10-18-2013, 05:30 PM
((Takes place a day or two after Boardroom Secrets.))
***
Antimony bent slightly in front of a bookshelf, her tail sticking almost straight out behind her and twitching in thought as she perused a row of spines with various titles. "You're tearing through what I have at an astonishing rate," she spoke over one shoulder to the lalafell somewhere behind her doing who-knew-what. Around her were the modest furnishings of her small flat - a table that was both for eating at and, apparently, studying, judging by the papers and ink well scattered on its surface, a rocking chair and quilt nearby, a smaller, wooden chair closer to the front door, below a few shelves that held a rather uncomfortable number of unlit candles, all in varying stages of use.
Ulanan was sitting under the table, a book opened on it about half her size opened right outside of the shadow. Her explanation for sitting down there involved 'spontaneous combustion' and a random yell about linen clothes that interrupted her. At Antimony's words, she nodded to the book. "Mathematics are easier when drawings are involved."
The miqo'te scratched behind one greyed ear with a finger and then hummed to herself, tapping that finger against the spine of one of the tomes. "I suppose that's true. Ah, 'Shaping the Aether: A Carbuncle as the Sum of its Parts.'" She chuckled at the title. "Does that sound about right?"
Illira walked down the cobbled street, periodically glancing between the buildings and the scrap of paper in her hand. She eventually came to a stop outside of one of them, double checking the address, before tucking the paper away into the pocket of her coat. She moved up the front steps towards the door, pausing briefly before knocking. She made a stiff figure on the stoop, her long black coat is sharply cut to her figure, the double breasted closure only opening slightly at the collar.
Ulanan opened her mouth to speak at about the same moment the door was knocked, so she said nothing while directing her sight to the door. Antimony's ears swiveled back towards the door at the knock well before she turned from the bookcase. She did straighten, however, and stood stiffly at the far side of the room for several seconds before saying, "That's odd. I wasn't expecting visitors."
"Ask who is it?"
She half-turned to look down at Ulanan beneath the table, and her brow furrowed. "Oh... what if it's that Vaernian man come to tell me I'm out of a job!"
"I don't think not-opening the door will do anything but convince him further that his decision was right."
Her tail drooped and she sighed, "Right... of course." Ears twitching uncomfortably, she stepped around the table, past the offset kitchenette on her right, and up to the short entryway where she stood before the door for several more seconds before reaching out to cautiously open it. Not for the first time, she found herself blinking at a coated abdomen and adjusted her gaze so her neck craned upward. "How may I help... you...?"
Illira looked down at the middle-aged Mi'qote, her braids hanging down into the air, instead of framing her face as a result of the forced angle. Her face was rather stern as she asked, "That depends, are you Antimony Jhanhi?" The lanky elf's hands were buried in her coat pockets as a guard against the chilly afternoon. Her elbows bent at a curiously regular and symmetrical angle.
Antimony adjusted her glasses habitually, blinked, and then leaned back slightly. Her ears swept back in a display of nerves. "That is me..?" She added after a pause, "Ah, you look familiar. Do I...?"
Ulanan tilted her head and leant her body to a side. She couldn't see a thing anyway, but kept that awkward position anyway.
"Excellent. I wished to speak with you concerning your business with your previous employers, to be sure that... business is behind us all." Her eyebrows rose slightly at Antimony's question. "I doubt that you know me. I have only relocated to Limsa within the past year." She paused slightly before continuing, " I suppose the polite thing to do would be to introduce myself. I am Illira Carceri, of the Commerce Regulation Agency."
Antimony's eyes widened slightly. "Speak with me about Perelon and... ah, the CRA! You're not firing me?" Her tail lashed out then, ears splaying to either side of her head in sudden embarrassment. "I mean... That's not what I meant. That is, if you're here to speak with me about Perelon and Ernafalk, then certainly Ildur and D'hein haven't decided to let me go. Right? Not! Not that such a thing was ever an issue; I'm very sure my work can benefit the CRA and I've nothing but good things to say of your colleagues, but one can't be too cautious now so I was just asking to be certain because--"
A slight line drew itself between Illira's eyebrows as she listened to Antimony's rant. She broke into the middle of it as it appeared that it wasn't going to end, "Why do we do we not discuss this inside? Where there aren't prying ears."
