"Just stay where you are," the inarta commanded.
_____"Oh trust me. I'm not planning on getting shot anytime soon," Sal replied with more than a little hint of sarcasm that he instantly regretted, for fear of angering the woman further. As far as he was concerned, she might well have been readying another try with her bow. Perhaps next time, she would not be so unlucky with her aim. It seemed his remark had avoided consequence for now. In its place came further questions, with Ornea still insistent on extracting all the information she could from him. Sal had to be honest with himself. It felt both uneasy yet strangely liberating being the one questioned. He wondered if this was how people generally felt when it was him trying to prize answers out of them.
As for the liberating part, he guessed that came from a desire to finally put the past events between him and Ornea into words, as if up until now there had always remained a slight possibility that he had imagined the whole thing. Certainly he would not have found it too far fetched if it had all been unreal, as ludicrous as the string of events had proved to be. But then, sitting here in a dark wardrobe next to an inarta with a bow, it was proving impossible to ignore that this was very real indeed.
Ornea continued, explaining how she had acquired her work directly from Edward Lucis himself. Sal cursed inwardly at that, remembering then that Lucis indeed was not one to advertize any vacancies at his business. Sal should have recalled that fact, but it was too late to worry about small details such as those. Besides, there were bigger details to consider now, as Ornea began to discuss the topic of sabotage. "What do I mean? Well, sabotage, you know? When someone chucks a spanner in the works in order to stop the wheels turning." Again he bit his tongue at this display of sarcasm, realizing once again that this tone was not going to get him anywhere. It was just that he was finding his own temper to be a little on the agitated side. Ignoring the fact that he was illegally in the woman's apartment for the moment, Sal could argue that he had much to be angry about as well. In any case, he made a more conscious effort to be less sarcastic now.
"Look, here's how it works. People come to the Cosmos Center every day. They want some place to live, they want a job. Some come looking for a relative, to find out about an event in the city, and so on. Want to find out about a particular city law or ordinance? Cosmos Center. What about applying for a business loan? Cosmos Center? Need to arrange passage on a ship leaving Lhavit? Cosmos Center. You're getting the picture now. We are the central hub of information and services in the whole city." Sal caught himself rambling now, though could not ignore a slight pang of pride in his employers. It was, for all his faults, the perfect job for a man of his talents.
"Anyway, we also have to deal with the not so fun stuff. People come to us to complain, most of the time because they just don't know who else to go to. Let's say for example you had a noisy neighbor. Many apartment owners rent out their rooms through us. So by proxy, so too do the tenants go through us when they wish to communicate to their landlords. Seems like a long winded process, I know. But it can be an attractive method for some who don't like dealing with people. In your case, it was more just a rumor. Something someone heard, or said. Then it probably got added to, changed, altered and so on, as is usually the case with rumors. Before you know it, it ends up on the desk of some poor investigator at the Cosmos Center who then has to waste his time checking it out. So yeah, I was at Lucis doing just that. Wasting my time."
Sal's throat was getting a little dry from all the talking, not to mention it was getting a bit stuffy here in the wardrobe. A glass of water sounded like a real treat in this moment. But during the brief pause, he could not help but focus his hearing in on a strange sound, one that did not sit right with the ambiance of the room. He could not quite put his finger on it though, before his attention was brought back to Ornea and yet more questions. He wondered for a moment if she was planning on starving him out.
"I didn't speak with Edward that day, simply because he was not to be found." If Ornea recalled, Edward Lucis had indeed left the site for a while, having given Ornea her orders for the morning. So at least that much was true to the investigator's words. "Without reason?!" he replied to her accusations of attack in an incredulous tone. "Listen lady. As I recall, you were sneaking up on me before I made good my escape. Why did you even take me out to the pumps in the first place? Maybe you were planning on something else eh?"
His anger was growing as he became more defensive. He truly had felt his life was in danger that day they first met, a feeling that was not helped by Ornea's strange antics and how she had acted. But his anger was suddenly bottled and stoppered when she mentioned Edward contacting the Cosmos Center. She added the shinya to that threat, but in honesty that had far less impact. By all means let the shinya come and drag him off for trial. He doubted they would give him much more than a slap on the wrist once he explained everything. But if Lucis contacted the Cosmos? That was bad. Even if Sal did convince his employers of what he perceived to be the truth, he doubted it would have stayed their hand when it came to repercussions. The Cosmos Center had its reputation to consider. Even if Sal was innocent, they would have politely informed him that his services were no longer required.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hang on there just a moment. There's no need for Edward to contact anyone is there? I mean, I thought we were getting somewhere in dealing with this ourselves. Right?" Of course, as she reeled off the list of things he had done wrong, it was beginning to occur to Sal that maybe he was completely at fault after all. Whether or not he believed that Ornea had been trying to kill him all along and was indeed the saboteur, it was not much of a defense when he had nothing to prove those accusations with. Instead, Sal had succumbed to assumptions, the cardinal sin of the investigator. Instead he had let his actions be led with emotions rather than logic.
And he had thrown a bucket at Ornea's pretty head.
Twice.
