Distractions

Posted on Sun Jun 21st, 2020 @ 2:40am by Black Market Arturo Rosso & Civilian Xiulan Song
Edited on on Sun Jun 21st, 2020 @ 2:46am

Mission: This Week's Special
Location: Hub
Timeline: Current

“And over here is a place you can get your laundry done. Since I’m pathologically allergic to doing my own laundry, I use ‘em; they do pick up and drop off, patch up my stuff when it gets torn up, and they don’t use overly smelly cleaners,” Xiulan said as she and Arturo rounded the corner to one of the back alleys of the shopping district, her voice flat and showing little interest. She had already shown him some of the best places to eat, the pubs with the good stuff, and the small grocers to get fresh foods if he wanted to cook for himself, but all the while Xiulan had seemed very distracted, like her mind was a thousand miles away. “Oh, and there’s a place just down the way that sells blades; not my thing, but I’ve heard they’ve got some high quality wares…”

Arturo did his best to keep track of everything Xiulan was showing him, but he was distracted by the fact that she was clearly distracted. “Xiulan,” he said. “Stop here for a moment.” He took gently by the arm and guided her over to a bench. “Sit,” he said. “Relax. Tell me what’s on your mind, please.”

“Huh?” Xiulan allowed herself to be led by Arturo, and when guided to the bench she sat down. “Is it that bad? I thought I was doing better to hide that my thoughts were elsewhere…” Xiulan sighed, hanging her head for a moment as she pondered where to start. “I, uh… I’m thinking about opening a school, I guess. I mean, Mack planted the idea in my brain, and I talked with this kid I’d like to start training, but I’m not really sure if I’m ready for this. It’s been weighing on my thoughts, I can’t seem to focus on anything else!”

“Calma, Orchidea Aggraziata,” Arturo said. Taking a seat next to Xiulan on the bench and placing a hand over hers. “Calma. You’d make an excellent teacher.”

“Mack seemed to think so too,” Xiulan admitted begrudgingly. “But still, a school? That’s just so… mature and responsible! But then I think about this kid and how much I want to help him… Oh, the kid, Zane, he was mauled during the monster cat incident in the warehouse district. Don’t know if you heard about that, but anyway, he lost his leg, and he’s so angry because it's only been a few days and already people are telling him to move on and it just pisses me off because I know that frustration he’s feeling and I really think I can help him!”

Arturo nodded. “What do you need to make that happen?” he said. “And how can I help?” He didn’t ask if she was going to do it. He had faith in her.

“I… don’t know,” Xiulan replied, utterly bemused. “I know I’ll need space, but outside of that I’m clueless. Dad always took care of things on the business end, so I can teach, but I never actually learned how to operate a school. Uh, mats, sparring dummies… more students so I can pay for rent… I just feel so lost when I start thinking about the logistics of it all.”

Arturo nodded again, more for himself than Xiulan. She couldn’t see him. “Well,” he said. “When do we start looking for a space for you to teach in?” If it was possible for a blind woman to have a look on her face, the look on Xiulan’s face was a mixture of confusion and horror. “What? You can live without the sparring dummies in the immediate, but you’ll want mats. Zane will be unsteady on his feet at first. But you can’t get mats, or dummies, or more students, some of whom will be dummies, without somewhere to put the mats, dummies, and students.” Arturo smiled. “And I’d be happy to offset some of your rent costs by renting studio time off of you for my own training regime and for when you train me. How does this sound to you?”

Xiulan blinked rapidly in unfettered surprise; she knew he had been part of his family’s business, but it never occurred to her to ask him for that kind of help. She had just been venting, not expecting that he could help in any way other than moral support, but now that the offer was out there, she would be the idiot if she turned down his offer for assistance.

“Uh, actually…” Xiulan started once she’d recovered her wits. “Um, Mack suggested that since this is a Skyplex and people are coming and going so often, that maybe I start with practical self defence for travelers, and I think you might be better suited for something like that. So… maybe we could go into this together?” she offered hesitantly.

Arturo grinned from ear to ear and narrowly resisted jumping up and down. “I would be honored,” somberly, though he was fairly certain Xiulan could hear the excitement in his voice. “Song Shifu. I will not make you regret this. This will be great fun. Shall we look on the cortex for available space? Or maybe you want to tell me more about this injured young man you want to help? While we can’t grow him a new leg, we can make sure he never feels helpless.”

