Didn't really know much of the recent events or things that unfolded for most of the day. The information broker had been from one thing to the other, without any real idea of the details that happened in between, but it wasn't like that was a bad thing, it actually meant that his day was a little more relaxing if anything, and it gave him something to do later on in his evening; that was what Riki looked for the most.
The moment Deeandra @Midnight Howl presented herself, there was already a lot he could tell was worth looking into. It gave him a list of leads of information to know, someone always sees something. There was no such thing as an empty location, it just means whatever passerby had a suspicion of something kept quiet about it. Riki would figure that one out, currency had a nice way of doing that.
He saw the knife picked up and quickly ducked his head when it flew past, his instincts showed he was at least sharp at reading intentions, and he didn't leave any chance for showmanship or skill to be bragged about by Deeandra. His actions read he was startled by it, but his tone indicated it wasn't too much of a threat, "Hey... That's not how you show colleagues a warm welcome!"
He did have he full intention to indicate what he did know, "Hmm... No... That's not true. I don't find it comforting to kill anyone that I know. For me, it's bad for business, a loss of resource, and it just shows a sign of weakness. When you can let you enemies live and remain powerless, that is when you truly show how much stronger than you are than them. If you kill them, it means you see them as strong as you are, and you're not sure if you will win in the long run. When you let them live... You show everyone that you're still very much in control, they compete against you simply because you allow them to compete against you and that alone."
He waved it off, "Oh well. I didn't really come here to discuss philosophies. I came here to inform you that I am fully aware of your decision making in the process. I know you avoided the further interrogation of the individual I warned you of... and I've heard more than enough rumors that you have a little scout running about town to keep you aware of things in town. It's out of courtesy that I have left it at just rumors... But in the world of information. I am the only best one at doing it. Whatever you think is working simply hasn't failed you at the moment."
He had set down the pastries he bought for the evening, pulled out the knife from the wall, wiped it on his pants leg, and opened one box to a strawberry shortcake he cut the tip of to eat; it clearly wasn't poisoned.
He sighed, "I would like to stay, but a day where I noticed I haven't done much... I know it really means there is a lot of work I need to look into. I hoped to sit down and enjoy what I bought for you in a more formal conversation. Maybe another time."
He reassured Deeandra with a wave on his way out, "No need to show me out."
As the odd pairing of a shark and a wolverine made their ways down to the old, dilapidated factories of New Earlton, the sandstorm that had been coming finally hit. Emily, the more water-dependant of the two, flipped up her hood to keep sand from getting kicked up into the gill-like slits on her throat and dug her phone out of her messenger bag. "So, I might as well tell you about that guy, huh?" She kept walking and turned her head to Warren, stuffing her hands in her pockets. "Like I said, that guy sold his daughter as a sex slave and took the payment. Not only that, he's lied, cheated, and extorted everything you could imagine from everyone in this city. Charlie Reager, that's his name. All the evidence of it you could ever want is at my apartment." She smirked slightly returning her gaze to the road. "Catch is, you have no idea where I live." She paused and sized the wolverine up, her eyes pausing a moment on his crotch and smirking. "Don't worry, I'll bring you home with me after this." She winked at the taller cop and flipped her phone open, dialing a frequented number with her thumb.
She lifted the phone into her hood and walked in silence as it rang once... and went straight to voice mail. A fit of rage took over as a certain snow leopard's voice spoke, saying to leave a message in something of a bored tone. Emily, impatient and fed up for the moment screamed into the phone's receiver and left quite a vulgar threat that would disturb even the most seasoned soldier. "DEE ANSWER THE GODDAMN PHONE YOU BITCH! I NEED YOUR SEXY ASS IN A FUCKING WAREHOUSE TO WHIP THE SHIT OUTTA SACHA'S FUCKING BUTT BUDDY! THE SOONER YOU'RE FUCKING HERE THE SOONER YOU CAN GO THE FUCK BACK TO GROOMING OR WHATEVER THE FUCK CATS DO!" She ended the call with an overly aggressive press of a button and slapping the phone shut with a finger, then dropping it into the bag on her shoulder. She glanced up at Warren once again, looking more annoyed than anything. "What?"
Aeron had listened to the two men talk in relative silence as she felt no need to really chime in, though she did keep count of how many jabs John took at her expense. If the wolf was lucky, she's only stoop so low as to glue his ass to the next chair he sat in, or many she would steal one of his beloved handguns and hide it for a week or two where even he wouldn't be able to find it. Lost in thought, she couldn't help the rather wicked smile that curled the edge of her lips, why not just do both? Gluing his ass to the chair would give her plenty of time to hide the handgun as he fought to remove himself, a sight she would find most amusing she was sure.
John's features became more stoic as he listened to Twombly. By the end of it he simply shrugged.
"Well then it's a good thing that I haven't told you much of importance, otherwise I'd be in trouble, hmhmhm." He smirked as he ran a hand through his furry head.
"Besides, saying things like that could get you killed, especially in New Earlton. It's just a good thing I know my dearest Aery here. She wouldn't let that happen to me." He winked to her before leveling a glare to Twombly.
"But for future reference, I would encourage you to watch who you say that to. Some of the people I know don't, understand what you mean and I can garuntee that they will do whatever it takes to silence you. But I can see you have better judgement and common sense to avoid situations that result in, lesser favorable conclusions."
"Ya'll aren't about to start a pissing contest right?" she questioned once John was finished telling Twombly about their rather extensive background... a background that at one point, involved an actual relationship. However, once she had come to realize the Pack leader was trying to get John to use their relationship to his advantage, she cut it off and went on her merry way. "Pretty sure Twombly doesn't need to know how much fun we used to have... unless you are trying to get him to smack you in the face with a rifle part?"
John looked back over to Aeron, as respectfully as he could and gave her a lopsided smirk.
"Well you and me both know who would win that anyway plus I'm more than certain that Twombly has stories to match."
Aeron was silent for a moment, a small hint of sadness showing for a brief second before she let out a slow breath. "Don't we all?" she muttered, suddenly not in much of a mood to actively tease John, something that only seemed to happen when she remember something especially bad. "So, what the hell brought you all the way to the wasteland John? There are no jobs to be had out here... so something tells me you may have had a thing to do with the firefight that we passed just before the storm started to get out of hand."
His ears perked up slightly with a flick from the left. He had just about forgotten that the firefight happened not to long ago. 'Well.....shit' He mentally cursed. That blast must've shaken him badly enough to forget he was going to get in and get out.
[color=black]"Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that. Just providing overwatch. It seemed like the Hole and Godmother were after the same thing. Went swimmingly until The Pack came out of the blue and basically robbed them both out of a few good things. Hence the reason the weapons are now parts of weapons. I was caught in the blast in the building behind the truck. Someone used waaaaay too much C4. 'Mostly because Johnny likes big boom.' He chuckled to his own inside joke. It would more or less come across as Wolf being tickled by his own joke. "Yeah so the last thing I can remember coherently is looking down my sights to watch the ending and then "boom", all hell broke loose." Simply shrugging at the situation. John usually came across like a solider, firefights and death meant nothing to him at this point. Thanks to his life and The Pack, he had been desensitized to violence in general and sometimes could be seen in his slightly hidden thousand-yard stare.
"Meaning you used too much C4 because you wanted to see how much of a pain in the ass you could be?" she questioned before yawning and leaning against Twombly, "Was The Pack taken care of accordingly or would you like some help setting a few people straight? I'm sure Ylva would love to give them a piece of her mind yet again considering what happened the first time you two met... and she almost kicked your ass." As she spoke, she nabbed one of Twombly's hands, forcing the male to stop what he was doing long enough for her to idly play with his fingers.
John immediately denied any cause of the explosion but only his jackal would know truth behind his words. When she brought up the pack he shook his head and waved it off. "Nah its fine. I personally know the new Alpha, I'll talk to him. Besides I think I - - - - Did you just say Ylva?" His mouth twitched slightly as he felt his tail lightly thump against the concrete wall. The twitch became more prominent as it worked its way into a grin.
"God I haven't seen Ylva in a long while. Hey does she still have my card? I gave her that for a reason you know and what do you mean kicked my ass? I had her on the ropes and then she cheated." He almost sounded like a child towards the end, getting defensive about the first time they met.
Twombly wasn't too interested in what was being discussed at this point, the obligitory 'my boss is cuter' stick-waving having already been settled upon cementing John's disbelief in his ability to survive a relationship with Aeron for long as he has. A fact made all teh more obvious when his boss stole one of his hands away from his work just as he was about to finish setting the reciever of the old submachine-gun back together. Taking the occurance in-stride, he finished re-assembling the gun single handedly while letting Aeron inspect his claws for blood, dirt, and sand... or whatever else she was looking for, splaying his fingers out so she could more eaisly run her fingers between his, ending in an affectionate embrace as he looked-up just as they brought Ylva into the discussion.
"Oh, you've met her too? How'd you like Sasha, her big gun? I modified that just for her." He boasted, in what could be seen as an affirmation to just how badly he must've screwed-up to get on Ylva's hit-list, twice. It was also a hint that he could do similar work for him.
John glanced over to Twombly when he asked him how he knew Ylva and frowned at the name Sasha.
"Goddamn...Sasha, Hiss, Cujo, Nina, Sypher... we all had a few discussions that day. That M249 made a hell of a mess. Last time I saw her she had that thing etched in with....What was it....oh, "Be my Valentine" or something similar. I think she took that idea from me. By the way Aery how is she anyway?" He asked with genuine interest.
"Why not ask her? I guarentee she's going to be the one to come get us. There is no way Sebastian hasn't noticed that I am effectively 'missing' which means they more than likely used the gps on my phone to find me. That also means Ylva will be driving one of the SUVs out here to come pick me and whoever I am with, up." She replied, taking note that his tail was thumping against the wall, "You really like her don't you? I don't think I've seen you this excited to see or hear about someone in the longest time."
"I'll ask her."
John had gained a certain crush with Ylva and it was mostly thanks to that one day. The fact that someone else had managed to come out of the woodwork and match him round for round was enough to peek his interest. Not only that, but was able to get the upperhand against him, effectively giving him his single loss he ever had. Later on when he did manage to take her out she turned out to have a great personality, one that fit his own and yet held its own distinct quirks and beliefs. So overall he had feelings for her but had to keep it professional as he did work with her at times, even if they were rare. It was at this time he realized his tail had started to go and looked down and took it into his hand as he laid back. He looked about the ceiling as he thought about it and simply shrugged.
"Great, it'll be a double date then. You and Ylva, with me and Ms Khalil back to the Hole to discuss some of the more amusing details of how we've all met." He stated, having finished the last salvageable firearm and hopping on one of the nearby bunks, beside Aeron. "Although we will have to drop off a few things to a client, I won't give any of those details, of course." He said, refering to the deal they'd made with Ansel, completely unaware of the bonus they'd get if they gave him John wrapped up in a little red bow.
John looked at Twombly slightly concerned about the idea of a double date. Not because he didn't want to, but because he had someone else waiting for him. A certain vixen named Vex.
"We're co-workers, something like this coul-"
"Thing about a canine's tail? It always gives us away," Aeron said with a smile on her face before standing and walking over to where John was relaxing, "The only reason she hasn't called you is because she wasn't sure if it would be a smart thing to do. You're always so god damn proffesional that she doesn't want to bother you or put you in a situation that could possibly compromise your moral standing. Sometimes I wonder what it is she sees in you, then I remember the type of person you really are under that cold front. I'm sure you already know this, but if you decide to get serious with her, you better not hurt her. Its one thing to have my hitman after you... its another to have me after you."
He rolled his eyes and sat up a bit.
"Yeah yeah, or you'll do horrible things to my genitalia and other parts of me involving painful things and what not. Also I would like to clarify that I do not have a cold front. I am a rather approachable person." He stuck his tongue out at her before laying his head back again. "Hey Aeron-" His voice softened a bit.
"What's tomorrow?" He asked with a bit of somberness in his voice out of curiousity.
"I'll go with you," Aeron said softly, her usually hardened expression turning soft as she looked at him, "Don't I always?" She gently pat his head before sitting down a little ways away, eyeballing her phone as she knew she would more than likely end up being pinged, that is, if she had service.
It was about three hours into the sandstorm that some noise could be heard at the enterance of the building, and it was clear the person had no desire to hide themselves. "Hey Aeron! Sebastian sent me to come pick you and your boy-toy up!" came an all too familiar voice, "C'mon, lets get going before I'm entirely too tempted to tell that Tiger where he can shove it." Just as the sentence came to an end, a female grey wolf strolled right up to the small group, her auburn eyes scanning the trio for a moment before they came to rest on John. It was clear that she remembered exactly who it was, but she was a little miffed that he had been a pain in the ass to get a hold of after that singular date she conceeded to.
"So I see the Big Bad Wolf got stuck in the storm too... I take it I'll need to give him a ride back to The Hole or something?" the female wolf questioned, keeping her eyes off of the Male Canine who seemed to be just lounging on the ground for the past few hours, "I guess I could be nice enough to give him a lift too... just don't pee in the car." While it was clear she was joking around, her tone was a little hard since she was having a bit of a hard time concealing the fact that she was actually happy that he was there.
He heard a voice pick up from inside the building and he slightly flinched at the female's voice. As the sentence came to a close, a grey wolf rounded the corner. Her tight fitting jeans and shirt were familiar and then the more recognizable items that told him exactly who she was. Sasha, who seemed to be strapped to her back and her two pistols. Subconciously his eye twitched at the three of those girls. He sat up a bit and looked towards the female wolf.
"Ylva. Long time no see. Yes it would appear that I was. I was enjoying a nice stroll through the wasteland when the sandstorm picked up and came across Aery and.... her boy-toy. He snickered. He nodded to the offer to pick him up. "If you can that would be wonderful." He chirped up with a smile as he began to stand, grabbing his mask and preparing to put it on again until she took a jab at him, earning her a mock glare. "I make no promises," John quipped as he put on his mask, grabbed his rifle case and holstered Cujo. He needed to get out of the wasteland as soon as possible.
Twombly's brow furrowed at John's efforts to be "charming" to Aeron, then almost nausiatingly-so with one of his better customers, Ylva. The expression quickly curled into a smile as he saw Cujo re-assembled back under John's armpit, and heard Ylva's snide stipulation, and their eresaulting banter... he just had to chime-in: "So, Jimmy-John... did you remember to put the firing pin back in your gun when you put it back together today?" He asked, seeming to suggest John didn't know his way around firearms well as he thought.
John gave Twombly a suspicious look and unholstered Cujo from his shoulder holster and looked it over with mock confusion. "Hmm..."
"I could get you a replacement pin if you've lost yours. I'm sure it happens to everyone." He offered, already with his hands in his pockets, ready to return the missing firing-pin; having mastered slight-of-hand came in handy in more ways than simply reloading firearms and sneaking into personal mansions, as Aeron would probably attest.
"It only happens to those who aren't aware that it's missing." He raised the gun up, barrel staring down Twombly as he pulled the trigger which resulted in...
...Nothing
John remained stoic and gestured for him to hand it over with his free hand as his armed one went to put the Cujo away. "You can hand it back over now. Fun's over..." Inside he was quite impressed that Twombly managed to get the pin out and hide it under the watchful eyes of John. He noted to himself that this would come in handy possibly in the future.
Twombly wasn't the slightest bit surprised when John pulled Cujo on him, and didn't even flinch when the trigger was pulled. As he knew there wasn't a pin for the hammer to strike... it was then he realized his smug grin and overconfidence betrayed his treacherous prank, as John had an outstreched palm waiting for the pilfered part to be proffered back.
"Eugh, fine" Twombly scoffed, as he pulled John's firing pin out of his pocket and tossed it over to the wolf, and peeled-on his own gas-mask, getting ready to head back to the "safety" of the dome.
Just as Twombly tossed John Cujo's firing pin, a white blur seemed to come out of no-where before connecting rather solidly with John's stomach before retracting. "What the actual fuck John," Aeron hissed, clearly displeased by the altercation that just occured, "You are SO fucking lucky you lacked a firing pin, otherwise I'd put another bullet in you." Ylva blinked at her bosses words, as well as the Jackal's reaction time to what John had done in Twombly's general direction before a snicker escaped her. It was rather appealing to see John get punched by someone other than herself, then again, she and Aaeron had a habit of giving the wolf a run for his money.
