I'm not concerned about all hell breaking loose, but that a part of hell will break loose
(Pretend this went up yesterday! Mwahs)
Category: Pink Sheep RPG
Lavender scanned the awfully official looking missive once more and then turned her gaze to the long hallway of doors. Each led to an office, and she wasn't sure which she was supposed to take. "Excuse me-" she started to ask, only to be brushed off as another dark-robed drone pushed past her. In her pastel, color-splashed clothing, she stood out like a sore thumb. She was hoping that someone would notice that little fact and stop to help her, but none did. Typical, she thought sourly.
Drumming her fingers on her desk, Natalie glanced over at her Sailor Moon wall clock again. Her next appointment- one Lavender Brown- was fifteen minutes late; hardly surprising, as Natalie remembered the flaky blonde well from school. Flighty as a bird, always gossiping about clothes and boys with that Patil girl. Apparently, she was tending bar - again, not surprising.
With a sigh, she rose and headed towards the door. She could probably stand to get some more coffee before her appointment showed- if she showed.
As soon as she poked her head out the door, she sighed again. Of course, there the blonde was, looking bewildered as a virgin at a sex club. "Miss Brown?"
Lavender jumped slightly as a very brusque voice intruded on her thoughts and she turned, pasting on a bright smile. "Hullo. Sorry. Got lost."
Natalie gave her a strained smile. "No worries. Come on in."
Grumpy, Lavender noted, easing past her and into the small space. She knew what she'd been summoned for- well, she was guessing she knew what she'd been summoned for. The club had been buzzing for ages now, but Lavender didn't think they would have brought her in. She'd never seen anything illegal going on. At least, she didn't think she'd ever seen anything illegal. A little frown puckered her brow as she considered that. "Shall I sit?"
"Please do." Crossing back to her side of the desk, Natalie sat down in her chair and reached for her notepad. "So, I assume you've heard the scuttlebutt as to why you've been summoned here?"
"A little bit," she confessed. She'd mostly turned a deaf ear to it, thinking that it was just her coworkers repeating salacious rumours for their own entertainment, but if she'd been summoned, it was clearly more than that.
Opening the file in front of her, Natalie took a moment to look it over, though she really didn't need to. She'd read most of the dossiers numerous times. "According to records, you've been employed by Julian Vaisey for a little over a year, yes?"
Lavender nodded, wondering what else the little file said about her. Did they know she and Vaisey had shagged? Would she have to tell them that?
"In your time at Incubus Dreams, have you seen anything strange?" Natalie asked. Before Lavender could speak, she went on to clarify. "Strung-out on potions, perhaps? Street thugs? Drug transactions?"
"Oh, no. No, no, no." Incubus Dreams was a nice place, as far as things of that nature were concerned. She was pretty sure the bouncers had a zero tolerance policy or something of that nature.
"No back room dealings? People coming and going, aside from the usual crowd?"
Lavender wrinkled her nose. "Nothing like that."
"Alright." Shuffling her papers, Natalie continued on with the line of questioning. "Is there anything about Mr. Vaisey that you would say is a bit... off? What are your impressions of him?"
"Mr. Vaisey is a very nice man, very charming. I've never noticed anything that would give me pause." She rather liked him. He was a great boss compared to others she'd had, and an equally wonderful one night stand. There wasn't even any awkwardness when they did occasionally bump into each other. "I have a hard time believing these rumours."
"Hmm." Glancing up, the blonde gave her former house mate a long, piercing look. From what she could tell, Lavender Brown had polished off the Julian Vaisey Kool-Aid. Brill. "What is the nature of your relationship with Mr. Vaisey?" she asked.
"I work for him." After their rather pleasant interlude they had gone back to being nothing more than professional. Though she wouldn't have minded a repeat performance.
"Is that all?" the blonde asked, arching a brow. What aren't you telling me?
"That's all." She mimicked the other woman's expression and raised one eyebrow. It wasn't a lie, so she didn't feel bad for saying it.
"Have you ever slept with him?" Natalie posed the blunt question. The woman's view of Julian Vaisey was way too rosy. She didn't think Lavender would lie to protect him, but she honestly didn't know.
