Cristobal Rodriguez ♦ Coyote (coyoti) wrote in paxletalelogs, @ 2017-03-06 17:26:00 |
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Entry tags: | coyote, loki |
i'm about rollin' a seven when i toss up the dice
Who: Chris & Nish.
What: Chris gets Nish to repay him a favor.
Where: Pax, then...?
When: Middle of the workday on a Wednesday. After this thread
Chris had never had such vivid dreams in his life. First the strange one allegedly shared with Daniel, and now this? Something about him being a coyote -- again -- pretending to the be goddamn moon and helping out a bird. For some reason, the bird reminded him of Nish, but he couldn't have said why if his life depended on it. But the fact that the bird owed him, or rather, the coyote, a favor stuck in his head for days afterward. Finally he got up the nerve to text Nish while at work, wondering if she'd be able to help him out. To his somewhat surprise, she said yes.
And now he found himself outside her office, ringing the buzzer until Jessica answered. What he had to say was too sensitive for a phone conversation, much less texting. He hit the buzzer for the third time, probably irritating Nish's secretary, but he couldn't have cared less. Remembering their quick stint in the local county jail, Chris was far too excited to finally have this particular problem off his plate.
Jessica hung up the phone, finally finished the conversation, and hurriedly answered the buzzer. “Barris law,” she said, but she was sure she already knew who it was.
Chris let his smile leak into his voice, leaning in close to the voicebox. "Gonna make me stick by the rules, huh?"
Jessica laughed, recognising the voice. “Come on up, sweetie, she's expecting you.” Unprofessional? Sure, but she'd never been shy about flirting with her favourite of Nish’s clients. Chris didn't linger outside; once the buzzer came through, he pulled the door open and made his way up the short steps to the first office. He offered Jess a hello in person, followed with a wink which she enthusiastically returned, but didn't dally; he continued on into Nish's personal space, knocking somewhat politely on the door before opening it and inviting himself in.
"Hope your day's going better than mine," he started with a sigh, closing the door quietly and carefully behind him before moving to flop down in one of the guest chairs before her desk.
Nish didn't look up from what she was writing. “Jess give you a hard time?” she asked with a smirk. “She'll give you a lot more than that if you let her.” She finished what she was doing and then closed the file and put down her pen. “ So what's up?” she asked, eyeing him as if trying to judge that for herself.
Chris didn't give the barb the time of day. Instead, his hands rubbed palms on the edges of the armrests.
"I've got a favor to ask," he said, blunt. "After seeing your, uh, skill with the county court system, courtesy of Badger's problems, I think you're the solution I've been looking for."
She looked up sharply, meeting his eyes and holding them, full of meaning. The door was closed, they were alone, but still she glanced around as if they'd be overheard. “You've got a lot of nerve,” she said carefully. After a moment, she sat back in her chair, meeting his eyes. “Solution to what?”
"Believe me, I know, but..." Chris met her gaze with equal confidence, his expression thoughtful for a moment. "I wouldn't really talk about this with an outsider, excuse the term, but what you can do is just too perfect of a solution to pass up.
"Besides, I'll owe you one." Except he felt like it was the other way around, despite the fact that she'd already provided one very useful service in the past. He thought of the dream again, the image in his mind strange and obscure, and couldn't help but let a detail slip. "You'd be pretty much pulling the moon out of the sky for me on this, OK? And if you don't want to, once I tell you what it is, that's fine. But if you decide not to, you cannot tell anyone what's been said, all right?"
She'd been looking away as he spoke, promising to keep her...whatever it was...quiet. but then something he said pulled her attention back to him sharply. Or rather, not hers, but the thing inside her.
’Help him,’ it said, leaving no room for argument.
’Why…’
’Do it. I owe him.’
’But…’
’Trust me.’ She swallowed and looked down at her hand, toying with a piece of paper on her desk.
“What do you need?”
Chris straightened in his chair, sliding forward enough to suddenly be sitting on the seat's edge. His hands came together in front of him, elbows resting on his knees.
"There's no need to beat around the bush. You know what I do, or rather, what I used to do. I'm not as involved in that...business anymore, but I've got...partners, acquaintances who expect me to keep up appearances, right?" He swallowed, fighting to keep his gaze pointed straight to avoid looking even more like he was lying, which he was not. He needed to look confident here, not like he was leaping from the frying pan into the fire. "There's a guy who's been lifting product, and I think he's making waves to start his own business in the middle of what I built. As I'm sure you can surmise, that's not gonna fly. And I'd rather not make a mess of this, at least, not a bigger one than it already is."