John smiled as the pin was returned only to be replaced with a painfilled expression as bent over from the Jackal's hit. He knew that was going to be the reaction to his little stunt. "Ugh that didn't feel good...Thank god I didn't eat lunch..." He slowly rose back to full height as the end of the Jackal's lecture came to its closing. He went to protest but figured it was a lost cause. Once Aeron liked something or someone it didn't matter who started what, if you weren't that object or person, it was your fault. Instead he just shook his head as he bent down and placed the pin in the rifle case for safe keeping until he got back to the Hole... The Hole....Double Date....Wait the fox!
His eyes widened ever so slightly with the flick of an ear before he stood back up with another smile, mentally cursing himself. "Hey Aeron..What we discussed earlier may have to wait plus I want to change out of this dirt covered suit before anything happens anyway. "
[coloe=00aeef]"Oh, so I'll just have Ylva drop Twombly and I off before bringing you to get changed then,"[/color] Aeron said simply, clearly ignoring the fact that he seemed to have remembered something, "You were clearly excited when you heard she was the one who was picking us up, so I'll loan her to you for a day or two so you can play catch up." The Jackal smiled, the action mildly mischevious, showing that she knew he had something else on his mind, even if she didn't know exactly what. Check and mate.
A flick of the ear.
"That'll work just fine then." He chirped though internally he knew he was defeated. Aeron wasn't going to let him off scott-free anyway. Probably one of the reasons why she left him. A womanizer and a smooth one at that...when he chose to be. Also everytime she was around it gave him a bit of nostalgia about a certain-
He sighed as he put his gas mask on. "So is everyone ready to go or were you all waiting for me? I apologize if so." His muffled voice came through to the group, though, some of them would more than likely be happy with him being quiet for a bit anyway.
Twombly would have said something, but the pressence of his gas mask and everyone's desire to get moving meant any further verbal prodding would have to wait.
Ylva simply nodded her head, opting to remain silent as she lead the three canines to the SUV she had taken to pick them up. "It's safe for you to take your mask off," she said once everyone was in the vehicle, "John... if you rather not see me I'll just drop you off with those two. Judging by the crate I take it they have something they want to give to someone if the Boss rather go to the Hole first." As she had gotten used to not hearing from people, or rather... dealing with the whole 'one date, never go out again' thing with men, she really hadn't put much stock in the wolf despite the interest he seemed to show in her. While she had been happy to see him, and a little hurt that the two had essentially conducted nothing but business after the first time he had asked her out, she was rather good at hiding it... when disdain wasn't leaking into her voice.
"The only reason she hasn't called you is because she wasn't sure if it would be a smart thing to do. You're always so god damn proffesional that she doesn't want to bother you or put you in a situation that could possibly compromise your moral standing. Sometimes I wonder what it is she sees in you, then I remember the type of person you really are under that cold front. What Aeron had said ran through his head after he was in the car and mask off, safe from the outside thanks to the internal air purification system within Aeron's vehicle.
He remained silent for a bit as he thought about Aeron's words.
"No no. I owe you for the first one. Wasn't fair for me to leave you halfway through anyway. I have a place in mind I can take all of you...I think it's called "De Jour". Downtown New Earlton on 2nd and Broadway if I'm not mistaken and it's reservations only but I know the owner personaly so I can get us some good seats as well. I think they have a live band tonight." He tapped his finger against his chin before rubbing it. "But it is a formal resturant and requires apparrel as such. Ylva, I assume you have a dress? I need to know what it is so I can get my suit to match." He leaned forward so his head was in between the driver and passenger seats. He adorned a smile that was accompanied by a wink to her before looking over to the Jackal. "Second verse same as the first Aery." His snicker gave way to a chuckle.
"You know I hate dresses," the she-wolf stated calmly, "Only reason I got the first... and only... one was because you insisted that I would need it... for a date you left during. A piece of clothing I nearly burned actually." As Ylva spoke, she kept her eyes forward, focusing intently on the shift of the storm as it dwindled to almost nothing. She was even so kind as to stop to allow Aeron and Twombly out of the vehicle to grab some weapon pieces and a few skulls, the last thing she didn't bother asking about. The maned wolf meanwhile was fiddling with something in the front driver's seat of the burnt-out truck.
"You looked good in it." He almost whispered.
He turned his attention back to her with softened eyes. "Look....It's....." His finger tapping the seat in slight agitation as he tried to find an excuse. He didn't want to admit to her how he felt because of how they were. Co-workers. He didn't need to let his feelings get in the way of his work. That was one thing he tried to avoid but she managed to keep it unavoidable. Her skills and her personality was a winning combonation and that is what got him worried. But an idea struck. A possible way to make it up to her.
"I was thinking. Since it would be you and me for two days I thought we could go to dinner tonight and tomorrow you choose the activity."
Ylva glanced back at John, the motion a quick one before she was forced to look forward once more. She had to admit, the idea was rather appealing and Aeron had pretty much set it up for the two of them to guilt trip her just as much as her boss was clearly trying to guilt trip John. "Alright..." she finally agreed, to which Aeron was clearly happy, mostly because the Mob Boss was tired of John's unwillingness to settle because of his own fears. The way she looked at it, Ylva was capable of taking care of herself which meant it was one less thing John would have to worry about. The one thing he didn't know? The She-Wolf shared a similar pain, though she kept it masked under her rather rough exterior.
As everyone piled all their loot into the SUV, Twombly realized the nervous smile Aeron kept giving to Ylva and John were because she was up to some matchmaking. whether it was to help drag an ally into their fold, or just to give Ylva another outlet for stress didn't seem to be much of a concern for him at this time. He'd already had a gun pointed at him twice, and nearly been strangled to death for having the gall to prevent that from happening... so it was safe to assume this was slightly affecting his emotions as he saw this same assailant chatting it up with one of his friends, while his date for the evening seemed to be dolling quite a bit of effort into building that relationship.
"Great! We'll drop this two off and then we'll get ready. Don't worry about driving or cab or nothing. I'll handle all of that. Just make sure that you enjoy yourself." Since a long while he gave her a genuine smile, warm eyes meeting hers as he looked over towards his old friend. "Aeron same thing, don't worry about transportation and whatnot, I'll have everything taken care of. Twombly-" He leand back into his seat and glanced over to him as he adjusted his tie and shirt. "Do you have a suit or do I need to get you one, sir." He asked with a subtle pompus tone. He seemed to be more on the simplistic side, nice shirt and khakis, maybe a polo but then again he was with Aeron so...
"I have one." Twombly scoffed, as he brushed the sand and dust out of his fur, "I just don't wear them when out in the wastes. They limit my monility too much, and that necktie is just asking to get yanked around in a fight. And out here, that sort of thing can get you killed with none the wiser."
John smiled as he gripped his tie and gave it a yank. With a snap it slid out from underneath the collar and its connecting parts hanged down in his hands. "Snap tie. Nicer than a clip on but still with the same purpose." He smirked and internally was pleased about his own skills in preparation. He knew it was a ridiculous idea to wear an actual tie into the field. It was something to grab hold of and if anyone did it was over his suit was also specially designed for handling the rough situations the job requires. It was made out of the same material that the military used for its troops as well as a layer of satin or silk or cashmere, depending on his taste for that day. His shoes were also custom made. Build like a construction worker's boots, it was made with Gortex, and a few other things. A steal shank ran through the bottom of the sole and had extra padding for his feet. Overall he was pretty much set. For now though, he sat back and closed his eyes, resting for the ride back to the hole.
Ylva remained silent as she drove the rest of the way to the hole. She really didn't have much else to say on the matter, other than maybe pushing this 'date' to the following day so she could at least rest up. "Lets have this...date... tomorrow? I need to mentally prepare myself for wearing a dress and honestly, I've had to kill a man today so I'm not really feeling dressy at the moment," the she-wolf stated as she entered the Dome, "I hope that is ok with you John? I'm sure you would want me to feel like I belong in the dress... it's less awkward that way."
"If you do that, then we should all just hang out at The Hole tonight and then I'm shoving you onto the merc in the back," Aeron stated, it was clear she wasn't about to budge on that.
"Alright, you heard the boss-lady. First round of drinks are on Aeron at the Hole, after that it's up to you." Twombly chimed-in, quietly wondering if Sebastian was still fuming around the hole. He then reach forwards and scratched behind Aeron's prominent left ear, letting her know he was not going to let anything stop him from teasing her.
Warren stopped dead in his tracks. "What the hell!?" he wondered out loud. The shark's sudden screaming came just as he was starting to question whether he'd made the right decision in following her. Despite his usual knack for intimidating others, Warren's face was now a mixture of confusion and regret.
The shark looked back at him after returning her phone to her bag. "What?" she asked him.
"What!?" Warren exclaimed in return, "What the hell was all that! What's with all the screaming!? What are you, nuts?" A second of silence passed, and Warren got a chance to think about what he was saying. "...You are nuts, aren't you!? God dammit!"
The occupied cruiser was still on the officer's mind. He had left it alone in front of the bar he met the shark in (the Hole), and regretted that decision just a bit more every minute. By now, it might have been stolen, regardless of the murderer and the sleaze in the back, and the shark was obviously wasting his time. "Listen, lady, I don't have time to deal with any nutso thing you got up your sleeve. If you don't give me one good reason why I should keep following you, I'm outta here."
Ylva made it to The Hole without any further stops and dropped Twombly and Aeron off so they could finish the date that they had. If she was lucky she wouldn't have to deal with Sebastian, mainly because she didn't want to deal with the Tiger's bitching. "Try not to cause me any further troubles tonight please," she grumbled as she watched the Mob boss and her date leave the SUV to bring the Jackalope what was promised.
"Hey Ansel!" Aeron called as she walked into the Bar, "I have the package you requested!" With a smile, she placed the large box on the bar and gently booped the male on the nose.
Luciel looked down into a glass he was cleaning, a spider having fallen in and filling him with the confliction of rinsing it out. Shaking the glass, he tried to dump the critter out onto the floor, though it held tight. "Oh please don't be serious, for fuck sake..." he quietly growled, looking around for a spoon of sorts to try to scoop them out with before hearing the door open. Looking up as his persona's name was called, he put on his most convincing smile of familiarity. "Oi! How'd-" he began after seeing the size of the box and being 'booped' on the nose as he looked up, almost causing him to drop the glass while he flinched. "Yeh...hello to you to" he chuckled, trying not to sound annoyed. With a bit of physical persuasion in the way of one of his axes, Luciel opened the box. A thoughtful hum and a sigh escaped him has he sheathed the axe and rummaged through the contents with his free hand. "Only needed one, b'yeh cheers" he chuckled, matching jaws up with the top of the skulls and deciding which one would be the sturdiest for driving bolts into as to keep them together. "Hope ya didn't have too much trouble" he mused with a raised eyebrow while closing the box up.
"Nope, none at all... enough people have died in the wastes that there were plenty around and while I know you only said one... and this-" Aeron paused talking to drop a fedora on the Jackalopes head, "And Twombly found an eight ball shifter... should be good right?" The Jackal flashed her comrade a quick smile before letting out a yawn and looking back at her group of people. "Anything else ya need?"
"Hm?" He began, back up from the box which he was curious where to keep until the end of his shift. 'This' came in the way of a flustered flinch as Aeron plopped the hat on the jackalope, sufficiently crowding his head with the antlers and ears considered. Luciel had completely forgotten about the hat as the monotony of the day was grating on his memory after all the daydreaming he had gotten done. In all honesty, he hadn't expected the two to even be back that night. "Oh! Wh-heh, well, thanks" he chirped, taking the hat off and playfully hanging it on one of his antlers. Ears folded back to make room as he shook his head to give it a spin with a frown. "Mhmm...nah" he muttered with a pause, taking it off and tossing it in the box with the rest of the junk.
"Well, there was th' matter of a mask I lent ya" he began, before thinking for a moment and continuing, "Yer welcome t'keep it, probably should get a new one, anyway" Luciel concluded with a shrug.
"You sure? I have it right here," Aeron said, holding it out the the jackalope for a brief moment, "I have plenty back home, I just happen to not have one on me for the impromptu scavenger fun. I can even bring you back a replacement filter tomorrow... or have Ylva do it. One or the other."
"Ah well, if that's the case. I moit as well take it off ya hands" Luciel said with a shrug, reaching out with eccentrically wiggling fingers to take the mask back and turning it over in his hands to inspect it for any damages. With a satisfied nod, he set it on top of the box which he lifted. "So, ya kids have fun?" he asked, carrying it all behind the counter and sliding it in somewhere next to the fridge. While the spots he'd dabbed on where characteristic of an aging jack, he felt strange referring to the two as 'kids' and decided to shrug it off as a joke of sorts.
Twombly twinged upon seeing the Jackalope's backside, not for any physical reason, but because seeing a neck-apron on an antlered person was starting to emotionally upset him. Stepping quickly, he closed the distance with Ansel, picking-up a scissors along the way around the counter. He quickly snipped the neck-strap close to the front-edge of the apron, causing the entire top to flop-down while the tinkerer pulled a spare button and some thread out of his pocket.
[color=ed145b][b]"Take that apron off."[[/color] Twombly requested, although not sternly enough to be considered a demand since he didn't even looking up to make eye contact, but with an air of professional detachment; more of a verbal-nudge to keep Ansel from acting like a startled fawn caught in the headlights of a late-night drunkard's ride home.
"Well-" Luciel was about to ask before the slide of metal made his eyes widen, a hand already half-sliding an axe from the leg bandolier. To his surprise, the man hadn't tried to attack him but, instead damaged his apron. After a moment, he worked his slight of hand to discretely release the axe back into place after he had been mere instance from carving off a chunk of the wolf.
The request made Luciel blink as he snapped back into reality, seeing the mending material. Though he was not completely sure what they were doing, it wasn't like he had much of a choice as the apron flopped forward after losing its means of support. So, wordlessly, he slid the apron off and exposed the previously obscured axes in the same motion. "You coulda just asked, first..." he darkly grumbled while running a hand along the side of his neck that he had expected to be stabbed in. "...gettin the drop on me loik 'at is rude, y'know?" he laughed, forcibly as he pushed the glasses back up his nose, and a glint catching the lenses and his skeptically narrowed eyes.
"I hear people learn to get used to it." Twombly replied dismissively, as he took the apron and started sewing the button onto the apron-string, and continued to relate as he began cutting a slit into the apron's front, "Kinda like this one big black wolf I met out on the wastes... chrome-plated pistols weren't exactly stealthy... nearly shot me in the face, replied by nearly shooting him in the Johnson... heh, John's Johnson..." He chuckled to himself, letting the name of his assailant slip-out, sorta. It wasn't as though he gave away any last names. Besides, there must've been tons of dapper black wolves with chrome plated pistols in the Dome. "Anyways, Aeron intervened before either of us could kill the other, so it's all good."
The idea of not knowing a person's intentions only to have them sneak up on him didn't sit well with the jackalope, though what Twombly said distracted him from what they were up to. "John, you say?" Luciel asked with a flick of an ear which caused the chain to jingle. Though he knew there was likely more than one black wolf in the dome, the mention of the name and description piqued his interest and even a bit of worry as he listened to the summary of the story. Relief came with a sigh as he turned to Aeron, "Well, guess everything worked out, eh?" he chuckled before asking, "N'oi don't suppose ya know what 'e was doin' out there, would ya?"
A layer of curiosity came in the phrasing of trying to make small-talk while half-watching Twombly work. He had to admit, the man seemed skilled at what he did.
"Well..." Aeron began to explain, only for Twombly to pitch-in, "He was after a weapons-shipment meant for Deeandra. Blew up one of her trucks with a charge of C4, which is where that stick-shift came from, by-the-way." He then looked over to Aeron, "What with the storm outside, I'm hoping she figured anything worth salvaging has been lost and buried under the sand."