“That’s exactly what I was thinking!” Xiulan replied, her enthusiasm bubbling up. She was suddenly very excited about opening a school now! “So, his name is Zane, he’s 17, and his parents work here on the station. He really feels like he has something to prove, especially to the other Plexies; he’s got a leader personality among the others, and I think if we get it right with Zane that the other kids will want to come learn too!” Her heart was beating rapidly as her face shone with the biggest grin she’d had in the longest time. “So, what’s the Italiano version of ‘sifu’?” she asked Arturo.

“Literally?” Arturo said. He pointed to himself “Maestro,” and then to her “Maestra. Though my family uses the ranks from Armizare. Scolaro or Scholar, Laureato D’Armi or Free Scholar, Rettore D’Armizare or Provost, and finally Magistro D’Armizare or Magister. I’m a Free Scholar, but Maestro would work for any students I dealt with.” Arturo grinned, the twinkle in his eye evident in his voice. “Was that pedantic enough for you? I can work on being even more insufferably pedantic if you think that would be good for business!”

“Oh yeah, I’m sure that’ll go over great with the students!” Xiulan replied with mocking humor, still grinning brightly. “So, Shifu Song and Maestro Rosso- oh wait, you’re going by Leonardovich at the casino, right? Will this be a problem while you still work there?” she asked.

“Ah,” Arturo said. “You’ve probably heard the Russians call each other by two names? Like… Alexei Ivanovich or Irina Nikolayevna? That means Alexei son of Ivan and Irina daughter of Nikolai. It’s both a sign of respect and a term of endearment to refer to a person this way. My father’s name is Leonardo. Someone found out and as a sign they were starting to accept me, took to calling me Arturo Leonardovich and it stuck. But I’m still Arturo Rosso.” Arturo threw back his head and laughed. “I thought you didn’t want me to be even more pedantic! You tricked me!”

Xiulan laughed. “Alright, alright! Enough!” she said over her laughter. “I had totally forgotten about that, I thought maybe you were using a fake name or something. So, that’s one less thing to worry about, but I still wouldn’t quit the dayjob until we’ve got some steady students. And we should probably think of a name to call our little school. But first, you’re right, we need a location. I think I have enough saved up to pay for two or three months so long as the space isn’t too big, and then we can figure things out from there?”

“I can help,” Arturo said. “We get a tiny percentage of everyone’s gratuity, but there are a lot of people at the 38 who get tipped, so it adds up. So I can contribute.” Arturo frowned, saddened by the prospect that this might always be a part-time venture for him. He wasn’t privy to the details of the deal between his father and Zenobia Lastra, nor was he privy to the details of Zenobia Lastra’s deal with Nikolai Udinov. “So… I have a very bad idea.”

“Uh oh…” Xiulan said, suddenly very wary. “Let’s hear it, partner.”

“Well,” Arturo said. “The best way to convince people who want to learn to fight that you have something to teach them is to show them how well you can fight, right? You already have a rep in the underground fighting world. Maybe we both start going down there and showcasing our skills and put the word out that we’re teaching. Problem is, that’s going to get us a lot of hardcases… still…”

“No, I can deal with hardcases, that’s a great idea!” Xiulan replied. “I’m already casually coaching a few guys to keep the fights challenging for me, and it makes it more exciting for the audience. But we could definitely play this angle! I’ve also got another idea and my sister is fully behind it: a contract to teach Security personnel. Mack has neither the time nor inclination to improve their skills, so if I can get in with the Plex superintendent then I should be able to work out a contract for more stable employment as well.”

“That is wonderful!” Arturo said. Despite his sad feelings about his arrangement with Udinov, Arturo found himself happy. He took Xiulan’s hands and kissed them, then, on a whim, kissed her on both cheeks and the forehead. When he sensed her tensing, he laughed. “Relax. I am an Italian man. When I am happy and excited, I kiss people. If we are to be partners, you will have to come to accept this.” He stopped himself at the last minute from giving her a real kiss to prove his point. That would be going too far and though Arturo did want to give Xiulan a real kiss, maybe this wasn’t the best moment for that.

“Yeah yeah, I think you’re just using it as an excuse to get closer to me,” Xiulan said teasingly, but then her smile faded. “Hey, I’ve been hearing a tightness in your voice despite your obvious excitement; is something wrong?” she asked.

Arturo hesitated. He didn’t want to bring down the moment. But he also was terrible about hiding his feelings. He was the physical embodiment of the phrase ‘wears his heart on his sleeve’.

