The Devil's Deja Vu | Kupiec, Daniel

YOU'RE GONNA CARRY THAT WEIGHT.

It was a rough two hours for Daniel. His night of hunting was finally taking its toll on him to a degree that he’d not expected at first. Whether it was the hunt itself, or the deal he struck after its completion, something was bringing his exhaustion to a peak. He wasn’t even able to make it to his bed before everything came crashing down on him. Luckily, he still had a couch on which he could crash

Tired as he was, the man woke easily enough when the alarm he’d set sounded. He swiped at the haptic interface until the racket stopped before reluctantly rising. Another yawn escaped his lips as he stumbled to the bathroom and washed his face in cold water. It was enough to drive away the dark dreams haunting his thoughts. He looked as himself in the mirror to ensure that he looked somewhat presentable. Then, he took a deep breath and returned to the living room.

“Kupiec, it’s time.” He managed not to flitch when the felt the hand close around his shoulder. Third time now. Daniel nodded as the list of conditions was given. They were a simple set of rules to be followed lest disobedience lead to his death. That was a charming thought.

“Understood,” Daniel confirmed. It was then that an odd feeling consumed his entire frame, almost like falling from a high altitude or into a spring. It was gone almost as quickly as it came and he was told he could relax. He fought down the wave of nausea as his eyes opened. The first thing he noticed was that this was indeed no longer his living room but rather a small diner. Next, he noted that he was seated in a booth rather than standing. Then, he finally caught sight of the familiar woman sitting across from him, which prompted an arching of his eyebrow.

“Maevia?” Daniel asked. Kupiec’s familiar greeting was all the confirmation he needed. Somehow, he wasn’t surprised. The cyborg always did seem to know things that were difficult to come across, but seeing as she seemed to know the Deity sitting next to him made that fact easier to process. He ignored the questions begging for a voice in his head so that he could instead focus on the menu he was passed; they could wait until the hole in his stomach was filled.

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Maevia kept playing with her puzzle, listening intently to Kupiec but not giving any indication she was; the little things to irritate him, y’know? She gave faint nods to indicate that yes, she knew him, and yes, it was fairly obvious that Daniel had struck a deal with the meddlesome deity. She took her cigarette from the ashtray and placed it gently between her lips; strawberry flavored and scented cloves, this time. She took brief stops from her puzzle to gently inhaled the sweet-tasting smoke and exhale it down towards her hands and puzzle. She knew the scent of smoke irked him; small revenge for having yet another rare moment of personal time interrupted. The grin forming on her lips halted.

You smell very strongly of Him. What does He do? Drop by every evening to play cards?

She looked up from her puzzle just in time to meet his gaze, after a very telling sniff. Her hands stopped. It was safe to assume all deities had similar abilities. She made no expression to him; she was not fearful, nor smug. In fact, she didn’t know Kupiec’s place in all this, but one thing was certain; she would be placing the safety of the goddess above any promises he could make. He was already entwined with Maevia, whether they liked it or not, but Arithelia was not, and she would rather have a grateful goddess in her deck than another favor from Him. In fact, perhaps He could answer some questions for her. After holding his gaze for a moment, she looked back down, and resumed her puzzle.

Her grin spread in full as Kupiec continued like a conductor, as if Maevia was some lackey meant to follow his orders. Maybe he was showboating for his new partner, or maybe he thought he had control over her and what she did (but she doubted he was quite that ignorant). She was fine to let him go on and act like the one in control, the manager, the one who Maevia answered to. Let him believe it, let Daniel believe it; she worked better when people assumed she had less power than she did.

“Aw, so protective! You do care!” She cooed. The sarcasm dripped thicker than syrup. “This isn’t like our other arrangements; Mr. Caim is a capable individual of whom I am very familiar. Our business has been casual to this date, but…” With one last click, the larger rubik’s cube was finished and slapped on the table with a small but distinct clap. “It seems we’ll be digging deeper together.”

She alternated between lazy puffs of her cigarette and lazy forkfuls of her cooling breakfast. She now made eye contact while engaging the two in conversation. “I know you’ve been hesitant to answer questions in the past; most hunters, current and former, are the same. But now under Kupiec’s watch, you should have less to fear from them, including the Huntress herself.” She turned to Kupiec. “That is correct, is it not?”

