Yuen Enterprises [Bar, Casino, & Hostess Club]

[Vintrict]

In the other part of the room, Enlai and the two guys he walked with took out cigarettes, lighting them and letting the smoke rise above their heads into the air. The following conversation took place, with only Enlai responding in English while the other two spoke in Chinese.

"Ye Qiao's feeding his face, as usual. Wei Long won't last for long in Chinatown."

"Yeah. It should be no problem pushing him out, Enlai, and bringing your group in."

Enlai: "He's a pushover. He's not the one I'm worried about."

"Yuen, then?"

"Right. He's not pushing for promotions, but I know he's up to something. He was against my progression back in Hong Kong. It'll be no different here."

"But as long as you get enough leverage, you'll be fine. He doesn't have it as good as you. After all, your profits and methods are more effective than his.

"Yes. Money talks, Enlai."

"It would be stupid to underestimate that man. After all, he was the one who rose quickest into the Head's favor. That's not something you can do on fate alone."

"So what do are you going to do about it? We need you to take hold of Chinatown so we can finally start getting some wealth of our own."

Enlai took a long inhale of his smoke, then let some smoke blow from his lips. That was when Cale would hear their footsteps walking back toward the room she sat in.

"I have a plan..."

[Vintrict]

Leonardo S. Tensatsu

From the front of the building, inexplicably from no real discernable direction a single solid gold brick would be lunged with inhuman force to shatter through some portion of the front of the building. The location inconsequential, as it didn't really matter to the sending if the receiver got the message or not.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Ko Yuen~

"Given your disregard for my previous inquiry, I'll soon be sending someone to pay you a visit in regards to our previous business arrangement.

Those patrons that leave your establishment may run the risk of providing themselves as a measure of currency as we've yet to negotiate any real terms. I'd advise you keep a tight eye on your staff... As a friendly warning of course. "

~Leonardo S. Tensatsu

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The guards surrounded the golden brick that was thrown through one of their windows. One of them picked it up, opening the letter and reading it. As his eyes finished it, he quickly folded it back up and made his way upstairs. There, he met Chioki, notifying him of the situation. That was when Chioki would proceed to text Ko.

[Shin~The ladle monster!]

Cale once more found herself cursing the fact that she couldn't understand a lick of Chinese. It was a real downfall, considering she now lived and worked in Chinatown. She did, however, pick out the name 'Yuen', and took her queues from there. So it was true, Enlai viewed Ko as a rival and potential enemy...

Upon hearing them returning, Cale debated what she should do. She could try to flee the room before they came back, and continue listening at doors if she could do so without looking suspicious. Or, she could sit there as if she had every right to, quietly enjoying her drink. He might let some of this plan of his slip before they noticed her sitting quietly in the corner.

She had to admit she was a little curious to see how this Enlai would handle such a confrontation with her.

It was that curiosity and a little bit of daring that led Cale to remain in her seat. She had crossed her long legs, the slit in the dress revealing an attractive slice of thigh in such a position. Her straight, glistening black hair was pulled over one shoulder, and she raised her glass to her lips just as the men would be entering.

[Vintrict]

Unfortunately, they walked into the room before Cale could hear anymore words. The first guy walking with Enlai was a man with a rough looking face, a Chinese who seen a lot of his days in the Triads, and earned every one of them. His hair was cut short and stood straight up on his head. The other was a bit younger looking with cut hair, but had that look on his face that made him look like a sly dog. And Enlai, of course, was the most good looking out of the three. His face was a marvel to women everywhere. When they noticed her, they put on a slight shock, then a smile came to Enlai's face.

"Well, isn't this a surprise."

Enlai walked over, the other two following. He sat down to her right on the couch, and the other two sat in their chairs adjacent to it. They were all smiling and chuckling to her, though the kind of laughs they gave weren't exactly sincere. The two other than Enlai held glasses of drinks in their hands, which would hold them over for a while.

"You're Ko's date, aren't you. I must say, he made quite the catch." His eyes rolled down her body as he said this, examining her from head to legs, then back to her eyes again.

"I must warn you, miss, Yuen holds women as well as a yankee holds their liquor."

