Bianca could not be more excited to be taking requests again in her hometown. She loved the fact that she was helping her people do things that were probably not legal, but still it was helping, and Bianca did not care about the laws of this kingdom. She simply did not care. And now she was going to help an old client of hers - Frankie Marino. He was either a past client of hers or she just knew him because he seemed so freaking familiar. His face was not very familiar to her, but the name sounded like it belonged to a childhood friend of hers. She had agreed to meet the man at a private location somewhere in Oak that was mostly used for such meetings, to discuss illegal business. This was not the type of business that was discussed in formal places. Bianca had met several clients in alleyways and coffee shops. Even coffee shops were sort of inappropriate sometimes because there were people there and since Bianca was usually involved in illegal business, the less people witnessing her meeting with her clients, the better. So with Frankie this time, they had agreed to meet in an alleyway. An alleyway again, yes. Bianca will never get tired of meeting her clients in the alleyway. She liked the darkness, too. It was her domain, and who knows if her clients could be trusted, right? They could have set it up to harm her or something. That was a possibility, and Bianca was not going to let her guard down just because she was going to be doing business with them.

She arrived at the alleyway before Frankie, so she was the first one to be able to make a good observation of the area, so she knew what was where, and if there was anything unusual going on. She stood in a shadowed corner, facing the entrance to the alleyway, so that she could see Frankie clearly when he entered. Since it was daytime, it was not entirely dark, and she was just standing in shadows so of course she felt kind of, sort of safe. She could not think of another way that Frankie would use to enter the alleyway. Maybe jump down from one of the roofs of the buildings surrounding her, or in a somewhat similarly dramatic way? She did not really know this man, so she just waited. If things went wrong, she could simply fly out of the alleyway, just like that. She doubted Frankie was a mage, otherwise he could have handled the job by himself. Anyway, so the mission was simple. She pretty much got the idea of what she was supposed to do. All she needed now was to meet Frankie because he wanted to have a little conversation with her about probably how he wanted her to handle things, which she was fine with and agreed for it it happen. Now she waited, wishing that she had brought her pack of cigarettes with her.

A while later, a man entered the alleyway. He was dressed in a classy suit, bow tie and all. His hair was done very neatly, making him look like a very important person. Bianca knew at first sight that this was the man she was going to be working for, for this job. He saw her immediately as well, upon entering the alleyway. With a charming smile, the male approached. Bianca realised that she was maybe being a bit too careful, so she took a few steps forward so that she was out of the shadows now, wearing a smile of her own. As they got nearer, both of them brought out their hands for a friendly handshake. She realised that she was indeed being too careful and there was no need for it anymore. Frankie did not look like he was behind a setup. His outfit did not fit with that at all. It could have been a way of deceiving Bianca, but Bianca was sure this time. The vampyress pushed away all thoughts of mistrust and drove her insecurities to the back of her mind. She was here for a job, and this man was her client. Yes. Stop being dumb. For now, at least. Frankie greeted her and introduced himself, so she did the same, telling him her name was Bianca and she was from Phantom Lord. Also the fact that she was here to help him with that job he posted up on the request board.

Frankie’s eyes lit up as though she had told him he had won a lottery ticket or that his father was dead. She could not tell exactly, as his expression was quite confusing to read. “Phantom Lord,” he spoke the name of her guild like it was the name of his childhood crush or his worst enemy. Again, she could not tell exactly. Bianca nodded with a smile, a little bit puzzled but she did not pay much attention to it. Mr. Marino then started speaking, basically everything she had already read on the job paper, but it looked like he wanted to make sure that she knew what he wanted her to do, and so that she did not make any mistakes or missed any of the details. Bianca listened attentively. Or at least, she pretended to be listening attentively. Her eyes never left his, but his wandered to the surroundings sometimes probably to make sure that nobody was eavesdropping them. Once he was done, he added that he wanted Bianca to make it known to the outsiders that they were not welcome at all here. “Yes, that is all. Do return to me after the job is done. You’ll know where I am,” said Frankie with a smile and left first. Bianca did not want to be seen walking around with him, so she waited for time to pass after Frankie left, and then she walked out of the dark alleyway on her own, heading out into the streets.

