Productivity Is Important (Venetia)

[Dusty Dawson]

All remained quiet on the investigative front. Dusty had to wait for the research to reach it's conclusions. While she was happy to find allies who could help her in the areas of expertise she was not fluent in, it was often frustrating to leave bits of information gathering out of her hands. Dusty liked to be in control. She liked to see the results come about on their own.

But, while she was waiting there was business that could always be taken care of. Her sword was in relatively good shape, considering it's use on her journey from the south.

Everything, though, needed a tune up. So why not take it down to a professional? After all, she had heard that this shop was the best place to buy swords. So a repair job didn't seem all that out of the ordinary.

And maybe...just maybe...she could get a little snooping done. After all, Rue Coupole was a busy district. If the shops in Rosae Crucis had tunnels running around below the surface than there was no telling what lay below the other districts. But, Dusty was willing to bet it was more of the same.

So yes, there was an ulterior motive to the little trip. But regardless of the reasons, it was still guaranteed to be a productive day. Dusty strolled into the shop, her sword tethered around her back with a strip of white cloth. Perhaps she could find a more suitable replacement for that, too...

"Hello!" she greeted, upon her entry. Dusty eyed the various blades out on display and whistled quite loudly. It was a very impressive collection.

[Venetia de Artio]

Sitting behind her desk inside the shop the black haired woman was drawing a sketch of her next creation. A special custom made shield, she was going to start working on later. Poking her chin she looked thoughtfully at the drawing, she wad just finished calculating the right size of it and was now thinking about what kind of steel she should be using. Something heavy that could take a lot maybe not even steel, but what was called tungsten carbide the hardest kind metal she knew.

Venetia looked up as she heard someone enter the shop and then immediately greet her. Blinking a couple of times her eyes scanned the person in front of her. Realizing that she knew about this person Venetia quickly stood up, letting her lips curve up in a small polite smile. “Welcome.” This was the woman called Dusty, a detective and a person you shouldn’t be hiding anything illegal from. Luckily Venetia’s shop had no dark secrets and all her materials were bought from honest people, still she couldn’t help but feel slightly nervous.

She followed the red haired woman’s gaze and raised an eyebrow. “Impressed?” The black haired woman asked the stranger. Venetia was used to getting comments about her being a girl. A woman should stay at home and make food, that’s what she had been told once but despite being a very feminine lady, Venetia was strong and worked just as good and maybe better than most men in the city. Seeing that this was also a woman, obviously someone who worked and wasn’t the kind of person that stayed at home, she didn’t expect it to be a subject in their conversation though.

[Dusty Dawson]

"Sure am!" she said, looking over to the proprietor. Certainly not what one would picture when thinking of a sword-smith. But, she had heard enough about the woman to not be surprised. Her body of work seemed to be speaking for itself.


"Looks like I got the right place, too." she grinned, "Say...you do fix-up jobs?"

She turned from her admiration of the various blades, to provide her own trusty weapon to the shop owner.

"Got a katana I been usin' for quite some time. I'd like ta make sure the ol' gal can keep on cuttin'!"

[Venetia de Artio]

Venetia examined the weapon as she listened to what the other woman said. It surely looked like it had been used a lot and was time to sharpen it.

Doing that wasn’t very difficult and even though she usually didn’t fix weapons, this was something she absolutely could do. When Dusty finished her last sentence Venetia looked back up at her. “Usually I don’t do such things, but I’ll fix it for you.” She told the detective.

[Dusty Dawson]

"Great, glad ta hear it!" Dusty proclaimed. She watched as Venetia looked over the blade. It seemed that this was a rather unusual case. For whatever reason, Dusty was being made an exception.

"I appreciate the hand." she said as she wandered about the store. A few of the other katanas looked rather impressive. They were probably better than her own. After all, it was nothing more than a simple military issue. But, that katana had got her through basic training and more than her fair share of battles and skirmishes.

Tilting her hat back, she continued to pace around the store, "How long you think that's gonna take ya?"

[Venetia de Artio]

Venetia fell silent for a moment thinking about the other woman’s question. “You could come back tomorrow and it will be finished.” She told her, not having anything else to work on beside the shield she had the time to do it later today or tomorrow.

She felt happy for helping someone like this woman and simply loved helping people that fought for justice. Being a storeowner make her hate thieves and love justice. The woman in front of her was truly a hero to Venetia and she couldn’t help but look up to her. “You… you’re a detective right?” She couldn’t help but ask and her eyes seemed to be shining with admiration.

[Dusty Dawson]

It was more out of habit, than anything else, that caused Dusty to go over the shop's presentation carefully. But, there was nothing that could point to anything going on aside from normal business. She supposed it stood to reason that not EVERY shop owner in Venus City was involved the vast conspiracy. That, of course, didn't make things any less dangerous.

She glanced back over to the owner. The woman had a question and a rather curious look about her. It almost was enough to put to rest any questions she might have had about the legitimacy of the business.

"Guess word travels, don't it?" she chuckled, "Yeah, that's me. Dusty Dawson, Consulting Detective."

There was no way of escaping her identity. The foreigner with the odd accent had started to make a name for herself. And apparently that name was now out of Night's Doorstep and into other parts of the city. Not that she minded. Being identifiable was certainly good for business. It did make other things a little trickier, though.

That was when she would have to rely on some trusted friends and perhaps a disguise or two. But, those were issues she would deal with at another time. Still...perhaps this woman could be of some help in areas other than sword maintenance.

"What gave me away? The hat, or the accent?" she smiled, cheerfully.