He leaned back, arms going to rest on the armrests once more. His pant leg stretched over his brace, but Chris paid it no mind. "I want you, in layman's terms, to tell him to stop."
She listened patiently as he laid it out for her, shifting her eyes away from his at times to think. The voice inside her was alert, listening, plotting, while she became increasingly nervous about what he was suggesting.
“You need to understand,” she began softly, sitting forward with her hands clasped on her desk, “I've never.. used it in this way before. It's always...subtle suggestions, hints. Nudging them in a slightly different direction. Giving someone a direct order...that's different.” The security guard at the courthouse...she had seen how bored he was with his job. She'd gambled, and it had paid off, but those stakes had been low. This could backfire on her in a big way.
’We can do this…’
‘But If it doesn't work…’
‘It will.’
“Do you have a plan?” she asked, not saying yes, but not saying no either.
"I have a meeting set up with him later tonight, and I was hoping you could tag along for some conversation." Chris's brows furrowed as he considered what she'd offered. "If I told you more about him, would that help? If it's all in the, ah, phrasing."
She chewed on her lip for a minute, thinking. “It might,” she said, sounding unsure. Then she let out a slight nervous laugh. “I've never actually...planned this in advance before. It was always...unscripted.” Another pause, another grin. “I've never actually talked about this before either. With anyone.” It wasn't until recently that she'd even acknowledged to herself that it was something only she could do. Since she'd moved to California, in fact.
Chris shook his head, the negative motion tempered by the slight smile at the edge of his mouth. "Color me shocked. I guess you should be glad I'm giving you the opportunity?" She smiled softly and tipped her head in a slight nod, although she was still slightly uncomfortable talking about it in the open. He moved again in his seat, resituating himself for the umpteenth time as his gaze fell to her desk, thoughts swirling in his mind.
"Alright, the guy's name is Rodrigo. He's kind of an ass... Supremely overconfident, and I'm fairly certain the idea to start his own thing wasn't his idea. He's just not that smart. He's sarcastic, overly concerned with his appearance... You know, now that I'm saying this out loud, it really makes it look like I don't like him, but that is not what you should be taking away from this conversation." He chewed his bottom lip for a moment. "Does any of that sound like a good place to start?"
She thought for a moment, mulling over the details, and realising she really didn’t need much of it. “You just want me to...suggest it would be better if he kept his hands to himself. But not to leave the business?” She thought it might be better for Chris if she had the guy quit his job and go elsewhere, easier, but this was about what he wanted, not her.
“I’ll need to get him alone,” she added as an afterthought, “other people...might pick up that something’s not right.” She quirked an eyebrow at him in a slight smile. That was, after all, how she’d gotten into this in the first place.
Chris nodded. "Yeah. I don't need him gone, I just...need him quiet. He needs to stop getting ideas, whoever's feeding them to him, and frankly this is just neater than getting rid of him permanently." He was fairly sure he didn't need to describe what that meant to Nish. "I don't know how many he's got on his side, and I'd rather avoid a bloodbath if I can. I'll see what I can do about getting you two alone; that part won't be easy, but it depends on how many people he brings with him. If I can't leave you with him alone, does that make this a moot proposition?"
She frowned, “I’ll just have to get creative.” She may need to lure him away if he brings others. She hated that idea, but…
’But you’ll do it anyway,’ it said.
’I’m not a whore,’ she protested angrily. The voice laughed.
’You don’t need to be...you don’t have to actually do anything, but there’s no reason for you not to make him think you did…’ Her eyebrows rose at that...the thought hadn’t actually occurred to her.
“Does he have a wife? Girlfriend?” she asked, trying not to give away what she was thinking with her expression.
Chris side-eyed her for a moment, then shrugged. "Not that I know of, no. Why, is that... Oh." Realization dawned on him, albeit a moment too late. She raised her eyebrows, daring him to say something derogatory about her intentions. "If that helps, I mean..." He shrugged. "We'll figure this out. So I take it that you're available tonight, then? Pencil me in around 6. We can meet back at Pax, and I'll drive."
“Yeah,” she said, maybe a touch of bitterness in her voice. ’No, I don’t have any plans tonight, which happens to be one of the nights I usually have dinner with Rafe, thank you for pointing that out.’
’That’s not his fault,’ the voice said, actually trying to soothe her for once.
’Doesn’t make it hurt any less.’
She sighed, nodded. “I’ll be there.”