((I like that idea! Rohaan is not the sort to have had much of a home base so it will be fun for him to have one. And anyway, we can still travel around as we please, too. I like the idea of him being the enforcer, but also part of the weird underbelly ecosystem in the neighborhood.))


"Oh, what, my place ain't good enough for you?" Rohaan teased, elbowing her in the arm a bit as he chuckled. "You're too fancy for the likes of me. You and your nice grand hotels. Well, I'm just a humble street rat, but this place is ah...well...alright so it's not grand. Used to be, maybe, but not anymore. I will say, I do keep it mostly clean. And you don't even have to worry about the bugs, I ate most of them." He said this with a beaming grin, though he did not openly clarify that this was a joke. It was, but it entertained him to keep people guessing about what exactly his limits were. And it wasn't like it was a completely crazy thing to say, or at least not for him. Rohaan had eaten a multitude of things in animal forms that he would never dare touch in his own shape. Usually out of desperation when he was younger. Before Berlin found him. And one of the persistent rumors that circulated about him was that he had a penchant for eating people. Rohaan never confirmed nor denied the claims. [I]Let them guess.[/I]

Rohaan let her keep his leather jacket on as they shimmied down the fire escape ladders and blended into the streets like they had never taken flight as dragon and rider, and like they had been walking mundanely for miles. The area wasn't exactly upscale, and it was the sort of neighborhood a girl wouldn't go into after dark. Or even some men. But if anyone had evil intentions that night, one look at Rohaan was all the warning they needed to steer clear. Even when he was not shifting, or when it was too dark to see his inhuman eyes, he just had the look of a man who knew how to handle himself. They were unbothered as they made their way to a well-lit pizza shop with a few quiet patrons seated at overly shellacked wooden tables and a teenage boy behind the counter. As they entered, he took an unconscious step back.
"Jazvir! He's back!" The lad called over his shoulder, never taking his eyes off Rohaan. 
"Oh is he!" Came an indignant woman's voice. A short Indian woman with a ponytail and black glasses stomped out from the back, pointing an accusatory finger at Rohaan. "You!"
"Jaz...good to see you..." He flashed one of his trademark grins.
"Last time you were here, you wrecked my place! And you didn't pay a dime for the damages!" She put that finger right under his nose, practically leaning on her tiptoes to try and gain a little more height.
"Damages...? Oh c'mon, it wasn't--"
"The broken window." 
"Erm...well yeah, but--"
"The aluminum chair you flattened--"
"That wasn't--"
"Don't tell me you forgot about the hole you burnt into the drywall!"
Rohaan grimaced. "I didn't...alright so I wrecked the place. But I'll make it up to you, I've just been busy."
"Uhuh. I'll bet you will. You don't even have money in your pocket, do you?"
"Not exactly. Sort of just came out of a...tight situation, Jazvir. You've got some not-quite-mediocre Suits, here in this town. And they did a number on me, let me tell you."

Jazvir studied him, leaning back on one heel and folding her arms across her chest. "Well you do look a mess. And who's this?" The fiery woman gestured to Alexa, and though her face was screwed up in a scowl, her eyes were warm. 
"A colleague," Rohaan said, careful not to say too much out loud in front of the other patrons. There was little need, as there was a rule in Jazvir's place: what happened there, stayed there.
Jazvir rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Rio Ja'aisen, you are the worst! Go on, sit. I'll get your usual, you vagrant." To Alexa, she said, "Keep this one in line, would you, hon?" With that, she disappeared into the kitchen. Notably, she used the last and shortest of Rohaan's three given names, though she seemed to know exactly who and what he was. 

Rohaan smiled apologetically at Alexa as he plunked down heavily in an aluminum chair. "Jaz is great. I'm gonna get her something real nice when I get a minute...Last time I was here, I got cornered by some head hunter who did not want to wait for me to finish my pizza. [I]Asshole.[/I] You know how that goes." He shrugged nonchalantly, like it was the headhunter's fault that the place had been roughed up, not his. 

Jazvir brought out two boxed pizzas and plunked them down on the table unceremoniously. "There. Thanks for not setting the place on fire this time." 
"I try." 
"You owe me, Rio. Don't forget it."
"I won't, Jazvir. I never do." Rohaan gathered the boxes and he and Alexa headed out. Just the smell of the food reminded him how horribly hungry he really was, and also how upset his stomach was from whatever they'd dosed him with to keep him down during transport. And thirsty. He really needed some water, and maybe something stiffer later. 

The tenement where Rohaan had set up his current home wasn't far from the restaurant. It was definitely run down, and though it had once been something nice, it was now in desperate need of new paint, new flooring, and a few new panels of drywall. The front door was chained shut, but one of the windows had been long since smashed in, and the shifter casually climbed through it to get inside. The lower floor was strewn with a bunch of trash and a few filthy mattresses, but Rohaan's spot was a few floors up. He'd cleared out a large room and dragged up two couches that were tattered but not diseased looking, and in one corner of the room was a mattress on the floor. It was most definitely clean, though it lacked a set of properly fitting sheets. A large backpack sat next to it, and beside that was a plastic bin that seemed to serve as his small pantry. The lights did not work, so he turned on a portable lantern that he'd hung from the ceiling, set the pizza boxes on the chipped coffee table, and sank into the couch. 

Rohaan was ravenously hungry, and didn't even speak for a while as he chewed with the fervor and intensity of a half-starved animal, though several slices in he slowed down to a more human pace. With that need met, his mind and his body reminded him of the other things he'd neglected, like the bruises and swollen ribs he'd gotten from his capture, or the dragging, hollow feeling the sedation drugs had left him with. He leaned back until his head rested on the back of the couch and sighed, though it came out as almost a groan. "You can take the bed if you want, might be warmer. Don't let this dump fool you, the blankets are clean, I promise." Rohaan drifted from place to place often, so he never invested much money or energy into having many things, though there were a few items he was uncompromisingly lavish about. His clothing was one such item. He had few sets, but what he had was of good quality, especially his boots. Blankets and a decent pillow were another.