Alice is something called a Logistics Oversight Manager, a mousy brunette in her late thirties, and like most long term residents of Vegas has an easy air of weary cynicism the Big Apple wishes it could match.

"You have a FEIN?" she asks, not dismissing Dusk outright but the tone is clear, she's going to be a stickler because a pretty young woman wanting a job supplying water in this town is well outside her context.

"Nope! Dusk's voice is unapologetic. "Look, I get that you're doing your job. But I'm here to tell you: What I am offering here is pretty far out of the normal scope of that job. I'm not here to represent a company. I'm here because I can personally do something for you that nobody else can. You can turn me away if you want, but eventually someone is going to agree to take me to the suits at one of the casinos in town, and that person will be the one getting praised for finding me when they do."

She pauses as though struck by a thought. "Wait, maybe I'm going about this wrong. I guess it must be pretty hard to believe, huh? Not every day someone with literal fucking magic shows up at your door. Would a demonstration make this seem more plausible?"

"Look, we do this and there has to be a contract. I assume you can deliver because the world has gone mad but the legal liability of not doing the paperwork will have the Risk Management Office literally screeching," Alice retorted, "Okay, let's make a deal. You do your demonstration for us somewhere less public and liability prone than here. We front you an advance with the agreement that some of it goes to a good lawyer for you. They'll want to test the product before going full bore here."

She sat down, fingers steepled.

"Frankly I'd love to not have to bother with the pumps, filters, and cleaning. Those are bigger headaches than transport. But all it would take to bankrupt you can get me fired is some idiot doing something dumb near the water."

"Great!" Dusk's voice is cheerful now. "I'm not sure how hard it will be to find a lawyer who specializes in, uh, this, but sure, why not. Pumps, filters, and cleaning won't be a problem; this is clean water, you can have it tested if you want. It'll act like a natural spring. If you want to source it somewhere that people don't have access to, that's fine by me. So let's go do that demo, you talk to the people who can finalize that advance, and you can have the water tested while I dig up a lawyer."

Alice blinked then nodded.

"Fine, but I've got to cancel half my calendar so if you are bullshitting I'm going to dump an ink pack on you. How permanent is this demonstration going to be? Don't want to accidentally flood anyone," she said as she stood, "I've got signing authority for twenty without review. Digging up a good lawyer is hard but a good enough lawyer should only take a few hours."

"It'll last until I want it to go away, I should think. Twenty should be plenty for a decent enough lawyer!" Dusk is all but bouncing in her chair.

She continues the vibrating excitement all the way to the demo location, where she cracks her knuckles and stares intently at the ground. A low, slightly eerie droning noise emerges from her mouth, and -

It doesn't feel like the previous night. That was power singing through her, a rush of energy that burned like whiskey on the way through. This is more just a relaxation, drawing in the ambient energy and letting it flow out. It barely even feels like work, and suddenly, water is streaming up from the ground in front of her. It burbles gently as it begins to fill the small pit, as though its existence is not wholly in violation of all natural logic of the desert surrounding it.

"That should be enough for you to test," Dusk says brightly. "I can do more - enough to supply your canals in their entirety, I think."

OOC: One use of Azure Oasis Spring should provide enough water for them to do their testing, I think. It's effort-free, so I can basically use it as much as I want - she's not at all bluffing about her ability to supply them.

Alice drives a cherry-red Tesla, letting Dusk take the passenger seat after about two minutes of gathering up scattered paper into manila envelopes. Their trip is leisurely enough, ending up on a residential neighborhood on the very edge of the city. The house they arrive at is, well, a cute little ranch style. As they move around the side into the backyard Dusk sees an empty in ground pool.

"We emptied it a few weeks ago for repairs. It should be good to go," she tells Dusk.

Dusk nods, looking pleased and having ridden with the window rolled all the way down. She knew it wasn't actually as much relief from the heat as the AC, but she liked the breeze too much not to. Once there, though, she was all business. She concentrates and lets the water flow until there's clearly enough to test.

"You want me to leave it going, or nah?" Her voice is completely unconcerned with the answer. It's no hair off her back either way.

"For now. Might not be the most professional environment but at least it's cheaper than renting a spot," Alice tells her, kneeling down to run her hand through the water and taking a whiff, "Fresh water, good. I'll have some health and safety guys out here this evening. Direct deposit for your down payment?"

Dusk rattles off the information and heads back into town, whistling as she goes looking for a lawyer. It can't be that hard to find a lawyer who specializes in weird shit that makes no sense; this is Vegas after all.

Vegas is weird, but in predictable ways. This makes it a bit troublesome, as does the fact that business law and personal law only overlap a little. There's a plethora of divorce attorneys, tax attorneys, gambling attorneys, bankruptcy attorneys, and injury attorneys.

Ultimately she's reliant on the internet, a few text messages, and the assumption that if it goes wrong the next guy will just sue the first guy.

Braxton is a small practice, wanted a five thousand retainer, and was willing to guide her through the basic paperwork as a curtesy. He's on the phone with Alice thirty minutes after Dusks walked through his office door.

"I believe that's it for now," he tells Dusk as four PM rolls around, "I'll make sure to keep them on their toes but I don't think she'll try to screw you. You need anything?"

"Nope, thanks! And I don't think so either; what would be the point of screwing me if I can just cancel the offer any time I want, really?" Dusk shrugs. "Let me know if you need anything else - you got my number, yeah? Good, great." With a few more pleasantries and valedictions, she's out the door with a smug smile and a spring in her step that draws eyes for more than one reason.

Now, she just has to wait and see if the casino calls her back.