Antimony shut her mouth with a click of teeth and ducked her head briefly. "Yes, of course. Ah..." She turned then, to look into the flat and stepped to one side enough that Illira should have room to pass through. "Ulanan, I hope you don't mind. I--well, we have some company."
The lalafell closed the book. "Oh!" she exclaimed, raising up and leaving her hideout under the table, book between the hands and hiding a good part of her torso.
Illira removes her hands from her pockets, stepping forward to enter the flat, brushing past Antimony into the entry area. "So there also ears inside as well then?"
"Oh, Ulanan is a friend. It's alright." Antimony hurried to close the door behind her, locking it in two different ways before following after Illira. She cast a glance towards the shelves with their dozens of candles but then reminded herself that it was midday and there was still plenty of light filling the flat. No shadows for evil to hide in yet. Clearing her throat, she gestured to a chair next to the dining/work table. "Please, sit. Ah, well, if you want. You can stand as well, if that's your wish, I'm just as accommodating either way but you walked all the way here, or at least it looks like you did, so I thought I'd offer you a place to sit and--" Her tail lashed behind her and she forced her words to slow down, "I can make us some tea?"
Ulanan smiled slightly to the elezen, then looked at Antimony. "I can make the tea while you two speak."
Antimony folded her hands very deliberately in front of her. "Or that. Yes. That'd be fine."
Nodding her head, Illira moved towards the table, tucking herself into the chair, "Hopefully this intrusion will not be long. I learned only of your new status in our agency last night and wished to speak with you myself, as I do not always see eye to eye with the others."
The lalafell placed the book on the chair next to the entrance door before heading towards the recessed wall that made up the kitchen of the Miqo'te's house.
Antimony's head bobbed. "Yes, ah, of course. I'll... well, I'm happy to oblige! Whatever you may wish to know." She smiled, the wrinkles in her face deepening briefly.
"Let us start from the beginning then. Paqirelon and Ernafalk. You worked for them for... a substantial period of time. What sort of work did you do for them? And please do not simply say numbers. I already know that you work with financial accounts." The lanky Elezen rested her hands in front of her on the table, clasped together.
Grey brows furrowed. "Is this an investigation...? I never did--oh! Oh no, I should've just gone to the Maelstrom, I completely forget, with everything happening so quickly and--" She stopped herself sharply, biting her tongue, and then took a breath, composing her features. "There's not much to tell. I investigated accounts - sometimes on special notice, sometimes routinely. Perelon was especially interested in finding any, ah, irregularities." She shook her head. "I would do my work and then take the findings back to them."
"These... special notices and irregularities... what was their nature?" asked Illira firmly.
Ulanan was climbing along the kitchen furniture, looking for the tea. She was sure she had seen Antimony get some at some point before, but she couldn't remember where. So, she explored the kitchen carefully while the water boiled.
Antimony cleared her throat. "Well, you know. Money getting shuffled through dummy accounts. Unreported or underreported assets. Forged assets. Misplaced decimals - not all irregularities are deliberate! The, well, the usual things one looks for when checking accounts."
"And all of these accounts were for... clients of your employer? What was the follow up like on these, special notice accounts?" Illira leaned slightly forward as she asked the question.
Antimony shifted her weight a bit uncomfortably. "I'm not sure of the protocol... what expectations of privacy still remain with the firms dissolution." A pause. "They were all clients, yes. With varying economic interests. The follow up, I... well, I gave them my reports and they dealt with the rest." Her ears twitched. "If this is about--I still think it is a /horrid/ misunderstanding. Perelon and Ernafalk never seemed the type to just order someone to... well, to die!" She sounded more like she was trying to convince herself of that than anyone else.
Ulanan piled a number of cookies on a plate artistically, forming a house. Or that's what she would say if asked; in reality, the cookies were piled on top of each other. She walked towards the two women, holding the plate high above her head, as she barely reached the top of the table. "I brought cookies, because I can't find the tea. But don't worry! I'll find it."
