[Persephone Dean]

I MAKE MONEY MOVES

sola dosis facit venenum

Persephone leaned back on the bench, pulling a leg up and resting her chin on her knee as Taliah spoke. The weed was starting to kick in now and she could feel herself relaxing. Although the wind was still intense, Persephone was starting to find the low background whistle oddly calming – a sure sign that the THC was starting to make its effects known. She smiled a little in satisfaction.

The quirked eyebrow shifted the smile from satisfaction to amusement. Taliah’s curiosity was evident – as was her impatience. She was accusing Persephone of being “rather vague” as though that wasn’t Persephone’s exact intention.

“There’s a broad scope for unconventional work, it’s true.” An image of the black spade floated to the surface of Persephone’s mind, but she held back on expanding further. There was still much she needed to learn about Taliah – and even then she wasn’t just going to openly hand her Spades contact details. She would need to go through a similar recruitment process to Persephone – demonstrating sufficient drive and interest in tracking down further information based on a single black card.

“I hear ya. Survival’s a strooong motivator.”

Persephone chuckled lightly to herself. Not even two years ago, she had been almost exactly in Taliah’s shoes. It was elating to think how far she’d come.

She agreed completely with Taliah’s words about harder drugs. ‘Control freak’ has a good way to put it, and Persephone could definitely relate. She valued control – sought it fiercely. After spending her childhood almost completely ignored, much less disciplined or controlled, it was something that shaped much of her adult life. After all, Yennefer was the very essence of control.

“Oh, okay. That’s a pretty useful power,” Persephone said, not even trying to hide her interest. “Noted – I’ll keep all my dark and dangerous secrets deep in my subconscious.” She smiled teasingly at the other woman. “Do you use it much?”

TAG: Taliah Dawson
WORDS: 319

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[Taliah Dawson]

Words can't hurt me

Taliah Dawson

These shades are gucci

Feeling like a ten, the best I've ever been

Mirth danced in Taliah's burnt umber orbs as she observed the duchess shifting into a more comfortable position on the bench. If the brunette hadn't missed her guess the active ingredient in the supplier's marijuana was beginning to take effect. Which Liah supposed was a good thing as the worse scenario the young woman could imagine was being stranded at a train station with a frigid person. Particularly, as she herself was becoming more relaxed by the moment. Relaxed and peckish, Taliah realized as her gaze swept the spans of platform. Had she passed by a vending machine on her way back here, Liah wondered.

The manner in which the other woman quirked her brow even as her lips curled into a smile suggested to Taliah that she was quite amused. However, the dealer was a bit perplexed as to what had so amused her cohort. While she was pondering this conundrum, the supplier admitted in a rather indirect way that she had indeed been vague, however offered no apologies for her ambiguity.

The twenty three year old remained silent for a few minutes giving the duchess a moment to expand further should she see fit. When it became clear that the younger woman had no intention of providing additional detail, the brunette simply replied with a shrug of her shoulders "Yeah, it would seem so." With her interest in the topic beginning to rapidly  dissipate, Liah then shifted her focus to her stomach. Taliah had just been about to slide off the bench when the duchess commented how strong of a motivator survival could be.

With a low chuckle, the dealer responded "So can hunger. Speaking of which, I'm starving. What about you?"

The young woman's interest in her abilities was apparent. A welcome reaction, if she were being honest as the alternative was far less desirable. Smirking a bite, Taliah answered "It has its moments that's for sure. Although there definitely are some cons. Like you might think you want to know what someone thinks about you, but you really don't. There are times you may find out things that you just can't unknow. I probably should feign modesty and pretend like I'm not a total bitch with it, but to be honest, I use it whenever it will benefit me to do so which is pretty often especially now that I've gotten the hang of the other levels of it."

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[Persephone Dean]

i MAKE mONEY MOVES

sola dosis facit venenum

Taliah’s shrug was disappointing, and Persephone’s expression said as much. She wasn’t here to spoon-feed the girl; the only reason they were here in the first place was so that Persephone could trade her product with a low-risk, unremarkable dealer. If it weren’t for the intriguing strength of Taliah’s metahuman abilities, Persephone might have stopped considering her for the Spades entirely. She needed to see more drive, more ruthlessness.

