A Pressing Matter [[M?]]

[kleineklementine]

This happens immediately after the events here and roughly at the same time as events here.



"This is not the best time for me to leave..."

Rufus hadn't been joking and right now Zahi wished very much that the Red Wolf were still in Arca. She'd left Charon for the night, after dealing – at least for now – with Torak, and she needed to talk to someone. Preferably, someone she trusted on this matter. With Rufus gone, that list was... sparse. She was bothered by this business with Torak, the business with her Blood Wolves. She didn't think they were isolated and she was awfully curious what Jack Amsel was up to these days. She was too uncertain about Charon. She didn't even consider Kui; she could barely stand being in the same room as that woman, much less in her confidence. She'd never been too keen on the Gold Jackal, and had only "met" the Lone Wolf that once. And who knew where he was.

That left two options: Zeina or Bujari, and she wasn't thrilled about either. She didn't wholly trust either, but she at least felt fairly confident that neither would be involved in whatever might be going on. Zeina... Well, she respected the Coyote quite a bit, but it was a long time since they had been kids and the gap between them felt very wide now. The gap between her and Bujari, on the other hand, had never been wide enough, and Zahi had been actively avoiding him for almost a year now. But what Zahi wanted right now was answers, and she had a hunch that the Spirit Wolf was more likely to have them and more likely to provide them. She would save the Coyote for later, if she were right, if something happened.

It would be an interesting business.

The Red Jackal didn't bother going back to her own quarters, though her clothes were still stained brown and caked with the blood of the upstart gang boss, claiming to be the "Red Wolf," that she'd dealt with earlier. It wouldn't matter. Not with Bujari. Zahi paused for a moment when she finally reached the door to his 'lair' (as she thought of all shamanistic dwellings), she paused for a moment to brace herself for dealing with the Spirit Wolf.

She didn't knock or announce herself. Zahi simply opened his door, just enough, and slipped silently into the room. She hadn't been alone with Bujari since he became Spirit Wolf. And not by accident.

"Can I borrow some of your time?" she was all she said by way of a greeting, closing the door behind her.

[Echtronis]

Bujari felt heavy after sending the last Shadow Wolf out from his chambers, Tyran was his name, and the Spirit wolf had him tasked with "protecting" the Matriarch, Kui as she went about her business outside the den. The yoreiq man had to use his bullying 'charms' to keep the rather bright pup from asking too many questions. This was no time for questions, not from the pups anyway. Things are getting out of hand fast, and while Bujari is still lacking certain key pieces to this conspiracy, he felt strongly through his network that it was not entirely internal. If it were the Cats, well, they were a lot craftier than Bujari gave them credit for. He felt certain about Kui, and should Tyran be successful in his careful instructions to guard her from the shadows without her knowing, he hoped to have validation in that claim. The Beta would not be so easy, he came off soft as Bujari came off hard, but he knew Jack was sharp, and sending someone to shadow him would be risk more than what could be gained.

"They must not take control while I'm away" Bujari mulled over the command from the Alpha. Though he was liking his new appointment as Animus, the challenges piling on made the shaman wonder why on Earth Old Galen chose him for the job. He himself who had thought of taking the reins of the Bloods into his own fists beforehand. If he is trusted to the task of protecting the greater good of the Soots now, maybe it would have been for the greater good if he had just done that.

Bujari let out a heavy sigh and irritatedly scraped at his scalp with a large, curved knife from a table next to the mirror that hung dangling from the ceiling. It would be too easy to go into his own dream, and confront these mysteries to rid the unwanted stress it brought. It's how he's always done it. Self experimentation allowed him to rid himself from any residual shame his demeanor would bring that still seemed to confound the others after ten years, rid himself of guilt when he had to end the life of those whom he enjoyed their company before. But this, he could not rid himself of this dilemma without losing the focus on it he needed to see it through with the Soot standing strong. Bujari hated it, this inescapable pressure; it was against everything he strived to be, and quite frankly, he was running out of vices.

