Traffic getting here was a real b$@#%. A little girl sniffled a little bit as she climbed out of her giant pink Esrcalade, blowing her nose, and then straightening up her absolutely @#$^ing adorable dress. She'd been in a very black mood, and the drive here hadn't changed that. If she had the ability to go hoarse, she would have screaming at the all of the idiots who'd cut her off on the way here. Now, she curse under her breath as she realized she'd left her purse in the car.

After a climb up over her booster seat, she pulled out a little black cat bag, and slammed the door shut, a sound that echoed through the parking garage. 

She'd been summoned here. Called by a secretary for business related to... something important? She hadn't been listening too much, as her soaps were on at the time, and she needed to know if Leslie's evil twin had really switched with her before the car accident. It was @#$%ing important.

The clip clop of little heels rang out as she marched her way to the elevator, pressing the button that lead to the reception area before the offices upstairs. She felt a little queezy on the way up. It had been a while since she'd had an appointment. She'd ignored the last... ten? Getting out of her funk meant getting back into her healthier habits, though... 

Still, an apology was in order, and... Well... It was hard to look into those eyes and say sorry. She found herself turning a little red despite herself. With a couple smacks on either cheek she straightened herself out, and sniffled a little. 

DING! The doors opened. She strode out to the reception desk. "I'm here for my appointment." 

The receptionist recognized her. Good. No questions. She didn't want to deal with that bullsh$# today. 

"Ahh, yes, Mrs. Sergeyeva will see you soon." Wut. 

"Mrs... Who?" Not with Devon? Where was Devon? What the #@$%?!

Devon had been super busy in the past few weeks, which meant that the Haven to-do list had quite a few loose ends floating around, and not enough senior members to pick up the slack. Sveta did what she could, but she was not very well informed in a lot of these cases, so she spend her days sifting through follow-up duties that seemed doable even for her.

A little mutant girl was one of these things.

From what Sveta could gather, Devon had been seeing the girl for counseling (?), and marked her as possibly useful for future Haven missions. Which would come in handy now that Noel was inexplicably missing and Nate had up and became a family man. Sveta was hesitant about involving a child in things, but Devon's notes marked her as "older than physical age". And that was not even her first rodeo.

Sveta sat in her office as an assistant informed her that the girl had arrived for their appointment. She stood, but did not offer a hand as the guest was shown in.

"Welcome, Ms. Gartner." it was strange to talk to a child like she was an adult, but Sveta had some practice "I'm Svetlana Sergeyeva. Devon's unavailable, but I was holing we could talk."

Ohhhhhhh What. The. #@$^. 

Really? She'd put on her new favorite dress and everything! She cursed under her breath, but smiled sweetly when the woman invited her back toward the offices.

Great. She had to act nice. She didn't want Devon hearing about how she threw a hissy fit in his offices; he might not invite her back. Still, this didn't mean she had to like it. Any of it. @#$^. Why did she bother with this crap anyway? It wasn't like he was going to sweep her off her feet and go marry a woman that looks 12 anyway. 

F@#$, though, it just felt nice to have someone like him listen to her. Now, she was going to go talk to someone else. She sniffled. This damned cold always crept up when she was in a bad mood. It made being a snot nosed brat literal, and it made her mood worse.

Yeaaaaap, She was gonna be smarmy. If she couldn't freak out, they had to at least give her that.

She walked into the office. A quick glance around the room told her this person was in charge of some sh#$. The setting, the desk, it screamed B#$%^ in power. She liked that. She also liked to be in charge. Still, it didn't change the fact that she wasn't a dreamy eyed intellectual with dark hair and soul rending observations about her psyche. Almost by instinct her arms crossed as soon as she entered the room and camped by the door.

She introduced herself. Yup. In charge. Smarm, Activate: "So, what is it, then?" She stayed rooted, looking slightly up even from a cross the room. "Are you going to try and sell me a time share in Aspen, or something?"

The child stopped in the doorway, with a very un-child-like expression on her face. She seemed disappointed that Devon was not here. Go figure. If Sveta had not known in advance that she was mentally older than her, she would have been unnerved by the look. The frilly clothes did not help much either. But she had seen weirder or any average day.

>>"So, what is it, then? Are you going to try and sell me a time share in Aspen, or something?"

