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 Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 12:34 am
 It was only a moment later that Mile's heard (more than felt) his phone vibrating. Without blinking he picked up, multitasking as much as possible and shifting papers. "Yes? "
" Hey Miles, there's something going on down here." It was Francis, one of the men he had situated on the bottom floor, who frequently doubled as a look out.
"Yes?"
"Xavier is down here with a 'Mr. Oriole' and voices are raised. I'm assuming this disturbance would be of interest to you."
Miles immediatly grimaced to himself. Not Xavier... I have to go.
"I'll be there."
Hanging up immediatly, he stood, leaving all his precious documents strewn about and slamming the door on his way out. He had known that Jason was coming today, but he didn't expect Xavier to start any trouble. Although, Xavier was the group's resident time bomb, so he shoud have known better. The elevator could not go any faster, and all Miles could do was exhale longer and rub his temples for the triggered migraine.
Finally the door opened. He would not outwordly show his anger, but the room seemed somewhat darker as Miles approached the scene. "Jason." He greeted, not bothering to acknowledge Xavier until he made himself known. His cigarette was still in his hand, the smoke making all the air around him his.
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Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 1:08 am
 Xavier listened to the words that were coming out of Jason’s mouth and was again appalled by him. Fool? He worked on reigning in his temper as the other man continued, This man is honestly… honestly… He couldn’t figure out the word he wanted to us because so many came to mind. A smile crept to his face when Mr. Oriole disbelieved him being Jaydn’s brother. Wait… what is he playing at? He just said that I gave a lot away but he doesn’t believe that I am related to Jaydn? There was confusing inside of Xavier but it didn’t show on his face. I have proven myself a liability? Man,… where have I heard that before? And he began to chuckle out loud. Smiling at Jason he made to say something when the familiar scent of cigarette smoke made itself known. Ugh… When Miles said hello to Jason and not to Xavier, he almost felt offended, but since it was coming from Miles he decided that he didn’t care. But all the same he said, ”Hello Miles.” Since Miles was here, he could deal with this man. So Mr. Oriole is Jason then…Hmm. Xavier folded his arms over his chest and waited.
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Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 9:35 am
It was times like those that Jason was certain his brother was in heaven looking out over him. Indeed he had never been so happy to see Miles. “Morning Miles. So what’s the deal here? I left for months to step up a net work just like Jaydn asked me too and now I have this gentleman preventing me from seeing Jaydn. So I can’t complete the deal and time is of the essence in things like this.” Jason began to enter the code to open his steel case but the stopped and looked at the child in the room. “If you wouldn’t mind if we could continue this conversation in your office or some where more private. Being this close to the lobby makes me feel like there are entirely too many ears in my general vicinity.” Jason stared right into Miles’s eyes while saying this. Jason hopped he would get the hint and take him away from this boy whom Jason was certain would get him killed if he let him know any piece of information that was important.
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Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 11:55 pm
Nori woke up curled up in bed with Kätzchen on the opposite pillow. The cream colored sheets were in a bundle with Nori somewhere underneath, debating whether to get up. Of course, he always did whether he wanted to or not. As soon as his feet slouched over to touch the cold floor, he was awake and ready to start his daily routines. After opening the blinds, it seemed that it was still dark and the sun wouldn't start rising for another hour. The city scape still flicked little lights all over the place, always awake.
Nori lazily opened his drawer, looking at his average outfit of jeans and a sweater and sighed. He didn't feel like himself at all. There had been a consistent grey cloud over his head as long as he had been in the city. He figured he would have the time to color his hair, and half an hour later it was a convincing blond, as he rubbed it dry with a towel. It was a hassle to continually dye his hair, but he didn't want to connect himself back with Japan in anyway. Germany was his home, and his black hair was gone forever when he left Japan at six years old. He smiled to himself in the mirror, but it quickly progressed into a frown. What's wrong with me? I never act this way. 'Nostalgic and depressed' was a version of himself he wasn't familiar with. With a soft jingle, his phone alerted a caller. Long distance again?
He answered cautiously, not wanting another confrontation with his father. "Hello?"
"Good Morning! At least where you are anyways."It was German alright, but it was a young woman's voice. One he didn't recognize.
"I'm sorry, who is this?"
"Nori!"She sounded a bit annoyed, and before she even said her name, Nori remembered it."You don't know your sister's voice anymore?"
"Fritzi..." He didn't know what to say. He was happy she called, but he wondered how or why she had called. "How did you get this number?"
"Are you mad? I know Dad called you yesterday and I got the number off his desk. I thought you'd be happy to talk to me...And can we not use English? You know i'm not that great at it..."
"I'm sorry, it's just... " He started laughing."You scared me for a second, I thought something was wrong. "
"The only thing wrong here as that I haven't heard from you in so long!"
