."

The dragon-vampire cringes a bit. "Wasn't looking forward to that." Folds her hands behind her neck. "I didn't get a chance to ask Long-ears if he has any thoughts on what happened to her. Guy like that is bound to have a dozen theories. Though, he probably hasn't seen her yet, has he?" Sheakes her head slowly. She'd be less worried about Troix's will if her mom hadn't just died, too. Doesn't say this...because Troix isn't the only one recovering. Alou has hardly vented at all, and that worries her.

"He probably would. She'll be fine. She was going to have to go through some biological changes eventually anyway, right?" Alou stumbles over a rock, catches himself adroitly. "Lousy luck, today. There's the shop, though."

Ellen nods, though noting the stumble. "So I'm clear, what's the daughter's name? LaRosa or a variant, or...?"

"Lana Rosette is her name, but she likes the nickname." Alou gestures towards a gentile looking shop, classically decorated in all sorts of old stuff. It smells softly of brass polish, and the innards brim with things that certainly look old-- including the storekeeper, and excepting the blonde spider girl sweeping the floor.

Yin debates a few moments. Approach the mom, or the daughter? Still, the daughter isn't all that young, thus... she glances at something shiny. It really does catch her eye, actually, it's white gold and shiny. Two of her favorite things. "Excuse me, Miss?" Looks to the daugher, and smiles.

The sweeping spider looks up from her sweeping to offer a courteous smile at YIn. Unlike poor Tuleau, who was a rather plain example, this particular spider is as feminine and pretty as they come. She is clean and fragrant despite her work, antennae all in place, and dressed too chic for her own good.

"Yes Ma'am? May I help you with something?"

"Hopefully. A friend of mine told me I needed to buy a phone from you."

"Oh. Yes, if you'll just come with me." She smiles again, a perfectly business-like smile. "Hi Alou."

"Lana. You're looking scrubbed."

"Suck my dick, Alou." LaRosa winks at him, and heads over to open a door for Ellen. "Go inside. There's a box all ready for you on the third shelf. It's white."

"Mmkay." Yin heads inside. Wary as ever, but not unduly so. "What will I owe you?"

La Rosa follows her inside, shutting the door and keying in a sequence to lock and seal it. "Well. That phone is free, since it's mostly defective. It only dials a few numbers." She takes the box and opens it, pulling away bubble wrap and such to show off a fairly typical looking cell phone. It actually doesn't have number keys. "These are function keys," she explains, "one dials me, another dials Kaz, and the last one here dials local law enforcement. It's equipped with a GPS, and also has a detonator right here..." she points to a 'snap to enter, pull out and twist' sort of device on the back. "In case you need a small bomb or need to destroy the phone completely."

"How powerful is the explosion? And what's the blast range?" Ellen glances over it with only mild interest, but full attention."

"It's not huge. We couldn't pack that much boom in it, but it'd be enough to, say, blow the lock off a stubborn door." LaRosa holds out the box, after putting the phone inside. "Did Kaz tell you to pick up any other toys? We've got all kinds of bitch slayers in here."

"He didn't, no." She takes the box. "I think I'm about set...but what do you have, for future reference?"

"Spy stuff. Lasers in watches, voice activated laser-bladed press-on nails, belt buckle gun, Stinger missile-capable suitcase... anything you want."

Ellen smirks. "Noted, I'll keep it in mind! So what do I owe you for?" Takes the cell phone out of the packaging and looks it over, and pitches it in the trashcan in here. Habit; not smart to do it in public where some estimate of what she'd purchased might be made. It's so ingrained that she unthinkingly sticks orange peels in her handbag or pocket.

"That piece of white gold you're going to buy on the way out." LaRosa opens the door with her code, smiles, and looks back outside. Alou is busily chatting with the older woman, who is just as busily informing him that he's full of feathers.

Smirk returns. God she loves the spy life. It's one big inside joke. "Of course." Tucks the phone into her purse/messenger bag/backpack thing, and heads on out to retrieve the pretty trinket she'd been playing with earlier. A stylized wildcat of some sort, carcal-esque, though the big ears are likely just artists' exagerrating shapes in a pretty way. Its eyes are smoky topaz, long with a few "coat markings." Fingers it as she heads over to the mom.

"... and that's why I'd make a great supermodel." Alou's just finishing his debate point when Yin comes up. LaRosa just goes back to her humming and sweeping, apparently pleased with things in general. "Find something, Ellen?"

