[GRO] Chiara Moteku - Adult

[Micillia]

Thomim raised an eyebrow at the lead apiarist, conveying "Do you have a problem with that?" to her simple and blunt remark. Either way, it got the reaction Chiara wanted. Everyone gave Thomim a wide berth as he walked down the hallway, apparently to someone else important. Well this is what Chiara had asked for. A small operation when looking at the storefront, but a little more impressive when the hood was taken off, and most importantly, the leadership could use a touch of the Blueblood's charm.

Chiara noticed the lock click and braced herself for whoever this troll was. When the apparently quite high ranking troll turned around, the blueblood had to suppress a chuckle. Thomim sat down, arms crossed, with an eyebrow quirked at the small girl behind the desk.

"Lets just say we need to step it up a bit from here on out, and its gotta start somewhere, so i say im the best troll to set the example." Thomim said with a slight grin and a shrug. Yeah they better shape up if Chiara was gonna bother with them. "Do you...follow me?"

Hivestuck

Chiara crazy redblood Thomim  

[Hivestuck]

The Apiarist took sharp notice of Thomim's leading question. She was unamused, but not entirely in disagreement. "I... understand your thought process," she conceded, gaze unwaveringly shrewd. "What I'm fuzzier on is what made you decide to commit, Thomim?" The Apiarist leaned in the smallest degree. "Of course that isn't to say you didn't weave your recuperacoon the night you contracted us. Nor is your decisiveness an unwelcome development. I just want confirmation that your... heart is in the right place." The Apiarist's lip twitched upward at the irony of her words.

The Apiarist delicately adjusted one of several pens on her desk. The gesture was purely for show. Her auburn eyes never left Thomim. The pens were already flawlessly parallel.

Micillia

 

[Micillia]

Chiara felt that gaze. She wished that she, personally, could have been there. That gaze was intense, almost on edge. Past Chiara would have fed off that intensity, enjoying either crushing it, or bring it out, building it up. Younger, stupider, Chiara was not here tho. Here was a blueblood that needed to play her cards more carefully. One that needed to stop acting on hungry and sadistic urges. A smarter Chiara was here. Thomim was here.

"There is an opportunity to grow here." Thomim said, looking down at the shorter troll, eyes hard. "An opportunity to expand, to get ahead, to become more than what we are." Maybe the real Thomim was intimidated by her, but he, and this girl here, needed to understand where the power was. Who could do what, who could make things happen. "A greater gain for all of us." Thomim said, a hard, almost challenging look to his face.

He relaxed a little. "Do you want me to give you the details?" He said, quirking an eyebrow. He wasn't going to give it to her anyway, but if she did ask, well that showed how much she trusted him.

Hivestuck

Chiara crazy redblood Thomim  

[Hivestuck]

The Apiarist was waiting for something. Whatever it was, she seemed certain Thomim would eventually give it to her. Her face was impassive, unrelenting in its neutrality. Thomim finished with a question and she steepled her fingers in perfect symmetry.

"Yes," she replied simply, "These mainframes would be dead and rotting if not for me, and without said mainframes, you would suffer a similar fate. As I said before, I'm just a programmer, but I'm a damned good one. I expect the people backing me to be similarly adept. You have not made good on those expectations." Her voice and eyelids dropped low. Fingertips rotated precisely 45-degrees. It was the voice of the woman that sent Tanyel to her death.

"You and I both know what I can do for you. Refresh my memory, ma-fi-o-so. What can you do for me?"

Micillia

 

[Micillia]

Oh that brought it out. She couldn't show it tho. This wasn't her, this was some idiot named Thomim. She tried to pound that thought into her head. Yes, she looked like Thomim, yes she was essentially doing his job for him, but this troll was not her. This redblood was looking down on an idiot that probably blundered around all the time. It wasn't her. She personally, had very little leverage here, except by her actions here and now. And she had to keep it low enough that the real Thomim wouldn't find it all that weird when he got back.

Thomim shrank down. This was the lady in charge, not Thomim, and not Chiara, yet. "Uh, protect the project, and move the goods." Thomim said more so meekly. That was what the redblood wanted, right? To have control over her domain. Going in tough and arrogant was not going to work. How many times had Chiara learned this?! It was a slap of reality, for Thomim and Chiara.

Well, she was here for a reason, and not just to leverage drugs and illegal goods. She was here to learn what to do. Learn how to change herself, learn how to connect with others, and thus manipulate them more. She had let many a good opportunity slip by just because she had to do it her way, had to be aggressive, be in control. She needed to stop that! "I think i found a good connection. Some highblood, pays well." He said hopefully.

Hivestuck

Chiara crazy redblood Thomim  

[Hivestuck]

It wasn't as though the Apiarist softened at Thomim's change in demeanor. She was still guarded, probing. However, the hesitation Chiara showed seemed to strike a chord of familiarity with the Apiarist's perception of the other lowblood. Her palms returned to the surface of the desk.

"Hm," she responded with a not-entirely dismissive inflection. "Is that so? I'd normally be less open to the risk, but you seem... focused tonight."

The Apiarist was playing her cards close to her chest. It was as she said before. She was a programmer. A lead, yes, but matters of networking were squarely Thomim's domain. Putting any degree of trust in him clearly pained her.

"Give me the details. Who are they, what are the proposing, and what do they hope to get out of this?"

