A part of her had wanted to scowl at the idea of putting up with this kind of treatment for a measly sum of points. What good was a tip when the owner received 98% of it? Still, Earth-chan worked in mysterious ways at times. Maybe they just wanted to see her struggle a little more, or perhaps this was a fast track to getting some well deserved breaks around the game. A lot of players were still well bodied and racing up the ranking in record time. Then there were people in her position, anchored to the bottom. Lafey ducked into the employee restroom for a moment to and locked the door with a click. Some privacy was nice after numerous hours of playing this facade, and it was wearing on her. She needed a drink, no, three drinks, preferably all at once and chased down by an actual meal instead of this shit that Americans called food. “Definitely not doing this again.” Lafey murmured to herself as her actual voice broke through the disguise of the cheerleader, only to quickly get back into character when hearing the boss knock on the door after she had spent five minutes just splashing water on her face and working herself up to continue the shift. “My b, boss! Back and ready to go!”

Lafey walked down the aisle carrying a large tray of food, complete with two orders ready to go. Those awaiting eyes rose to meet her own, blocked only by the blouse she had on, displaying her figure, with a name tag that read “Lisa” who rested next to a slightly opened top and displayed a good amount of cleavage. “Alright, famalams! Here's your order!” Lafey set down the tray of freshly cooked food on top of the table, pink and blue painted fingernails plucking each plate in hand from largest to smallest. Her voice, much like the incident when Earth-chan had forced the makeover onto her, had come in handy in situations such as these, at the cost of both her sanity and self-image. A revered black market dealer such as her, reduced to a girl whose entire vocabulary was the equivalent of a gun barrel to the eardrum. Loud, boisterous and unbecoming of somebody of such prestige as her. The customer wished her well, folding a small crumpled up bill underneath hjs plate as she let out a playful giggle and offered a wink towards the two. “No cap?! Thanks, besties!” Lafey passed by the other people and walked back near the kitchen output where all the food came from. Happy as a clam, the scantily clad blonde leaned over to gaze into the kitchen again with the biggest grin imaginable. An older man who Lafey had talked to earlier would be present, the interviewer from before, now appearing much more content with a more friendly employee. “I'm rizzing ‘em up good, boss! I already hit today's tip quota!”

One of these scaly vermin down, and one fellow ruffian safe from the claws of a gruesome end. That was a pretty big step in the right direction in Lafey's book. She nodded in agreement to Esther and looked back down at the now calm and relatively docile bird. "They're rather cute when not trying to gouge your eyes out, wouldn't you say?" The woman joked with Esther, offering a soft laugh while looking back at Tristan and his speedy form racing all around the area. It was nice to know that the handsome face wasn't just for show. His plan, while only briefly put into words, was crystal clear. Lafey and Esther seemed to know what he wanted to do.

"Never thought I'd add "livestock herder" to my list of accomplishments." Lafey said, wielding her weapon and going with Esther to position themselves in front of the unruly chicken reptile beasts. Once close enough, she'd move to the sides to ensure that they didn't have another option to escape from. While moderately successful, one chicken did manage to get by just before it would skitter off. "Oh no you don't, you walking fast food meal!" Lafey did manage to hold onto its tail just in time, then began the process of leaning back to get it to slow down. The chicken hissed and produced noises that were more fitting of a horror film villain than an animal.

Their struggle lasted for a few seconds, with Lafey being swung around by the chicken in order to buck her off, only for her grip to hoist her on the back of the chicken. "Play time's over, now time to listen." Now fully mounted up, she leaned down to put it into a choke hold and use its head to steer it in the direction of Tristan's trap. The ride was anything but smooth, as her ride wanted her off of its body in the worst way. It bucked, kicked, tried to spin around to peck her, but Lafey refused to yield. It was about a minute or so until the thing tired itself out and would be made to listen. "There we go, that's better." She slowly guided the beast inside of the enclosure just after Esther had put her bird away.

Esther Estrada-Levin | Tristan Wu

[ Mission Start: What's Best Left Unpaid 4/5 ]

"Alright, next up is Veronica Lassiter. Quite the bill on her tab." Her eyes lit up at the amount that she had been overdue with. Definitely something that "Let's go see what she's been up to."

Lafey walked along the concrete pathway just like any other day. For such a simple task, she was certainly getting her steps in. She took a quick break to sip down a black coffee on the way to her destination. Veronica's location in the phone app showed that she was in the business sector of Unison Central. It was a fancy and better name than "a bunch of dilapidated buildings that was once a finance business." Whatever it was, Lafey couldn't really care much, as they didn't truly matter in the long term of things. As long as Veronica was there, she had her reasons for going.

She stepped foot inside one of the towering buildings while on the hunt for her little payment princess here. Her location danced all around the area, up one floor, down another, dancing all around. Lafey couldn't get into any kind of read on where she was going to. Another turn down the hallway where she should have been and then...nothing. It was getting aggravating to keep playing this cat and mouse game. So Lafey decided to draw her out the old fashioned way.

