A Bird, a Fox, and a Nomad walk into a bar...

[fanoperator]

Huaisang was very pleased to have a new asset who had proven himself so very effective, even if V was a bit (a lot) of a wildcard. He was valuable enough that Huaisang wanted to see about securing his loyalty, to ensure that V worked just for him, though that was a big ask from a freelance mercenary. So Huaisang wasn't going to ask, really. He was just going to orchestrate events until he'd earned that loyalty and locked it in.

And events had progressed to the point that Huaisang wanted to meet him in person, even if he wasn't planning to tell V that it was, in fact, an in-person meeting with the Fox. No, he hadn't earned that yet.

So he dressed the way he always did, these days. His persona and performance both served as homage to the ancient Chinese Tang Dynasty. In his old life, while his brother was alive, Huaisang's dance had been only a hobby. Now, it was his best shield. Onstage, he performed a fan dance, sometimes instead with a parasol, face painted in a modernized version of makeup from the Tang Dynasty, sometimes also with a beaded veil. It concealed and contoured his face, enhancing his beauty and androgyny, enough to make him unrecognizable to even close acquaintances who had known him before. Only Meng Yao might see through it, and Meng Yao would never lower himself from his new position as head of the Jin Corporation to investigate a dancer-whore in a nightclub--no matter how successful the nightclub or how beautiful the dancer. His father had been fond of whoring, and there were few things that Meng Yao found more repellent. He would never willingly enter a nightclub, and it would never occur to him that a high-born heir like Huaisang would ever whore himself, not even as a disguise, not even if the alternative was to starve.

He wore a red qipao, and he was lounged on a couch in such a way that it was his bare leg that was turned toward the door, with the slit of the dress going nearly to the top of his thigh. There was no visible cyberware on him at all, aside from the bright silver of his optics. When V entered, Huaisang turned his head toward him and raised a brow. The Fox had invited V here, and his people downstairs would have directed V to the right room, but Niaoniao the dancer didn't necessarily know that, and Huaisang wanted to see what kind of reactions he could get out of V in a situation like this one.

He'd wanted to meet V in person for several reasons, loyalty aside. Huaisang had always been very good at reading people, and that was a much easier thing to do in person. If he judged that he wanted to rely upon V a little more, he'd present himself as V's new contact person for the Fox. If he liked what he saw, he could indicate that the Fox was offering Niaoniao's company for the evening as an additional reward for his recent services. If he didn't, he could simply offer up details for the next job and hand over a drive as the reason that the Fox had wanted to have him come into the club rather than just to do this over phone or text.

Comments

[disrupts]

Used to having to work his way through people until he's actually talking to somebody whose power in the city is worthy of acknowledgement, V's amiable as he's herded away from the main floor of the nightclub and into an area that's altogether more private. He's seen enough huscle to know for the most part he's not going to take personal offense to their overcompensating. Not unless they start up the bullshit anti-nomad rhetoric he's used to but not always willing to stomach for the sake of a gig.

He doesn't hear any of that as he's directed downstairs, his optics taking in his surroundings to do a sweep of nearest available exits as usual. Always pays to know the quickest way out of a rumble gone sideways. Just never know from one millisec to the next.

The dancer who's lounging on a couch is the only person he can see to approach and so he does exactly that, expression friendly if slightly questioning.

"What's good?"

[fanoperator]

Huaisang's eyes flicked orange briefly, questioning and confirming, and then cleared back to gray. "You're V," he said, hesitantly. V didn't seem distracted by walking into a room with a suggestively-posed beauty. He was a professional, after all, though Huaisang doubted himself a little. He hadn't been able to confirm any intel on V's preferences in such things. "I'm Niaoniao."

He sat up a little more, pulling his legs up so as to offer the opposite end of the couch for V to sit. "The Fox is pleased with you." Huaisang hugged his arms loosely around his knees, eyes attentive but a little bit wary as he got a sense of V. He could make himself vulnerable, as Niaoniao. A soft and pretty man, frightened of the world, even though he was also ambitious and a survivor, enough so to make himself a valued plaything. "He has a big job for you. Dangerous. Didn't want to send the specs over the network. I do ..." Huaisang ducked his head a little, cheeks flushed and lashes lowered, giving a show of bashfulness. "He has me interface with trusted and valued allies, on jobs like this. Especially if he feels they should be ... rewarded."