07:01 <VoxPVoxD> So where is Rolf meeting the mysterious Lady in Blue who is Sourjack's apparent point woman for this job recruitment? 07:05 <hrolf> The Dog's Bollocks, nestled in one of the seedier parts of Moss Side, is no place for a lady - dingy, horrible decor, slightly damp carpets, poor ambience and unsavoury clientele. But it makes pretty good parmos, with a healthy balance of all the four major food groups (oil, cheese, ketchup and meat (unidentified). Rolf's scarfing down one right now, washing it down with some guinness. He keeps looking towards the door, waiting 07:05 <hrolf> for his contact to come through. 07:10 <hrolf> https://media.blogto.com/articles/20180705-bollocks.jpg?w=2048&cmd=resize_then_crop&height=1365&quality=70 07:11 <VoxPVoxD> There's no mistaking her, really — beautiful women in sharp suits the color of a Tory rosette simply do not show up in places like this. The pub's regulars look up; a few stare, one or two make comments, but it's not crowded enough to get properly rowdy. She walks up to the bar, has them pull her a pint of Guinness... and then, after another look around, a glass of whisky as well. She 07:11 <VoxPVoxD> carries them over to the spot where Rolf is eating. "Mr. Hughes. A pleasure." 07:17 <hrolf> Rolf - who'd been looking at this phone at precisely the wrong moment - gives her an appraising and approving look as she approaches, looking her up and down - and making it obvious he is. A real fit bint - if this is marketing on the part of whoever's trying to recruit him, it's working. He extends his arm and gestures hospitably to the chair across him. "More than mutual! More than mutual. 'Ave a seat!" 07:20 <hrolf> A big sign saying "NO MASKS ALLOWED" hangs behind Rolf's table. 07:23 <VoxPVoxD> She smiles as she sits. "Come here often? Willie Wellesley." 07:23 <VoxPVoxD> "Do call me Willie." 07:29 <hrolf> Something in her tone, mannerisms and name strikes an instantly familiar chord and triggers an instinctual reaction in Rolf’s reptilian brain. The semi-leer on his face disappears, and his hand half reaches up to his head to doff a cap that isn’t there. He straightens his posture in his seat, and clears his throat before speaking. “Yes, marm. Thought it’d be public enough but not too public, like but er-“ he stops at 07:29 <hrolf> the sound of retching coming from a dark and unlit corner, and looks at her apologetically. 07:35 <VoxPVoxD> Willie observes the change in Rolf's demeanor with some surprise and discomfort. She takes a big sip of her stout, looking at the myriad subtle ways his posture changes, physically and rhetorically... and when she sets the glass down with a delicate tap, she's changed herself. Her posture is straighter, her chin has tilted upward a few degrees, and her voice is coming in at a higher, cooler 07:35 <VoxPVoxD> register. "How very canny." 07:37 <VoxPVoxD> "Your reputation precedes you; I know you've served Her Majesty with distinction for many years. Unfortunately, in this era of belt-tightening, the government has had to let go of even stalwart servants. But where the state falters, private enterprise gains a step. Jack is assembling a team of specialists to pick up the old work for people who can pay." 07:38 <VoxPVoxD> "You'll be very well-paid - a hundred and forty thousand a job." 07:40 <VoxPVoxD> Whisky and beer is so the wrong drink to have in front of her for this... but what else can she do in a pit like this? It's not like they'll have Campari. 07:41 <hrolf> Rolf lets out a low whistle. “Not bad, not bad at all.” The retching sound in the dark corner has been replaced by the sound of loud arguing. A glass shatters on the floor. “Erm- we could always leave if it gets too much. Not a match day so there’s not going to be too many lads in ‘ere asrsing it up- erm, getting rowdy like. Up to you, marm." 07:43 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "If you're amenable, I can show you where we'll be meeting and organizing, should you accept. You should know that Jack intends to be a silent partner. It will be up to us which work we undertake, and how we undertake it. We are accountable to our clients, yes, but also our common will. I have questions for you, and I'm sure you'll have questions for me." 07:44 <VoxPVoxD> She slowly, but steadily drinks the whisky in one go and then chases it with a steady pull from the pint glass. "We can leave whenever you like and talk on the way. When you're ready, allow me to cover your tab. It's the least we can do for your service to Crown and country." 07:50 <hrolf> “Much appreciated, marm. ’S not many as care about duty to the queen as we’d like these days, wot with all the cultural marxists takin’ over.” He gulps down a pint, and sets the glass down, wiping some froth off his face. His tone is now less obsequious and more business like- but still respectful, or as respectful as he can manage. “Aye, I got a few questions - just who exactly is the man Jack? Not exactly 07:50 <hrolf> forthcoming on the details about who he is and what his business is, yeah? Not a dentist or an ‘horticulturalist, I’d assume?” 07:56 <VoxPVoxD> After putting money down and taking up her bag, she leads Rolf out into the autumn afternoon. It's a bit past the lunch hour and not quite near when school or work lets out, so the streets of Manchester are as empty as they ever get during a weekday. "Jack cultivates a certain mystery. He is a magical being, or closely associated with them. He has many tricks at his disposal, and his 07:56 <VoxPVoxD> contacts are legion. We'll be working on behalf of other such beings, even as we hunt others still." 