Taking Up Residency-Invite

[Hannah Lynn (DELETED 8242)]

And just like that, the pleasant, upbeat mood in Hannah shifted to panic. Once again, her heart beat increased in its pace as she felt small beads of perspiration begin to form on the back of her neck. It wasn't because he was on his way back to his apartment, it was because Levi had just revealed to Hannah that he didn't spend a lot of his time here. Which offered a variety of possibilities. He worked a lot of hours, so he slept at work. Once in a while her dad fell asleep on a couch in the staff lounge and came home hours later, or not at all. Especially during finals and big projects weeks for his assortment of classes.

Hannah slowly smiled as the color drained from her facial features as her thoughts turned inward at the foreseeable future of her failure. The Yakuza would definitely kill her father and stepmom. Maybe her sister. She would be lucky if they did. All the things they could and might do instead flashed in her mind and Hannah suddenly leaned against the wall in the hallway as she braced her weight on the bland cream colored wall. Amarillo was panicking in her arms as well, trying to escape as he sensed the temperament change from his owner. His front and back claws were gouging their way into her skin, but Hannah wasn't processing what the cat was doing, or how he managed to inflict a couple of thin scratches on her arms before he wrangled free and shot for Levi's door, like a bat flying out of hell.

"Why?" She asked after Hannah licked her semi-dry lips, her eyes wider than they were, pupils dilated, expressing the fear she felt inside. If anyone was paying enough attention to her body reactions, the tone of her voice and other tall-tell signs of fear; like the absence of color in her face. Hannah shook her head, and then started mumbling 'no,' repeatedly before she gasped and ran after Amarillo once Hannah pushed past the fear of dark, deep possibilities that hadn't happened yet. But could, if she didn't keep her crap together. "Get back here." Hannah moved around Levi after scolding the cat with a waved finger before scooping him up again. It was then she was able to register the scratches on her arm, most superficial and causing no more than white raised puffy marks on her arms, but a few went a little deeper than that. "What I mean is...why do you not stay here? Is it not safe?" She hadn't meant that at all, not in the slightest, but he wouldn't and couldn't possibly know. "I just moved here, from out of the country..." Hannah sighed, allowing color to splash over her face once again as a semi-shaky hand stroked the head of the cat. "I didn't really have time to shop for an apartment..." She explained, which was sort of the truth. She hadn't shopped for any apartments, as she knew she was being given one. "Are there better ones in the city?" She asked, intentionally blocking Levi's escape route, but not looking as if she were intentionally doing it at all. Just standing there with her cat in her arms, one side of her hip slightly protruded outwards as she stroked her cat.

[Levi DAmico]

Frankly, the Italian was confused. He figured that by retreating back to her apartment that Heather was done talking to him, and yet the minute he turned his back and tried to leave her to her night, she was asking him questions and trying to carry on a conversation. Umber eyes caught sight of something small, white, orange and fluffy race past him, over his shoes and toward his apartment door. Just seconds later he heard Heather coming, and paused, even side-stepped, to allow her to fling herself at the escape artist, Amarillo. She bundled him up into her arms with some effort, being awarded a couple of kitten scratches in the process. The lines of red on her skin and the welts were noticed, but forgotten by the time he caught sight of the big blue eyes on him. Heather looked panicked, pupils so wide that you could barely distinguish the ring of colour around them. It seemed out of place, more reaction than was necessary for sprinting a foot or two across a hallway after a cat. Her heart was pounding – a jittering, forceful rhythm that was indicative of fear, not alarm or anticipation or a sudden burst of movement. And Levi was probably so distracted by the intricacies of her unusual reaction that he found himself tuning in half-way through speech.

He frowned on the words not safe, but more because of the questioning tone to them. She was asking his opinion of something being safe or not and he honestly had no way to answer her. Lucky for him that Heather provided a little more context, informing him she was from out of town so he could put two and two together. Though, the Italian was cursed when it came to mathematics. He didn’t realise that he was coming up with an assumption of the result rather than the result itself. There he was innocently assuming she was a nervous single white female who’d just moved to the city and was looking for advice, he had no idea that her fear stemmed from what her contractors might do to her, and to the ones she loved, should she fail in her mission. Levi could tell she was not from Harper Rock – most who lived here weren’t, in fact – and it was more than the accent giving it away. She kept asking those standard questions, and maybe Levi’s Boston accent proved he wasn’t exactly a local either, so she thought they could exchange tips – one immigrant to another. That wasn’t going to happen.

“I dunno. You’ll be better asking a realtor,” Levi grumbled.

