Practical Labels [Nina]

[rosie]

Rose unzipped her Coach design purse to pull out her pack of reds. She flipped opened the pack and pulled out a cigarette with her lips dosed in red lipstick. She put the pack back into the purse and grabbed her lighter. She lit the cigarette taking a deep breath. She made sure the ash did not touch her Marc Jacob pencil skirt nor her thousand dollars shoes. She pulled the cigarette away from her lips letting out a breath of smoke. She glanced at her watch; her client should be here in any moment. From the details Edward Nigma had given her it sounded like the best place would be in North Side. She had a few places in mind that they could take a look at. They all ranged in the millions, but she didn’t see that being a problem for the Riddler.

She sucked in another deep breath of the nicotine. Supposedly she was meeting a woman who was a friend of Edward’s. She didn’t remember Edward ever having friends, except for the other Rogues. She wonder for a moment if it was a new criminal from out of town, then remembered she didn’t particularly care. Edward said he would pay and that was all that matter to Rosie. Money gave her the ability to bury herself and her dreams into a false comfort. Similar to the clothes, they provided a mask to sooth her own pain.

She let out an annoyed sigh. She wished Edward could have at least given her a description of the woman. She watched as the people walked by her. She stood near the wall of a skyscraper on the corner of Maxius and K. It was always better to met away from the property, just in case they decided not take it. If rogues knew the available properties, they could do a trial and error process until finding their enemies' home. The point of these homes was to create a sanctuary. She would not disrupt her clients work by risking their hideout. It was the fastest way to lose money. She took another drag as a woman out of her peripherals seemed to be coming her direction.

Was that her?

[Nina Stenet]

It had taken Nina both too long and not long enough to recover her strength. On the one hand, every day that passed where she didn't get any research done made her more and more anxious. She wasn't herself when she wasn't advancing medical technology, one molecule at a time. She'd run out of work that could be done on her laptop awhile ago. But on the other hand, there was Edward... Even he wasn't enough to distract her from wanting to return to the real world again, but he could come very, very close. Since they'd managed to resolve things the apartment had become a small bit of heaven, mostly thanks to him.

But return to the real world she must, and the first step is to find a new place to live. Her old apartment had been... adequate. Sufficient for her few needs, and that's all she really cared to have. But certain events made it clear that one of her needs is now security, and the odds were that the need would only continue to grow. And it had been a no-brainer for her to ask for Edward's help - if anyone had the desire and ability to keep her safe, it was him.

She's a bit uncertain as she walks to where she's supposed to meet this realtor he suggested. On the one hand, she knows that Edward would never send her to meet someone he didn't trust with her - a very high standard - but there's also no telling what such a person would be like; while he may know a lot of perfectly ordinary people, he also knows a lot more very strange ones than most.

As she comes close to the appointed meeting place she looks up, checking for the woman that Edward had described. And there she is... smoking. Nina suppresses a grimace at that, telling herself that a little second hand smoke is a small price to pay if the woman can do the job. "Rosie Ruth?" she asks politely, to confirm that she's found the right person and identify herself as the one she's supposed to meet.

[rosie]

When an older woman walked in her direction, Rose lifted an eyebrow in curiosity. This was Edward's friend? She didn't seem anything above average. She had little fashion sense and who in their right ming keeps their hair up in a basic pony tail. She must care more about her job then her appearance, she noted. Though Rose was slightly surprise Edward was sacrificing his time to help her. She never knew the Riddler to sacrifice anytime. Their meetings were always prompt and quick. Usually lasting a little over an hour at most. The few times she had seen the man at the Iceberg, he appeared to be running a schedule as well. And when he wasted it for woman, it was usually for girls her age...not what looked like a soccer mom. Strange. She must have some power that must be of use to him.

Admittedly enough, Rose enjoyed that aspect of her job. She became aquatinted to her clients habits and almost enjoyed watching them like a television drama. Though she didn't care what the end result was. It was none of her business. When the woman spoke her name, Rose moved her cigarette into her left hand. She then held her right out to shake. "You appear nicer then I expected, Dr. Stenet," she stated with a straight unimpressed expression. "Arthur told me you were looking for an apartment with enhanced security. To be quite honest, this is an easy request compared to others," she said using Edward's particular code name in a public setting. She let go of the older woman's hand then took another drag from her cigarette.

