A Meeting of the Mind, and the Mercenary [Reena]

[Major Tommy Dunn]

(location: disregarded temple)

As much as it was slightly depressing that the people of Artavia had no faith, it was also reassuring. His people weren't completely blind and stupid. Not so much that they would believe that some sort of magic created the world. Not when there was a purely scientific and logical explanation regarding gravitational forces - which was far more believable than there being a great pack of Gods that made everything the way it was.

Due to this range of harsh beliefs of faith and magic and Gods one would find it most strange to find Dunn in the temple dedicated to Temos - now deemed 'Disregarded Temple'. After all, he was not carrying a range of trash to throw into the pit of offering. He was not there to study anything. Some might worry that he was there to pray - but of course they would be quite mislead. No, no. Major Thomas Geoffrey Dunn was at the Temple for completely unrelated reasons. You see, Thomas - being the genius that he would not hesitate in claiming he was - was meeting someone here. Due to the nature of this meeting, he had planned to hold it in a place that no one ever came to. Even the homeless or the criminals on the run from law didn't come here for shelter. Not even the revolutionaries used this place for their secretive meetings. The only thing it was, was - as the name suggested bluntly - a Disregarded Temple.

Dunn entered slowly, interested in analyzing the acoustics of the building by listening to the echo of each clacking step he took. When he reached the front of the long line of pews, he took a seat on the left one, not bothering to brush the dust off and instead letting it cloud up around him when he sat. It had been a while since someone had taken a seat there, that could not be denied. Reaching into his coat pocket he pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a sleeve of matches. He shook one out, holding it in his teeth as he lit one of the matches and held it to the addictive stick.

"Would you like one?" He asked the room, assuming that the mercenary he had contacted with about a job would be hiding in the shadows somewhere. If they weren't here, then nobody was and he would have no reason to feel silly for talking to himself. And if they were here, he could take pride in knowing that he was severely perceptive. He certainly hoped for the second option, because it was always nice to have more and more validation of his genius senses, even if it was more a calculation of odds than anything else.

[Reena Shandil]

The silence that surrounded Reena was enough to make her shiver a bit. The hair on the back of her neck stood on their end, and small bumps covered her arms. The air surrounding her held that perticular smell a place that had been left unnocupied for too long held between it's walls. She let her cold hazel eyes scan the room in one fast sweep, noticing how dust swirled through the hair, only noticable as it passed through a ray of light that came through one of the windows. A sarcastic smile stretched her lips as she thought of the palce she was sitting in. A Temple. Disregarded as it might be, a temple none the less. The thought of it was enough to make her chuckle internaly, the irony of it amusing to her. If one was to think she was there to pray, they couldn't be any more wrong.

Religions, Gods, Faith... All there to entertain. If you asked Reena, she would gladly tell you she was a non-believer, that she thought someone was making a whole lot of money out of peoples desire to believe in something bigger. She had always thought religion was there because it was easier to blame someone grander then yourself for what was happening to you. And with what she did as a living, if religion had it all true, then Reena had no idea what was to happen to her when she was done with this life. This life, too short, compared to how long most lived. Her thoughts were interupted as she heard the noise of someone entering the disregarded temple, and Reena turned her head in the direction the noise was coming from. She saw a man walk by her, but she stayed silent, unnoticed. She kept her seat on the floor, hidden in the shadows. Cliché, of course it was, but she didn't know what to expect...

This man had contacted her. He needed to get a job done. And that was why she was there. Though, for all she knew, he could have been just about anyone. He may have been someone seeking revenge on her for having killed their mother or father or child, or he could have been... Well, just anyone. But then, this was what made it all the more interesting. Not knowing what to expect. She stood up, very slowly and carefully, as the other sat down. She furrowed her eyebrows, watching him in silence as he fumbled around to get something out of his jacket. Her hand instinctively went to her thigh, where a switchblade was held in a black leather holder, secured thightly into place by a strap. Her pale, long fingers grabbed at the cold metal of the knife, but she relaxed a bit when she heard the others words. "Would you like one?", he had asked, and she saw the small cloud of smoke rising above his head. Reena smiled a bit, stepping out of the shadow, and walking down the same line of pews he, himself, had went past.

"Disrespectful, smoking in a temple." she said, her voice echoing against the wall as she slowed her long strides down to a stop. Taking a seat to his right, she kept a more then respectable distance between them, still on her guards. But when was she NOT on her guards? Of course, her comment about... Smoking in a temple was only sarcastic, she couldn't care less what he did or didn't do while in that 'holy' or whatever place. But she, herself, did not smoke. It was just something she had never tried, and had no intentions on ever trying, really. Humans had short enough of a life-span as it was. And smoking couldn't do any good.