"I did, thank you." Yin smiles as she sets the thing on the counter, and smirks over at Alou. "Now what's this about your legs?"

"They're fantastic. Really, they're practically criminal." He nods a bit. "Also, the make an ass out of themselves."

Yin groans. "Is it their fault you're cracking puns?"

"Assolutely." He nods.

About that time, Yin's new phone rings with a very typical, uninteresting electronic ring.

She glances at the caller id.

All it says is, "Answer the phone, dumbass!"

Yin smirks, hits "talk," and picks it up to her ear. "'Dumbass'? You haven't even talked to my ass yet; isn't that a little presumptuous?"

"Well, I was looking at it and it didn't get angry at me, so it can't be that smart." Menayen's bouncy little voice sounds on the other end in flawless clarity. It's a good phone! "So here's what's happening. There is a guy named Brandt in town. Your ass needs to track him and see what he's up to."

Yin says...well, more or less even, to the casual observer. But Alou will almost certainly be able to take one look at her stance and overly controlled expression and know something's up, since he knows her pretty well by this point and has seen her in plenty of unusual moods due to the various circumstances. "What's the word on confrontation?"

"He's a dignitary, technically. You can't touch him, just tail him. Also, if he spots you, you can kill him if you want to. Just make it look like an accident. Also, he's pretty hot. For a dude."

"Fire dragon, science guy, that's sort of cause and effect."

"Yeah, we'll you're technically an ice queen, and you're hot, and you have a butt that doesn't quit. At least without a two week notice."

"Butts like this do whatever they damn well please," she assures. "Anything else?" Really, from Alou's end, there can be no doubt in hell who she's talking to, even without the convenient timing and exclusive channel.

Alou's just snickering. He knows how Menayen-Kaz can be, and he's sure the little bastard is amused to hell by this.

"Yeah. Brandt's got a bodyguard, a real scary girl. She's almost certainly a silver wyvern, like Revilier. One of about six in existence, all of 'em superfine, and all of 'em really dangerous to cute butts."

Yin nods a bit, though of course he can't see this. Silver wyverns...they're bad news. She prides herself on her fighting ability...but they're one of the only creatures anywhere she'd much sooner evade. "Got it. Does she tend to keep a remote eye or hang out with him visibly?"

"She doesn't usually leave his side. If he wasn't such a bastard and a failure with women I'd think they were engaged. But yeah. She's sharper than he is, which isn't saying much, but be more interested in hiding from her than him. 'Kay? Call me if you're in trouble. My whiskers can handle this!"

"Alright. Talk to you later." She hangs up. Looks to Alou. "A certain fire dragon acquaintence of ours is in town."

"Great! I'll get the cannons." Alou smiles. "Seriously, what are we up to next?"

She smirks a little, appreciating the sentiment, but only for a moment. Retrieves her pretty-shiny-smells good trinket once it's paid for. "I'm finding out what he's up to. You're up to whatever you want to be. You do have a daughter who's out of sorts and could probably use her dad."

Alou smiles, but it's a little disingenuous. He's tempted to be a bit cross about it, but knows she didn't mean it condescendingly. "You're right," he admits, "I'll go back to her. Don't get killed, though... Troix likes you better than me."

She shakes her head. "Troix needs a girl to cling to right now, is all it is...she likes me, and I like her, but it's not as deep as what she thinks of you." Smirks a little. "She's just a girl, and already flexing her 'confuse all males' rights and privelages. I'll see you later, hey?"

"Of course." Alou nods a little. "Well. If you'll excuse me, ladies..." And he goes, heading off to vanish in typical spy-fashion, disappearing in a crowd.

Yin plays interestedly with her new purchase a bit, musing. It is true what they say about dragons and gold, for the record. Eventually, she puts it away to walk the city and scope it out a bit. Pulls her hat down to obscure her face so that she isn't seen first on dumb luck, and just...walks, ears and eyes open. Time to see what's what.

It's a bustling city, of course. At this time of day there's aquite a bit of floor and wall traffic, with only the occasional cluster of Spiders standing about talking. Most of the conversation is, of course, no use to Yin.

"Bob stole the last meatball. I swear, next time..."

"... did you end up sleeping with her?"

"... ran out of eggs. So then..."

"... right in the side of the head. I saw it, it was like..."