The wind didn’t seem to be letting up, and there had been no further announcements over the crackling loudspeaker, so it seemed that Taliah still had plenty of opportunity to prove herself yet.

It was an amusing transition, and certainly not one that Persephone had expected from the dealer, but she was suitably high enough that she responded with her own chuckle. “You reckon there’s somewhere we can actually get food in this place?” As she drew to the end of her joint, Persephone immediately started rolling another. “I’m down for a food search.”

The way Taliah spoke about her power was surprisingly honest and open. The smirk suggested some pride in her gifts, and the “it has its moments” certainly seemed to be an understatement, but the cons of her power felt genuine.

“Hey, there’s no need to be squeamish about how you use your powers. I’d use it to my full advantage as well – and it’s not like I give a damn what the average person thinks of me. You must make for an excellent judge of character if you know exactly who you can trust.”

It was this particular aspect of Taliah’s power which was so interesting to Persephone. Taliah could make for the ideal information-gatherer. There were very, very few traitors among Yennefer’s ranks but it was always handy to have insurance – and she could always be used to suss out the competition as well.

TAG: Taliah Dawson
WORDS: 308

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[Taliah Dawson]

Words can't hurt me



Taliah Dawson



These shades are gucci

Feeling like a ten, the best I've ever been

Much like herself, the younger girl next to her had a tendency to wear her emotions on her face and at the moment everything about the supplier's facial expression indicated displeasure.As Taliah mentally recapped their most recent conversation, the only thing that the brunette could pinpoint as a potential source of the younger woman's disapproval was her apathy towards obtaining additional information about unconventional work. Most presumably, the lucrative work that the duchess herself was engaged in. Had she been expected to plead with her for more info? Probe a little deeper, maybe? Even when it was clear to the dealer that the supplier had no intention of divulging the information that she sought?
 
Truthfully, Liah supposed that she could have scanned the duchess's mind to learn more but honestly the young woman hadn't given her nearly enough to go on for her to go through such lengths.  As the wind began to pick back up, Taliah released an exasperated sigh. At this rate, she might as well start to consider someplace to crash for the night, Taliah mused. Thankfully, the topic switched to something far more palatable to the brunette. Nodding, Taliah began "I think so...." Holding a finger up to the supplier, Taliah dug into her coat pocket and withdrew her phone.

Sliding her finger across the screen to access the keypad in order to input her pin , Liah quickly accessed her GPS and keyed in the name of the train station. Restlessly, the dealer drummed her nails along the bench as she waited for her search to yield results. As they waited, the duchess offered a bit of encouragement in regards to utilizing her powers without restraint or guilt.  

"I'm actually much less squeamish that I used to be, Although, I think that the only reason that I practiced restraint before was because I couldn't really control it which meant that I was hearing everyone's thoughts all the time I couldn't filter anything out or isolate it to one person. I wasn't quite sure what would happen if I tried to do it on purpose.  I don't make a habit of caring what the average person thinks but there are sometimes when it benefits me to have someone like me. Not to brag, but I can say with confidence that I am rarely surprised by what most people say or do."

As her phone chimed, the twenty three year old shifted her gaze back down to the screen before adding "Ok, so there's actually a coffee shop and a pretzel place... thatta way. Might be some more stuff but that's all that can up on my GPS. Might need to be re calibrated."

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[Persephone Dean]

i make money moves

sola dosis facit venenum

If their gifts had been the other way around, and it was Persephone who had the ability to read the thoughts on the surface of Taliah’s mind, then she would have been snorting with laughter right now. Mostly because she laughed at everything when she was high, but also because Taliah assumed that the emotions on Persephone’s face were visible out of anything but choice. If Taliah was sensing Persephone’s displeasure, it was most likely because that is exactly what Persephone intended.