[Major Tommy Dunn]

When she replied, he gave himself another ace and a congratulations within his mind for being so perfect. Was there anyone who could call them like he did? He figured that he could make great mounds of money playing a gamble in a card game with it all riding on himself... But it wasn't really his sort of deal. People didn't really respect gamblers. People respected inventors, and loyal soldiers. Those were the kinds of people that got respect, and it was certainly respect he deserved.

"This isn't really a temple," He replied with a small shrug, putting the pack of cigarettes back into his jacket pocket. It wasn't something people would expect him to do - smoking, of course. He was the kind of person who kept in fantastic shape and didn't do much to ruin it. But, he had decided, that since he was around smoke all day anyways, he might as well smoke for recreation. To feel good. As he smoked it, he let silence fill the room. All but his inhale and his exhale were silent, and he liked it that way.

When he was bored of his cigarette he straightened up and removed it from his mouth, flicking it to the ground and flattening it. He reached into his jacket again - pausing to motion that he was not removing a weapon- and this time pulling out a small machine, no taller than his index finger and no wider than the breadth of his nose. It was made of metal, and had a small switch on it's side. He placed it down between them, moving one hinged side of it up so that it extended to the air while the other held it down as a base. Flipping the switch, a dental drill-like sound whirred before calming again. Leaving the room to be silent as it's red light glowed ominously.

Dunn looked at his mercenary of choice briefly as he brushed himself off a bit, looking around one last, cautious time before beginning to speak. "Here's the deal, me and... well let's call him an associate. Me and an associate need a little assistance. We need someone, alive, to be captured and brought back to us. Something I'm certain you with your venerable set of skills should be able to accomplish. I assure you that this will likely be exceedingly simple for you."

[Reena Shandil]

She watched the other as he replied to her statement, and she chuckled briefly. How was this NOT a temple?! Sure, people no longer came to pray, and well, it was, as the name stated, disregarded... But it was still a temple. She was surprised by his answer, though. She would have expected another kind of response, she would have expected him to reply with something along the lines of 'disrepectful to what or who'. Judging by the point of the meeting, she could tell her did not follow any kind of religion. Who in their right mind would ask to meet a mercenary in a temple, if they were any where close to believing in some sort of greater force or God above?! She kept her eyes on him, and just replied with a shrug or her own, quirking one of her eyebrows as he put the pack of cigarettes back in his pocket.

For a moment, it was silent except for the audible sound of him inhaling and exhaling the smoke, taking in a few toxic element of the stick and exhaling even more of them. She kept her eyes on him, waiting for him to speak patiently... Or not so patiently. After a few second, the young woman started to tap her foot slowly, the sound echoing faintly against a nearby wall. Silence was golden, but she was still unpatient. She didn't like to hold her breath, and well, that was what she was doing as he slowly smoked his cigarette. Though, soon enough, he got rid of it, flatting the butt against the concrete floor.

She blinked as he moved to get something out of his pocket, and once again, her hand instinctively went to her weapon of choice that was at her thigh. She furrowed her eyebrows a bit, watching him closely as he made some weird motion as if he wanted to show her he meant no harm, that he wasn't getting anything bad out of his pocket. Still, her hand lingered around the handle of the switchblade knife that had spilled enough blood to fill a small pool. Her took out some.... Thing, silver, small. And Reenas face hardened a bit. What was he doing?! She was seriously not in a mood to mess aorund, she hadn't came all the way to that damned temple to fool around... And when she saw the red light shinning between them, she growled lowly in her chest.

She let him speak, keeping her eyes on the small machine as he told her what he needed. He wanted her to bring someone back to them (His associate and himself), alive. She laughed dryly as he finished speaking, and she settled her eyes back on the man, quirking a brow. "Mhmm. Well, first thing, what exactly is it you're doing there?" she said, nodding her head down to what he had put between them. Was he recording this or something?! What was he, WHO was he?! Why had he contacted a mercenary to CAPTURE someone, and bring that same person back ALIVE. This was not what she did. She killed people. Period. She didn't care about bringing them back, all she cared about was ending their lives, making sure they could not longer breath, move or think. Though... If he told her what was going on. She just might consider his request, and see what she could do about it. After all, this had ot be easy next to killing someone. But probably more trouble then necessary.

[Major Tommy Dunn]

When he had finished, he had expected her to go on some tirade or some such thing about how bringing someone back alive was not her job as a mercenary. Then he would bring up the subject of payment, and all would be well. However, she asked a question about his little device - which only made him happier than he would have been with just a simple meeting that devised the job, the payment and nothing else. He loved it when people asked him about his little gadgets.

