Chapter Text
Tora flung his sweater at the poor gal and turned tail to run. It was bad enough to have to take a creepy photo of her but for her shirt to suddenly pop open made it a thousand times worse. The way the image had immediately seared into his brain didn’t make him feel better either, but he knew he’d keep that pale purple lace and the butterfly tattoo on her left- wait. That butterfly tattoo. Fuck, she wasn’t a civilian.
He stopped and turned back to face her, lifting his hair off his neck tattoo. “Hey butterfly, sorry about all this but I’ve got business to talk to ya about. Can I give you a ride back to the city?”
The girl straightened as she zipped up the jacket. “Sure.”
A few steps out of the train station, away from pestering ears, she finally said, “Tora, right? We haven’t met but Candy talks about you all the time.”
“Yeah, that’s me. But Candy,” he paused for a moment, “that one of the strippers?”
“Yep, I’m assigned to Club Miracle right now.”
That threw Tora for a bit of a loop. He knew the clan had an agreement with the Mariposse and the strippers were under the protection of their enforcers, but he’d probably have met her if that was the case. “All five foot nothing of you?”
“Excuse you, mister 6ft whatever, I’m not security but don’t underestimate me, either.”
“Uh huh. Real scared, sweetheart,” Tora replied, as they arrived at his car. As soon as both doors were shut, though, it was business time. “Listen, here’s the deal. Go through ya bag and anything that ain’t yers needs to go in the backseat. Don’t look at it more than you have to. Then I’ll delete that photo, which I’m sorry about, just meant to get a photo so I could get an ID and check for what I’m looking for without having to take ya shit.”
The girl sighed. “You don’t know much about our deal with your clan, do you? You’ll delete that photo alright, that sure isn’t allowed. As far as whatever it is you think is in my bag, being Club Miracle’s babyface does mean I’m obligated to do some favors for the Balthumans, but it depends on what it is.”
Tora’s eyes narrowed. “Whaddaya mean? And honestly sweetheart, ya don’t wanna be involved in this particular mess, the less you know the better.”
“I’m not a stranger to mess. Just tell me what it is and I’ll tell you if I’m allowed to give it to you. As long as it’s in my possession it’s Mariposse property, and Mariposse may let people leave but that doesn’t meant there isn’t ever hell to pay.”
Tora growled. “Fine. You ever heard of Goliath? Deserted us for the Nine Daggers?”
“Yeah, who hasn’t,” she replied.
“It’s a notebook filled with blackmail information that belonged to him. He was hiding out this mornin’ right around where you crashed and I found one of the pages with ya tart thing.”
She sighed. “Well that explains the shoe, and I’m sorry to say but with it being inter-clan information, I’ll have to take it to the council since we have deals with both of you. Your boss can take it up with them.”
Tora drug his hands down his face. Of-fucking-course he had to get stuck dealing with some goody two shoes rookie, but hell, he didn’t really want Vincent to get his hands on that information anyway. He started the car, and unlocked his phone and handed it to the girl. “Here, delete the photo. I’ll take ya to ya damn council myself. And don’t blame me if your little girl gang gets banged up once they have it.”
She quickly deleted the photo and smiled. “You don’t know why all the clans make the deals with us, huh? I thought you were pretty high up, I’d figure you’d know.”
Tora snorted as he peeled out onto the road. “I try and keep my nose out of as much of everyone else’s shit as much as possible. Today was a rare deal.”
“We’re the only group that takes hits on cops.”
Tora braked for a brief moment before he got his cool back. “Shit, maybe I should have been payin’ attention to y’all. That’s insane in Narin City.”
“It’s not often and not for every circumstance, but yeah,” she said, her voice going quiet.
Fuck, Tora thought, this girl’s intense. Cute as shit too. And… wait, fuck I don’t even know her name.
“Uh… so just realized you know who I am, and I never asked your name.”
“Poppylan, but you can just call me Poppy.”
Fuck, even her name was cute. “Well, nice to meet you Poopy.”
“Seriously?”
“What’s wrong Puppy?”
“Ugh.” Tora kept his eyes on the road, but he could feel the eye roll in her voice.
“Alright, Bobby, have it your way.”
Poppy let out a long sigh.
The car had gone silent and Poppy stared out the window, watching the scenery. Today was really a colossal pile of shit, and now she had to go in front of the council. Not to mention how much smack she’d have to hear from Candy later that Poppy got to ride all the way back from Moonbright with ‘her’ man. And heck, Poppy had just become single before that. Great. Though, glancing at him briefly, she couldn’t say she blamed Candy either. It shouldn’t be legal for men to be that attractive, with his stupid long lashes and stupid broad shoulders, especially not today.
As Narin City came into view, Tora finally spoke again. “Alright, where are headed for to see the council?”
Poppy gave him the directions, and added that she’d already texted to let them know they were coming.
“Good, good. What is it exactly do you do for them anyway? As an angelface?”
“Babyface. Basically, I’m a cute, unassuming white lady with a college degree and a white collar job. I mainly help the ladies out when they aren’t getting taken seriously, think shitty doctors and teacher meetings, plus helping out with stuff like job applications and childcare.”
“Huh. But then ya gotta do shit for us too?”
“Certain things, if asked. Delivering messages, gathering intel as long as it’s not on other clans, that kind of thing.”
“Hmm. So practically a civ,” he said with a smirk, trying to bait her feistiness back.
“Pfft. Keep thinking that. I know it sounds like a cushy gig, but that isn’t everything I have to do. They didn’t pay my way through college for an errand girl.” Her emphasis on ‘errand girl’ made Tora think he better not press for details.
