the arrangement

Who: Doc and Eris
Where: Babylon
When: Close to closing time

Torn on the issue, Doc still knew he had to be here, to do this. Babylon was a mystery to him, by and large, as much as its' owner was. There was power at work in the place he'd need time to understand, but time wasn't something Doc had. What had happened with Jocelyn left him feeling uncertain on some levels, though talking with the twins and Kurt had gone a long way. It hadn't solved everything, but at least he knew now that he needed to follow through and find out what the price might be for Jocelyn to join the fold.

So he'd come back, piss-yellow teddybear in hand, and was breezing through the door into Babylon for the third time now. The place seemed like any other bar at this hour; quiet, dim, some of the staff lounging at the bar, but he knew the similarities stopped there. What might she demand in exchange for Jocelyn's aid? And how much would Doc be willing to pay? For a learned witch, there was definitely some leeway. She'd be invaluable on levels of insight, and if she was talented enough? His rules of engagement might become a whole lot easier to deal with in times of crisis.

When Eris felt the presence of Doc, she glanced up from where she was in her office, and she called down to the bar to have him sent up. She didn't really feel the conversation they were likely to have was one that was best had in the bar proper, after all. No, negotiations of their type would be far better suited to her office. So, she had him directed there, and when he got there, she made sure the door was slightly cracked, but not enough that he would be able to see in fully.

Doc would've liked more time, sure, but the walk through the bar and upstairs was a decent-enough start. He ignored the sniggers and curious smirks the stuffed animal drew from Babylon's other occupants as he moved, will flexing like the tensing of a muscle as Doc focused past the surface of the world around him. And again, with more time he might've gleaned some real insight, but the quick glimpse he had? Told him that Eris was someone to consider carefully. There was power at work here, the sort he hadn't witnessed in far too long. Shaking away the extra-sensory view of the world, Doc stopped outside the barely-open door to knock lightly.

"Enter." Eris said, tone suggesting she was expecting him, and it had that lightly bored sort of feel to it. Just enough that said she hadn't been waiting on baited breath for him to arrive at her door. Even if it was one of the more interesting things to go on of late. Really, things had been fairly dull. Werewolves aside, spirits aside...dull. But then again, Eris had trouble entertaining herself these days.

Nudging into the door lightly, Doc stepped in as it swung open, catching it on his heel to nudge it back into the frame. This was a private matter, and even if he expected her to share some of the details, he wasn't certain she would. So why do the employees any favors? "This is overdue," he said in greeting, lightly tossing the stuffed bear Eris' way, "And I hope you don't mind if I skip any posturing or mystery, it's hard to manage when I start off with a teddy bear." He smiled faintly, still unsure of what to expect here. She'd been far from hostile in the past, but if he had to negotiate for Jocelyn's involvement then nothing was as simple as first impressions would say.

She caught the bear, sitting it on the end of her desk as she eyed it. "This'll do." she said, nodding in approval before she let her gaze rest on him again. "Though it loses some of it's charm considering it's late, and the only reason it's here now is because you want something from me." she pointed out, leaning back in her seat and crossing her legs. "Have a seat if you'd like. Would you like a drink?"

"I'll pass, but you mind if I smoke?" Doc asked, moving round to a chair and settling in easily. "I would've brought the bear over sooner, but I'm not a fan of unknown variables. Studied some chaos theory in my younger days, can't say I'm a fan. And I'm even less a fan of places where the weave is twisted like this. Impressive, though," he complimented with a faint smile, fishing out his cigarettes as he awaited an answer.

"I don't mind." she told him, reaching into a drawer in her desk to pull out an ash tray for him, which she set on the end of the desk within his reach. "Chaos is all around us constantly, are you really the type to avoid one place just because you happen to be able to sense it?" she asked, tsking slightly as she shook her head. "I thought you were less a type to avoid on principal." she said, sounding lightly disappointed.