"The most important question for you though is whether you would like a house or an apartment. Either can be secured to the level Arthur requested," she commented almost bored. Part of the reason, she got into this job was for the entertainment, but maybe she had been in it too long. Nothing really had value in the long run.

[Nina Stenet]

Taking in the other woman's curious expression, Nina has to smirk at the woman's first comment. The words said compliment, while the tone said differently, and she doesn't quite know what to make of that one. Shaking the offered hand, she shrugs and says, "I'm not hard to please." Given the fact that she treats the place that she lives as little more than a place to be when she's not at work, that's putting it mildly.

Though that the comment is about a comparison makes her curious: if Edward uses this woman to find places for him, who else does? What sort of requests is this woman used to fulfilling? Questions that she knows better than to actually want the answers to. She's just glad that the woman seems normal enough herself.

The question posed causes Nina to purse her lips and say, "An apartment: I'm the type of person who can afford much more than a thousand square feet but has never chosen to live in a place much larger before - not that I know I won't go for something bigger this time. The most important thing really is security." Having worked with realtors before, she knows that the quicker and better picture she can give of her preferences the quicker and easier this whole process will be.

And Nina's preferences are... modest, to say the least. There was something about the splendor of Edward's apartment that made it feel more like a museum and less like a home. And she just doesn't like having a lot of possessions - the more stuff you have the more time you have to spend taking care of it. Which, in addition to the fact that houses are usually much larger than that, explains why she'd rather not have a place with a yard to take care of.

[rosie]

Her wanting an apartment wasn't surprising to Rose, but her wanting an apartment around a thousand square feet threw her for a loop. She could see cheap Humpty Dumpty going for something that small, but a friend of the Riddler was just baffling. She had never been on a real estate deal with the Riddler where he hadn't stressed the need for large space, large windows, high ceiling, gorgeous painted wall, and the most up to date kitchen. Rose was starting to wonder if the Riddler really had set this meeting up.

She did a once over of Nina again. She didn't appear to be a cop, and even if she was, Rose wasn't doing anything illegal. She was unaware of her client's actual mean of income. It was not her fault they 'lied' to her. It was quite suspicious but not suspicious enough for Rose to actually care. She mentally went through the real estate on sell. In this type of market it actually was a gold field, but Rose preferred to show each client one property. Based on their request she would pick out the perfect property and call it a day. Only on a few occasion did she have to show two pieces in one day. The Joker was fickle, and Two Face's coin worked against her often.

She nodded to herself when she thought she found the fit for the bland woman who really wanted nothing but to blend in. She sucked in on her cigarette then dropped it to the ground. She used the toe of her heel to put out the bud. "Come with me. I think I have the place," she commented as she walked to her car parked on the street with the meter still running. The woman's really only requirement was security and Rose knew the highest secure building in the North end. She had been dancing around with that idea for a while, though she had first assumed it would be the penthouse. Now that she met the woman who based her life off practicality she was thankful the fourth floor had something available.

She got into her Lexus, shutting the driver door behind her. She heard her passenger side door open and she glanced at the woman. "You are not like Edward's usual referrals," she stated. When the woman shut the door, Rose automatically locked it. She then turned towards the woman, holding her keys in her hand. "As always I have to make a few things clear to new clients. While Edward might be covering your bill that does not dismiss you from hearing my terms. Not only do I take twenty percent commission off of everything I sell, I also require the buyer to pay thirty percent of the asking price to me. This fee is for handling your affairs. I only show a property once for multiple reason that I don't feel that I have to explain. I will explain the basic of security system, but I will not explain fully until you've agreed to purchase. I cannot risk you selling information on the system. Not all these properties are taxed. If they are not my fee jumps to forty five percent. If you find this unreasonable then you may find someone else to handle your affair, though I must remind you, most of these building owners will only work with me because I'm the few agents that still can find the demand for their properties," she spoke clearly to the woman. She had little reason to waste time if a person wasn't planning on paying her. She reached into her purse and grabbed her lipstick causally. She wondered silently if those type of terms would intimidate such an average bland woman away. She uncapped the lipstick and put it on her lips.

