Foreign Coffee [Marcie | Saga]

Marcie woke up happy today. She’d been looking to make more business associates of sorts without just relying on the pre-existing chains of villainy constructed by people like Thunder, Ishtar, Narcissa, she wanted to make her own connections, construct a reputation built off of her own hard work and her own unique talents rather than the word of others. Now she didn’t want to be ‘big time’ criminal like Ishtar, showing her masked face on every big tv screen in the city, or this criminal grunge name like Thunder who everyone associated with the true underworld of the city… she wanted class, mystique, and that started with how she addressed the day’s client through the villain chat.

See, while Marcie typically worked alone in regards to her forged documents (with some subtle help from Eduardo in getting the originals to copy and alter) she liked to pretend she was just part of a network. It helped give her anonymity and some plausible deniability… besides, when you had a quirk that could whip up a high end disguise in an instant, why not use that to her full advantage?~ It was fun to play dress up at times.

She didn’t know much about the woman she was expecting today, but she’d taken the usual precautions when dealing with criminals. She had her most trusted staff members working today, she’d made sure to use her café closest to a police precinct, afterall, she was an upstanding citizen who might be getting attacked by some heinous villain in a quiet little café. Why wouldn’t she call the police?~

Hopefully things like this shouldn’t be necessary but it was always a precaution one should take when dealing with individuals like this and wanting to keep a low cover. She flicked through her secure ‘criminal’ phone and reminded herself what alias she gave the woman she’d be seeing today, smiling as she generated her halo and stood infront of the mirror. Her golden ring descended over her, changing her hair to a slightly longer, slightly wilder style and a shade of white-silver at that, her figure filled out a little more than her typical slender, petite curves, and her outfit took a far less elegant and more casual style, wearing a pink shirt and jeans, rather casual for her at the very least, and some heals to help give the impression she was taller. She looked into the mirror, two feline ears springing out between the strands of hair and checking her face. Fake contacts for a feline slit? Check. Fake fangs? Check. She rested a hand against her throat, clearing it and pawing at her reflecion.

“Nyaaa~”

Purrfect, fake voice check. Now she just had to wait for her appointment in her office.~

When the woman she was going to be meeting came in the front and said she had an appointment, the barista was a little confused, holding up a finger and just saying she would get the manager. A few seconds passed behind the counter and a slightly more mature woman with a warm smile, still quite young, looking like this might be work she was doing on top of university, a deep respectful bow.

“Ma’am we’ve informed the person you’re waiting for of your arrival. If you could please follow me?~” She gestured to the door behind the counter, leading he dark elf back through a hallway. It was clear there was a door that lead upstairs, a break and changing room, and a storage room, with a final door at the end she cautiously knocked on.

“Come innnnnya!~”

The young woman gave a soft chuckle and shook her head. “I’ll leave you to it ma’am.” She was deeply respectful and asked no questions as she returned to work outfront at the counter. The door was unlocked, and inside, sitting on the edge of an elegant office desk facing the door was Marceline, disguised as her Alias cat of course. The office itself was rather sizeable, with a few chairs to choose from the opposite side of Marcie’s on the desk, and a few book shelves built into the wall, and a few other elegant items that looked like they were bought at some fancy auction or the like, some passing for tribal masks you might typically see at a museum.

“Good eeeeevening. So. What can I help you with today?~”

As the woman entered the room and came to take a seat, Marceline, or, Cat as the case was for now, seemed rather upbeat and chipper. That was sort of the motif of this persona she’d developed. While Marceline was cool and collected Cat was far more outfoing and playful. She felt it helped the disguise. Sure, her figure was different, features of her face, heck her hair and the fake ears definitely helped, but if someone in their brain couldn’t even make the connection they acted similarly? All the better for her. Plus it let her experiment with different sides of herself.~ “Don’t be afraid, whatever you want I’m here to supply.~” She stuck her tongue out between her fangs with a playful wink as the woman seemed to have some brief hesitation in getting her words out, leaning over the desk that now lay between them, propped up on her elbows with her chin resting on the backs of her hands.