Leaning back once more into the chair, looking slightly less rigid in her posture, Illira responded with a small smile on her lips, "But the thought has obviously occurred to you? You are the one to bring up the subject. One of your last assignments was in the Shroud, before your employers met their... end, yes?" Illira’s brow crinkled down the middle, as if she were trying to wrangle with a thought.
The miqo'te's mouth hung open silently until Ulanan approached, at which point she twisted her head around to smile at the lalafell a bit stiffly. "The cabinet on the far left. And thank you! I... didn't know I had cookies." She looked confused for a moment before forcing herself to look back at Illira and she finally found something to say, "Of course it occurred to me - someone's tried to kill me!" She stated this with great emphasis and distress and took several seconds to collect herself before nodding and stating in a quieter tone, "Yes, in Gridania."
Ulanan clapped both hands together while letting a faint "oh!" escape her mouth. She turned around and went straight to the left cabinet to retrieve the tea.
Illira's eye glanced up towards the plate of cookies, before training her steely gaze back on Antimony, "Hmm. And you traveled on foot I suppose. Before I came to Limsa, I worked as a guard in a small outpost in the Southern Shroud. I recall a... Mi'qote that claimed to simply be passing through on accounting business. But she was rather nervous. Twittery even. Did you travel through that often?"
"Twittery? I'm not twittery! Am I twittery?" Antimony looked to Ulanan's back and then back to Illira, blinking at the elezen for several seconds before both brows lifted up over the rims of her glasses. "Oh. Oh! I thought you looked familiar. You were the rude and pushy guard who kept insisting on questioning me and drove me out of town!" She went very quiet at her words then, and her ears suddenly pressed backwards, flat against her head. "Not that... I'm sure you were doing your job," she added in a quieter voice.
The lalafell was busy serving the tea and pouring sugar in a small cup.
The Elezen's lips took on a slight smirk, "Indeed I was. And apparently I was right to have suspicion, considering our current meeting and topic of conversation."
"I've done nothing wrong! This entire mess has just... it's been horrible. Ask Ulanan - horrible!" The distressed tone was back, and her worried expression emphasized the age lines in her face.
Ulanan approached the table once again, this time holding one empty cup on each hand along with their spoons. "It was." she said, placing them on the table and turning around to look for the actual tea.
"I am merely emphasizing that circumstances under which you were working were not normal, and even an outsider saw as such. You should endeavor to gain more awareness so that you do not find yourself in such... compromising situations in the future." Illira reached for her cup of tea, sipping at it, her eyes squinting momentarily at the sweetness of it.
Antimony turned her anxious look to Ulanan, wrapping her hands around the cup and bringing it to her mouth before realizing it was empty. Her ears drooped. "Yes, I will endeavor to not attract assassins to myself and my friend." Green eyes blinked and then looked briefly towards the ceiling, "Perelon and Ernafalk - they were so good to me, and now they're gone! I'm certain it was the same people who tried to kill me. Absolutely certain." There's a bit of a quiver in her voice, though she reigns it in quickly.
Ulanan came back with the teapot and a third cup, filled with sugar. She let them on the table. "An aberrant affair." she commented.
"Yes. That matter is being taken care of. You do not need to worry about it." Illira set her cup down, barely having touched it. She pushed it a little away from her.
"Appearances can be deceiving. There are many that simply put on a mask for others to see so that they may go about their business undisturbed. Be glad that you do not live in Ul'dah."
"Ah, it's been reported to the Maelstrom then? Good! Good, I'll... I should probably seek them out to make a statement..." She trailed off and gave an uncertain smile to Illira. "Well, I am glad of that, for many reasons."
The lalafell woman moved to the chair by the entrance, climbing up onto it and picking up the book she had left on it back when Illira had just arrived.
Shaking her head slightly, Illira's braids swung with the motion. "The Maelstrom is keeping a special eye out eye for suspicious activity, as they have been made aware of the possibility that there may be more assassins lurking about your person. But the Twin Adders shall be the ones to bring the one primarily responsible to justice. He would not strike again so soon anyway. It would bring more undue attention towards his person. The investigation is being kept quiet for the moment so as not to... scare him away." The Elezen all but spat out those last couple of words.