They continued talking for a long time; Fritzi about school and life at the Blauvelt place; Nori about how he joined up with Kyrin. He could trust her with anything and knew that she would keep it confidential, although she didn't seemed pleased about it at all.
"So then Dad knows? How do you even handle being around that?"
"I actually don't get into much trouble. There's men in suits and serious expressions everywhere. It's what I expected, but I'm not much use around, so hopefully Ky can fix that. "
"Well, not just that, but..."she cleared her throat. "I mean, the way you look and all. I expect you've been dressing 'boyish' lately then?"
He was glad she wasn't there to see him blush. She was one of two family members that knew about his 'hobby' but she was the one who actually helped endulge him when they were younger. He had considered dressing up before, but now that he had met so many new people that knew him as a male, he was afraid how they would act if he showed up in a dress one day. It would probably be disastrous. When Nori didn't answer, Fritzi continued. "I can understand. But you should be allowed to have some fun at least. Why not just keep it a secret and dress up on days off or something? It's better than nothing and at least you can be yourself."
It was a good idea. Noone outside of the building would recognize him... but...
"I really hate the idea of sneaking around... "
"...maybe you're right. I guess it's best to just avoid it altogether."
"No, I mean I should just go out in the open. "
Nori could imagine the look on her elegant face as her voice froze.
"You're, er, you're not ...serious? The Matsui's are close to dad, and if the news spread along...Dad would flip, not to mention his reputation...Sorry, that's terrible for me to say."
"It's not. It's absolutely true. But not all of them know I'm related to the Varick Blauvelt, so I should be okay. ...I'm going to go for it. Get it out in the open and let people think what they want. If they think I've been a girl all this time, then I don't mind. If they know I'm male, then okay. As long as I'm not kicked out, it should be alright. I haven't been myself at all, and if I have to do something drastic then I guess it's worth it. "Fritzi was silent again as she thought over his words.
"I hope you know what you're doing. Let me know how it goes then, and don't get yourself killed or something okay? "
Nori smiled and they said their goodbyes. He looked over at the folded soft fabric on his dresser that was the white ruffled tier dress that he had bought the day before. He felt his face redden as he imagined how everyone would react, but maybe they wouldn't react at all. Throwing caution to the wind, he slipped the dress on, and when he looked in the mirror he could smile genuinely. At least Ky would back him up. He was lucky to have her. With a series of deep breathes, he left his room to Kätzchen and walked to the elevator. He was a bit late, but he could at least start breakfast now.
With head in the clouds, about different recipes, he walked blindly into the kitchen.
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Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 11:56 pm
Miles looked at Xavier, giving him a foreboding smile of tolerance. There was little he could do with the teen, considering he couldn't control him at all, so instead avoided him as much as possible. Their feelings seemed mutual.
He turned back to Jason, staying in a businesslike manner, but equally casual.
" Apologies. It seems there was a small misunderstanding, but of course you know how these things go. " He didn't know the details as to why Xavier and Jason were having an argument, but it was probably Xavier's fault anyway. " We're still moderately new to this city, so some of us are quick to go for the throat." Again, he gave his artificial smile to Xavier, who was notorious for his quick temper. The cut on his lip had dried, but it was painful as he smiled. Miles tried to make light of whatever the situation was that he had walked into. "Of course, we can take your business to my office while I talk things over with Jaydn. You're somewhat early, but I'm sure he'll make time for you." He turned to Xavier with a "If you'll excuse us." And starting walking towards the elevator.
"Mind if I make a call?" He asked, and without waiting for an answer he flipped his cellphone open immediately and pressed speed dial to Jaydn.
When the phone picked up, Miles didn't bother with a greeting and instead said "Jaydn, Mr. Oriole is here." Straight and to the point.
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Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 1:29 pm
Jason tipped his hat to Xavier then picked up the two briefcases. He followed behind Miles to the elevator. He didn't bother to speak when Miles asked the question, he had known this man long enough to know a rhetorical question when he heard one. All that was swimming in Jason’s head now was his proposal pitch. 5 million dollars is chump change.12% of our weapons supply could easily fetch 15 to 30 million if sold to an African warlord. Making this deal would give us something more valuable than money a route into the US so instead of sneaking in 20 guns in at a time we could do it by the ton. Jason was unsure how big Jaydn was planning on becoming. Han had a massive empire and thus required large quantities of ammunition, guns, and the like. Jason smiled at that thought. There was a reason Jason had been so eager to join up with Jaydn; Han’s organization was structured, rigid the only ways he could move up would to have been to get rid of the man who did 80% of Han’s weapon deals and hope he would take the spot. No, this was a prime opportunity to do all of Jaydn’s business and he wanted a firm ground work down now at the start, that’s why he busted his a** so hard to get this deal. He knew Miles would appreciate the deal and he just hoped he could sell everyone else.
