So those of you who found me on AO3 under the same name already know about someone stealing my work and claiming it was theirs, it sparked a whole mess where I was then forced to rewrite my whole story and alas I only hope it is better than before. Please feel free to comment and tell me what you think. I hope you enjoy.

The year was 1937 The month of Ice was creeping in sending soft flurries of snow descending down on the bustling city below. Trip or "the Outsider" as the people had come to call him over the years was walking to his small office building in Wymwood Way, his thin coat doing very little in the biting cold as he pushed his way through the crowd his trusty hound Carver bouncing happily beside him ready to start their day.

As he neared the two story building he could see lights already on meaning only one thing, June was already there and more than likely was tapping that damn calculator and fretting over the rent. With a heavy sigh he pushed the glass door open holding the door open for Carver before slamming it closed sending snow whizzing past his head in a frenzy melting as it touched the rough hard wood floor. But instead of the pecking he'd expected he was met with the sound of two women talking, one seemed to be crying.

"Great." he couldn't help but roll his eyes at the disgusting sniffling.

"Oh and here he is, Trip this is Everret Muller she's the daughter-"

"Of a whore who works at the Golden Cat, she herself worked there for a time before marrying one of the Pendletons. Lucky break even if it did send his mother to an early grave."

"Trip!" June snapped slapping his shoulder as the woman burst into tears.

"Two years of being a privet detective in this town and you tend to know more about everyone else than you do even yourself. But if you could calm her down and when she isn't blowing snot all over my clean floor please send her up." June narrowed her eyes before attending to the Distraught and now offended Mrs. Pendleton.

Carver at his side he made his way up the carpeted stair case his thoughts running rampant, Firstly why did she give her maiden name? Wouldn't a ex-whore who practically slept her way to nobility want to use her noble name, unless? With a wicked smile he opened the door to his office. The room itself was simple a dark ebon wood covered the room from walls to floor as it did in the whole building itself but in this room there was no ratty carpets of large floral pieces curtesy of his favorite assistant one Junella Novac, it was all him from its shinning floors to its neatly organized bookshelves and desk. Prussian Blue drapes held out most the light leaving the room in total darkness except for a small lamp that June switched on every morning she came it.

"The Darkness isn't healthy, nor is how long you spend in that room after I'm gone." she would nag as she switched off the lights down stairs at nine o'clock.

June had a family a husband who suffered from rock joint and the leg he'd lost on a voyage to Pandyssia. She worked hard to get by and Trip wasn't too good to slip a bonus her way so she could go visit her daughter during the holidays even if it meant he slept on the sofa in the lounge again. She may annoy him from time to time but he knew he couldn't get by without her. Flipping the switch he made his way to his desk, he had a few small cases still open. Someone had stolen one of the Boyles Emerald Necklace he still remembered the encounter very well a woman with dark hair and a large green feather monstrosity she called a "Boa" came stomping in his office, he had greeted her as he did everyone with a hard glare and observant eyes.

"Your the one they call "The Outsider"? A master at being invisible and finding information?" her blue eyes lingered on him for too long running down his wrists and up his arm then down the expansion of his body. Before meeting his eyes.

"How peculiar?" she stretched out her hand running a boney jeweled finger under his chin lifter his face to the light.

"Black Eyes, so rare and intriguing. Master Outsider I have a case for you, find my Jewels and I'm your for-" she let what he assumed was supposed to be a suggestive giggle slip. "lets just say as long as you can last." with that she winked and turned to leave the room taking her two lackeys with her.

And little did she know that whole display was why her Emerald necklace lay rusting in the vault beneath his desk. He would have June take it by the Boyles Manner when she wasn't busy and demand the three hundred coins the woman owed. And then there was the other case a man named Daud had stopped by asking to find a missing woman by the name of Billie, she was last seen on a ship to Tyvia with a man named Wallace but after that his led was gone not a sign of her anywhere. it was unusual for someone to just drop of the face of the planet, and void knows he's not going to get paid for. "I'm not sure where she is somewhere in a bottle in Tyvia most likely." he was well known for his clipped mouth and loose tongue.

The door in front of him opened and the sound of heels clicking on his floor pulled him form his thoughts, he had expected to look up and see the Pendleton whore sobbing her eyes out about the illegitimate offspring she carried in her womb, but instead he was face to face with the Empress's daughter one Emily Kaldwin.

"Welcome Miss Kaldwin, please sit?" he gestured to the chair in front of his desk. Emily glanced at it for a moment, the poor girl looked exhausted and almost scared as she walked over to the chair.