“I…” Arturo started to say, hesitated, then found his courage. Xiulan had that effect on him. “I may have told you that my father made an arrangement to get me off of Osiris? That I was essentially banished? The deal was made with the Lastra Family of the Mafia. I’m distantly related to Donna Zenobia Lastra, head of the Lastra Family. I don’t know the details of whatever this arrangement was. All I know was that I was to come here and report to Nikolai Udinov and that he would offer me a job and that I was to take that job. All of this, obviously, has happened. But Xiulan, I have no idea how long I’m expected to work for Udinov, and even if I manage to get away from him without being branded a criminal or otherwise staining my honor, I don’t know what Zenobia’s plans are for me after that. You mentioned something about not quitting my day job… Xiulan, I’m not sure when I will be able to quit my day job. But I am in this venture with you, all the way. On my word of honor. I’ll just have to balance teaching and helping to run the school with my work at the Lucky 38.”

Xiulan smiled. “Hey, no big deal; we’ll manage it, and if the school becomes successful enough that we can buy you out of whatever ‘servitude’ you’re bound to, then we definitely will. Until then, we’ll work around your schedule, and I kinda have my own schedule to work around, but we’ll figure things out.” At this point, Xiulan bit her lip and wondered if she should tell Arturo her little secret. If they were going to be business partners, he should know about it, right? After all, he told her his secret… But she was still so hesitant! “Um, I’ve kinda got another job I haven’t told you about and I really don’t want to, but you have the right to know who you’re getting involved with, I just don’t know how to explain what I do,” she said, obviously afraid of how he would react to her other ‘job’.

Arturo reached over and tenderly brushed a lock of Xiulan’s hair out of her face. “You know my dirty little and even not so little secrets, and you remain close to me. How could I not show you the same courtesy. Actually, Orchidea, I hope you are beginning to know me well enough to know that any courtesy, any affection I have for you, is unconditional. So please, tell me of this other job you have. I will not turn away from you.”

Xiulan sighed, then took a deep breath to steel herself for her confession. In the back of her mind, her natural instinct to keep this information hidden was screaming at her that this was a bad idea, that she’d only known him for a few days, how could she know she could really trust him, but she pushed it all down, trusting in her gut feeling that despite being a love-sick idiot, that he was truly a trustworthy idiot.

“Remember the other night when I had to leave so abruptly and I said I had to kill-slash-fire some people? I didn’t fire them, I killed them. I’m a hitman,” she confessed, then waited for the inevitable rejection that was to come.

Arturo blinked, and then blinked again. A hit---woman?!? A contract killer?!? Who are you to complain? You’re a not-so-gently used boy toy who works security at a casino owned and operated by a truly frightening Russian gangster. “Okay,” Arturo said. “I wasn’t expecting that. Remind me not to anger you.” There was a pause, then Arturo spoke again. “Okay,” he said. “This is where you spontaneously blurt out more exposition on the subject of your secret life as a hit person so I don’t have to embarrass both of us by asking naive questions that make me sound like some kind of gangster fanboy.” Once again, the twinkle in Arturo’s eye was evident in his voice. He was rather surprised to discover that Xiulan killed people for a living, that fact didn’t change how he felt about her.

Xiulan surprised herself by laughing, and that single laugh immediately dissolved all the fear and tension in her. “Is that so? Well, I don’t want to reveal too much, but I suppose I can oblige you a few details,” she said, still smiling. “First off, I want you to know that I don’t operate where I live, so you’re safe, and Mack knows what I do, so if it looks like a job has come back to cause me problems, she can help.” Releasing a relieved sigh with another chuckle, she continued. “I, uh, specialize in jobs that look like natural causes: health, crop blight, sickness… Obviously, I don’t work directly, I arrange for things to get done over the Cortex, and if someone tries to double cross me, then I cross them off, just like what happened the other night. I also try to work in favor of the innocent masses, but I have never shied away from jobs where the innocent can and do get hurt. I know that probably makes me a bad person, but it’s the cost of building a reputation like mine.”

Arturo listened calmly. As he did, he wondered why he wasn’t completely horrified. Crop blight?!? How many people had Xiulan killed with crop blight?!? Surgical strikes against specific targets, especially criminals, that was one thing. Innocents… And yet in the past several days he’d become closer to Xiulan than any woman he wasn’t related to and/or hadn’t slept with and definitely closer than he’d ever become with any of the women he had slept with.

And then he once again circled back to his own situation. He protected the business interests of a very dangerous man who controlled a powerful criminal organization. Not only did the proceeds from the business fund criminal enterprises that hurt and killed people, but within the casino itself, loan sharks working for Udinov took advantage of unlucky gamblers and then brutalized them if they could not pay up. All of these things were connected, leaving Arturo no moral high ground to stand on.