Alas, Persephone could not read minds, and so she missed out on that little piece of amusement. Instead the conversation shifted to Taliah’s hunt for some food, and Persephone watched as she pulled out her phone and began searching for nearby places to eat.

“Before we move from this discreet hiding place, you wanna trade cash for stash?” Persephone hauled her bag onto her lap and pulled it open once more. “The sum we agreed on the phone still stands.”

She didn’t want to forget now and regret her entire trip to this miserable, isolated town later. The price they’d agreed before was more than fair and she wasn’t looking to negotiate. Persephone was hardly hard on cash right now anyway. The Spades kept her well.

“That’s a real gift,” Persephone said appreciatively. She lit her second joint – the comparative ease compared to her previous attempts indicating that the wind was dying down just a little. “I’m sure you accomplish a lot just off the back of that assurance – less room for unpredictability. I’d say that’s definitely worth bragging about.” And it was certainly a huge point in Taliah’s favour for her unwitting Spades job application.

“I’m impressed you get any kinda signal out here,” Persephone grinned. “Lead the way. Somewhere’s bound to catch our eye eventually.”

TAG: Taliah Dawson
WORDS: 299

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[Taliah Dawson]

Words can't hurt me

Taliah Dawson

These shades are gucci

Feeling like a ten, the best I've ever been

From a business perspective, Taliah suspected that she likely should have given more consideration to her future business partners discontent, but frankly there didn't seem to be any correlation between the brief mention of lucrative non conventional work and the transaction that they'd actually come to make in the first place and therefore one had no real baring on the other. Truthfully, when hunger struck, the brunette became quite singularly minded and failed to consider anything more than what she would eat and how soon she'd be able to eat it. She supposed that a childhood of barely having enough to eat could do that to a person. Taliah had
been considering whether she wanted an original pretzel or a cheesy one when her reverie was disturbed by a pesky reminder from the supplier.

Right. There was the matter of her payment to attend to. The price that they'd agreed upon had been deemed fair by them both. In fact, it was actually much more reasonable than anyone that she'd dealt with in the past. Something that she'd attributed to the fact that the duchess was still new to the game.  A bashful smile donned Taliah's face as she reached into her back pocket and dug out a tightly bound wad of cash. Peeling off a few hundred dollar bills, Liah handed the cash over to the younger woman as she said "My bad. Wasn't trying to stiff ya. Just ready to get out of this wind for a while. Though I will take the fact that I actually have a signal now to mean that the trains might be able to start up again soon."

Sliding off the bench, Taliah grinned as the duchess commented on the benefits of being able to anticipate other's actions adding "Well, I like to think so. However, the few people that have ever tried to surprise me tend to end up frustrated as a result. My sister, in particular, tends to refer to me as the lie detector. It's also why she is always reluctant to bring any of her boyfriends around me." Shoving the wad of cash back into her pocket, Taliah studied the screen of her phone for a minute before starting off to the right. After taking a couple of steps forward 
, Taliah swiped her finger across the phone screen. Beaming triumphantly when a series of beeps erupted from the device Liah continued " Ok, so now that it's calibrated, I also found a deli and a place that does salads. Let me know when something catches your eye."

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[Persephone Dean]

I make money moves

sola dosis facit venenum

Happily putting the modest sum of money away in one of the inner pockets of her bag, Persephone passed the sample batch to Taliah. The deal would definitely be seen as a more than favourable one by the young dealer. Persephone was keen to maintain that feeling – she wasn’t exactly in this to make money anyway, and the more enticing she could make the first bite the better.

“I never thought you were,” she said with a casual grin. “Just figured it was better to make the trade now rather than later.”

She looked hopeful at Taliah’s comment, taking a look down the tracks as though a train might magically appear – conjured by her words. The track remained disappointingly empty, although Taliah was right. It was only a matter of time before she could be back in San Francisco.

“Fingers crossed – this place isn’t exactly on my top-ten list. The sooner I’m back to real civilisation the better.” She toyed with the joint between her fingers. “Small towns give me the creeps.”