"... the whole world's going to hell, man."

Some ofit, however, does seem conveniently on topic.

"There's a thing going on. You know the dignitary that's been on the streets, meeting with people lately?"

"Sure. He's kind of cute."

"Well. I hear that they're really looking for someone. And I wouldn't be surprised at all, a Dragoon walking around with a wyvern in broad damn daylight."

Ellen narrows her eyes a little from where she's fighting a soda machine with a really crumpled, ripped-and-taped bill she keeps in her wallet for just this purpose. Looking for someone...? Keeps fighting the machine, but gets out her spiffy phone with the other hand and dials long-ears.

"Domino's Pizza?" comes the reply.

Yin raises an eyebrow a little. Still, the voice is familiar, and the phone can't dial most numbers anyway, right? "You could have at least been Blackjack or something," she observes.

"Hey, if I was good pizza, people might actually try to order something and all I can give them is spicy sausage. What's up?"

"Brandt is looking for someone. No indication of who, but just in case, tell Alou to keep an eye on Troix."

"Will do, but since you guys just got here, I'm not sure how they'd be onto you fast enough. Besides, Brandt's been here a couple of days.. I'll look into it. In the meantime, see if you can find out who he's after, eh?"

"I know. But I worry. Wanted to touch that base. Talk to you later." And she hangs up. Finally gives up on smoothing her conveniently un-smoothable bill, rifling through her purse for a wallet to return it to while she continues listening to the spiders, if they have anything more to say.

It's nothing terribly useful, for the most part. Brandt's not really brought up all that often, as he's been civil and more or less on the level as a peace officer since he came. After a while, though...

"Hey. How's your brother?" A full blood spider asks of a despondent looking female next to a grocery store.

"He'll be okay. She busted him up bad, but we''ve got a good doctor."

"Did you find out why...?"

"Something about his daughter. He doesn't even have a daughter that I know of, but the way they talked she'd be at least five or six years old by now."

Ellen stiffens inwardly. Her real father...? Listens. Come on...lucky enough for names or other confirmable information...?

"He wouldn't tell you anything about it?"

"No. That makes me wonder if he doesn't actually have a kid somewhere... my brother the dad is a scary thought."

"Josel isn't mature enough to be a father."

"I know. Doesn't mean he never made a kid, though. He's mature enough for that."

Yin nods to herself, just slightly, and tips back her cowboy hat as she walks off. One of the first things she'd taken care to learn about this phone was to manually set off a ringer. Thus, one corny seven-tone tune later, she looks to be answering when she dials Menayen again. "I bet you thought you were rid of me for a couple of minutes."

"Nah. I was hoping you'd call back and ask what I'm wearing. What's up, mamakins?"

She's well out of earshot of the spiders, though. "Need more information on a man by the name of 'Josel'...possibly a city official, or was at one time. Should have been admitted to a hospital recently, and a vertically challenged little hacker could speed up determining which to find him at and give me a room number."

"Josel? As in, Minister of Transportation Josel? Hold on." 

A few seconds pass. The sound of keys clicking on the other end is all Ellen should be able to hear, while people around her pay her no mind. She's just a sexy humanoid on a cellphone, after all.

"Octet Hospital, room 331, the intensive care ward."

"Thanks. Directions from here?" Hmph. That guy's just a bit too intent on her ass...notices that he's setting up a ladder. Waits until he should be just about ready to step on it, and gives it a good swish as though she'd mistepped.

He stumbles, of course, and baps his forehead on a rung.

"Ellen, be nice to the construction workers," Menayen chides her, snickering a little bit. "Guess who can see you?"

"Hey. My ass is a weapon of mass destruction and it would be a shame to not use it. So what, are you the little man in the light poles?"

"Hey yourself. Don't forget who I am, Ellen. I'm a funball of uberfluff, but I'm also Kaz. You could be hiding in a trash can and I could find you. Also, techinically it's a weapon of ass destruction. The hospital is two blocks north of you. Look, if this feels out of place at any point, abort and come back. We're just testing the waters. I don't care if Brandt killed Troix's mom. No vendettas."

She nods a little, more serious at the "I'm the boss and I'm a good one, watch yourself" reminder. "I'm nothing if not vengeful. But you did observe that I'm an ice queen. Vendettas are best brought to fruition when everything's been perfectly aligned, and not before. Dish served cold and all." Spots a blue hospital sign. "If there's nothing else, I'll talk to you later."

