Welcome to Gaia! ::

Noticing Eponine slip her hands into her pockets and thus her own complete inability to complete the gesture, Shee felt a tiny sliver of hurt. She reminded herself that this was, of course, a mission, and that not everyone was quite as... happy as she was. But she had been looking forward to some other people to talk to other than her brother and that Irish pervert.

"The plan? Well, the person working at this particular shop knows both English and Chinese, I'm sure of that. All we- or rather, you- have to do is convince him to help us. And we can most definitely involve him, as I happen to know that he's already involved to quite an extent."

"I'm sure you'll think of something. You are part of LOTUS now, remember?"

They had reached the shopfront. Shee pushed slightly on the door and it creaked open to let out little clouds of thick, grey smoke.

Shee wrinkled her nose and waved at the irritating puffs.

She held the door open for Eponine and waited.

Following Eponine, she whispered back, "No, but it does allow me to boss you around."

Shee thought this smoke actually might be having a good effect on Eponine, strange as that was, as she thought she heard a bit more conviction in the woman's voice.

From behind the thick, opaque veil of smoke, a low, quiet voice answered.

"Tourists?"

Shee paused. She didn't actually know what the man's name was. He'd never divulged it to her, and she hadn't fancied attempting to get it out of him.

Trying not to look evil or like she was out to get Eponine, Shee smiled weakly.

"Umm... that'd be a good thing for you to find out."

As they came nearer to the voice, the smoke cleared enough to reveal a small, dark and cramped room filled with various Chinese game pieces, from mah jong tiles to keno tickets poking out from dirty, overstuffed boxes.

Behind this assorted and dubious merchandise, a young man's face came into view. His skin was smooth; seemingly unaffected by the smoke swirling around in the shop, and his eyes were narrowed as the skin surrounding them was pulled even tighter than usual.

"Lotus? THE Lotus? What are you doing here?" he asked in perfect English.

Shee felt a bit of annoyance behind Eponine's smile. Well, she did deserve that one.

"Hmm?"

The man's eyes narrowed even more than Shee had thought possible.

"And what's in it for me, Eponine?"

He stressed the first syllable on her name, running his tongue over the strange sounds of it. He wasn't one to beat around the bush.

Lotus, was it? Well then, they had no shortage of things he wanted, the man mused.

But what would be the fun in asking for those things outright? A bit of a game first would be much more fun.

"Do you think you're ready to give me what I ask?" The man smirked and gazed at Eponine, concentrating his eyes on the face partially obscured underneath her cap.

Shee sighed. This was the problem with men.

"I'm certainly not giving him anything like that."

The man began to roar with laughter. This Eponine was either very naive, or playing dumb. It seemed to be the first to him. He supposed he should get down to business then.

"Alright. How about some monetary renumeration then? Lotus has plenty of that, no?"

Shee raised her eyebrows and looked back at Eponine. The man was being pretty... blunt. Even Shee had understood what he'd meant, and she was usually the naive one.