2020-08-01 - Pawn Shop Shakedown: Act I

Lilith doesn't particularly like to work on Saturday, but weekends are pretty prime time for the shop and loan business, and it lets her do some weekly profit figuring, etc. while being on premises to help the employees. She's finally gotten a few, most are part-timers from the next town over that focus on retail or have backgrounds in check cashing to handle loans while she does remote or on-site evaluations on items they can't survey. That and Mister Barnes (AKA Barney Kaminski) is an old guy that's her main full time help, and while he still struggles with PC issues and paperwork, he's basically a historian in that senior-citizen junk savvy kind of way and at least has a hunch for junk vs worth to consult with through the avenues Lilith has given him.

That said, he's fucking old and talks a lot and has weird ear hair that Lilith yells at him about because she swears it's impacting his hearing. In fact, she PAID for him a barber visit during lunch cover today under the condition that the barber take care of the goddamn ear hair because it sets her off irrationally and it's old man gross, okay. She has no problem telling him so, even though Barnes says that the ear hairs are his 'feelers' just to fuck with her. Therefore, he's taking a two hour extended affair to eat, barber, and hit a doctor's appointment before she can go home for the day. But... she's starving to death and hasn't been keeping a lot of food in the loft, living at the Penthouse like she is these days.

Byron gets three texts while she's manning the counter and trying to argue with an old lady about her goddamn Quaker chair that isn't a Quaker Ercol no matter HOW many years it's been in Mabel Whitmore's family.

I'm dying.

Feed me.

... Seymour. <3

Then a fourth comes in at some point.

I fucking hate old people.

It was the weekend and as Byron was his own boss, for the most part, he could give himself a day off whenever he wanted. This weekend, however, he has guests in town-- A millionaire tech guru from Silicone Valley and his family. He has to convince them that booking a trip to Gray Harbor was a far more scenic and pleasant, quiet, experience, even than staying at some expensive hotel in Seattle on business. Sure, there's a bit of drive from the sleepy lumber town by the bay to Seattle, but it was QUIET in Gray Harbor. A beautiful view either of the bay from one of the rooms at the Bayside Apartments or the view from the bay, staying at one of the Grand Olympic's hotel suites. It was a good day for a visit with the bright summer sun lighting up the town (for the brief amount of time that Gray Harbor does get sunlight), however, there was a storm brewing so Byron makes sure to inform them of such and drive them back to the Apartments, where he'd allowed them a room for the weekend.

It's at that point when he gets Lilith's texts, something which brings a smile to his face as he pulls up and through the Bayside Apartments gates. He doesn't respond immediately, escorting the family of the three to the lobby at least, ending the day with a handshake and a possible promise to grab a night cap some time before his business associate leaves.

There was rain that was supposed to come, so with that in mind he hurries to grab a bite to eat, a couple of burgers with all the fixings, onions rings and iced coffee to wash it all down. When he shows up, he's dressed for work, thus wears his suit. In his hand are packages of delicious food. Turning to glance back over his shoulder, he tells her, "Made it just in the nick of time. Though if the storm is as bad as they say, I might be stranded here for the night."

Lilith is already cranky courtesy of her growling stomach and Mabel Whitmore with her goddamn chair. After getting firm with the woman, she's on the way out after what seems like a damn hour of pulling up pictures and research to show the woman WHY her chair is a reproduction and not a genuine worthy heirloom representation of the set she has at home. And didn't you know, Mabel fucking Whitmore drove ALL THE WAY from the NEXT TOWN because SHE heard there was a young lady that knows TRUE antiquity and value here in THIS town, but she's CERTAINLY wasted her time and NO she does not need help with the chair to the car, she supposes she can MANAGE with these old bones, even though she wasn't PLANNING on taking it home today.