08:01 <hrolf> Rolf looks around furtively as she speaks. It’s broad daylight, but this is still not the kind of place where you want to attract attention - a bit hard, with a bird like this at your side, but talking too loudly of magical beings might tip it over from looks to offers of drugs, or worse. He keeps his voice low. “No offense, marm - but we work on reputation in this business, and that’s a bit light on the ol’ details, 08:01 <hrolf> innit? I came up north on the recommendation of me mate Baz to work for Benni, and me and Baz go a’ways back - he saved me from some bookies that were cut me jacobs off, pardon me French. I trust ‘im, is what I mean. And Benni’s a known factor.” 08:04 <VoxPVoxD> Willie smiles warmly at a rough sleeper as they step over him, a smile that curdles for just a moment before she returns with, "You're quite right, of course. Jack prefers to engender trust in his capabilities rahther than in his motives. We are asking you to take a leap of faith, there's no way around that. 08:04 <VoxPVoxD> "I will tell you what I can to put your mind at ease, but I won't sugarcoat it: there is a certain air of mystery that we've yet to penetrate." 08:07 <hrolf> Rolf considers this pensively for a bit as they walk in silence. He doesn’t like the sound of any of this, but the money seems too good to turn down. He makes a noncommittal grunt. “Well, I s’pose…and Benni’s given the blessing to do this job on the side, like - so I assume this Jack of yours is in me boss’s good graces. Or not in his bad ones, at the least.” 08:08 <hrolf> He peppers her with additional questions. "What would the job involve? How many people? Who'd i be workin' with, and when?" 08:10 <hrolf> "Also, what do you mean "we"'ve yet to penetrate? You never met 'im yourself? And yer recruiting lads for him? 08:12 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "The work will be varied, but in general this is Human Office work, albeit not for humans. Counting you, we're a team of six — five specialists and one administrator. I've never spoken with Jack in person, but he has many ways to reach people, and the opportunity was irresistible. I think that, if we put our skills together, we can learn all we wish about him." 08:13 <VoxPVoxD> "A question for you: being that this is a team of people who've been overlooked and ill-served by their past masters, you won't be working with people of the sort of character you're used to." 08:14 <VoxPVoxD> "Half of them aren't even English. One of them's not even white." 08:14 <VoxPVoxD> "But that's no problem, of course, if the work is honest and well-paid." 08:14 <VoxPVoxD> She gives him a slightly arched look, as if to say, right? 08:17 <hrolf> Rolf: "In my experience, marm, it's not who the work is *for* but who its direct *against* that's like as not to see you landed in the bottom of the Thames with cement feet. So who'd we be going after, eh? At least with the 'uman office, you knew you had the state behind you - and we worked with masks on in case, for eg, some papist terrorist with a bright idea came lookin' for revenge." He pauses to digest what she's saying. 08:17 <hrolf> "As for the rest, I've done work with er- culturally incompatible types before. If the pay's good, that's good enough for me. As for honest work, well- no such thing anymore. Not in today's Britain." 08:22 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Too true. Too true. When I say 'honest', what I mean is 'straightforward'. We know your value, Mr. Hughes. As for who we work *against*... that will depend on who hires us. It is contract work, after all. Which parts of the night-city will come to appreciate us — and which will come to fear us — remains to be seen. But we are not daredevils, and between us we will have a keen 08:22 <VoxPVoxD> eye for the unpalatably dangerous, and the will to reject it." 08:23 <hrolf> Rolf: "I'd 'ave a few conditions." 08:23 <VoxPVoxD> "Naturally." 08:23 <VoxPVoxD> "Do go on." 08:27 <hrolf> "First off - the right to refuse a job. If I get the feeling we're working for antifa or a moslem grooming gang or any of the suchlike that's destroying our country - I'm out. Couldn't 'ave that on me conscience, such as it is. Second - the murky background of our employer is a bit - how do you say, problematic, yeah? I'm going to need an advance as a surety. Thirdly, if this job ever involves goin at the dozy prats in the City 08:27 <hrolf> of London...you tell me in advance, so I can knick a mjolnir. Those dozy prats've needed an arse kicking for several centuries, pardon me French." 08:28 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "What size advance?" 08:28 <hrolf> He spits on the ground. "Fahcking demons." 08:29 <hrolf> "30% up front." 08:30 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "£42,000." 08:30 <hrolf> "'s right." 08:34 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "The other stipulations I can guarantee flat out. This is not a business anyone gets into without reserving the right to walk away, and we will know well in advance of operation who our targets are at any given time. The advance... you'll have to work out with Jack himself, I'm afraid. I am the converser, not the bursar." 08:36 <hrolf> "Fair's fair. Sounds good to me." There's a beep on his phone. He fishes it out of a pocket and looks down at in horror. "'ere - have you seen this? The cultural marxists at Oxford have taken down a picture of her majesty!" 08:39 <VoxPVoxD> Willie looks over his shoulder with grave attentiveness. Her throat burns a bit, with bile and cheap whisky. The others have their rough spots, but this man's a cat's tongue. This... is going to be difficult. But not unworkable. He's not stupid, which was her big fear. And he's not going to eyefuck her to her face again. 08:40 <VoxPVoxD> Yeah, alright. "How dreadful."