Origin: part 3 (continued from [RP] Hell Hath No Fury)
A Modest Proposal
Senneca cautiously entered Tommy’s office, his eyes following her curiously as he held the door open for her. “I’ll make sure nobody disturbs ya, boss.” said the gaurd with a wink, his own eyes following Senneca’s butt as she moved into the office. “Thank you, Terry.” said Tommy “That will be all.” Tommy closed the door behind them, walked around Senneca, and took a seat behind his desk.
His office was small and cluttered. There were various cabinets with papers sticking out of them, and pictures on the wall showing Tommy posing with, and shaking hands with various other well dressed goblins. He was wearing a black dress shirt, with white suspenders holding up black trousers lined with white pinstripes. The familiar gold ring hung in his ear. On the desk lay a small mirror with a pile of a white powder, of which three lines had been prepared by his dagger which lay across the mirror. Next to the mirror was a loaded pistol.
Tommy leaned back in his chair, still watching Senneca curiously “Well, kid you’ve certianly got my attention, if that’s what you’re after.” he said as he studied the young goblin standing before him. Senneca replied coldly “You have something that belongs to me.” ignoring Tommy as he gestured for her to take the seat opposite his desk “I want it back.” Tommy grinned his impish grin “As I recall, that bag of coins belonges to the elf you stole it from. What makes what I did to you any different?”
Senneca watched as Tommy opened a drawer in his desk, removing an expensive looking bottle made from cut crystal filled with an amber liquor, along with two crystal classes. He poured some liquor into the glasses as he continued “You’ve clearly done your homework if you’ve made it into my office. You obviously know who I am and who I work for. I have to admit, kid, you’ve got moxy comin in here like this.” He plugged the crystal cap into the bottle and set it off to the side of his desk opposite the mirror and pistol “So, my question to you is: what was the plan here?”
Tommy again motioned for Senneca to take a seat and this time, Senneca obliged, taking the seat opposite him across the desk and accepting the drink he nudged across to desk towards her. “Let me guess,” he continued, taking his own glass in hand and answwring his own question “you decided you were gonna make a fool outta oune of my boys, stick him with a bar tab worth more than you are, come in here all by yourself, surrounded by my associates and then what, kill me with that little boxcutter of yours over a bag of elf gold?” Tommy raised his eyebrows and nodded his head towards the handle of the poorly cocealed steak knife in Senneca’s waistband as he said this.
Senneca said nothing, instead taking a long sip of her drink. It tasted like expensive whiskey and it burned all the way down. Her carefully planned revenge sounded childish and foolhardy when he calmly laid it all out like that. Tommy was a professional, a real cutthroat gangster. Senneca was a richgirl from the island who was in way over her head and they both knew it.
Tommy nodded and sipped his own drink, seemingly reading Senneca’s thoughts “So, I guess that leads me to my next question: ‘what was next?’ You rip off a wiseguy at the bar, kill a made man in his own club leaving a trail of witnesses, assuming you even made it out of here alive that is, and then what?” Tommy was grinning again “You’re obviously a refugee. You’ve been off Kezan what, a week or two? I’m willing to bet it’s your first time off the island and you’ve got no friends or family here. You’ve got no idea where you’re going. How far did you think you were gonna make it before some wiseguys cought up with you and whacked you?”
Senneca knew he was right. She had nowhere to go, no friends to help her. She couldn’t even speak orcish. She wouldn’t last long with gangsters hunting her. Still, she had come this far, there was no turning back. “I didn’t come here to kill anyone, I just came to get my money back.” Senneca hoped she sounded more confident than she felt at the moment.
Tommy finished his drink and set the empty glass on the desk. “You’re in no position to be making demands, sweetheart. You’ve caused a lot of troible tonight. All it’d take is one snap of my fingers and you’d be out there in the lounge using that pretty little body of yours to pay back that bar tab you racked up.” Senneca bristled at the suggestion but managed to keep her temper in check.