Fucking old people. Byron comes in with the bags and drinks of yum to make Lilith's day better with food and presence and he has to hold the door for a huffy Mabel and her stupid chair. As he approaches Lilith and the counter, pretty as a picture in her halter sunset-hued sundress, she's scowling like the storm brewing outside. But the man's presence makes her a piece of sunshine once more and the smell of burgers and the look of that latte, handsome man aside, yum. Tugging out the rolling chair for the PC behind her at the counter, she spins her own seat to make an outstretched hand for him, the other for the latte, "God, you're so sexy with food. I can't wait until I get out of here, but still have... oh hell, I don't know, I paid for Barney to see a barber while he's out because..." Oh, Byron KNOWS why, that damn ear hair is the bane of her existence some days (though it's mostly the hard of hearing bit).

Before she can even get a proper kiss or drink from the latte cup, the noise of police making a very loud and official no-warning entry makes her jump in her seat and spin around at the same time she's leaping to stand. And because this is Gray Harbor, she can't HELP but look under the counter to make sure the shotgun she keeps there is still there in reach and out of sight, police be damned. That said, she also knows her white privilege only goes so far and she doesn't want to give up the ghost of the gun's existing at the moment, especially when her hands are supposed to be UP.

Gradually, she puts them up and looks aside at Byron with sheer confusion she doesn't even HAVE to fake. Because what? Even criminals generally don't know her stakes when it comes to Felix, save for Joey and Graham (RIP Andre). It's protection from the fuzz and deliberately protects assets from any criminals trying to get a leg up from the outside or inside track. But then she remembers how up in the air the police situation is at the moment too, even if she doesn't know details. That at least puts her spidey senses on guard, even though she's not doing anything with them at the moment.

On passing the angry senior citizen at the door, Byron almost asks if she needs help with the chair, though he was already carrying food and drink in hand. Something about the look which Mabel Whitmore gives him, however, is what keeps his mouth zipped closed. He's not going to deal with /that/ any longer than he needed to. Once that disaster is out of the way, his lips sucking at his straw, slurping up some sugary sweet coffee goodness, he asks, "I thought that by the time I got here, I would've missed the show after your text." He assumes that her complaint was primarily for the old woman with the chair.

"Here, thought you could use a little pick me up." Mmm, caffeine.

The sudden loud rattling at the door grabs at his attention, making his head snap in that direction as he moves to relieve himself of food and drink. That is followed by a much louder sound of the door being bust open. A million thoughts run through Byron's mind at this moment, though with stories of how recent events have unfolded, he has his own suspicions of what is going on right now. In compliance to the orders, he raises his hands slowly, though his mind reaches out in an attempt to quell the urgency and anger in the officers in the hopes of getting the full story out of them if he succeeds in trying to calm them. "Our hands our up. Don't shoot."His full attention is focused on the door, waiting to hear heavy footfall as they make their way in.

When the police bust in and fan out, leaving the Asian man to take point down there on the main floor and give orders, there's two areas to go to, save for the shop floor itself with all the goods, displays, and cases and shelves. Behind the couple and counter, at the back wall, there's a door open with pass through that leads to the office, and the stairs that go up to the loft apartment above. The office door and loft doors aren't even locked while Lilith is currently inhabiting the building, so as the other men go investigating, she only shoots them a cursory look in her moment of confusion.

She knows what they'll find and not find, she's very ducks in order and has reasons for mass cash and hidden jewelry, the guns have been wiped and re-serial'd with legitimate numbers via glimmer wipes and scribes, just like any engravings that mark jewelry as notorious or stolen. That and she can literally deconstruct her building to hide things, so it'd take a lot of doing to get to anything noteworthy and probably need a tip or hunch to lead them, warrants to smash walls aside. Even Byron doesn't know where Lilith's (Felix's) main stash is.

The woman has left enough around to pique curiosity (or sate the dirty pockets) to give the impression of careless if they get in her dummy stash or her safe, of course, but nothing incriminating she can't answer for. At least, she's telling herself that while she mentally goes through this. She also takes direct note of what shelving or ceiling obstacles she can use to topple on Liu if she needs a distraction that won't make her a fucking cop killer.