[Nina Stenet]

Even as Nina explained what sort of place she wanted, she couldn't help but keep an eye on the other woman just to watch her react; she knew that it wouldn't be expected given that they met through Edward, and to say that she and Edward are different would be putting it mildly - even down to the sort of place they feel comfortable living in. And there's something vaguely entertaining about knowing that you're not at all what another person expected you to be when what they think of you doesn't really matter.

She gives an internal sigh of relief when the cigarette goes out - there's nothing quite like being able to see in real time and at the microscopic level what those things do to a person to make you really not want to be around them. She simply nods and follows the woman to her car when asked, idly wondering to herself what the place will be like. She's not sure what 'level' of security that Edward requested in her behalf, having willingly left those details up to him because she knows he knows so much more on that subject than she could hope to. But she's guessing that it's at a level she'll deem excessive unless and until someone tries to get past it. And then she'll thank him for it. A lot.

She has to smirk at the other woman's comment as she gets in the car, simply saying, "I'm sure I'm not." That Edward trusted this woman enough to link her to him after how disastrous it was the last time he did that says a lot. But it's another big step beyond that to trust the woman enough to give her any hints about the nature of that link, so Nina will wisely keep her mouth shut.

As the woman starts going over her terms Nina listens attentively, nodding occasionally to show that she understands. And she's not the least bit intimidated by it: being able to feel safe in her own home comes with a price and she knows that. Of course, it helps that the price is being paid by Edward - something she agreed to easily. Not because of the expense, which she'd probably be able to cover herself soon enough if what she's planning on doing with her business goes as planned, but because she recognizes his mannish need to feel like he's protecting her and taking care of her whether she can do that herself or not. Hopefully that will lessen how upset she's sure he'll be when she tells him that she's planning on finding her own bodyguard.

"If those are your standard terms, I have no problem with them," she replies easily, taking this situation with her usual amount of calm. The only thing that bothers her is only getting to see it once, but that only means that she's going to have to make that one time count.

[rosie]

The woman seemed to be a person of few words. She had met a few like her before, but that usually meant they were hiding something. Rose only nodded then turned on her car. She drove west on the Northside. The traffic, as always, was slightly unbearable. Rose found herself leaning her elbow on her door as she drove with one had. If the bus or subway system was even remotely safe Rose would consider giving up her car, but that wasn't the case.

She heard honking from a car in front of her and let out a tired sigh. This wouldn't be completely unbearable if her client held some type of interest. Normally her clients would start ranting on one thing or another, usually about the flaws in society. She would listen merely to distract herself, yet this client said nothing. Was this possibly the reason Edward was connected to her? She was the only person who would listen to his long rants about nothing.

When the silence had continued for ten minutes, Rose decided she would be forced to make small talk. She couldn't let a client be unhappy, and the bigger problem with referrals were if they were disappointed they told her old client. You would end up angering two instead of one. She just needed to find the subject of the woman's interest. All of her clients had something in common, and it was passion. Once you found that passion, you wouldn't be able to shut them up.

"Are you new to Gotham or did you recently receive a vacation from the vicinities?" she asked, referring to vicinities as Blackgate or Arkham.

[Nina Stenet]

One would think that traffic would get to a workaholic like Nina, but it's actually something she's always taken with a great deal of patience. Getting yourself worked up about it doesn't get you where you're going any faster, after all. And she's not in the least bit bothered by the silence - she could probably occupy herself for days with all the thoughts she has to mull over. She's been tinkering with her plans on the best and safest ways of returning to the land of the living, but there are plenty of last minute details to ponder and much second-guessing to be done. And, of course, her thoughts keep leading her back to Edward - something that she's not much bothered by.