"I have... Well I don't know what I have anymore. You have no doubt heard about my mother?" the look of confusion on his face must have given the answer away as the young girl barely thirteen let out a shaky breath, tears threating to unsheathed but she held them back.

"This morning three men murdered my mother in cold blood, they say it was her body guard but I was there I saw it, I know the truth but know one will believe me."

"Not that I'm usually apposed to sounding rude your Royal Majesty but isn't this a job for the authorities and not some lowly detective from Morley?" she looked at her hand disappointment seemed to ooze off her like a bad smell, he almost said yes just to cheer her up, which was unlike him but something about her made him feel that way. But just when he was about to say yes her head spring up and a hug smile was on her tear slicked face.

"I can pay you two thousand coin for each of the men you bring to Coldridge with a confession."

Trip froze, he was sure his eyes where the size of melons but he had never been offered that amount for anything. he opened the top of his desk and pulled out his notepad.

"We'll my dear Miss Kaldwin, tell me what you know."

Six thousand coin, he could do a lot with that. For starters he could pay June the rate she deserved, buy a new rug for the front room. Oh and maybe get his apartment back, he still hadn't told June that his long nights spent at the office were because he had nowhere else to go. He'd given all his pay to her and keeping the business running, that's what was important, if the business went under so did they. He couldn't do that to June and Carver, he owed them that much.

Emily hadn't known much about the men who killed her mother, only that they wore strange masks and moved like nothing she'd ever seen before. Only meaning one thing.

Whalers.

And that meant Daud, with a heavy sigh he rapped his knuckles on the thick wooden door in a few moments he was greeted by the burly Serkonian who stared at him in confusion for a moment before letting him in.

"I assume you have information, why else would you been here?" Daud snapped, ever charming he was.

" Not at all Daud I just came by to tell you how much I love your company." He sassed throwing his coat on the near by coat rack.

The warehouse where the whalers operated wasn't the worse thing he'd ever seen, he once had a relationship with one of Slackjaw's boys who lived in a dumpster outside the distillery. And by relationship he meant they took turns fucking each other senseless then left without saying a word. Best relationship he'd ever had.

The warehouse itself seemed to have once belonged to a whale oil merchant seeing how it was littered with adds and pamphlets. And as formidable as Daud and the whalers where, he doubted they took the time to expand the business.

"Why are you really here." He could tell the older man was getting annoyed which made this meeting exciting to the Outsider.

"Why are you busy? But if you must know, I suppose you have heard about the Empress?"Daud nodded sharply avoiding the young man's gaze.

"Good now I know your men where involved, now cough them up so I can get paid and you'll never see me again." It wasn't his best work but the look on Daud's face made it worth it, even if he did say no.

"You have some balls coming in here demanding things of me, some worthless piece of shit that Morley left behind." The look of rage in the older man's eyes was clear that he was on the edge. But The Outsider knew it had little to do with him.

" Someone was here before me." It wasn't a question, he didn't ask questions he already knew the answer to. Visions of a mask flashed before his eyes, then his face eyes wide and body racked with pleasure. Obscene moans filled his ears as he latched his teeth on tanned skin, perfectly carved collar bone and a strange tattoo.

"Mine, your mine." It was possessive, something he never enjoyed not since.

His vision faded and he was back in the warehouse. He had fallen down on one knee bracing himself against the desk, his pants uncomfortably tight due to his current problem that was pressed against rough fabric. He looked up expecting to see the old man shocked or holding a weapon at his back but the look he saw was anything but shocked.

"Stop looking at me like that, it's weird." Daud smiled and crossed the room picking the younger male off the ground eyeing the fair size tent in the front of the Outsider's trousers.

"You should learn how to control that, I was worried you where catching on to us until you started moaning, not going to lie when you threw your head back I started wishing it was me, but your right a man in a mask came here before you took the men responsible, all but one."

"You." Again it wasn't question he needed answered. The older man petted his shoulder before walking into a room closing and locking the door behind him. Trip cursed who ever thought it be hilarious to curse him with damned visions!

"Six thousand coin gone." He spat as he slammed the warehouse door behind him, suddenly he felt as though someone was watching him.

He glanced around before seeing a man standing on one of the ruined docks, he wore a mask and had log dark hair that blew in the rising wind. He looked sad if no lost, the overwhelming feeling of pit washed over him which he decided to ignore, he had been far to kind for one day. Back to the office it was to send June on the Boyles run, Void knows he wasn't risking it.