*Note: Should you have missed my post in the OOC thread, you are advised that this thread will contain content not suitable for individuals younger than eighteen years of age (but will hopefully remain within RDI's site guidelines). Proceed at your own risk.

Trying to track some people down was never an easy task and proved more tedious than it needed to be. Let's face it; life would be too easy if tracking individuals down didn't involve a little bit of a challenge. Take the one soul that Reiko had a mixture of "please live" and "I hate your guts" stance towards. He was apparently locked away in a penitentiary somewhere and was currently on the "I hate your guts" list due to being useless to her at the moment.

Additionally, the woman had been directed to another who might be of service to her. Through that individual and a chain of others came about a name that she was best in committing to memory. Not a single utterance of this communication was made as an envelope containing a neatly-typed letter was hand-delivered to a different recipient in secret. This time, the delivery wouldn't come without a visit.

Not yet, anyways.

Should the hunter decide to break the seal that Reiko had created with a mixture of candle wax and her blood, he was going to find no more than two sheets of paper. Both sides are occupied with black ink in a completely monotonous, very boring (but otherwise very professional) Courier font and reads as followed:

Greetings to you:

I hope this letter meets with the correct recipient for the purpose that its writer intends. Through a network of reliable sources was how I came across your name. Another revealed your current whereabouts under the utmost condition that I not repeat your identifying information to anybody, not even those I may be comfortable with enjoying the company of. For this secret, I will risk my very life to hold it. You, naturally, are under no obligation whatsoever to place any blind trust in me.

The service I request of you will not be discussed here. Simply know that your competency in carrying out the upcoming request forthright is without question. A price is expected; name it upon our initial encounter. I will compensate you by whatever means is necessary with a portion of the grand total as a down payment and surrender the remainder upon completion of the task.

Should you agree to it, that is.

Think not of me as a pushover simply because I am a woman. A war was won in my motherland under mu command.

I look forward to working with you.

-RAS

Now for the actual delivery itself...

Have you ever wondered what some people do on their time off between jobs? Some may relax, sleep in, catch up with friends, etc. That was what evenings at the Red Dragon Inn were there for, with Reiko. During the days that she had time off, she just had to be alone. This was one of those days. Understanding that this might possibly take multiple days to complete prompted her to put in the notice for time off from both of her jobs. Reiko had more than a comfortable enough amount to retire on for the rest of her life and could easily kick back years shy of her thirtieth birthday, should she desire.

Nah! There were loose ends to tie up.

The last person to screw her over was about to regret ever doing so.

Two chief factors accompanied the post-delivery process: waiting and expecting the unexpected. Both of these things could be viewed as one and the same to the inexperienced. It was an advantage that the Earth-based war veteran had in her hand with spades. Expecting an immediate response from this man to whom she had made the delivery? Foolish. This was in no way a fantasy land by which everything dreamed of became a reality at one's command.

Following the delivery, the woman had made her return to the part of Rhy'din she was most familiar with. Occupying the forefront of her mind were thoughts of avoiding Arcadia, at least for the time being. With her nieces and nephews still being young enough that they were yet to defend themselves independently meant the woman had to keep her distance. As it was, she had been at the Marketplace when she had composed that letter to begin with. Slicing her finger with a tiny blade to draw blood for the seal had been quite a bitch. Not only had quickness been a necessity in order to avoid bleeding on her workstation, she had to be careful not to look at her pricked finger, lest she end up emptying the contents of her stomach in the nearest receptacle. Yeah?that timing had resulted kind of poorly. And, thinking of it now was causing nausea to rear its ugly head within her stomach even now.

Gross.

How this woman had made it all the way to Admiral and survived the war with her issue of blood remained a mystery. The stall that her boss had bought from one of the realtors at the Marketplace was manned by Reiko alone. The husband and wife team truly adored the bubblegum pink-haired woman and wished she had a better availability to work, as her candle-making craft was greatly admired. Like everybody else who existed, there were ups and downs to be had. It went exactly so when it came to this woman's work schedule; she sometimes worked for three weeks straight and sold far more candles that she made than what the stall itself could stand to contain. Then there were times when she was forced to stay away for days to months at a time due to this circumstance or that one. When it wasn't her anaemia threatening to get in her way by leaving her temporarily bedridden, it was her post-traumatic stress leaving her in too much distress to even look at anybody.