Lighting up and leaning forward to claim the ashtray, Doc smirked Eris' way as she chided him. "I've also been a little busy," he added with his first exhale, "Don't know how much you watch the news, but I do have a day job." He sat back with the tray, resting it on a knee and considering how to phrase this. "The thing about chaos... there's always a source, isn't there? Sometimes just a catalyst or trigger, sometimes someone keeping it going. You, me, I'm sure there's others. So it's not that I avoid chaos entirely so much as I like to try and untangle the knots first. 'Doc' is a crude handle for 'professor'," he informed her with a more earnest grin, "I'm a fan of the scientific method, even in times like these."

"Well, professor," Eris said, smiling, though there was something secretive behind it. Possibly a little dark. "Surely you've figured out that there is no untangling chaos entirely. It is, by nature, tangled. It's meant to be a mess. And if you're really here to untangle this particular one, you're going to find yourself frustrated." she told him. "Besides, if the world were an entirely ordered place, it'd be so terribly dull." she added on the end there.

"No argument here," Doc agreed with a slight nod, "But I'm not talking about total order. In fact, just the opposite. It's a constant give and take, a shifting." he nodded past Eris to the set of scales sitting in her office, with a thoughtful look. "Seems like a concept you're familiar with. Stasis is death, gotta keep things in motion, right? So... let's say I'm not here to crack the puzzle of you. Maybe I'm just looking to take a piece out, add a few new ones."

"If you were here to figure me out, I'd suggest you rethink that." Eris said. "You're here for the girl." she said, a little sugar in her tone as she fluttered her eyelashes at him. "Have her fairly turned around, I have to say. She's ready to drop everything, give up her entire life just on the basis of a few hours." she added, inspecting her nails for a moment. "I'd thought her slightly more intelligent than that, but I suppose one never knows. So, the question becomes, what is it you want her for, and are you willing to suddenly be her sugar daddy, or are we going to talk serious negotiations for her time?"

What sort of life would she be giving up? he had to wonder. Sure, Babylon seemed safe, but there was more to life than just existing in Doc's mind. Still, he didn't want to argue the merits of what Eris provided to her staff, so Doc just smiled as he tapped a curl of ash free. "I don't turn anyone," he said first, "I just show them their options. So maybe if she's seeming turned... maybe that's the intelligence you thought was there." One hand came up to wave off the observation; he figured they could probably argue semantics until dawn without either giving an inch. "What I want her for... if I said my name was War, would you believe me? Or do I have to get flashy? Either way, I think we have negotiations to discuss."

"I thought you were less naive than you're proving to be at the moment." Eris said, not quite rolling her eyes, but the urge was there. "Whether or not you intended to spin her head around you have, and that's just fact. And I apologize, but I sincerely doubt you can call anything resembling a short, single encounter suddenly inducing a belief that sunshine and fucking rainbows shine out of someone's ass 'intelligent'. She's young, she's been depressed for the past few months, and you're shiny and new. But it's not her big brain she's thinking with. It's the dewy eyed romantic bullshit that's pulling her strings." Eris said, because she did actually believe what she said in that case. And while she didn't necessarily care about Jocelyn's well being nearly as much as she was letting on that she did, that didn't mean she couldn't see a situation for what it was, and she wasn't going to be sold otherwise. She didn't believe in twoo wuv or anything thereof, particularly not anything as stupid as it happening over night. Even if that was what Jocelyn seemed to want to latch onto. She still thought the girl was heading for a serious heartache. "And get flashy, I'm not doing anything by just your word. That would be rather naive of me, after all."

"People do great things for simple reasons every day," Doc pointed out with a nod at Eris' request, rising from his seat. "I started my road just because I wanted something more than a normal life. No details, no great truths at the beginning, just a want. If it wasn't there in some capacity for Jocelyn, she would've thanked me for the lay or asked for my number." He moved around to the back of the chair, resting one hand on it as Doc eyed Eris squarely. "And maybe her want is a mistake, maybe it's just passion bleeding through. That doesn't mean it can't turn into something more. Can you honestly say you never had a mistake that turned into something more substantial?" he asked before, quite abruptly, Doc's wings ignited to life on either side, roiling with blue flames.