By now he was getting a little testy. If she’d wanted small talk, she should have stayed with Bobby Cheetos because Levi just wasn’t that kind of guy. This was a lot of words for him as it was, particularly on a subject that he didn’t give a **** about. He noticed, however, that Heather seemed almost desperate for the company now – like she’d suddenly become terrified of the thought of waking up in the middle of the night to the smell of cheese being breathed on her face. She had positioned herself right between Levi and the apartment door, blocking his escape route from this conversation and giving him few choices as to resolve the issue. He could effortlessly pick her up by her brittle arms and relocate her; it wasn’t really his responsibility to coddle a random stranger just because they had big blue eyes and a ******* cat, after all. He could even shout at her and get her to move her own ***, so he didn’t have to deal with her again. Or he could not be a complete ******** about the situation and humour her for a while longer. The thinned down options made Levi sigh heavily.

“I’m really not here enough to know how safe it is or isn’t, bella donna,” Levi added, forgetting the irony that in Italian bella donna meant beautiful lady, but in English, belladonna was actually a poisonous plant – nightshade. “I suggest you get some security installed if you need peace of mind.”

And then it struck him, he realised how he could make this mundane conversation into something interesting. He did run a security company, did he not? This newly established branch of the Levitan Empire dealt with providing protection to people. Mostly it was just about protecting businesses from attack – physical and virtual – but that didn’t mean he hadn’t done something more domestic and couldn’t do it again. His apartments and his office space were trapped to ****; security cameras, sensory alarms, even things a bit more violent like shrapnel bombs and land mines. Heather probably wouldn’t need anything too flash or dangerous, so Levi could easily help her out here and in return she might stop bugging him…

“Assuming these apartments have the same layout, you could probably get a couple of security cameras to cover the main areas. An alarm to call in the cavalry would be helpful too given you got… uh… weirdos living close by,” he said, pointing a casual thumb in the direction of Mr Cheetos’ apartment. “The ones we wire go straight to a private defence agency, so you won’t have to wait in the queue of police emergencies, end up getting hacked to pieces while they resolve a squabble over a ******* parking spot.”

Noticing he’d failed to mention a key point in his rambling, Levi produced his phone from his jacket pocket, opening the app where he kept his paperless business card – see he could be modern. The screen opened to a charcoal-navy backdrop and the Levitan Empire logo in a soft gold tone in the centre. When selected, the logo becomes animated, shrinking and travelling to the top left-hand corner of the screen. Beneath a headline of the group name, a list of four businesses appeared in light grey font. Right at the bottom was Levitan Security, which Levi selected with no delay – suggesting he’d done this a thousand times before. When the new screen opened, there was a small blurb about how the business operated, what its purpose was, and a few contact details. Listed as CEO was Levi, and beneath that were a few other names beneath the Virtual and Physical designations. Each name was linked to a function that, in just a few clicks, could have that individual’s contact details sent to the client’s phone. Oh the marvels of technology.

“So, yeah. I can put you in contact with one of my account managers, since you’re a neighbour,” he offered. “But that’s up to you.”

[Hannah Lynn (DELETED 8242)]

“Heather.” Hannah corrected Levi not long after he finished talking, going back to the name he gave her. She had no idea what it meant in Italian, and while it sounded familiar and something she probably learned in college, since she didn't study plants, or have any real love for them, it was forgotten by the tons of medical jargon Hannah had to remember for her successful completion of university.

While Levi was being helpful and neighborly, even, Hannah was listening very carefully to everything he was saying and watching everything he was doing. Especially with the paperless business card. While it seemed harmless (and maybe it was), Hannah gained more insight in the type of person Levi might be. But, Hannah wasn't going to let on that she was being so attentive and gobbling up every potential piece of 'intel' he was unknowingly giving her. “Oh. I get it. Levi, Levitan....Cute and clever.” Hannah said with a light smile, as she kept stroking the top of the cat's head and upper back, attempting to keep the furry creature in place as she silently repeated the two names she saw (other than Levi's) in her mind. Maybe it would be useful and something she could give the Yakuza.

The thought of giving them something useful, even something like a name had the woman's jittery disposition relaxing, along with her heart rate. “It sounds expensive...I just moved here. Last weekend.” Hannah mulled over the idea of a system in her apartment. “Are the cameras on all the time? Who watches them?” Big blue eyes looked up from the phone, and at Levi, before she shook her head. “I'm interested. I just need a little more detail on some things. I like my privacy.” More like she needed her privacy and if he happened to hear or see something he shouldn't be hearing or seeing for her own safety. Not so much privacy.