When the other woman breaks the silence with a question, Nina has to think for a moment before she can figure out what 'vicinities' means. It isn't until she reminds herself what sort of person this woman probably assumes that she is that she understands. "Neither: I've lived in Gotham for four years now, and I've never had reason to be in the 'vicinities'," she explains.

She would leave it at that but, recognizing the question as an attempt at conversation, she only pauses for a moment to consider what's safe for her to say before she adds, "My last place was perfectly ordinary, but after multiple failures of what little security they had, it became blatantly obvious that my needs have changed." Quite drastically, to judge by the degree of the upgrade. "Fortunately, I had Edward to ask for help in fixing that. It's a terrible thing to not feel safe in your own home," she comments with a shake of her head.

[rosie]

Her last statement hit home with Rose. When your own family wants you dead it's very difficult to feel safe in home, but that time was long past her. She rarely ever cared anymore about feeling safe. She didn't see a point in stressing over such a simple aspect. She rarely saw a point in stressing over anything. The worst that could happen would be death, but weren't they all living dead in a way. They went about routines, moving without thought. Where was the value in that to actually describe it as living.

The traffic seemed to lighten and she pressed on the gas. "Yes," she responded both at the comment of being safe and having the Riddler. Though it was still strange the Riddler had any interest in helping her. "Edward's not usually so...considerate," she commented as she hurried through the yellow light. It was only a few more blocks.

It was very unusual that Edward was helping out a non criminal, especially with a non criminal who does not feel safe. He must have a large scheme involving the woman that he was willing to invest so much capital into her. She wondered silently what the scheme would be. It was slight entertainment to be able to predict a rogues plot before it appeared on the news.

She saw the tall apartment building and nodded to herself. She quickly pulled into the front where a valet service took place. She parked her car leaving her keys in the ignition. She opened up her door and the valet was already there.

"Hello Miss. Ruth," the valet smiled at her.

"Good day," she commented back not knowing the man's name. He wasn't important. Only the building owner was important. She walked around the car to the front of the building when she heard her phone ring in her purse. She pulled it out. "One moment," she told the woman then answered the unknown number. They were always unknown.

"Rosie Ruth Realtor," she stated blandly.

"She's with you, correct?" she heard a somewhat annoyed but worried voice on the other end.

She made a somewhat surprised face. She rarely revealed any expression, but this was very strange. "Yes, Mr. Wynne. She is. I'm showing her a property now," she responded.

"You are sure she is not being followed. You've never been one to pay much attention to anything but your cancer sticks, Rosie," he said the insult causally.

The insult had little effect on her. "No, there is no one else looking at the property," she responded in code. No reason to bring suspicion on possible ease droppers.

"Good...good...don't let her make a stupid choice. She has a talent at that sometimes. It's a pleasure as always. Bye Miss Ruth," he stated then she heard a click before she could even say her own farewells.

It was a very unusual occurrence. She put her phone back in her purse. "Sorry about that," she said offhandedly, Let's see if this home is adequate enough for you.""

[Nina Stenet]

Talking about her old apartment has Nina reflecting upon how it looked the last time she saw it, and why she isn't going back there. It had been home, but seeing it such disarray with her own blood smeared across the floor and the memory being attacked by someone who meant to kill her for reasons that had absolutely nothing to do with her... No, that place would never feel like home again and, though she'd known that she wouldn't be moving back there before she saw it that one last time, it rid her of any desire to.

She has to smirk again at Rosie's comment on Edward, but there's little for her to say about that other than, "As you said, I'm not like his usual referrals." And since she's unable to come up with anything else to add to that, she goes silent again, and she easily shifts to staring idly out the window, lost in thought. At least, until the car pulls over signaling that they've arrived. Stepping out of the car, she gives the building a glance before waiting for the realtor to come around the car. But when the woman's phone rings, Nina takes the opportunity to give the tall building a longer look.