Bujari grabbed the dangling mirror still, to get a better look at his shaving through is smoke-dinged reflection , breathing in the fumes of incense in hopes to relax him. And then what should he also see in the reflection, but her?! Bujari's face ticked in surprise. He was beginning to think he had seen the last of Zahi, is she, well, she is the Red Jackal now. Of course.

He tried to put on his usual grin to her through the reflection, but something very sober must of clung to his lips.  "Time, is eet?" He turned and took some steps towards her and grasped one of the wooden poles that were pegged between the walls where he hung his herbs, and let his weight hang slightly from it, looking her up and down. Well at least she looked like she still kept herself busy. "Aboutah year, ah t'ink, eh? Ah be made ahv time by now, Zah." He joked, though there was little mirth in his tone, though he sounded as predatorial as he had in the Blood Wolves.

[kleineklementine]

Somehow she knew that would come up. She held his gaze while he studied her, staying put in front of the door. She didn't feign any of his casualness. If anything, she was tenser than she would normally be. Like a rabbit or a deer when it knows there's a predator around. Her right hand hadn't even moved from the door's latch when she'd closed it. Realizing this, she released it and brought her hand back to her side.

"Well," she said after a long moment of silence, and her eyes left Bujari to survey the room and its ample evidence of his exploits, her voice just a little colder than usual, "you seem to be doing fine."

Her eyes returned to the Spirit Wolf. "But that's not why I came here." Zahi said this to remind herself as much as to inform him.

[Echtronis]

He looked behind him when she commented on his well being, giving a crisp bark of an amused sigh when he had realized what she was referring to. Inwardly, this annoyed Bujari, as if Zahi had expected him to be a broken mess in their dance of avoidance. Though, if he were honest to himself, he was already wondering by this time when they would cross paths again, especially after her ascension as the Canis Simensis. "Yah well..." He felt strangely at a loss for words regarding to the thrown about and forgotten scraps of clothes about the shapeless mass of furs in the center of the main chamber. He hated how Zahi was the only one who ever made him feel embarrassed of his lifestyle, as if he owed her anything. Witty lies crawled onto his tongue, but he really had no use in spitting them at her. She'd see through them anyhow, he felt.

'Of course it's not' He almost said in playful sarcasm, but he knew better than to imply that the woman was for anything she said she was not. Bujari straightened himself and let go of the pole, letting it wobble in place as he moved even closer to Zahi, (the man still seemed to never have completely understood the concept of personal bubbles) and had his face a breath away from hers, looking into those two-toned eyes of hers as if he was looking in a pantry for a specific reagent. His nostrils flared, and took in her scent. A twitch of a grin curled at the side of his lips and disappeared just as fast, and found himself frowning as her words replayed in his head. "Ah can tell, ya look like you've been buseh as me, Zah."

That same irritation that plagued his mind before her arrival came back, and he thoughtlessly stabbed his knife into the doorframe, and turned to step back into his 'lair'. "Come den, wit'cha business. Da Animus is hea' fer da Red Jackal." There was a slight hint of contempt in that last sentence, emphasizing on their titles.

[kleineklementine]

It was strange, this feeling that she had unsettled the Spirit Wolf. And she didn't like it. Zahi wasn't sure what she'd been expecting from this encounter, but this was somehow not it. She wondered if she hadn't been avoiding him a little too completely since he left the Blood Wolves. She even started voicing the rationalizations for that in her head. But she wouldn't repeat them out loud. They weren't something she owed to him.

Now she was the one to feel frustrated, that she was having these thoughts at all. It had hardly been the first time she'd made herself scarce to Bujari, and if he couldn't see the difference now, she wasn't responsible for that. But for all that, when he came within her breathing space, a part of Zahi wanted to close the small remaining distance between them. And, to her frustration, it wasn't the smallest part. But she didn't. Zahi only held her ground, not keeping his eyes off of him. She gave a small snort at his comment that she looked like she'd kept as busy as him. If he'd meant anything like what she had, he couldn't be farther from the truth, and she was sure he knew it.