Finished with his handy-work on Ansel's apron, he walked up close to the barkeep, wrapped his arms around him, and fastened the apron back around the jackalope's neck. "There, that's better."
Though he had little experience with the name of someone who was likely a woman, rumors about John painted a picture which took most of Luciel's resolve to brush off the notion of it being the same wolf he knew. "Heh, sounds like someone oi've heard 'a" He chuckled, dismissively, mentions of storms making him question when he had last seen a storm. It was probably nothing like the rainstorms in the past, since sandstorms seemed all too common in the context. Going to see for himself had not even registered as an option, since the mere idea of being out in the open with nothing but the endless sky above him to accent the desolation of the landscape sounded nerve-wracking.
Seeing Twombly finish his work, Luciel took a step towards the man with the apron, his mouth opening to thank them before their arms extended past his head and insistently fastening the article of clothing back to him. Luciel froze, his hands lifting up between the two and resting on the wolf's chest for a moment until they backed away, leaving the jackalope standing there with a slightly stunned expression. "I-I could have gotten it, myself..." he muttered with a flustered expression as he took a step back and looking away as he readjusted his apron to cover the axe bandolier.
"John is with Ylva now," Aeron stated as she glared at Twombly, not really pleased that the male had cut her off, "He stood her up on their first... and I think only... date. Soooooo, I forced the two of them to spend the next two days together to do me a favor. Anyway, Twombly here doesn't really know the meaning of personal space so... yeah, regardless of whether or not you could have gotten it yourself, he would have done it." She playfully nudged the maned wolf before offering Ansel a kind smile, "Well, we should be heading out now. Have a safe night and remember, if you need anything don't hesitate to call ok?"
"Hrmf..." Luciel dismissively grunted, letting his opinions of the thought of John running off with some tart he knew little of stew in silence. "Just...a bit of warning would suffice" he awkwardly laughed, reaching back to inspect the work with how the button was stitched into place so he wouldn't have to wrestle the apron over his antlers which he supposed he should trim at some point. "Still, s'thoughtful of ya. Thanks" Luciel genuinely gratefully chirped as the inconvenience was satisfied by the adjustment which he tested taking off and putting back on with a faint hint of a smile before fading back into neutrality. "N'loikwise, y'know where ta foind me" he added with a nod to the jackal and another jingling flick of an ear. The jewelry was starting to bother him, but it was part of the persona, so he suffered in silence.
John and Ylva had arrived at his safehouse which was in a rather nicer part of the city but not to far away from the Hole. It was the proverbial "other side of the railroad tracks" in the sense that the crime demographics were lower than the rest of the city. Not much better, but enough that there wasn't much gang on gang violence there. More or less the angry couple across the street with domestic issues, the drunkard down the lane and a few others but overall was safer than most places. It was one of his safehouses but the one he spent the most time at besides the Hole. "Annnnnnnd right here. Stop.." He looked over to the brick house. It was in realitively decent condition. Its shudders were slightly grey with a bit of pint chipping and fading away. The lawn seemed freshly cut and was accented by a nice patio in the front with a table, few chairs and an umbrella. He looked over to Ylva and smiled as he undid his seatbelt and exited the car. He walked up to the door and pulled out a small carabener that held a small ring of keys. John jumped the first two steps, nearly tripping on the thirf but caught himself before he could fall. Brushing his pantlegs off, he walked up to the door and inched his foot over until it was directly under the doorknob and pushed down slightly.
Click-click
His foot stopped moving and held the pressure down once the clicks were heard. He pushed the key through the hole and turned it half way to the right and a quarter to the left.
Click click click
FInally he brought the key all the way around and pushed it in further before a final click was heard and he pushed the door open and stepped aside, gesturing for Ylva to enter first.
Ylva shot John a look before stepping past the doorway, but stopped as she had a feeling that he may have even more traps within the safehouse. "Well... how many more traps do you have around here?" she asked, "I rather not die because I took a wrong step." She looked back at John and waited for his response, crossing her arms over her chest. She had absolutely no idea what to expect from the male either, considering they were now alone for the next couple days.
John glanced over to her and smiled sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head. "There are...Nowhere up here minus a closet or two. The rest aren't on this level." His smile softened as he closed the door behind him after entering, the sound of rapid clicks and a few pieces on the inside of the doorframe shot down and concealed whatever was behind it, making it appear as if there where no traps at all. John moved to place his hat on the the hat rack hanging on the wall and placed his coat gently on the coat rack. The inside was very cozy looking, giving the impression that a family used to live here. Beige covered the walls of the house and were accented by hardwood flooring and wooden moulding around the floor. A leather recliner sat facing the TV directly with a couch that rested nicely on the side of the entertainment center in view of the tube. A small glass coffee table went in between the couch and chair with a small ashtray and lamp. A nice throw rug complemented the room. The living room was seperated from the dining and kitchen area by a partition and gave it a very opened feeling.
"Go ahead and make yourself comfortable. I'll go make us some food." He started off for the kitchen.
"Want anything to drink! I have everything from water to whiskey!" He shouted back to her from the kitchen as the sounds of pots and pans were being pulled out.
"Whiskey and Coke sound good," she replied as she made her way over to the couch and sat down. It felt a little strange to be within someone else's... home? She wasn't even sure if he actually lived here or just took her here because he didn't want her to know where he actually lived. That thought alone made her grin rather devilishly, her eyes darting back to the he-wolf who was making her food. Then again, it was rather strange considering the way everything left off the first, and only, time they had gone out. "So, care to share with me why you had to bale on me on our first date?"
"One whiskey coke coming up!" Opening up a cabinet above the sink, he pulled out a highball and a regular glass and walked over to the liquor cabinet and withdrew the whiskey from the cabinet and poured two ounces into the highball with ice and the rest with coke, carefully mixing it as he poured then made himself a glass of water. John walked out of the kitchen and into the living room, next to Ylva, placing the glass down on a coaster and started back into the kitchen but Ylva stopped him in his tracks with her question. "Well- He paused for a moment to remember that night, as well as come up with an excuse to why he flaked out on the date and turned back to face Ylva. "Sadly I had forgotten about a meeting with the Alpha and had been called at the most inconvenient time. He wanted to discuss something major that was happening at the time with a certain gang that happened to be encroaching in on our territory at the time, besides the one that I met you at." He chuckled at the memory of that meeting. Not a simple hello but rather a greeting that two assassins would make. Conversation made through the sound of rounds whizzing through the air and fist to cuffs. He started back to the kitchen as the sound of the fridge opened and bags were being pulled out. "Do you like stir fry?" He yelled out to her again hoping she took the explanation.
Ylva made a face, clearly not pleased with what he had told her, but not about to push the fact as she figured he had a reason. "Stir fry is good," she replied as she sipped at her drink and simply relaxed where she was, watching the wolf. It felt a little strange being in the home with him, but she wasn't about to say anything as she simply took to walking around and peering at the photos he had. "This is who you two see once a year..." she murmured to herself as she carefully picked up one of the photos, a rather sad smile crossing her face as she looked at how happy the young boy seemed to be. "Feel free to tell me to fuck off but... how old was he?"
John had started on the stir fry as the sound of the veggies and beef sizzled in the pan. "Well I haven't had stir fry in awhile and I make a damn good stir fry. Used to cook alot." He responded. He held the pan and flipped it a few times until he heard her question with he immediately stopped and shot his sight in her direction, eyes narrowed. "Put that down now." The tone in his voice was cold and held a steely edge to it. Once it was back in its place he continued on in an eerie silence for a few minutes as his eyes had glassed over. He bit his bottom lip and let out a trembling sigh. Eleven...Soon to be twelve. I had gotten him a model plane and an RC car for his birthday. Wasn't a very techy kind of kid but liked more hands on hobbies like his old man. Prefered simpler things like puzzles, models RC cars, simple robotics. A tinkerer."
"Nate dinner's ready!" John yelled out to the boy who was in his room. He was currently working on a 3rd stage model. A half buit Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk already with painted parts. Nate liked to be meticulous about how he built everything. The boy always tried to get every part just right, even down to the little seatbelts for the pilots. Speaking of which, he was figuring out how to paint the bird and his fox copilot. "Crow black for the bird or should it be a hawk? White or red fox? Hmmmm...."
"Nathanal Johnathan Wolf get out here and eat your dinner before it gets cold! Your mother didn't make this for it to sit!"
Just as he was about to place the sliding door onto its minature rails until his father yelled his full name, causing him to flinch and jerk his hand upward, knocking over the copter onto its side, in the process breaking one of the rudders. "Dammit...
"Alright alright! Coming!" He yelled a reply as he hopped off the chair and walked out, closing the door to his room behind him. He walked out to see his mother and father at the table already. Looking at him with what was basically a "really?" face.
"Sorry, just working on that Blackhawk dad got me a few months ago."
John smirked and shook his head.
"The Blackhawk isn't going anywhere but the food will be if you don't eat it." He pointed to the plate infront of Nate who simply stuck his tongue out at him.
"Well...I was wondering if I could go over to Davey's house tonight." John squinted his eyes slightly.
"Davey? From down the street? I thought you to don't get along." He asked with slight concern. Nate looked up and shook his head.
"We did but we settled it. Now we're friends." He smiled as his father pinched the bridge of his nose.
" You told me he was bullying you and wanted to fight you but now your telling me that-" His wife, Sarah, interviened.
"Wait. He was bullying you? Did the school do anything? What about his parents? I know Mrs. Kearny and I'll speak to her abou-"
"Yessss... We're fine now mooom." Nate whined. His father pointed to his food and instinctly started to chow down.
His father looked over to Sarah and smiled. "If he says they're fine then they're fine. I don't see a problem with it." Sarah sighed. "Fine"
Nathan's eyes lit up and he smiled. "SO is that a yes?" His ears perking up. John looked at him sternly.
"Did you finish your homework" He answered with a quick nod. He waited a moment or to before leaning back in the chair, staying in silence for a moment, watching the ears of his son slightly lower in his perifrials before he nodded.
"Sure...Be back by 10:00." Nate whispered a loud "Yess before quickly woofing down his meal and went to grab his stuff for the time over his new friends house.
The wolf s iled as he watched his son run off to his room. Sarah on the other hand was a bit nervous.
"You sure he will be fine?" He rolled his head and eyes as he looked over to her, gaining a glare for the action.
"He'll be fine. I'll probably stop by anyway to check up on him...But for now-" John's face gained an, interesting look. A bit mischevious with a bit of playfulness all rolled into one. Sarah looked at him and nearly choked on her drink, earning a laugh from John and a punch in the arm from her. Soon enough they moved their increasing fun to the bedroom after saying goodbye to their son for the next couple hours.
Ylva nodded her head as she had carefully set the photo back down, unphased by how he had sounded when he told her to put the photo down. "Sounds like my Nina," she muttered as she retreated back to the couch, "She hated the way tech was going, didn't even want to own a phone but I made her so she could get a hold of me if something bad happened... she forgot the phone though..." Frowning, Ylva fell silent and pulled out a rather old looking flip phone with a green case and simply stared at the thing as she listened to John move around in the kitchen. It was something she always had on her person, mainly because she used it to remind herself of what would happen if she failed. "Sorry to inquire on a painful memory, that wasn't really fair of me."
"No its-its fine. You weren't aware." He replied quickly as he flipped the stir fry a bit more before turning off the stove. John moved the pan over to one of the unused stove tops and quickly moved to get plates out and set up. "Besides, I got the bastard anyway." He said aloud to himself, not caring whether or not she heard.
"Makes one of us," she muttered under her breath before placing the phone back in her pocket and leaning back, closing her eyes as she simply listened to what the wolf was doing. She wasn't exactly inclined to talk about her own story with a man she didn't know all that well, but then again, she didn't really share it with anyone to begin with. The only reason that Aeron was made aware of the situation was because she had hired Ylva after the inciden and made sure the She-Wolf was able to function properly considering everything that had happened.
He had placed the plates out on the table accompanied by a fork and knife set atop of a napkin with the stir fry placed nicely on each plate. The wolf had also placed next to each plate a glass of water. "It's ready when you are." He called out, thankful that that conversation had ended. John had pulled out her chair and gestured for her to sit down. Once seated, he helped her in closer, making sure she was all set before sitting down himself.
Once seated, she nodded her head and offered him a small smile of appreciation, [color39e600]"Thank you for dinner,"[/color] she said before she began to eat. She felt a little bad for bringing up a sore subject, but figured it would be best if she just kept her mouth shut for the remainder of the meal. She wasn't exactly sure what was safe to talk about with the male other than work, and she really didn't want to talk about work.
He watched as she ate and gained a bit of a nostalgia. A smile crept on his face. "Brings back memories." He looked at hHe er with a soft smile. Looking down at his food he was playing with via fork. "You would have liked Little Nate. He was a great kid. Had Twombly's interest in things mechanical and a bit of Aeron's stuborness. Actually, no, that stuborness came from me. He had his mother's anger though when he really wanted to show it. Hehehehhe." He looked down at his food once again. "I was scared..." He simply said as he took a bite.
"I would be surprised if you hadn't been... It tends to be the first thing that hits you, then you spend some time blaming yourself for not being there when they need you before you finally realize that there really wasn't anything you could do when it all happened. Its a shitty realization, but in the end it sorta helps us cope a bit right?" Ylva offered him a small grin, before her eyes narrowed on her food, almost as if she were glaring at it for a moment before her gaze seemed to soften a bit.
"Ye-No...No not about that...About why I flaked out on the date..." His ears lowered slightly before returning to normal. He looked up to her. "I wasn't ready yet. It was too soon to start going out with someone else. It felt like a betrayal to Sarah." He looked down at his food and reluctantly bit into another piece. "I wanted to wait before I got back into that game so-to-speak." The truth had finally came out. He glanced to Ylva and awiated her response.
Ylva was staring at her food rather hard while she listened to what he had to say, "You could have told me this, I would not have been angry with you if you were honest with me from the beginning," she finally said after a moment, "I can understand why you would have a hard time." She nodded her head slightly before she finally started to eat again, going back to focusing on her food as she wasn't sure if she should say much else. She didn't know what it was like to lose someone you love in the same compacity that he did, but she did understand loss all too well.
He ate quietly for a bit more before looking up to her, tired now of the awkwardness. "Ask me anything...Anything you want." He said as he put his fork down and looked at her now with a smile. They were together for two days so he might as well break the ice by answering questions.
"Dangerous thing to tell me," she said flashing him a small smile, "I am notorious for not recognizing boundries... Did you lose Sarah with your son or was that a result of? Well... you know..." She motioned a bit to imply that Sarah may have left because the strain of loosing their child had been too much for her to handle. "You are also welcome to ask me anything you wish as it is only fair."
He sighed as he took the rather personal question head on. "Sarah had died in a car accident a few months prior to my son being murdered. After I heard her about it and we buried her. Home life kinda spiraled out of control. Nate's grades dropped and he started to hang out with a bad crowd." He smirked lightly. How did you come across Aeron?" John's smirk growing slightly.
"She actually came across me after I lost my baby sister," came the reply, "I was in a rather bad place at the time and she helped me find a purpose for myself. I've been working for her for about a year now... so not too long before I met you honestly." She flashed John a small smirk in return. If he was willing to share the dirty parts of his life, she may as well do the same. "So... do you think you are ready to try now or are you still scared?"
John nodded as he listened to her little glimpse into her past and found himself smirking at her mention to their first meeting. "I still say I had the upper hand." His childish voice returning, accompanied by a playful pout. His eyes slightly widened at her next question before sitting back and pondered it for a moment. "I'm not sure. Part of me says yes and a part of me says no. But I hear Sarah saying "Go for it." An internal chuckle only given away by the raising and lowering of his shoulders. He remained silent a bit longer before giving a light nod. "I suppose I could see how it goes. You diffently caught my attention that first day. Might as well see where it takes me."
"You can say you had the upper hand all you want, we both know it's not true. I kicked your ass fair and square," the She-Wolf countered before letting out a small yawn. She was pleased with his response, but ras rather tired seeing as he had to chase down Aeron and her date. The Wastelands always left her drained as she wasn't a huge fan of the sun, or how much of a pain in the ass it was to drive in the sand. "So where will I be sleeping for the night?"
