[Center][h3][b][color=SteelBlue]KOSROQ[/color][/b][/h3][/center]

Kosroq had figured out a sort of system for his jobs. In order to keep a level of anonymity, he recruited four people who knew his real identity to screen new clients. First, when someone approached one of his representatives, the rep would tell them to come back in a few days. The rep would contact one of the other reps, who would thoroughly vet the client and then bring Kosroq all the info. Kosroq would decide whether to accept the job, then inform the rep his answer. If accepted, the client would pay a portion of the fee up front (through the rep, of course). Kosroq would do the job and then recieve the rest of the fee. Any deliveries would usually be given through a rep, or, very rarely, by Kosroq in his mask. 

It was not a foolproof system, and it mostly worked because Kosroq, while holding an impressive reputation, wasn't important enough for anyone to dedicate time to his removal. He had to pay his four reps, though not much, since they were essentially only middlemen and messengers, but in this occupation, even that had risks. They also conducted their own shady businesses, so they weren't always available. And then there were times when they simply discarded the whole setup, like Garr was doing now.

Kosroq sighed heavily when Garr opened his door without knocking. The Earthbender was built like a particularly menacing barrel and had ties with some of the [i]daofei[/i] clans up in the northern parts of the Earth Kingdom, where he and Kosroq had first met. Kosroq was sitting legs crossed at a low desk, reapplying the paint to his arm wrappings, making delicate strokes with his quill. 

"Morning, Kos." It wasn't morning, but the greeting was just a formality anyway. "Got a job for ya. From -"

"Close the damn door, Garr," Kosroq interrupted without looking up. "If you're going to break the whole chain of communication, at least have the decency to not let everyone on the street hear the news, too."

Garr closed the door with as much casual dismissiveness as he could before continuing. "He's just a minor bureaucrat from the agricultural district with too much money to spend. Wants some papers planted."

Without looking from his writing - he's moved from his arm wrappings to a variety of small paper slips - Kosroq felt Garr's eyes boring into the top of his head. It irritated him. In the higher society of the North, prolonged eye contact could be borderline confrontational in some contexts (he'd heard similar of some Fire Islands customs, though that varied from people to people). Not that Garr was Northern or actually looking at his eyes, but still.

"Drama in the farming community, I see," Kosroq said dryly. "And he thought that he needed someone with [i]my[/i] skillset just to plant some papers? I'll take it, I guess. Money's money." 

"I thought you'd say that. I took the liberty of gathering the first half of the fee and the papers he wants planted." 

Kosroq sighed, looking up for the first time. Garr towered over him, but that didn't intimidate him. They were friends, and besides, Garr was more of a thug than a skilled bender. Kosroq was sure he could take him any day.

"I'll take it this time, Garr, but next time, use the methods we discussed and actually vet them first. Better safe than sorry." Kosroq took the offered money and papers. "Here's your cut."

"Relax. He's a two-bit farmer bureaucrat who probably spends all day making sure the carts leave on time," Gar said, accepting his cut. "And I'm sure I wasn't followed by any malevolent farmer figures. It'll take you a single night and he's paying way more than he probably should. Call it easy money, pal."

"Fine, fine. So, whom does he want to get these papers?"

The victim was, as far as Kosroq was concerned, a nobody. Another agricultural official with a title that suggested he helped officiate trades with outside sources. His relatively low rank and the disproportionate amount of pay Kosroq recieved made Kos think that it was more personal as opposed to some sort of small scale political maneuvering - why else would someone like him be hired to do a simple plant job on an agricultural official? 

Kosroq's lips twisted. What was he, an errand boy for personal vengeance? Still, the money was decent. 

"Go tell him I accepted. I need a drink for now."

Garr nodded and left, leaving Kosroq feeling a craving for tea. He neatly folded some of the spirit prayer slips into a pocket, then stood.

[Center]------[/center]

[I]Tea and La[/i]. The name made him uncomfortable. He knew the owner was a Northerner, but that didn't completely put him at ease. It seemed borderline disrespectful to turn the names of the spirits whom all Waterbenders paid homage to into a tea pun. On the other hand, he craved the tea back home, and he couldn't exactly make a trip to the North at the time. He supposed he'd pray to Tui and La later to make up for it. 

He entered the tea shop with an almost suspicious look, as if the entire building was a test sent to him from the spirits that he was scared to fail. It was the same look he had on every time he came here. Satisfied at the lack of spiritual smiting, he seated himself, slouching slightly with his best 'disinterested' expression. Contrary to his attitude, his right hand fidgeted slightly, pulling out one of the spirit prayer slips. He left it face up on the table. [I]Maybe the prayer will counteract the general aura of this place[/i], he thinks.