When she mentioned her family, Marcie had to wonder if they were needing new passports or if it was something more sketchy, like licenses for illicit activities or the like, get out of jail free cards in a matter of sense, false evidence, so on so forth. She thought for a moment, one of her slightly sharp nails tapping at her cheek as she considered working with what little information she had… but playful as Cat may be, she still wasn’t a stupid risk taker, not even for the fun of the mystery. She fell back into her seat, purring in thought as she tipped her head back.

“Well… while I am certainly known for help with… ‘documents’ she began, being as vague as the woman had before her. “I’ll need to know a little more… I mean what sort of documents would you need and… what sort of alliance is this family of yours looking for, nya?~”

Cat leaned back in her chair as the woman before her seemed to come with a list of instructions, literally reading it out like a shopping list, a child asking a store-hand what aisle she found the milk in so she could bring back the families groceries. She was briefly dissapointed that she seemed to be taken so... pathetically. Did she not deserve a real representative of a family like this? Was she truly going to be just treated like some mook who did a job and that was it. No respect whatsoever... ugh. She supposed that's how it was. In Japan criminal families were almost truly that. Families. It could take generations to earn your place in them, and a foreigner like her likely wasn't going to earn a lot of their attention, especially not so early in her career.

A casino though... and they wanted her to make the license for it? Well well well... she could certainly work with that. If they weren't going to offer her respect she was going to use what she could to earn it from others, and if they had plans to make a Casino she wasn't going to just beat them to it on that front.

What interested her more though was the clear hesitation as the woman before her was asking for legal documentation for herself... and either the forms needed for a marriage license, or the documentation for the completed process. Her feline eyes seemed to narrow despite simply being contact lenses, picking up the passport offered, she looked over it. It would be easy enough to just check but instead she asked with an odd worry in her tone, a... protecting charm, like a mother concerned their child was getting into the wrong crowd. "How old are you dear...?"

17, the passport would answer regardless. To marry in Japan you only needed to be 18, 20 to truly be considered an adult but... all the same, it was a throwing sign that they couldn't even wait a year. It also implied she didn't have her true parents consent, so whoever the family was they likely weren't blood relatives... Hm... curious... She laid the passport aside for a moment, raising a hand to stop the young woman's words. The playfulness was gone, and the more cold aspect of a feline's gaze was what met the young woman.

"I don't need much in terms of favors. An IOU will be just fine for something so simple..." In truth she may be planning to burn her competition before they even had a chance to repay her, and she'd rather they know they had been in her debt when it happens. It would minimize the chance for retaliation. The Japanese could be an honorable bunch... "I must ask though... what exactly is going on here...?" She was cautious in her questions, wondering if the young woman actually had the bravery, the capacity to speak up on the matter... or if she was on a tight leash.

Cat's fingers curled into her palm, feeling the light sting of her own nails as the woman before her described her situation in part. Purchased. A slave. She knew some Yakuza families worked like that, still working in the slave trade or, in the worst cases she'd seen, had lesser families effectively treated like cattle, born and bred solely to serve and nothing else mattered in their lives, just born to be the perfectly trained servants with no sense of individuality... she'd be lying if the concept hadn't intrigued her at one point, but any plans she had on such matters had long since been burned. The most she'd ever consider now would be relinquishing one of those families from servitude and allowing them to work for her if they chose to out of gratitude... to actually own another human being? To treat them like property? The thought could be an amusing one as a fantasy, but in reality? It repulsed her...

She thought for a moment, looking about her desk she casually picked up a small notepad, tearing off a page that she'd made notes about some coffee shipment order on and tossing it aside. The pen seemed to work, good enough. Even as she spoke she began to write with her off hand, seeming very adept with her hands when multitasking in such matters. "Well as far as the license goes I'll need to work on getting an official copy of one myself so it could take a week or so to steal an official print from the local council offices. Nothing too taxing but I can't prepare it on the spot. I'd need an original to provide a reliable fake afterall."

