Taizen was enjoying a nice cup of tea before he headed home from work today. He was wearing a simple set of plain clothes he didn't feel like attracting attention on the walk home. He was about to stand up to go home when he heard his phone ring.

"I swear if I have to deal with another badger mole incident today I'm gonna hurt somebody." He answered the phone and was relieved to hear a familiar woman's voice. "Hello miss Yao how might I be of service to you today?" His voice sounded relieved and happy at the prospect of something new. He instantly remembered the favor he owed her and assumed the call was about it.

ooc: excuse the minor godmoding!

Somehow Xianglong sounded tired, but happy to hear from her, which took Ling quite by surprise. "Er, yes, good morning," she repeated. "I can't discuss details over the phone, I'm sure you can understand, but I'm working on a case and I've hit a wall. If you haven't had lunch yet, I'd be happy to meet you at Feng's Diner over by the station to discuss specifics. Er — " she glanced at the clock. "Are you just getting off a shift, then? Let me buy you a drink too, if that's the case."

When he agreed, Ling said her goodbyes and hung up the phone grim satisfaction. She had intentionally asked him to meet her at Feng's Diner rather than somewhere closer to her office; she didn't want to be seen entertaining a police officer on her own turf. At the very least if she were near headquarters she could figure out a story about being a witness or working on a missing persons case or something.

She took a taxi there, and when she arrived it had been about twenty minutes since her phone call. Xiaolong was not at the diner yet, so she slipped into a booth to wait, ordering a hot cocoa and a toasted sandwich.

ooc: godmodding excused


Once he'd heard that she was willing to pay for a good lunch break he felt relieved to hear he would actually get something to eat today. He quickly agreed to meet her there and once she had told him the details of the location he said his goodbyes and hung up. He decided to take a quick look at what the surrounding area entailed for him. He started walking in the direction of the records office.

He saw that the area was a hot spot for gang activity, violence and theft. hmmm former gang member? no its too early to make such a leap maybe a former thief? he thought to himself "well anyway i need to be going or ill be late for my lunch." He put the files away and walked out of the records room. He saw a notice for a new initiative about badger mole sniffers for officers to have as pets he instantly took a flyer and shoved it in his pocket as he ran out the door.

He arrived at the Diner albeit a little late he hoped that she wouldn't mind, he entered the diner he was glad that he was in plain clothes and his badge was well hidden on his person. He saw a large number of shady characters until he finally set his eyes on his friend? note to self determine friendship with ling. He took a seat across from her "Hi how are you doing today Ms. Yao?" his little flyer falling out of his pocket as he took his seat. He quickly stuffed it back in his pocket and Yao took notice. he sighed "yeah i really like badger mole's and the precinct is going to let us have some as pets to help us find illegal substances and ive always wanted one. Go ahead laugh everyone always laughs." he said it with a large amount of energy at first, but by the time he'd reached the end his head was resting in his arms and he appeared slightly depressed.

Contrary to expectations, Ling didn't laugh. She did, however, smile, but it was not in a mocking manner. "I don't follow probending myself," she said, sipping her complementary glass of water. "But rooting for the underdog has always been my thing."

She was no good with comfort, so she glossed over Xiaolong's obvious sadness. "Let's get some food in ya," she said cheerfully, waving down a waitress. "Why don't we start the good detective off with a South Side Fizz?" she told the server. "And a plate of fries for the table — oh, and bring a bottle of ketchup, along with a proper menu."

The waitress obliged, returning shortly with the drink and menu, murmuring her apologies on the wait on the french fries. After the waitress to Xiaolong's order, Ling waved her off. "Thanks."

She stretched out comfortably in her booth. She wasn't a very tall person, so her feet just barely reached the end of the seat. "Thanks for coming to meet me, Detective." The woman flashed her trademark grin and procured a cream-coloured folder seemingly from thin air. She set it on the table and pushed it toward Xiaolong. "Normally I'd finesse things a bit more, but there's a bit of a time crunch."

Quickly, in quiet tones to make sure she wouldn't be overheard, she outlined the details of the case. A young-ish, small-time gang member was found murdered. The police had picked up clues and a witness, but the trail had gone cold without so much as an inkling on which Triad had ordered the hit. The copy of the police file and the picture of the informant were all in the folder, and Ling deftly glossed over their presence.

She sighed as she completed her explanation. "And that's where I'm stuck, Detective. None of the Triads are coming forward to claim this one, and you know how much they like to boast, especially now as the fear of them's lessened since... well, Amon and his whole... thing. This is just a favour to a friend of a friend of a friend, so I don't know the individual intimately, but we had met several years ago."

She fixed her light grey eyes on his, an act that put many people (particularly men) on the spot and made them squirm. Normally, she enjoyed watching someone's discomfort, but today her eyes were just asking for understanding — don't make me say how I know them.

