The Morrigan’s Crow watched her pace the length of the warehouse without disturbing; a faithful shadow who knew when to interrupt and when to remain an extension of Aspen’s shadow. On this occasion, violence sang through the warehouse beneath the loft that Aspen had claimed as her residence. “That little bitch.” The information The Badb had brought her had been met with the reaction expected. Grey gaze swept over The Badb as Aspen wandered by, a ghostly fixation that seared through the visage of them but they knew Aspen was still weighing her options. Her choices on how best to handle the meddlesome urchin that had been useful, up until their betrayal affected Aspen’s affairs as well.
The Badb raised a pale brow as Aspen halted her pacing, the dust beneath her boots settling in a relieved tremor around her. A decision was made.
“Time to pay the Heart’s Ace a visit.” There was nothing pretty in her smile.
The sun was setting by the time Aspen had marched into the Spades’ territory; her movements watched by the too casual glance of those who clung to the heat in a trash can - or from beneath the overhang of a den. She’d come in alone, the Spades’ territory not unfamiliar to her. Despite this, she was hardly unarmed - the determination in her stride making it clear she didn’t particularly care if she was announced early this evening. Though it wasn’t the Spades that held her attention, but the Hearts leader who chose to reside within. Smuggled away within his Tattoo Shop outside the reaches of his own district - the thought process behind it was one that often left her thoughtful and perhaps, one day, she would ask Puck Frisk why he chose the location.
The Tattoo Shop appeared quiet as she reached its threshold; not a surprise during the hours when the sun bleached the colour from the rooftops and caused those partial to the nightlife of Stronghold’s underbelly scurrying into slumber. Fingertips brushed the glock strapped to her thigh - the weight as familiar as the streets she’d taken to reach the Ace’s threshold. Aspen paused to glance over her shoulder, a narrow of her gaze swept over the empty street before she ducked inside.
“Puck?” Aspen called. The violent displeasure that had triggered her decision an hour ago had been leashed on her way here until her voice drifted out suspiciously pleasant. Light, young, and altogether at odds with the chilly hue of the gaze that stripped the interior apart like a predator draining marrow from the bones of its kill. “Got time for an appointment?”Where information was exchanged, and a bothersome flea was removed from her domain.
Puck was a strange individual with habits that nearly no one seemed to be able to understand. Sure he was the Ace of Hearts but he seemed more at home in his tattoo shop than he did in his own headquarters. Most of the top players within the Jabberwockies would probably have preferred to stay within their domains but Puck? No, he liked his little place here. It had been set up before he became Ace and had just been a member of the Hearts gang itself. Never as a prostitute but in other ways and he’d risen too quickly for amny of their likings. Perhaps that was why he kept his actual place of business away from the rest of his empire. A quieter location that was unlikely to be disrupted by anyone within the Spade’s territory.
Or maybe he was just weird or a bit dumb about where he was meant to be compared to where he actually worked and spent a lot of his time. No one was ever quite sure with him. Then again he acted and often seemed like a very big himbo so perhaps it really just was that he had gotten it in his thick skull that this was a better location for no other reason than he didn’t think about it. Probably no one would ever know for sure since he wasn’t likely to give them a straight answer if they bothered to ask. Not that anyone had yet asked him about this strange arrangement.
And today was no different. He’d been in and was still at his tattoo shop, seeming to think very little of his empire that worked so far away. Then again it wasn’t like that empire did as much during the day as it did at night. The Hearts being a relatively nocturnal sort of gang given their activities. Then again a lot of the Jabberwockies branches were more nocturnal in nature. So it was no real surprise that he was here when the sun was still in the sky, though that begged the question: when did he ever sleep? Apparently the answer was never.
He was currently in the back room working on another art piece, this one on the actual wall of his office. The mostly black and white image was dashed with streaks of red like the splattering of blood. A forest scene dappled in moonlight and a figure slipping through the trees leaving blood red footprints behind them in the snow.
His head came up though as he heard a voice calling out for him, a slight frown crossing his lips. The voice was familiar but not one he expected to hear, much less so here. But he set his brush down and stood, walking to his office door to open it. He stuck his head out and smiled at Aspen.
”Aspen! Sure, why don’t you come back and we can talk about what you’re looking to get?” He opened the door to his little private space further and waved for her to come on back. No need to do this sort of thing out in the more public areas of the shop when it was common enough for him to have favored clients back in his office to talk.
Posted 09-24-2021, 11:43 PM
This post was last modified: 09-24-2021, 11:47 PM by Aspen O'Hara
LOYAL MUTTS