She leaned back in the booth and stared out the window, watching the figures of Dagos in the early morning; criminals going to rest for another night of prowling, smarter businesspeople taking the lull in danger to get to their appointments and jobs. “What I use my information for is my own business- you know this, Kupiec. Truthfully, I rather hate total destruction, so I can agree to not share information granted specifically by Daniel, if I believe the recipient is aiming to cause the guild’s doom. Of course, I can’t always guess how clients will use information.” She turned her gaze back to the two men. “But you didn’t come to me because I was untrustworthy. I understand what you’re saying. Daniel- if I even suspected for a moment you would attempt to betray me, I wouldn’t have had you doing work for me all this time.” Granted, she always suspected betrayal, but to her, he was a low risk. Higher now, that he was dealing with Kupiec, but he was smart enough not to try. She had failsafe after failsafe after failsafe for all angles of betrayal, so even if he did try, it would be a fool’s errand.

She turned her gaze at Daniel specifically, and exhaled a small tuft of smoke before grinding the quarter-length cigarette into the ashes. “He is right, though; the more you are willing to share, the more assistance I can be. You know the drill; we trade favors for favors, answers for answers, and sometimes money changes hands. It will just be on a much larger scale than our previous arrangements, and with a third party’s involvement.”


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Tags: Kupiec | Daniel Caim
Notes: best friends forever

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YOU'RE GONNA CARRY THAT WEIGHT.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Daniel said. “I’ve done odd jobs for you long enough for you ta know I ain’t gonna toss ya under the bus. You’ve done right by me, and I trust you enough ta do the same.” Truthfully, he didn’t expect very much from the spider dress as a woman before him. He’d always suspected that she barely trusted him in any regard, if at all. But she was the best source of information and paying jobs he’d had over the years, and she never asked him to do anything he wasn’t willing to; she was even respectful enough to let things be as far as the Guild went, which had to count for something.

“I’ll give you whatever you want if it’ll get the Guild back on track. I still got some contacts in the ranks, so I might be able ta get ya something good every once in a while.” He scratched the scar running across the bride of his nose. It was a personal tick of sorts for when was deep in thought, one that exhibited itself regularly when he dealt with the information broker or one of her many agents. After all, it was almost a requirement to be wary of what he let slip around her.

He turned his attention to the God sitting next to him. “And I ain’t got any intention of causin’ You any trouble. I still appreciate the thought, but I know how to handle myself well enough.” The waitress returned and looked at everyone present expectantly. He told the woman what he wanted: fried eggs with three sausage links and a side of hash browns. After she moved away, he took out his own pack of cigarettes (nothing fancy like the one Maevia smoked).

“Ya wouldn’t mind if I smoked would ya?”

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She smirked at his curse in the olden language. She said nothing, though; that was stored for another time. He didn’t know she spoke it, and that was a card she’d prefer to hold onto, for a small time. She made a point to dramatically roll her eyes at his little speech. Blah blah blah, always the same. Instead she focused on Daniel. He was a man who owned his mistakes, a man of principle; in short, a man she could trust not to stab her in the back, so long as she kept to the deal. Heh. That’s how she preferred things; all the rising and falling information brokers meet their end because they try to be sneaky, greedy, or hasty. It only takes one failed assassination, one crossed contact, one broken promise… and sooner or later, they’d be compromised, hunted down, and either killed or driven off into obscurity or some worse fate.

She waved the god off as He dropped his money and disappeared. At least He was polite about his unannounced intrusions. With a mouthful of cold pancake, she looked up at Daniel. Something else? She pulled out her pack of cigarettes, slapped it against her hand a few times, and withdrew another clove. She lit it and exhaled freely, without any comments from the peanut gallery.

“I’m nothing if not used to weirdness,” she said, nodded over at the now empty seat next to the man. “Your mother? Hm…” Another missing person’s case. Elijah, Fey, and now Daniel… Well, she was the right person to come to, at least. He’d never mentioned his parents, and some standard sleuthing when she first was contacted by him revealed that the father was dead and the mother was… assumed dead. She didn’t need to ask how he knew; anyone who dealt with Kupiec was bound to be full of surprises.

“I can do that. As usual, no promises; is this a time sensitive matter?” Always good to know details before making agreements, after all. She rolled the sleeve of her hoodie up to reveal her exposed cybernetic arm. She tapped a few times on the screen, twitched a few times with her robotic fingers, and nodded to Daniel, with her finger hovering over the screen. “Tell me about them. As much as you can. I’d like to record this for later, with your permission.”


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Tags: Daniel Caim
Notes: -

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