Incline 31: Ivahstar

Hrurim lets out a long whistle as we walk the latest hall of the Vyacvan tower, "May I?"

"Of course, feel free. We smoke far better cigars here. Just make sure to use the trays, please." Don Vyacvan tells my human friend as we set ourselves up in the immense meeting room. I glance around at all this ill-got wealth and all the power that comes with it. Whatever it means to other people, it is a shallow thing to me. As thin as skin and nowhere near as resilient. 

"So... Don Vyacvan, about our prize?" I ask, getting the mafia head's attention as my daughter and Hrurim make themselves nosey. The Don doesn't seem to mind, well, outwardly. All these guards certainly say something else, but he would be one strange don to not have all of them here. Not with someone like me present.

Don Vyacvan frowns, his elderly face slumping and he shakes his head, "I am not the buyer you are hoping for."

My expression remains flat, and I give a simple nod. Turning the way of Nin in his cage on wheels, I head up to him. The don follows, a glass of stiff liquor in his paw. Chilly as the ice in the snow-belt, high up in the skies of the surface.

"You still allowed us here, though." I point out, crossing my arms as I try to consider other buyers. There *is* a buyer for someone like Nin. I just don't know that I have time between here and Gamtambo. Much less with how I reacted to Heiya's humiliation by those teenagers.

Don Vyacvan puts a paw on my shoulder, and he coughs firmly. No words escape him, but the room starts to empty as he waves his drink. All the guards leave, not one remaining. My companions both take a step away from any and everything. Distancing themselves from claims of theft as much as the act of it.

"As my son probably put it... You are a very important man, Ivahstar." the aged man explains, his tired legs taking him as far as his desk. I cross the gap and help him down, offering him this courtesy in the hope of information in return. The old man offers me a smile and waves me off.

"Only to Gamtambo." I answer, my voice dripping with more poison than Don Vyacvan has ever had to consume an antidote for. That glass could have the most toxic substance made by the gods in it. And it still wouldn't compare... Not at all.

"That is precisely why, Ivahstar. You're making a very big risk coming here. Trusting where you shouldn't." Don Vyacvan warns and I shake my head as I put my hands near a pocket.

"I do not trust so easily, Don." I explain, showing off the myriad of ways I can kill him right now. Each way a means his men failed to confiscate and hide away. These gangster types think they know all the hidey spots, but they don't. They could not be any more clueless about it if they tried.

Don Vyacvan laughs himself into a coughing fit, one he doesn't particularly help with his drink. The strong refreshment goes down his already sore tunnel, burning it up further. His mood, however, could never be better. I let him have the moment to get his feelings out into the open.

"I don't recall ever hiring someone of your calibre... But I can certainly wish I had!" he goes, a smirk breaking across his lips as he eyes my daughter. She shuffles, not sure what to make of the married man's gaze. The familiar expression of a father crosses over his face. From loving smile, to heartbroken furrowing. I emulate the latter, almost coming to glaring blows as my body twitches.

I move close to the don, "Not a word."

"Of course," he answers, respecting the privacy of what no doubt has as much impact in the criminal world as a celebrity dying in the music one does. The day my princess's idol dies, then she will understand the scale of what Gamtambo's actions were. She'll never feel the same, but she will have a point of reference. Something so dearly needed to get those particular things.

"So, if you will not buy, I take it you know who will?" I ask, getting us back in the direction of why I am here. My mind crashes about, reforming without a scar as I set aside my thoughts of Gamtambo.

"Naturally, business first." Don Vyacvan answers, pulling out a cigar and chomping off its end. He spins the intricate case of solid gold. All its patterns and details highlighted by the craftsmanship of that single metal and the shadows cast into it. Don Vyacvan throws a paw up, gesturing Hrurim close.

"Pleasure for me, I suppose." the human shrugs, cheekily taking up a couple of cigars. Don Vyacvan smiles, chuckling as he waggles a finger at the surface dweller. I decline the offer, as does my daughter.

Don Vyacvan turns his attention back to me, nodding for a seat. I take him up on it, though I'm not fussed either way. My back hits the cushions and I close my eyes, letting out a satisfied groan. Oh, Don Vyacvan definitely understands the pains of age and the parting of magic. Finally, a way to spend money and for me to respect it. 

"Take some joy in it, Ivahstar. You certainly earned it. With or without your direct employment, you've created so many opportunities. Gods above as our witnesses, I like to believe even your surface-based retirement has influenced my success." Don Vyacvan says and I silently nod, throwing my eyes for an observant roll. Quite the ceiling he's invested in. A grand painting that's eerily reminiscent of an abandoned stalagmite mine I've once been through.

"You're no doubt thinking of sending me the way of some black market?" I ask, knowing full well I'm unlikely to find anyone else of note in Agadton. If Don Vyacvan is this open with his establishment, then there will be no other families with a strong foothold here. So, which way will we go?

"Naturally. Despite issues with the port, I'm more than willing to offer a ship to the nearest one. At least, as close as we can get to such a place." Don Vyacvan explains and I nod at this information. It's a start, a good one at that. A direction for buyers and nothing but them when we arrive at the location. This close to a family, too. It won't be some back alley exchange. 

"Thank you." I say, getting it into the open as my actions will not be able to speak on my behalf in the days to come. Regardless of the offer, we're leaving town. I've made too much of a fire and it's growing. Flee the forest as it burns. That is our only option.