"You kicked me in the dick...Then stomped down on it...THEN put the gun to my face!" He chirped up with a bit of annoyance, folding his arms in protest to her actions that day. He sighed and brought his hand underneath his chin and scratched it. "Well...I'm not scummy enough to bring you into my room on the first night and the other room is off limits...The guest bedroom should be fine. I'll go start preparing it now." He ran the napkin across his face as he started t clean up. Once done, he moved off to the guest bedroom, readying it for Ylva.
Yvla watched him for a moment before following, leaning against the door frame as he set up the guestroom for her. Once he was done, she stopped him with a gentle hand on his arm and pressed an innocent enough kiss to his cheek. "Good night John," she said before allowing him to leave and closing the door behind her so she could get some sleep of her own.
Twombly and Aeron left Ansel to his things, as they went out the front of the bar, only to be intercepted by Sebastian, their designated-driver. The tiger was clearly not pleased about being left behind, as it likely would've been his head if anything happened to his boss. With a bit more than a huff, he took them both back to Aeron's palace, a budget chateau resort of sorts... for being in a place such as the dome.
"Home sweet home," Aeron said as she watched Sebastian storm off, "Anyway, I'm rather tired... Twombly did you want to stay the night or do you plan on heading back home? I can have the disgruntled tiger bring you back if you want considering the time of day and the type of people who are out and about." While she was fully aware the maned wolf was capable of taking care of himself, she still had every intention on making sure he got home safe, and not just because she liked him.
"Well, since you're offering..." Twombly began, scratching his chin thoughtfully, "I think it's best if I stayed. Sebastian probably isn't the best conversationalist, anyways." He joked, as he leaned into the hallway to watch Sebastian sulk off and hide in his room, and noted the many other rooms, and possibly more tenants.
"So, where would I be staying oh happy, tired and sleepy one?" He asked, moving back towards Aeron so she could lean on him.
Aeron made a face as she thought about what he had said before she simply yawned and leaned against him as he had moved closer. "You could stay in the spare room next to mine or just stay in mine like you usually do... since you have a tendency of finding your way into my bed for some strange reason or another," she replied as she started to make her way down the hall to the room all the way at the end.
As was expected, her room was the largest one and had a rather large bed, expensive looking furniture and a side area where she could entertain some guests if she chose not to venture out of her room for some reason. "Imma go... pajamas..." she muttered as she wandered to her dresser, pulled out what appeared to be a tank top and shorts, and went to her bathroom to change. Once done, she simply made her way to her bed and flopped down.
As Mr Robertson hadn't brought a change of clothes, the maned wolf had to make-do with what was made available and stripped down to his boxers, and took his sexist head-start to get under the bedcovers before the jackal could even shamble out of the bathroom, leaving him plenty of time to catch her as she fwumped into bed and rolled under the the covers, while also rolling under one of his mighty slender arms. "So what was that about meeting John tomorow?" He asked, knowing it probably wasn't a bright idea to pry at her private-life when she was this tired... partially because she couldn't help but to be honest, but mostly because saving such questions for when she wasn't all there was dishonest.
But in this case, he was indeed asking at the earliest possible opprotunity, and letting it wait was not an option. Not if he could be there with her for it. His current position precluded him from attending too many of her various 'meetings' for fear they'd associate him more directly with her group of loyal followers.
Considering how tired she was, she wasn't really expecting such a question from Twombly, and even then, it wasn't like she could lie to him as her sleep idled mind couldn't really think of anything believable at the moment. "Son's grave," she muttered, "Knew him... good boy... bright..." Aeron frowned for a moment before grumbling something and hiding her face in his chest, signifying she really didn't want to talk about it any further than the few words she had managed to get out. Despite there being no relation between herself and John's boy, she still felt rather upset about the child's death and didn't really talk about it as she did not feel it was her place.
Twombly nodded and gave Aeron a hug, no further questins were asked, no more words were said, aside from "I'll be there."
The night came and went like any other, Luciel getting a kick out of putting the fedora on one of the skulls and leaving it on the back shelf as a decoration. There were a few more in the box, though he wasn't completely certain what to do with them. In all likelihood, they'd just stay in the box and collect dust. On the topic of things left untouched, he threw a napkin over the coffee pot in the break room to keep any prospecting bugs out, shuddering at the thought of having any of the muck.
His night was spend performing the usual rituals after arriving home. A few beetles he collected on his walk were tossed into his spider's terrarium. He never felt the need to name it, mostly to be cheekily reflective...and it wasn't like the thing could even understand the concept of a name. From feeding the tarantula to picking out all of the piercings as well as washing off the spots that the makeup left, Luciel glared between the mirror at his table in the kitchen and counting the money from the day. It was easily enough for the next month or maybe two if he resisted the urge to go out shopping. However, he let it leave a bad taste in his mouth with the thought of what it took and what souls were sold at the meeting he attended in John's stead.
Right, the meeting! With a groan, Luciel slumped forward on the table into the pile of notes. There was no way of even beginning to know what John would do if he found out it wasn't Kaite at the meeting. How would he even explain it? "Oh, hey John...Huh? Oh, yeah, I was there...well, let me tell you about a story" the jackope mused into the silence of the room before sighing with a slight growl. "Heeey John, vould you like to hear about zeis-" he began again and abruptly cut out, throwing his arms across the table and casting everything to the floor.
Ears folding back, he stalked over to his chair and plopped down, staring at the wall of faded newspaper clippings. Drawing an axe and driving the spiked pommel into the side of the mangled furniture.
"I'm not sorry, John..."
~~~
Zehr iz no reason to protect me. You are only lettink him know he is vinnink. If...If I can protect anyone- Look around you. Vee are all already doomed. You ver never able to protect me. I can and I am! He is usink you! How can you not see eit? Because I can do vahtever I please! Do not start vith zeht...and zeht collar says ohzervise. Vaht? zehy say zeht mimicry iz a form ouf flattery~ ...Try not to look so energetic. Zehy like zeht sort ouf thing. Wait, did you hear something? Zeht vould be zee bell. Wh...what does that mean? ...Zeht zeh day iz beginnink.
~~~
"Nnuhn...n-not the bell..." Luciel groaned, stirring in his sleep before the next chime of his doorbell forced him to bolt awake in a cold sweat.
Before the stain of an existence that called itself a clock could speak, I conscribed to the notion of buying a new one as I put a round in it from Sandcastle which was kept under my pillow. Friend or no, being woken up had to be the worst part of existence...nightmares being the second and torture in a close third. Regardless, I was in the middle of throwing a pair of pants on over my tasteful black...undergarments...when the bell came again."Yeh! I heard you the first...time!" I barked in response, unsure how long my dreams had been manipulated by the contraption. Making a mental note to find a back-alley contractor to rewire my doorbell to instead call my phone on vibrate, or better yet, just pry it out of the wall, I approached the door. A shirt of anything else had factored into the mess since piercings were a bitch and a half to sleep in; moving around inside you, they were disgusting agony to live with as it was.
Through the peep-hole, I must have been making a mistake by seeing that fox from the other day waiting around with their schnauzer bodyguard. With a groan, I looked down at myself, no question in my mind that she had come to see 'the one, the only' which I ceremoniously mouthed while raising my arms to behold the visage to the rest of my audience. A second of that 'amber' deodorant stuff that doesn't smell like any kind of amber, I was certain, as well as a shirt and I was just about half way presentable. Another ring of the doorbell after having told them that I hear was a bit rude for my taste, but I was not entirely one to judge. I worked it out of my system by throwing a few punches on my way back to the door, taking a deep breath and opening the door.
~~~
Everything hurt. What happened? It was all a blur, a maelstrom of noise and dancing lights that felt like an eternity...and then it was over. My head swam with a dull ache from the chemicals that only made the soreness barely noticeable over the tingling numbness that otherwise pervaded my senses. "Oi kid. Git up with ya bones, ah? Y'got a loin goin on, n' oi'm eh-close t'runnin twofers" "Y...uhng...Y-" "It's a glass wall, 'an no I don't owe you shit! Now git th'fok up...n'smoile"
...Just like how I don't owe my chair the dignity of not being sat on or a coffee-maker the privilege of remaining in one piece. I will use them as I see fit, because they are just things. My things. They should feel grateful to even have a use.
A woman in a chair. What was her name? The waiter leans in to take her order, but she does not speak. No, she cannot speak. Tape over her mouth had made certain to snuff out the sounds she made as the waiter clipped her fingers off as if his barbarism towards a woman I did not know could force me to say anything by appealing to some strange empathy. Service here is terrible...the breadsticks are undercooked and bland.
Luciel groaned as his eyes fluttered open, the ringing in his ears gradually subsiding as he came back to his senses only to find a rat standing over him. With the spiked back of an axe into their shoulder, they got the message and scampered off before being able to make off with the jackalope's gear. Other shadows in the alleyway helped the rat off as they clutched their fresh wound. "Take a pulse, will ya!?" Luciel barked after them before grunting and letting himself slide off of the abandoned street-trader stand and onto the curb. On the other side of the street, the wreck of his overturned ride leaked coolant, gas and blood from the mangled bodies inside. All in all, not wearing his seatbelt had been the factor leading to his survival, though he felt like roadkill.
After taking a few moments to collect himself and check for broken bones, he reached up his shirt to draw his emergency flip phone and turn it on. A few bruised ribs, a likely dislocated shoulder being popped back into place and a sprained ankle spelled that he would live. Not with much, but it was something. The device took a few minutes to boot up before he pressed 1 on speed-dial, having no other contacts. In this time, he leaned his head back against the stand and whispered something along the lines of "Gawd, what time is it, even?"
"Operator..." Luciel sighed after a long silence, lowering his eyes to the ground as the voice sounded annoyed if not upset. "Yes, I know. I just-" he began to continue before a loud pop came from the car which had sparked a flame. "...Yeah...I missed the bus, you might say. Bring a spatula, if you can" they tried to joke before giving a pained grunt and pulling himself to the side of the stand for partial cover while still getting a view down the nearby alleyway as he gave the voice his location.
"Huh? Oh, no...I don't think there'll be a second date" "No, don't ask" "It's not like that. There was just a...misunderstanding" "Because why the hell would she know? Can you do your job?" "Stop" "Stop..."
"Shut up! I don't owe you anything! I told you, it's not like that! I didn't kill her!"
"Will you just send someone, for fuck sake!? I will drag myself over there just to carve the tongue from your skull!" Luciel barked before hanging up and having an inelegant screaming fit before deteriorating into pained grunts and furious growls as tears wet the fluff of his cheeks. Shadows of the rats loomed in the darkness of the alleyway, watching the one who had just lashed out against their comrade. In response, the jackalope narrowed his eyes and wiped a bit of blood from his nose as he drew Sandcastle and cocked it with his knee while clutching his ribs with a free arm. "How ya folks doin', today?" he chirped with an almost friendly and inviting tone in spite of how badly he wanted them to go away, "I wouldn't suppose any of you came here. They looked to each other and a faint whisper echoed from the gutter. "I told you it was him" one of them hissed, giving a small shove as another in the back muttered, "I hear he murdered that Derrick guy." Exchanging mutters in regards to what had been seen almost two days ago, the sound of the group fading off as they stepped back around the corner.
After a few minutes of watching the wreck roast, Luciel began to wondering what police were doing that was more important than a contained car fire. While he knew they probably had everything under the sun to occupy themselves with since the scum of the city never slept and weren't above robbing the recently dead. Thoughts growing dark, he almost jumped when his phone went off. He sighed after seeing the number of the return call as he thought he was done with the ram.
"Ah?...A woman? Couldn't you call Der- oh...right" "So, what? I should just walk home?" "Oh, don't judge me. They all deserved it!"
Luciel touched his face, realizing he was frowning at the phone after the voice made a comment about frowning ruining his qualities with wrinkles, making him bear his fangs at the thought of the asshole thinking they knew him...and being right. "Well, what did she say, exactly?" He asked with a groan.
"Sorry, I don't know any arrogant bitches. Are you sure you have my file?" "Ha ha, hilarious. Well, unpin the notecard, take off your tacky shades and read me the number you called"
Aeron had just finished picking up her order from the floral store and was in the process of sending a text to John to ask him if Ylva would be joining them for their yearly visit. Just as she hit the send button, her phone began to buzz angrily in her hand, displaying a 000 number which only proved to confuse her further. Who the hell would be using an operator to call me? she wondered as she hit 'accept'. "Hello?" she questioned slowly, waiting for the voice on the other end to begin speaking.
"Sup-" a deep voice confidently but almost annoyed comes from the other end, "...I got an associate of yours reaching out hard to a shoorrrt list" they explained, accompanied with the sound of shuffling papers. "Names asiiide, I'd say it's more worth yo time t'just fuhget about it and have yourself a nice daay, ma'am" the smooth voice continues with a slight chuckle before sighing, "But, see, I'm not paid to give names or advice, so ya got yourself a dangerously pretty piece of danger that got themselves into a whoole heap-a trouble a block west off Third and Afton."
After a pause, they cleared their throat. "Check your faith, ma'am...its unholy to deeal with angels" he cryptically warned though remained on the line, customary in calling the previous caller back with a reply. The operator was a bit unconventional as he served as more of a proxy than any official operator.
"Clearly you aren't fully aware of who you are calling," she stated calmly before hanging up the phone and shooting one last text to John to let him know a small emergency came up and that she'd be there as soon as possible. Despite the rather annoying news she got from the equally infuriating operator, she slid into the driver side of the SUV she had taken and sped off to the location that she had been told about. Normally it was customary to have someone else drive her, considering she had a bad habit of running other vehicles off the road with her rather aggressive tactics, but this was the one time a year she was usually rather calm... usually.
John had awoken relatively early this particular morning, granted, he woke up every morning early. Around 5am to be more precise. He had gotten out of bed, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as he went to the closet to pick out his running attire. taking off yesterday's undershirt, he slipped on his running shirt and shorts, socks and sneakers, and made way for the front door but not before closing the door to his room. The multiple clicks notified him that his room and door were now locked and safe. Opening the front door to his house with keys in hand, he shut and locked it and was answered with a second set of clicks and locks. Stretching a bit in his front yard, he watched as the dome came to life again in this small section of disillusioned sanctuary. The neighbors across the street were up and already arguing about bills among other things, the house next to him had the man leaving for work and a newsboy dropping off The Ealton Inquirer. Shaking his head he began his jog.
It was about a hour later that he arrived back to his house, dripping in sweat. The wolf entered into the house with the usual pattern again and went to his room, this time the door left open. He took off his shirt, exposing his rather defined body. Some of the ladies would describe it as something seen in Wolf's Fitness, a rather well known workout magazine of New Earlton. Stretching a bit more, he planted himself in the front leaning rest position and began his usual calastetics. Pushups, situps, crunchs and squats made up a larger portion of that routine which usually lasted about another hour or so and was accompanied by some shadow boxing, gun cleaning and finally a nice cool shower. John had gotten out and put on his usual attire, minus the suit jacket and made his way to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for both Ylva and himself. Eggs, bacon, toast, hashbrowns and a few other things were added into the mix. Half way through cooking he recieve a text from Aeron who he immediately replied to.
Mornin' ^^
So last night went rather well. Talked a bit and didn't shoot each other haha lol
making big break legs
damn autocorrect! breakfast for the both of us. As for You love.. Ylva. If she wants she can but thats up to her
see you there
He sent the message, slightly disgruntled at the phone. Smart things make stupid corrections and he never understood why. But nonetheless the message was sent and he continued on the buffet style breakfast. The scents of the food lingering through the house. Soon enough he had finished and sent everything out on the table with plates and silverware included.
"What's missing? Oh, duh coffee." He asked and answered himself with a snap of the fingers as he began work preparing morning joe.
Ylva had been awake around the same time as John, though her workout differed slightly as she prefered something a little calmer when she was over at someone's home. Most of the time, she spent a good portion of her morning hanging upside down, not something she could do in a house that clearly didn't have the right equipment. "Morning," Ylva murmured as she came into the kitchen looking a bit tired, but otherwise well rested, "Clearly a man after my own heart... no matter how hard I try I am never fully awake until after I have at least a cup of coffee... and some food."
