Cordelia was starting to think that Mr. Pretty in Purple wasn't a total idiot. At least he knew when to keep his mouth shut. What the hell had he been thinking, pulling his sword on Nissa like that? Okay, she knew he'd thought Nissa was a demon or whatever the cultivation land equivalent of demon was, but still, the girl was new to this whole demon-hunting thing and he'd really scared her. When Cordelia finished telling him off, he waited a few minutes before bowing first to her and then to Nissa. At least he seemed to get it but she was still planning to keep an eye on him.

Wen Ning stepped into the middle of the room. "Ah, I've had some thoughts on our next move. Come, let us sit and discuss it." Cordelia raised an eyebrow at him. Most undead guys didn't act the peacemaker but then most undead guys were evil.

"Whatever," she said. "You." She pointed to Jiang Cheng and then to the chair furthest from the door. "Sit there." Huh, Wen Ning didn't even have to translate. He sat where she'd wanted him to. She then arranged herself and Wei Wuxian on the couch with Nissa on the chair closest to the door. As she expected, Wen Ning sat in lotus position by Nissa's feet. Jiang Cheng scanned the room and glared. He'd definitely picked up that she'd put everyone between him and Nissa. Good.

Wen Ning spoke in English and then Chinese which, okay, the two guys were out of their element being from a different dimension. Cordelia supposed it was alright to fill them in first. "When I first received Miss Willow's message, all I knew was that my friends were here, in this dimension, and in trouble. I thought it best to gather everyone in case an immediate response was necessary. Now that I have a better understanding of the situation, I believe it best that we call Miss Willow and Miss Tara and wait for them to arrive. It would be helpful to know if the portal was opened here in LA or in Yunmeng. As the portal has already been closed, that will require a delicate touch of magic."

Delicate touch of magic: that meant Tara. Willow was a powerhouse but Tara was the one with the magical finesse. Learning where the portal had been created made sense. It'd be good to know the big bad was in cultivation land instead of LA. And it was good that Nissa'd relaxed as soon as Wen Ning had talked about calling in her mentors, but Cordelia wasn't sure why Wei Wuxian couldn't figure out that whole where the portal had been opened thing. Wasn't he supposed to be some sort of genius?

As if on cue, the genius started whining. Or maybe complaining. It was sort of hard to tell. He and Wen Ning got into a heated discussion and Jiang Cheng chimed in a time or two. In the end, it looked like Wen Ning had won out. Instead of saying the boys had been through a lot, Wen Ning characteristically spelled it out. "Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng had a full day, went on a Night Hunt, killed a Fyarl, went through a portal, were attacked by vampires, and then spent a night waiting for help. Wei Wuxian has depleted his energy and Jiang Cheng did not sleep last night. They need to rest."

"Miss Nissa," he continued, "I believe you did not rest much last night either." She blushed but Wen Ning continued on, unaware that he'd embarrassed the girl. "And there was that unfortunate incident this morning. You should go home and rest."

Unfortunate incident? Guess that was one way to describe almost getting skewered by a sword, but Nissa looked relieved so Cordelia didn't comment on Wen Ning's choice of words but instead made a mental note to make sure Nissa was kept far away from Jiang Cheng until Tara and Willow showed up.

"Wen Ning?" she asked. "Where were you planning to put the boys?"

"The back room," he replied as if that were totally acceptable.

"Not sure that's the best idea," Cordelia continued. "It's a bit ripe. I'm pretty sure Nissa and her boytoy made a busy night of it." Although, given what she'd heard about Wei Wuxian and his last boyfriend, maybe the boys wouldn't notice.

"Hey," Nissa complained. Then she stared into space for a moment. "Okay, valid point."

"You know I'm not cleaning it." Cordelia knew that should to without saying but it never hurt to make things perfectly clear.

"I will clean. Why don't you make sure Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng have something to eat? I believe Miss Nissa brought bagels. Will you stay for breakfast?" he asked the young woman.

"No," Nissa replied. "I think I'll head out. I'm not hungry."

Hmphf, she hadn't had that much pizza. "Do you want company?" Cordelia asked. "I'll go with if you like. It's not like guys ever have trouble stuffing their faces."

"Thanks but I'm gonna take the shortcut. I need to work off some adrenaline."

Shortcut. That meant leaping over rooftops. "Call me if you need anything," Cordelia said. "I mean it."

Cordelia watched from the doorway as Nissa entered the stairwell to the roof. She hoped Nissa would be careful. They didn't need photos of blue girls leaping through the air. There were already enough crazies in LA; no need to give anyone a reason to believe movie-style mutants were real although Nissa's probably be thrilled to be mistaken for a Marvel mutant.

When Cordelia returned to the office, Wei Wuxian had already helped himself to a bagel. Good. Nissa'd bought a baker's dozen and Cordelia did not need the carbs. Jiang Cheng, on the other hand, was eying Wei Wuxian warily and not eating any of the bagels, and, okay, she could just take the rest to the acupuncture studio and leave them out for clients but Wen Ning had told her to feed the boys.

Cordelia returned to the couch and held a bagel towards Jiang Cheng. "Mmmm. Yummy." When he didn't seem to get the point, she rubbed her stomach. He sat back and glared. What? Was he still on her about sitting him as far from Nissa as possible? Hey, if he was going to be that sensitive, he shouldn't be pulling swords on people even if they did have dark blue skin, horns, and fangs.

Wen Ning came out of the back room holding a laundry bag. "Please remember to tell Miss Nissa that her friend left some articles of clothing here. I will wash them with the sheets." Cordelia nodded but didn't bother to make a note of it. How likely was it that Nissa would even see presumably humanoid again? Cordelia didn't know and she liked it that way.

Wen Ning said something to the boys, probably telling them they could head off to bed, because they got up and went willingly enough although Wei Wuxian grabbed two more bagels. Good, she really didn't need to be miming at them all day. Maybe now she could get calls into clients who weren't forthcoming with their payments. She hoped the boys would be quiet although from what she'd been told Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji had gotten awful loud when … well, she could only hope the new boyfriend was more discrete.

The calls to delinquent clients went about as well as she'd expected. She thought about sending Wen Ning after the money. His whole undead appearance could look downright disturbing especially when he was fighting a pack of violent demons but, honestly, pale skin and black veins didn't stand out as odd in LA. And he was too much of a creampuff. All a client had to do was make up some kind of sob story and he'd just forgive their debt right on the spot. No, definitely not sending Wen Ning after the cash.

And so when a potential client called late that afternoon, Cordelia decided to send someone a bit more financially responsible than Wen Ning. He was busy with his acupuncture clients anyway. She dialed Nissa's number. "Still need to work off that adrenaline?"

"Oh, I so need something to punch."

"Well, you're in luck. I got a call, something about rats with wings over near City College. Do you want backup? Wen Ning's busy with clients but …"

"No," Nissa replied. "Hitting lots of little monsters? Just what the doctor ordered."

"Don't forget to get the cash up-front!"