"I have no idea what that is" Sveta admitted lightly "But I'm not trying to sell you anything. I am simply picking up work that Devon had on his agenda. I am told you are older than your physical age?"

Her arms were still crossed, a sort of social armor that allowed her incredible defense in situations like this, in which she was walking in with a lot less information than this... Svetlana. For starters, she had no idea why she was here, and this woman... definitely did. She took a couple steps forward after the mention of her deviepie, and placed her hands on her hips instead, looking the woman up and down... 

Honest assessment? She was pretty. She was busy. She was very serious. What was going on here? Her teeth suddenly gritted audibly as Sveta mentioned her appearance. With a huff, she stated plainly. "Obviously. I'm sure I'm older than you are, unless you are younger than you look. But that's not really important, now, is it?" She walked closer, stopping right in front of the desk, and leaning in. 

"Why am I here, Svetlana Sergeyeva?" She matched the woman's serious tone, eyes cutting toward the woman like flying daggers. She was doing something Devon meant to do? What was that, then?

Svetlana lived in this world where adults could be trapped in children's bodies, children could look like adults, and sometimes where were multiple copies of one person. Not much surprised her anymore, but it did not mean she needed to get used to things like a sniffly little girl talking like a jaded middle-aged woman, leaning across her table while dressed like an anime figure.

>>"Obviously. I'm sure I'm older than you are, unless you are younger than you look. But that's not really important, now, is it? Why am I here, Svetlana Sergeyeva?"

"Actually, it is kind of important" Sveta reiterated, holding her gaze. "Devon flagged you as someone we might potentially recruit to work with us, but that wouldn't fly if it qualified as child labor. I don't think the law has caught up to mutations yet, but at least we got a reasonable excuse. So. Are you interested in working with Haven, Ms. Gartner?"

Stiff, sardonic eyes softened into a mild surprise as the woman spoke. Work with Haven?

"You are offering me a job?" She looked up toward the ceiling for a moment, blinking a few times. She had... never worked before. I mean, she did stuff like forum moderation and Spamazon online work, but... Work for a place. Work for Devon? She turned a little red, but quickly reverted, looking to Svetlana. Work for her?

She gave the woman an appraising look once more. "What would such a position entail?" Did they need help in the mail room? Counting donations? Did they need a small paper weight?

Why would Haven.... Be interested in her? Almost as important.

"And... Who are you?" Was she in charge now? Had she always been here, or was she a new addition? Spending several months moping in her mansion had left her a little behind the times.

>>"You are offering me a job?"

"Maybe" Svetala noted. She did not have the full power to hire someone, but she could give out assignments on a temporary basis is one of her projects needed reinforcements. Right now, it did.

>>"What would such a position entail?... And... Who are you?"

"I'm a member of the... executive committee" she noted, leaning back in her seat. she did not like naming the Inner Echelon, it sounded like something out of a supervillain movie "Recently pretty much the only one who bothers showing up for work, besides Devon. I have been with Haven for... a year or so?" time flies.

"There is something that has come to Haven's attention that I have to deal with. And since Devon keeps a list of potential people that can help us with... ongoing projects, I thought we might recruit your help. If it works out, maybe it would be a more permanent position."

Her eyes narrowed a bit at the maybe. Oh, boy, this lady was toying with her emotions a bit, wasn't she?  Fingers landed on the desk, drumming against it a few times until the woman spoke again.

Executive committee? That was a thing? L tilted her head a bit, letting her palm fall flat on the desk instead on in the impatient drumming position. They were short staffed. Stuff was going on here, and this woman was calling in the cavalry, so to speak. 

Interesting. 

She stood there, considering the offer for a moment. What did she see herself doing if she didn't opt to try this out, and maybe work for Haven if it went well?

Well, she had planned a tea party with Mr.Cuddles, Mrs. Johanas, and Officer Squishy face when she'd gotten home, so if that wasn't a sad representation of what her life was without something real to occupy her time, she didn't know what was.

"Alright. I'll bite. What do you need me to do? I'm not exactly built for heavy lifting, so it must be something specific to my... situation, right?"