"I-- I'm Lilith, yes." She makes sure to helplessly stutter like a true damsel in distress. Naturally, there's other things she could do, but they aren't for right now. Byron's got Liu's demeanor managed on the sly, at least enough to make Lilith absolutely behaved even after she sees the badge name and the shine on the man. The other men she ignores and lets them go wherever, explaining with a slow drop of her hands and gradual sidestep around from behind the counter so he can see her and her pretty short dress hem, as well as her even prettier batting and clueless lashes, "... doors are unlocked upstairs and in the office. I know my dad probably did all kinds of things out of here, but he's... he's dead now."

She's also very careful to speak truths instead of denials because she isn't yet risking to take a glimpse and see what exactly Liu is glimmer capable of with that shine. She'd have to exert, and while she's good at operating with glimmer on the sly (at least outside of the realm of Dark Men), it's a risk when he's just put his gun up, "I don't understand, though, why... I mean, de la Vega knows me."

Yeah, she knows that's not street cred with this guy, most likely, but it helps the act and again, it's true.

Liu That was the guy Byron had heard about.

His arms still up, wary eyes take notice when the gun's safety is set. That's a step in the right direction. "Try to be careful with the displays and the items within." Byron calls out to the riot gear squad as they fan out to make a mess of things, he'd assumed. "This might be Gray Harbor, but there's something of value up for sale." He then adds in a wry murmur, "Or business'd be terrible here."

With Lilith trying to attract Liu's attention, acting far more demure than she normally does from what Byron knows of her, he says nothing more for the time being. In the end, however, arm still raised, he comes out and asks, "Are we allowed to see the warrant, officer?"There's so many things which the mentalist feels like doing right now. From what he can tell, Officer Liu does not share his Talents, even if the the other man possessed an inner light, thus had Talents of his own. If he was on the fence to believing this man, he would've checked to see whether the cop was telling the truth. But he believes he already knows the answer to that.

To go with setting Liu's mind at ease, Byron attempts to have the other man trust him, with both his skilled tongue and by way of mental manipulation, "I'm not sure what you heard, but besides little trinkets and things the residents turn in because their homes are foreclosing, you're not going to find much of worth here." He never takes his eyes off of Liu or his weapon, "Tell me, what exactly are you looking for?"

Okay. There's a few things testing Lilith's patience at the moment even though Byron has it largely under conversational control. In fact, she steals a glance aside at him as he's getting most of Liu's attention to see if he's using any influence, mostly so she doesn't undo what he's doing with a change of tact. She can't quite tell if it's that or if this guy is just a man's man that's used to discounting women. But on to the things bothering her...

First of all, she knows he's not on the level, not only because of what she heard from others in brief, but because cops can get busted for being racial profiling pricks under the right conditions and while it might occasionally be a boy's club of talk, it's dangerous to talk to that to civilians that might complain about non-PC cops. Especially in a place with surveillance, which might or might not be apparent to the cop, assuming the sound is even on. Is she offended? No. Not by that, but she definitely is offended by his breath when he leans in to impart that and it irrationally decays her willingness to keep playing along on principle. She's just kind of like that lately since the Vivisectionist had at her.

She could look closely at the warrant to see if it's altered, perhaps, however that's not a guarantee if it's not a physical alteration of stamp or seal or what have you. She mostly leans to get away from the breath and look at what it is that's on the paper that supposedly has her shop getting tossed. Considering she has no way of knowing whether a gaming system is stolen without notification, she's not really worried about that, all she has to do is relinquish it or the value to the owner that filed a police report. She knows her pawn rules, however, it does in theory give them an 'in' if they have other suspicions. Basically, she's ticked onto the idea someone tried to frame her for some sense of a legitimate in.

So mostly, with the man's attention on Byron, she looks over her shoulder at her office that's being tossed with a quiet sigh and then at the staircase where she hears drawers of silverware going to the floor above. It's at least a good excuse for her to stop with the confused act and give into visible annoyance, anyone would be annoyed at the mess over a PLAYSTATION, even if she wasn't concerned about other things, "... you realize I just have to relinquish the system or value and report the pawnee once a report is filed. In fact, I can even provide you surveillance with some given time of WHO brought the system if the ID and name was fake."