Of course, when she hears who is on the other line, the examination of the building becomes a cover for what she's actually doing: listening carefully to the half conversation she can hear so that she can guess at the rest. But it isn't hard to guess that Edward is checking up on her, and her expression changes to a slight frown. On one hand, she appreciates that he's concerned about her safety, but on the other hand that's taking it a bit too far. It's not so much that she feels like it's an invasion of her privacy to be watched by him - she literally has no secrets from him, and finds it just as flattering as it is insulting - but by overdoing it he's actually shooting himself in the foot. She makes a mental note to point that out to him in the nicest possible way sometime.

When the woman hangs up her phone, Nina turns back to her as if her attention had been elsewhere during the phone call, nods at the apology, and simply says, "Lead the way."

[rosie]

Rose nodded. She partially liked that the woman was only business, though it made her extremely boring from her perspective. She walked towards the bullet proof glass doors that were held open by a doorman. "At night these doors are locked. You have to enter your personal code to your apartment to get in," she commented as she walked inside the lobby. It had a large ceiling with decorated designs and paintings. She knew immediately that the woman would not be fond of the expensive taste of the lobby. "For the amount of security you are asking for, all apartment buildings will have this much decor," she noted. There was a woman behind the front desk. She smiled friendly, but they didn't talk. "There are two security guards on this floor, two on the roof, and three in the security room. They all are trained. As you can notice, you can't see where the two on this floor are located. They stay hidden, not only to create a proper abeyance for residents but to surprise any possible break ins."

She didn't stop for the woman to look around. She knew this part of the area would not please her so there was no reason to drag it out. She went to elevator and pressed the up button. The elevator opened with a ding. She pressed the third floor. When the elevator doors closed she continued with her descriptions. "Since you are looking for something more modest I'm avoiding showing you the more expensive apartments. The first three floors are smaller apartments compared to the almost full floor apartments located on the higher floors." The door opened to a hallway. There were twenty doors along the hallway. She made a right and went to the fifth door. The door appeared to be a normal wooden door. "As you can tell there are no peep holes in these doors. There are two reason for this. The door is laced with metal making it impossible to push in. Two, there is a hidden camera on the corner of the door that shows you who is outside," she commented, pointing to the camera. She then pressed in the code right above the door knob. When she hit enter the door opened.

"The apartment is about nine hundred square feet," she stated as she walked right into the living room. Most of the apartment was carpeted except for the kitchen and dining area. The kitchen was separated from the living room and intruded into the square area. The kitchen and bathroom were probably the a bit too nice for the woman's taste, but it was impossible to find a humble kitchen in this apartment building. The kitchen had nice counters and wooden cuboards that matched the wooden floor in the dining area. "The door over there leads to the bedroom and the only bathroom is located in their as well," she stated. There were two windows in the living room. They looked like the average every day windows. But even though it looked like they could be opened, they couldn't unless a code was entered. The bedroom had a larger window that expanded the entire wall.

"Currently the walls are white to match the white brick exterior of the building, but the building is more the willing enough to paint them what ever color you prefer," she stated. "It's small and lacks a lot of the extra amenities other apartments have, but I believe that was what you were looking for."

[Nina Stenet]

As she follows the realtor into the lobby, Nina's eyes dart quickly around as she takes it in. But she expected it to be much nicer than she's used to: people who can afford the price tag associated with the amount of security that she wants can generally afford and want luxury too. She's simply never cared for it, though she recognizes that the lobby in such a building has to satisfy the tastes of the pickiest tenant. Therefore she simply nods to that detail - the decor of the lobby doesn't matter; the security of it does.

And as the security systems are explained, Nina noticeably becomes more attentive, lending proof to what she said about security being her primary concern. The improvement over her last place is huge and that does much to reassure her that she could be safe here. But the key issue is: will she like the apartment or not? She's quick to follow the realtor into the elevator to find out.

While the elevator goes up, her mind catches onto the comment about apartments taking up almost an entire floor. Given the size of the building, that would make it... "I don't think I want to know why someone would need an apartment that big," she states with a small shake of her head, more saying her thoughts out loud than actually trying to add anything to the conversation.

