The food on the table smelled divine. A rich spicy and sweet scent so tantalizing that Jack found his eyes glued to the dishes and his mouth watering. Not wanting to appear rude he glanced up and saw that Lalinda was already digging into her burger. He chuckled silently to himself for overthinking and reached for his own platter.

With the first bite Jack was hooked. The meat was succulent and juicy with a tangy barbeque sauce. As he swallowed it down he was hit by a sudden feeling of refreshment as mana welled up from within. Jack had forgotten that many mutant meats and other parts could retain mana that could be showcased in their preparation. He usually only considered such products in terms of enchanting as with his finances getting such food would be an extravagance far outside his means.

With how delicious the sandwich was Jack had to try the fries and drink as well. If they were even half as good as the sandwich then they would still blow other meals he had eaten out of the water. Quickly grabbing himself a small handful of the sweet fire yam fries Jack tossed them into his mouth. They were perfectly fried with crispy outsides and soft pillowy insides. Not to mention the taste. While they had the sweetness that Jack expected from sweet yams they also had this warm spicy taste that he could feel with not just his mouth but his whole body.

Taking a swig of the drink to help him swallow as he had been eating too quickly, Jack was unsure of how he felt about the drink. It was delicious but the texture of a milkshake as a warm drink was just a strange dichotomy that he struggled to wrap his head around. Either way however it went great with the rest of the meal.

After a bit Jack realized he had become so engrossed in the food that he hadn't paid even the slightest attention to Lalinda after he had tried his first bite. Swallowing heavily, he took a deep breath and looked over at his tablemate. She was looking at him with an amused expression on her face seemingly having expected such a reaction from him. "See what'd I tell ya. Good, isn't it?"

Quickly taking a swig of his shake and wiping his mouth Jack blushed a bit as he replied. "Indeed. The food is amazing. I've never had food this good before. Never."

"I know right? Let's eat the rest of this then I'll talk to ya about… ya know…" Lalinda replied, starting off chipper but trailing off in a quiet, defeated voice.

"Sounds good." With that said, Jack reached for his sandwich again, ready to finish what was left of the food.

The two of them got back to work devouring the delicious food. As he finished Jack noticed that Lalinda was picking at the last few bites of her meal, staring at it in a pensive manner. He sucked down the last little bit of his drink before clearing his throat. "If you aren't up for talking about it yet it's fine. Take as long as you need. If you would like we could always go for a walk or something to help clear your head."

Hearing Jack's voice Lalinda jerked as if stung, startled out of whatever thoughts were plaguing her mind. She nodded her head jerkily at the suggestion and tossed the last bit of her burger into her mouth and then chugged what was left of her milkshake. "Alright. Let's go."

She had just started to get up when Jack said. "Give me one moment. I need to pay for the dinner real quick and I'll be ready." She shook her head and response and tossed a couple of mana crystals onto the table, easily worth more then double the cost of the meal.

"Come on, if I don't talk about it now I don't when I'll be able to do so again." Lalinda spoke quietly, just above a whisper. It seemed that she was barely holding onto the courage to talk to Jack about why she had asked him to join her for the evening.

Nodding gently, Jack stood and offered her his arm. "Alright then. Let's go on that walk."

The two of them walked out of the diner arms linked into the brisk winter evening. As they stepped through the entryway Lalinda tugged on their linked arms and pointed to the right. "That way."

Silently acquiescing Jack turned the direction she indicated and they set off. The pair walked in silence for a few minutes following Lalinda's silent directions. More then once she would open her mouth to speak then shut it again as if she couldn't find the right words to say. Each time she failed to speak her expression got slightly angrier until finally with a few tears of frustration in her eyes she blurted out through clenched teeth. "I think someone from my team or Days Watch had something to do with Dilacy's disappearance. I'm not sure who, but I think that at least one of them was involved."

Jack was more then a little surprised at her confiding in him about this considering that her group was made up of childhood friends. While he was curious as to her motivations, he held off on asking about them at least for now as he didn't want her to rethink her decision. "What makes you think that?"

"There are a few reasons. One is the fact that everyone else on my team keeps claiming that the curse of the ruins isn't real. Now I don't know if there really is a curse, but I've looked at the records from the Association and I know that at least a few of the members go missing every year and many of the ones that do took missions up in the city. Besides a rumor like that doesn't stick around too much in adventuring circles unless there is some element of truth." While she spoke Lalinda stared dead ahead, not looking at Jack at all.

"So, what you think one of them cursed her or something?" Jack prompted.

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She shook her head. "Nah. As I said I'm not sure what the problem is with the ruins but it's just a lot of little things that have me feeling like there is something wrong recently."

The two of them continued on their way for a while with Lalinda telling Jack about a number of incidents that had raised her suspicions. The talk lasted for hours and spanned numerous incidents, sadly for the investigation however the disappearance of Dilacy seemed to have made Lalinda not just look at her friends with newfound suspicion, but rather everything from the last few months it seemed. Thanks to that while Lalinda clearly wished to help the investigation, she was now so suspicious that she had thoughts on things that made almost everyone that she knew as potentially involved.

After she had finished talking about all the things that made her suspicious Jack thanked her. "Thank you for being open about everything. I can promise you this I will continue to do my best to find out just what happened to Dilacy. I would recommend that if you are feeling this worried about what your companions have been up to for the last couple months or so you could try to check with them about the incidents that have you so upset. If you are worried about them lying to you instead of directly asking them you could always check with the others and see what things stand up to examination. Hopefully doing that should allow you to relax and alleviate some of your suspicions."

Lalinda let out a deep sigh and her shoulders relaxed as if a great weight had been removed "That's… that's a really great idea. Thank ya. I've been all kinda stressed after hearing 'bout Dilacy. Couldn't get my mind straight for the life o' me. I'll be doin' that and if anything shakes out, I'll let ya know."