Ah-hah. That might or might not be good for Harvey depending on who he had bring the system in. It's entirely a natural thing to say, but her tone says 'spit it out' while still remaining affable, "In fact, I'd love to make this easy for you if you'll just tell me what else you're after. They've walked right past the gaming systems." Is she willing to play ball and flip on Monaghan with such innuendo or is she seriously offering to help? It's Lilith, so Byron at least knows himself there's probably a third option that isn't good for anyone, but with him managing the situation, she's thankfully got that one chained.

"All of this for a Playstation?" Byron just has to ask, brows lifted as he looks over at Liu. With a dramatic shake of his head to go with that Oscar winning sigh, all that the businessman can say is, "Okay then." The information he'd found on the warrant was interesting enough and he starts to neatly fold the piece of paper up to hand it over to Liu. And yes, Byron knows all about what happened to the Control Pad, he's been passing that bit of information along since he read about it in the papers.

The unpleasant sounds of things being tousled in the various sections of this shop and loft does raise his own irritation, however. "I guess there's no searching a place politely and neatly is there?" He snarks aloud to the police who continue with their rummaging. With yet another exasperated sigh, Byron just casually asks, "By the way, have you had the time to visit the casino yet? It's a real time killer and it's Gray Harbor's time to shine, I think." HIs suited shoulders shrug, "Who doesn't like a bit of gambling, right?" It's all minor chatter as he catches on with what Lilith might be trying to do here.

Liu may not possess a lick of Byron's gift with mindspeaking, but he's clearly got an affinity for something, and shines steadily like a candle in the dark. Dollars to donuts, he has some idea, too, of what the businessman is trying to pull with him; and it makes him wary. Prickly. He snatches the warrant back, shoves it in his pocket. There's no question the guy isn't behaving like a standard cop; he and the code of conduct seem to have agreed to disagree and parted ways at some point.

"Tell you what," he breathes at Lilith, leaning in nice and close to make his point. "You get me that surveillance video, and copies of the bills of sale for all the gaming systems that came through here the last week." He produces a card from his pocket, and his radio crackles again, ignored. The card's scissored between two fingers, held out for her to take. "You lemme know when you have 'em, and we'll talk. Maybe we'll keep this civil, huh? Maybe I'm not after anything else at all." Or maybe I am, his tone clearly says.

She's given three seconds to take the card. If she doesn't, it drops to the floor. Either way, he turns to go, and whistles to his men to cease and desist and follow him out.

Lilith was ready to throw down the second her tone changed, she was, but Byron nearby in his suit, entrenched in so much money and good name... cops bleeding on her floor is probably not what she wants. Now, bleeding on the pavement somewhere outside of the store? Oh yes. But even that, she doesn't act on, she doesn't even narrow her eyes. She does, however, hold her breath as she listens very carefully to what Liu has to say or do. Unfortunately, it's nothing exciting for surveillance, which honestly, her reference to such might be trouble or a saving grace when it comes to avoiding a shop or blood or fire mess.

She can also see what Liu is in part capable of when it comes to glimmer, and while she is a terrifying powerhouse, if she doesn't immediately disable or take him out, the others will fire and one of them will be in a world of pain. That said, she's still down. But... she bides time after hearing his words because it means they WILL meet again, preferably not in the shop. Plus he's offering something out in way of his card, which she knows Byron can use. Nodding one single time, she takes it compliantly, even speaks compliantly as the men start to collect for filing out, "Of course. It's better for everyone that business isn't interrupted."

It's not a threat. It's not even snippy. It is, however, a bit of a backhanded warning because something in the tone of her voice is uncannily solid, far cry from the confusion and lash batting. She's got dominance in the tone down and maybe she's not doing a damn thing with it, but one thing is for sure-- she'll make whatever he wants to plan for her very, very difficult and she has this one chance to make him think long and hard about what he wants to do next. She knows he can see her for what she is too.

... also when he's outside, she cracks a hole in the pavement while he can't see, right in his frickin' walk path to try and trip him as she hands the card to Byron.

What a petty bitch.