She followed Taliah in taking their leave from the bench and heading wherever Taliah’s phone was leading them, listening with some interest as Taliah spoke a little more of her power. It was definitely intriguing enough to keep her in mind for some low-level Spades work. Nothing that required too much initiative or independent work, of course, but she could definitely be useful to have on the ground to weed out traitors and enemies – amongst other uses.

If Taliah chose to connect to Persephone’s mind at that moment, she’d see a singular black spade lingering on the surface of her thoughts.

“The pretzel place still sounds pretty good to me,” she said as they walked. “Unless you’d rather go to the deli? I grow my own vegetables so I can’t handle salad places – they’re just never as good.” The deli was more crowded, while the pretzel place seemed a little more low budget. They were both on either side of the street from each other so she gestured to both. “You got any major preference?” she asked, taking another long drag of her joint and regarding it with a rather disappointed look as she noted that it was nearly finished already.

TAG: Taliah Dawson
WORDS: 373

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[Taliah Dawson]

Words can't hurt me



Taliah Dawson



These shades are gucci

Feeling like a ten, the best I've ever been

Well, that was money well spent, Taliah thought to herself with a satisfied smile as the supplier passed her the sample batch. Briefly, the brunette considered rolling another joint but immediately decided against it when she considered her schedule for the duration of the day. As she stuffed the baggie into the pocket of her bubble jacket, Taliah began to mentally comprise a list of the customers of hers most likely to be willing to experiment with a new strain of weed. It was surprisingly longer than she imagined, the dealer noted as the duchess clarified that she had never suspected it was Taliah's intent to be deceitful.

Nodding her agreement, the twenty three year old replied "Fair enough. Just wanted to be clear on that. You gave me a fair price on a product that I expect to generate a pretty sweet profit. The least I can do is pay you promptly." Despite the fact that her signal appeared to be holding steadily enough, as of yet no announcement had been made as to whether the trains were back up and running or expected to be. Pity she didn't have to ability to wish things into existence that kind of power would be extraordinarily useful at the moment.

It seemed that her desire to be done with this place was a shared one as the duchess confirmed that she as well was ready to be back on her way. "Believe it or not as far as train stations go this one actually is top ten for this area. At least it has food. Last station I went to I was almost afraid to walk the platform because it looked like the floor would give way underneath me. Man, that place was like ancient. Should have been condemned years ago. Small towns don't usually bother me too much, but this was is kind of creepy. Reminds me of those old deserted ghost towns that you see on TV where you just get that eery feeling that something god awful happened here," Taliah responded.

Much to Taliah's chagrin, the area of the station where food vendors had set up shop in hopes of peddling their wares to weary and presumptuously famished  passengers was considerably more densely populated than the platform that they'd left. As they wormed their way through the throng, the thoughts of the passerbys whirred through her mind feverishly prompting Taliah to briefly cease movement as she took a moment to collect herself. After a minute or two Taliah pressed onward towards the vendor selling pretzels a single, but potent thought lingering in her mind.

A spade....what was that about? Tracing the thought back to its owner, Taliah was surprised to discover that she'd inadvertently connected to the duchess's mind. Was she some kind of a card shark? Then again it wasn't actually a card it was more like a symbol or icon. What a bizarre thing to be thinking about. A bit flustered, Taliah stammered "Uh...no pretzels sound fine. I don't do much rabbit food in general. Suppose I should try to eat healthy but I find most so called healthy food to be utterly disgusting. The pretzel place is just off to the right here."

Taliah veered off to the right taking a deep whiff as the tantalizing aroma of freshly baked bread tickled her nostrils. Stepping behind an amorous couple whom was in front of them in line, Liah added "Hey, this will probably come out of left field but uh... do you play many card games? Poker... or black jack maybe?"

