#hanzei

The crisp blue attire she'd exchanged his old, ratty clothes for made him look more presentable for the public but his insistence on keeping his blindfold on dissolved any illusion of a competent man while roaming the decrepit streets of Novigrad with a cloth-wrapped parcel in one hand and a walking stick in the other.

He didn't need the stick when the soothing sound of the ocean was so abundantly clear amongst all the clamor and chaos of the city, but he ran it across the cobblestones as he neared the docks to steer himself away from walking into walls or pesky little mages.

The hollow thump of his boots along the boardwalk told him that he was at his destination and a moment of attuning to the conversations of the workers there guided him to the general direction of a gaggle of men chattering about a trade of some sort. He lingered behind them, simply listening to their conversation to verify that he was in the right place before shouldering in between two of them.

"Excuse me, sir. Are you Hanzei?" Tian asked, although from listening he'd already overheard the man's name being addressed more than once. He held up the package on two fingers. "Miss Sorela sends her regards."

Still, it did not dissuade him from indulging in his baser needs. Like the ever-growing hunger for excitement and connection. Ever since meeting the cackling mage, Kai had begun to do some soul searching for this chaos she kept mentioning. Did he have bugs under his skin? Had he been suppressing an unyielding desire to burst at the seams?

Sometimes, he surely felt bored enough to, but that was what all the sex was for, right? So what if he abstained? Kai tinkered with this idea while a pretty woman in transparent silks played with his hair. Another woman had made a nest against his side, her dark skin smooth and bare and another was doling out chalaces of fine wine, her cheeks already ruddy with drink.

"So ladies, I've got a very special friend coming in tonight," he said, gesturing towards them with his cup. "He's an older gentleman who's been out of the game for quite some time so you do be gentle with him, alright?"

A sly smile stretched across his lips as his eyes narrowed into vulpine slits. "Unless he demands otherwise, then I'm certain you know what to do."

The girls all giggled approvingly, clinking glasses and fawning over Kai's mischievous plans as if he were their pack leader. He very could've been in the elaborate garb he'd chosen that evening, but this Belleteyn was not his this year.

"Now remember, I had left him a message to come to Passiflora tonight under the guise of an urgent meeting about a man who'd gone missing at the docks. Scarlett, you go down and greet him," Kai instructed, glancing over his shoulder at the one that had been braiding a lock of his hair. "Tell him this is the least conspicuous place you can speak and to hurry."

Scarlett nodded obediently and scurried up onto her feet, tugging a sheer robe up over her shoulders as she made to leave.

"Oh, and bring us another bottle of wine, will you?" Kai added, just as she disappeared out the door. We're going to need it."

“They threatened you.” The two men lay motionless on the floor between Hanzei and Týr knew he could have dealt with them on his own even without resorting to violence, but the moment Týr entered the room they knew what kind of men they were. They could feel their depravity bubbling out of them, letting Týr know that they had fled justice long enough. But Hanzei did not need to know that, and so they just shrugged as they stepped over them and took seat across the table from their old friend. “You were not doing business with them, right? They would have screwed you over.”