John smirked as he poured two cups of coffee and brought them out on saucers, returning to the kitchen for milk and sugar, or creamer if he had it. Once he was back he sat down and started to make himself a plate, afterwards, grabbing his glass and filling it up with milk. "Well, they say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach but I suppose it goes the same for women as well. A man who can cook is a man worth keeping I suppose."
[color=39e600'"Pretty much,"[/color] Ylva replied as she sat down with her own plate and started to eat, "Would you like me to go with you today? I meant to ask earlier, I only know about it being today because this is the only day Aeron has a tendency to drive herself wherever she is going." She glanced up at John for a brief moment before focusing her gaze back on the plate in front of her as she wasn't sure if it was a sensitive subject.
John stopped eating for a second and glanced up from his morning meal before continuing. "Since you work with Aeron as her right hand I would've thought it would have been obligatory for you to go but I do appreciate you asking me. I don't mind." He glanced up once more with a smile before taking a bite of toast and a swig of milk before getting another text. Confusion struck for a brief moment before he pulled out his phone and read his text message.
"Is from Aeron...Says there's an emergency and she may be running late." He shot her a responce.
He sighed as he sat back for a moment, his head cocked to the side as he looked down at his phone. "Once you're ready we'll hop in my car and get rolling. Gonna stop somewhere first before we head there. Is there anything you would like to ask me before we go?" He continued his meal in mostly silence but if she wanted to know more he left it open for discussion.
"Hm? No, I don't have any questions of you," she replied, offering him a small smile, "Even if I did, I feel like today may not be the best day to ask them. I am ok with simply doing whatever you would like to do." Ylva finished her breakfast and brought her plate over to the sink, intent on taking care of her own dishes despite being a 'guest' in his home.
"Very well but as for today, we're doing what you would like to do after this plus we have dinner tonight." Finishing his meal with his glass he got up and started taking care of the dirty plates and silverware, assisting Ylva in cleaning up. It was once he finished did he go over to grab his coat and hat and made for the bedroom nearest his. After a few clicks it opened up and he stood in its doorway in somber silence as he took it all in. Just the way he left it. The faintest of smiles crossed his face as fast as it had left. He went to take a step in but hesitated, deciding it was best to just leave it be. The dust and all could be cleaned later. John had decided to close the door and locked it the same way he had unlocked it. The wolf had made his to the kitchen where Ylva more than likely had finished and told her to come along. "Come on, we'll take my car today." Normally, Aeron would drive him to the cemetary, since the first time he had sat in his car outside the gates for close to an hour, contemplating on driving away but he thought he could do it this time.
The wolf waited for Ylva to be ready before leading her outside, locking the door and setting its security. He walked across the front patio to the driveway where a car sat underneath a large tarp. Nodding in satisfaction of his still intact car he grabbed the tarp from the front and pulled it off, revealing a gun metal grey 1970 Plymouth Hemi 'Cuda. It seemed to be very well taken care of as seen in its interior and paintjob, but it was rather the monster under the hood among other things that made it incredible. Hoping inside, he looked around for the keys and found them in his glove box, noting that next time to keep them on his person. John placed the key halfway into the slot and turned until the first click, pushed on the gas and finally pushed in the key all the way. It took no less than a second for the demon under the hood to awaken from its slumber and let out a terrible roar that shook the ground around it for a split second before coming to a thundering purr. John leaned out the window, gesturing for Ylva to hop in and after she was inside he got his other girl on the road.
Relieved that John seemed to understand that she could potentially be late, Aeron made her way as quickly as she could manage to the site the Operator had directed her too. Once there, she was met with a sight she had not exactly expected to see, and a certain Jackalope she was certain she had both met yet has never seen before. Curious, the female jackal got out of her vehicle and went over to the, she was assuming male, jackalope was seemingly waiting for her. "I take it you were the one I was sent to pick up?" she questioned as she crouched down to look at the one she had been sent to get, "Wait a minute... I do know you. Where did your spots go?"
Though he felt like the world stopped as he got the news, he likely sat there like a fool while trying to wrap his head around a story to spin. 'Operator' hung up, his business concluded and Luci double-checked his numbers to realize he wasn't mistaken. The thought had crossed his mind to start walking home, fleeing the scene before his 'help' arrived, but the pressure on a likely sprained ankle kept him down, cursing under his breath.
Being cuffed didn't help as he tried to wrestle his phone back into a pocket of his black denim jacket. He'd mostly just thrown everything together, having not expected any of what had happened. Still, he figured the red-white polo shirt, jeans, knee-high boots and black-white plaid scarf would be presentable enough, in spite of being a bit worn from the crash. Luciel shook the worry of his appearance, annoyed that it was his biggest concern at the moment.
Just as he considered trying to hide, Aeron's car pulled up and he sighed as she stepped out to find him with ease. He was fairly hard to miss as the rest of the foot traffic had scattered by this point.
"Oh...hello, Aeron" he greeted with a guilty huff, ears folding back as he looked slightly away from her while she drew near. "A funny thing about spots. They tend to come out with a bit of warm water and a rag" Luciel joked in response to her question, offering a laugh which was cut short with a wince and pained grunt. He spoke with a light tone, having dropped the accent and deepening of his voice. Recomposing himself, he sighed before his eyes sharpened, looking back up at her. "S'kinda awkward. Oi'd hoped t' tell ya, sometoime" Luciel politelly continued, given the circumstance, putting on his best 'Ansel' with the trademark cocky smirk.
Aeron raised an eyebrow when the male before her put back on the accent, though she was fully aware that he was faking it. "So, what's your actual name bunny-boy?" she inquired as she worked on getting his cuffs off of him, "And how exactly did you find yourself in this situation? I don't take kindly to people hurting people I consider under my protection, alternate persona or not." Once she was done talking, she gently took the male's hands and turned them around, inspecting his wrists before letting out a sigh. "Lets get to my car, I have a small stop to make and then I will take you to my home to get you cleaned up."
It wasn't the first time he'd been asked his name on that day, though this was thankfully a more favorable situation as there wasn't much to lose with being honest to Aeron. "Luciel..." he began, allowing her to work the cuffs off, "Luciel Lavandou, and it's a bit tough to explain." The name feeling strange even still. It had been given to him sometime in the past, but it was the closest thing he had to an actual answer after the truth had been beaten out of his recollection.
On inspection, his right palm held a clean yet shallow slice which matched up with the cut a bit under his jaw that was otherwise obscured by his scarf. "And...yeah, it wouldn't be a bad idea to make some distance from this mess" he agreed with a pained huff as he used a free arm to brace against the stall as get shakily got to his feet. Surprisingly, he fought through what must have been quite a distracting pain as he returned his recently relocated arm to his ribs in order to continue in his composed neutrality. "I assume you're busy, but I'd like it if we made a stop on the way back to your place...a bit of business to finish, if you would not mind the inconvenience"
"Yeah, once we get done with this one stop I don't mind making a pit stop for you," Aeron replied as she saw the difficulty that Luciel was having with walking. Frowning slightly, she moved forward and lifted the jackalope with surprising ease for someone her size. After some maneuvering, the male found himself with her arms locked behind his knees as she gave him a piggy-back to the front seat of her car. "I have a med kit in the back of the vehicle, we can wrap you up and disinfect your cuts once we get to our location. You gunna be ok til then?"
As she spoke, she opened the door and helped him maneuver into the seat before she shook out her arms a bit. "For someone who is that much taller than me, you are rather light," she stated as she brushed her hands off on the jeans she was wearing. It was a rather rare sight to see her in normal clothing, but she always figured it was more appropriate to wear something more... conservative for a memorial.
Meanwhile resting in the back, Twombly heard something about the need for a medkit, and that it was located in the back. Gently, he slid it forwards along the center console for whoever their guest was to find it before Aeron would go rummaging through the back seats. Still, curiosity got the better of him, and he took a bit of a gander at their newest passenger.
"Oh, hello." Twombly sorta-introduced himself, a bit surprised that it was the jackalope, although this time around he looked like he'd been through one hell of a night. "So Aeron said something about you being hurt, mind if I took a look at that wound while she drives?"
Aeron jumped a bit when Twombly popped out of the back, "SONUVABITCH! What the Hell Twombly? Why are you doing in my car?!" she demanded, placing a hand over her chest, feeling as if her heart would burst out of her chest.
"Well, last night when you told me about this, I said I'd come too..." Twombly began explaining, as he began staring over at Luciel for any serious injuries, but quickly started focusing on his palm, since his jaw was probably going to be off-limits for the next 18 seconds. "And you didn't exactly say no. So I came along."
Luciel took inventory in his mind as he tested his condition. The idea of getting everything he wanted out of his apartment was quickly fading away as he doubted he could carry duffle bags of the junk and was loathe to ask that much of the jackal. "Thank you, it may not be as much as I thought-" he began to thank before being hauled up onto the woman's back and carried into the SUV. As much as Luci wanted to assure her that he could walk enough to get in, himself, the interest of time was likely upon them as he had no clue when reinforcements or police would show up. The last thing he wanted was to get himself or Aeron involved in such a situation.
"Y-yeah. I can probably patch myself up...and thank you for coming, I hope my operator wasn't too gruff" he joked in a deadpan manner, failing at a racist pun about the sheep that only he had really met. The comment about his weight made him feel a bit self conscious about his eating habits...or lack thereof as he'd gotten used to living on minimums. "Its all fluff" he joked, his defense mechanism of using humor to make light of a situation shining through, though he'd learned that laughing at his own bad jokes wasn't the best for his bruised condition.
Luciel found it strangely easy to relax in the front seat of the luxury SUV after the ordeal, reclining a bit as he laid his head back and began closing his eyes before noticing the medkit slide up next to him. Lifting an eyebrow, he turned his head in confusion before Twombly spoke up. Aeron's reaction spooked him almost as much as the sudden appearance of the maned wolf, causing Luciel to jump with his own gasp of [b]"Oh jeez!"/b] and groaning before gritting his teeth and glaring back at the man, his expression slowly settling. "Fuh...e-ello guvna" he chirped in his Ansel voice before hearing the invitation and reclining the seat further. "Be my guest?" Luciel quizzically replied, dropping the accent once more, a bit tired of surprises but thankful that it was people that he knew who didn't seem too put off by the jackalope who was in all rights a stranger all over at this point.
Taking some gauze, and the jack's invitation, the maned-wolfie first patched-up Luciel's palm, then continued checking his 'patient' over a bit more thuroughly, kindly ignoring any weapons he may or may not have found along the way before determining he had a few bruised ribs that could be braced once they were out of the car, but for now had to just make sure he didn't lean on a bad side. Further down seemed A-OK, and no further inspection seemed necessary in that direction. Moving up, he pulled away at the billowy scarf to reveal a nasty looking cut...
"I should've treated this wound first." Was all Twombly could say as he pulled whatever else he could use to patch up the gash to his demi-friend's neck. He pulled out a satchette of rubbing alcohol, "This'll sting a bit. You can keep the accent if you think it'll help you feel comfortable." He advised, as he dabbed at the wound, making sure to flush all the bits of glass and metal out if there was any, this also happened to pull off most of the scabbing... side-benefit is it would reduce any signs of facial-scarring... probably stung like a sumbiscut though...
he next part, was of course to actually bandage the knife-wound to the neck, he'd spent a surprisingly large amount of time and resources on the hand, so he made-do with some packing and wraping the gauze under his chin and up towards his antlers.
As for the rest of Luciel.... Twombly found a brush in the center console underneath the medkit.
The hand was the easy part, he just needed to make a point not to flex the mess which he was darkly confident he could stitch shut if need be. In all fairness, it was a collection of similar injuries that he'd mended on other patients. However, having it all at once on himself was a completely different beast and he appreciated Twombly's efforts. His vest had been taken, leaving holstered weapons just under his shirt and webbing behind his jacket. Luciel hadn't taken everything with him, though the reinforced paranoia taught him not to make such mistakes in the future.
Luciel winced from how the scarf was lifted away, pulling a bit of scabbing off in the process. "I don't see the point, anymore" he shakily replied, experienced with rubbing alcohol and only able to imagine how this would go down. Questionably thankfully, he wouldn't have to wait long before the question as answered as the swab soaked and brushed at the wound. His ears fluttered as his eyes twitched, though remaining quiet as the sensation could be described as a slice of a sting that felt like it was taking chunks out of him from how the chemical burned. "Y-yeah! That's certainly pleasant!" he whimpered and hissed, gritting his teeth and squeezing his eyes shut.
He felt silly with how Twombly bandaged that wound, but was glad it was just over and started to get relaxed in the chair once more before he was attacked with a brush. At first he jumped from having not expected it, being at about his wit's end with surprises until the teeth edged around the base of his ears to pull out a few bits of car glass. The chunks were designed not to atomize and the brushing made quick work of what little Twombly found in the motions. Luciel sighed, ears fluttering from the attention but still compelled to offer, "I can do that, myself" with a soft and reluctant voice, annoyed but allowing the maned wolf to continue.
"Just let him do it," Aeron said calmly as she started up the SUV, having climbed into the vehicle while Twombly had gotten busy, "He has this odd fascination of brushing things... no idea why but its just a thing he likes do to." She patted the Jackalope's hand and smiled at him, though the expression was a little tight before she simply focused on the road on her way to the grave site.
The ride had been for the most part silent, on John's end at least. Enjoying the quiet and the sound of the engine revving after every stop sign or red light. However, his mind had only used the sounds as a form of faux peace. It wasn't just his son's grave but his wife's as well. Usually Aeron would be the one to drive, or her driver or even Kalmar, but all three were busy and he wasn't about to ask Ylva to drive and he had two reasons. First and foremost it was his pride and joy. Sure he chose to drive but he hadn't taken the car for a spin in a while. The second was she was a guest and wasn't about to have a guest drive him around.
"We're here..." he said quietly as his car idled at the gate. John simply held the brake and stared into the cemetery. He hated this place and many would agree. Sure visiting was a way to respect the dead and those loved ones who had passed but for John it was more of the sometimes it brought. He still had not been able to accept what had happened to his family in less than a year of each other. His grip on the wheel tighened as could be slightly heard from the leather grip on the handle twisting.
"Do you need me to leave you alone a moment?" she asked, though she really had no want to just leave him with his emotions, "Aeron seems to already be here and judging by the movement in the vehicle someone else is with her as well. I can go check with her real quick and bring her over here to give you some time."
He shook his head and loosened up, turning to her with a smile. "No no It's fine." He swallowed and went to press the gas but-
He sighed. "Go get her please?" John nearly whispered. He sat there in the car quietly and waited as Ylva went to go see Aeron.
Ylva nodded her head before leaning forward and placing a kiss on John's cheek before getting out of the car to get Aeron. Once over at the SUV, she gave a solid knock on the window and waited as Aeron simply opened the door. "Oh hey Ylva... I uh... have a couple unexpected visitors. Twombly snuck into my car and Luciel here... well he needed some help so I picked him up."
Ylva raised an eyebrow and glanced at the jackalope, "That's the antler'd rabbit that works at the bar... I thought his name was Ansel?" the she-wolf said, clearly puzzled.
"One and the same, long story, we can explain that later... for now we have a Big Bad Wolf who needs some support," the Jackal said calmly, "You coming Twombly or are you going to keep Luciel here some company?"
"Um.... Yeah... I think I'll do my best to avoid another confrontation with John, today." Twombly answered, just as he finished brushing-down the jackalope's fur. "He's probably still sore about what I did to Cujo." He reasoned, while he returned the brush back into the console before admitting how he felt about John being present, " I mean, I could, but... never figured you and John had a kid together."
Aeron nearly choked on nothing when Twombly stated that he thought the kid she was visiting had been one between her and John. "Wha-? Me? John? Nooooooooooooooooooo... no no no nononononononononono nooooooooooooooooo," she said, waving her hands in front of her a bit in a motion that said that there was no way that could have happened. "I have never had a pup." At this point her cheeks were the brightest red anyone had ever seen on her before she practically flung herself out of the vehicle after grabbing the flowers she had bought.