"Oh, do you like it? I invented it myself. I call it a... well I'll call it a Wave Buster. Or at least, that can be the working name of it," He picked it up gently, holding it by the base and so that the little red light that glowed like a demon's eye in the shadows was staring at the mercenary. "It works to cancel out sound outside a range of ten feet from itself. So, we can have a private conversation. Oh, and it has another fantastic little - much more recent - purpose. It also stops listening pins and other such magical hearing devices from working within it's range. So, I can trust that if you were, for some reason, bugged with a Listening Pin - or if I were, for that matter - this conversation would not go back to them. Clever, I know. It took a little working at, especially widening the range it works in. In fact, the first prototype only worked within a range of one foot - and that's not really very handy unless you're talking to someone right up in their face.

"You see, what makes it all work for ten feet instead of just one is the-" He stopped, realizing that he was going on and on. Clearing his throat, he put the device back down, looking at her with a charmingly apologetic look on his face. "Sorry. I tend to ramble when talking about things I enjoy talking about."

[Reena Shandil]

The young woman kept her hazel eyes on the little gadget, furrowing her eyebrows as the other called it a Wave buster or something like that. She furrowed her eyebrows a bit as he picked it up, and held it so that... The red light was glaring at her. She blinked, leaning back a bit, away from it. She had to resist the urge of slapping this device out of his hand, or to slap his hand out of her face. She didn't like having stuff put in her face, at all, especially when she didn't know what it was. Though, that problem was solved when he told her what it's purpose was... And she didn't really like the sound of it. Sure, it may have been 'clever' as he called it, but she had no idea why he needed such a thing. The temple was deserted, and hell, she was a mercenary. Why would she have a listening pin on her!?

She stared at the other as he told her about how it used ot work within only one feet, and about how it wasn't handy back then, and that's when a small smirk made it's way to her lips. She leaned back agaisnt the pew, crossing her arms over her chest, the material of her jacket cracking a bit as she moved. She shook her head when he interupted himself in the midst of a sentence, her long brown hair shifting a bit along with the movement. She breathed out when he put the thing back down intbetween them, and she shook her head a bit as him. Well, she could tell, that's guy was proud of himself... Full of himself, probably. And that look he gave her (Charming or whatever as it was) before he 'apologized', made her want to roll her eyes and just walk out of the temple.

She wasn't even sure that guy was serious at all. "Peachy." she grumbled, sighing softly and straightning up a bit, letting her hands fall down to her laps as she uncrossed her arms. "I can tell you ramble. But back to... This." she said, shaking her head a bit as she tried the forget the mouthful he had just given her. Her eyes quickly shot to the device before going back to him. "I'm not into the catching people business. I'm a mercenary, I'm not a babysitter. So, with that said-" she said, before brushing some dust of her jacket sleeve with a skeptical look on her face. "If you can make stuff to stop people from hearing a conversation, how can you not catch someone? I'm not saying I won't do it- Because I will. But... Mh." she said quickly, shrugging her shoulders. Well, she had asked, but she didn't actually need or WANT to know. How it worked was that people asked for something, she did it, got paid, and then disapeared. Period.

[Major Tommy Dunn]

Ah, that was more like it. What both he and his associate expected by hiring a mercenary for a capture and return. They didn't think that not killing was part of their job description. But his associate was not one for illegal killing, and in all likelihood had mercenaries on his list... But that wasn't what this was about. This was about Dunn going along with whatever his associate wanted in exchange for what he wanted. In order to receive, you must give - that was the basic idea, anyhow. And his associate liked the way he was going to give.

The mercenary went on to tell him that it was silly how he couldn't capture someone and how - even though it seemed she would very much dislike it and feel offended by it - she would not in fact refuse. Which was the whole point. Although, due to him being so egomaniacal and wanting to make sure she didn't think he was incapable, he had to clear up that little tid-bit. "It's not that I can't, it's that if I get seen doing it, it's a lot more trouble for me than you." He stood up, brushing his black pants off as he did, "In fact, you might even get applauded for changing to something more humane."

"So," He reached into his pocket and pulled up several folded photographs with writing all over them. They were well-creased and old, "These are the people. We only need one, pick whichever one you'd like..." He laid them out before her on the pew he had just left, moving his device out of the way. "This one is Anna Crofton, goes by the alias Ivy Crofton or Trigger. The writing on it are all the details that you can't see in the picture. Colour of hair and weapons used - the usual. This one -" He pointed to the next one in line, "Is Vaughn Gradan, also known as Iron Leg. Why? he has a leg made of iron. He is, however, a skilled fighter and probaly the only one of them with a brain. And this is Mia Holken, " He pointed at a picture of feline anthro, "She's pretty important... This is Elaina Risaul, known as Pointer, nothing special about her other than that she's good with directions and very seductive - but unless you swing the wrong way, you'll have no problems with that... And the last one, this is Plague. We don't know her real name. What we do know, is that she's just a weak link that nobody would be too bothered to leave behind. We've been told she has some... supernatural powers, but that's up for debate. There used to be more, but they've all been... Well, nevermind,"

He let the pictures sit there, awaiting her to take them for analysis of what the writing on them would tell her. Weaponry, the colours she would need to know. Of skin, of hair, the like. "So, as long as you're going to do it... There's still the small issue of payment."

