The previous day was relaxed enough. He checked in on Gaetan, then continued his tour of pawnshops and picked up a few more gurkha knives, along with a handful of tips on various rivals’ activities. He inquired with a trusted associate about iris-scan security systems, and ordered one for each of his domiciles. He also checked in on a few business interests. The only one that reported anything unusual was the strip club Chez Wanda, where there had been an unusually high number of female clientele lately; up to five or six times the usual number over the last two weeks. The manager had even asked one group to leave when they repeatedly demanded illegal services of the girls. That group had not returned, but the flood of female customers continued unabated. Curious, but not alarming.
After his daily espresso with Frenzy, he started on some of their illicit operations, dropping by to spot-check records and inspect merchandise. He lost interest in that fairly quickly, though, and went to his main residence in the Vieux-port to rest and freshen up for a night on the town with the mysterious Mexico-Yakutian named Lizereli. The Cuernavacan had made reservations for them at la Terrasse Magnetique on the roof of the Hôtel de la Montagne to watch the sun set over downtown Montréal.
In addition to Lizereli’s outrageous ancestry, the woman was beautiful in that way only mortal women are when they’re at the height of their attractive powers. For some it lasted longer than for others, and it was either heightened or trampled on by other factors, such as conversational abilities and specific personality traits that could demand deeper interest or repel the interested. In her case, she was also chic in the way of the mortals who were drawn to Montréal—or the gods who were drawn there, for that matter.
He always marveled at how different cities drew different types. No matter where one was born in the world, it seemed there was a homing beacon that pulled beings to places where they could be amongst their own kind. There were also competing beacons homing in on places of birth and ancestry, insisting people stay where their roots were strong. Put those together with the oppressiveness of one’s upbringing, and you could probably determine with fair accuracy how far from home a person would end up. The aggressive moneymakers gravitated to places like New York, Tokyo, São Paulo and London; the artistically chic gravitated to Paris, Barcelona, San Francisco and Montréal. That is if their upbringing didn’t prevent them from traveling too far from parents, siblings and the tree in the back yard.
One could probably go on categorizing people in one way or another for a long time, and that was indeed how the two beautiful people on a first date made their small talk as the sun painted the sky in reds, purples and brilliant fiery pinks. Sipping drinks in wide cone-shaped glasses, pronouncing outrageous judgments on the heads of people passing on the sidewalk far below and in office buildings standing between them and the river. They also laughed at themselves in the self-conscious way of those who judge others based on superficial traits, knowing full well that their own traits are just as fair game. It was also a game of testing your date as you might an adversary, probing for weak spots, matching wits, making sure the occasional innuendo got through their armor, and opening oneself up to the occasional jab. For her it was also a somewhat effective cover for jittery nerves. He made sure the same current of nervousness ran under his own movement patterns, so they would be matched on the nerve front.
Chapter 8, section 2: The night before
The previous day was relaxed enough. He checked in on Gaetan, then continued his tour of pawnshops and picked up a few more gurkha knives, along with a handful of tips on various rivals’ activities. He inquired with a trusted associate about iris-scan security systems, and ordered one for each of his domiciles. He also checked in on a few business interests. The only one that reported anything unusual was the strip club Chez Wanda, where there had been an unusually high number of female clientele lately; up to five or six times the usual number over the last two weeks. The manager had even asked one group to leave when they repeatedly demanded illegal services of the girls. That group had not returned, but the flood of female customers continued unabated. Curious, but not alarming.
After his daily espresso with Frenzy, he started on some of their illicit operations, dropping by to spot-check records and inspect merchandise. He lost interest in that fairly quickly, though, and went to his main residence in the Vieux-port to rest and freshen up for a night on the town with the mysterious Mexico-Yakutian named Lizereli. The Cuernavacan had made reservations for them at la Terrasse Magnetique on the roof of the Hôtel de la Montagne to watch the sun set over downtown Montréal.
In addition to Lizereli’s outrageous ancestry, the woman was beautiful in that way only mortal women are when they’re at the height of their attractive powers. For some it lasted longer than for others, and it was either heightened or trampled on by other factors, such as conversational abilities and specific personality traits that could demand deeper interest or repel the interested. In her case, she was also chic in the way of the mortals who were drawn to Montréal—or the gods who were drawn there, for that matter.
He always marveled at how different cities drew different types. No matter where one was born in the world, it seemed there was a homing beacon that pulled beings to places where they could be amongst their own kind. There were also competing beacons homing in on places of birth and ancestry, insisting people stay where their roots were strong. Put those together with the oppressiveness of one’s upbringing, and you could probably determine with fair accuracy how far from home a person would end up. The aggressive moneymakers gravitated to places like New York, Tokyo, São Paulo and London; the artistically chic gravitated to Paris, Barcelona, San Francisco and Montréal. That is if their upbringing didn’t prevent them from traveling too far from parents, siblings and the tree in the back yard.
One could probably go on categorizing people in one way or another for a long time, and that was indeed how the two beautiful people on a first date made their small talk as the sun painted the sky in reds, purples and brilliant fiery pinks. Sipping drinks in wide cone-shaped glasses, pronouncing outrageous judgments on the heads of people passing on the sidewalk far below and in office buildings standing between them and the river. They also laughed at themselves in the self-conscious way of those who judge others based on superficial traits, knowing full well that their own traits are just as fair game. It was also a game of testing your date as you might an adversary, probing for weak spots, matching wits, making sure the occasional innuendo got through their armor, and opening oneself up to the occasional jab. For her it was also a somewhat effective cover for jittery nerves. He made sure the same current of nervousness ran under his own movement patterns, so they would be matched on the nerve front.