"Once, nearly a year ago." She shrugged, brushing a lock of honey blonde hair over her shoulder.
And there we go. Merlin, was sleeping with the boss a rite of passage at Julian Vaisey's clubs? She'd only found a handful of women who hadn't, and that was mostly because they were married or beat for the other team. "Well, I think that's it. If you think of anything else," she reached across the desk and held out her card to Lavender, "please don't hesitate to let me know."
"Will do," she replied, plucking the card from the younger woman's fingers. "Can I go now?"
Natalie waved her hand towards the door. "Have a nice day."
Lavender smiled beatifically over her shoulder and headed for the door, planning on getting out of the dingy building and into some fresh air as soon as was humanly- witchly?- possible. In her haste she nearly mowed over the person waiting outside the door, managing to stop at the last second before she plowed into the taller woman. "Sorry!"
"It's alright," Heidi replied, smoothing nonexistent wrinkles from her skirt.
The blonde smiled, saluted, and hurried down the hallway.
"Are you Natalie McDonald?" Heidi asked, turning to the lone occupant of the room.
"I am," Natalie replied, rising from her chair. "Are you Heidi Macavoy?"
Heidi nodded and shut the door behind her. The hallways were nearly empty, but closing the door gave her some small semblance of privacy.
"Have a seat," Natalie said, gesturing to the chair that Lavender had just vacated. "I hope you weren't kept waiting long."
"Not at all." The wait had given her time to think, about what they were going to ask, and what she could say.
The blonde quirked a brow, but didn't say anything else. In truth, Ms. Macavoy's appointment was supposed to have started ten minutes ago. "So, Ms. Macavoy, do you know why you're here?"
"I'm assuming that it has something to do with Julian." It wasn't a secret that he was being investigated for something, though the charges changed depending on which rumour you happened to be listening to at the time.
First-name basis. Nearly every employee she'd interviewed referred to him as 'Mr. Vaisey.' She'd be interested in seeing if Justin's interviews had skewed the same way. She didn't let anything alter her expression, though, as she continued her line of questioning. "You're a dancer at Pandora's Box, correct?"
"Yes, I've only been there for a few months, though." As upset as she'd been by his coercing her into working there, it really was much better than the Shady Lady.
"Yes, since June," the Auror commented idly. "However, Gringotts records show that you run Macavoy Events in London. So," she said, looking up at the brunette, "how does a Muggle event planner wind up as a burlesque dancer at one of London's premiere nightclubs?"
Heidi froze. "My father owns it, I try to run it for him. We've been having some... money problems, so I had to take a second job."
Glancing down, Natalie said, "What made you decide to leave the Shady Lady?"
"Let's just say that I got an offer I couldn't refuse." Her father had a problem, but he was still her father. She couldn't have sat back and watched Julian ruin them both.
Arching one blonde brow, Natalie said, "You'll have to be more specific, Ms. Macavoy."
"Look, my father has a bit of a problem, and in the last few years he's managed to incur a substantial amount of debt. Julian said he knew about the debt and he would ruin the both of us if I didn't come work for him." She ought to have known she wouldn't get out of this without telling humiliating family secrets.
"So, he blackmailed you." It wasn't a question, but inside, Natalie was nearly bouncing with excitement. This could be enough to help move their case to trial, if this was really true.
"I suppose you could put it that way." She certainly had when she'd been railing at him in her head.
Nodding, Natalie managed to remain calm. "Forgive me for being blunt, but have you ever slept with Julian Vaisey?"
Heidi's nose wrinkled. "No."
That puts you in a very small group. "Have you, during your time in his...employment, ever seen anything suspicious?"
"No, nothing like that."
"You haven't been pressured to...sleep with patrons?"
"Oh, heavens no. That sort of thing is frowned upon." She'd been quite glad to hear it. The amount of money she was making for dancing was triple what she earned at the Shady Lady, but it was for dancing only.
"Of course. Forgive the assumption. It's just that your salary from Pandora's Box is extremely generous for a dancer," Natalie commented idly, watching Heidi's face for any reactions.
"I'm a dancer, not a whore," Heidi said stiffly. She knew what it looked like, going from stripper to well-paid burlesque dancer, but she didn't sell her body. Not in that way, at least.