“Sorry. I'll take that name and number. I'm sure you have people that can answer any and all questions like that.” Hannah smiled apologetically before inching around Levi. “I'll grab a pen and paper from my apartment.” She stopped right beside him as the petite woman informed him of her actions about to follow, then pointed to her apartment with the hand that had been keeping the cat in her arms subdued. She didn't wait for his approval or any form of acknowledgment either, before she booked it to her apartment, leaving Levi standing in the middle of the hallway, stuck between his apartment and hers.

Once her apartment door was open, Hannah closed it enough, so that it was still open, but yet closed. She believed it was virtually impossible to see in or out of her apartment, but this was done to make sure that Amarillo wouldn't escape for a third time tonight. Had the woman had no cats, she would have left the door mostly open because she didn't really have anything worth any real value. Not in the main area anyways. A couple of couches, some bookcases, television stand with an average size television, and a few trinkets she collected or was given from various family members in the last couple of years.

With the cat out of her arms, Hannah moved to the kitchen and scrambled for two pieces of papers. She grabbed an envelope that housed an offer for cable, internet and phone for a bundle package, flipped it over and wrote down the words, 'Levitan Security,' and the two names that were still running through her mind until she wrote them down. The paper was pushed to the wall for safe keeping from the cats with one hand, while her other grabbed the other piece of paper. Pen and paper in one hand, Hannah moved from the kitchen, to the living room and emerged from the apartment. “Thank you again. For everything.” Hannah said as she pressed the paper to the wall closest to her, and glanced at Levi. “Ready when you are.” Her eyes darted from him, to the piece of paper that was waiting to be filled with whatever contact details he gave her.

[Levi DAmico]

The first reaction Levi could muster was a grumble, followed quickly by a casual, dismissive roll of his shoulders as Heather corrected him on the pet-name he’d given her. It was a force of habit for him to not make too much of a big deal over people’s names. He remembered them, sure, but if he was disrespectful about it all, they would certainly remember him as being a jack-***. The Italian liked to wave the red flag about, bringing forth as many charging bulls as possible, because it thinned down the heard, separated the beasts from the brains. Believe it or not, it wasn’t always so easy to distinguish one from the other because even smart people had their dumb moments. And besides, it was a bit of fun to see if this was a particular button of aggravation for them – Levi enjoyed annoying the **** out of people just because he could after all. Shiro – the poor ******** – was often at the brunt of Levi’s name-calling, but then again, Shiro could square up to a fight and trade punch for punch, probably because he was bred for it too. Levi thought it was generally better that way, or, more interesting in the least. Social interactions were rarely enjoyable for the Italian, so he had to make do and find fun where he could.

What he wasn’t expecting was for Heather to not only establish a connection between his name and the name of his company, but to find it somehow amusing. That much made him quirk a brow, but his interest in it – on the surface – was made brief. He continued his introspection, however – the Italian always did. He would over-think everything, after all, and this little incident made him curious. Maybe it was nothing because she was just smarter than she appeared, maybe it was just his paranoia getting the better of him again, and maybe it was just because he was opening up a part of his world to a complete stranger that was making him on edge. Whatever the case, Levi held onto his discomfort, that gut-instinct telling him that he needed to retreat from this situation rather than investigate. He would do it quietly, of course, because he didn’t want to rouse any suspicions in her. Besides, it wasn’t as if he was offering to help her out personally so it would make sense for him to take his leave. What was the point in running a company if you had to do all the work yourself? Yes, Levi was a control freak, but he knew when to back away and when to make things personal. Heather was already far too close for comfort as it was, and he was relieved when she was the one who retreated first.

The space between her leaving and her return gave the Italian far too much time to suspect her, but he somehow managed to convince himself to remain civil when she returned with a pen and an envelope to scribble some notes on. Seriously, what was the ******* point of being all modern and technologically savvy when people would still opt for jotting **** down manually? Levi decided this was Shiro’s fault, for convincing him to go paperless, and that the ******** Shark would get an earful later. In the meantime, Levi would give Heather the details for one of his more… subtle account managers to help her with her security problems. Maybe he’d speak in Angelo’s ear about giving her a discount on account of being neighbours and all that bollocks, but mostly because it would be a way to keep tabs on this overly-friendly cat lady. If she agreed to the heavily discounted cost, then Levi would have an easy window into her world without being a complete stalker and without it taking up too much of his time. Really, she couldn’t afford even 10 minutes of his time if he was going to run up a bill. Lucky, lucky her…

“Speak to Angelo Marchesi,” Levi said, his accent drifting more toward an Italian dialect when he spoke the man’s name. “He’s a good guy. Respectful. He’ll look after you. Here’s his number.”