Then the knife came plunging into the doorframe and Zahi tensed, but she didn't have the opportunity to comment on it before he contemptuously brought the subject back to business. Something int he way he said it stung her and, surprising herself, she took a step forward and placed a hand on the bare skin of his shoulder. But once it was there, she didn't take it back. Instead she let it slide down to his arm, and she pulled herself closer to him.

"I need someone I can trust."

Inwardly, she wondered if she weren't playing an unfair advantage here. After ignoring him for so long, to come now and make herself sound vulnerable and ask for his help. Maybe she should have gone to Zeina. But she was here now, and it was too late for that.

[Echtronis]

Trust...

At her touch, Bujari closed his eyes as his strange attunement to his memories with the Blood Wolf had quickly relived in a flash within him, particularly that one night a few years past, after they had worked together under the current Red Jackals orders to put an end to the life of one Kreus Lograine, at the time an associate with the Soot Wolves, a paranoid para-merchant who would officiate fast trades in a ledger for large shipments brought in from foreign caravans. In a way, Lograine had orchestrated the heartbeat of mass smuggling that operated in Arca, and the Soot Wolves had profited greatly from his cooperation, until he fell to the pressure of rivals to start cutting tho Soots out of the major contraband, and made clear by the Shadow Wolves that he had been even tipping off said rivals of where to ambush the Soots when what cuts they could take were taken to various safehouses for mitigation. It was up to Zahi and Bujari to handle the issue, in the way they knew best.

Tribute to Lograine's paranoia,  the man used his resources to keep himself well guarded, and not by the usual rabble that served to intimidate, no. They were real warriors, from far in the frozen north, and though the two Blood Wolves would boast that it was nothing they couldn't handle, they came to the smart decision that failure to best the guards with blades would only lead to deeper, even more complicated problems for the guild. The plan had been to poison the merchant. Zahi had posed quite simply as just another representative of the Soot Wolves with a proposition to make over dinner at his manse. Not being a complete fool to not suspect a trap, but enough of a fool to have agreed for her to come, alone, to dine with the man and speak on about what the Soot Wolves had to offer. Bujari's part was to infiltrate the manse, and imbue the food prepared by the merchant's own cook with a sinister concoction of his own design. An antidote was made, but the nature of it would not prevent the toxin from unleashing its effects on Zahi when she supped upon the contaminated food, and she would be in no state to administer it herself after the poison matured in her bloodstream. So, Bujari would have to come in afterwards and deliver it himself. It was a dangerous ploy, and perhaps looking back now, both would feel embarrassed at such a flawed plan with so many steps to go wrong. Had he not succeeded in even poisoning the food in the first place, surely the merchant would have found Zahi's proposal to be a farce, and have his warrior guards set upon her, if he didn't plan on doing so anyway. It had worked, however, the antidote was given to Zahi, and the mettle of the northmen proved too hardy to mortally fall to the toxin. The merchant had not been so lucky, as planned, and with no other deaths, it was a smooth message on word of mouth of his still-living bodyguards that the Soot Wolves would not stand for such a thing. That night, Bujari tended to Zahi's revival the old fashioned way, much his protest she had never allowed him to use his metaphysical methods of healing, but she had been thankful indeed, when she awoke, she touched his arm as she did so now.

Bujari turned to her, and took Zahi into his arms. "As do I, Zahi" He said, giving the woman a strong kiss weighted by all that time it had been avoided this past year. Then, there was a stirring, from the side of the chamber they stood, and a long, airy groan escaped from the messy pile of furs off in the distance. A woman had uncovered herself, sitting up in a bedraggled way. Her top was bare, her breasts red from handling, and was blindfolded with many black sashes. "hmm..?" she said, with a sleepy sniffle.

[kleineklementine]

However unprofessional she might think it, Zahi returned Bujari's kiss, and not without her own urgency built up in the intervening year. She had sworn to herself before coming here that this wouldn't happen. But now, wrapping her arms around his broad shoulders to pull herself more tightly against him, she wondered if she had really believed that. It had probably been the twentieth or thirtieth time she'd made such a promise to herself, after all. And she couldn't pretend that she didn't find some solace in him, however intermittent and determinedly secret (her rules) their... whatever-it-was was. She blamed their intimacy on the stresses and dangers shared over years of working together in the Blood Wolves. Whatever the reason, she'd had a hard time shaking it. However often she tried, there were always periods of not-trying.

