[Sodium_noir] Saturday Evening at Dusk

[Hope Zagorski]

Hope Zagorski, Leon Wolf
Dusk Towers

>Wolf smiled enigmatically but said nothing to answer.

Perhaps, then he hadn't read much of it, but she doubted it.  He was toying with her.  Two could play that game.  

>Leon looked her in the eye, impressed at her ability to dominate part of the conversation. Chipping away at his position of superiority here on his home turf. Putting him on the defensive slightly by getting in his face. Good move, well timed. Just like he would have done. 

A stare down then.  She wasn't ready to give him any ground.  Here, she was at a disadvantage, and she had to take what concessions she could get.  She'd played the good cop, now it was time to play the bad.  Still keeping eye contact, she moves her gaze briefly at the gun sitting on the table, then back to him. 

>"As you rightly deduced Detective, we don't want you dead. That could have been simply accomplished when we first met. Neither do we mean you any harm. Our intentions towards you are more ... transactional." Finally he moved, removing himself from her proximity by standing.

Hope smiles slightly, knowing or at least believing that she had won that point.  She presses on.  "Transactional?" She asks.  "If you've done your homework, you know I can't be bought."  But, she thinks to herself, there are plenty that can be.  

>"The incident that you were involved in the other evening, the shooting at the Police head quarters. Not the usual confrontation by any means. 

Hope looks a bit startled at this revelation.  How did he know?  Millet must have given him the file.  She tried to be real vague in her account.  

>I wouldn't insult you by claiming to know how you felt about facing something like that. To be honest in my world I've grown a little numb to the unusual. But I expect that my visit and this invitation cannot have added to your nights peaceful sleep after such an encounter."

Hope nods, still not moving from her position, or moving her hand.  A good night's sleep to her was just a distant memory.   

His voice was somewhat mellifluous, soothing even despite the situation. Though she thought of interrupting it had a way of giving one pause to see what he would say next. (Enchanting Voice merit)

Hope pulls her hand away from the gun.  She was listening to what he had to say now, just as she had the last time they'd met, and yet she really didn't know why.  Damn it, why was he able to affect her that way?

>"You have your badge back detective Zagorski, but I would be very surprised if you returned to the force as usual."

As usual would have meant a lonely desk job for her.  No, she was going back to work with a partner.  No more of the usual...for now.

>"Things have changed for you since that rather disquieting revelation."

No, they'd changed long before that.  Before she'd left Chicago actually.  

>"You have been thrust into a darker world, much as you deserve to remain ignorant I cannot return your piece of mind as to that truth. And so I come with a different offer. I cannot take the knowledge about the darkness, but I can provide you with the necessary tools to survive in it. An edge against the things that lurk in the shadows."

Hope tries to look as if she was confused, though she wasn't.   "What are you talking about?  That guy in the police station was just some perp that killed the evidence tech.  I got the drop on him, and I consider myself lucky to be alive...and back on duty."  With that, Hope crosses herself, a genuine gesture amidst false statements.   

Even so, Hope is still sitting in her chair, still holding the small patch of ground she had won...a patch that seemed to be getting smaller by the minute.  After pausing a moment, she draws upon her inner strength (Willpower 7).  "Shadows don't scare me."  She says, straightening up in her seat, pretending not to be intrigued.  
      
[Once upon a midnight dreary, while I Tagged weak and weary]



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