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[Persephone Dean]

I make money moves

sola dosis facit venenum

Persephone flashed Taliah a wide smile. It was anything but genuine, but she managed to make it seem so anyway. “You’re welcome in advance for the sweet profit. I expect that it’ll sell great too – hopefully the next time you order there’ll be a nice, healthy demand.” At this point Persephone’s lip curled into more of a smirk – she enjoyed the idea of people returning to the dealer with desperate requests for more of Persephone’s product. “As I said, give it whatever name you like. It’s a natural, psychoactive substance – harder than weed,” she added. “I’m intrigued to see what you come up with for it, I’m guessing after you sample it yourself.”

As Duchess, she would leave it to the various assistants to come up with names for the new products Yennefer requested. For her own personal supply of weed, she chose to identify her strains with short descriptions rather than with any fancy names. Names for drugs always seemed so delicate and fancy – Persephone wasn’t interested in them beyond their natural properties. She was sure she could trust the dealer to come up with something that would appeal to her clients and, in any case, the less she was connected to the name of the drug the better.

“This is one of the better ones?” Persephone asked incredulously, gazing around the station. “I feel bad for anyone who sets foot in the others. We’ve not even spent half the day here and I want out.” She shook her head with a soft grimace on her face.

As they sought food, Persephone noted that Taliah was acting a little nervous for some reason. She assumed it wasn’t due to the pretzels.

“I doubt that place’s food is fit even for rabbits,” she commented drily. “Pretzels it is.”

Once they reached the queue for the pretzel place, Persephone discarded the last embers of her joint and did her best to avoid rolling her eyes at the couple before them. She exchanged a glance with Taliah as the two continued to attempt to occupy the same physical space.

This was quickly forgotten at Taliah’s next question, however. Persephone was positively taken aback, and her head tilted as she struggled to think of any particular history she had with card games. “I play chess,” she said slowly, eyebrow raising. “I’m not particularly one for cards…”

As she said this, she realised rather uneasily what Taliah could be referring to, and the black spade swam to the forefront of her mind once more. She displaced it as quickly as possible with contemplation of her food order. She was going to have to leave soon. The trains were sure to be running any moment now, and she could leave a Spades card on the table for Taliah. Such power was definitely deserving of a gentle recruitment offer, she decided.

TAG: Taliah Dawson
WORDS: 475

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[Taliah Dawson]

Words can't hurt me



Taliah Dawson



These shades are gucci

Feeling like a ten, the best I've ever been

Her prediction that the drug would sell well and in turn earn her a tidy profit was met with satisfaction from the supplier. As was expected. After all, what supplier didn't want their product to perform well? An amused grin spilled across Taliah's face as she replied "If it does half as well as we expect not only will there be a healthy demand for it on my followup order but you'll get your cut of the sales." While to most it didn't really appear to be much of a big deal, truthfully proper product naming was a major part of distribution. The name had to be alluring and appealing. It had to generate interest, be easy to spell and pronounce while at the same time being inconspicuous even to avoid drawing unnecessary attention.

Nodding, Liah added "I've actually been giving that quite a bit of thought. For my particular brand of customer it's best to keep it short and sweet otherwise they will never remember it. I am toying with the name of Keta because it reminds me of a drug called Ketamine that was really big a while back. Stronger than both Molly and LCD, however I knew a few truly masochistic people that actually liked to combine them. Can't imagined what kind of effed up childhood a person would have to have to make them want to do some crazy sh*t like that."

A rather dry laugh escaped the brunette's throat at the younger girl's incredulity that in some company this particular train station was considered to be fancy or swanky. With a casual shrug of her shoulders Taliah continued "It's a small town. They really don't have a proper form of reference. Most of the residents here have never gone farther than the next town over and never will. This is what passes for luxury around these parts. I'm not as creeped out as I was the first time I came, but I really may lose it if those trains don't get moving again soon."

Casting a glance in the direction of the salad based eatery, Taliah frowned as she answered "You're probably right. I can't imagine how they could keep their ingredients fresh in a place like this. Pretzels do seem like the safest bet as I can't readily think of a way that a vendor can ruin those other than to overcook them. Chess? huh? Never played before. Sounds intriguing though." Taliah gave an exasperated sigh as her tummy began to rumble. The amorous couple in front of them seemed either completely oblivious to the disapproving glances being thrown their way or were blatantly disregarding the discomfort of the other diners.