Natalie held her hands up in a peace offering. "I'm not saying you are, Ms. Macavoy, but your employer is being investigated for illegal activities; it wouldn't be a stretch of the imagination for him to be running a brothel."
"Well, he isn't." Slightly mollified, she brushed imaginary pieces of lint from her skirt. "I've never seen anything illegal going on in Pandora's Box."
"But you were blackmailed into employment there, which under British law, is illegal," Natalie reminded her.
"Aside from that." She was starting to feel bad about admitting to it in the first place. Initial blackmailing aside, he'd an almost ideal boss. Rarely seen, unless there was trouble or a hitch somewhere.
Folding her hands on the desk, Natalie fixed Heidi with a long, searching look. "Ms. Macavoy," she said, "you don't have to work for him anymore. We can help you, protect you, if you help us."
"And are you going to match my salary as well?" The debt she'd spoken of earlier wasn't going to go away by itself and it only seemed to be growing. She had to work. "I don't really have a choice here."
"No, you don't. We have the evidence to put Julian Vaisey in prison for at least five years for the illegal trafficking of alihotsy," Natalie said smoothly, even though she was bluffing. "And when that happens, you won't have a salary. It's going to happen, it's inevitable."
"So, either way I'm in big trouble. Why shouldn't I work until I can't anymore?" She hadn't realized that if the rumours were true that she would be out of a job. Merlin help her, that meant she might have to go back to the Shady Lady.
"Helping us doesn't mean you have to stop working. But we need your help, Ms. Macavoy." Looking across the room at her, Natalie's gaze was imploring. "Would you be willing to testify at trial?"
"No." She didn't want the entire world knowing that she'd resorted to taking off her clothes in front of strangers for a living.
Merlin, where was Finchy when she needed someone to do some convincing without violence? "Ms. Macavoy- er, may I call you Heidi?"
Heidi shrugged. "If you'd like."
"Alright. Heidi, we need your help. Julian Vaisey blackmailed you into working for him, another criminal offense in his tally. No one needs to know that you're helping us until trial, but it would greatly help our case if you would agree to testify against him." Merlin, Natalie hated begging.
"And after the trial, if he's found not guilty I'm still out of a job." Or worse, if he was the criminal mastermind they were making him out to be.
"We can help you with that, Heidi," the blonde said. "If you help us with this, we can help you."
She shook her head. Early on she had learned that if it sounded too good to be true, it probably was. "I seriously doubt that."
"Why do you doubt that?"
"What could you possibly do to help me?" They couldn't make the debt disappear and they couldn't pay her. They couldn't help.
"There are programs, we can help hold you over until you can find another position." Natalie was grasping at straws, but she had a feeling their entire case rested on convincing Heidi Macavoy to testify against her employer.
"I'm sorry, I can't." She couldn't chance losing that source of income; there was no telling what would happen if she did, but it wouldn't be good.
"If I might ask, why are you so keen on protecting him?" Natalie asked casually. "He's blackmailing you into dancing for him. I doubt his intentions are noble."
"I'm not protecting him." Heidi was doing this solely for her dad. If it was only her arse on the line, she would testify without qualms, but it wasn't just her.
Leaning in, Natalie tried one last time. "Heidi, I can understand why you'd be reluctant to testify, but I'm asking you to do the right thing. Julian Vaisey is a criminal, and you know it. Please, help us put him away so that he can't do this to anyone else."
"It's not just me relying on that money, you know," she said suddenly. "If it was just me, I wouldn't be worried about testifying. I just can't do it."
"Because you're scared of retribution?"
"A little bit, yeah. If he's such a bad person, wouldn't you be?" That wasn't all of it, not by a long shot, but it was enough.
"If he's in Azkaban, he can't hurt you. And we can protect you before trial." That wasn't a problem.
She wasn't afraid of being hurt, but of a fate worse than that. He'd already threatened to ruin her and her father once, what would stop him from following through if she testified. Nothing, that's what. "Can I think about it?"
The Auror gave an inner sigh and nodded. "Here's my card," she said, handing it across the desk to Heidi. "Please give it some thought. It would be a great help to us."
The card was taken and tucked into one of the numerous pockets in her purse without a glance. "I can't guarantee that I'll say yes."