She turned the notepad around, and laid the pen atop it. It read simply 'Are you being listened in on?'. She couldn't be sure on the matter afterall, but the playful nature of Cat's tone continued despite the serious nature of the words on the pad.

"Nyaaaa... as far as the passports are concerned however I can get to work on that now. I'd feel more comfortable taking my time with the marriage certificate however, it would be more believable if I can back it up with a digital record too. I know a few hackers, but I'll need time to get in contact with them and get their fees. I assume your family would find this reasonable?"

Cat’s eyes grew sharper. The playful tone of her words was in stark contrast to the expressions she was making. There was a chance this could be some sort of trick, seeing if she was truly trustworthy to such a family by sending a pity case to her, or a woman pretending to be a pity case, and seeing if she caved. Perhaps she should keep the façade up on her face but it was clear regardless that she was getting pissed off. Her feline eyes were effectively fake contact lenses but they still seemed to grow even sharper as she realized from the returned note that, if she was being honest with her and not some big ruse or trap, this girl before her was genuinely worried she could be being listened to. If she even wanted this marriage license she likely wouldn’t have bothered even entertaining her note.

With the notepad back on her side she carefully flipped a page and continued to write as she spoke, resting her chin on the back of her hand as she continued to hold a pleasant tone… which almost came off rather uncomfortable to be on the receiving end of when her face seemed to be holding the exact opposite expression of her tone. “Well perfection does come with time, both in terms of practice and the time needed to perform such an art. Really the marriage license would be the most difficult-“ She lied, if she paid off Axel she could probably get him to print her off one by hacking into the local council. She could be done within the day if she got his help, especially on the elements of- “I mean we’d need to get one of my colleagues to shift all the online documentation too which is going to be the real hassle-“ It’d probably take Axel minutes given it wasn’t a truly high end bit of security he’d have to blaze through to do it. “I’m thinking I may need some time to work with this… I hope your family can understand?”

She turned around the notepad again, resting her chin on the back of her hand once more, watching her curiously, trying to see if it was true panic and worry in the girl’s eyes or a façade of her own.

‘If they never told you they were listening, you can’t be sure. Marriage license can be delayed. Do you want me to delay?
Y/N’

So she didn’t have to panic about anything, she simply gave her a Yes or No set up to circle, hoping it would help her decide if the process of answering was so simple.

Cat tried to keep the conversation going in some way, the young woman gave her little to work with on that front but on the off chance they were being listened to, which she now very much doubted given her belief of it being in the headphones, regardless- “Yes yes I’m sure they will, we’re all professionals in this line of work afterall.” Some of us were monsters of course but she wasn’t about to say that out loud, and not without knowing the whole picture. She might be risking her connections here for someone she knew little about but…Cat liked to think she was a good judge of character.

With the circling of the Y on the page Marcie knew where this was going to be going from here on out. She saw the written apology but quietly shook her head. She was still more tense than her words gave off but she definitely eased into a somewhat more gentle expression as she started to calm and consider the wellbeing of the woman before her, taking back the notepad. She thought for a moment. “Well at the very least I can have you leaving today with your passport.” She picked up the document, held it in a way that displayed the woman’s key details, and, spinning the same hand in a small circle, a halo hovered now above the passport, descending down over it and her hand. Small sparks hit the passport, but rather than singing it, the numbers representing her date of birth shifted into new digits, Marceline holding a faint smile now. “Such a simple document to change really, I mean if any of your family ever wanted the name-“ The halo went over it again, the woman’s name changing on the form. “The nationality-“ She shifted it again, this time the whole passport seemed like it came from france nationality. “Or even just the locations visited changed, tell them they can let me know.” She hoped the message was clear, she opened the book showing a fair number of stamps saying she’d travelled all over the world, and with a final halo, the document was back to normal, barring the requested change to her date of birth. Cat hoped it was VERY clear what she was saying. Changing identity documents wasn’t hard for her. Not in the slightest. If the woman before her ever needed help in such matters… she could come back. “Do tell your family they can contact me for updates on the marriage license as regularly as they’d like.”