The men laughed between one another, though Enlai kept his cool mannerism with a smaller laugh. His smile could charm over many women, but it had a sinister, hidden motive behind it, the kind of fake laugh that only the most wise could catch.

[Shin~The ladle monster!]

Cale didn't seem to mind when he sat down next to her - she saw no reason not to sit and socialize with them a bit, see what she could learn that way. True, she hadn't heard the details of this plan of his. But that being said, spying on Enlai wasn't really her primary reason for attending the boat party anyway. Knowledge of such a plan was more than she'd had previously, at the very least. And she would bring that information to Ko. Or... on second thought, perhaps Chioki. Shen had mentioned how resistant Ko seemed when it came to opposing Enlai's ambition.

Cradling her glass in her red-gloved hands, Cale gave them a rueful smile and chuckled a little at Enlai's joke.

"So I've begun to notice. I've completely lost sight of him in all the hubbub of the party. It looks like I'm on my own for now, so I thought I'd take a bit of a break."

She admitted, as if she were just beginning to realize Ko's reputation with women, although in reality she knew exactly what she was getting into, and was okay with it.

[Vintrict]

That sounded like Ko, alright. To leave such a woman like her around for others to grab as they pleased. That was fine for Enlai. Just another thing to take from Ko that was unattended to.

"Well, thankfully, you found my company. I won't be as fast as to just let you go off like that. My name is Enlai Huang. What is yours?"

He took another inhale from his cigarette, then dumped the ashes at its end into the awaiting ashtray to the side.

[Shin~The ladle monster!]

"You haven't brought along a date of your own, then?"

She inquired, a brow slightly raised. A man as good-looking as him, she'd have figured he would have had his pick of any girl to accompany him. Although, of course, your typical handsome man was not Cale's usual type. She liked her men... rough around the edges a little.

"I'm Cale Harshal."

She told him, wondering if he would recognize the name from that days newspaper. She rather hoped he wouldn't, because she didn't like infamy, or any kind of fame beyond a good street rep, but it would be interesting to see his interaction if he did follow up on the Toyota divorce case.

[Vintrict]

Enlai was a very confident man. He didn't need to bring a woman to this party. He could just grab whatever woman was here, use them how he pleased, then get rid of them. He was sort of like Ko in women, except he thought of them more as expendables, while Ko thought of them as something he couldn't put time toward just yet.

"I did not have the time to ask anyone," he answered to her.

"So, you are Cale." Yes, he had been keeping up with the news. It was his business to keep up with it if he wanted to take over Chinatown, and eventually Durem.

"Now that makes me curious. How the very lady who helped take down a large member of the Yakuza managed to get into Ko Yuen's hands."

[Shin~The ladle monster!]

"It was coincidence, believe me. I just happened to be the person Caroline Toyota decided to hire."

She took another swallow of her drink, and then glanced at Enlai sidelong with a chuckle.

"Ko Yuen's hands had nothing to do with it."

Not that she wouldn't mind having something to do with Ko Yuen's hands, of course. Well, y'know - when he wasn't slapping her in the face or throwing her around.

"I'm afraid I might have made some enemies by taking on that particular job though."

[Darkest Silver]

Moving to sit down her face twisted in pain, cringing for a few seconds before abandoning the idea and choosing to lean against the desks instead. It was going to be a long time before she was ready for work again.

"I-I have...umm expensive hobbies?"

Jay paused to see if Charlene brought her lie.

"Look, I fight ouside of this place, so I pay for magical healing as well as entering underground competitions in order to train myself for the bigger tournaments. I also enjoy doing these jobs, especially the ones that don't end with me looking like this."

Taking a deep breath she would sigh heavily and look at the woman who had saved her twice now.

"Please Charlene, I don't want Mr Yuen to find out. Last time it made trouble for him and that nice asian man. I got away, and if I can go get some healing done I will be as good as new."

There was a pleading look in the womans eyes, she couldn't tell the whole truth but desperately wanted her friend to believe what she had said. Since that was part of it, the other was that she was helping rebuild her neighbourhood and feed those whom have nothing in the Hive. Sigil was where she had ended up living after being forced to rent out the loft behind the bar at Firecats.

