Cathouse: Listen While You Look

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As James and Riley, Vanessa and Crystal track Simon in order to learn more information, pretending to be two lovers not afraid of showing affection in public.



Vanessa was wearing James because while Aoife and her black-haired alt who kept meeting Laura at night were smaller and easier to hide they were also pretty girls. Riley was already sparkly so she attracted attention. However, the pretty, sparkling woman with the tall guy who had his arm around her? She attracted a lot less attention. The pair were strolling quite casually along one of the paths in Central Park. They had followed Simon from a high rise thanks to Nameless getting Vanessa his description and when he would be coming out. He hadn't stopped anywhere for long yet, though. He had picked up a paper, stopped for a coffee and said hello to a few folks but otherwise he just kept walking. Late thirties, greying brown hair and a suit to match. He was unremarkable, really. Vanessa never would have given him a second glance normally.

Simon sat down at a bench beside an older man wearing a cardigan. Vanessa found that interesting. Hadn't Sarah met Olive in much the same manner yesterday? Crystal was pulled in a bit closer so Vanessa could lean down to whisper into her ear. "If I wanted you to try to snatch bits of their conversation from moving the air, how close would we need to be?" Vanessa slowed their walk not long after passing the men on the bench. For all intents and purposes it looked very much like James was either whispering sweet nothings into Riley's ear or detailing naughty things he wanted to do to her. The arm around her was nothing shoulder of possessive and the half-lidded eyes indicated all his focus was on the pretty brunette beside him.

Golden eyes focused on James as Riley leaned closer, her head resting on his arm. "Where we are is fine," she whispered. "Futher away would work, too." There wasn't too much wind this evening, and what there was would answer her call and allow her to add to it, sending it in whichever direction she choose.

Nodding, the smirk on James' face suggested she'd said something far more suited for the bedroom. Vanessa directed them over to the nearest bench. It was on the opposite side of the path from the men and a few benches down to be less conspicuous. Riley was pulled into James' lap after he sat, that very charming smirk of his playing over his lips. The smile and smirk had been a big reason why Vanessa had chosen him in the first place. "We need to be careful," the words were whispered into her ear, James' face mostly hidden by her hair. "There are people out and if our eavesdropping brings the conversation past them it might get them to give the guys enough attention to stop their conversation."

"I'd offer to make the other people go away, but I don't think that would work," Riley said softly. There were a variety of things she could do without moving from the lap currently serving as her seat which would cause people to vacate the area, but that also led to the possibility that the people they wanted to overhear would leave, too. "I'll be careful, don't worry. I just need to see them." While she could do this even without having a visual on the two men, in this case it was better to be able to see them so she could focus on making sure their words didn't reach anyone else's ears.

"That's easy enough." James' arms wrapped around her waist as his face buried in her neck. It likely looked like he was laying kisses over the skin there, which was Vanessa's intent. Pivoting where he sat, one leg got pulled up onto the bench and bent around Riley as she was relocated slightly. It put James' back to the men they were spying on, which Vanessa didn't like at all because it meant any reaction on her end would be delayed if something went wrong. Yes, Crystal was technically capable but never having worked with her before meant Vanessa wasn't really very willing to put her life in the other woman's hands.

A hand brushed Riley's hair over her shoulder as James' lips came back to her ear. "Better?"

"All better. Ready?" As she spoke, Riley was getting the feel of the area, both the actual look of it and the current natural movement of the air around them. Her path selected, she now waited only for her official green light to proceed.

"Ready." A moment later James' face was buried in her neck again, looking for all the world like his lips were busy covering every inch of her skin in kisses. It would be up to Riley to play it off, but at least Vanessa was doing her part. Hopefully they'd get something of interest out of this.

"James" had more experience with this sort of thing than "Riley" did. She was playing a role, and she knew it, and did her best to act the part even though her own knowledge and experience with pretending to make out while spying on people was somewhat lacking. The idea of Vanessa taking on the physical form of a man was a new and unexpected one for her. But she moved in closer, if that was even possible, falling silent as her arms encirled James' body. People walking by would see a man and a woman engaged in what was very much a public display of affection, not knowing that what was really going on was something altogether different.

People inconveniently strolling past both them and their targets meant that they could only get snatches of conversation. There were chunks missing from the time the people got near one set of people to the time they moved past the other set. Vanessa couldn't help but think that more people in this city needed to be runners because they all walked so damn slowly while she was trying to eavesdrop. At least "Riley" seemed to be comfortable playing up their ruse, Vanessa noted mentally as she listened to who she assumed was Olive stipulating a visible girl and Simon saying what she thought was confirmation that he had a supplier. Listening to their conversation was a bit like trying to picture an image with half the puzzle pieces missing.

Olive didn't have the hook up to the girls. That much Vanessa figured out. Simon was his hook up but she couldn't tell if Simon had a direct line to whoever the supplier was or if there was yet another middle man to go through. Damn chatting housewives.

More people walked by, and one chose to sit on the bench already occupied by Simon and Olive. The men stopped talking, their attention diverted, and Riley turned her head away from them, her face brushing against James'. "Do you have what you need?" she questioned softly. They'd only be able to get more information now if they all changed locations or if the new person on the bench moved before Simon and Olive did.

With James' back to their targets Vanessa had no idea why their eavesdropping had stopped. Out of the corner of an eye Vanessa looked for passersby but there weren't any coming that she could see. "I'm not sure. Why? Did they leave?" Unfortunately, simply turning to look was out of the question. If it hadn't been an issue of powers precise it would have been Crystal with her back to the men. Vanessa felt twitchy just sitting here waiting to know what had changed.

"Someone sat down next to them," she explained quietly. "Not surprisingly, they stopped talking, and looked away from each other." She rolled her head to the side a bit, stealing a quick glance at the other bench. "They're getting up now. I imagine they don't want to talk about this sort of thing when they know someone can overhear them."

"Are they relocating together or going in separate directions?" Following them could be problematic, but it could also be done. The guys you wanted to spy on rarely cooperated so well, though. They were always out to make life harder for Vanessa.

"They're parting ways," was the reply. Just like that, these two horrible people were walking off, possibly to go arrange for the sale of more mutant women. They could be stopped in their tracks, right there and then, but that couldn't happen. The investigation wasn't over yet.

James' forehead fell onto Riley's shoulder and a frustrated growl followed. "Damn it." He didn't move for a while, just stayed there and thought about how annoying that was. "They never make it easy. Bastards. I guess we've got all we're going to get and it'll have to be enough."

And no one could be alerted to the fact that they'd been watched. So many things that were possible yet couldn't happen. Doing something to Simon and/or Olive now might stop them, but it wouldn't solve the situation. Riley knew this. "No point in choosing one to follow?"

"Not likely. Initially I wanted to follow Simon and talk to him as a potential client but after his meeting with Olive that may be too suspect. These sorts of guys are likely hyper paranoid so if they catch us following them they could shoot first, worry about the bodies later and that would definitely blow our cover." James straightened up, grabbed Riley by her hips and picked her up as he stood. Vanessa considered just walking away with her like that but chose to be nice and set her down. An arm stayed around the brunette's shoulders, casually slung there as if she belonged to James. "C'mon, my love, let's go back to my place and sort through what we know, what little we've learned and see what pieces we can put together. Maybe Beaubier has seen or heard something useful today."