"Hey look Twombly, you mortified your girlfriend," Ylva said with a smile before following Aeron back to John's car where the other woman was asking him if he was ready.
John looked onward as he watched the conversation between Ylva and Aeron and then his ears folding downward as they approached. He looked up to the two with a light smile that faded quickly. "Hey...Thanks again for coming Aeron. You have no idea what this means to me." His voice was soft and held a light somberness to it. She knew he had this problem. Every year they went he needed help to get past the gate because he refused to believe it or at least he didn't want to but with Aeron he always found it easier to do so. She knew the family and how they were. John was also alot more pleasant and tamed then. His laughs and smiles weren't filled with faux happiness and joy but rather the genuine feeling. It wasn't until after those to passed did his demeanor change and Aeron learned that the social butterfly became nothing more than a front for who everyone called the Big Bad Wolf. It was only on this year did he show his true side. A very emotionally disdraught, scared man who had not come to terms with his wife and son's untimely deaths. A man who was filled with anger, sadness and regret. 'What could have I done different? What if I was there? What if it was me?' cliche as these questions were they were what ran through his head on a daily basis but only today could he be himself.
"Always," she said with a smile on her face as she rested a hand on the male's shoulder while Ylva took the Male's other hand, "And look, you have two people with you here today, twice the support." She smiled up at him just as Ylva gave his hand a squeeze before the two females led him past the gates he had such a hard time moving past. Aeron knew he would be a mess for the next few hours, but she felt like it was good for him, like allowing himself to grieve properly would bring him that much closer to coming to terms with what had happened all those years ago.
With the help of both Aeron and Ylva, he managed to make it to both Sarah's and Nathaniel gravestone. Behind stoic features, he tightened his jaw as he approached the site, his hands slowly starting to shake. It was beautifully maintained. It's marble tombstone was clean and clear of dirt. A small wreath accented it as well as a picture of each held firm by picks in the ground and now Aeron was adding more to his family's headstone. He stood there in silence as he looked a the spot and took it in.
"Hey Sarah...Hope you been doing well. Has Nathan created any knew models up there? I would hope so. He always liked those things. I have Aeron and Ylva with me this time. Aeron has been a great friend. I'm glad you two got along." He smiled lightly as he stared at her picture. After he talked a bit more he glanced over at Nathan's picture. His shaking slowly increased as his voice lighted
"Nate. How you been lil pup. I've kept your models on a shelf in the living room. They still look great. You really were like me. It's, uhhh, its been tough without you buddy." His eyes started to burn as water slowly welled up.
"It's been tough without the both of you..."
It didn't take long for him to break. He shakily sat down in front of their resting place and broke down crying, mumbling about how it should have been him and how the last words to his son weren't goodbye or I love you. The wolf was a wreck and had these emotions pent up for most of the year.
Ylva did not say a thing, rather, she simply wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a hug, something Aeron normally did but the Jackal felt would be more appropriate if the female he was... wooing?... did instead. Kneeling down, Aeron set down the flowers she had gotten and began to set them up in the usual wreath she liked to set down. It kept her hands busy while John wrestled with his demons during their visit when she wasn't sure what exactly to do.
"You know... its ok to let this out more than once a year," Ylva muttered as she gently rubbed one of his ears, [color=39r600]"It is not a bad thing to do, you know... and I'm sure whoever you are with would understand."[/color]
Some time had gone by and Ylva's warmth helped give him a bit of closure as he knelt by his family's tomb. Her words sunk in and he simply nodded, slowly making his way to his feet. Regaining his composure, he wiped his eyes and side with a trembling breath. "I do...Every assignment." His eyes gaining a light glaze over them. He looked over to Ylva with a forced smile. "Thank you..." Another sigh before adjusting his suit and turning toward the car near the gate to the cemetary. He had started making his way to it until his phone rung. The wolf opened it to see who the caller was and gave a puzzled look but answered.
"Yo.."
"Kalmar. What's up?" John pulled the phone away from his face slightly to let out another trembling breath.
"Hey just checking on ya buddy. I'm sorry I couldn't make it this time around. Got caught up in some business... Stop moving or your gonna make it worse for yourselve!" A muffled string of curses came from the background on Kalmar's side.
"It's fine. So what's up." He cleared his throat.
"Well I'll say the person you sent was a rather interesting character." John cocked a brow.
"What are yo - oh right the meeting. Heh, forgot that was a thing."
"Don't sweat it John. I was actually calling you about how it went." John nodded subconsiously.
"Well, strangely enough it went by smoothly though I would highly suggest that you don't do it again. Practically was on the verge of pissing off the cat." The wolf scoffed and shook his head.
"I don't give a damn about that feline fuck honestly. As long as all the info was passed on that's all that matters."
"Well...Tell Ansel I hope he's alright."
[color=black]"Who? Did you just say Ansel? And what do you mean tell him alright? How do you know him? Kait didn't show up?"[color] John bombarded Kalmar with questions as he now paced back and forth, running a hand through his fur.
"Whoa whoa whao slow down John. Yeah I said Ansel and he got pretty fucked up earlier. Saw him wit-"
"HOW DO YOU KNOW HIM!?" He roard, Kalmar more than likely pulling his phone away from his ear.
"He's not the one that you sent but instead this Mrs. Kait?" Earning an irritated "Yup" in response.
"John...Dude that's some serious shit. You knew it was bad enough having someone go in your place but this someone wasn't even the someone you vouched for? John buddy, IIIIIII...Dude I gotta tell him."
"No. Fuck him I'll handle this myself! I gotta find out if she's even alright. If there is even one scratch on her he's done! I'll fucking make sure he's placed on a fucking Rueben and served with a side of GODDAMN FRIES! He's fucked!"
click John stood there silently for a moment before chucking his phone to the ground followed by a string of swears.
He shot a look over to Ylva and smiled. [color=black]"Ylva wanna do a job with me? Afterwards while go get a nice meal from Smiley's. He has great food. Also I'll pay you when we're done. Quite handsomely too. Then we'll do whatever you want to do.
Ylva was frowning the entire time he was on the phone and Aeron was trying her best not to laugh as she had a basic idea of what was going on, mostly because she could hear what was going on on the other line. "Ansel is fine, so is Kaite incase you were wondering," she said, "Actually, they are in my car right now, but I would say... take care of your job first and then we can give you a nice little shock later."
Ylva raised her eyebrows, wondering if it had anything to do with the jackalope that she had seen in her boss's vehicle. "Oh... do you mean-"
"Yes, That is exactly who I mean, now don't worry about it right now and go have some fun with John. I'll take care of everything else and I'll meet you guys back at the mansion when ya'll are done with your date, how does that sound?"
Ylva nodded her head and took John by the arm to steer him towards his car, "Lets go do whatever it is you need to do, but I don't recommend hurting anyone you may have tried to send in your place, it wouldn't end very well I am sure."
John eyes widened as he looked to the car, hoping that staring at the thing long enough would give him super vision. "Ansel! Get your ass out here, now! Kait I need to talk to you!" He started to move towards the car against Ylva's resistance, going for his holstered gun but before he had a chance he felt a sharp pain along his lower back and a hand grip around the back of his collar.
"Ylva-ack Let go of meeeeeEEEE! My tail! Ge-Getoff my tail! OW! What the hell! Ylva STOP!" Sadly his pleas fell on deaf ears as she practically dragged him away from Aeron's car. If there ever was a time to see the Big Bad Wolf lose his cool composure, it was now. It was only after a minute did he fianlly give up and just started walking with Ylva, though, her grip refusing to yield. He would however keep glancing back until he made it to his own car.
"You can talk to them later, we have things we need to take care of first," she said calmly as the two walked, and eventually climbed into, his car, "Now, what exactly is this job that you were talking about having me help you with and are Nina and Sypher good enough or do I need Sasha as well? We can always swing by my place to go get her."
He rolled his eyes as he let his hand smack the steering wheel, gesturing then to Aeron's car. "The mission is up there. I need to get info- nevermind. There's something else we can do and id defintely have sasha available. We'll stop back at the Hole to pick up some things from my room. You're welcome to come inside as well." He sighed in irritation as he rolled back and stopped for a second, lookinng toward the grave one last time before fully returning to the road that would lead them back to the hole
Luciel jumped at the knock at the glass, freezing when the gray wolf made herself apparent. The jackalope offered a small wave to the individual, doing his best to keep movement to a minimum though his brows contorted strangely as he was called out as Ansel. It was made quickly apparent that this wasn't his only issue. Discrediting his self-made illusion of himself being some kind of creature somewhere around thirty-ish years old that pretty much ran the bar, being called out left him feeling naked. "Y-yeh...Oi practically run th'bar, ya c'd say" He tired to playfully chirp with a small awkward laugh, relieved as they left.
The tiniest detail...
Holding a phone to my head, I playfully crook an eyebrow. "Ah? And vaht vould zeh-
Big bad wolf...
'Another run-in with John'
Luciel froze and shivered, their eyes finding the distant silhouette of a black wolf on the hill. Never in his life had he felt so out of place as he had in that moment, reclining his seat all the way back with gentle ease as not to make too quick of motions. Though he made the motion soft and swift as not to draw Aeron's attention, throwing in a small groan to detail the will to get comfortable after everything, his eyes mostly locked with Twombly's, silent and tellingly. It was only after Aeron and Ylva left that Luciel breathed again, dexterously reaching to the edge of the seat on the other side of Twombly and dragging himself into the back seat with a soft and pained groan. Hooking his boot around the handle on the side of the seat, he gently replaced its position as he worked himself into the space between the back and front seat.
Twombly watched his patient recline, trying their best to get comfortable as everyone decided to leave them alone... only for the jackalope to startle him with a series of suddenly coordinated movements, all geared towards slipping behind the front seats and making it look as though he was never there. Still surprised, he could tell something had him spooked.
"Wh...what is he doing?" Luciel hissed as if fearing someone other than Twombly would hear him in the enclosed vehicle. The way the jackalope curled up, grunting as they pulled themselves into a kneeling position to barely watch over the dash of the SUV with one eye spelled an unnatural paranoia.
Twombly instinctively bent down, as though the jackalope had some sort of sixth-sense to a sniper. He could clearly hear his question, and managed to gather that John and Luciel probably had something that could violently flare-up if he was seen.
"We're at a cemetary." He began, "He's here to pay a visit to his family. Ylva is on a date, so that explains why she's here. As for Aeron..." Twombly stopped his explanation as he looked up, and saw Luciel's antlers tremoring. Calmly, he reached up and took a hold of one of those wonderful handlebars, and gently pulled his head towards him. "Keep your head down."
He then poked his head up, trying to see what they were doing at this very instant. "Aeron is arranging a wreath, John is on his knees; Ylva is behind him, rubbing his back and saying something." He quietly observed.
Biting his lip, Luciel folded his ears back to be less noticeable as he knelt, though watching John added an extra furrow to his brow. Sympathetic notions and a pensive will to support John further cemented Luciel's resolution to remain where he was. No good could possibly come from asserting himself on the scene. The gruff wolf-lady's arms around John stung like bees, but with it came a slight solace... I mean...it wasn't like I actually had a chance with the 'Big Bad Wolf. In all actuality, it was better that he knew what he wanted and had someone who could...could actually be someone who could be there for them, consistently. Whoever it was in that grave was so lucky, having such a caliber of man to care so much as to visit them. Along with Lady Aeron?
It was disgusting. I hated it. I hated admitting it and it made my entire self lock up with the notion of insignificance. This was broken by-
-The hand on Luciel's antler was met with a small lash as he was broken out of his daydream, muscled out of view with a tiny and meek whimper of a growl as the jackalope choked down his composure. Quickly understanding Twombly's effort, he remained low with his eyes directed away, bucking to wrench their antler from the maned wolf's grip. His heart wasn't entirely in it and came up short of jerking a bit but melting into himself as the news of the situation helped enough to calm the jackalope down. Wrapping arms around his knees as he sat, Luciel stared into the center-dash with a tilted head from Twombly's hand on the base of the antler he held. He offered a small 'hrmph...' with a light frown, shrinking back as far as he could manage behind the seat. It would be unfortunate if anyone opened the door.
Having finished giving a report on what was occuring at the top of the hill, he looked back towards Luciel and let go of the despondant-looking jackalope's antler. He watched him for a bit, before sighing and getting down onto the floor of the SUV, crouched opposite of him.
"You seem like you've got the wieght of the entire world on your shoulders." He enquired, tilting his head in an effort to catch the once-cheerful glint in the bartender's eyes. "You want to talk about it?"
"Its...not like that, I suppose" Luciel began as his frown softened to more of a regretful neutrality behind a wince of his lingering soreness. "I had never anticipated a possibility of things going the way they have" The explanation continued, though he looked up at Twombly with a mild skeptically raised eyebrow as if he wasn't sure if the man could understand his situation. "I wish I could be there for John instead of hiding back here, but he doesn't need that kind of trouble" Luciel sighed as he rubbed his temples and closed his eyes, "A young woman is already dead for knowing who I am. It...ugh..." before cutting off and shaking his head, dismissing the thought. "Well, nothing can change that, I guess" Luciel scowled, looking back down at the seat beside him in thought.
"Well I'm dating Aeron, and so I had to handle the heat that brings me, even a run in with John or the others from time to time..." He said, edging a bit closer before realizing who the jackalope was really pining for, "Wait, John? This is all about John?" Just then he heard the black wolf calling out for Luciel's alter-ego. He cringed, as the assassin sounded genuinely perturbed enough with the jack's stories to shoot first and ask questions later.
After cowering from the expected line of gunfire for some time, they could hear John's protests for Ylva to let go of a rather sensitive appendage grow fainter. Relaxing a bit, he faced the petrified person beside him, "Is it safe to assume this is going to sound too complicated for most people to understand the first five times you try telling it?" He asked.
Luciel would have given Twombly an answer, though the sound of an angry phone conversation from John drew his attention. Paranoia boiled to the surface, confirmed by the call for the jackalope's personas. In response, he curled up tighter in spite of how his wracked body ached and stung from the position he forced himself into, pressing his hands against his ears. Luciel was certain John was going to kill him, and his only hope was that he could get a shot at whoever told him before that point as he physically shook with fear and rage before a miracle happened. The voice changed tone as John was apparently being dragged off. There was no way he would risk taking a peek, only hoping he was right in that assumption. After a minute after the voices faded, he heard Twombly's question. Luciel glared into nothingness, his mind racing, fueled with confusion and discontent, "It seems like the story is getting more complicated by the second..." he growled, wanting nothing more than to let out steam on his chair but figuring that probably wouldn't be an option. "Yeah! No, I am sure it would be very easy to explain everything, but it likely would not help in the slightest!" he barked, obviously frustrated on top of irritated from persistent injury. Grabbing fistfuls of his own hair, he let out a long hiss, fighting back the urge to indulge in an inelegant screaming fit as he whispered things along the lines of, "I should have just let her die" and "Fucking thanks, John".
"Well, if you don't think it'll help..." Twombly finally said, as he solemly inched closer, and wrapped his immense arms around the comparatively tiny little Jackalope, embracing him in a hug, "Then maybe this will. There are people that care about you, and whatever is getting you all worked-up is getting us all worried about you, whoever you may be. If you ever do change your mind, me and Aeron are all all-ears... um..." Twombly then paused, noting that the turn-of-phrase could've been taken a bit more literal since... well.... ears... "we'll try to hear your side of the story first."
Luciel's ears perked up as Twombly approached him, letting out a small gasp and flinching away from the man's touch before realizing what he was doing. Reluctantly at first, the jackalope rested his hands between the two before shakily but gently laying a cheek against their chest with a sigh. The concept felt so foreign, having felt like forever since the last meaningful contact he'd had with another person. It wasn't much, but the idea of being accepted in his most simplest of forms while safe from retribution was...comforting. "Th-Thank you, Twombly....Maybe sometime..." Luciel softly said, eyes drifting almost to close while his mind continued to race, planning out the next few hours and thankful Twombly would be coming with to help carry stuff.