Whatever the case, the twenty three year old was growing annoyed. Fixing the female of the pair with a steely gaze, Taliah directed a thought towards her. After a minute the perky red head looked to her paramour and declared "You know, I probably don't need anymore carbs today. Not if I want to fit in that dress this weekend. Would you mind if we went to get a salad?" A bit perplexed, it would seem her beloved had parted his lips to refuse her request but seemingly thought better of it. Communicating his agreement with a curt nod, the couple stepped out of the line allowing Taliah and the duchess to move forward so that they could place their order. 

"Thank goodness," Taliah whispered under her breath as she lifted her gaze to the vendor's menu list.

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[Persephone Dean]

i make money moves

sola dosis facit venenum

Persephone smiled politely. “Excellent news. Hopefully we can get you outta waitressing sooner rather than later, huh?” A more genuine smile this time, one of sympathy and understanding of the joys of the food service industry. She pondered briefly if that was part of her motivation behind initiating the recruitment process with Taliah – some kind of waitress solidarity. Sure, it was mostly the impressive power set and the general impression that Taliah would do well as a low level member within the organisation, but it was maybe partly because the Spades had saved Persephone from a very similar situation.

Consider it her way of paying it forward.

She listened to Taliah as she spoke about her name ideas. ‘Keta’ wasn’t a bad starting point, but maybe too closely related to ketamine. It had the potential to be misleading. “Good idea to keep it short and sweet,” she agreed. “Gotta appeal to your customers first and foremost.”

She had nothing left to say about the horror that was small towns. Persephone had no interest in a place whose residents were happily confined to its tiny boundaries. At least staying in San Francisco for your whole life wasn’t a curse to be surrounded by the same twelve people your entire life – the city was too big, changing constantly, for that kind of nightmare. There was a comforting anonymity that came with such a place.

“It’s a great exercise for the mind. Takes a little while to master but the basics are easy to grasp. You should give it a try some time, find somebody who can show you the ropes. My grandmother taught me,” she explained. It was hard not to feel a sadness as she spoke, but she dismissed it swiftly. Stupid to think like that. Those feelings served no use to her now.

A sudden look came over Taliah’s face – a level of concentration, ferocity perhaps – and Persephone followed her gaze to see that it focused upon the two lovebirds before them. Without even saying a word, with barely a trace on Taliah’s expression to give away her meddling, she’d directed the couple out of the queue and in search of salad. Persephone didn’t say anything, but inwardly she was feeling more and more affirmed with her decision to leave a Spades card for the young dealer.

Persephone ordered first while Taliah studied the menu, opting for the cheapest and simplest thing they could have. She wasn’t really one for fast food at the best of times, so she didn’t want to waste money on something so frivolous as a pretzel. As she waited for her order, she noted with happiness that people seemed to be moving back towards the station.

“Seems like trains are running now,” she commented. “Freedom!”

She giggled to herself. In all her seriousness of contemplating Taliah’s suitability for the Spades, she’d almost forgotten her high.

TAG: Taliah Dawson
WORDS: 480

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[Taliah Dawson]

Words can't hurt me

Taliah Dawson

These shades are gucci

Feeling like a ten, the best I've ever been

Taliah had devoted countless hours of thought to escaping the service industry. However, admittedly the brunette had been struggling with just how to go about it.  Out of all the business ventures that she'd attempted thus far the only one that had been successful had been pushing weed. Liah realized some time ago that unlike Tanice, she simply didn't have it in her to go legit. A smile that was almost friendly in nature lit the twenty three year old's face then as she "Well, that's the plan anyway and if there is anything that can get me out of waitressing I suspect that this is it."