Rather than shout the digits at her, Levi clicked on the man’s contact details and held his phone in her direction. She would be able to take note of what she needed from there, but, Levi had a sneaking suspicion that he wouldn’t actually be hearing from Heather. She was probably just trying to be nice as he was just being his usual salesman-self. It wasn’t entirely rare that people ever said no to the Italian, but that was generally because they had the power to. Strangely enough, there were far more “yes men” lately, and Levi had a sneaking suspicion that either Gino or William were responsible for that one. Probably the latter; having your father as don of the Patriarca afforded some liberties. Well, it made sense if nothing more than because most people had no idea that William and Levi actually despised one another. It was almost a dirty secret that the D’Amico family were in a state of civil war – a bad place to be in a culture that saw family values as religious decrees.

As Heather was scribbling down the digits, the silence and discomfort felt as restricting as ropes. They tightened around his throat, bound his arms and legs still, and for a moment there Levi sensed his cool demeanour heat. Normally the laconic Italian would wait it out, let the ropes burn away from his skin at the intensity of his mood, but, somehow he found words tripping off his tongue.

“This woulda been easier if you just had a phone,” Levi commented, seeming casual while umbra eyes accused her.

[Hannah Lynn (DELETED 8242)]

It was all so simple and straight forward, at least it should be. In her eyes. She didn't suspect Levi's attitude or thoughts to change, after all, here she was, new in town and offering him some business after an apparently random run in. That's how it seemed in Hannah's eyes and world as she jotted down the name of another person. Male, and Italian as well? Her heart thudded a little before her stomach dropped, a bitter, sour taste welling in her cheeks as she thought about just how well connected Levi might be. Slightly dangerous went to any number of scenarios the yakuza kept her out of the loop on. Slightly dangerous could be a man who had homicidal tendencies. Had Levi killed one of their men? The size of him told Hannah it was possible. Did he maybe hack into one of their banking accounts, or stumble across some private, yet delicate information for the Japanese Yakuza? Drug dealer? Hannah peered into Levi's eyes, searching for pupils that weren't the size they should be in a well lighted room, then to his fingers to look for any possible track marks. Levi appeared to be too clean for that sort of thing, but there were feet and arms that were hidden, so who really knew? Levi was not just slightly dangerous; at least not in the idea Hannah believed. Potentially that of a mosquito, annoying and bothersome. Stings and goes on its way. There was more to Levi than what she was told, or at least that was what Hannah's train of thoughts, the wild ones, led her to believe.

"Angelo. Got it." She said after writing down the first name and the last, along with the number that was offered. Calling him, let alone letting the company install some cameras was still very up in the air. The pen was capped and the paper folded and pocketed before Hannah nodded her head. "Probably, but I tend to keep my phone as far away from me as possible on my days off. I don't want to feel guilty for missing a call to come in or something. I'm a firm believer that everyone should take time for themselves. Recharge. Reboot. Seconds, minutes and hours go by too fast lately." Hannah said before laughing at herself and shaking her head. "Forget I said that last part. All of it. Sometimes I talk too much about nothing important." Hannah rolled her shoulders, then swallowed as she felt beads of sweat rolling down the back of her neck. "Call after nine? Ten?" Hannah asked as she looked down at the number she wrote down, fingers shaking until she recognized that they were shaking, so the hand made a disappearing act behind her back. The times she spoke were for the purpose of reminding him of what she was talking about before she talked about absolutely nothing when the sense of nervousness enshrouded her. "For Angelo?" Hannah glanced to Levi's door, before bouncing her eyes to the wall on her right, trying not to think about what else might be behind that door, other than a cat. The cat that wanted out so bad from the second the door opened. As if it wanted to run away from whatever Levi did behind closed doors.

"I should probably go." Hannah said as the sound of a cat pawing at the door, her door, was heard. "You probably have a lot of work to do, since you carry it in your phone all the time." Hannah awkwardly ran her left hand over her right, before itching at the shoulder blade on that side. "I didn't mean anything by that. Yep. Going now before I keep inserting my foot in my mouth." She pointed to the door behind her, while slowly walking backwards towards it. "Owe you big time for all the assistance tonight. Two I owe yous." Hannah held up the piece of paper with his contact from Levithan, elbow shaking for two seconds before her elbow dropped to her side. "See you later, neighbor." Hannah gave him a quick, stiff wave before opening her door, sliding in and leaning against the back of it to collect her breath and nerves. Then, the door was locked, both the door and deadbolt.