"I appreciate it. Well, this will be where we part for the night then. If there is anything else that you can think of that might help me out please do let me know. Oh, here let me give you the sigils for my office. I have one of those automatic recoding crystals attached to my communication crystal so you can leave me a message if I am not there." Jack smiled kindly at her.

"Well, there is one last thing before you go." Lalinda kept their arms linked so that he couldn't turn and leave.

Jack faced her with confusion on his face as she continued. "I'm afraid I did lie to you a little back in the diner."

"Oh? What did you lie to me about?" He asked his eyes narrowing slightly.

She blushed slightly ducking her head and shuffled her feet. "Ya asked me earlier why I asked you out and I said the main reason was not for a roll in the hay or anything. Well, that was only half truthful, I wanted to get ya alone to talk to ya 'bout the stuff that what ya said caused to bother me." She paused a moment before correcting herself, "Sorry, I meant, I did want to talk to ya alone 'bout the stuff that started to bother me because of what ya said, but… I did also find ya attractive and wanted to see if the night could lead somewhere fun. I'm stuck with my friends most the time and while I love 'em, I don't love 'em that way."

Jack paused his mind fully thrown off track having not expected this in the least. He asked in a confused tone, "Wait, so what you wanted to see how I would react to you wanting to deal with business related matters?"

"Yes, well no, yes. Whatever. Look you're good lookin' and a nice enough fellow. I was just kinda hopin' you might be up for a quick bit o' fun before ya head off." She said confidently before hurrying to add. "I'm not lookin' for anything serious. Just a good time. Honestly you seem like you might need it yourself, I've not seen someone stare as intensely as you have tonight. Almost seemed like you don't blink at all."

Jack thought for a bit before shrugging. "I don't have any problem having some fun with you… but how about we wait until after I am done with this case. You are a very attractive woman and I appreciate the interest. However, it would go against my principles to sleep with someone involved in a case."

"Ya sure? This offer won't be open forever ya know." She replied looking into his eyes.

"Yes. I'm afraid I am." He reaffirmed.

She gave him a slight smile and winked saying "Well I guess we can wait a little while and see if it's worth it."

"Indeed. Well, this time I must really be off. I still have much to do this evening." Jack smiled back at her before his face took on a more somber tone. "And again if you do need to get ahold of me please feel free to call. Also please be careful, the evening after you all had your celebration Dilacy got into a fight with someone, and they were definitely a better combatant then she was. Considering she was going to be joining your group I figure she is around the same power level as you and your companions are so do keep an eye out."

Warning given Jack unhook his arm from hers and set out into the night. He had a good bit of work to do tonight and he needed to get started if he wanted to meet the deadline his choices gave him. Based on the information he had about the businesses he would be hitting that night it seemed everything should go as well as the night before.

The night did indeed go well with not even the slightest problem or unexpected difficulty. The following day was spent organizing what he had come away with in the first two nights as well as beginning to set up contingency plans for his eventual break ins at the association and guildhouse. He did get a call from Lalinda wanting to meet up again that evening at a small park in the northern district.

Once again they ended up going on a walk as she talked about what had happened with her groupmates. It seemed that she had gone and talked to the same members of Days Watch that Jack had spoken to before and the conversation with them had managed to remove those three from Lalinda's own suspect pool. While it was nice to hear that the approach he had recommended her was helping her, it seemed so far that her suspicions were not quite the lead that she had thought they were. Jack never the less noted everything down to keep track of. You never did know after all.

This pattern continued on that night and following day as well with Jack finishing off the smaller businesses and getting ready to hit what he figured would be the softer target of the two larger organizations. The Northward Hunters Association. Once again Lalinda called him to meet up and talk about what she had learned, this time wanting to show him something that she had found.

When he got to the corner that she had talked about meeting at he didn't see her around anywhere. With not even a slight expression crossing his face and the pain that coursed through him he instinctively ran through his combat body augmentations and spells. When nothing jumped out at him Jack relaxed slightly and looked around. All around him people had been walking though several were not giving him a wide berth and strange looks at his sudden outburst of magic.

Perhaps it was just him being jumpy and assuming. He hadn't noticed Lalinda that first evening when he approached the diner after all and while she had clearly been waiting for him yesterday that didn't mean she wasn't simply running late herself.

Just to reassure himself, Jack took a few moments to check around more thoroughly then his glance a moment ago. While there was nothing on the street proper that caught his attention there was something about the nearby alley that was making him uncomfortable. He quietly walked over and looked into it. Nothing. It seemed that perhaps the scrying that he had done along with his experiences of nearly dying the last two times he was in an alley had made him overly suspicious of them. Double checking and assuring himself that there was indeed nothing there Jack shrugged to himself and turned back toward the street. As he did, he felt a sudden pain on the back of his neck and forced himself to Endure.

"Damn you. If only you had never come, she would still be talking to me. It's all your fault, say hi to Dilacy you interfering bastard." A modulated voice came from behind him. Clearly disguised by only the most basic of spells.

As Jack continued to endure his vision flashed a strange blue light and he felt something shifting inside of him. The only thing that he could think of that felt this way was when he had purposefully allowed his mana to be tainted by absorbing improperly a few days ago. If something like that was happening again and outside of his control… Jacks mind shuddered in fear. He had done something to protect himself but what? His mind shuddered again. He didn't need to fear that was just ridiculous. He had come out fine then and he would triumph now. NO! He had to. He would get through this and get everything solved. Nothing would stand in his way. Core. Self. It would all be fine. That was the last thought that ran through Jacks mind as the world faded away in a blue tinted darkness.