[Venetia de Artio]

Venetia’s polite smile was exchanged with a grin. “Both actually, I could tell who you were after just taking a quick look at you.” Having information about most people that you should know about in the city was a great thing, and Venetia would always know when to be prepared or not as someone entered the shop.

She had to force away the urge to say that she truly admired the red haired woman’s work and then thought of something else to see. “What do you think about my shop? Thinking I’m involved in something illegal?” she asked, though with a somewhat playful smirk on her face.

[Dusty Dawson]

Dusty shrugged and leaned against a wall, "I'm gettin' too recognizable!" she smirked back, "Gonna need to swap m'hat if I'm gonna be pokin' 'round anywhere."

This was obviously not your average shopkeep. Although, she supposed she shouldn't make assumptions about professions. Still, this woman was much more observant than most were. And that was a quality she respected in people.

"At first. Let's just say, I been suspicious of a lot o' places, recently." she admitted, "Can't say too much. But somethin's definately goin' on in this town. I aim to figure out just what that is."

Even if it was a joke, Venetia was still dead on. And she had to give credit where it was due. She chuckled along with the playful look, "I'd say you're on the up an' up. Unless you're just bein' real clever-like." teased the detective, "But, I'd figure ya out 'fore long. Now, your name's Venetia if I remember right. I do my homework, too. Actually got some pretty good recommendations from some fellas."

[Venetia de Artio]

Spying and investigating had been one of Venetia’s biggest childhood dreams and she couldn’t help but feel slightly jealous at the other woman’s work. It seemed both exiting and interesting. “That might be a good idea.”

What Dusty then said made Venetia curious, of course she knew something about what the other woman was talking about, considering that she was practically living in the middle of it. Something was going on in this part of the town, though the red haired woman probably knew more about it than she did.

“Very good,” Venetia replied, as Dusty knew her name. “Seems like you’re not the only person that’s starting to get known around here. Or my store is more known than me but you could say it’s a part of me.” She shrugged.

[Dusty Dawson]

What was exciting to some could always be mundane to others. And, as Dusty had been nothing but a soldier for most of her life, spying and snooping about had been something she had either been actively doing or training to do.

"Sure is!" grinned the detective, "Ya went through all the trouble o' settin' up this business o' yours, so it only seems natural ya'd get a name along with it. Nothin' like standin' out among your peers to grab a little extra business, eh?"

Not that her situation was exactly the same. After all, the detective trade was not a very strong one up here in Terre de Conte. It wasn't even as strong as it once was, back home. Dusty had to think about what her own idol would have said about the state of affairs in the Golden Canyon. With a mental shake of her head, she returned back to the conversation at hand. After all, this person was more likely to answer back than the long deceased Addy Dawson was.

"Anyhow, maybe you could lend me a hand." she said, "If I could get m'self a peek down in your basement, I'd like to test out a theory that's been rollin' 'round in the ol' noggin."

[Venetia de Artio]

She chuckled a little at what the detective said. “Very true.” To reject that she liked to be the best would be a lie and she wasn’t the person that would sit still and watch her competitors’ stores grow bigger without doing anything to make her own better.

Venetia then frowned at the next thing the red haired woman said. “Well of course. Mind telling me more about it, or is it secret perhaps?” She asked as she started walking. “This way.” Gesturing towards a door back in the store she couldn’t help but wonder why Dusty wanted to see it. She didn’t really suspect her for illegal business did she?

[Dusty Dawson]

"Ain't nothin' you doin'." Dusty smirked. She followed along as Venetia led the way down towards the basement. The layout was sure to be different. In truth, she wasn't sure how she was going to gain access to any of the tunnels outside of the very few that she had stumbled across. But, with a cooperative business owner, Dusty was going to have a lot more time work with.

"This is an old city. Been 'round for a very long time." she said, deciding to clue Venetia into what was going on. Or at least what she had been able to make of it so far. "With places that old, there's bound to be secrets all over the place. One thing I found is that Rosae Crucis has a few tunnels goin' 'round between shops. Old tunnels, too. Now the question is...how many tunnels are we talkin' about an' just how far along do they go?"

Those tunnels and what they were being used for had been her obsession since she started up her work in Venus City.

[Venetia de Artio]

Venetia couldn’t help but sigh with relief at what the detective told her. She opened a door and held it open for the other woman before continuing to show her the way.

When Dusty then told her what she was working on Venetia found herself in deep thoughts. That was indeed a good question. They had by now started walking down some stairs that eventually led them to yet another door. “This is it.” She told the other woman.

[Dusty Dawson]

Dusty nodded and proceeded down the stairs. Her boots echoed off the stone as she descended into basement area. The last shop she had been to, had it's entrance tucked away in a store room. But, it did lead out to a basement across the street. So far, it led her to the conclusion that there were only a few of the tunnels interconnecting. At least that's what the evidence was pointing to so far. If she could find a large network, it would prove much more useful. After all, that would have to be the primary system that was being used traffic....well, whatever it was they were trafficking.

"Thank ya, ma'am." she grinned as they reached their destination. It was darker than the upstairs, as one would expect from a subterranean room. Dusty took a brief pause to let her eyes adjust before sending the blue orbs about the room. Nothing struck her as out of the ordinary.

"There any part o' this area ya use more often?" she asked, "An' who sold the place to ya? Hm...sales....well, hot damn! There's a brainstorm I shoulda had much earlier!" Dusty slapped a fist down into an awaiting palm at that dawn of realization. Dusty glanced over at Venetia with a sheepish grin on her face, "Ah, heheh, don't mind me. Just a little thinkin' aloud."