"I'll look into Josel. Don't get caught with your pants down when I'm not around."

The hospital is a fairly typical, if strangely designed, edifice. It looks just like a human hospital, only with special wall entrances and a more beige-brown color scheme than the typical white and pale-blue/gree/pink hospitals seem to enjoy above ground. A bored receptionist waits at the front desk, in a room full of sick spiders.

Yin handles this in what is, in her experience, the easiest way. She just heads for the doors to the rooms without a word to anyone as though she owns the place. She looks like she's going somewhere specific with plans and probably permissions, and people are likely to assume that.

It's an ICU, so of course she's stopped by an orderly. "Ma'am," he, a full spider, respectfully says, "there's no visitation right now."

"I need to question one of your patients, Josel." Flashes a draconic military card she still has. "I'll be brief, I know that he needs to rest."

"I see. Okay. But please, don't get him too excited. He's in a great deal of pain." The orderly steps aside, and goes about his business.

Yin bows her head to him, and heads inside, scanning the beds and charts until she finds who she's looking for. "Mister Josel?" Her voice is...well, actually, soft and respectful. She sounds as much like a woman as an agent, though not flirtatious.

One of the beds, set off by curtains as are the bulk of them, houses a spider male wrapped in thick layers of gauze and plaster casts. That spider looks in her direction, uncovered lips moving together a little bit. 

"Hm? You're not my nurse, are you?" His eyes cloud a little bit, as per his medicated state.

Hm. Hopefully she can get some answers, anyway. "No, sir. I'm a special investigator. My name is Diana. May I ask you a few questions?"

Josel remains quiet for a bit, trying to figure her out but not really gawking at her. Much. "I already met with the law today. Can it wait? I'm too tired."

"I'm from a different unit, and I'll be brief. I have reason to believe your daughter's in danger, and would very much like to keep her from trouble." Tilts her head. "To preempt concern, I'm not some reporter looking to publically expose anything. I'm interested soley in her safety and would like nothing better than to stay away from the media."

"I don't have a daughter, I already told that damned wyvern and her Dragoon."

"Then you never slept with a woman named Tuleau?"

He pauses. Looks away. "How the hell do you know about that? Did Luca tell you? It was fucking Luca."

"No one told me. I told you, I'm a special investigator." Yin invites herself to sit down, crossing her legs in that ladylike manner. "Look, of all the ways this can go, lying is only going to draw things out when I know you're tired. There are too many angles I can poke holes in your story from. You have a daughter. She's five. She's blonde with silver grey eyes. They turned blue recently. Smartest little shit I've ever met, keeps me on my toes. Fantastic kid." Takes out her compact. Checks her eye makeup and glances behind them to make sure they're still alone.

They are.

"Look," he quietly sighs, "Tuleau and I knew better than to think that I'd make any kind of father. I drink when I'm not working, I work when I'm not drinking. I loved Tuleau but she deserved better than me."

Ellen's eyes soften a bit. "I'm not here to judge you. And for what it's worth, Troix's dad is taking wonderful care of her. He's a good man, and she's got a good life. There are just a few things I need to know from you. First, I need to know if you have any idea why a wyvern and a rogue dragoon might be so interested in her. Any special modifications to her, any unusual circumstances around her, anything."

"I didn't have much to do with her life. I didn't even know she had a ..." pauses. "Sorry. I've been denying her for a while. I've been watching, seeing how she's come along, wishing I wasn't the man I am so I could be there for her and for Tuleau." He looks aside a little bit more. "Troix was born with flaws in her respiratory system. She had a respirator installed, but..." stops again. Looks around, to see if anyone's watching. "A dragon's egg."

The reaction is instant. He definitely has Yin's undivided attention. Glances behind with her compact again, then back up to him. "Tell me more."

"I don't know where they got it. I'd been digging around because Troix was dying right in front of me and I couldn't do anything about it." He moves his hand up to his chest, rubs it gently. "They told me that they had a treatment that would fix her issues completely. I paid everything I had. When she went in for a checkup, they slipped their own doctors in and injected something from the egg into Troix."

Yin breathes in slowly. Back out. "It would explain a lot," she notes quietly. Nods a little, mostly to herself. "Something that magical...yeah. It's...what turned her eyes blue." Pause. "Do you know what happened to the egg?" Please, please god only be poked, still be intact....

