Learn Cantonese

Participants:

dong-tian_icon.gif veronica3_icon.gif

Scene Title Learn Cantonese
Synopsis A strange meeting with a stranger makes Veronica nervous.
Date November 24, 2010

A Restaurant


Inexplicably, an enigmatic force had managed to get a message to Veronica under the radar. The cryptic message had given a time and a location. Beside that only two words were included. Urgent. Rose.

And so she has been led here… The restauraunt is very nice, albeit pretty empty. Not many can afford to eat this nice, very often anymore. Either that, or they're too scared to leave their homes. Regardless, the waitstaff is few, and the occupants in the place are also sparse.

Sitting at a table set for two, Dong-tian idly plays with a pink rose. His suit is a dark black, contrasting the pink tie around his neck sharply. The immaculately dressed Chinese man glasses down at the two glasses of wine, idly lifting one to take a sip. Setting it back down, he lets out a yawn.

Veronica is wary when she enters the restaurant; she's armed to the nines so to speak — her firearm and taser in their usual holster beneath her blazer, blades in her boots and on one wrist sheath. Apparently she's taken a page out of Hana Gitelman's book lately. Her cell phone is not only off but in her car.

Dark eyes sweep the dining room, finally noticing the pink rose. Her brows knit together and she heads to his table, setting one gloved hand down on the back of the unoccupied seat.

"This seat taken?" she asks in her husky voice.

"Miss Sawyer."

One half of the 'immortal twins' turns a light smile to the woman, gesturing gently to the seat opposite him. "Thank you for coming at such short notice." The man's accent is light, but still somewhat apparent. "I ordered you some wine. I hope you like it." The man leans back in his chair, bringing up his own wine glass. Taking a sip he then sets it back down. Dropping the rose on the table, Dong-tian gestures to it. "For you."

"My name is Dong-tian. I assume you don't know of me. Our friends don't exactly run in the same circles." He explains with a light smile before gesturing to a menu. "Please, get something. It's on me."

She raises her brows. The Triads were never something she had to delve into too deeply, most of her experience with them having been in the alley where she shot a few and suddenly found herself sprouting extra versions of herself courtesy of Tyler Case.

She lifts a hand and shakes her head at the wine. "No, but thank you," she says, and as for food, she picks up one so as to look like she's there to dine, but really, she's not about to eat or drink anything she doesn't see being prepared for her.

"So you know who I am, but I don't know who you are. This hardly seems fair," Veronica says quietly, watching him more than her menu. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I just told you my name. I feel like I am being fair. I work for some people you've had run ins with before. You and your former partner. Agent Winters?" Dong-tian shrugs lightly at her dismissal of the wine. "I assure you I am not going to hurt you, Miss Sawyer. If I wanted to poison you or harm you in some way. I would have, already. I, am unarmed as an act of good faith. Though I very much doubt you are the same." He smirks lightly, gesturing lightly at her.

"You approached one of ours with a deal a good time ago. We feel we have a decent relationship, and my employers have asked me to approach you. My employers would like to know more about your current employer. But I, I would like to know more about you, Miss Sawyer." He smiles lightly. "So your partner. The one that killed Chang Ye. How is he?"

The agent stiffens at the name of Winters, and her eyes narrow as she listens. Her lips curl up into a humorless smile, and she simply shakes her head when she is asked for information on her employer.

"I really don't think we have anything to talk about, Mr. Tian," she says, her voice cool despite that huskiness. "I do not intend to give you information on myself, my former partner, or my employer. I find it actually rather offensive that you think I would. My employer is, in effect, the United States Government, after all, and to tell you anything classified could be considered treason."

"Perhaps we would if you knew a little Cantonese." Dong-tian suggests gently, before letting out a light laugh. "Dong-tian. Tian is not my family name." He corrects gently. Shrugging, he splays out his hands. "Did I say what I was asking? I don't believe so. Maybe I wanted to ask who the best pitcher is on your company softball team. Surely that can't be treason. Oh, my apologies. Institute softball team. You all aren't called Company any longer, I believe."

Dong-tian takes another sip of his glass. "You are welcome to leave at any time miss Sawyer. I am not keeping you here at gunpoint. Or with an ability. Yet I doubt that would have any effect on you." He smiles gently again, setting down the glass. "I suppose you don't want to talk about the latest movies or any dates you've been on.."

For some reason, though there is no gun to her back, this reminds Veronica of being held at gunpoint in a booth in a bar by Adam Monroe, and she sits tensely, her eyes flitting to take account of all the exits, of all the people besides Dong-Tian and herself in the restaurant. "I don't speak Cantonese, I'm afraid. Just Spanish and English," she says quietly.

"You know more about me than most. The effect or lack thereof of an ability is not something that's common knowledge," Veronica says, her voice low through clenched teeth. "If you know that much about me, you know I don't go on dates. That I don't see the latest movies until they come out in DVD. I really doubt you're interested in either of those details. So tell me." She leans back, crossing her arms. "What do you want?"

"To learn about someone, you must learn a little of their language." He educates, going to place one foot on the other knee casually. "And, yes I knew you knew spanish." He smiles lightly. Splaying his hands out he nods. "I know most, about you. Miss Sawyer. And what I want?" He lets out a light laugh, looking up at the ceiling for a long moment. The question is parried for a moment. "No dates, except for Mister Winters." Dong-tian arches a brow, looking across the table at her.

"I know everything about you, Miss Sawyer. Don't ask me how. I assume you will figure it out eventually. I wish I could tell you, but it's simply something I can't speak of at the moment. I'm sure you'll understand." He looks down at the table for a long moment. "What do I want?" He repeats once again.

"I just wanted to see you."

The agent's jaw tenses and she shakes her head. "No one knows everything about me. If you knew anything about me, you'd know that," she says coolly, though her eyes flicker with something between anger and fear.

t She swallows and pushes away from the table to stand up. "So now you've seen me. Is that all? I'm free to go?" she asks, as if he were keeping her against her will. The rose is glanced at for a long moment, then her eyes slide back to his. "Good evening, Dong-Tian."

The rose left on the table, Veronica turns to go.


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