The place in a crime ridden town where all the criminals went. A haven for some of the worst scum there was. Mob bosses, hitmen, gangsters and crooked cops; anyone up to seedy business could probably be found at some point in The Hole. I ain't to different from all those scum. I'm angry, dangerous and certainly have a bodycount behind me. Biggest difference is the fact that I did all that on the right side of the law, even after I left the force. All these scum should be locked up in my opinion... but my opinion ain't worth much.
Even the outside looks seedy. Big Neon sign over the entrance proclaiming the dance clubs name, trash down the alleyways both living and inanimate. Most importantly one of the biggest people I'd ever seen outfront. Guy could lift a bus I'm sure. Luckily I ain't here to cause any trouble so we shouldn't have any troouble he and I. Tonight I was entering the hornets nest, the Lions den if your feeling ironic; either way somewhhere a private eye shouldn't go if he wants to hold on to his eyes... or any other part of his body for that matter. Luckily I'm incognito, and I need to be in there tonight. I'm meeting an informant... first challenge is getting past the bouncer. I walk straight up, he's looking down at me like he wants to kick my ass. A quick flash of the card I got though gets him to turn away. Damn it sure helps when a crook owes you one.
Its dark inside, a long hallway lit only by neon pink lights. The club proper is like it always his, filled with criminals watching girls dance, drinking, doing business or a combination of the three. Scanning the boothes I see my rat, ex-cop turned methhead informant Johnny Merrington. Tweaker sat in a boothe alone scratching nervously, his scales rapidly switching from camoflauge to bright nervous colors. I try to avoid drawing more than a couple angry glances, newcomers aren't well like around here. I saddle up across from the tweaker, my main was in a bun under my hat so it didn't draw to much attention. I growl to get his attention, poor bastard nearly jumped out of his scales., "So, what do you have for me Johnny?"
Johnny was already nervous. Meeting in such a public place, regardless of the company that such 'public' kept, had him on edge in spite of how casual the environment viewed his type. Nobody would notice such a meeting as the thumping music and others having their own loud conversations about rules regarding a game of pool. Still, for a tweaker, all eyes were on him. The guttural snarl caused the salamander to almost jump out of his skin, in the process of prematurely shedding due to how he scratched himself on a rolled up sleeve didn't help as his eyes panned across the venue.
"Hey! H-hey, yeah...how ya doin Freddy?" They started, chuckling with a bit of familiarity before quickly clearing his throat and launching into the next bit with little time to form a response. "Yeah! No...yeah, not much. Been sitting here for a while and- a while! Where- no, yeah, nevermind, sorry" He corrected himself, doing his best to focus on the lion whose presence comforted him only enough to bring himself to take a quick deep breath. "People chasing angels, that wreck on third? Heh, nawh...yeah, traffic is hell, ya see?" they tried to joke before awkwardly flourishing a series of mint greens and ambers across their skin before settling on their typical dull maroon. "S-so...Its kinda chaos here. It's been pretty understaffed, but otherwise it's same old same-old, ya know?" Johnny chirped, knocking his knuckles on the table for dramatic effect before taking a sip of his drink to steady himself. After a collected breath and another sip he looked back up at Fredrick. "The managers are twins or something. Must be some kind of family matter, since neither of them showed up, today. Not even a call, ah? The service here is shit. Not even a pretzel basket or anything, heh" the salamander chuckled, ear frills perking for a moment at the sound of the group at the pool table breaking.
"S-s-some associates of mine got...heh, axed politely to fuck off from that car wreck. Some rabbit or something. Those types for ya?" The salamander shakily joked, not so much nervously but mostly studdering as they reached up their sleeve to politely continue to scratch without subjecting Fredrick to their state. On the force, the two may have worked together for a few weeks after Johnny was reassigned to the lion after his senior partner was gunned down during a simple small-time drug bust that turned out to be more than either of them thought. Johnny was never the same and after being protected by Fredrick during their slip into their descent, the salamander resigned. The guilt and stress got the better of him.
After watching John drive away with Ylva, she went back to the SUV figuring she could just have Twombly drive to Luciel's place as she really wasn't in the mood to drive after the excitement of what just happened. "Alrighty, Twombly you're going to have to drive," she said as she opened the back door, only for a Twombluciel-pile to drop rather unceremoniously onto the ground, "Oh... uh... what exactly is going on here?" As she questioned the two males, she looked down at them, finding their scramble to untangle themselves from one another rather amusing in and of itself.
"I wasn't aware you swung both ways Tommy-boy, why wouldn't you tell me something so important? Or is it that Luciel here is the only acception considering he can easily pass for a female if need be?" Aeron pressed, stepping back a bit as she crossed her arms over her chest, one ear perked up while the other tilted off to the side.
"Actually, hugging him is quite theraputic and a great way to calm down." Twombly replied, picking-up the jackalope by the armpits and presenting it to the jackal, "Here, you try."
"I'm pretty sure Luciel doesn't want to be manhandled like that," Aeron stated, a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips for a brief moment before she simply shook her head, "I would like you to drive us to Luciel's apartment, we have some things we need to take care of while we are there and I'm pretty sure there are a couple things he would want to grab before I move him into one of the rooms at my home." Considering the Jackalope was already presented to her, and the Jackal had a really hard time saying no to anything adorable and fluffy, she let out a sigh and gave Luciel a hug, despite the fact that Twombly was holding him out for presentation.
Having not expected the door to open so suddenly, Luciel's foot dropped, throwing him off balance and resulting in dragging Twombly out the door with him. His first thought was of adjusting to the light to find John staring him down, though Aeron's voice convinced him otherwise. The second thought was a curiosity if he had broken anything from falling out of the SUV and having Twombly practically land on him. "It's- ngh... not what it looks like, Twombly-" he began to explain before the wolf spoke, explaining matters rather coldly though the jackalope was quickly distracted by being lifted off his feet.
"T-Twombly!" Luciel barked, ears folding back as he squirmed. "Put me down, this instant!" he continued, about to start prying at Twombly's hands before he found Aeron's arms around him. With a tiny growl of annoyance, he sighed and returned the hug since he had a hard time saying 'no' to her. After a moment, Luciel looked back at the wolf. "While you are at it, could you help me back into the car?" he asked with a slightly raised eyebrow.
"Well, since you two are asking nicely." Twombly observed with amusement, knowing that Luciel was still fully capable of standing up and limping the nine inches back into the SUV, he even knew that though the Jackalope wasn't ever going to admit it, probably was enjoying the attention. He picked him up, this time cradling him with a bit more support as he eased their guest back into the rear passenger seat. After he made sure he was buckled-in properly, he went over to the driver's seat and had his seat. All this provided plenty of time for Aeron to hop into the passenger-side front seat.
While his request to be helped back into the car hadn't included being picked up, the jackalope had to appreciate Twombly's strength. Luciel could have picked himself up and climbed back into the vehicle, though he shamefully enjoyed the attention, leaving him slightly conflicted with what he really wanted out of the request. Regardless, he shrugged off the situation with a small 'hrmph' as Twombly made the extra effort to buckle him in. The gesture was responded to with a lifted eyebrow to soften his very uncharacteristically cold glare that came with a flick of an ear. "Yeh, thanks" he chirped, the tone expertly forced to mirror the grateful expression he wore, night to day in contrast to the previous scowl.
With Aeron climbing into the seat next to him, they were off. As much as Luciel would have liked to recline, the initial shock of the crash was subsiding and relaxing had eased the sting of fresh injury to a dull ache. After a series of instructions on how to get to the apartment complex, the jackalope fell silent and gave no instructions to stop as he looked out the window at the two black cars parked outside as well as three people waiting around the entrance. The neighborhood was good enough to the point where the sight of the small collection of people concerned him...especially how one of them poorly hid a revolver on their hip.
"Pull up around the corner, I was not expecting company..." he mused with mild authority as he watched the people while they drove past. Ears perked for a moment as Luciel looked back to Twombly before politely correcting himself, "No offense, of course. If it were any other day I would...just love to entertain guests" and his voice gradually softened to an annoyed growl as he drew 'sandcastle' and began fixing the silencer to the end. It had miraculously remained undamaged, and the gesture was to quietly impress that he wasn't the best at 'entertaining guests' in the conventional sense.
Twombly pulled around the corner as instructed, and drove up a further way around the next corner before borrowing someone else's driveway. He also raised an eyebrow when he saw the glint of dark parkerized steel from Luciel's Sandcastle, and resisted the urge to hug the Jackalope once again; finally, a sidearm that wasn't chrome. The raised curiosity was also due to concern of whether or not Luciel would be able to handle the three plus up to five or seven more inside in his condition.
Patting his leg-holster as he got out of his seat, he quickly checked to make sure his custom-krinkov had its own silencer, and the gas-port adjusted to cope such an attachment. "Hope you don't mind if I play with them first for a bit." He had a slightly wicked grin on his face, since he knew John wasn't anywhere nearby, he had no reason to play nice with these perfect strangers. Besides, it helped to get word on why people wanted Luciel dead, directly from those trying to kill him.
He approached them in a bit of a cavalier manner, with his signature sidearm remaining quite visible on his hip as he greeted Luciel's house-guests by tipping his hat. "Morning fellas. Waiting for a lift to the bar, too?" He then gave a curious glance the lookout with his revolver very poorly concealed in his waistline, "Eh, didn't I see you flirting with that Kaite-girl last night?"
"By all means" Luciel mumbled, stepping out of the car at the same time with Twombly. He was careful to ease Aeron down onto the seat and lock the doors as he watched the maned wolf walk off around the corner. His hands shook as he looked at his reflection in the tinted SUV windows, pulling the scarf up over his nose and taking a deep breath while closing his eyes.
Soir de Lune, series five...discontinued. The ghost of a cool autumn day with sap fresh on pine teased my senses where there was only the scent of mint on my breath I had after lunch, woven into the old fabric. My eyes opened lightly, meeting the apathetic glare of the figure looking back at me. Silently, I offered them a nod which they responded to with a raised eyebrow as if to urge me to 'get on with it'. There was no arguing with myself as we all wanted the same thing, and it started with the voices from around the corner as Twombly engaged the salamanders.
The lookouts snapped to attention as Twombly addressed them, quickly losing interest after seeing it wasn't who they thought it was. "Something like that" one of them offered as another crossed its arms, already annoyed by the distraction. The one with the exposed gun picked up on the glance, pulling their shirt over the weapon before glaring at Twombly, challengingly. "Who wasn't? The tart has the capacity for everyone in the bar" they excused, poorly lying for the fact that there was no way 'Kaite' could have made an appearance while Ansel was tending the bar. "Can we help you?" the third lizard growled in a tone that was insisting Twombly's answer was 'no, and I'll be on my way'. Which it was, although he was not going to be rushed just because a few ill-paid goons were impatient.
Just then, a loud metallic scrape and crash of a fire escape ladder dropping echoed from the alleyway. After a palpable moment of silence, the first salamander elbowed the one who had the exposed gun. "Gee, I wonder what that was..." he hinted, shooting the lizard a look that made them sigh and walk off while the other two waited patiently. Silence followed after the footsteps betrayed the figure who disappeared around the corner.
It felt like minutes passed, the other two seeming to become uncomfortable from the lack of sounds after footsteps faded. The first of the thugs elbowed the second and went to inspect the alleyway with the other in tow. "Hey Jake! Where are ya!" the second one called, though no response came. The first looked back at Twombly before barking, "You! Get over here", intending on using him as some kind of bait.
Twombly immediately scoffed in frustration, as his patience with these lackeys was starting to grow thin. "What is it now? An alley-cat got you guys scared. Come, I'll show you..." He said, brushing right past them as he drew his three kilogram "sidearm" and leveled it at the dumpster. "You think what's frightening you is peering at you from the top of that dumpster?" He asked, loudly and clearly annoyed at their lack of fool-hardiness making Luciel's plan to ambush them all one at a time go out the window; however it was quickly established that his question was both rhetorical, and not uttered for their benefit as he quickly tapped out three silenced rounds just a few inches below the lip of the dumpster.
"If your boogeyman is still there. I am sure he isn't going to be very happy about the new vents I gave them. But that's not what you were supposed to be afraid of..." He said, as he swung his gun back around and leveled it at the one furthest from him, a series of claws ripping into the throat of a salamander that just happened to be standing a bit too close to him.
"You have any idea who I am? You do NOT get to ask me to do YOUR JOB." He demanded, "EVER!" he punctuated this point by popping another round into the last standing salamander's kneecap "Now if you and your friend book it to the nearest hospital, you both may actually get there before either of you bleed-out."
The salamanders looked in confusion as Twombly drew his gun and let loose a short volley of rounds into the dumpster. One of them elbowed the other, "Didn't the boss say something about a black SUV?", his voice wavering with stress before the maned wolf whirled around to set steel to bone after shredding the neck of one of the lizards. Their cries echoed down the alleyway and streets as they writhed on the ground. "AGH! Wh-what the fuck!" the kneecapped salamander wailed, struggling to apply pressure to stop the bleeding of his associate, fumbling with a phone. "Come on, Neal! Stay with me!" he barked, shooting Twombly a glare that spelled a malicious intent if he hadn't been helping to control the bleeding and dialing. "Its my brother! No, some other..." he began to say before his expression softened to terror moments before a nearly inaudible click scattered circuitry, flesh and blood onto the pavement, followed soon by the salamander's motionless body.
From the alleyway limped Luciel, sleeves rolled up and blood on his gloves. One hand lowered his weapon of choice while the other firmly gripped a jar wrapped in duct tape. He stood a fair ways away, looking at the scene of the dead salamander laying over the other who was quickly bleeding out. The faint chirp of a voice emitted from the phone and the jackalope trudged over, gently setting the jar down to pick up the phone, wiping the blood from the receiver before bringing it up to his head. A tired yet peacefully amused glare bored into the building across the street from Luciel. "Hello" he politely began, speaking into the phone while holstering his weapon and grabbing a handful of shirt to begin dragging the dead salamander into the alleyway. "...Am I speaking to the intruders in my home?" He continued, turning back after a long moment of silence, dumping the body behind the dumpster. While he walked back, he took a moment to press a pinky-finger into the bullet holes and look up at Twombly with an unimpressed glare. "By now you may be wondering, 'what does he have in those jars in the fridge'?" Luciel cooed before hanging up and tossing the phone over his shoulder without breaking eye contact with the maned wolf.
Looking down at the mess for a moment, he sighed and put a round through the suffering Salamander's head. "Gee, thanks for engaging the lookouts in broad daylight, Twombly" he goofily said, making his disappointment clear through sarcasm while lowering himself to pick up the wrapped jar and sniffled as he looked over the second body. Clearing his throat, an ear flicked before he turned around to where he'd pulled down the fire escape ladder. "Well darn, I guess" he simply chirped, turning to do his best in the way of hurrying towards the ladder, stuffing the small jar into a pocket before beginning to climb.
Twombly shrugged at Luciel's glowing disapproval, "I could just say they tried to mug me, brought a knife to a gunfight and lost. Shit like that happens all the time." He excused himself as he picked-up the obvious revolver from the salamander, wasn't like he was going to need it anymore, and it paid to have a new-york reload tucked into his sock when visiting an active kill-house.
The climb behind the jackalope was simple enough after tossing his slung AKS74U over his shoulder, hanging roughly by his side for something resembling a quick-draw without banging it against the rungs like the typical 3-point sling with rifle hung in front. He was starting to get curious about what was in those jars now that Luciel mentioned them, but figured it could wait until they'd have more time to move things out of the apartment.
Luciel sighed at Twombly's dismissal of his concern. Complying with the wave of a hand, he turned to set the jar behind the dumpster and begin to muscle his way up the ladder before the first few stretches of steps. Thankfully, the jackalope lived on the sixth floor, so there wasn't much effort to worry about. Occasionally, he'd peek in a window before darting past in a manner that seemed cautiously tactical enough, though obviously self taught by his franticness in the motions.