[Vintrict]

Enlai stared at her as she spoke. He didn't believe she was telling the truth. He was a man of great thinking, so there was the possibility this was just a hidden agenda for Ko to get more into the Dragon head's graces, and thus push himself secretly up the ladder until one day he's one of the closest hands of the boss. Now he was very curious of how far the relationship and motives stretched. It seemed it was probably a better idea for him to use this Orien business as a way to scope out Ko rather than directly. He'll just have to become friends with her, too.

"The Yakuza can't do a thing to you. As long as you have a triad next to you, you'll be fine. They're just a bunch of japs who can't think their head from their a**."

He nodded toward one of the men.

"Hey, go get us a bottle. Since we're here, we might as well sit and enjoy some more drinks together."

----------------------------------------------

Charlene stared at Jay, still thinking the girl was crazy. Even her begging was half working as Charlene was feeling more inclined to submit the girl to a mental hospital to get some help. She wasn't attuned to the world of fighting like Jay was, so she did not think this was a normal course of action. In fact, she did not know this girl as well as she thought, and now it was messing with her assumptions about her. The blonde rubbed at the sides of her head as she sat down and groaned under her breath.

"Jay...this isn't a hospital you can just crawl to whenever you get injured. This is a neutral establishment that deals with keeping customers happy and a peaceful environment. Having a half dead girl be carried through here is not a good scene for our customers. If you're going to be a hostess, you're going to need to act like one."

She was being somewhat serious in her tone, but she was still having trouble trying to give Jay her full wrath.

"Your business is your own, but if you're going to work here, at least fix yourself up before you walk through those doors. Outside, you can be whatever you want. But in here, you're a hostess, not a fighter."

[Darkest Silver]

Jay was more than happy to oblige, wishing she was capable of moving properly so she could hug the woman.

"I promise, never again. I just happened to be around the corner, but I wont ever let it happen again..so you wont be telling Mr Yuen?...about this?"

Getting healed and looking presentable was the easy part, making sure no one else found out probably would be.

(Sorry for the short post, I am in a rush. Got a job interview. I will do a better one when I get back.)

[Shin~The ladle monster!]

Vintrict

Ironically enough, Cale had been telling the truth. Ko had obviously had nothing to do with Cale's decision to help Caroline - in fact he seemed as if he'd opposed the idea rather strongly. She wasnt about to tell that to Enlai though. As much as she didn't want to perpetrate the view that Ko was a dangerous rival, Enlai didn't need to know that Cale was rather an unruly subordinate to boot. She didn't want him thinking Ko couldn't control his people.

"Oh, well Toyota had it coming to him and I'm not afraid of the Yakuza. I just doubt they like me very much since that court case."

Judging by the way her lips curled into a bit of a grin as she lifted her glass to her lips once more, she rather enjoyed being on the Yakuza's naughty list. She had messed with them on several occasions, and so far got away Scott free. And, well... She kind of liked living with the danger that someone might have it out for her, it made life thrilling.

[Vintrict]

The two guys got up and decided to go get refills together, nodding and shuffling out as they continued talking in Chinese. Glad to have some alone time with such a scrumptious woman, Enlai scooted closer to her, making sure to not blow the smoke in her direction. No need to make her think ill of him on the first impression.

"Wow, you sound like the daring sort. It's no wonder you're working with a gang like ours. You know, I'm glad to see a woman like you in our group. A lot of girls tend to use their looks these days to get ahead, but you seem like the sort who rather use more direct methods of getting what she wants. I can tell that about you. Let me guess. You probably hate that dress you're in, too."

He was good at deduction skills just like Ko, too. Or was just a very good sweet talker who could adapt to a woman's personality.

-------------------------------------------------

Charlene looked back to Jay and gave a sigh.

"I won't say anything. But the next time, Jay...even then, I doubt your ventures will be as quietly told by the others who saw you today. I'll do my best to try to keep everyone from spreading the news."

The blonde stood to her feet, walking over to Jay to put both of her hands on her shoulders, rubbing them as she looked the girl over.

"Why can't you just be a normal person?"

[Darkest Silver]

It made her a little sad to think once apon a time she was a normal person, but her family saw fit to destroy that. Not something she needed to mention.

"There wont be a next time."

Lifting her hands to over lap Charlenes she would give them a light squeaze.

"Besides if I was normal, I wouldn't really be me."