Her bank account shows an incoming wire for the agreed upon down payment. Braxton's retainer hasn't had time to come out yet. By her usual standards she's quite flush. Spring or strut the dancer is gathering yet more eyes. Even some jaded locals mixed among the tourists were subtly watching.

Lawyers and corporations move a bit like boulders, every slow until the tipping point, then very fast indeed.

Do we need to empty the canals first? came a text at five thirty.

Her reply came at five forty-five. I can take care of that as well. When and where?

Dusk was grinning now as she ate dinner. This little plan was working out quite well indeed thus far.

We'll have to pay the normal crew regardless. Just give us a heads up an hour before whenever is convenient.

0900 tomorrow I'll be there. It won't take more than a few minutes. Dusk is grinning more than ever as she sends the next message.

She doesn't sleep that night, too caught up on learning a dance off of YouTube. You'd never guess it from how peppy she is as she gets ready to head over to the Venetian. No amount of ocffee could do that. You didn't get that kind of authentic refreshed look from speed.

There's yellow tape, caution cones, and over dressed casino employees scattered around the canals when Dusk arrives. Detouring the rubes seems to take a bit of effort, crowds always love to gum up maintenance projects.

Alice is there, along with another woman and man who are each business casual attire that had to cost a few grand per piece.

Dusk didn't exactly look cheap by comparison - she had dressed well, and as a performer in Vegas, she had to have the kind of clothing where dressing well isn't nothing. But she does look out of place, wearing a black dress and high heels in a maintenance site at nine in the morning. She moves so gracefully it's easy to miss the latter, and think her height is innate (she was tall, but not this tall) and not the result of ten centimeter heels.

"Dusk, a pleasure," she says, waiting to see if she is offered a handshake or not. "Everything ready? Just tell me where you want the springs and I'll make it happen."

"Ms. Neva," Alice greeted her with polite professionalism, "We are standing over the current originating point. Everything is redirected from the pumps in the chamber below us."

Matching Corporate Barbie and Ken watch with expressions so blank it'd make an argument that Lizard People existed. Granted, it was Vegas and lately who knew?

"All right, let's go down and get this done." Dusk looks around for the maintenance entry. She's all but vibrating with excitement.

One of the stones lifts up with a little manipulation from Alice.

The waters are still and stagnant, the pumps and filters have been off for a few hours and the local biome took full advantage of water when it was available. Tourists also have a bad habit of leaving things behind in the waters.

Underneath the stone is a slightly eliptical chamber, roughly nine feet in diameter horizontally but seven in height. Dusk has to crouch slightly to avoid hitting her head on the curved interior. There's a big gap in the middle where hoses and bolts are exposed, presumably where the old equipment had been removed.

Dusk looks at the water, and nods. She brushes her hands together with the air of someone about to lift something heavy, and then hums a low note, rising slowly as she looks down at the stagnant water. It grows louder, as well, until it's a piercing drone, and then suddenly she stops, and the water is gone, evaporated into the dry desert air like it was never there at all.

Alright, step one down. She steps down into the space left behind, and looks at the hoses and other detritus of the pumps and filters. She slides closer, and moves one hand in a graceful arc, and suddenly water is bubbling up from below in a steady stream. A few repetitions have more water flowing, and soon there's enough to supply the canals in an ongoing fashion.

Using Azure Oasis Spring to first dry the water out, and then provide enough of a spring to supply it. It's zero effort, so I can pretty much just do it until there's enough I think.

It takes Dusk nearly an hour, mostly because so many pipes and canals that aren't visible from above require filling. Still, it slowly burbles and rattles. As a bonus the damp smell slowly fades, replaced with a cleaner, faintly metallic scent.

Alice looks smug when Dusk emerges, corporate Barbie and Ken seem to have bitten a lemon.

((Really it should probably tie up some influence to stay perfectly controlled but the effect is so small, egh, one and done for the most part unless repair is required because someone messes with it.))

Dusk tosses a casual salute Alice's way, and an equally casual, "You know where to send the payment," to the corporate types. She isn't too concerned that they'll renege. They have to know better than that.

She waltzes off without waiting for a reply. Literally waltzes, moving through the steps and spins of a quick waltz as though she had a partner and an orchestra. It draws some stares, but she doesn't mind; you don't make a living as a performer of any stripe without liking the attention.

Continuing down the streets in a dance, she moves towards her apartment, considering what to do next. This deal should resolve her financial issues for the moment; but she can't help but feel it to be a bit...hollow. I was made for more than this, she thinks, and then frowns. Where had that thought come from?

Faintly troubled, she reaches her apartment, thinks, and turns away without going into the building, somehow discomfited at the thought of being indoors. Why? She doesn't know, reflexively flinches away from considering the thought. Instead she turns and continues, not dancing now, but just walking, head down, staring at the pavement under her feet. She doesn't walk into anyone, and doesn't stop to consider how strange that is.

There has to be something to take her mind off it. It's Vegas; distraction is what this city does. But everything she can think of to do to celebrate her new financial comfort just leaves her feeling more hollow than before. Not hollow; hollowed. As in, hollowed out. Gutted. Everything felt sour and she could see she could see the -

Someone pulled her back from the sidewalk's edge right before she stepped into traffic. She thanked them, and they asked if she was okay, and she laughed and walked away. Her feet, she realizes, are taking her to a bad part of town. She considers that, and finds she is alright with it.

Dusk finds herself steadily moving across the city, seeming to half-hear a familiar melody. She ends up in, well, not quite suburbia but close. The usual distractions of Vegas falling away towards more practical shops, stores, and housing. There's an old man talking in an alley, so very boring, but something in the alley is much more interesting.

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