And whatever she thought about the appropriateness of ranking Wolves having personal... situations with each other, she was glad she was here now.

Until.

With a forced slowness and control, Zahi pulled herself away from Bujari. She wouldn't act out, angry or slighted, hurt or surprised. She wouldn't give him that. And if she was any of those things, it was unlikely that she'd even admit it to herself.

"Sorry, I didn't realize you were busy," she apologized with brutally cool professionalism. It was almost the same voice that she would use to talk to Rufus. "When you have some time free, I'd like to hear your opinion on something that happened today. But thank you, Spirit Wolf, for sparing me a moment of your time."

With that, Zahi turned and left the shaman's lair.

[Echtronis]

With probably the heaviest sigh he's ever let out outside of bedroom frolicking, Bujari watched Zahi leave through the door she came from, the one that secretly connected to the back spokes of the Den's wheel. He may have casually wondered how many others may have known that passage, but his true mind was on the fact that this girl had just cost him an opportunity he thought would never occur again. Of course the blame couldn't possibly be upon the lazily stirring Scavenger pup, but Bujari, deprived of his favorite She-Wolf, could only think in ire for the poor thing.

"Was there someone here...?" Said she, Lapis on the count of her eyes, that have just been revealed as she slipped the blindfold off her face. She saw Bujari stepping over to her, and gave him a sultry smile with a bite on her lower lip before asking "Who's joining us?"

Bujari gave a snarling grimmace, and watched the languid expression upon her face stiffen to something suddenly unsure and fearful. "No! No whan be joinin' me, or you, or anehtin'! What are you steel doing 'ere, dis is not a place fer Wolf bitches ta stay at der leishah!"

Lapis looked rather stung, and gave Bujari an bewildered, angry expression. "What? You said th-"

"Get out! Now, womahn! Ah'v got work ta do, ahn'ah dun 'ave time fer ya simperin' coo!"

Lapis wasn't even sure if she understood what Bujari even said just then, but she angrily began gathering her clothes. She was about to begin clothing herself, when the cruel shaman ripped the furs off her sitting form, and lifted her to her feet with a powerful grasp on her forearm. Shocked and a little hurt, Lapis slapped Bujari's face with the quick hand of a professional pickpocket. Her eyes widened afterward, and wondering if she had just invoked the man to retaliate, but Bujari had simply pushed her away, however roughly, and threw a clump of sheets at her. His eyes spoke for him, and Lapis, with tears beginning to form, rushed naked to the other door that led to the bar, hastily wrapping herself with the sheet, clothes in her hands. "You, you brute!" were her final words before quickly leaving through the door, slamming it behind her.

Bujari moved to the basin of water along the wall nearby the hanging mirror, and splashed a mess of it mostly onto his face. His hands ran up over the top of his head, and he stared at a blank spot on the wall before him, and entertained a tangled mass of confusing thoughts. He had realized that he had been horribly unfair to Lapis, and that he probably will have quite a difficult time luring her back into their lighthearted play between their sessions of his removal of her horrific memories of engendered servitude to a band of Serha horse raiders when she was young. She might not even return for those, either. With a sigh, Bujari realized the utter unprofessional blow that would have on his role in the Soot. Lapis was a good thief, a damn good thief, and if her treatments stopped because of his secret affairs with the Red Jackal, well, certainly the Coyote, Zeina, wouldn't appreciate it. It just wasn't good for the Den.

Having realized what he had to do, Bujari threw on an open vest and changed into a cleaner pair of slacks. He then made for the secret passage that Zahi had taken, and he headed for her quarters. When he had finished the short jaunt to her door, Bujari stopped to think about how he would tell Zahi that they couldn't continue this sort of behavior. He wondered how she would feel, that for all his exploits, that she would be the one he would exempt from his amorous reach. At that, he lifted the sliver of metal that hung over his scar over his heart, and kissed it in desperate symbolism. A Shadow Pup had witnessed this action, moving down the hall to pass by, and after a piercing glare of the mad shaman, quickened his pace expeditiously.