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Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 5:09 pm
Xavier knew the look on Miles’ face and he could tell that Miles thought that the mishap was all his fault and that the other man had nothing to do with it. Miles must know that this guy has a foul mouth. I wonder if he always goes around and says such things about Jaydn. Xavier resolved to show Jaydn the man’s tapes later so that he would know that the man had a less then pleasant opinion of her, or that’s how it seemed in Xavier’s eyes. At Miles’ comment at being quick to the throat, Xavier felt his temper begin to rise slightly again, it was true that he was quick tempered, but someone needed to care that men with bad attitudes and brief cases were just trying to strut in and walk through the building unsupervised. Xavier cooled his temper though, by deciding that he didn’t care. If the man worked there then Xavier would do either of two things, ignore the man or go out of his way to make Jason’ s life miserable. The latter seemed a lot more fun to Xavier and Jason would probably enjoy the first, so Xavier had a bit of thinking to do later. When both men left the room in front of him and Mr. Oriole tipped his hat, Xavier scowled and followed them into the elevator. They would be headed to different floors but there was no reason for Xavier to wait for another elevator to come. Typing in the code that would take him back to the sixteenth floor Xavier stood next to Miles and Jason but ignored them on the way up. He stepped off on the floor he’d intended and let the other two ride the elevator to the next floor up, which would take them to Miles’ office.
Once back in his office, Xavier put aside his previous work and went to work through the Matsui database to find out who this “Mr. Oriole” actually was.
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Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 8:33 pm
 As soon as Kyrin began to smile, Jaydn narrowed his eyes. He wasn't going to take 'no' for an answer. "Then I'll keep it short." His words were clipped.
Before he could say more or Kyrin could response, within Jaydn's pocket, his cell phone vibrated, signaling a call. Keeping his eyes on his cousin to make sure she wouldn't sneak off, he answered, "Yes?" His eyebrows raised slightly as he commented, "He's early. Has he only just arrived?"
Just as he was speaking, from the corner of his eyes, he noticed movement. Focus flickering for a moment, he registered the origin of his distraction. You've got to be ******** kidding me... Jaydn's eyes had widened slightly as he took in the sight of Nori in a dress. Jaydn had known it was only a matter of time before Nori would show his true colors once more but he had been secretly wishing that the boy had changed with the move. Even so, Jaydn had to give the kid some credit. In a building full of mafia men and knowing someone like Jaydn wouldn't appreciate the style in the least, Nori had the guts to be his strange self. He still better keep the hell away from me.
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Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 9:23 pm
 Kyrin held the bag gingerly to her eye while Jaydn basically demanded that she come talk to him later. She gave him a smile that said, ‘It’ll be exceptionally short because I won’t be there.’ When he picked up his phone, Kyrin’s interest was peaked, apparently the weapon’s man had come back from where ever he had been for the past few months. This would be the first time that Ky would encounter the man, but she had heard a little bit about him and knew that he was someone that enjoyed gambling. We might get along. She thought. But before her curiosity could go any further, Kyrin noticed Jaydn’s expression change to surprise and followed his gaze. Nori! Pulling the bag away from her eye she made her way over to Nori and embraced him. ”You look wonderful!” She exclaimed, a smile lighting her features. She grimaced a little when her eyes smiled too but without missing a beat she continued, ”This is cute, where did you get it?” And at that moment, Jaydn, Molly, Miles’ jacket, and the weapons man were forgotten to Kyrin, Its been a long time… I wonder what set this off? Not that she minded, she liked it when Nori was able to be himself so openly.
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Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 11:35 pm
Miles looked at his watch absent-mindedly and only just realizing what time it was. He was usually very punctual, but being torn away from work made his time mixed up. "Yes, I suppose so. We're headed to my office now, unless you'd like to meet immediately, in which case we can relocate to your office." Miles expected that Jaydn wouldn't want to keep Jason waiting for too long so he made the suggestion of going to Jaydn's office, but mostly, he didn't feel in much of the mood for entertaining Oriole while they waited. His mind was still on the unfinished work on his desk.
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Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 11:56 pm
It was somewhat ironic that in the kitchen were two opposites: The person he most wanted to see his dress and the person he least wanted to see his dress. He shyed under Jaydn's narrowed eyes, but luckily the phone to Jaydn's ear seemed to have him occupied. Kyrin's embrace caught him off guard, but was completely welcome. He smiled back at her, hiding a bit of his face beneath his hair bashfully. "Thanks, I bought it yesterday with..." Jamie. Nori didn't know if it was okay to mention him around Jaydn at this point in time so he continued, shaking off his last words. "I mean, at a thrift place down the road that also has vintage stuff. Feel free to borrow it anytime." He was glad to see Ky smile, an improvement from yesterday, and it seemed infectious.