"Make all the excuses for her you want, it doesn't change the fact that she's a girl with stars in her eyes, and I don't really care what she's told you she'll be doing? She's blinded by you. That's what this is. Don't mistake it for anything else." she warned. It was cynical, yes, but she was one hundred percent behind the opinion. "Can you honestly say that you trust some silly little girl who's a whore by trade, to have the bigger picture in mind? To not be looking for her next meal ticket and you happen along and suddenly all her dreams come true? It isn't as if she's the sharpest tack in the drawer, now is it? But if you insist on calling it what it isn't, you do that. Whatever helps you sleep at night." she said, too much sugar in her tone. When he popped the wings, she didn't so much react as she narrowed her eyes. "Do you get off on trying to get a shock-value reaction out of people, or are you just pissed off that I'm calling your little tryst what it is, and not jumping on the 'higher purpose' train?" she asked.

"You said I should get flashy," Doc reminded her without a flicker in his expression, "This is flashy." His grip had tightened on the back of his chair during her tirade, and Doc had to think carefully on keeping his eyes calm as he released it and forced away the blades of force emanating from his back. "As for Jocelyn, let me be clear. You have your opinion of her, and whether it's right or wrong, it's a mistake. The moment you decide you know the outcome of something before it happens, you lose. Whatever power you have, whatever insight you possess, nothing is fixed. There is no greater chaos than the future," he rumbled slowly. "All I'm doing is admitting that the future can be anything. If she agrees to work with me and doesn't see the job? I'll make sure it's plain in front of her face. I'm not looking for a girlfriend, I'm looking for a crew. So do we want to make a deal? Or do you want to tell me I'm being ignorant some more?"

"Don't even start treating me like you're going to hand out life lessons." Eris snapped, leaning forward and leaning her arms on her desk. "You might like your meat young and impressionable but I'm neither, so let's cut the shit on that." she said. "Save it. Also? You're being a hypocrite with it, which isn't appreciated. You don't get to tell me that I'm making a mistake for calling it as I see it, just because you don't like it, when clearly you've done the same, deciding it's not as I see." she said. "And keep behaving like an ignorant prick and you'll continue to get treated accordingly. What's the deal you're looking for, exactly?" Just because she wasn't happy with the situation didn't mean she wasn't willing to deal. She always was. It was what she did.

Sighing as he reached up to rub the bridge of his nose, Doc moved to settle back into his seat and shake his head. "Lady, I don't care if you're older than Moses," he said evenly, "All I said was that you've determined an outcome. In my experience, that tends to come back to haunt you. And let's try to skip the name-calling." Doc smirked tightly as he lit a new cigarette, settling back in the seat. They were both reacting poorly to each other, which, in Doc's experience? Was normal when two willworkers butted heads. "I want Jocelyn to have the ability to work with my people when we need her. I want her to have a guaranteed place to stay here if she wants it. All ego-clashes aside, I get the feeling you've got the safest place in town."

"I do." She said, without hesitation there. "if she wants to stay here, she needs to be pulling her weight. Honestly I don't care how that's done, so long as she does it in some fashion. I've never had anyone on a very structured time-scale, it's mainly figured out by them, if she needs to be able to leave at the drop of a hat--which is what I'm assuming you're going to need--then that's fine, but again, she needs to be doing her part. Also, if you're going to be having her work for you, I want something out of the deal. I want full disclosure. I can't very well keep her and everyone else here safe if I don't know what's happening. I can't keep this place up and running if there are surprises I don't know about." Which was just prudent logic, really.

He weighed that offer, feeling a flutter of relief inside at the fact that they could still deal, personal distaste aside. They didn't have to get along, they just needed to reach an accord. "Full disclosure doesn't include details on my people," Doc was quick to amend, "Their stories are theirs. What we're doing, sure. I don't think you have any interest in letting things in town get out of hand, after all. And you have no idea about the surprises around here..." Really, that was an offer Doc was happy to accept. So long as Eris didn't employ any nihilists, it couldn't hurt. And if she did? Well, he was quickly grouping together a solution to such problems. "As for Jocelyn 'working' for you... would one client be enough? I'm not under any illusion that you think I'm on the level about her, but if I float a little cash to keep her place here, would that do?"