There were points in their conversation where Byron may have attempted to take advantage of Liu's distraction to get the upper hand on the man. He even studies the officer when the man makes a grab for the returned warrant in such haste, the muscles in his own frame twitching as if wanting to act, but he refrains.

The businessman, entrepreneur and one of the biggest investors in that casino has been cordial enough to Liu so far, but there's one thing that he's too happy about. When Liu leans in close enough to breathe all over Lilith, Thorne watches him with a steady narrow gaze. "That's enough." He even reaches out for the guy's arm, but at that point Liu is already withdrawing, to which Byron flashes him a quaint smile, "No need to be rough with the ladies, eh?" His posture straightening, shoulders squares in a nice little stretch, he then states, "You'll make more progress if you play nice. Just some friendly advice, Officer Liu." Dark eyes watch when Liu passes the business card to Lilith who in turn hands it to him. Byron allows his gaze to read the print found there, though doesn't keep his attention there for long.

His gaze then follows as the other cops file their way out of the shop. "Have a pleasant day." He calls out to them, trailing behind them. But rather than follow them outside, he watches them like a hawk through the window, looking so see which path Liu takes. Which car he gets into.

Lilith continues to stare as Byron does, she sees Liu tumble on the conveniently cracked pavement from out of the smoked glass of the Pawn Shop's front on his way to his car. And though she's still completely stone cold sober about the situation, her lips twitch with satisfaction. It's an interruption to what she's feeling, and it may be the simple, petty balm that keeps her from tearing her own ceiling down to add to the mess and disarray in a very frustrated release of powers for the sake of letting them out. But after turning her head to look at Byron with vaguely widened eyes, she starts to shake with adrenaline comedown.

It was very hard for her to keep herself in check during that conversation, not just because she was thinking she could do EVERYONE a favor and behead Liu on the spot, perhaps, or twist his neck around and around with crunch and break, or... actually, she thought of lots of creative kill methods and she also thought about putting him in a meat grinder mafia style. But she doesn't know anyone with a meat grinder so... maybe she needs to make more friends. Then again, she might have the RIGHT friends to dispose of a body, so eh. But mostly, these were unwitting slips of constant thought in the backdrop. If Byron hadn't been there managing, things would have been very different. She has no clue how entrenched he is with Monaghan, herself, the very idea of sullying him with HER crimes is too much, she HAD to use caution to keep the Golden Boy image intact.

Instead of stepping into the man nearby, the idea of going to jail (that's not what this is, but police showing is a reality check all the same) and ruining Byron's reputation as his fiancée or wife is utterly terrifying to her and after shivering visibly and tangibly, she surprisingly doesn't lash out with powers. Instead, she punches down on the fucking glass case nearby because she doesn't know what else to do with that fear other than try to immediately start explaining why she's such a BAD IDEA to marry. And she PROMISED she wouldn't push him away to protect him ever again, ever again. Ever ever ever.

On the plus side, the sudden PAIN that resonates through the bones and flesh of Lilith's hand and shoots up the arm keeps her from trying again. On the negative side, she might have busted her hand because it bounces with the impact. The glass is thick and doesn't break, she's not strong, just... stupidly freaked out on the sly about being a damned criminal to consequences, regardless of the actual situation. Again, she isn't sure what to do other than say 'ow ow ow' and look at Byron pitifully with extend of her hand she knows he's going to want to see. In fact, it's almost like she's silently asking him to kiss it better, "... fuck."

Byron's gaze never leaves Liu, not until that Charger leaves the parking lot. He makes no reaction to the way in which the cop faltered and fell even though it happened right before his eyes. Because, Byron was done with playing friendly-enough and nice. He was all serious business now and not the type of business that wasn't personal.

He knew the person who signed the warrant and the fact that they didn't do it on their own accord. Something done out of fear. He had Liu's card in his hand right now. Something to try and read and see what comes up. He has doubts that he'll learn more about the man's psyche... or will he? Right now though, they need to gather up anything incriminating in this place and store it away. Probably in one of his Safe Houses.