“Before I came here,” he said. “Before I met you, before I started working for Udinov, I would have said that I cannot and will not understand or condone the harming or killing of innocents. Killing other criminals or bad people does not concern me… but… I was naive. I work for a man responsible for misery and death. My hands are not clean. The Verse is a hard place and people must do what they have to do to survive and hopefully, one day, thrive. I cannot and will not judge you.” Arturo reached out again and cupped Xiulan’s cheek, the tips of his long fingers resting on the back of her neck. “If you can’t tell,” he said softly. “I’m still here.”

“I appreciate that,” Xiulan said softly. “You know, in the beginning I was addicted to the pure freedom of playing around on the Cortex, and I started helping people here and there by playing with the economy, trying to give back what money mongers had taken, but then I realized I could do so much more… Mack doesn’t know about this, but I checked in on my father’s temple; even though we had repaid our debt to the Triad, they took the temple and made it their home base and completely destroyed the community I came from, and I decided right then that I was going to do whatever it took to take back our temple and utterly destroy them, or at least that chapter of the Triad. But I couldn’t do it with the resources I had, I needed to build myself up, and that meant taking some jobs I’m not proud of. I like to think, or maybe I’m just hoping, that on the whole I’ve done far more good than harm, but it does weigh on my soul… That’s probably why I drink too much.”

While Xiulan talked, Arturo’s hand that had been on her cheek slipped further behind her head and massaged the back of her head, her neck, and her shoulder. By this time, the two of them were sitting very close to each other. Arturo listened to her words, to the almost hypnotic sound of her voice and realized that though he was paying close attention to Xiulan’s words, it didn’t really matter what she was saying, as long as she was saying it to him. He leaned in and rested his forehead against hers and held her hand with his free hand.

“You don’t have to bear that weight alone, Orchidea,” he said, matching the softness in his voice to hers. “I am here for you, in whatever capacity you require or desire of me.”

How had they come to be so close? Xiulan couldn’t remember, but it felt comforting and warm and safe and… and right! “It’s just been so hard to share this when I’ve kept so much about that part of my life private, you know?” Xiulan said meekly. “And I don’t think my place is on Sihnon anymore, I think I like it out here where everything is still untamed and wild, but getting that temple back means everything to me! And if my father is content to live out the rest of his life where he is, then I plan to turn the temple into a community center, and all the money I’ve made through these jobs I’m going to put back into the community to repair the damage the Triad has done. I think that’s when I’ll ‘retire’ and go back to simply helping people…”

Arturo was starting to have a hard time tracking what Xiulan was saying, but her words were music to his ears. He realized that all of the kisses everywhere but her lips, all of the caresses, they were all because he wanted so desperately to…

Arturo pulled Xiulan close and claimed her lips with his, his kiss intense but not harsh, as he prayed and hoped beyond hope that this kiss, this wonderful kiss, wouldn’t drive her away.

For a very brief moment, Xiulan ignored all the alarms blaring in her head telling her to turn away, avert course, kick him in the nards! She let herself melt into the kiss, sighing softly when their lips parted only to deepen the contact, and she even nibbled on his lip at the end. But once the kiss ended and her senses began to return to her, all those alarms in her head doubled in volume, and her hand seemed to move of its own volition, going right for his groin, and the way she went on to grip him, she definitely wasn’t giving him a handy.

“Hope you enjoyed that, because that’s the last bit of sugar you’re getting from me,” she said with a taunting grin.

Arturo yelped. “For now,” he managed to say. “And I definitely enjoyed it… and so did you.”

“You can’t prove anything,” Xiulan said smoothly, then released her hold on him and stood up. “C’mon, partner, let’s go find a place to set up shop!” she said as though nothing had happened between them; as much as she had enjoyed the closeness and the kiss, she just wasn’t looking for complications right now.

Arturo smiled mischievously. No, he couldn’t prove anything. Yes he’d been wrong about the depth of a woman’s feelings for him before. However, he was fairly certain the women who took advantage of him in the past wouldn’t have wasted the effort if he wasn’t a talented lover. Part of that talent was knowing when his partner was enjoying themselves. Xiulan had been enjoying herself… until she panicked. And she found amusement in shutting him down… playing hard to get? Maybe. Still, Arturo was a firm believer that no meant no, so he did not press the issue. He chuckled.

“Certainly,” Arturo said. “Lead the way… Orchidea.”