a foot in the door

Who: Arienne and Lucas
Where: The Echo
When: afternoon

Lucas didn't need the fire at the Drake to work on a Saturday but it sure as hell didn't hurt. The sound of sirens had woken him up, a rare noise in his part of the city and he'd thrown on the clothes from the night before, left a note for the woman in his bed and headed out after them with his notepad in hand. He hadn't expected to round the corner and find the Drake on fucking fire.

He'd poked around, stood close enough that he wound up with soot in his hair, and after a terse conversation with his so-called-cousin Ian, he'd made his way back to the newsroom for damage control. It was still early when he got there, giving him time to swipe files off the desks of reporters who had investigated the other fires over the past few days. He'd spent the rest of the morning researching and writing up the report, tweaking it just so that the arsonist was completely insane, hell bent on hurting innocent people while they slept. The urge to burn things wasn't complete until he'd burned people up as well.

Content with his first draft, Lucas pull the article from his typewriter, setting it on his desk. He leaned back in his chair, propping his feet on his desk and lighting up a cigarette. It was definitely a good news day.

Arienne had been looking around the offices for a little while, mostly just familiarizing herself with the building. She was considering seeing if she could get an internship there, even if she wasn't sure what she might want to do if she tried to talk herself into one. Beyond that she wasn't at all sure her parents would allow her a 'job' of any description. She was the baby DiGiovanni, she wasn't meant to work.

But that didn't mean she didn't want to, and she could find use for having a press pass, if she could manage to get one. Since she was in the building, she passed the office of Lucas, and lightly rapped her knuckles against his door, before she opened it. "Hello." she greeted.

Lucas had looked up at the knock, expecting it to be someone here to commend him on his great catch of the arson article, even though he hadn't even handed over the first draft yet, but instead he spotted his younger cousin in the doorway. Righting himself he smiled at her and waved her in. "Hello yourself," he said with a grin. "How's my favorite cousin?" It wasn't a new admission of any sort, Lucas had said it before, and though it seemed painfully casual when he said it, he actually meant it. He'd always found a way to dote on her if they were in the same room. "And shouldn't you be in school or something?"

Arienne smiled at that, coming in and shutting the door behind herself. She walked over to the windows to check out the view he had. "It's Saturday." she answered. "No school today, and while I suppose I could be studying, I'm far ahead of the class schedule I have here." she explained. "And therefore, instead, I decided to come and visit my favorite cousin." she said, turning the term back on him. Which was also true. She had much more time for him than other random relations that weren't her brother. "How's everything in the city looking today?" she asked, turning her attention back to him.

Saturday? In the back of his mind he'd known that, and yes glancing at the calendar on the wall he could confirm it, but he hadn't even thought of it once he'd found out the source of today's news. When she turned back to him, he spun his chair so he could face her. "Not good actually. The Drake caught fire this morning. They're saying it's the same arsonist who's been burning down empty buildings around town. Not a good day for the family, but Lucas Spitfire will get the front page." Lucas picked up the article he'd already written and handed it over to her.

"I know, mother and father were running around this morning quite upset about the entire thing." Arienne said, looking back at him. "They seem to be under the impression it was more...personal than just the arsonist. What do you think?" she asked, genuinely wanting to know his opinion there. She considered him to be an intelligent man who knew the score better than a lot of people did.

"Not what's written in there," he said indicating towards the papers he'd handed to her. "But as far as personal..." Lucas stubbed out the cigarette he'd lit before she showed up and lit another. "It's too big a jump. Criminals like that, who build up? They don't make the jump this guy did if he did them both. Last few fires have been empty apartment buildings or warehouses. Now a hotel in a nice district of town. A Family owned business?" Lucas shrugged. "What do you think?" He was curious. She was quick, too quick to be just another poster child, but he knew about family duty. He was lucky he wasn't in her shoes.

Arienne was quiet for a few moments as she considered the question. "I think it'd be a fairly convenient excuse for whoever did do it, to blame the arsonist. It reeks of a crime of opportunity to me." she decided. Because she agreed with him, the escalation factor was a little too much. It was, in fact, as he said. Too big a jump. But someone wanting to cause damage to the DiGiovanni hotel would probably have a pretty easy excuse there. Fires were being set, who was to say it wasn't the arsonist, just getting bigger in his targets?

"So that, dear cousin," Lucas said with another drag on his cigarette, "begs the question of who did set the fire. Who's stupid enough to take us on?" He smiled around the cigarette in his lips. It was an angle he was already investigating, already considering in the back of his mind. It would lend to another conversation with his friend Chie at the very least. "Plus the O'Malleys? They got their shit shaken up a few weeks back, one has to wonder if it's the same folks. Someone willing to take down everything." He was proud of her, the way she thought through the questioning, that much showed both in his eyes and the fact that he was continuing the conversation with her.

She listened, considering. "Actually, I would imagine it's not someone who's looking to take the family on." she said, after thinking it through. "If it were a statement of that nature, I think it would have had a signiture of some description, some claim to it, but so far as I have heard, it hasn't. I think it was meant to hurt things, but without starting an outright confrontation. A coward's shot." she assessed.

That smile was still there, even more so as he blew a plume of smoke towards the ceiling. He loved this game, the back and forth with an intelligent person, cracking through a story. So few of the so-called reporters outside his office couldn't keep up with him and the few that could wanted nothing to do with him because of the name on his driver's license. "So a coward, which doesn't really take out any suspects, though that might just be my bias showing. What kind of coward? Someone inside maybe?" He was playing with her now, tossing ideas out to see what she came up with on her own.