As he thinks, he remains standing by the window, staring out at the street, but looking at nothing in particular, just plotting and planning in his head. The hard painful sound of something striking the glass of the display. "Lilith!" He calls out to her once he realizes what is going on. Reaching for her arm to keep her still and to stop her from being self-destructive again, he quickly examines the damage done to her knuckles. Lilith can easily recognize that displeased look written all over his face. It's not so much anger, but she might catch the set of his jaw when his lips form a thin line.

Without her needing to even ask, he does lift it to his lips to kiss, using both of his hands, having stashed the card away into his pocket. "Let's get this cleaned and wrapped up. Maybe get some painkiller in you. And then we'll go through the place and move anything that needs to be moved. I have a few storage spaces on hand."

Lilith's hand is already swelling, but it's probably just battered and painfully bruised in a way that will stiffen mobility a few days and make her whiny. She admittedly looks incredibly sheepish about her oddly physical outburst of extremity. Really, it would have been far more natural for her to crack the glass with an exertion of power like a steam-vent while agitated, so the fact that she tried to break that damned thick case with her fist is mildly baffling. It's almost like she just wanted to see if she could while impulsively trying to beat the shakes out of herself in a bid for composure.

Unfortunately, it was a very bad and stupid tactic made in a moment of over-proportional fear and she knows it, the pain jolted her back to sanity in a very quick hurry. In fact, she's so embarrassed about how that must have looked or seemed, she doesn't put up a fight on revealing her stash to Byron for movement to his property. Also strange, usually she's so dug in about not putting him in a way to be an abettor or accomplice in any sense. She must be incredibly humbled by her lack of irrational impulse control, it's in her expressive, still slightly widened blue eyes.

But... her gaze also dropped to catch and hold on Byron's lips against her pained hand while she was looking at him in quiet to listen to instructions. Whatever discomfort or stubbornness that still had a chance to creep up... those sentiments simply die and disappear. It's her right hand, her engagement finger is on her right hand, and she instinctively turned her hand to the side during the punch to avoid the ring... which probably didn't help matters. Then again, she could have been sliced open by glass had she succeeded, so this is surely the better way if it has to happen. Thank goodness for barbie doll arms.

The ring. The ring. The ring. They're together, so together now, there's only one way to be in this now, isn't there?

Together.

Lilith is sure to make the game console the first thing she goes for, adding it to the collection for Byron to read and compare with surveillance when they're finished taking care of what needs to be done first. Even though her guilt reflex kicks in about it later when they're cleaning, she doesn't apologize, though she's tempted. Instead, she just stops what she's doing and looks at Byron for a long moment to try and let that go too. He made a witting choice about her and all she comes with, she heard it in his voice when he proposed in his own way.

She doesn't apologize. Instead, she says, "I love you."

Then she goes back to cleaning up so they can re-set the board and plan for what comes next.

Together.

It's been mere minutes since Liu and his goons left. They won't be back any time soon. This gives Byron and Lilith some time to breathe and in Lilith's case, to recuperate from her outburst. He doesn't release her hand so quickly, studying the discoloration and scrapes found on her delicate knuckles, before presses a kiss down onto the miraculously unscathed diamond ring. As he does so, his eyes lift to meet with her before he allows her hand to lower, yet rather than letting her go then, as well, he gently rubs a thumb over some of the swelling. "We'll put some actual ice on it." Rather than a diamond! Though he knows that she won't listen, as they do have work to do, he tells her, "Just let me know where everything is, I'll gather them up. I don't want you or your hand to be in any more pain today."

Only once her hand is tended to will he allow her to guide him to everything that needs to be collected. If there's anything that Byron tries to make certain of is that during the course of this, they take some time to enjoy the iced latte and hamburger with onion rings that he'd brought. They'll eat, ice her hand, wrap it up, then gather up their things to move to one of his Safe Houses. During all of this, Lilith finds time to stop in her work to tell him that she loves him. Her words help to lift his spirits and puts his mind on pause as he's trying to stay several steps ahead of Liu now that he's become a threat. To this he offers her a smile and quick, "Love you too, Lil."