Green eyes flicked towards Ulanan and the stool she perched upon. "Ah. Of course. Well... if there's anything I can do to help." She blinked and left the sentence hanging, glancing down at her tea with a small frown.
Ulanan opened the book before her and sit in her chair with a somewhat loud 'thump'. She made no other sound, trying to not interrupt the two women.
"Then I will be sure to let you know. Do not hesitate to let us know if there is anything that you need. Ildur seemed to think rather highly of you. I hope that you will live up to his expectations." Illira started to move herself away from the table and out of her chair.
Still holding her tea, Antimony did a kind of lean that moved with Illira, her body predicting motion without yet following through. She bowed her head towards the elezen. "Of course. Thank you. I always do my best with my work."
Ulanan kept quiet, eyes peeking from behind her book.
Illira smiled slightly, "And I with mine. As I said before. You may rest easy concerning the assassination matter. It is being laid to rest." She pushed her chair back in place, and smoothed the slight wrinkles out of her wool coat. "Shall I see myself out then?"
Antimony kept her head bowed for a moment longer before straightening in a hurry. "Oh! No, I'll... here--" She moved to the door and, after a bit of fumbling with the locks, opened it for Illira, casting a brief smile towards Ulanan on the way before gesturing towards the elezen. "I'm glad I could be of help today. Please, have a safe trip home. Or, wherever it is you're going!"
"May you have a nice day." Ulanan ventured, looking at the Elezen.
Casting her gaze on the Lalafel, she said, "And you as well." She walked towards the door and out onto the stoop. She turned precisely on her heel to look back on Antimony, "Thank you for your time and cooperation. I am sure we will meet again soon." She turned again and walked back the direction that she had originally come from.
Antimony ventured a smile and a small wave before letting the door click shut. A moment later, she let out a long sigh of relief. "That... did not go quite so horribly. Did it?"
"See? They did not fire you."
"No." She blinked and then smiled. "No, they did not." Her tail swished behind her as she made her way back into the apartment, grabbing a few candles from the shelf above Ulanan as she went. "Now then, about that book..."
***
Antimony bent slightly in front of a bookshelf, her tail sticking almost straight out behind her and twitching in thought as she perused a row of spines with various titles. "You're tearing through what I have at an astonishing rate," she spoke over one shoulder to the lalafell somewhere behind her doing who-knew-what. Around her were the modest furnishings of her small flat - a table that was both for eating at and, apparently, studying, judging by the papers and ink well scattered on its surface, a rocking chair and quilt nearby, a smaller, wooden chair closer to the front door, below a few shelves that held a rather uncomfortable number of unlit candles, all in varying stages of use.
Ulanan was sitting under the table, a book opened on it about half her size opened right outside of the shadow. Her explanation for sitting down there involved 'spontaneous combustion' and a random yell about linen clothes that interrupted her. At Antimony's words, she nodded to the book. "Mathematics are easier when drawings are involved."
The miqo'te scratched behind one greyed ear with a finger and then hummed to herself, tapping that finger against the spine of one of the tomes. "I suppose that's true. Ah, 'Shaping the Aether: A Carbuncle as the Sum of its Parts.'" She chuckled at the title. "Does that sound about right?"
Illira walked down the cobbled street, periodically glancing between the buildings and the scrap of paper in her hand. She eventually came to a stop outside of one of them, double checking the address, before tucking the paper away into the pocket of her coat. She moved up the front steps towards the door, pausing briefly before knocking. She made a stiff figure on the stoop, her long black coat is sharply cut to her figure, the double breasted closure only opening slightly at the collar.
Ulanan opened her mouth to speak at about the same moment the door was knocked, so she said nothing while directing her sight to the door. Antimony's ears swiveled back towards the door at the knock well before she turned from the bookcase. She did straighten, however, and stood stiffly at the far side of the room for several seconds before saying, "That's odd. I wasn't expecting visitors."
"Ask who is it?"
She half-turned to look down at Ulanan beneath the table, and her brow furrowed. "Oh... what if it's that Vaernian man come to tell me I'm out of a job!"