"Most of it was fed to her intravenously. I don't know what came of the remains."

She closes her eyes a moment. Nods. "Thank you. May I ask where this was done? A name?"

"I don't know anything about the doctors. The guy I talked to was named Millarca. A human." Josel scratches his chest a little bit. Coughs. "Hey..." he coughs again. And again. Looks at Ellen, eyes starting to widen.

She blinks. Checks her compact again, listening carefully for movement in the room, then glances at his monitors.

A moment later a nurse comes racing in, drawn by Josel's emergency button. She calls for a doctor and increases Josel's dose of sedative, anything to calm what quickly distinguishes itself as cardiac arrhythmia. 

"Miss, you're going to have to leave," the doctor informs Ellen as she strides into the room and clears the nurses to begin her work on Josel.

Yin nods. She hasn't gotten to ask everything she'd wanted to...but what she has is huge. "Thank you for talking to me," she says from behind the nurses. "I'll send you some pictures of Troix once the air has cleared." Heads for the exit, pulling her hat down closer to her eyes.

No one stops her, but her phone does ring a moment after she leaves the hospital.

Picks it up, of course. If it hadn't rung...well, she's not sure whether she'd have gone to Kaz or Alou, but she has get someone. "Hello?"

"Ellen, it's Kaz. Run. Run like a motherfucker caught on the job. Brandt's wyvern just killed Josel and she's following you. I've got help on the way but they won't make it in time if you can't stall her."

Yin groans inwardly. Not just for the danger...she's genuinely upset that something had happened to him. Deadbeat dad...but not such a bad guy, and she'd wanted to let him in on how Troix had turned out. She doesn't dick around, starting off at a sprint into a crowd. Fits a bluetooth earpiece on as she runs to keep Kaz on the line.

"Lovely. Meantime, listen. I have all but confirmed that Troix is the one they're after, he was initially assaulted about his daughter and that's Troix. Josel commissioned a human who gave the name 'Millarca' to use something extracted from that missing dragon's egg to inject into her, which probably sparked her current metamorphosis and healing. Unclear on whether the egg was destroyed, though I got the impression that it was killed. Something that magical, the remnants may still be useful for a lot of reasons. I'm almost--heh, almost, you understand--glad that Silvery back there is accounted for right now, but I wouldn't count on Alou and company not being next on the list."

"Just don't stop for anything. God, she's pretty. She's got all the right curves."

Behind Yin, the Silver Wyvern nudges people out of her way with gentle force, quieting their annoyance with a sedate, soft smile. Her eyes glisten, almost as though she's heading for tears, which lends a great deal of persuasion to her mute pleas for passage.

Ellen's weaving. Of course she is, though she doesn't expect it to be so easy to lose her pursuer. "At least if we get into a fight, it will be a pretty hot one." Shit...! Dashes into a mall, immediately scanning the architecture of the place for clues. Dashes into a crowd, snatches some fellow's hat right off his head and switches it out with hers as she moves, hoping to buy a few seconds here and there of confusion. Multi-level store? Gotta be. She dashes in, heading for where she thinks the "stairs" will be.

There's an escalator there, but Silver is right on her tail. "It would be and I'd like to see it in a 'we're really just foreplaying' context. There's a bathroom on your right that has a hidden entrance in the second stall. That'll take you to the sewers."

"Thanks." Sprints in that way like she's hasn't taken a pee through the entirety of Lawrence of Arabia. Second stall's locked. Great. Ducks under the door, to the dismay of the poor spider using it. "Sorry about this. Lift your feet, and please don't tell which way I went." Once the bewhildered woman's feet are clear, Ellen lifts a panel she finds quickly, slips into it, and closes it over her head before dropping into ankle-deep something below. She wrinkles her nose. "Eew." Takes a few moments to ice it shut, dragging the water up below so that a huge, solid, curiously-coloured, and fetid-smelling mass of ice braces the entrance against the floor. Takes off at her sprint again, heading downstream.

Silver enters the bathroom, quietly looks around. Checks the stalls. She pauses at the Spider hurriedly leaving, checks that stall thoroughly, and smiles a bit. Good. Smart prey. Before she leaves, she stops in front of the mirror and checks her lustrous, white-blonde hair and almost-gothic makeup.  Then, she leaves as if nothing has happened.