5. [Rose Water] Supply and Demand

"Chingada madre," the Elemental rumbled, "The whole fucking thing?" He rubbed his face, shivering at the image of the smaller woman essentially snorting an entire eightball of coke.

"The fact that you got two gangs intersecting with the same issue means someone's messing with the chain of command. Either a really, really tapped in shapeshifter, or a someone tossing around the Arcadian Crown like it's no one's business. We had to have a meeting with the Crips for something kinda similar. They were clowning with turf war without the higher-ups knowing." He let the dog jump from his arms, pacing a bit as he thought to himself.

"I think if you tap into your innate knowledge of the Mirror, you can just ask the vial where it came from. Or you can some with me while I twist some arms."

Loki held up a calloused hand.

"Hold up. Warehouse? The woman you mentioned earlier? What makes you think 'they' moved, who is 'they'? The Chinese?" It was by sheer sympathy for Ivory's situation and the Fireheart used to processing the world faster than everyone else, that he wasn't frustrated with the stranglehold trickle of information that was coming from the Leaden Mirror.

"This is why we do reports," he muttered, more for himself than Rowan.

The Elemental mouths something as he unfocused, moving his hand around as he traces some invisible schematic in his mind's eye.

"Aight. Three unrelated gangs, Cartel are producers, according to this woman, and Crips 'stole' the method. And somewhere down the line there's a lady working with the Wah Ching and they may or may not also be circulating this product." His eye twitched as the fire flickered, and his foot left a burn mark on the hardwood without his notice.

"This woman can literally be anyone. Unless you've got, like, a physical description other than 'not obviously Latina'— which doesn't matter, you got lightskinned or mixed — then your lead is this warehouse where... Who owns it? Us or Crips? Do you know where it is, or are you asking me to ask around?"

The Elemental chuckled, shaking his head, "Tch. I should be clear: this Entitlement is based around hunting down the Lost that are...lets call it unrepentant. If you sought me to ask me about Cartel stuff," he titled his head, "That's complicated. Like, 'you have no idea' complicated. You opened with 'a street hawker OD'd.' Okay?" the Elemental offered a shallow shrug before he folded his arms.

"But now you're mentioning shit I actually care about. Someone's popped into the chain of command and stirred some confusion, so they can circulate a product without detection. The Cartel weapons was Eurydice's thing. They're actually the Arrayer's...and they've been recovered. By her motley mate, the Sun Banisher. Never heard anything about a Fey drug, though."

He absently rubbed the scar across his throat, "Makes things a little more complicated. Unless it's just a coincidence, a Changeling using a gang that just so happened to steal from a powerful motley would come off as a declaration. I dunno Spring's politics, but I doubt the shot was being taken at the Arrayer or Summer's arms. Eurydice's got some kind of important role to the Emeralds, though." The Fireheart snorted through his nose,

"I don't know anyone who would want Fawkes' attention..." He grimaced, "Anyway- someone's being naughty in Spring, then. This looks bigger than the drug; that seems to be just a symptom. The chemist should be stopped, either way. We've already had to clean up a lot of confusion with the Crips not wanting a war, but their boys moving without their oversight. If people are having supernatural depression and offing themselves, we're going to be dealing with some woke Hunter gangbangers. Like you said."

"You mirror hop?" Loki thumbed back towards what was likely a room that had said mirror. "Whitney's on the other side of the city. 'Bout a twenty minute walk and two hours of bus hopping." He seemed oddly tapped into the routes and options for traversing the city. Running from this Torrent must be an experience.

"Or you can just crash here," he said, grabbing the empty cup and lightly lifting the fluffy dog with the top of his foot as she started bouncing around his legs in hopes for a second breakfast. She was swept to the side and outside the kitchen in a practiced movement, to which she switched gears to paw at Rowan's toes.

"Yeah, jut don't pick her up until she settles," the Elemental said absently, throwing a falsa blanket on the couch and retrieving a pillow from another room.

He shifted to texting on his phone, clearly slower than the average avid phone user as he squints, moving to make a call on the patio and speaking in Spanish.

Once Bindi realized that her owner wasn't moving towards a leash, she sat and looked up towards the Darkling, tail swishing but keeping still to prove that she was indeed Ready to be tall again.

Bindi's tongue lolled out, her tail increasing velocity the closer she came to the chest. As the Darkling spoke, she sniffed his ear, resting her head on his shoulder as she enjoyed being transported by her new palanquin.

The apartment itself was tidy, though as Rowan passed a workout room composed of mostly free weights the area was in disarray with burn marks in the mats. The office also looked like an explosion of papers had gone off, with haphazard notes. There was more than one portable fire extinguisher subtly nestled as to not look out of place. Rowan got the vibe that Loki kept the place mostly stark due to his clear inability to stay organized for long, therefore the minimalism guaranteed less clutter. The couch was kept central to the living room to maximize the space and take away from the lack of shelving or knick knacks. However, it wasn't without personality.

The liquor shelf, end tables, and coffee table had a similar design: likely hand-made. There was one shelf at the end of the hallway by the bedroom that had a small sculpture of blown glass, some candles, what looked like a small doll...? And two hand carved boxes. Once Rowan's attention swept over the family photo he realized what he was looking at, and moved on.

Loki mentioned if he needed to leave at any point, just to keep it casual: his place was watched all the time by the five-oh. The Elemental referred to it casually as 'added security'. It began to click that it was off for a Teniente to be living in a suburban duplex, where anyone could just drive by and riddle the wall with bullets.