"I don't think not-opening the door will do anything but convince him further that his decision was right."
Her tail drooped and she sighed, "Right... of course." Ears twitching uncomfortably, she stepped around the table, past the offset kitchenette on her right, and up to the short entryway where she stood before the door for several more seconds before reaching out to cautiously open it. Not for the first time, she found herself blinking at a coated abdomen and adjusted her gaze so her neck craned upward. "How may I help... you...?"
Illira looked down at the middle-aged Mi'qote, her braids hanging down into the air, instead of framing her face as a result of the forced angle. Her face was rather stern as she asked, "That depends, are you Antimony Jhanhi?" The lanky elf's hands were buried in her coat pockets as a guard against the chilly afternoon. Her elbows bent at a curiously regular and symmetrical angle.
Antimony adjusted her glasses habitually, blinked, and then leaned back slightly. Her ears swept back in a display of nerves. "That is me..?" She added after a pause, "Ah, you look familiar. Do I...?"
Ulanan tilted her head and leant her body to a side. She couldn't see a thing anyway, but kept that awkward position anyway.
"Excellent. I wished to speak with you concerning your business with your previous employers, to be sure that... business is behind us all." Her eyebrows rose slightly at Antimony's question. "I doubt that you know me. I have only relocated to Limsa within the past year." She paused slightly before continuing, " I suppose the polite thing to do would be to introduce myself. I am Illira Carceri, of the Commerce Regulation Agency."
Antimony's eyes widened slightly. "Speak with me about Perelon and... ah, the CRA! You're not firing me?" Her tail lashed out then, ears splaying to either side of her head in sudden embarrassment. "I mean... That's not what I meant. That is, if you're here to speak with me about Perelon and Ernafalk, then certainly Ildur and D'hein haven't decided to let me go. Right? Not! Not that such a thing was ever an issue; I'm very sure my work can benefit the CRA and I've nothing but good things to say of your colleagues, but one can't be too cautious now so I was just asking to be certain because--"
A slight line drew itself between Illira's eyebrows as she listened to Antimony's rant. She broke into the middle of it as it appeared that it wasn't going to end, "Why do we do we not discuss this inside? Where there aren't prying ears."
Antimony shut her mouth with a click of teeth and ducked her head briefly. "Yes, of course. Ah..." She turned then, to look into the flat and stepped to one side enough that Illira should have room to pass through. "Ulanan, I hope you don't mind. I--well, we have some company."
The lalafell closed the book. "Oh!" she exclaimed, raising up and leaving her hideout under the table, book between the hands and hiding a good part of her torso.
Illira removes her hands from her pockets, stepping forward to enter the flat, brushing past Antimony into the entry area. "So there also ears inside as well then?"
"Oh, Ulanan is a friend. It's alright." Antimony hurried to close the door behind her, locking it in two different ways before following after Illira. She cast a glance towards the shelves with their dozens of candles but then reminded herself that it was midday and there was still plenty of light filling the flat. No shadows for evil to hide in yet. Clearing her throat, she gestured to a chair next to the dining/work table. "Please, sit. Ah, well, if you want. You can stand as well, if that's your wish, I'm just as accommodating either way but you walked all the way here, or at least it looks like you did, so I thought I'd offer you a place to sit and--" Her tail lashed behind her and she forced her words to slow down, "I can make us some tea?"
Ulanan smiled slightly to the elezen, then looked at Antimony. "I can make the tea while you two speak."
Antimony folded her hands very deliberately in front of her. "Or that. Yes. That'd be fine."
Nodding her head, Illira moved towards the table, tucking herself into the chair, "Hopefully this intrusion will not be long. I learned only of your new status in our agency last night and wished to speak with you myself, as I do not always see eye to eye with the others."
The lalafell placed the book on the chair next to the entrance door before heading towards the recessed wall that made up the kitchen of the Miqo'te's house.
Antimony's head bobbed. "Yes, ah, of course. I'll... well, I'm happy to oblige! Whatever you may wish to know." She smiled, the wrinkles in her face deepening briefly.
