doublesmall | [INBOX] fractura.

Is it? C'mon, you're in and out of here more than most of the family, you know.

[And also, yes, he's all over the place and nosy. It's primarily that.]

I want to know if there's anyone you think would be a good bet to press for a little more information on the state of things-- someone you've met, or who anyone else might've mentioned to you. I'd rather find somebody who's got some insight on the other side, but it's not a requirement, exactly.

[After a little pause, he adds:]

Someone I can find easily, preferably. If nobody knows who they are, it's a lot of extra effort on our end.

More people'd be in an' out if, you know.

[ If it were safe, he supposes, but even before all of this, he's still one of the ones who goes around town like he doesn't care about unofficial boundaries. ]

Someone with more information, huh... I can probably stick my nose around and find somebody like that, yeah. Are you gonna be the one talking? Why don'tcha also talk to Xie Lian? He's got to have info we're missing.

Edited 2020-02-18 04:59 (UTC)

I might be. But if one of ours has any connection to somebody, then it makes more sense for them to ask the questions.

[And it depends on the relationship between whoever he settles on and any Moris... like, friendly questions are fine, so is a less friendly interrogation. He's flexible.]

That's part of the plan, though. I arranged for a neutral party to sit in, just in case. [Not that he expects Xie Lian to try anything, but he does expect his guard dogs to, if they realize.]

[ Kano nods slowly but also. He's no good for interrogation unless he has all the pieces, or most of the pieces, or even some of the pieces- and it doesn't even feel like he has that much, just a handful of info from five different puzzles. He will handwavingly bring somebody up to Chuuya later... he really does think Xie Lian is the way to go here. ]

Do we have neutral parties left?

[ There's Wei Wuxian and his crowd, he knows, but he also thinks that the man ought to keep out of this, if he can. ]

Shigure agreed. If I can trust him with private mail, I'm fine trusting him with this.

[That's as good as Chuuya thinks he'll get, really; Baren's neutral too, but he would never ask Baren to act as a neutral party between the two families, considering all the history there.]

Shigure... He's armed, so he'll be fine.

[ He can break up any fights and worst case scenario is that he'll shoot both heads dead, but maybe he won't do that. He blood oathed Kano that he isn't involved with the kidnappings and maybe he can make another oath promising no (more) murders. ]

Hope it works out, and hope you're gonna get to talk soon. After the fire, what's coming next is going to be a civil war, and you gotta stop it before it gets to that point.

[ It'll be an all out gang war, and all it takes is some upstarts from either side rallying up the people- so easy to do with everybody's emotions running high all month- and it'll be a massacre. ]

I don't have to stop anything on their side-- Xie Lian's issues are his, you know, we've got our own family to focus on.

[He's just kind of giving Kano an appraising look, there, elbow propped on his desk, chin resting in his palm.]

My concerns begin and end where our people have had to get involved because of it. I'm not going to turn and look the other way while members of my family are getting targeted by kidnappers, but I don't have any responsibility to Westside.

Boss, when our people are getting kidnapped by the Xian Le, and they're doing the kidnapping because of whatever's going on on their end of things, they're issues become ours too, don't they? You helping them get their ass into shape's gonna help us in the long run.

[ Even if it makes Chuuya itchy thinking about helping out the Xian Le, this is the best route Kano can think of. ]

You can think of it like a loan. Xie Lian's gonna owe you big for stepping up.

It's not that simple, you know.

[He's not dismissing it outright, but-]

If one of the issues is his leadership, do you really think having an opposing family head step in to help is going to ease that tension any? Or do you think if they caught wind of it, they'd think even less of him? A lot of people wouldn't see it as diplomatic, they'd see it as a point of weakness. There's more that's going to have to go into this if something like that were to work out, Kano, and a lot of it rides on his ability to handle shit-- which, so far, is not looking great.

How come he doesn't just step down?

[ HOW DO MAFIA HEADS WORK is there any way Xie Lian can just... go on vacation and let somebody more competent take the reins, or does passing down the big hat involve him dying? ]

I don't really know how it is over there... He's the sorta guy who tries his best for his family, you know? Writing them nice cards after they got blasted during the auction, that sorta guy. But if he's no good at his job, it'll be better for everybody if he let somebody else take over, right?

[ Imagine... Jiang Cheng as mafia head. Scary. But he would fit the picture better in Kano's mind. ]

Trying his best doesn't matter if he can't keep his family in line. The most important part of the job should be doing what's best for the family, no matter what it is or what it takes. So if what's best for Xian Le turns out to be a different kind of leader...

[Chuuya shrugs, there, waving a hand.]

Then I guess we'll see if he knows when to give up-- or if he'll get things under control. If he's lucky he won't get option 3, dying in the process.

[It's always a possibility, okay, Chuuya won't discount a coup happening or something.]

Do you think if I went over there and suggested he let somebody else take over, I'd get shanked?

[ The answer is yes, right? Yeah. He almost wants to suggest Chuuya bring it up, but if there's anything that'd instigate a war it'd be something like this, right? ]

I'm pretty damn sure someone over there would take offense, yeah.

[Honestly there's a real risk Chuuya might say it anyway so, you know, we'll see!]

[ Kano nods to himself. Better take the bullet if that's the case; he can probably run into Xie Lian somewhere, just in town, running into doors, as he does. ]

Well, we gotta address the elephant some time.

Timing's everything, with certain subjects.

[Another brief pause, where he taps a pen on the desktop before he continues on.]

Hey, one more thing. If you get any hints on anyone within their ranks who might be acting out... I want to know about it as soon as possible. Any leads on that would be a good thing for us.

Someone from our side, you mean? Yeah, I can keep an ear out.

[ He's sure there's some people out there, especially seeing as two of them already got their hands on the gattling gun with plans to shoot up the Xian Le a couple weeks ago. But it's a bit harder now that things have been escalating and so many people are jumping ship and declaring themselves neutral, hoping that staying out of things will keep them safe from the imminent bloodbath between the two families.

Quickly going down the au plotting post to see who still aligns themselves with the Mori, the numbers are pretty much Chuuya, himself, Lan Wangji, Haku, 9S, and Minako. The idea of Lan Wangji acting out is laughable, and Haku... probably the same deal. 9S and Minako have both been acting weird, but more in a confused sort of way than anything malicious.

And then there's him, who only he knows about, so he can go ahead and across himself off the list. ]

Ours too, sure-- I'd like to prevent anything else like the gun incident.

[He's still so tired over that, god.]

But I want to know if you catch anything about someone on their side working against them, too.

[the enemy of your enemy, etc etc.]

That's a bit harder... Not 'cause there's so few people to tease out like there would be on our side, but over there, there's so many that aren't too happy with Xie Lian, you know?

[ He could randomly point a finger and have a 50-50 chance of getting somebody that'd fit the bill. Maybe not actively working against him, but at the very least thinking about it. ]

Yeah, and that's the whole problem at the moment.

[Chuuya exhales an annoyed little sigh, there, shaking his head.]

...far as I've heard, though, they're trying to root out one in particular, and I want to know more about what's going on over there. Could have a lot of bearing on whether or not they end up restabilizing properly.

[INBOX] fractura.

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