So, as the request paper had instructed - and Frankie had repeated - she was looking for two men who are apparently trying to undermine Vincenze Tessio. Now that was another familiar name to her ears. She knew that he was involved in the job she took with the man known as Varian. Speaking of Varian, it had been quite a long time since he had last seen him. It was not a very pleasant meeting, too. She met him at the battle in the forest where she remarkably lost her uterus. At this point, she did not care anymore, whether she could give birth to children. In fact, she had come to accept the fact that children were a hindrance to her journey of achieving great things. What great things? She did not know yet either. Still trying to figure that whole life thing out. Now she was thinking about why the outsiders might want to undermine Vincenze. An order from their bossman? Maybe because Vincenze had done something unacceptable to them? Harmed them? Embarrassed them? Taken something important from them? The possibilities were endless, and Bianca would only go crazy trying to think of a real reason. She was always overthinking, too. She remembered that someone had told her before she would die from overthinking. Not that overthinking would actually take her life, but the actions that she would make after overthinking might. As she was walking around with her eyes focused on the road she walked over, she heard snickering, and the voices of men trying to do something that she thought was pretty dumb. Looking up, she realised the two strangers she was seeing. Jackpot.

Bianca was a professional at pretending, so the two men who were threatening store owners did not even notice her in the slightest. They were too busy doing their nasty work. All Bianca needed in the time being was some information so that she could use it against them. She pretended to be looking at things displayed out in front of the stores that lined the Oak Streets. She actually felt like buying the little clay pot she was seeing at the moment. Although her ears were focused on receiving anything useful the outsiders might say, she was simultaneously thinking of whether or not she really needed this clay pot. Multitasking. That was also something Bianca was good at. The storekeeper was looking at her with great interest, she could see from the corner of her eye. She raised her head sharply so that she was facing him with a knowing smile. It was probably because of her signature flower that covered her right eye. The storekeeper was probably surprised for a moment there, but he regained his composure and asked if there was anything in his shop that caught her interest. Bianca smiled and said in a sweet voice, “I’m just looking around.” The storekeeper nodded with a bemused smile. He seemed pretty confused about things for some reason. Was it still because of the lily? Or was he confused about other things...did he notice that she was not human? Her pale complexion, scarlet irises and slightly protruding fangs?

As the two outsiders kept moving, Bianca left the clay pot shop, smiling at the storekeeper and saying, “I’ll be back later.” She would think of whether or not she really needed it on her way while doing this mission. Since she was in Oak and not in some other town, she could bring the pot back home, and not have to worry about having to carry it around wherever she went, like how she would have to worry about buying things in other towns. She had been traveling a lot but she had decided to settle in Oak Town for now. She needed to meet the guildmaster and everything, so that she could be up to date with guild news as well. But first things first, she needed to think about whether or not she really needed the clay pot. It was just a pot. But it was a clay pot. She did not have any of those. In fact, she did not have anything that was made out of clay. Honestly. She could use some clay in her household. Not that she had like a house or a family. Could you only use that term if you had an actual house or a family? It referred to a house and a family regarded as a unit, so maybe not. Anyways. That was beyond the point. A clay pot. She decided she would buy it. And that was when she noticed that the outsiders had stopped at another shop. This made her sort of really agitated.

Not because they were stopping at every goddamn shop, but because she had just left the clay pot shop and since they were going to be spending their time at that other shop, she decided to return to the clay pot shop. The storekeeper gave her yet another confused smile as she returned. “I’ll take that,” she said quickly, pointing directly at the nicely made clay pot that sat gracefully on the sheet of newspaper that covered the table. He nodded immediately and started to wrap the clay pot in another sheet of newspaper that he pulled out from under the table to make sure that it did not break. He seemed to know that Bianca was in a hurry so he worked fast and told her how much it costed while wrapping it. She brought out some money that she had on her and handed it to him, not bothering to take change from him as she grabbed the wrapped clay pot that was in a bag now. She then turned to check on the outsiders. They were still there, being nasty as always. She moved forward, looking at other shops as if she was just a simple passerby interested in the products the shops displayed. Of course her lily attracted a lot of attention, also from the storekeeper of the next shop she stood in front of. But she did not mind. Her attention was elsewhere. To be exact, she was listening to what the outsiders were saying.