After he was gone, Bujari silently prayed to the spirits for guidance, and gently pushed open the door, and slipped in. "Zah..." He called, but his tone was calm.

[kleineklementine]

Now that she was out into the passages of the Wolves Den, Zahi's cool demeanor turned into anger. Mostly with herself. (But if she had to admit it, also with Bujari). She had actually needed to confide in somebody and Bujari was the closest thing to a 'person she could trust' and now that was out the window thanks to whatever complicated mess this was between them. Sloppy, unprofessional, and dangerous. What had she been thinking, going to him in the first place?

Maybe if she weren't the Red Jackal, she could have clocked him. But no, that would imply that she cared. Which, clearly, she didn't.

Returning to her quarters, she took a moment to lean against the door she'd closed behind her. Rufus was gone. She had internal problems in the Bloods. Torak was out of the way for now. Who knew what was going on with Charon. Jack was probably gunning for her. And now she was down one potential ally. Zahi vaguely felt like there was a noose slowly tightening around her. But she exhaled and picked herself up. She didn't make it this far, from a brat bastard child scraping by in a Zantaric brothel, to be outwitted by that boyish sycophant Jack Amsel.

Regaining her calm, Zahi retreated into her quarters properly, finally removing the blood soaked clothing she'd been wearing for far too long at this point. Also sloppy. She set about washing the rest of the blood off of her in the basin. It was this state, wet and nude from the waste up, that Bujari found her in. But Zahi didn't flinch or try to cover herself. Why bother. She just glanced coolly up at him, then continued about her business.

"Sorry for intruding earlier. We can talk tomorrow. I've still got a lot to get done tonight." She stopped herself short of saying, 'I'm busy at the moment,' knowing that if she had it'd be a barb at his inability to do the same. But having said as much as she had, she continued removing the dead man's blood from her arms and torso, paying no mind to Bujari.

[Echtronis]

Bujari kept quiet, leaning back against the door he closed behind him. He let her say what she had to say, and gave no retort, for he had none. A younger Bujari might have spouted how she wasn't intruding, how the girl was nothing to him, and all the silly things a man would say to a woman when his actions had caused an unpleasant stir, but he was not that Bujari, and Zahi was no ordinary woman.

He thought about what he came to say, that they could no longer continue this dangerous dance. He thought he had the words when he stood on the other side of the door, but somehow, after coming through that threshold into her chambers, watching her go about in her topless form, covered in dirt and blood that came with their line of work, his words seemed to float into some dream that he would have to seek out to find again.

Though he never asked for her arrival earlier, though a part of him felt defiant against the guilt he felt when the Scavenger girl woke up at the moment of long delayed intimacy, and that he knew that it would simply be smarter to let it be, to mark it off as a loss and find enjoyment with his displaced harem he had collected between their bouts of passion that would end as fiercely as they began, Bujari could not. Perhaps it was her steely reputation of never putting down her guard for others that somehow would make exception for him, perhaps it was the fact that Bujari, too, needed the confidence of such a woman that he could not threaten his own reputation with the other Soots, Bujari didn't know, but whatever it was, it had already led him to Zahi across the room, and reaching from behind her to the basin of water, he moved to assist her cleansing upon her side, and broke his silence in an austere, but warm tone.

"Fine. We talk tomorrow."

[kleineklementine]

Zahi determinedly ignored Bujari as he moved across the room. Even as he reached around her to the water in the basin. But when his hand touched her bare side, she went stiff. Maybe he thought that after leaving behind the mess in his quarters, he could simply follow her to hers and start over, but she was not of like mind. And she was still angry and unimpressed with both of them. She turned around sharply to face him, elbowing him roughly away.

If Bujari was the only Wolf she opened up to (or had done), he was also one of the only ones who she lost her temper with.