"I know. Just think about it."
Category: Pink Sheep RPG
Lavender scanned the awfully official looking missive once more and then turned her gaze to the long hallway of doors. Each led to an office, and she wasn't sure which she was supposed to take. "Excuse me-" she started to ask, only to be brushed off as another dark-robed drone pushed past her. In her pastel, color-splashed clothing, she stood out like a sore thumb. She was hoping that someone would notice that little fact and stop to help her, but none did. Typical, she thought sourly.
Drumming her fingers on her desk, Natalie glanced over at her Sailor Moon wall clock again. Her next appointment- one Lavender Brown- was fifteen minutes late; hardly surprising, as Natalie remembered the flaky blonde well from school. Flighty as a bird, always gossiping about clothes and boys with that Patil girl. Apparently, she was tending bar - again, not surprising.
With a sigh, she rose and headed towards the door. She could probably stand to get some more coffee before her appointment showed- if she showed.
As soon as she poked her head out the door, she sighed again. Of course, there the blonde was, looking bewildered as a virgin at a sex club. "Miss Brown?"
Lavender jumped slightly as a very brusque voice intruded on her thoughts and she turned, pasting on a bright smile. "Hullo. Sorry. Got lost."
Natalie gave her a strained smile. "No worries. Come on in."
Grumpy, Lavender noted, easing past her and into the small space. She knew what she'd been summoned for- well, she was guessing she knew what she'd been summoned for. The club had been buzzing for ages now, but Lavender didn't think they would have brought her in. She'd never seen anything illegal going on. At least, she didn't think she'd ever seen anything illegal. A little frown puckered her brow as she considered that. "Shall I sit?"
"Please do." Crossing back to her side of the desk, Natalie sat down in her chair and reached for her notepad. "So, I assume you've heard the scuttlebutt as to why you've been summoned here?"
"A little bit," she confessed. She'd mostly turned a deaf ear to it, thinking that it was just her coworkers repeating salacious rumours for their own entertainment, but if she'd been summoned, it was clearly more than that.
Opening the file in front of her, Natalie took a moment to look it over, though she really didn't need to. She'd read most of the dossiers numerous times. "According to records, you've been employed by Julian Vaisey for a little over a year, yes?"
Lavender nodded, wondering what else the little file said about her. Did they know she and Vaisey had shagged? Would she have to tell them that?
"In your time at Incubus Dreams, have you seen anything strange?" Natalie asked. Before Lavender could speak, she went on to clarify. "Strung-out on potions, perhaps? Street thugs? Drug transactions?"
"Oh, no. No, no, no." Incubus Dreams was a nice place, as far as things of that nature were concerned. She was pretty sure the bouncers had a zero tolerance policy or something of that nature.
"No back room dealings? People coming and going, aside from the usual crowd?"
Lavender wrinkled her nose. "Nothing like that."
"Alright." Shuffling her papers, Natalie continued on with the line of questioning. "Is there anything about Mr. Vaisey that you would say is a bit... off? What are your impressions of him?"
"Mr. Vaisey is a very nice man, very charming. I've never noticed anything that would give me pause." She rather liked him. He was a great boss compared to others she'd had, and an equally wonderful one night stand. There wasn't even any awkwardness when they did occasionally bump into each other. "I have a hard time believing these rumours."
"Hmm." Glancing up, the blonde gave her former house mate a long, piercing look. From what she could tell, Lavender Brown had polished off the Julian Vaisey Kool-Aid. Brill. "What is the nature of your relationship with Mr. Vaisey?" she asked.
"I work for him." After their rather pleasant interlude they had gone back to being nothing more than professional. Though she wouldn't have minded a repeat performance.
"Is that all?" the blonde asked, arching a brow. What aren't you telling me?
"That's all." She mimicked the other woman's expression and raised one eyebrow. It wasn't a lie, so she didn't feel bad for saying it.
"Have you ever slept with him?" Natalie posed the blunt question. The woman's view of Julian Vaisey was way too rosy. She didn't think Lavender would lie to protect him, but she honestly didn't know.
"Once, nearly a year ago." She shrugged, brushing a lock of honey blonde hair over her shoulder.