Bianca made a face that would say ‘none of these things are interesting to me’ and then smiled at the storekeeper who returned the smile. She could see that he was very intrigued, concerning the flower over her eye. She had already gotten used to people staring at her and looking at it almost all the time. Now the shop after this one was the one that the outsiders first visited. They did not seem to be picking which shop they visited particularly because they were already in the shop that was right beside their first one. She waited for them to move to the next shop so that there was a shop between the one she was at and the one they were at. So then she started to talk to the storekeeper of the shop they first visited, reassuring that there was no need to be worried about these men, explaining to them their nature and why they were here, also sharing that she was here to handle them so they could just chill and continue selling their goods peacefully. The storekeeper of the first shop seemed super relieved, which made Bianca relieved as well. Now onto the next shop, but only if the outsiders kept moving. They seemed to be having fun with what they were doing as they did not notice Bianca in the slightest, even though she was pretty much standing out in the crowd with her silvery hair that reflected the sunlight, and not to forget her exotic choice of eyewear.

She had a small conversation with the storekeeper while listening to the outsiders at the same time, and when she noticed that they were leaving to the next shop, she left the current shop she was at and went to the next shop that the outsiders had threatened. She repeated what she did with the previous shop, reassuring them once again that those men were nothing but outsiders trying to be nasty and that there was nothing to worry about. She asked them what the men told them and the storekeeper (and her nephew probably) repeated what the men said. “I see. Well, there’s nothing that you should be worried about. They’re not good men. Have a nice day,” she said with a smile. The outsiders were fast with their last shop, so she walked a bit and then hid in the space between the next shop and the shop that she was just at. She did not want to be seen at this point and ruin the whole mission, so she decided she would be safe if she hid for a bit and then went to the next shop only after the two men had gone a bit further from it than they were now. About three or four minutes later, she decided to take a peek from the space and saw that they were far enough. She visited the last shop they visited and began her little explanation and reassured the storekeeper of that shop.

Bianca asked the last storekeeper as well, what the two strangers had told them, and he repeated to her what he was told. She nodded and then reassured her once again, that it was all talk and that their aim was pretty meaningless. She told them that she was here to handle this situation and left after she made sure that they were not worried anymore. With that, she turned and started following the strangers carrying her little clay pot in a bag, her boots creating soft thuds as their soles clashed against the sidewalk. Since she was walking pretty fast and no one around her was wearing boots that made that sort of sound, Bianca seemed to have caught the attention of the two men. They turned around at the same time, making them look like two idiots, not that they did not look like that already. They stared straight at her. Well, straight at the flower on her eye to be specific. She knew that was what they were going to see first anyways. The next thing they looked at was the clay pot in her hand that was being carried in a bag. Bianca almost rolled her eyes. They looked incredibly stupid. Once she was close enough to them to have a conversation, she basically said what she had been practising to say in her head for the past few seconds or so, while she was walking to them. The two men looked pretty confused at first, but probably because of the look on her face, they hurriedly left the place. She waited and watched to see them leave, to make sure that they actually left.

With a triumphant smile on her face, Bianca decided her job was done and headed back to where she had agreed to meet with her client. It was a coffee shop this time, it was one of those coffee shops that people did not usually go to. It was dimly lit and when she entered she noticed that it was a pretty shady looking place. This was good, she thought. It would be weird to be receiving cash from someone in an actual coffee shop where people would be looking. It would be pretty awkward. It would be obvious that they were doing some shady business, she thought. So when she arrived, she went straight to the booth where Frankie was sitting at, taking the seat opposite to his. She greeted him with a small smile and he smiled back as well. “They’re gone,” she said as soon as she settled into a seat. Frankie ordered coffee for her which she did not refuse or object since she felt like having some coffee. The man then placed a little pouch on the table and pushed it towards Bianca. She grabbed it and put it in the bag that held the clay pot so the pouch sat inside the pot. Frankie asked what it was and she simply said, “Oh, I felt like purchasing this on the way,” with a nervous laugh. Frankie laughed a bit and they had a conversation. After the coffee, Bianca said goodbye and left.