Seeing the flash of anger in Senneca’s eyes, he continued before she could speak. “However, you’ve shown a lot of potential. As I said before, technique could use some work, but you’ve already proven yourself to be intelligent, resourceful, and ambitious. Those are rare and highly valued qualities in this line of work. I see a lot of promise in you.”
Senneca remained defiant “I didn’t come here to impress you.” Tommy laughed “If course you didn’t, but just by making it here you have. You’re not like those other wretches in that refugee camp, and I find it hard to believe you went through all this trouble over a few coins. So here.” Tommy opened another drawer in his desk and pulled a stack of crisp banknotes and threw it on the desk in feont of Senneca. “You want yout money back? There it is, and then some. Considering the free meal and drinks you got on top of it, I’d say that ain’t a bad haul for one night. If you take it, you’d better get the hell out of Booty Bay and never return. You show your face in this town again, you die. You can’t expect to poke a sleeping giant and not get swatted.”
Senneca eyed the stack of bills in front of her. It looked like a lot of money, but was it enough to start a new life? Where would she even go? It wouldn’t be long before the money ran out and then where would she be? She looked at Tommy. He was young, probably only a couple years older than she was. He had his own club, expensive suits, money, power, respect; Everything she once had on Kezan.
Tommy watched Senneca carefully as she looked at the cash “What if I don’t take the money?” she asked. Tommy poured himself another drink “Then, maybe you stay in Booty Bay. You don’t belong in that camp with those refugees, I see a lot of myself in you, kid. Come work for me and I’ll give you a ticket out of the slums. No more pickpocketing or small time smash and grabs, I’m giving you a shot at the big leagues. Believe me, sweetheart, an opportunity like that doesn’t come along every day.”
Senneca looked at the gangster suspiciously “And I suppose you’re making this offer out ofcthe kindness of your heart, right?” she said sarcastically. Tommy sipped his whiskey and grinned "Two things you need to learn if you’re going to make it in this business are: ‘Nothing’s personal, and nothing’s free.’ You’ve demonstrated that you have a particular skillset, and I just so happen to have a problem that requires just such a goblin. You show me you have what it takes, and I’ll make sure you never spend another night in that camp.
Tommy stood up and picked the gun up off his desk. “This right here is your ticket out of the slums. Do you think you have it in you to kill a man?” Senneca saw her eyes reflected in the cold polished steel. The truth was she had killed once before ([RP] Starting things off with a BOOM!), but it was done out of necessity to protect her birthright, and establish herself as the dominant player in the kaja mining industry. She wasn’t anywhere near the bomb when it went off. This was something completely different. Could she really look a goblin who had done nothing to her face to face and pull that trigger?
“Of course, piece of cake!” She replied, again hoping she sounded more confident than she felt. Tommy smirked “We’ll see. There’s a goblin dockworker by the name of Johnny Soapbox that’s been causing trouble for us. Says ‘the workers shouldn’t have to pay us dues for the privilege of breaking their backs working to feed their families’ or some such nonsense. Point is, he’s gettin a lot of the other workers to agree with him, and now they’re threatening to go on strike.” Tommy took the gun by the barrel and extended it, handle first, across to Senneca “I need you to make an example of this clown, and remind the workers what happens when they start getting funny ideas about not payin their dues, capische?”
Senneca took the gun from Tommy. The metal felt cold and heavy in her hand. “Why me?” she asked as she studied the weapon. “Because as far as anybody outside this room is concerned, you have no connection to us.” he replied “You succeed, the workers get the message and pay up. You get caught or seen, we don’t know ya from the next lousy refugee.”
Senneca nodded “Then I guess I won’t get caught.” She tucked the pistol into her back waistband of her pants, concealing it there. “Don’t worry. Your little problem is as good as solved.” Tommy opened the door to the hallway to show her out “I certianly hope so.” He said as Senneca walked past him into the hallway “Or yours are just beginning.” She walked down the hall towards the smoke and noise of the lounge and the door clicked shut behind her.