She calmly came to the lobby of the 12th floor and set her phone down and walked around the corner, awaiting her prey. Her hand fell over her weapon while Lafey awaited the other woman to show herself. It wasn't a short wait, as after a few minutes, she heard the sound of somebody above her making their way to the lobby just as she was beginning to wonder about if Earth-chan could do delivery services for a cigarette. A woman wielding a spear came out of the ceiling and went down to stab the woman whom she thought was below. She descended to the floor while Lafey ran forward with a swing of her baton.

Veronica was smacked into the opposing hallway, catching her breath before launching into another scrap. She aimed to skewer Lafey through the side as she sidestepped the attack and and gave another swing of her mace at her target. Veronica slapped the weapon away with her arm with a pained grunt, while trying to shake Lafey off of the spear. Now disarmed, Lafey returned the favor to Veronica by throwing her spear away as well. Both women glared at one another, and the fists began to fly!

Five minutes later, Lafey stood over the beaten body of Veronica, with the money she had valued. One spit of blood from the mouther, she smirked at her opponent. "I do love a good fight. I'll keep you in mind if you want a rematch." She smiled, fetched her weapon from the hall and limped back into the elevator with several new bruises. Once the doors closed, Lafey felt her body just collapse to the ground on the slow ride down back to the ground floor.

[ Mission Start: What's Best Left Unpaid 3/5 ]

The first stop was down and it was a start. Definitely not enough money to call it a day just yet. Fortunately for this lovely black market dealer, there were always more fish in the sea to shake down for everything they had. The next target was fairly similar. A debtor who owed E2C money before it's dissolution. Which meant that they were as good as hers, but more importantly, one step closer to testing out that loot box synergy with her class. Her phone flicked open and spun around to show another person currently in debt.

"Terrance Young, Central Hub." Lafey memorized to herself. The location wasn't too far where she had come from, maybe a five minute walk. It was as easy as retracing her steps and searching for a raggy looking man currently performing for a minuscule crowd. Lafey double checked the information on her phone and walked up as normal. Any sign of a well dressed woman was the perfect indication of easy money. He greeted her and gave the same sympathetic routine while she listened. "A very sad story, Terrance. But I'm here on behalf of the E2C, now under my management. Time to pay up."

Of course, he didn't take too kindly to this. But he actually got up and started to sprint away at record speeds. She groaned and took off her heels, then gave chase. She wasn't too quick and nimble, but Lafey was in shape enough that she knew she could outlast this little annoyance. She kept up behind him, stocking clad feet racing across the concrete while trailing behind Terrance. It was a lengthy two minute sprint, but eventually he fell to the ground where she awaited him.

"Why do you always run every time?" Lafey asked in between gasps of air, digging in his pockets and pulling out his wallet. After helping herself to some extra dough, she tossed it back and tried to catch her breath. One kick to the side of his head for good measure, and she was off. "I'll send you the bill later."

"The world of crime is a fickle mistress. All it takes is a single step, and it pulls you in the deep end with no way out. Those that escape can only get so far before they feel its pull once more. A slow, festering wound that won't heal." Lafey knew the sentiment well, even being the daughter of somebody entrenched in that kind of criminal empire. It was a lifestyle that stripped society down to its basic fundamentals. The person with the most money, guns, forces or any mixture of the three got everything, while everybody else fought for the scraps. You were worked your way to the top or were defending what was yours from the next bright eyed underdog who wanted everything. "But it makes every day an adventure. Much better than an office job somewhere."

She introduced herself as Esther, a charming name. Lafey wasn't one to judge on why somebody would suddenly gain morals in this kind of world. Where the line between law and crime remained solely on what an omnipotent emoticon deemed as "fair". For all they knew, Earth-chan could decided to make breathing illegal and just end everybody still playing currently. Such was the life at being subjugated by a pixelated tyrant. She flashed a grin to the woman, well on board for whatever their plan was here. It really didn't matter what they could catch, as long as it wasn't going to try and kill them, that is.

Just then, another presence made themselves known. A man appearing before them in a flash. The surprise had caught Lafey off guard, though she quickly adjusted her robe and sized him up. There was no greeting, no happy little introduction of any kind. Just silence. A man of no words but great impact, as the saying went. She nodded and turned back to the organizer. "It appears the party has gathered." Esther picked up on the same thing and gave a brief run down on the plan. The mission itself was straightforward, but the small heist of that shitty little painting was even better for score some quick points.

"Sounds good. Before we can see about snatching the painting, we should start searching for animals that the farmer's going to want. Anybody see any on their way up here? Or know of any animals that can be caught and transported quickly?"

Esther Estrada-Levin | Tristan Wu