[Reena Shandil]

She watched the other as he explained he would get in more trouble then she, herself, would if he got caught 'kidnapping' someone. She would argue. They would both ge tin as much trouble. Only difference? She would probably just kill the person/people who caught her, while she doubted he would. She laughed dryly while he brushed his pants off, but stopped once he started to speak again... Telling her she might get some recognition for being more 'humane'. Her face hardened, and all trace of a smile left her face as she, herself, stood up to look at him coldly. "You don't know a thing about me, so don't assume. I couldn't care less about what people think of me. Who's worst? The one who kills, or the one who pays to get someone killed? We can't all be perfect little citizen of this fucked up world, and a girls gotta do what she's gotta do. You should know that" she told him, shaking her head a bit. She then grumbled something along the line of 'cutting their God Damned hands off if they clapped'.

She sighed when he started to speak again, taking out picture. He dropped them on the pew, and Reena bent down a bit to better see them. She furrowed her eyebrows as he named the people for her, and she almost chuckled at the first girls alias. Trigger. He then pointed to another one, a man, and told him he was called "Iron Leg" She smirked a bit, shaking her head as he (unnecessarily) mentioned that he got that nickname because he had a iron leg. What originality, what flair! Though, when he mentioned he was probably the most skilled fighted of the group, and the only one with a brain, her interest peeked a bit, and she read what was on the picture.

He kept on listing the people, and she nodded her head once he was done. Clearing her throat, she straightned up, snatching two picture out of the bunch. That Iron Leg one, and the Mia something one. They seemed like they were the most challenging out of them all, and well, if she was going to do nothing but CAPTURE them, might as well have some challenge. "But they've all been killed, hmm?" she said, after he said to 'nevermind' what he was saying about the others that had been there before. She let her eyes go to him, smilling a bit. Her eyes went back to the picture, and she furrowed her eyebrows. This guy had done his homework. All the information that was necessary was there. Weapons, the hair and eyes color...

She smirked when he spoke again, and she shrugged her shoulders. "How is it an issue." she said, before tucking the two pictures in the back pocket of her jeans, letting her eyes go back to the man. "I get paid when the jobs done. And if I don't get paid when it's done... You know." she said, her voice lighter then it previously had been, even if the sentence did hint to something bad. A bit of the coldness and sour factor to it had dropped, as she started to 'trust' the other a bit more. If she was going to 'work' for him, might as well be a bit... Friendlier. Payment... When it was a murder case, she would request half the ammount of money before, and the other half after the job was done. One dude had taken off before. And sure thing, she had tracked him, found him, and got her money... Along with two fingers and an ear. But, she had gotten her money. The guy was lucky enough to have been left alive, so. But with this... The whole 'go fatch this or that person for me!' business, well, she wouldn't ask the same thing. After all, if they really wanted that person, they wouldn't disapear. So getting paid once it was done, once the target had been catched and brought to him sounded just right, to her.

[Major Tommy Dunn]

Well that was not precisely what he had expected... But of course he would not allow any showing of surprise to touch his features. He was too intelligent for the average emotion of surprise. Instead he just nodded. It worked for him. He felt no direct need to give her any money before she accomplished anything, so he would just let her do the work herself.

He looked back down at the pew, noticing that she had not taken several of the photos. He, personally, would have taken Plague, but perhaps that was just because his time was far better spent using his great mind than hunting down a pirate. "Well then, I suppose that's all that really matters. When you've captured one of them, return them here. I'll know when you arrive." He looked at the photos remaining for a very brief moment before straightening his jacket and picking up his small device. He turned it off, slipping it into his jacket pocket before clearing his throat. "Until then," He uttered, giving her a small smile and a nod before turning away from her.

He began to walk back up the aisle of pews to the huge double-doors that made up the entrance of the temple. He considered going back to retrieve the photos, to dispose of them more effectively... But that wasn't really necessary. The evidence wouldn't hurt him (although it might harm his associate, but who cared?), and perhaps the mercenary would wind up grabbing them all anyways. It was easier to hit a bullseye with double the amount of targets, after all.

(ooc; Wow, that post sucked. Sorry.)