"I was going to just start breakfast like usual." Nori then noticed the serious posture of an unfamiliar woman in the room. She was a new face, but somehow didn't seem new at all. Instead, her formal attire and air of confidence showed experience. Had she always worked there and was just recently promoted?
He couldn't introduce himself, as he was still in conversation, and wondered if it was okay to, considering Jaydn was still in the room. She might just as well be a client of his. Instead he nodded a gentle smile before turning back to Ky.
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Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 11:06 pm
 Molly was unable to extract much more from Ky and Jaydn’s conversation other than that Jaydn used the word 'please' in a more serious tone than one would expect. He probably feels forced to be civil around me. Strange that he already feels the need to keep my opinion of him in shape. Molly savored the flavor of the last bit of her coffee. More useful than strange I guess.
Jaydn’s phone rang and he seemed to be not nearly as pleased as Kyrin. But just as Molly thought Kyrin was going to be safe to flee the kitchen very attractive young female wandered into the room. She obviously not pureblooded Japanese, but her mixed heritage seemed to add to her beauty more than take from it. The dress she wore was a little too frilly for Molly’s taste but worked very well with her fair features. Ky seemed to be close with the new girl when she embraced her, and Jaydn seemed very disturbed by the new distraction. Of course he’s not happy to see Kyrin's friend. She may get in the way of him interrogating her.
Molly was ready to pick up her things and leave the kitchen, egger to get on with her day. It was then that the new girl proclaimed herself the cook. Molly’s head perked up at this just in time to catch the girls smile and nod. Returning her nod, Molly gathered her things, leaving the plates on the table, and walked across the kitchen. "Goodmorning to you Kyrin" Molly smiled in Ky's direction then turned the to younger girl. "Hello, my name is Malika Al-kohen." Holding out a hand Molly smiled. "Its nice to meet you. I have already made my breakfast this morning, but you will find my dishes on that table." Molly gestured over he shoulder. "I would like to talk to you about my food schedule, but I am busy at the moment, may I return to see you later?" Molly gave the young girl a vibrant smile.
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Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 11:41 pm
When Nori fell short of explaining who he’d gone shopping with, Kyrin almost assumed that it was Jamie, but since Nori didn’t finish, perhaps it was one of the other men and he didn’t want Jaydn to know that his men were frolicking around with whom Jaydn considered “a freak”. ”Thanks.” She said in reply to Nori’s offer of her borrowing the dress. Nori and Kyrin were the same height and could wear each others clothes interchangeably, with the exception of a few things in Nori’s wardrobe that he didn’t want Ky to ‘stretch out’. Although the two didn’t have the same style, with Nori going more to frilly pastel things that were cute and Kyrin leaning more towards the classy or sexy things, the two sometimes found things in one another’s closets that were appealing to their tastes.
Kyrin noticed Nori’s glance to Molly and when Molly came over to the two, Kyrin returned her hello, ”Goodmorning Molly.” She said pleasantly. When Molly introduced herself and proclaimed that she would talk to Nori about her food schedule, Kyrin’s temper flared, but she kept the emotion from her face and posture. Who does she think she is? Nori is no maid. He doesn’t have to clean up her dishes. My god, she could at least put them in the sink. With a smile to Nori, however and turning towards Molly, she said, ”Oh, you haven’t met, of course. Molly, this is Nori Blauvelt.” And he is not your personal maid, you may not call upon him at odd hours to clean up spills, and if you try to walk all over him you will answer to me. And then with a pleasant smile to Molly she continued, ”But he isn’t a maid. Nori just likes to help out when he can.” Kyrin knew that she couldn’t be unpleasant to Molly at the current time, especially if she was going to use her to avoid being alone with Jaydn to receive his talk.
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Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 9:38 am
"I'll see you in my office then." Jaydn hung up, placing the phone back into his pocket. His eyes had never left Kyrin and he had to stifle a laugh when he caught the end of the conversation that was being held apart from his. Maid...
Realizing now that another day was going to go without a proper breakfast, Jaydn returned the materials back to where he had taken them from, scowling briefly. I'll have Maddox bring me something later. He was thankful that, at least, he had a coffee maker in his office.
Not wanting to make Jason and Miles wait, Jaydn made for the door, passing the group that had formed just before it. Keeping to basic etiquette, he nodded to the group his leave so as to not interrupt anyone speaking. As he left, briskly walking down the hall towards the elevator, he knew how this cousin would probably view this. I'll let you think I've given up and you've won. I'll figure it out one way or another though, I promise you that Ky. Getting into the next available elevator, he waited for the eleventh floor to come to him.
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