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Nkiruka, Mikael's latest source, was quite pleased with himself as he got the notification about the money. He'd honestly lucked into the situation, having left the bar after some attempts to gather information, and then who should he see but 'the Rat' himself sticking out of a dumpster as another Variant - one Nkiruka had never seen before - was engaged in a fight. Of course he livestreamed it. The two chatted for a few minutes afterwards, Nkiruka briefly stepping back to let the truckers by. He couldn't catch their words fully, but he did catch their actions: Remy throwing something into the dumpster, the unknown man handing Remy - a card, maybe? It looked flimsy but it could have contact information on it. He ended the stream, figuring it'd be boring to just watch him follow the two. He was quick enough with the record button if they did anything interesting. To his dismay, though, the two were splitting up - he pressed himself flat against the bar wall and feigned interest in his phone as the unknown Variant left the alleyway. Which one to follow? He couldn't waste too much time deciding. He quickly texted his benefactor.

[b]THEYVE SPLIT. FOLOING RAT. POS CONTACT INFO[/b] With that, he darted into the alley and stopped by the dumpster as a twinkle caught his eye. He examined it briefly: a rather expensive-looking smartwatch. Was that what Remy had thrown away? Interesting. He set it back down and walked after Remy, keeping a short distance and his footsteps soft. Some of these side streets got quite winding, he'd discovered over the years, and just when he thought he knew everything about the city, something new would surprise him. He let himself admire the architecture rather than stare too intently at Remy; there was always that old sensation, the 'eyes watching you'.

Remy soon exited the alleyway, heading towards a large burning building, and Nkiruka knew he was going to lose his chance. He jogged up to Remy's side.

"Hey there. Remy, right? Mind if we talk?"

"Sorry, you got the wrong guy," Remy shot back. Who was this guy? How did he know his name? And why was he looking for him? He began to quicken his step.

Nkiruka kept the smile on his face. Ok, maybe he should've seen that coming. Now to determine the best way to counter without escalating...

"No, I'm pretty sure you're Remy the Rat. I blog about Variants, and you've been suggested a few times. Biggest reason I don't post you is that no one can seem to agree what it is you do." He chuckled as he followed after. "Everything from invisibility to making things explode. You might get a kick out of seeing the list sometime. Honestly, until ten minutes ago, I really wasn't convinced."

"I'm not a variant," Remy denies, feeling a little mystified. Why would anyone be looking into him?  "You got the wrong guy."

"You're not? I mean, if you don't want on the blog, that's fine. I respect privacy." Nkiruka shrugged. "Though, quick question - why throw out the smartwatch? Back at the dumpster."

"What smartwatch? I don't have a smartwatch!" Remy snarls. "Get away from me, mister!"
Why was this guy watching him?

Nkiruka raised his arms in surrender. Right, so he was going about this the wrong way. He could double-down with the recorded livestream, he could back off and see if he could catch up with the other guy, or try a different angle. No matter which one he picked, snarking back would obviously be the wrong option.

"Well, I'm getting paid to scout out Remy the Rat, who's a Variant, for a guy looking to hire him. I guess if you're not him, we can wrap up our business. I'll just have one final question and that'll be it."

A piece of bait. With any luck, curiosity and desire would overcome his defensiveness.

"Hire?" Remy choked, turning to face him. Oh god, not again....! "Mister, I'm just a kid! I don't care who you're working for or how much money they got, I don't want to sleep with them!"

Nkiruka looked up sharply at that. "I'm 95% certain he's looking for a bodyguard, not a prostitute." Did he even [i]want[/i] to know why this guy had assumed the worst? "I'm not into human trafficking. Right now, I'm just collecting information."

Some people at the edge of the crowd were glancing their way - Remy was being a little loud, he supposed, but pointing that out would likely make him louder. He rubbed a little at the right side of his face - his glass eye was feeling itchy now.

Remy stares with his mouth open at Nkiruka, then sprints away, screaming "Pervert! PERVERT!"

Hm. Enough to pay most of his bills for the month. Not getting his ass beaten. Funny how money made what should've been an easy choice tricky.

"I'm just looking for information!" Nkiruka called after Remy, not quite willing to pursue him. There was still that issue of Remy admitting (somewhat garbledly, on stream) an inability to control his power, whatever it was, and it seemed to rely on contact. Making things explode was still on the table. "I was just looking for information," he repeated to the people who were staring at him, many none too friendly. "I interview local Variants and post information about them to my blog. That's all - Variance and Vigilantes, I don't suppose you've heard of it." He was hardly the only Variant source online, but he did focus on New Haven Variants and tried to get their side of things. For now, just drop the job angle, they didn't need to know. When no one sparked recognition or interest in his defense, he ducked back into the alley and bolted, to the sounds of a few footsteps behind him. 
[hr]
It was half an hour later that Nkiruka stopped running, certain he had not been followed any further. He sighed and pulled out his phone to text about his failure.

[b]DINT BELIVE JOB OFER. THINKS UR LOOKIN 4 SEX. SORRY BOSS[/b] He sighed as he sent the message. And as for the other guy... something about him looked familiar, now that he thought on it. [b]THINK I KNOW OTHER GUY. CHEKING FILES[/b]

He pulled up his blog and scrolled through the list of the Variants he knew about. Despite the guy’s protective nature, Nkiruka was almost certain he wasn’t a Noble. Not to enforce stereotypes, but he was just a little too ragged. Pariah Underground, probably, though not someone he’d interviewed yet. He wasn’t that familiar. The search didn’t take that long - there were only a hundred or so Variants on his blog. Energy manipulation was even rarer. When he did find him, well. Running quite a distance worked up quite a thirst. But if he’d been drinking something, he would’ve spat it out or worse, dropped it.

[b]U DONT WANT THIS GUY. HES CRIMINAL[/b] With the message, Nkiruka sent a link to the profile on the still-unnamed Variant, his photograph one of him apparently holding an officer hostage, metal pipe sparking at the man’s neck.

That said, it did invite the very singular question of why the Variant had apparently saved Remy. But would the interview be worth it?