Who: Audrey Leradine ft. Cian Wilde & Fumiya Sasaki What: A man named Rigó Where: Around Emillion When: Over the course of the past month. Rating: PG Status: Complete
Ravens eat Doves for breakfast.
Audrey’s fingertips brushed against the many book spine’s as she made her way through the university library. A clerk at the front check out had directed her to the location of the history and genealogy of the nobles residing in Emillion. 12-A, 12-B, 12-C. Her feet fell still as soon as she reached an aisle, turning on her heels and following it through. The books here were much bigger, heavier. Pulling one out, she had underestimated its weight, nearly dropping the ancient book before getting a good grasp on it. With her treasure in hand, she made her way over to a nearby desk.
Flipping through the pages, her eyes darted through the different family crescents the nobles wore, each conjuring up their own meanings. Hours went by and only three names resurfaced her research.
Rigó, Beltran, Voron.
She had to dig deeper.
It had taken some preparation, but with Ofelia’s mentorship Audrey had become capable. Infiltrating the civic district had never been a fun task. There was no place to cut corners, no room for mistakes. Dressed as a forgettable secretary, she had made her way up the stairs entering the building without as much as a glance. With her own forged key card, she made her way behind employee only counters following her memorized floor map of the building. Cameras had been accounted for, vanishing and reappearing when needed.
Getting in had never been the difficult. Getting out with all the information you required, that was the challenge.
As soon as she made into the record room she got to work, gloved hands sifting through filing cabinets and important paperwork. Her focus was clear: Rigó, Beltran, Voron.. Three ravens, one murderer.
With a memstone she took memory of each document she thought to be important, leaving nothing behind. Her investigation had been going well until the minute she opened the Rigó account. There was nothing. Shaking her head, she had gone back through the filing cabinet.
Perhaps their papers were lost? Perhaps…
Straightening herself up she put away Beltran and Voron, letting the cabinet shut with a click.
“I had been meaning to talk to you about something,” Audrey broke the silence. Opening her satchel, she pulled out a manila folder, sliding it across over to Cian. “Have you heard anything about him?”
Cian opened the folder, flipped through the pages, kept a perfectly neutral face. But he said, after a brief pause to consider, “You in trouble, tiny?”
“Not yet,” she grinned back at him. Though her curiosity had been piqued. “Why?”
“Complicated question,” he said. It wasn’t that the guy was bad to the core -- there were worse (hell, right here in this room) -- but it was the sort of bad that worried him, considering tiny’s history. “Might want to tread lightly,” he said after a moment. Then -- fuck it, the balance could tip just a bit -- added, “Might want to ask your buddy Sasaki.” His disdain at the name was carefully masked, but he didn’t doubt she’d know. “He could tell you. Or he could not. That’s business,” and there, a second clue, “and none of mine.”
There was a loud exhale.
She sat across from him, picking underneath her nails while she waited for her teacher to take his eyes away from his work. “If you had a lot of work to do,” she grumbled, “we could have just rescheduled.”
The paper shuffling stopped for a moment, but resumed after Fumiya scrawled his signature over a few documents. “I’m capable of multitasking.” He waved his hand at her, pen sweeping through the air as he kept his eyes down. “You’re free to start whenever you’re ready.”
“I want to know who Rigó is,” Audrey paused. She knew bringing up Cian’s name would lead to nothing good, so instead she backtracked. “I was looking into some files, and his record had absolutely nothing. It’s alarming and the only thing it tells me is that someone like him must be up to something, using political ties to wipe himself clean. So, who is he?”
“Rigó?” One of his eyebrows was arched, shown when he lifted his head and tapped the end of his pen against an inkwell. “I know a thing or two about him. I don’t really care to tell you though.”
“What?” she snapped, eyebrows knitting down in a glare. “Why not?”
He smiled, words lilting as they left his mouth. “What’s the magick word?”
With a defeated sigh she threw herself back against her chair, crossing her arms over her chest. “Please.”
The sight had him chuckling, and he went back to skimming over his paperwork. “No, although I will tell you if you run a small errand for me.”
“What?” she straightened herself out, leaning forward over his desk. “You can’t not tell me! I need to know.” Her lips curled, not really wanting to divulge the information she had learned less Fumiya pushed her further away from her goal. However asking him blindly like this wasn’t helping her cause. “I think he has something to do with my family’s murder.”
“And? Do you think sentiment will persuade anyone else?”
It was enough to shut her up. Crossing her arms again, she leaned back. “What’s the errand?”
He handed her an envelope that he had just sealed. “Deliver this to the Sasaki estate. Hand it to the head butler.” Fumiya waved her off after that, and behind Audrey the door opened. She could take a hint. “Who knows, you might be able to learn more there.”
Dante entered the room after Audrey passed him. He watched her figure stalk down the hallway, then turned back to Fumiya. Was that wise, he had wanted to ask, but instead opted for, “Do you think she’ll be alright?”
“She’s been mentored by Ofelia by some time now, she should know not to ask around recklessly. Besides,” Fumiya said, and handed Dante the stack of paper while setting his pen down, “the oyabun is in town, and it’s good to be reminded of fear every so often.”