And there we go. Merlin, was sleeping with the boss a rite of passage at Julian Vaisey's clubs? She'd only found a handful of women who hadn't, and that was mostly because they were married or beat for the other team. "Well, I think that's it. If you think of anything else," she reached across the desk and held out her card to Lavender, "please don't hesitate to let me know."
"Will do," she replied, plucking the card from the younger woman's fingers. "Can I go now?"
Natalie waved her hand towards the door. "Have a nice day."
Lavender smiled beatifically over her shoulder and headed for the door, planning on getting out of the dingy building and into some fresh air as soon as was humanly- witchly?- possible. In her haste she nearly mowed over the person waiting outside the door, managing to stop at the last second before she plowed into the taller woman. "Sorry!"
"It's alright," Heidi replied, smoothing nonexistent wrinkles from her skirt.
The blonde smiled, saluted, and hurried down the hallway.
"Are you Natalie McDonald?" Heidi asked, turning to the lone occupant of the room.
"I am," Natalie replied, rising from her chair. "Are you Heidi Macavoy?"
Heidi nodded and shut the door behind her. The hallways were nearly empty, but closing the door gave her some small semblance of privacy.
"Have a seat," Natalie said, gesturing to the chair that Lavender had just vacated. "I hope you weren't kept waiting long."
"Not at all." The wait had given her time to think, about what they were going to ask, and what she could say.
The blonde quirked a brow, but didn't say anything else. In truth, Ms. Macavoy's appointment was supposed to have started ten minutes ago. "So, Ms. Macavoy, do you know why you're here?"
"I'm assuming that it has something to do with Julian." It wasn't a secret that he was being investigated for something, though the charges changed depending on which rumour you happened to be listening to at the time.
First-name basis. Nearly every employee she'd interviewed referred to him as 'Mr. Vaisey.' She'd be interested in seeing if Justin's interviews had skewed the same way. She didn't let anything alter her expression, though, as she continued her line of questioning. "You're a dancer at Pandora's Box, correct?"
"Yes, I've only been there for a few months, though." As upset as she'd been by his coercing her into working there, it really was much better than the Shady Lady.
"Yes, since June," the Auror commented idly. "However, Gringotts records show that you run Macavoy Events in London. So," she said, looking up at the brunette, "how does a Muggle event planner wind up as a burlesque dancer at one of London's premiere nightclubs?"
Heidi froze. "My father owns it, I try to run it for him. We've been having some... money problems, so I had to take a second job."
Glancing down, Natalie said, "What made you decide to leave the Shady Lady?"
"Let's just say that I got an offer I couldn't refuse." Her father had a problem, but he was still her father. She couldn't have sat back and watched Julian ruin them both.
Arching one blonde brow, Natalie said, "You'll have to be more specific, Ms. Macavoy."
"Look, my father has a bit of a problem, and in the last few years he's managed to incur a substantial amount of debt. Julian said he knew about the debt and he would ruin the both of us if I didn't come work for him." She ought to have known she wouldn't get out of this without telling humiliating family secrets.
"So, he blackmailed you." It wasn't a question, but inside, Natalie was nearly bouncing with excitement. This could be enough to help move their case to trial, if this was really true.
"I suppose you could put it that way." She certainly had when she'd been railing at him in her head.
Nodding, Natalie managed to remain calm. "Forgive me for being blunt, but have you ever slept with Julian Vaisey?"
Heidi's nose wrinkled. "No."
That puts you in a very small group. "Have you, during your time in his...employment, ever seen anything suspicious?"
"No, nothing like that."
"You haven't been pressured to...sleep with patrons?"
"Oh, heavens no. That sort of thing is frowned upon." She'd been quite glad to hear it. The amount of money she was making for dancing was triple what she earned at the Shady Lady, but it was for dancing only.
"Of course. Forgive the assumption. It's just that your salary from Pandora's Box is extremely generous for a dancer," Natalie commented idly, watching Heidi's face for any reactions.
"I'm a dancer, not a whore," Heidi said stiffly. She knew what it looked like, going from stripper to well-paid burlesque dancer, but she didn't sell her body. Not in that way, at least.