“So ya do gotta degree? What’s ya white collar job then?”
“I’m editor and assistant manager at a startup publishing company, I actually really love it.”
“Pfft. I guess we’ve got a little of that in common, somehow one of my jobs is beta reading smut for one of the boys.”
Poppy paused, then cackled. This man, beta reading smut? He should have been starring in the film adaptations, but all she could think of was him marking edits in between sharpening knives and doing reps at the gym.
At the sound of her laughter, Tora almost choked on nothing. This girl was something else.
***
They finally arrived at the unassuming yoga studio where Poppy said the council was waiting. Women gangs definitely did shit differently compared to what Tora was used to.
He recognized the enforcers at the door and nodded. Five women sat at a round table, with a few other women scattered around the room. So these are the cop-killers. Damn.
A girl with long purple hair handed Poppy a shirt, and she dipped off for a brief moment, returning and handing Tora back his jacket with a quiet thanks. This feels wrong being back in my hands. Weird.
Settled, Poppy bowed as she approached the table. It had been a long time since she’d been in front of the whole council and it never got less nerve-wracking. Nothing for it, though, so she pulled out the black notebook and sorted out any other loose pages that weren’t hers.
The council gave a brief greeting to both and then silently passed the notebook between themselves. After an incredibly long five minutes and hushed debate, one of them spoke.
“This is quite the find, Poppy and Mr. Tora. Unfortunately, per our agreements, we need to contact all of the clans with members implicated. Mr. Tora, if you don’t mind, Erdene will escort you to our lounge to wait for our call with your clan.” Tora nodded and casually shuffled after Poppy’s best friend.
“Poppy, we greatly appreciate you following protocol and bringing this straight to us. You are dismissed to do as you please, but there is dinner in the lounge. Do also know that you’ll get a cut of any sum we receive for the information in this journal.”
Poppy bowed and expressed her gratitude, then headed towards the lounge.
***
Poppy hadn’t been hungry, but her stomach rumbled at the mention of dinner, plus she needed someme Erdene time. She’d see her tomorrow, but fuck she needed some comfort after her day.
After fixing a quick plate from the buffet that was still out, she turned and made a beeline to the table with her best friend, immediately slumping into the booth next to her and heaving a huge sigh.
Erdene smiled softly and gave her friend a quick squeeze. “Girl, you seem like you’ve had a heckuva day. You okay?”
Poppy shook her head no, and finished her mouthful. “No. This all happened because I wrecked my scooter on the way to the train station after I walked in on Julri cheating on me,” she half-sobbed.
“That motherfucker,” Erdene said. “You say the word and the girls and I’ll take a lil trip to rough him up a bit.”
“He’s not worth it. It’s not like he was a particularly good boyfriend, anyway, you and everyone else was right. It’s just not something I ever expected.”
Erdene resumed her side hug. “No one does, and he may have been a garbage boyfriend anyway but you’ve been together, what almost 6 years? It’s gonna hurt. And you wrecked your scooter! Are you okay?”
“A little scratched up, but mostly my pride is wounded. I didn’t notice the notebook on my own, and wouldn’t have known at all if I hadn’t split my shirt. I was able to tie it but it came loose in front of Tora,” Poppy said, turning bright red at the memory. “Though I guess it’s for the best since he wouldn’t have realized I was Mariposse otherwise.”
Erdene’s jaw nearly hit the floor, Poppy had texted her a little bit but she had no idea it had been this bad. “God Poppy, you’ve had an awful day. Stay over at mine tonight, especially since you’ve got such a big meeting at the office tomorrow. And do you need anything? A doctor, a beer, ice cream…?”
“That sounds great, and definitely some ice cream. And maybe a beer too. Thanks, Erdene, you’re the best.”
***
Tora frowned inwardly as he couldn’t help but hear the girls talk. If Poppy had said yes to the offer of beating up her shit ex he might have volunteered, and to go through all that in one day, and have to put up with him for a few hours? God, he felt like such an ass.
Despite all that, Poppy came over to his table on her way out. “Hey, thanks for being a good sport about today, I know it may not seem like much but a lot of clan guys wouldn’t have given two shits about me being Mariposse. We don’t forget things like that here.”
Tora blinked in surprise. “Nothing to it, honestly easier this way anyway.”
“Well again, thanks and have a good night. I’ll see you around, maybe,” she said.
“Good night yerself, and yeah I’m sure I’ll see ya around.” Tora surprised himself with how much he did, in fact, want to see her around.
Those thoughts didn’t last long in the face of boredom, though. Seriously, how long is this going to drag out. In reality, it’d been maybe an hour since they’d delivered the notebook, but it felt like forever before he was finally summoned back into the council room.
Vincent was staring down from a video screen that had been wheeled in. Great.
“Tora, my boy, good work today. This notebook you found is quite the treasure, and the Mariposse has agreed to split part of the ransom profits because of your behavior. Just great things to hear. I’ll see you tomorrow, son,” he said, signing off the call.
Afterwards, a councilwoman nodded. “Yes, we truly do appreciate your help today. You’ll have your cut of the money soon, and you’re free to go.”
Tora mumbed some form of a reply and started to leave when another councilwoman motioned him over.
“I’ve heard some stories about Vincent- I just want you to know that Mariposse’s relocation assistance isn’t just for women in bad situations- we help clan members get out all the time. I won’t say it’ll be easy with your high rank, but I just want you to know you’ve got options.”
Tora gave a tight-lipped smile. “Thanks. Good night.” Leaving was a nice pipe dream, but it didn’t matter how good these women were, there wasn’t any escape for him.”