Eris was still looking at Doc in a highly Unimpressed manner. "Don't I." she said flatly. "How about you do yourself and I a favor. Stop assuming you're better than everyone around you, and that you know everything and more than anyone else. It's making you come off as pompous, overblown, and frankly, as previously stated--naive." she said. Then she was back to cutting the deal, which held no tone whatsoever. "I don't need the details on your people. So long as it doesn't effect me or mine, if it doesn't spill over here, I don't care. I just want information on what you're doing or if there's anything going on bigger-picture wise in the world that I might not be aware of immediately. There isn't anything I would stand to gain with letting anything get out of hand around here. I would have to set up shop someplace else, and I like it here. I would rather stay. As for being her exclusive client, that would be acceptable." she said. Simple solutions were often the best, and she was fine with it. It wasn't as if her clients couldn't be entertained by others on her staff, so if Doc wanted to go that route, it satisfied all of the requirements. It had been what she was going to suggest in the first place.

"When I see you or yours dealing with the problems in this town and trying to piece out where they're coming from, I'll stop assuming," Doc said plainly, shoulders shrugging. "Right now I see a bar with a lot of very nicely done tricks keeping it safe. And like I said, it's impressive. But it's passive, too. So as much as I'd like to talk shit right back to you, I'm not going to. I'm interested in a mutually beneficial deal here, okay? You keep your passive balance, I'll keep working on my dynamic one." He gave a little nod at her acceptance of his terms, half-extending a hand to shake before withdrawing it with a grin. "You don't strike me as the shaking type, and I'm not a contract signer. Word-as-bond good enough? Hell, I'll even throw in a freebie that you might already know. The shadows. Something in the caves outside of town triggered them, I think. There was a gateway there that one of my people found, it led to a world connected by mirrors on our side. Do what you want with the information."

Eris smiled. "It's nice to know you judge a book by it's cover, and consider only what you see, and the little 'tricks' as the entire picture." she said, again, far too sweetly. "You don't know anything about my operation here, but you seem like you've gone and done what you were bitching at me about--assuming things." Considering he didn't know anything about her or what she did. He knew she had a well protected place and it was in fact, impressive. But beyond that? He was making a whole lot of assumptions. hell, he didn't even know who her and hers was. But she didn't share the thoughts. Mostly she was disappointed in him and the entire proceedings. She sat back in her chair. "Word as bond works, so long as you keep it. If I find out otherwise, I'll be...displeased." she said, tone light even if the meaning wasn't. "And a way in there, hm? Interesting." She didn't say more than that, and in fact didn't give away anything like how interested she actually was. She was leaving things flat for the moment, because she didn't want to give him anything.

She wasn't the only one disappointed by things. From where Doc sat, she'd set the hostility of the entire meeting when she'd damned Jocelyn's desire to work with Doc, whatever the reasons might've been. He wasn't here for her opinion, just the deal. And he'd gotten that, at least. "Would you really want me to see the whole picture?" he asked as he rose from his seat, "Would you want me in your home staring down to the weave of it? Or can you just admit that I know things you don't, just like you know things I don't? The fact that I can say so doesn't mean I'm boasting or assuming. Enjoy the insight and the teddy bear, I'll be in touch when there's a reason to be. Unless there's anything else." You strike me as the type who loves having the last word. Call it another freebie.

"I would have thought that the fact that the deal I want from you is for information that that would have been clear I know you know things I don't." she said flatly. "I'm not the one making flagrant across the board assumptions about everything, and arbitrarily dismissing things you haven't even started figuring out." she pointed out. "I'm sure you can see yourself out." She smiled then. "Unless there's anything else." she said, tone acidic.

"Be fair now, Eris," Doc said as he popped her door open, "We're both making assumptions tonight." He could've said more, but would it matter? She had her ways, he had his. The deal was struck, and from here Doc could only hope that involving himself with Eris in even this minimal capacity wouldn't be his downfall. He stepped out with a sigh and a shake of his head, suddenly wondering if it had been a good thing he hadn't interacted with another willworker in so long. "Nothing like being able to shape reality to make someone a colossal dick," he muttered, as much about himself as her, then started to head back downstairs.