"Look, I don't give a fuck what you do, Bujari," she snapped. "But would it have been too much, really, for you to just say, 'Oh, sorry, Zahi, but I'm busy fucking a blindfolded teenager, can you come back later?'"

She immediately regretted these words. She should have said something about how this was unprofessional, dangerous. Figures that she'd have to snap and make it personal. Her mood was rapidly going from bad to worse. But she took a breath, and the flash of anger in her eyes turned into something more controlled, her jaw set. But she wasn't about to apologize and coolly talk shop now. And she certainly wasn't about to throw herself back into his arms.

[Echtronis]

Bujari perhaps expected her to resist his advances at this point, but he felt rather unprepared when Zahi opened up upon him, and appeared visibly abashed by her words. He has, through most of his life, heard almost every variation of indignation about his person, and his behavior, but coming from her, now, his developed mettle had failed. He wasn't entirely sure if her anger came from another nearly witnessing her  in a vulnerable state, something he knew Zahi would possibly die in avoiding, or if it possibly could of been that she had to witness his lighthearted exploits with the other Wolves. He felt annoyed that it even mattered. He felt even more annoyed that it mattered to Zahi, who had ignored him for so long.

"Maybeh, Zah." There was already the beginnings of such annoyance stirring in his voice as he spoke. "Maybeh ah did t'ink it would be too much. Dat girl, whan of just toy-t'ings ta pass da time." He spoke that last bit with a flair of dismissal at the mention of Lapis, who at this point annoyed Bujari for having even existed then. "Maybeh Ah'v ta t'ink dat if ya were ta run off seein' dat maybeh ah 'ave ta do somet'in ta pass dat time when ya hide from me fer so long, maybeh ahm just foolish enough ta 'ope ya'd stay a jus' a moment longah eef ah jus' shut mah mout', and live da moment, yeh? 'Cos who knows when ah'd get anoddah chance to see ya, Zah! Ah sure as 'ell don't!" In truth, Bujari had entirely forgotten Lapis was even there, she had  been sleeping for some time after their session, and in the surprise of Zahi unexpectedly stepping out of time into his chambers, the girl was the furthest thing from his mind, but he would be an even greater fool to even try convincing Zahi of that fact.

Bujari wasn't quite sure if he was even making sense at this point, but he was clearly riled up enough in all this to let out his frustration as well.

[Aeytrious]

Just then a coded knock sounded on the door. Three quick taps for a Shadow, two scrapes for trouble.

[kleineklementine]

((OOC: Sorry this is so short! About to head out.))

Zahi didn't even know what to make of Bujari's words. Much less what to say. But she was pretty sure she was still angry. She stood there, tense like an animal ready to flee... or more likely to attack... and considered him. She opened her mouth to reply, but -

Tap tap tap.

Scrape. Scrape.

This had to be a joke. Zahi let out a frustrated sound, something between a groan and a sigh. Stepping forward, she placed her hands on Bujari's chest to push him into the one adjoining room. Zahi was considerably stronger than she appeared, and Bujari would be pretty foolish not to follow her lead. Once she got him there, she gave him a proper shove into the room. Her look said loud and clear, 'Leave this room and I will fucking kill you.'

Throwing on a loose shirt on her way, the Red Jackal opened the door to the Shadow Wolf.

[Echtronis]

((OOC: Oh you think that was a short post? Behold the power of phone-posting!))

There was so much Bujari needed to say, he was rather angry himself, the buried anger of Zahi's avoidance surfacing in their argument. But then came the signal at the door. Oh what timing, if this wasn't a matter of life and death, Bujari was surely about to strangle somebody right now.

And for a moment he thought that would be Zahi, as though he moved along with the pushing, there was a ferocity in his eyes at her that would tell her exactly he felt about being swept under the rug when the knocking came. As if he couldn't be in Zahi's quarters for any professional reason. He was the Animus! More words he'd have to bring to her when this nonsense was dealt with.

Bujari lowered into a squat, closing his eyes in the darkness of the next room, and, through great difficulty, calmed himself to focus his body to listen as best as he could manage.

Who does that woman think she is?