It was always a little strange to be bargaining with an adult in a sniffly little girl's body. Sveta tried her best to stay professional. Which was quite the feat, given that she herself was not even sure what she wanted from said girl, or how they could pull a mission off together. But she trusted Devon's judgement, and Devon trusted Ms. Gartner.

>>"Alright. I'll bite. What do you need me to do? I'm not exactly built for heavy lifting, so it must be something specific to my... situation, right?"

"Kind of." Sveta nodded "It's more of an information gathering task. It recently came to my attention that the neighborhood most of our buildings are in, and the adjoining blocks, are a part of some kind of a mafia turf. Clearly, this can't fly with Haven, but we are not openly political or... inclined to vigilantism, so we need to proceed carefully in gathering information."

Also, I'm going to hell for hypocrisy.

Well, that just made things a lot more interesting. This woman was asking her to spy... on the mafia? Her? 

She looked at the woman for a moment longer, and then leaned back to sit on the guest chair. "Sure, I can do that." She crossed her legs, and stared nonchalantly. In her mind, she was going over possibilities. How was she going to gather information about the mob? She had some ideas. Money would help, but leg work would suffice. And hey, worst case scenario, she got caught and they shot her. Oh well. "I'm guessing you want me to act outside of the Haven name on this... Hence snagging an outsider for it." 

She sighed.

"Well, then, tell me everything I need to know."

She wondered if mobsters still made people go swimming with cement shoes. The ocean was cold, so that would probably be annoying.

Sveta wondered if she was making a mistake. Was this the kind of mission Devon would have tapped the girl for? Even if she was an adult mentally, her size and looks made it dangerous for her to get into trouble. Was it worse to assume that she'd do it, or more offensive to believe she couldn't?...

>>"Sure, I can do that. I'm guessing you want me to act outside of the Haven name on this... Hence snagging an outsider for it."

"For now, yes." Sveta nodded. Miss Gartner was not declining the offer outright. And she was quick on the uptake.

>>"Well, then, tell me everything I need to know."

Sveta smirked a little and nodded. It seemed like they had an understanding.

"I have been hearing reports that some suits are going around, collecting protection money from local businesses. There has been an uptick in the activity recently, and it sounds like there are areas where two turfs overlap. It's only a question of time before one side or the other makes a move. We need to know what we are dealing with. I can get you a list of the businesses affected so far."

Yes, they were jiving now. 

For one, her mind was awash with possibility. There were so many ways she could approach this, that she really would need as much info as possible to some up with the most effective solution. The large and small of it was that this was going to be dangerous. Why did that excite her? Maybe it was the reality that no matter what she wasn't going to get hurt... Or maybe it was the thought of getting on Devon's good side.


All of it sounded good. "You have my address on record. Send the info my way, and I'll take a look over it. What do you want. Names? Locations? It will take a few days for me to bring anything of use, I think. And, of course, there's the question of payment..." She looked up, clasping her hands and placing them on her knee. Was that a smug smile?

They would have to compensate her for her time, right? And it would have to be under the table. Tax free. Haven had a bit of a seedy underbelly to it, didn't it? 

The little lady seemed like she was all down for the spying mission. Devon must have read her right. Sveta tried to imagine what it would be like to be a child forever, and she quickly concluded that she would be down to do dangerous sh*t too in a heartbeat. She was looking forward to this collaboration.

>>"You have my address on record. Send the info my way, and I'll take a look over it. What do you want. Names? Locations? It will take a few days for me to bring anything of use, I think. And, of course, there's the question of payment..."

"We'll pay you. Not by the hour, but I'm sure we can figure something out." she smirked back "Names and locations are great, but what I'm really going for is leverage. We need to keep the neighborhood safe without shoveling out Haven money for protection."

Leverage. That was a word. L sat quietly for a moment, seemingly locked in deep thought. How was she going to get leverage on members of local gangs? Identifying them was one thing, finding their hide outs another. But leverage. 

She was going to have to be crafty. Get dirty. Under handed. You know, this just might end up being a good way to relieve some stress.

She then looked up to Svetlana once more, nodding firmly, and standing up. "Okay then. It sounds like I'd better get to work. I look forward to your info, and my first paycheck." 

With that, she turned to walk toward the exit, stopping only to look back for a moment and state plainly. "Tell Devon he really owes me for this."