Ms. Wen - Auntie Wen - was splayed across the divan? That long seat that noblewomen used to lie upon, one side raised for resting, the other wide open so you could let your feet hang off. She was dressed in home wear and entirely covered, but rather tight fitting. Yoga or athletic wear was still a persistent happy place of fashion, especially with the advent of the athletic style of Climbers. While she was fit and beautiful and yes, certainly eye-catching, that was not what caught Arthur's attention.
It was the creature sprawled across her.
Hand went for his kris, only to find an implacable grip dropping on it before he could draw. He would have turned to look at the butler, if his brain wasn't catching up. It took him a moment to understand that the snake, green and yellow with a body and arm as thick as his forearm wasn't trying to eat the climber. It was just, lounging.
"Lady Wen would be grateful if you did not harm her pet," Snooty said.
"Ah... right... okay..." Arthur hesitated, released his grip on the kris and waited for his arm to be freed. He walked further in, stood next to a seat far away from Ms. Wen who looked highly amused by all this.
A hand raised, lifting the creature with casual ease as she continued. "Be a dear, Renard. Put Sammy away?"
"Of course, m'lady."
Once the snake was gone, she went back to sprawling, one hand thrown over the raised side of the divan. She looked at Arthur with hooded eyes who was yet to sit down, and frowned.
"Sit, sit. I didn't know you were that scared of snakes," she said.
"Not scared, just don't like them," Arthur said. "Had a few try to eat my face on the floors below."
She laughed at that. "Oh, Sammy isn't a Tower monster, just a normal python from our world. He's a dear, wouldn't hurt a fly." Grinned suddenly. "Doesn't have the strength, really."
"Oh, you're one of those," Arthur said, trying and failing to keep the disapproval from his voice. Climbers had a bad habit, with their greater strength and riches, to start indulging themselves. Who cared about tigers or lions or bears being dangerous to keep as pets, when you were - literally - stronger and tougher. At a certain point, the strength from being a Climber made many of them foolish with the kind of casual risks they took, readjusting how they saw things.
Which was why there had been a bloom in exotic animal sales. Still illegal in most countries that had any sense, of course, but there were sadly too many of those that didn't. The fact that such animals occasionally escaped or injured non-Climbers was just a minor price to pay.
"You disapprove," Ms. Wen said.
"Not at all, lady Wen."
"Trudy. You can call me Trudy," she said. "And here, I thought you'd be more fun than my niece. If you're going to be so stuffy, you can just leave."
"I'm still uncertain why you called me here," Arthur said, quietly. "Other than the fact that you were holding my beast cores hostage."
"Your beast cores," she sat up now, quick to anger. "Your beast cores! I gathered them, I collected and stored them. They're not your beast cores, they're mine. Certainly not Casey's either."
Arthur shrugged. "Then you can argue that with Casey, of who has the right to split what. Though what she told me, you were always meant to give her that portion. It's just being split with me and her."
"Is that what she told you?" Trudy laughed. "That girl, shading the truth. Of course she gets an allowance, but the amount she's asking for - it's being taken from the amount we were supposed to pass up. She's eating into the profits of the group, for your alliance."
Arthur shrugged, not sure why he should care. Oh, he understood it engendered some resentment; and it was easier to target him than Casey. But it was not new information after all, and she'd promised to shield him. If she couldn't, well, that was the reason why he was making nice with others too.
"To be so arrogant and young and cute," Trudy flopped back, her irritation suddenly gone. "Sit, sit. You think she's your friend, and you're wrong. She's at best, an ally. And if you're not careful, she'll draw you in with promises of luxury and ease and the next thing you know, the Chin's will have you. All wrappeed up and you'll be wondering how you're here... alone, without friends."
Arthur took the seat, leaning forwards a little with hands on his knees. "Is that what you're looking for then? Friends?"
"Company, here." She smiled a little, tracing a finger down her stomach and then adding. "I can be a good ally, outside, you know. A very good one."
"Aren't you stuck here?" he asked.
"And that's why I'm such a good one," she said with a laugh. "What I need isn't immediate, at least for a few more years. And after that, all I need is some security, some small help. What I can offer though, in the immediate future..." She watched his eyes and then stopped her finger movements, seeming to realise that her play the coquette was getting her nowhere.
It wasn't that she wasn't good looking or seductive, in that MILF way that had been all the rage about twenty years ago. Now, there was a push for GILFs, but it had never hit the same level of societal buy-in. Sadly, for the boomers and Gen X, they had just to accept that they weren't the trend of desirableness anymore. Again, Climbers had managed to make their mark there; with the wider variety of body forms. And athletic scenarios.
In the end, for Arthur, his Yin body just made it easier to ignore such temptations. It wasn't that he was cut-off entirely, but it was more at a remove, a less driven need.
"I'm not against making new friends," Arthur said, ears twitching a little as he heard the footsteps approaching and then stopping as he spoke. He made sure to choose his next words carefully. "So long as my friends don't bring more trouble - enemies or angered allies - than they're worth." He smiled thinly. "And really, if it's not a transaction. I find that friendship - real friendship - isn't about the considered give or take, but just being there when it's needed."
"Without consideration for cost?" Now Trudy laughed. "It seems like you're being a hypocrite, asking for an alliance that favors you and yet, holding off those who might be your friend, no?"
Now he shrugged. He had no answer to that, just his truthful thoughts. Moments later, that lurking shadow took a few more steps, revealing Casey within.
"Auntie, are you bothering Arthur again?"
"Always bothering," Trudy sat up, glared at Casey. "I'm trying to make friends."
"I know the kind of friends you make," Casey's voice was frosty. "He's not interested."
"Oh, and you're so much better? He better be careful, before you all start adding more clauses and asking him to do things for you. Maybe he'll end up taking loans too, eh?" Then, Trudy cackled. "Or maybe he'll be smart and go to the triads. They're at least safer than the Chin's."
"Auntie!"
Arthur had to admit, wathing the self-assured Casey be puton the backfoot and devolve into a foot stomping teenager was worth his visit. And, perhaps, the alliance with Trudy Wen. If she could handle the other Chin's just as well, she might well be worth every dollar. Though, he doubted the case with the older group - or else why would she be here. Still...
"I can speak for myself, you know." Arthur glanced at Casey, then continued. "I am curious about what you can offer, outside the Tower. As someone has told me, things will change once we're out." Smiling triumphantly, Trudy made to speak, only for Arthur to talk over her. "But that's something we can discuss with Mel and some of my administrative team with me."
Now Trudy pouted, causing Casey to smirk. Till she registered everything he had to say and found herself looking at Arthur, doubt filling her eyes. He ignored the unvoiced question and hurt in her eyes, continuing. "In the meantime, I know Casey and I need the beast stones?"
After all, that was the point of their arrival. Whatever other reasons the others had.