"Let us start from the beginning then. Paqirelon and Ernafalk. You worked for them for... a substantial period of time. What sort of work did you do for them? And please do not simply say numbers. I already know that you work with financial accounts." The lanky Elezen rested her hands in front of her on the table, clasped together.
Grey brows furrowed. "Is this an investigation...? I never did--oh! Oh no, I should've just gone to the Maelstrom, I completely forget, with everything happening so quickly and--" She stopped herself sharply, biting her tongue, and then took a breath, composing her features. "There's not much to tell. I investigated accounts - sometimes on special notice, sometimes routinely. Perelon was especially interested in finding any, ah, irregularities." She shook her head. "I would do my work and then take the findings back to them."
"These... special notices and irregularities... what was their nature?" asked Illira firmly.
Ulanan was climbing along the kitchen furniture, looking for the tea. She was sure she had seen Antimony get some at some point before, but she couldn't remember where. So, she explored the kitchen carefully while the water boiled.
Antimony cleared her throat. "Well, you know. Money getting shuffled through dummy accounts. Unreported or underreported assets. Forged assets. Misplaced decimals - not all irregularities are deliberate! The, well, the usual things one looks for when checking accounts."
"And all of these accounts were for... clients of your employer? What was the follow up like on these, special notice accounts?" Illira leaned slightly forward as she asked the question.
Antimony shifted her weight a bit uncomfortably. "I'm not sure of the protocol... what expectations of privacy still remain with the firms dissolution." A pause. "They were all clients, yes. With varying economic interests. The follow up, I... well, I gave them my reports and they dealt with the rest." Her ears twitched. "If this is about--I still think it is a /horrid/ misunderstanding. Perelon and Ernafalk never seemed the type to just order someone to... well, to die!" She sounded more like she was trying to convince herself of that than anyone else.
Ulanan piled a number of cookies on a plate artistically, forming a house. Or that's what she would say if asked; in reality, the cookies were piled on top of each other. She walked towards the two women, holding the plate high above her head, as she barely reached the top of the table. "I brought cookies, because I can't find the tea. But don't worry! I'll find it."
Leaning back once more into the chair, looking slightly less rigid in her posture, Illira responded with a small smile on her lips, "But the thought has obviously occurred to you? You are the one to bring up the subject. One of your last assignments was in the Shroud, before your employers met their... end, yes?" Illira’s brow crinkled down the middle, as if she were trying to wrangle with a thought.
The miqo'te's mouth hung open silently until Ulanan approached, at which point she twisted her head around to smile at the lalafell a bit stiffly. "The cabinet on the far left. And thank you! I... didn't know I had cookies." She looked confused for a moment before forcing herself to look back at Illira and she finally found something to say, "Of course it occurred to me - someone's tried to kill me!" She stated this with great emphasis and distress and took several seconds to collect herself before nodding and stating in a quieter tone, "Yes, in Gridania."
Ulanan clapped both hands together while letting a faint "oh!" escape her mouth. She turned around and went straight to the left cabinet to retrieve the tea.
Illira's eye glanced up towards the plate of cookies, before training her steely gaze back on Antimony, "Hmm. And you traveled on foot I suppose. Before I came to Limsa, I worked as a guard in a small outpost in the Southern Shroud. I recall a... Mi'qote that claimed to simply be passing through on accounting business. But she was rather nervous. Twittery even. Did you travel through that often?"
"Twittery? I'm not twittery! Am I twittery?" Antimony looked to Ulanan's back and then back to Illira, blinking at the elezen for several seconds before both brows lifted up over the rims of her glasses. "Oh. Oh! I thought you looked familiar. You were the rude and pushy guard who kept insisting on questioning me and drove me out of town!" She went very quiet at her words then, and her ears suddenly pressed backwards, flat against her head. "Not that... I'm sure you were doing your job," she added in a quieter voice.
The lalafell was busy serving the tea and pouring sugar in a small cup.
The Elezen's lips took on a slight smirk, "Indeed I was. And apparently I was right to have suspicion, considering our current meeting and topic of conversation."
"I've done nothing wrong! This entire mess has just... it's been horrible. Ask Ulanan - horrible!" The distressed tone was back, and her worried expression emphasized the age lines in her face.