"There was a threatening note left, cleaned up before the crime scene could be accessed. It implies a Triad, that the young fella in that morgue photo had crossed someone's boundaries. But they don't quite say who."

The food arrived, and Ling was grateful for a reason to busy herself during the silence. She took a big bite of her toasted sandwich and waited for Xiaolong to respond.

SHe held her gaze with him and Taizen understood her reasoning, we all had secrets and he didnt want anyone finding out his eiether. he started going over the evidence. He was surprised at how in depth the detective had gone into this investigation, she'd already made a list of suspects and started ruling people out, she went through each piece of the crime scene photos and had pieced together a method of murder, a rather brutal bout of bending, and ran down any and all leads she could on her own.

"This is all extremely impressive miss Yao, but i must ask you have you considered that maybe the dead ends here aren't quite dead yet?" he rearranged several of the papers together so that it showed three of the dead ends side by side all of which mentioning few men named Mr.E, Mr.M, and Mr.S "These men appear to be the same man, look here," he pointed to one of the pieces of paper, "Mr.S appears to be worried that this guy is investigating that one." he pointed to another paper, "and this man is being warned not to go to this event Mr.M is going to. But then the organizer is being told BY Mr.M to make sure to invite Mr. E. Leading me to assume that they are one in the same as they were all sent on the same day. and appear to be made of that same type of paper."

He sighed at the papers as he took a bite out of his burger. "and unfortunately i know where this paper came from." he looked up at his eating partner, "all right you have officially piqued my interest Miss Yao. Now if i take you to this man I need your word that you will not tell a soul about him or his families involvement in this incident. Unless of course he is the murderer then we can't help it." He looked at his dining partner with a serious gaze he reserved only for when he was dealing Drug dealers and interrogating hard criminals. He was serious for one of the few moments in his life.

Ling studied the papers thoughtfully as the detective spoke, half impressed by his quick abilities and half irritated she hadn't put the aliases together, or noticed the same paper each missive was written on.

She stopped chewing when Xiaolong said with a sigh that he knew where the papers came from. "Yrrdo?" she asked, her excited question garbled by her mouthful of food. She blushed, then swallowed. "You do?" she repeated.

He went on to say that she'd piqued his interest, and that he was willing to take her to the source of the papers. Her grey eyes widened. "Yes, of course, I won't tell a soul." She drew a sideways cross shape over her heart, a motion of a promise left over from childhood.

Then she grinned. "And you needn't worry about me," she added. "I'm a lot tougher than I look." With a sip of her drink, she pointed to another name on the police documents: a witness who had mysteriously disappeared after being questioned by the police.

"This guy is giving me a bad feeling," she confessed. "It seems too convenient to have someone readily available with as much detail of the event as he gave, who suddenly just evaporates." She took another bite of her sandwich, chewing with just one side of her mouth and continuing to speak, her words a bit muffled. "I mean, the way I see it, either he's a plant, or something happened to him. Either way it would be good to have an answer for him too."

"Yeah that tends to be how he works, but the upside is that I always have an appointment to see him whenever i want, Is there a phone around here i can use?" Ling pointed off to a phone in the corner. "thanks." He got up and went to use the phone.

all right lets see if i still remember this woman's number. He punched in several numbers and waited for the phone to pick up. "hello? Lingfeng house who might i be speaking with?" a young and familiar voice spoke on the other end of the phone. 

"yeah hey Saya, its Taizen how are you doing today?"
An extremely shrill screech came from the other side of the phone "Spirits above how are you doing Tai i haven't heard from you in forever?"
"yeah i know ive been busy with work lately, Hey would you mind if i had a friend of mine over for Tea this afternoon i have some buisiness to discuss with your father. Plus we have like soooo much complaining that you and i need to catch up on."

"yeah you guys can come over now if you'd like Papa wont be home for a while." she replied," all right i have to get going here now ill make sure our butler is expecting you." the phone promptly hung up.

with that Taizen hung up his end and proceeded back to the table "all right we're all set the only thing i need is i have to get someting from my place, if you don't mind a quick walk there?" he asked calmly. he kept his face calm, but his mind was racing at 10 miles an hour and the only thing that was on his mind was the desperate hope that Saya wasn't involved in this. His poker face was showing a small crack and he hoped that his companion wouldn't see through it.

While Xiaolong was on the 'phone, she finished her sandwich and her drink and asked for the check. She covered Xiaolong's food as well, and when he came back they were all settled and ready to go. If Ling saw anything was amiss, she had the courtesy not to speak of it.

"That's fine." Her voice had a slight edge to it, partly from the thrill of progress in a case and partly from the old sense of loyalty still bubbling somewhere under the surface. She excused herself for the telephone as well, and rang up both her mother ("No, nothing's wrong, everything is perfectly fine, I'm working with a proper police detective.") and her sister at the clinic ("Yes I promise I'll be safe, I'm with that detective, go on saving lives, jie jie.") just to reassure them about her sudden absence.