Amazing that she still had both her job in the Marketplace and her part-time job at the Red Dragon Inn. On Earth, next to nobody would bat an eye at somebody who only showed up for work a quarter of the time. How merciful Rhy'din was to some in this sense. Even now, the temporary hiatus from both of her part-time jobs carried on with time itself as the woman sought out various tasks to busy herself. Such would not involve anybody she knew or worked with, lest their lives be put at stake due to an error which could be easily avoided. One could never be too careful, after all, especially with one she was yet to meet. As it was, there's been that pin-poking feeling like somebody might be watching her ever since making that delivery she thought she had been especially careful to cover her tracks with. Had her source decided to play an unannounced mind game with the psychic?

And, then came the greeting unlike anything Reiko had ever heard from anyone that she had met in this lifetime. Possibly quoting some philosopher out there as a means of greeting also started to ring a little bell in the bubblegum pink-haired woman's mind. She had written something about the war she had fought in, but not with any intention of making a big deal out of the war itself. Her gender, maybe?

Amen to that, came the first unspoken response to the remark about winning wars. Tell that to every sexist male pig out there, as a matter of fact, whilst literally beating some sense into their thickly stubborn skulls. As the introduction finally came, this Lorent male was certainly something else. Reiko almost saw glee in the hunter's eyes, if not all over his face. How was she to know whether he indeed was the hunter she had requested and not some crazed lunatic that might be impersonating him somehow? Then again, he had described details that only the intended recipient would have picked up from reading the letter, so maybe it hadn't gone intercepted after all. She had also placed the letter in a place where she had thought Lorent alone might know to receive it.

Oh yes, the introductions. "Yes, you may call me Reiko," said the naturally soft-spoken woman at last. Pay no heed to whatever dazed expression she might have just tossed onto her face for that moment, for it had been completely accidental. There indeed was business to be discussed, but where? This openness of the Marketplace where she had been busying herself with nothing more than people-watching by then was no place to discuss a potential deal. It had to be taken elsewhere, but not so fast! "Lorent. Before this gets taken any further-" Oh look, he was pretending to juggle. How amusing was that. "-very nice pantomime, by the way. Before we even move forward with anything, I want to know that anything said and done will go nowhere else. Can you assure this somehow?" If he was indeed a hunter by trade, then he should know that nobody in their right mind does any sort of business without proof of assurance. Reiko frankly didn't care what the proof provided was, just as long as she was alive and relatively unharmed. "What say you?"

He?s rather odd? Duh. What could have given that away? With a self-reminder given that she was still in the world of Rhy?din, rather than Earth, came the slow roll of those bright pink eyes. Clockwise they rolled from twelve o?clock to the left and down towards six o?clock before making the ascent to the right, back to the twelve o?clock position where they had started. The woman made sure it was that obvious to Lorent that he reminded her of an overgrown child without their medication for several days.

Or, did he? Whilst it seemed obvious that something (or several things) were missing from this man?s head, he at least had a way about him that made for the possibility of a professional relationship being forged. Well, the professional part might be used rather loosely. Simply take his manner of speaking into consideration, and let it sink in. Just let it sink in a bit, especially after the suggestion that Reiko consider comedy! She couldn?t not laugh at that. ?Now that?s a good one right. Me and comedy? Maybe that should be you.?

That being followed by the offer of his fingertip was quick to earn the hunter a raised eyebrow from the woman. Or?maybe not. Reiko didn?t recall comedy coming with such a gruesome touch and made the face to prove it. It was just short of a cringe, and then she recovered. Like it or not, the woman had called on this man for his services. Reiko had to find a middle ground in order to keep him around, and fast, if she didn?t want to bore him away from her. But, how?

No way was she going to borrow any of his appendages. ?You?can keep your fingers, Lorent. Your appendages won?t be necessary?? came the polite declination of that offer. If she was to take him up on the offer for a ?hitch,? as such was worded, then she would surely be cheating on her boyfriend. The same went for the mention of a so-called ?shag!? What the Hell! Then again, hitching up with someone covered a broad spectrum of definitions and standards. It didn?t have to be associated with romance and side helpings, did it? It could always mean something very, very different. Such was surely considered.

?Tell me what you consider ?hitching,? and I might consider that as proof enough of your commitment.? Forging some sort of alliance wasn?t something that she was above. She was willing to listen. If it came with some kind of strings that she surely couldn?t agree with, then she just might have to make some sort of down payment in cash to go with the very reason she had put in the request for his services. Which, by the way, she was still yet to disclose in full.