She goes silent again as they step out of the elevator and head into the hallway, though suddenly she becomes much more observant about her surroundings. Between the amount of security offered here and fact that she doesn't expect to spend much time in her apartment, she suspects that if anyone were to try to attack her again it would be at work. And while she intends to keep the location of her apartment as quiet as possible, she can't be like Edward and have the place she works also a secret - it would interfere with her ability to do business. Which means that she can't expect where she lives to remain a secret either if someone wants to know badly enough, and that means that she needs to be prepared to defend herself in both places. And if this is where she ends up living, it starts by knowing the angles and dimensions of this hallway very well.

As the lack of a peephole is explained Nina quickly nods in understanding, remembering Edward's comment about how it could be used to kill someone - that had left an impression. But it's a moment later when they finally get to what she really wants to know: what is the apartment like? And after they enter, Nina finds it very hard to pay any attention to what the realtor is saying; there are only a limited number of floor plans that work in such a small space, and this apartment's is not unlike her old one so the explanation isn't really necessary. The main difference is that the kitchen is separated from the rest of the living space.

Glancing around herself for a moment, Nina considers the first of two questions that she knows she needs to answer: could this be home? The built-in furnishings are a bit elaborate for her taste, just as Rose suspects, but she supposes she could get used to them if the trade-off is security. And the size pleases her - she can easily imagine how she'd fill the space with her things, though she wouldn't be able to salvage much furniture from her old apartment. Which is just as well since she already plans on going for something different than she used to: she doesn't want Edward thinking and feeling like her place is a dump, so she's planning on picking things that are as nice as she can stand - probably still not good enough for him, but perhaps a nice compromise. But after looking over the main living space, she nods to herself: this could be home.

The second question is much harder to answer: is there anything at all about the place that would make it difficult for her to use her power - especially if she had to defend herself in it? It requires her to consider things as obscure to anyone else as whether or not any of the materials in the walls are irregular enough at the microscopic level that they'd throw off her aim through a wall - even Edward probably wouldn't have thought that could be an issue. "So far so good," she comments as she turns her attention back to the realtor, "Mind if I show myself around? If I only get to see this once, I'll need to take a very good look at it to know for sure." And there's something about that emphasis on 'very' that seems to indicate an understatement.

[rosie]

Rose waited patiently as the older woman took in the apartment. To Rose this apartment wasn't anything spectacular. It actually was rather bland. It was small. The windows could be larger. The furniture could be nicer. She had seen and been to many apartments and this was...just adequate. She had to remind herself that this woman was quite boring. Some people were just boring and unimpressive. She wondered silently how they found any value in their life when they constantly searched for mediocracy.

Then again, they actually tried. Rose had stopped trying so long ago. Her finger twitched to her purse for another cigarette, but being in the building prevented her. She sighed. This woman was depressing her in her already depressing life. Green, she reminded herself. Edward would be writing a large check for her. When the woman ask her if she can look around, Rose almost rolled her eyes. You with think that some things were common sense.

"Go ahead," she spoke with only a slight edge of irritation.

[Nina Stenet]

Hearing the irritation in the woman's voice, Nina stares at Rose for a moment as if she's going to say something, but instead she starts to slowly walk through the living room, looking very carefully around her. To most people it wouldn't be readily apparent what, exactly, she's looking at if it isn't the texture of the walls, but some might get the sense that she's looking at her field of view in all parts of the room. Well, except that she also seems to be looking through the walls sometimes.

What she's actually doing is making sure that there isn't anything about the structure of the room that throws off her sense of distance, getting accustomed to what it feels like to go through the walls here (and learning much more than she really needed to about how reinforced they are in the process), and generally making sure that nothing whatsoever will interfere with the easy use of her gift. She also pauses for a long moment at the windows, seeing what she can see from them. Though if that wasn't enough to try Rose's patience, the fact that she then repeats the process in every room certainly would even if it takes less time for each room. But the amount of focus as she pours into the activity is probably enough to warn Rose away from trying to do anything to hasten the process. And Nina's not about to feel bad about making the woman wait while she does something that probably seems so meaningless given how much she's being paid.

But finally, Nina wanders back into the living room and simply says, "This place works for me."