"I must stipulate... Out of fear for who you are, Ivahstar. I offer no protection once you leave my home. Even on the ship, if something happens... Well, business is, business does," the weary old man explains and I nod, an understanding palm rising up.

"Understandable. Besides, if Gamtambo did suddenly find a lead to me from you. I'd be surgical about it." I explain, knowing full well the weight of my words in the context. One clap of the hands or anything lesser and all this wealth is but a repair job away to greatness.

Don Vyacvan chuckles, "I'd sooner do the hard work for you and sacrifice the snitch like some virgin in the savage tales."

"I'm not that scary." I tease, huffing a quick smirk, the words daring my memory to prove me wrong. Flashing image after flashing image of dead gangster and mafia family member runs on by. Each one fully aware of the reputation I carefully cultivated in my time in employment. Ivahstar is not a name the criminal world knows through gossip after Gamtambo's betrayal. They know about me because I made them. Each step, every kill and bullet spent. 

Each bit of it was a word out of a wife's mouth.

"You are past your prime like all men our age are..." Don Vyacvan begins to say, leaning forward despite the seeable point, "And you still terrify me."

"Nothing to fear. Nothing to fear until Gamtambo has his fingers around your neck." I say, dismissing his concerns as I look back at my two compatriots. My daughter and a friend from a long time ago. I frown in thought as the details otherwise pass me by. We got what we came here for, but there's something I would like to make use of. For the moment.

"I understand completely. Do not concern yourself with my actions. I'm too old to take risks now. Too old for any of that stuff," the clingy family head explains to me, finishing his drink. Current, rather. 

"I take it you will have someone hand me the details to the ship in question?" I ask, splitting his attention away from that bottle.

"Of course, I can have it handed over to you after breakfast tomorrow?" Don Vyacvan offers and I look back to my two partners. I nod in agreement, if only for the sake of the youngest one of the pair. My daughter might not want any part in all this mafia business, but she'll appreciate the comfort here. A lapse in the concerns of having to look over her shoulder. She also earned it with all that rough sleeping to keep the meeting site safe.

"That is acceptable." I say, getting up, as I cannot see much more reason to linger before the Don of the Vyacvan family. Not here for chit chat and all the small talk. Leave that to verbose wastes of space.

"Wonderful, if you would be so kind as to get to the door and let my men back in. I can get started on the arrangements. Feel free to wander my home for a moment in the meantime. We'll come to you when rooms are sorted." Don Vyacvan asks of me and I oblige him, opening the door and nodding his goons on inside. My head nods the other way and my daughter and friend come after me. We leave the mafia head to his business and a whistle follows after.

"So that's Ivahstar." I manage to catch from one of the goons.

"That I am," I mutter in reply, confusing my daughter and Hrurim.

"So, it's a no-go on the whole sell Nin to the Vyacvans?" Hrurim asks, inspecting his pair of cigars while backwards walking. I look the way of Don Vyacvan's office and shrug as we continue to leave Nin further and further behind. If something happens, we're already in position to rob the place well and truly. Money problems are solved either way.

"No. Don Vyacvan has offered us passage to a black market locale, however." I explain and Heiya becomes caught up in a mixture of delight and despair. I guess she must not like the people at black markets. Certainly not what they sell, however. She got that musket of hers from one such place. Or parts of it, my memory is fickle with that gun of hers. I can't even remember why I have my gun and mine is famous for its alien functions. 

"Huh, if we're lucky, we might run into someone I know." Hrurim huffs, his mind not all that made up on if we will actually head that way.

"Don't get your hopes up. We cannot have any plans banking on such low probability." I needlessly warn the experienced criminal and my friend smirks. He mocks my pride with a quick rub of the head and quills.

"Of course not, my little Terror of the Dark." he says, a childish voice taking over. I offer a quick snarl, warning him off from further teasing.

"Alright, so... No buyers here. Off to a black market by ship. We part ways with Nin, get the money. We finish the original job and then head all the way to Gamtambo and get this whole business sorted?" Heiya asks and I nod. She lets out a lengthy, tired noise, a cheering pump of the fist bringing it to an end. 

"That we do, all sorted as far as the plans are concerned." I reassure her with, nudging my daughter the way of some fancy vase. She narrowly avoids running into it, spinning away with a tightened smile on her face.

"So, surely a mafia-run tower has something to pass the time with?" Hrurim asks, his attention going all over the decadent palace-wannabe. I shrug, not needing as much effort to keep out of trouble. My mind is entertainment enough. Imagining Gamtambo's death delights me all too well. Eagerness for a kill I've not felt in a very long... Long time.

"Stay close to Heiya, if you're going to wander off." I warn, my professionalism and instinct getting the better of me for the moment. I can handle myself and while she can too, I don't want her on her own. Not in a place like this, regardless of the family's head and his temperament.

"Tight as the money Don Vyacvan is no doubt keeping in a safe somewhere here." Hrurim lets out and we share a nod. He spins the cigars through his fingers, slotting them away into opposing pockets.

"Oh, that's an idea, let's find that!" my daughter chirps, her sticky fingers getting the better of her. I offer her a half-serious warning with my eyes alone. Her smirk grows, defying the silent order, and the pair vanishes out of sight. I shake my head, not wanting to even consider the trouble these two are going to be bringing my way.