Of the Dawson siblings, Taliah was quite possibly the least creative as evidenced by her struggle to find a catchy name for the supplier's product. Perhaps, it would come to her later, Liah concluded as the duchess agreed that keeping the name short and sweet was best.Nodding, she responded "It's still a work and progress. It's coming along though. I should have it figured out by the time I am ready to distribute." 

Truthfully,  Taliah had never much understood the appeal of small town living. Seeing the same faces over and over again, everyone knowing personal details about your life, having to travel a considerable distance to a larger city for more variety in shopping and extracurricular activities. This of course was to say nothing of  the backwards thinking that alot of small town residents possessed as a result of having limited experiences. Some would never get the opportunity to leave their city and others still would be far too afraid to accept any opportunity that they were given to leave. It was tragic really.

Taliah hadn't given much thought to taking up a hobby. She never seemed to have enough free time on her hands. Nodding, she responded "Yeah, I hear that it is a mind strengthener in particular for those with a strategic mind. I might look into it." As the annoying couple left the line, Liah could had sworn that she'd heard a collective sigh from the other passengers in line. With a giggle, she stepped forward and waited patiently while the duchess placed her order. As the supplier stepped to the side, Taliah flashed a sweet smile at the clerk as she said confidently "Hi, I would like two cheese pretzels and a small diet coke. Oh, and I want you to give me those for free."

Those within earshot laughed softly at the request, however the brunette hadn't been making a joke. Politely, Taliah stepped aside to await the completion of her order.  At the younger girl's declaration that the trains were up and running again, Liah beamed "Finally! For a while there I was starting to think we would be stuck overnight." The brunette was watching a few relieved  filing back into the station when the clerk returned with her order. Uncertain if her 'jedi mind trick' had worked, Liah dug into her pocket to withdraw a fistful of bills when the clerk glanced over his shoulder and then shifted his gaze back to her. Shaking his head to indicate that there was no charge. Taliah grinned and retrieved the bag and cup from him.

Shifting her gaze to her companion Taliah added "Glad that worked because I was really short on that total."

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[Persephone Dean]

I make money moves

sola dosis facit venenum

Liah seemed very optimistic regarding the potential success of her new dealing venture. Persephone was sure that it would be a step-up for the part-timer, but what would really open doors would be if she took advantage of the Spades offer that Persephone would subtly make her. Sure, there was no way she was going to rise instantly through the ranks, but she was definitely a potentially useful asset that Yennefer could probably make use of. Simply earning the Queen of Spades’ approval would open up far more opportunities for Liah than a successful drug run could.

She wondered idly if Liah would pursue her voiced interest in chess any further. It would certainly benefit her to develop a more strategic mindset – sound, reasoned logic took you a long way in the Spades. Persephone’s power was potent and creative, but her rational thought processes behind it all was what kept her truly in-keeping with Yennefer’s vision. Her brief exposure to Taliah Dawson didn’t really say much either way about the woman’s way of thinking, but if she was able to apply herself to chess then that would be a positive indicator.

Adrijana would probably have fun with this one.

Persephone watched in admiration as Taliah stated, very plainly, that she wanted her meal free of charge. If she had been a neutral on-looker she may have joined the amused chuckles that broke out at Taliah’s brazen request, but she knew better. Having received her own pretzel, Persephone waited patiently for Taliah’s order to come through to see how successful Taliah’s persuasion had been.

As expected, the clerk insisted that she take her meal for free.

“What a show,” Persephone said with amusement, allowing her expression to reveal just how impressed she was by Liah’s power. She rather lacked in subtlety but boy, was it effective. “I’m going to go and see if I can catch the next train,” she added swiftly, adjusting her bag on her shoulder and turning so that they were side-by-side, “But I hope to hear from you soon. You know how to contact me.”

She leaned closer as she said this, her voice low as if she were worried about anyone overhearing. In reality, it brought her just close enough to slip a simple, matte black card into Taliah’s jacket pocket. If Liah was alert and followed the signs from the subtle actions of the recruiters, perhaps she would end up seeing Persephone sooner than she thought.

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