Looking back outside at the view, Ari thought about that again, before she answered. She generally did, she wasn't a girl who said anything without understanding the implications. 'Careless' wasn't a word that could be used to describe her. "I actually would doubt that." she decided. "I think if it was an inside job, it would have been set in the most inopportune place, where it would do the most damage and be the most difficult to put out. This seemed to lack that sort of...poetry." she said. "So I would say outside source, someone who feels they've got a score to settle but doesn't even have a specific person to settle it with, and therefore took the broadest, easiest, cheapest shot they could when presented with the idea that they may be able to walk away blameless for it."

Lucas turned that over, twisting his idea of the story around to see it her way. "Does it change the story if Ian Sullivan almost burned down inside? Apparently his apartment caught fire. Burning down a wing of a hotel does damage, forcing it to close for however long renovations take, but taking out the manager, that leaves whatever is left of the staff in a shambles." The devil's advocate grin was there, another bit of bait to throw at her. He'd already ruled out Ian as a target or a suspect, but he wanted to see Arienne do it as well.

Shaking her head, Ari disagreed. "No." she said. "That doesn't change anything. Unless the fire started directly in his apartment, it could be coincidence that it caught fire at all. A wing is a fairly big place, after all, so regardless of what the details are with the fire, the end result would be the same. Operations have to shut down, investigations need to happen, which puts scrutiny on everyone and everything, it'll cause a lot of headache for anyone involved."

Lucas nodded approvingly. He'd gone down the same path and wound up at the same place. She wasn't joking though about the headache. Not for the first time, and he doubted the last time, he was quite pleased it wasn't him who had to deal with that sort of nonsense. He'd get pulled at some point today or tomorrow to go over what they wanted to be printed, then Lucas would see to it that it was done as they liked, or as he deemed necessary. "It'll be one hell of a distraction that much is for sure."

"Yes, it will." Ari agreed. "I was thinking," she said. "And this has nothing to do with the current subject, apologies, however, I have been considering an internship here. Do you think it would be possible?" she asked. After all, if she was going to get one, it would likely be on his good word that it came to pass.

"I was wondering what had you wandering through here on a Saturday." Lucas took the conversation shift in stride, not missing a beat and switching from inquisitor to mentor in less time then it took to blink an eye. "An internship huh?" He took a long drag on his cigarette before answering. "You're still in school, which will help, though you're young still. But, considering you've got a connection and all with the best reporter the entire fucking paper has I might could set you up with something. Probably won't be terribly glamorous, at least not at first. Making copies, small editing work here and there. Doubt you'll get paid unless you really want me to twist arms." Lucas shrugged. He didn't mind calling in a favor or two. "What'll your parents think about it?" He knew how his parents felt about him working, and Arienne was far more direct blood than he was.

"You know better than to play the youth card on me. I'm probably more intelligent than the majority of the staff here. And yes, I'm still in school, but I could come in afterwards. I'm sure it won't start as anything interesting, but I have faith in my ability to work my way up, as well. So should you." she said. "I do not require payment. As for what they'll think, I'm not asking them, I'm asking you." she said. Because she did know her parents wouldn't be pleased, but if she did everything according to their wishes, she'd never do anything and have the brain of a fruit fly. She had loftier aspirations than that.

"I know you're smarter than them, but they don't know that. They'll see you as what you look like, a young girl. It won't be an issue once you're on, but it might be a deterrent to getting your foot in the proverbial door." It certainly wasn't one Lucas was actively worried about though. If his cousin wanted her internship, he'd get her the internship. He liked that she wanted to do more than dinner parties and social functions; he was the same way. "I'm only asking about your parents because if they hate this idea, your mother will tell mine and then I'll get some sort of family guilt trip speech about leading you down the path to my undoing rather than convincing you to marry whatever shmuck it is they want you to marry this week."

"Then I imagine, the real question isn't for me, it's for you. Which is more important to you? Not getting yelled at by mommy, or helping your cousin better herself before she's in a position of the aforementioned wedding?" she posed.

"You know the answer to that already," Lucas said, eying her closely. He'd do what Arienne wanted, help her out. He'd been on the receiving end on more than one lecture and he wasn't afraid of another. Plus, he was all for delaying inevitable nuptials. He'd managed to do so himself for years. "When can you start?"

She smiled. "Whenever you'd like me to. I am, of course, available whenever needed, so long as it does not interfere with school." Which meant weekends and after school but she was fine with that. "Is there anything special I need to do first, or are you just going to tell people what's happening?"

"Give me a day or two to get it arranged, get you a desk set up and run it up the chain. On your way out ask the secretary up front for an application and after you fill it out leave it for me. I'll take care of the rest," Lucas promised. He could push some buttons and get her a space on the floor, find out what she could work on, who she could help out. "I'll give you a call Tuesday or Wednesday once I get it straightened out."

"Sounds perfect. Thank you." she said, properly gracious, and in this case it was actually genuine. He was setting things up for her, and she was thankful for it. It was what she wanted and she felt she could do quite a bit with something as simple as an unpaid internship. She'd have access to information, at the very least and she had faith in her abilities to work her way up. "I won't keep you from your work any longer, but it's been pleasant seeing you. I look forward to your call."

Lucas stood, scooping up the pages of his article. "You're always a welcome distraction from work, you know that," he said. There were few things that he did consider a welcome distraction, but his cousin had worked her way into being one. He moved to the door holding it open for her. The article in his hand had to go through an editor at least once before he could send it out for printing, which was where he was headed next. "I'll see you soon," he promised with a wide grin.