He was screwed.
_____"Oh trust me. I'm not planning on getting shot anytime soon," Sal replied with more than a little hint of sarcasm that he instantly regretted, for fear of angering the woman further. As far as he was concerned, she might well have been readying another try with her bow. Perhaps next time, she would not be so unlucky with her aim. It seemed his remark had avoided consequence for now. In its place came further questions, with Ornea still insistent on extracting all the information she could from him. Sal had to be honest with himself. It felt both uneasy yet strangely liberating being the one questioned. He wondered if this was how people generally felt when it was him trying to prize answers out of them.
As for the liberating part, he guessed that came from a desire to finally put the past events between him and Ornea into words, as if up until now there had always remained a slight possibility that he had imagined the whole thing. Certainly he would not have found it too far fetched if it had all been unreal, as ludicrous as the string of events had proved to be. But then, sitting here in a dark wardrobe next to an inarta with a bow, it was proving impossible to ignore that this was very real indeed.
Ornea continued, explaining how she had acquired her work directly from Edward Lucis himself. Sal cursed inwardly at that, remembering then that Lucis indeed was not one to advertize any vacancies at his business. Sal should have recalled that fact, but it was too late to worry about small details such as those. Besides, there were bigger details to consider now, as Ornea began to discuss the topic of sabotage. "What do I mean? Well, sabotage, you know? When someone chucks a spanner in the works in order to stop the wheels turning." Again he bit his tongue at this display of sarcasm, realizing once again that this tone was not going to get him anywhere. It was just that he was finding his own temper to be a little on the agitated side. Ignoring the fact that he was illegally in the woman's apartment for the moment, Sal could argue that he had much to be angry about as well. In any case, he made a more conscious effort to be less sarcastic now.
"Look, here's how it works. People come to the Cosmos Center every day. They want some place to live, they want a job. Some come looking for a relative, to find out about an event in the city, and so on. Want to find out about a particular city law or ordinance? Cosmos Center. What about applying for a business loan? Cosmos Center? Need to arrange passage on a ship leaving Lhavit? Cosmos Center. You're getting the picture now. We are the central hub of information and services in the whole city." Sal caught himself rambling now, though could not ignore a slight pang of pride in his employers. It was, for all his faults, the perfect job for a man of his talents.
"Anyway, we also have to deal with the not so fun stuff. People come to us to complain, most of the time because they just don't know who else to go to. Let's say for example you had a noisy neighbor. Many apartment owners rent out their rooms through us. So by proxy, so too do the tenants go through us when they wish to communicate to their landlords. Seems like a long winded process, I know. But it can be an attractive method for some who don't like dealing with people. In your case, it was more just a rumor. Something someone heard, or said. Then it probably got added to, changed, altered and so on, as is usually the case with rumors. Before you know it, it ends up on the desk of some poor investigator at the Cosmos Center who then has to waste his time checking it out. So yeah, I was at Lucis doing just that. Wasting my time."
Sal's throat was getting a little dry from all the talking, not to mention it was getting a bit stuffy here in the wardrobe. A glass of water sounded like a real treat in this moment. But during the brief pause, he could not help but focus his hearing in on a strange sound, one that did not sit right with the ambiance of the room. He could not quite put his finger on it though, before his attention was brought back to Ornea and yet more questions. He wondered for a moment if she was planning on starving him out.
"I didn't speak with Edward that day, simply because he was not to be found." If Ornea recalled, Edward Lucis had indeed left the site for a while, having given Ornea her orders for the morning. So at least that much was true to the investigator's words. "Without reason?!" he replied to her accusations of attack in an incredulous tone. "Listen lady. As I recall, you were sneaking up on me before I made good my escape. Why did you even take me out to the pumps in the first place? Maybe you were planning on something else eh?"
His anger was growing as he became more defensive. He truly had felt his life was in danger that day they first met, a feeling that was not helped by Ornea's strange antics and how she had acted. But his anger was suddenly bottled and stoppered when she mentioned Edward contacting the Cosmos Center. She added the shinya to that threat, but in honesty that had far less impact. By all means let the shinya come and drag him off for trial. He doubted they would give him much more than a slap on the wrist once he explained everything. But if Lucis contacted the Cosmos? That was bad. Even if Sal did convince his employers of what he perceived to be the truth, he doubted it would have stayed their hand when it came to repercussions. The Cosmos Center had its reputation to consider. Even if Sal was innocent, they would have politely informed him that his services were no longer required.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hang on there just a moment. There's no need for Edward to contact anyone is there? I mean, I thought we were getting somewhere in dealing with this ourselves. Right?" Of course, as she reeled off the list of things he had done wrong, it was beginning to occur to Sal that maybe he was completely at fault after all. Whether or not he believed that Ornea had been trying to kill him all along and was indeed the saboteur, it was not much of a defense when he had nothing to prove those accusations with. Instead, Sal had succumbed to assumptions, the cardinal sin of the investigator. Instead he had let his actions be led with emotions rather than logic.
And he had thrown a bucket at Ornea's pretty head.
Twice.
He was screwed.
