#diny

“Remind me why we’re here, sir.”

The decently-sized office of a busy bar’s silence was interrupted by the voice of a stern woman. Amongst her sat four others; two across from her and two more on either side. Separating the pair of a tan man and his pale company from the others was a desk scratched with deep claw marks, splinters creating their own claws in the marked wood.

With a rasping hum, the man sighs, speaking. “You always get suspicious of me whenever I call you over, huh Tess?” He almost coos with the slightest tinge of seduction. A subtle show of his partial bloodline. The voice his mouth uttered was lowly deep, wheezing with sharp edges as if he was barely possessing any air in his lungs to make a sound.

Tess’ nose scrunched at the lewdness in this man’s voice, disgust piercing her words as she answers. “Can you blame me, sir? You’re always up to something, especially when you call us all here.”

“I second that.” Piping in was a younger person who stood left of Tess, their glasses being pushed up to face the man at the desk. “No offense, sir..but you’re a mischievous devil.”

“Mischievous is a massive understatement.” Tess mutters with a roll of her eyes.

To the right was a darkly red-skinned woman who sat on the floor, watching with yellowy-green eyes. She faces Tess while listening to her and the other person farthest from her side, adding in her two cents. “I don’t think Mr. Quince would put us in actual danger. Besides, chaos makes things a bit more..well, fun!”

Quince smiles as the assistance of his fellow demonic, but it fades away with a click of his tongue. “Tess, Evgeni..I thought you knew me better than that. Nikimi seems to know me better than both you peas in the cynical pod combined.”

“She’s literally the same type of kind you are, sir.” Evgeni sighs out. “And immortal. Of course she would be most supportive of your antics.”

Tess pause in thought before facing the final member in the room across from her. “Hyku..why did he call us over?” She asks, her bitter tone temporarily softened by the sweetness of which she tries to replace it with.

Hyku doesn’t vocally budge out the answer. Sitting on Quince’s lap, a mere trill of a cat rustles from his throat outwards. He stayed still as well, acting like a cat sitting on its favored owner.

“Leave him outta this.” Quince spat out with a venomous growl, his fingers moving through the hair of his accompanying dearest. “He came on his own anyway, so he really didn’t need to be here for what we’ll be talking about.”

“Which is..?” Nikimi inquires, her question more kinder than her peers.

Quince takes a deep breath. “The fucking vermins are out on the hunt again.”

“Project Rat?” Tess slightly corrects.

Quince nods.

Evgeni groans at that. “Great. Those bastards really can’t learn the lesson, can’t they?”

“Apparently not, Ev.” Tess hums.

Nikimi couldn’t help but tilt her head, scratching it in slightly confusion. “I thought they went to experimenting on us a handful of years ago..”

“Taxidermy season, Niki.” Evgeni explains. “At least that’s my guess.”

“And to think that merely making it illegal would stop them..” Tess adds with cynical sarcasm.

Hyku trills through the natural purring caused by Quince’s hair playing, tilting his head in thought as his shut eyes squeezed a bit; a strange form of ‘blinking’ perhaps.

“So what do we do, sir?” Nikimi asks with a tilting head. “I mean, I can technically take them out, but I..don’t think you wanna take it to the level of military-level clearing just yet.”

“Correct.” Quince states. “As much as I want to pulverize the shitheads outta existence, even I’m aware of how unsuccessfully dangerous that could be.”

“Then what do you suggest we do instead?” Evgeni questions, squinting their eyes.

Quince faces Tess. “Can you get information on their database?”

“Yes, I can, but it’s gonna take me a few days to get in there.” Tess answers.

Quince hums. “I’ll take it. In the meantime, I don’t want anyone of you out in the city for too long.”

“What, you think they could be doing it in the open?” Evgeni questions, snorting at the hypothetical with an eyeroll. “I don’t think they’re that stupid, sir.”

“While I agree with that there, Ev..I think they would be ballsy enough to make themselves that much of a public threat.” Tess states. “I’m more suspiciously concerned about what they’re selling in the black markets. Especially if it is Taxidermy season.”

Nikimi perks her head up at that, hopping onto her feet and standing at attention. “I can check that out.” She suggests while looking at Tess, slightly glancing at Quince as she speaks. “I’ve been in there before after all.”

“You really sure you wanna take the risk?” Evgeni asks, raising an eyebrow.

Nikimi nods. “At the very least, they can’t kill me.”

Evgeni sighs at that, barely holding back a chuckle as they shake their head. “You’re an oddball, Niki.”

“But it could help exponentially.” Tess expresses, facing Nikimi fully. “If you can retrieve any of the shit they’re selling, that’ll make them lose out money on that wager at the very least.”

Nikimi nods, saluting with a smile.

“At least we have that plan in motion.” Quince assesses, nodding in approval. “But mark this. If any of those fuckers try to get any of you..give them no mercy. They don’t deserve that.”

“Well aware, sir.” Tess replied.

Evgeni merely nods in agreement with Tess.