Natalie held her hands up in a peace offering. "I'm not saying you are, Ms. Macavoy, but your employer is being investigated for illegal activities; it wouldn't be a stretch of the imagination for him to be running a brothel."
"Well, he isn't." Slightly mollified, she brushed imaginary pieces of lint from her skirt. "I've never seen anything illegal going on in Pandora's Box."
"But you were blackmailed into employment there, which under British law, is illegal," Natalie reminded her.
"Aside from that." She was starting to feel bad about admitting to it in the first place. Initial blackmailing aside, he'd an almost ideal boss. Rarely seen, unless there was trouble or a hitch somewhere.
Folding her hands on the desk, Natalie fixed Heidi with a long, searching look. "Ms. Macavoy," she said, "you don't have to work for him anymore. We can help you, protect you, if you help us."
"And are you going to match my salary as well?" The debt she'd spoken of earlier wasn't going to go away by itself and it only seemed to be growing. She had to work. "I don't really have a choice here."
"No, you don't. We have the evidence to put Julian Vaisey in prison for at least five years for the illegal trafficking of alihotsy," Natalie said smoothly, even though she was bluffing. "And when that happens, you won't have a salary. It's going to happen, it's inevitable."
"So, either way I'm in big trouble. Why shouldn't I work until I can't anymore?" She hadn't realized that if the rumours were true that she would be out of a job. Merlin help her, that meant she might have to go back to the Shady Lady.
"Helping us doesn't mean you have to stop working. But we need your help, Ms. Macavoy." Looking across the room at her, Natalie's gaze was imploring. "Would you be willing to testify at trial?"
"No." She didn't want the entire world knowing that she'd resorted to taking off her clothes in front of strangers for a living.
Merlin, where was Finchy when she needed someone to do some convincing without violence? "Ms. Macavoy- er, may I call you Heidi?"
Heidi shrugged. "If you'd like."
"Alright. Heidi, we need your help. Julian Vaisey blackmailed you into working for him, another criminal offense in his tally. No one needs to know that you're helping us until trial, but it would greatly help our case if you would agree to testify against him." Merlin, Natalie hated begging.
"And after the trial, if he's found not guilty I'm still out of a job." Or worse, if he was the criminal mastermind they were making him out to be.
"We can help you with that, Heidi," the blonde said. "If you help us with this, we can help you."
She shook her head. Early on she had learned that if it sounded too good to be true, it probably was. "I seriously doubt that."
"Why do you doubt that?"
"What could you possibly do to help me?" They couldn't make the debt disappear and they couldn't pay her. They couldn't help.
"There are programs, we can help hold you over until you can find another position." Natalie was grasping at straws, but she had a feeling their entire case rested on convincing Heidi Macavoy to testify against her employer.
"I'm sorry, I can't." She couldn't chance losing that source of income; there was no telling what would happen if she did, but it wouldn't be good.
"If I might ask, why are you so keen on protecting him?" Natalie asked casually. "He's blackmailing you into dancing for him. I doubt his intentions are noble."
"I'm not protecting him." Heidi was doing this solely for her dad. If it was only her arse on the line, she would testify without qualms, but it wasn't just her.
Leaning in, Natalie tried one last time. "Heidi, I can understand why you'd be reluctant to testify, but I'm asking you to do the right thing. Julian Vaisey is a criminal, and you know it. Please, help us put him away so that he can't do this to anyone else."
"It's not just me relying on that money, you know," she said suddenly. "If it was just me, I wouldn't be worried about testifying. I just can't do it."
"Because you're scared of retribution?"
"A little bit, yeah. If he's such a bad person, wouldn't you be?" That wasn't all of it, not by a long shot, but it was enough.
"If he's in Azkaban, he can't hurt you. And we can protect you before trial." That wasn't a problem.
She wasn't afraid of being hurt, but of a fate worse than that. He'd already threatened to ruin her and her father once, what would stop him from following through if she testified. Nothing, that's what. "Can I think about it?"
The Auror gave an inner sigh and nodded. "Here's my card," she said, handing it across the desk to Heidi. "Please give it some thought. It would be a great help to us."
The card was taken and tucked into one of the numerous pockets in her purse without a glance. "I can't guarantee that I'll say yes."
"I know. Just think about it."