[kleineklementine]

Zahi opened the door, revealing Wag's Shadow. Though she would have much rather left him outside, if there was trouble, it wasn't a great option. She could only hope that the fool Bujari would stay put. Stepping aside and letting the Shadow Wolf pass, Zahi closed the door behind him and turned to hear his information.

"Canis Simensis," the Shadow greeted curtly. "A situation has developed in the bar. The assassin Torak showed up after stealing his armor and is creating rather a disturbance. He came, he says, to ask the Grey Wolf to overturn what he says were your orders that he leaves the Guild."

Zahi nodded confirmation of this.

"Said that Rufus had guaranteed his life." They must both know this was untrue. "Now there's an altercation between him and the Black Wolf, who he tried to attack. Four Blood Wolves and Wag have him restrained."

Torak. Didn't it figure. It was as if that snot-nosed assassin came to the Wolves just to get in her way. The next time she saw him, she would kill him. But instead she asked, "The Grey Wolf is there?"

The Shadow Wolf nodded.

"Okay. The Bloods know how to do their job. But tell Wag I'll be there as soon as I can. But in the mean time, the Grey Wolf, of course, has authority over them." And after a moment, she added, remembering she needed to at least pretend to be in a normal, professional mood, even if the next words were an utter lie, "And tell Wag I appreciate his informing me."

The Shadow Wolf gave a curt nod and Zahi let him out. Maybe, she thought, she'd get lucky and Kassom would kill Torak once and for all. She could only hope. But first, she still had another problem to deal with. Zahi had to run through what Bujari had said again in her mind. She didn't like any of it. It was, almost, emotional. And that was something she did not have time for.

Striding over to the entrance to the second room, Zahi stopped in the doorway. "I haven't been 'hiding' from you," she gave her delayed retort. Her tone was more controlled now, but there was still an angry edge to her voice. "You clearly know where to find me. But yes, I have been avoiding you since you changed ranks. And especially since I have. And at this point, I hardly think I need to explain 'why.'" She looked hard at him. This whole night had been a mess and their chances of ever calmly discussing the actual matters at hand going on in the Wolves seemed to have already flown out the window. "Now, before I actually go do my job, is there anything else I can do for you, Bujari?"

[Echtronis]

A lot of what Rufus has written in his instructions to Bujari began swimming in the Spirit Wolf's head as he listened to the words exchanged with Zahi on the other side of the door. He had already surmised between the Alpha's suspicions and the words of the many Shadow Wolves that cycle frequently through his chambers that the pup Torak has been under some sort of special protection, though the exact nature of it escaped him, but following the alleged schemes of the Beta and Kui, Bujari pondered if indeed the buffoonish assassin was part of some ploy to perhaps put the Red Jackal in harm's way. That wouldn't do. Besides, Rufus had ordered for her safety anyway.

Bujari got to his feet, and idly looked about as he heard words of commands to the Shadow Wolf he apparently could not be seen by. His eyes stopped with piqued interest upon a set of slave chains hanging on the wall along with an assortment of other seemingly random utilitarian items. "Oh, kinkeh" he muttered quietly to himself, removing them without a clang of metal in his deft, well practiced fingers.

Zahi opened the door, and Bujari's face twisted in distaste at her sharp tone. He walked past her with the constraints in hand, waving in irritated dismissal at her words with the other, joined with a "tch!" sound with his teeth. He put an ear to the door that the Shadow Wolf had just left through, before turning to Zahi to answer her question. "Yeh, ya can tell me whatchoo be plannin' ta do wit' da pup and da Beta, if yer done prattin'. Jack be doin' nothin' bout da whelp, da Torak boy?" Bujari shook his head. "Dat ain't right, Blood." Blood; he used the nondescript nickname for Zahi when they would be on a mission.