[Levi DAmico]

You didn’t have to be some mind reader or genius behavioural analyst to know the basic signs of anxiety. Sweaty palms, big eyes, a racing pulse and a running mouth can be all the indicators you need to recognise a case. Heather was presenting all the classic signs and she spoke so quickly and in such volume that Levi struggled to dissect all the little bits of information she was throwing at him. Sometimes it was hard to see the woods through the trees, and Heather had planted a giant oak tree right before his feet. With a little space and a little time, he was sure he would be able to reflect better on what she was telling him and forge some kind of opinion about her. So, when Heather made her excuses and spoke her gratitude and finally retreated back behind her front door, Levi obliged her with not a whisper of protest. He gave a slight nod of his head, watched her disappear, and then let out a breath of relief because, honestly, social interactions were right up there with people inserting needles into his eyeballs. That wasn’t necessarily Heather’s fault – he knew next to nothing about her and she was at least pleasing on the eyes – but Levi just couldn’t stand the pointlessness of these interactions. If he wanted to waste his time, he could have done so getting drunk off his *** and he wouldn’t need to pretend he was interested in making small-talk with strangers.

While the temptation lingered on the whining synapses of his tired brain, Levi couldn’t afford to indulge them. There had already been a few too many distractions in his day and the long night ahead could always afford many more. Self-inflicted distractions were therefore abolished, and Levi decided that he just had to get on with things. He crept back into the apartment, making sure to leave no room for a feline to squeeze past, and set his eyes onto the blank canvas of the room. For a moment there the shadows and stillness had created the perfect backdrop for his imagination, and Levi could have sworn he saw a humanoid figure moving through from the living room to the kitchen. Their form and gait were achingly familiar, and like the cheerful prancing of nymphs that disappear into fog, that vision danced back into the shadows of his mind. The Italian growled a sigh, ignoring the iron ball rolling down his trachea into his stomach, and focused umber eyes on searching for the scratch monster, Bester. Given five seconds of no supervision and that wild cat would find his way into destruction, so Levi wasn’t exactly looking forward to what Bester had managed to do with roughly twenty minutes.

The first thing the Italian noticed was that Bester was not in the main room. The kitchen countertops were empty, as were the windowsills and the couch – in fact, every place a cat would find hospitable was completely deserted. Frowning, Levi wondered whether the many Fadeportals in the apartment were responsible for Bester’s disappearance. Considering that each portal either linked to hostile grounds like the Caverns or the Lionelli Castle, or into the wide open world of Harper Rock, Levi did not fancy Bester’s chances of survival if that were the case. That miserable thought was shelved rather promptly, however, because it wasn’t worth jumping to the worst conclusion possible when Levi had barely managed to check the apartment. Besides, he didn’t necessarily know whether a cat could actually activate those Fadeportals; he hadn’t exactly asked how these things worked when he’d had the opportunity to do so, thus the plan remained: check apartment first, fret later.

Of course, the option of wandering the streets aimlessly calling for a potentially dead cat seemed far more appealing than going back there. The back rooms of the apartment had once been Lorelai’s bedroom and bathroom and while the thought of revisiting them made the Italian uncomfortable, it was a pale horror in the face of witnessing something like Robin entertaining a lady friend. After all, that little leech had moved in here before Lorelai’s heat had even dissipated and while Levi hadn’t seen the vile worm in quite some months – thanks to Madonna for that – Levi couldn’t truly know for certain whether it was luck, divinity, or whether Robin had just moved out now that his link to this place had vanished too. Silent prayers carried the Italian into the back rooms regardless, and ears piqued for the sound of life and unlife in equal measures. He’d convinced himself that the minute he’d found Bester, he would get the **** out of here, so he was more than relieved to find that the bedroom door was open and Bester was snoozing atop the stripped mattress like he sodding well owned the place and everything about this was cool.

“Well, thank **** for that,” Levi spoke his thoughts to the walls, managing to make Bester’s ears twitch in the process. Still, the cat didn’t move from that balled up position even when his six foot tall master’s shadow loomed over him. “Ware yourself out being an asshole, huh?” he grumbled, yet still Bester didn’t bother to acknowledge the man’s presence beyond a little fidgeting, almost as if he was trying to bury himself into the mattress. Somehow it made the Italian smirk and he leaned in to rub a hand under Bester’s chin. The cat purred on contact, eyes clenching shut and head lifting to encourage the petting. Annoyingly, Levi couldn’t summon the effort not to oblige him even if the cat was enjoying the perks of being an asshole. “I know the feeling,” he conceded, his voice barely registering, yet acting like a lullaby for Bester. The pair remained in their comfortable ceasefire for roughly a minute before a louder vibration cut through the cat’s purr, stirring the pair of them into tension. Levi knew that it couldn’t be good news and even before Levi could answer the phone and act on whatever ******** was coming his way, he’d picked up the cat and headed for the Fadeportal. “You can sleep more back at the office…”