Ulanan approached the table once again, this time holding one empty cup on each hand along with their spoons. "It was." she said, placing them on the table and turning around to look for the actual tea.
"I am merely emphasizing that circumstances under which you were working were not normal, and even an outsider saw as such. You should endeavor to gain more awareness so that you do not find yourself in such... compromising situations in the future." Illira reached for her cup of tea, sipping at it, her eyes squinting momentarily at the sweetness of it.
Antimony turned her anxious look to Ulanan, wrapping her hands around the cup and bringing it to her mouth before realizing it was empty. Her ears drooped. "Yes, I will endeavor to not attract assassins to myself and my friend." Green eyes blinked and then looked briefly towards the ceiling, "Perelon and Ernafalk - they were so good to me, and now they're gone! I'm certain it was the same people who tried to kill me. Absolutely certain." There's a bit of a quiver in her voice, though she reigns it in quickly.
Ulanan came back with the teapot and a third cup, filled with sugar. She let them on the table. "An aberrant affair." she commented.
"Yes. That matter is being taken care of. You do not need to worry about it." Illira set her cup down, barely having touched it. She pushed it a little away from her.
"Appearances can be deceiving. There are many that simply put on a mask for others to see so that they may go about their business undisturbed. Be glad that you do not live in Ul'dah."
"Ah, it's been reported to the Maelstrom then? Good! Good, I'll... I should probably seek them out to make a statement..." She trailed off and gave an uncertain smile to Illira. "Well, I am glad of that, for many reasons."
The lalafell woman moved to the chair by the entrance, climbing up onto it and picking up the book she had left on it back when Illira had just arrived.
Shaking her head slightly, Illira's braids swung with the motion. "The Maelstrom is keeping a special eye out eye for suspicious activity, as they have been made aware of the possibility that there may be more assassins lurking about your person. But the Twin Adders shall be the ones to bring the one primarily responsible to justice. He would not strike again so soon anyway. It would bring more undue attention towards his person. The investigation is being kept quiet for the moment so as not to... scare him away." The Elezen all but spat out those last couple of words.
Green eyes flicked towards Ulanan and the stool she perched upon. "Ah. Of course. Well... if there's anything I can do to help." She blinked and left the sentence hanging, glancing down at her tea with a small frown.
Ulanan opened the book before her and sit in her chair with a somewhat loud 'thump'. She made no other sound, trying to not interrupt the two women.
"Then I will be sure to let you know. Do not hesitate to let us know if there is anything that you need. Ildur seemed to think rather highly of you. I hope that you will live up to his expectations." Illira started to move herself away from the table and out of her chair.
Still holding her tea, Antimony did a kind of lean that moved with Illira, her body predicting motion without yet following through. She bowed her head towards the elezen. "Of course. Thank you. I always do my best with my work."
Ulanan kept quiet, eyes peeking from behind her book.
Illira smiled slightly, "And I with mine. As I said before. You may rest easy concerning the assassination matter. It is being laid to rest." She pushed her chair back in place, and smoothed the slight wrinkles out of her wool coat. "Shall I see myself out then?"
Antimony kept her head bowed for a moment longer before straightening in a hurry. "Oh! No, I'll... here--" She moved to the door and, after a bit of fumbling with the locks, opened it for Illira, casting a brief smile towards Ulanan on the way before gesturing towards the elezen. "I'm glad I could be of help today. Please, have a safe trip home. Or, wherever it is you're going!"
"May you have a nice day." Ulanan ventured, looking at the Elezen.
Casting her gaze on the Lalafel, she said, "And you as well." She walked towards the door and out onto the stoop. She turned precisely on her heel to look back on Antimony, "Thank you for your time and cooperation. I am sure we will meet again soon." She turned again and walked back the direction that she had originally come from.
Antimony ventured a smile and a small wave before letting the door click shut. A moment later, she let out a long sigh of relief. "That... did not go quite so horribly. Did it?"
"See? They did not fire you."
"No." She blinked and then smiled. "No, they did not." Her tail swished behind her as she made her way back into the apartment, grabbing a few candles from the shelf above Ulanan as she went. "Now then, about that book..."