When she was finished she followed Xiaolong out of the diner, she couldn't help but wonder at the change in her unexpected partner's demeanour. He looked tense, despite his (mostly) calm expression, and there was a nervous energy radiating from him. As they walked, she took comfort in the weight of her hidden mechanisms bumping against her arms as she walked. Her father's trench coat was really a blessing in that regard; warm against the winter chill, and copious enough that additional gizmos drew no attention unless someone actually touched her arm.

She was struck with the sudden realisation she hadn't called Jia. Ling glanced up at the sky, noting the position of the sun. Jia, a dock worker, would probably be either at work or asleep. Ling grit her teeth and made a silent promise that whatever happened, she wouldn't give Jia a reason to worry.

"Are we almost there?" she queried after they had been walking for quite some time. Her smile was noticeably smaller, and there was an uncharacteristically serious tone to her voice.

"Yeah we've actually just arrived" Taizen said as they walked up to a modest looking house. It wasn't anything fancy just a nice 2 story building with a small gate in front of it. Taizen lived in a relatively nice neighborhood with no real crime to speak of. Granted all the other homes belonged to families who were significantly more wealthy than he was. The only reason he had this house was because Saya's mother had insisted on getting him a nice house when he moved in to the city.

He walked into the home and kicked off his shoes and watched as Ling did the same he preferred to walk barefoot in his home but there were slippers in the cubbies if someone wanted to use them. He tuned to look at Ling and noticed her outfit. There was nothing wrong with it but it might not work for Saya's taste so he offered her the ability to change into any number of suits and dresses by showing her his wardrobe. "Saya and her family prefer it when their guests wear formal attire when entering their home" he explained as he revealed the wardrobe of outfits. Within were various dresses and suits meant for all genders and people, you can never be too prepared,"take your time if you want and you can keep whatever you put on, your coat will work wonderfully with any of these by the way." He said as he gestured to the left side of the room, and with that he headed off to his room.

It was a small room with a hidden panel underneath the door in which he hid a small roll of metal wire should the need arise for it. He quickly changed into one of his more formal suits. It fit comfortably enough and he felt that it could move reasonably enough if the need were to arise to fight. He made his way downstairs to find Ling waiting for him, "are you ready to go?" He asked politely.

As was customary, Ling slipped off her shoes before entering Xiaolong's home. She would have prefered to wait for him outside, but he offered her a change of clothing, explaining that their contact prefered formal attire. Ling's eyebrow raised. "A three piece woolen suit isn't enough?" But she grudgingly looked through the available clothes and finally selected a black suit with a white tie, complete with ridiculous jacket lapels and coattails, a cummerbund, and cufflinks. She had to borrow shoes as well. Comfortable leather shoes were not the same as the glossy black shoes one wore with this kind of ensemble.
She felt ridiculous in this kind of getup, but then again, rich people had entirely different codes of conduct from lowly plebs like her.

When Xiaolong left her to change, Ling quickly slid her knife mechanisms over her white-shirted arms, under her borrowed tailcoat. Luckily enough the tailcoat — obviously made for a man — had sleeves loose enough to allow the devices with absolutely no hint as to their existence.

By the time the detective returned, she had slipped her trench coat back on. "I draw the line at top hat," she declared, setting the absurd headgear aside.

As they left Xiaolong's home, Ling caught a glimpse of herself in a mirror and couldn't help but smile. Maybe she'd invest in one of the dratted things after all, if she could take Jia to Kwong's more frequently.

She let the detective lead the way again, feeling slightly uncomfortable in her borrowed footwear. It wasn't, however, so uncomfortable that she couldn't fight should the situation arise. For that she was more concerned by the ridiculous flapping things hovering around her rear end. How impractical.

"So... where we going?" she queried. "Could we take a taxi, perhaps?"

"Of course we can take a taxi there." He said as they walked over to a satomobile Taizen paid the man and told him the address. He felt compelled to pay for the ride as Ling had paid for their lunch. The ride to Saya's place was a smooth and calm one however it did a small deal of time. The seats in the satomobile began to bother Taizen he wasn't used to traveling by satomobile he was used to rapelling down from an airship whenever he needed to get somewhere.

"Im sorry for all of this formality Miss Yao but might i ask you," he paused for a moment he didn't know exactly how to put this. "Who hired you to take on this case?" It was a reasonable question. He wanted to know who he was working for but he also didn't want to sound rude. "If you don't want to tell me I understand but I won't tell anyone if you don't want me too if you do decide to tell me." He looked nervously out the window and tried to keep his cool detective face, but it had a few cracks on his face that only a seasoned card player would be able to see. He hoped to make Ling his friend and he was worried that this would jeopardize that hope.