"Ah t'ink da Beta might be havin' it out fer ya. Maybeh not. Eit'ah way, dis ain't good fer da Soot." He pondered for a moment. "Dat Kui be funneh, too. Ah took da liberteh of havin' a Shadow follow her around. Da pup has a report fer me at da Dog Hair. What say ya 'do yer job', and tend ta dat Blood business fer now." He gave a sideways glance to the door. "Ah dun t'ink da Jack be fit fer da name Beta, fer dis chaos. Ah t'ink ah'll do mah job and nip dis t'ing in da bud"

He looked back to Zahi, hand ready to push open the door with the chains in his other hand, and if there way anything that could be described as 'playful murder', it was in Bujari's eyes now. "Wish me luck, eh Zah?"

[kleineklementine]

At first, Zahi's anger only grew. Of course, now he was happy to forget all this mess and talk about business. Not to mention his annoyance that they hadn't already spoken about it - who had started this? All she'd done was said "I need someone I can trust." He was the one who'd followed her here to fight! - and his choice of the word 'pratting.' But as he went on, her fighting posture relaxed, a little.

She'd wanted to actually have a conversation about what was or wasn't going on. What she guessed at and what he might know.

Instead, she warned, "Don't be too rash with Jack. A power vacuum while Rufus is gone might be more dangerous."

Zahi was glad to have him in her corner, though 'glad' might not be the word she would use. But she still didn't feel like this was over, and she was still angry at him, and still frustrated at basically every turn this night took. And, when he turned to leave, she moved and grabbed him, kissing him hard, channeling her frustration into that.

"Okay," she agreed, "good luck."

In that moment, what Zahi missed was Spot. Who never knocked. Who always just let herself in. The young Shadow Wolf stood in the doorway, stunned, and it showed all over her.

"Um," she stared, mouth open, eyes wide with disbelief; the girl was obviously shocked. "I just... um... I just came to tell you.... oh, that... things have calmed down... in the bar..."

[kleineklementine]

Zahi sighed, wondering what other exciting turns the night was going to bring. How many times had she talked to Spot about coming in unannounced? Well, if she was honest, she let the girl get away with it. She liked her. But, whatever Bujari was feeling aside, this was awkward for both of them.

"Thanks, Spot," Zahi finally said after too long of a pause. Though she tried to keep her tone level, she sounded both exasperated and exhausted.

"Yeah, um..." Spot was already ever-so-slowly backing out of the room. Her expression of shock utterly unchanged. "Um, the Bloods... and Wag... Yeah. Anyway. Um." She almost tripped over her left foot with the right while backing up. "So, uh, yeah. Anyway. I won't... Well, you know... Wag knows you're busy and um... Right, so it's under control now."

Spot's demeanor was so ruled by her shock - or was it something more? - that any other element, such as dishonesty, was completely eclipsed. "So I'll just... Um... I mean. Should I, uh, say anything to Wag?" Spot was sure she'd rehearsed some better version of this on her way here. Where had that gone?

"Yeah, tell Wag that - anything too outlandish or dangerous aside - to let the Grey Wolf do what he sees best fit with Torak. I'll find him tomorrow. And Spot, can you find Riker? Tell him I want to talk to him in the morning," Spot's eyes widened before Zahi finished, "when his night post is over."

"Oh right, yeah, I will, of course," Spot agreed hastily. "Sure thing, boss. Er... sorry about... yeah... okay, um... yeah." With that Spot scampered out of the room, closing the door quickly behind her.

Zahi watched the closed door for a minute after she was gone. There was that secret out the window. Not that she thought Spot would tell anyone. But Spot was one more person than she'd wanted to know. Plus, she had a hunch that things might be a little awkward with the Shadow Wolf for a day or two now...

Temporarily forgetting that she had been fighting with Bujari, or that she'd been kissing him, Zahi heaved an exasperated sigh. She let herself collapse into a sitting position on her edge of the nearby bed. She knew she should go find Wag tonight. Find out exactly what happened. Talk to Jack. Figure out what was going to be done with Torak now. But she was exhausted, and dealing with Torak was the very last way she wanted to end her night.

"What next?" she wondered out loud, shaking her head in mirthless bemusement. It seemed that, for the moment at least, the argument followed by embarrassment was sufficient for Zahi to let her guard down now that they were alone. At least for the moment.