Welcome to Gaia! ::

"No promises, Missus Blythe," Evan informed Sasha, one hand coming up to loosen his tie the second the door clicked shut. He shot her a grin, pleased to see her so happy, before looking around the room. It was a lot fancier than he had been expecting; it would more than suffice as a base of operations. "So," he said, placing their bags on the floor next to the dresser, "what do we know about this mission so far, aside from our objective?"

The suspects numbered in three, two women and one man, early twenties. Currently they were staying at the hotel under the names of M. Bernard, J. St John, and L. St John. There are various images taken from security footage of the three as a group and individually. In several their hair color, body type, and even gender appear to have been altered. Several sources have stated that they're likely waiting on a pre-arranged buyer. Their room number, along with blueprints of the building have been included. In addition, they've been given the password to a new set of apps on their phones: one which taps into the security cameras, and another that taps into the phone in the suspects' suite.

Sasha gave Evan a look, complete with lifted brows and quirked lips.

"No. The doctor wants it, and so I am -- we are -- going to get it for him."

She reached for her phone and gave it a thoughtful tap against her lips.

"You are a Sun, and I think I know you well enough to say that you would wait for them to leave their room before breaking their door down so that we could retrieve the artifact. However, I think this will require more finesse or I hardly doubt the doctor would have sent me on it."

Sasha pursed her lips and gave Evan a crooked smile before opening the app on her phone that would allow them to listen in on any phone calls that took place.

"Open the security cameras on your phone, won't you?"

Her phone was plugged in and put on speaker before her fingers trailed over the blueprints.

"I want to watch them. Listen. I want to find out where the artifact is, see if they talk about it when they think no one is listening. We have some time, but I don't want to rush this. After a few days we'll know if they have some sort of routine - perhaps even sooner, if they are incredibly stupid and have no idea what they've gotten involved with."

Sasha paused. The phones were inactive for the time being.

"What is shock and awe?"

Sasha let out a low hum as she watched Evan slip his jacket off, the sound picking up again when he tugged the tie free. Her eyes lingered on the tie briefly before she cleared her throat and turned her attention back to the blueprints. She spread them out neatly on the small table.

"Do you think such a thing might work? Shock and awe?" The words felt foreign on her tongue, but for some reason she was having fun saying them.

Her plan had always been to gather intel via surveillance, but...

Sasha leaned back against Evan's chest, tilting her head to the side so that she could peer up at his face.

"I have never done anything like this before," she admitted softly, "and I do not know the best way to handle this. We know nothing about them, we do not know if they are dangerous, or armed. I think saving it as a last resort would be the best idea, as you've said. For now we will wait, and we will listen, and we will watch."

Their evening was filled with room service, cheap wine, and necking.

By the next morning, Sasha was going a little stir crazy.

The level of inactivity made Sasha more than a little nervous, and it was difficult to plan out what would be proper to wear and what wouldn't. It was absolutely crucial to fit in as seamlessly as possible when it came to the situation at hand. They would need to leave at a moment's notice should anyone step out of the room.

Because of this, Sasha ordered Evan into new slacks and a new shirt. She was dressed in something simple and black (as usual) with deadly looking heels and her hair in a loose coif. Both of their outfits could be dressed up and dressed down, and it was even a little entertaining to watch Evan move around the room in artfully crafted clothing. There was something a little dreamy about the way his shirt tightened over his shoulders when he moved, or the way the muscles of his forearms flexed and tightened when he rolled up his sleeves.

He was such a delightful sort of distraction.

When a blonde woman left the room, Sasha scooped up Evan's jacket and a small clutch.

She had no idea what the plan was, but she the adrenaline rushed through her blood.

"Someone's on the move. I have your jacket. I think we will follow her."

Normally Evan would have offered to soothe Sasha's edgy nerves by putting the almost too-comfortable bed to better use, but they were supposed to be doing surveillance and he knew how seriously she was taking this mission. Instead, he obediently put on the clothes she had picked out for him, though he left his tie loose and took measures to make them more comfortable without damaging the expensive fabric.

He allowed his attention to wander as he avidly watched her change and fuss with her hair, his fingers itching to take the pins out of it and let it loose and free and wild. Later, he promised himself; the mission came first.

Evan was ready to go at Sasha's order. "Sounds good," he said, scooping up their phones and putting one in each hip pocket. It wouldn't hurt to keep an eye and ear on the others, just in case. He held the door open for Sasha as they made their way into the hall.

They almost didn't make it to the elevator in time--Evan was afraid Sasha would break an ankle if she tried to run in those heels, amazing as she looked in them--but he rushed ahead and grabbed one of the doors as it was closing. Fortunately, the doors stopped before they could crush his hand between them and retracted once more. "Sorry," Evan said with an apologetic smile to the woman in the elevator. "We'd wait for the next one, but we're already running late."