Micillia

 

[Micillia]

Focused, that was good, right? Thomim let out a sigh. "A pretty prestigious blueblood wants to make us a deal." Thomim started. "I, of course, haven't met this troll in person. Ive met with their, what, messenger? Go between? Anyway, we were able to discuss the details."

Thomim leaned forward in his seat. "They offer protection and payment, and they are interested in our goods. If things go well, some trafficking as well. They are willing to help us grow for our mutual benefit." Thomim said, nodding along. "Ive had the messenger followed. Whoever they are working for is pretty crafty, no one was able to find out much about them." Thomim shrugged. "They found out about us first, but im sure they arnt any government agency, as far as our lot could tell at least."

Hivestuck

Chiara crazy redblood Thomim  

[Hivestuck]

The Apiarist listened patiently, inclining her head as she took in Thomim's story. The shimmer of her glasses was striking against the otherwise low lighting of the office. If there was any positive tell from the woman, it was that she clearly had not lost interest in the conversation.

The Apiarist hummed. She took Thomim's shrug as the indication he was finished. Her thoughts were visibly roiling. "If what you're saying checks out... This could be... Quite the opportunity." There was that twist of the cheek again. The woman was truly pained by the act of complimenting Thomim. She persevered against her natural state of skepticism and mild displeasure. "Good work, Thomim. A preemptive 'good work,' at the very least. I expect you to follow up on your end of matters. Make sure this is a solid lead."

The Apiarist's tone softened from a blatant command to a less stringent, but still serious urging. She wasn't technically in a position to be giving the yellowblood orders. Regardless, she wasn't hired by the operation not to fret over details.

"Blue blood is a good sign. They've got a lot to lose from such a deal. That gives us at least that much leverage. Beyond that their status opens a lot of doors--especially if they're prominent enough to have a network strong enough to be trusted with criminal activity..." The Apiarist scoffed despite herself as she mulled over the situation. "Our 'goods.' What do they mean by that specifically? I have a hunch, but I- we need to know approximately how solid this character's understanding of our operation is. We're hardly just another basement-dwelling New Hemisect street gang. Our work is artistry; this mysterious blueblood, a patron. A highblood ought to at least know how to respect the arts."

The Apiarist leaned back in her chair, arms folded. The value of her work was always a sticking point for her.

Micillia

 

[Micillia]

Thomim nodded. "Ill keep you updated." He said, reassuring the redblood. Not that anything Thomim said would reassure the Apiarist at all. Chiara would have called that done. Thomim had the info, and she could easily go in and out of the operation fairly easily, and she had a bunch of new things to track down. Her thinkpan was making a list; more info on this redblood, some connections concerning transportation, and-- Chiara's thoughts were interrupted as the Apiarist continued. Ah. The redblood was an artist, and artists like to go on and on about their "art".

Thomim nodded along, as if a lover of the arts himself. "Ill work on getting more info about that..." Thomim replied, scratching at his itchy and unkempt face. "But, i did hear that they specifically sought out this operation." Thomim consoled, shrugging. "In large part because of the quality and... craftsmanship!"

Chiara wished again that Thomim was more competent. The real Thomim would probably wait like a dog to be given permission to leave. Chiara didn't have time for that. "We good?" The large yellowblood stood up, making to leave. "Anything I come across, you'll be one of the first to know." Thomim said as he reached for the door.

Hivestuck

Chiara crazy redblood Thomim  

[Hivestuck]

The Apiarist's lips pursed at Thomim's lack of specifics, but ceded the issue. Neither of them had the time to quibble minutia they didn't even know. The knowledge she- they were specifically chosen for whatever operation this mysterious blueblood was running seemed to sooth the Apiarist's prickly demeanor somewhat. "I'll trust the reasoning is that and not that we looked like an easy mark." The drop of the woman's lips and raise of her eyebrows indicated this was about as close as she got to telling jokes.

"Yes, yes. We both have work to do. Work I expect to hear about at a later date." The Apiarist stood with Thomim and followed him to the door. "Government records don't acquire and decrypt themselves. I assume you'll see that Tanyel's... 'exit interview' is taken care of. I don't trust the usual peons not to try and snoop for whatever's left of her mind honey stash."

The Apiarist sniffed and headed into the web of netting strewn across the hallway.

Micillia

 

[Micillia]

Thomim sighed. "Yeah ill get it done." Paperwork. Chiara wasn't a fan of paperwork, and its not like you can really just hire someone to do it. Cant go trusting some random nobody with secrets and subterfuge. If only Ephias hadn't left. What happened to the good old days where killing was just a way of life, something that happened and then was ignored? The blueblood walked through the motions as she exited the operation, her thinkpan on high heat. She already had someone to deal with the real Thomim's body, so there was no worry there.

There, step one complete!

It was her first time using her powers for a big operation, and it felt good. The blueblood was eager to be done with the yellowblood's body; her own was much more comfortable. As she morphed back into herself, she let out a sigh of relief. Chiara looked over her mental checklist. Now that this part was done, she could really get things going. She had to make this one good tho. It was the foundation. Sure, Chiara had plans to add more of these such operations to her arsenal, but first, she had to make this one decent. It was sad, really, how such a weak link, Thomim, had lead to the entire operation getting taken over. She would not let that happen again, not now that she was in charge.

Hivestuck

Chiara crazy redblood Thomim