"I assume you have done stuff like this in the past, Twombly?" Luciel began, trying to make conversation as the silence was uncomfortable for the sociopath in this unique instance. Without waiting for much of an answer, he continued without looking away from his work of limping up stairs and peeking into windows, "Oh! And I hope the unexpected turn of events does not put you off, I sincerely would have had you and Miss Khalil over if I knew...well." The words caught in his throat as he had time to mull the situation over, obviously still upset on some level with the last few hours and how his web of lies was being washed out the spout.
Unlike the jackalope, the maned-wolf did not move as though he thought he was trespassing, more like he was merely window-shopping for a new carpeting, just happening to admire the quaint figurines in their darkened domiciles as they each went about their daily rounds, giving a nod of besmirched approval so they wouldn't feel let-down as they passed, yet not feel threatened with any feelings of hostile jealousy; a good thing since he happened to have a kalisnikov in plain view.
Twombly continued trying -and succeeding- at looking nonchalant, as though simply on an evening stroll to silently peruse through everybody's windows until Luciel commented at how routine these things seemed to him, clearly distressed more than he was impressed... there weren't enough hugs in the world for him... Twombly thought to himself as he stacked-up close behind Luciel so he could answer with a hushed voice in his ear: "The first rule of surviving out in the wastes is not to be seen, this everyone knows. But the second one is then not to be suspected when you inevitably are being watched." He then gave Luciel a pat on the shoulder, reminding him that he was on-point for this, but making sure not to push him into anything he didn't feel was right; not until he was ready.
As they ascended, Luciel endeavored to soften his steps and hesitate at about the fourth floor. In a perfect world, he would have faith in his abilities to break into his own home and take the trespassers by surprise. However, the racket from trying to get into his wood-glued-shut window would certainly complicate things as anyone on the street below would need to look up and see them. Given the intent of his taunt, he could be sure that someone was likely on their way to check on the watch.
With a discontent sigh, he listened to Twombly's talk of the wastes which he had never visited. The simple lessons were learned early after his freedom, and the streets didn't seem too much different from his associate's apparent domain of operations. "I have never been to the wastes..." he muttered as he assessed the situation with hands on his hips, an ear flicking from Twombly's voice. "...ehn I am better vith hidink in plain sight zehn zeis mess" he continued in a contemplative manner, casually tossing out his best 'Kaitra' before coming to window and unapologetically peering inside. Content with not seeing anyone, he tried the window which was obviously locked.
He lifted an eyebrow, scoffing a small 'tch' before drawing an axe and wedging it into the frame. Holding it in place with a foot, Luciel braced himself against the railing to press his other foot into the notch between the handle and back-spike. "Knock knock" he playfully chirped before kicking in the frame with a loud metallic pop of old screws being pried from equally old wood. The axe clattered to the grated floor of the fire escape as he aimed another kick to bash the window in. The plan worked, more or less, as the hinges bent from the weight of the window swinging inward. Without a moment of hesitation, Luciel picked up the axe and jumped into the room. This wasn't the best of ideas as a leg buckled, accompanied by a growl of a yelp as the jackalope crumpled to the floor. This lasted maybe an instant before he wheeled around with Sandcastle as he surveyed the apartment he'd broken into. Thankfully, whoever owned it seemed to be away. Any other day and Luci would have considered this a score in the way of free shit, but there was business to take care of and this was no time for laying about or petty theft. "That could have gone better" he awkwardly chuckled, turning his ankles to makes sure everything was in working order before dragging himself to a wall to aid in his efforts to stand himself back up.
Luciel's humors were sobered by the sounds of a set of footsteps hurrying down the hall along with a voice, "It was one of these rooms, I'm sure! The little bitch must have went up the fire escape." Soon, it was joined by a second gruff voice, "The look outs would have-" before being cut off by a third voice. "The lookouts are dead, you idiot!" and then the voice lowered, "And stop shaking, 'Angel' is just a name. Nothing bullets can't handle."
(With the assumption that a few hours has passed).
The dust quickly dispersed as the lynx's paws scooped them off his olive coat. 'twas dark down the basement, but the Tigers had finished moving and taking apart the weapons crate he managed to get from Dee. In the shadow-ridden hallway lit by a dimmed lantern indicated a set of stairs up towards the bustle that is the Hole. The lynx emerged, hands in his pockets and nodded as several patrons began greeting him and toasted in his name. He was now by the bar, leaning his back against it and took a good look around the place in moderate peace and waiting for anyone to perhaps come and engage in a chat.
tl;dr: Hugs, gunfight, apartment cleared with extreme prejudice. And apparently Twombly thinks Luciel's tail twitches.
"By all means" Luciel mumbled, stepping out of the car at the same time with Twombly. He was careful to ease Aeron down onto the seat and lock the doors as he watched the maned wolf walk off around the corner. His hands shook as he looked at his reflection in the tinted SUV windows, pulling the scarf up over his nose and taking a deep breath while closing his eyes.
Soir de Lune, series five...discontinued. The ghost of a cool autumn day with sap fresh on pine teased my senses where there was only the scent of mint on my breath I had after lunch, woven into the old fabric. My eyes opened lightly, meeting the apathetic glare of the figure looking back at me. Silently, I offered them a nod which they responded to with a raised eyebrow as if to urge me to 'get on with it'. There was no arguing with myself as we all wanted the same thing, and it started with the voices from around the corner as Twombly engaged the salamanders.
The lookouts snapped to attention as Twombly addressed them, quickly losing interest after seeing it wasn't who they thought it was. "Something like that" one of them offered as another crossed its arms, already annoyed by the distraction. The one with the exposed gun picked up on the glance, pulling their shirt over the weapon before glaring at Twombly, challengingly. "Who wasn't? The tart has the capacity for everyone in the bar" they excused, poorly lying for the fact that there was no way 'Kaite' could have made an appearance while Ansel was tending the bar. "Can we help you?" the third lizard growled in a tone that was insisting Twombly's answer was 'no, and I'll be on my way'. Which it was, although he was not going to be rushed just because a few ill-paid goons were impatient.
Just then, a loud metallic scrape and crash of a fire escape ladder dropping echoed from the alleyway. After a palpable moment of silence, the first salamander elbowed the one who had the exposed gun. "Gee, I wonder what that was..." he hinted, shooting the lizard a look that made them sigh and walk off while the other two waited patiently. Silence followed after the footsteps betrayed the figure who disappeared around the corner.
It felt like minutes passed, the other two seeming to become uncomfortable from the lack of sounds after footsteps faded. The first of the thugs elbowed the second and went to inspect the alleyway with the other in tow. "Hey Jake! Where are ya!" the second one called, though no response came. The first looked back at Twombly before barking, "You! Get over here", intending on using him as some kind of bait.
Twombly immediately scoffed in frustration, as his patience with these lackies was starting to grow thin. "What is it now? An alley-cat got you guys scared. Come, I'll show you..." He said, brushing right past them as he drew his three kilogram "sidearm" and leveled it at the dumpster. "You think what's frightening you is peering at you from the top of that dumpster?" He asked, loudly and clearly annoyed at their lack of fool-hardiness making Luciel's plan to ambush them all one at a time go out the window; however it was quickly established that his question was both rhetorical, and not uttered for their benefit as he quickly tapped out three silenced rounds just a few inches below the lip of the dumpster.
"If your boogeyman is still there. I am sure he isn't going to be very happy about the new vents I gave them. But that's not what you were supposed to be afraid of..." He said, as he swung his gun back around and leveled it at the one furthest from him, a series of claws ripping into the throat of a salamander that just happened to be standing a bit too close to him.
"You have any idea who I am? You do NOT get to ask me to do YOUR JOB." He demanded, "EVER!" he punctuated this point by popping another round into the last standing salamander's kneecap "Now if you and your friend book it to the nearest hospital, you both may actually get there before either of you bleed-out."
The salamanders looked in confusion as Twombly drew his gun and let loose a short volley of rounds into the dumpster. One of them elbowed the other, "Didn't the boss say something about a black SUV?", his voice wavering with stress before the maned wolf whirled around to set steel to bone after shredding the neck of one of the lizards. Their cries echoed down the alleyway and streets as they writhed on the ground. "AGH! Wh-what the fuck!" the kneecapped salamander wailed, struggling to apply pressure to stop the bleeding of his associate, fumbling with a phone. "Come on, Neal! Stay with me!" he barked, shooting Twombly a glare that spelled a malicious intent if he hadn't been helping to control the bleeding and dialing. "Its my brother! No, some other..." he began to say before his expression softened to terror moments before a nearly inaudible click scattered circuitry, flesh and blood onto the pavement, followed soon by the salamander's motionless body.
From the alleyway limped Luciel, sleeves rolled up and blood on his gloves. One hand lowered his weapon of choice while the other firmly gripped a jar wrapped in duct tape. He stood a fair ways away, looking at the scene of the dead salamander laying over the other who was quickly bleeding out. The faint chirp of a voice emitted from the phone and the jackalope trudged over, gently setting the jar down to pick up the phone, wiping the blood from the receiver before bringing it up to his head. A tired yet peacefully amused glare bored into the building across the street from Luciel.
"Hello" he politely began, speaking into the phone while holstering his weapon and grabbing a handful of shirt to begin dragging the dead salamander into the alleyway. "...Am I speaking to the intruders in my home?" He continued, turning back after a long moment of silence, dumping the body behind the dumpster. While he walked back, he took a moment to press a pinky-finger into the bullet holes and look up at Twombly with an unimpressed glare. "By now you may be wondering, 'what does he have in those jars in the fridge'?" Luciel cooed before hanging up and tossing the phone over his shoulder without breaking eye contact with the maned wolf.
Looking down at the mess for a moment, he sighed and put a round through the suffering Salamander's head. "Gee, thanks for engaging the lookouts in broad daylight, Twombly" he goofily said, making his disappointment clear through sarcasm while lowering himself to pick up the wrapped jar and sniffled as he looked over the second body. Clearing his throat, an ear flicked before he turned around to where he'd pulled down the fire escape ladder. "Well darn, I guess" he simply chirped, turning to do his best in the way of hurrying towards the ladder, stuffing the small jar into a pocket before beginning to climb.
Twombly shrugged at Luciel's glowing dissaproval, "I could just say they tried to mug me, brought a knife to a gunfight and lost. Shit like that happens all the time." He excused himself as he picked-up the obvious revolver from the salamander, wasn't like he was going to need it anymore, and it paid to have a new-york reload tucked into his sock when visiting an active kill-house.
The climb behind the jackalope was simple enough after tossing his slung AKS74U over his shoulder, hanging roughly by his side for something resembling a quick-draw without banging it against the rungs like the typical 3-point sling with rifle hung in front. He was starting to get curious about what was in those jars now that Luciel mentioned them, but figured it could wait until they'd have more time to move things out of the apartment.
Luciel sighed at Twombly's dismissal of his concern. Complying with the wave of a hand, he turned to set the jar behind the dumpster and begin to muscle his way up the ladder before the first few stretches of steps. Thankfully, the jackalope lived on the sixth floor, so there wasn't much effort to worry about. Occasionally, he'd peek in a window before darting past in a manner that seemed cautiously tactical enough, though obviously self taught by his franticness in the motions.
"I assume you have done stuff like this in the past, Twombly?" Luciel began, trying to make conversation as the silence was uncomfortable for the sociopath in this unique instance. Without waiting for much of an answer, he continued without looking away from his work of limping up stairs and peeking into windows, "Oh! And I hope the unexpected turn of events does not put you off, I sincerely would have had you and Miss Khalil over if I knew...well."
The words caught in his throat as he had time to mull the situation over, obviously still upset on some level with the last few hours and how his web of lies was being washed out the spout.
Unlike the jackalope, the maned-wolf did not move as though he thought he was trespassing, more like he was merely window-shopping for a new carpeting, just happening to admire the quaint figurines in their darkened dormatories as they each went about their daily rounds, giving a nod of besmirched approval so they wouldn't feel let-down as they passed, yet not feel threatened with any feelings of hostile jealousy; a good thing since he happened to have a kalisnikov in plain view.
Twombly continued trying -and succeeding- at looking nonchalant, as though simply on an evening stroll to silently puruse through everybody's windows until Luciel commented at how routine these things seemed to him, clearly distressed more than he was impressed... there weren't enough hugs in the world for him... Twombly thought to himself as he stacked-up close behind Luciel so he could answer with a hushed voice in his ear: "The first rule of surviving out in the wastes is not to be seen, this everyone knows. But the second one is then not to be suspected when you inevitiably are being watched." He then gave Luciel a pat on the shoulder, reminding him that he was on-point for this, but making sure not to push him into anything he didn't feel was right; not until he was ready.
As they ascended, Luciel endeavored to soften his steps and hesitate at about the fourth floor. In a perfect world, he would have faith in his abilities to break into his own home and take the trespassers by surprise. However, the racket from trying to get into his wood-gued-shut window would certainly complicate things as anyone on the street below would need to look up and see them. Given the intent of his taunt, he could be sure that someone was likely on their way to check on the watch.
With a discontent sigh, he listened to Twombly's talk of the wastes which he had never visited. The simple lessons were learned early after his freedom, and the streets didn't seem too much different from his associate's apparent domain of operations. "I have never been to the wastes..." he muttered as he assessed the situation with hands on his hips, an ear flicking from Twombly's voice. "...ehn I am better vith hidink in plain sight zehn zeis mess" he continued in a contemplative manner, casually tossing out his best 'Kaitra' before coming to window and unapologetically peering inside. Content with not seeing anyone, he tried the window which was obviously locked.
He lifted an eyebrow, scoffing a small 'tch' before drawing an axe and wedging it into the frame. Holding it in place with a foot, Luciel braced himself against the railing to press his other foot into the notch between the handle and back-spike. "Knock knock" he playfully chirped before kicking in the frame with a loud metallic pop of old screws being pried from equally old wood. The axe clattered to the grated floor of the fire escape as he aimed another kick to bash the window in. The plan worked, more or less, as the hinges bent from the weight of the window swinging inward.
Without a moment of hesitation, Luciel picked up the axe and jumped into the room. This wasn't the best of ideas as a leg buckled, accompanied by a growl of a yelp as the jackalope crumpled to the floor. This lasted maybe an instant before he wheeled around with Sandcastle as he surveyed the apartment he'd broken into. Thankfully, whoever owned it seemed to be away. Any other day and Luci would have considered this a score in the way of free shit, but there was business to take care of and this was no time for laying about or petty theft. "That could have gone better" he awkwardly chuckled, turning his ankles to makes sure everything was in working order before dragging himself to a wall to aid in his efforts to stand himself back up.
Luciel's humors were sobered by the sounds of a set of footsteps hurrying down the hall along with a voice, "It was one of these rooms, I'm sure! The little bitch must have went up the fire escape." Soon, it was joined by a second gruff voice, "The look outs would have-" before being cut off by a third voice. "The lookouts are dead, you idiot!" and then the voice lowered, "And stop shaking, 'Angel' is just a name. Nothing bullets can't handle."
Twombly had tried to help Luciel back to his feet, but the Jackalope was still fleet-footed enough to have it his own way before freezing in mortification upon hearing a trio of voices looking for 'her'. Twombly's ears merely perked-up at a thought, as he pointed at a side-room to the apartment's kitchen to lurk in as he started humming a tune, slid his carbine to the floor against the wall, and opened the door to see exactly what was causing the commotion, and how heavily armed they were.
What he first saw was nothing less than the ported cutts-compensator of an old-timey Thompson-gun pressed against his face, behind which stood a plethora of weasels. He briefly tried picturing which voice came from whom; the excitable one with something to prove, the gruffy, slobbish, forgetful one, followed by the sharply-dressed overconfident leader-type. Noise of continued ransacking upstair confirmed there were more than just these three, but these were the most willing to get into a fight and away from tedious menial work; the people-persons.
"So you looking for this short cream-colored girl about ye-tall with big floppy ears and a tail that twitches when she walks? Is her rent due again? I told her to stop wasting her earnings on toys until after her housing was settled..." Twombly began, spinning a yarn; keeping just enough details that almost sounded like a match enough to get their interest... then enough things wrong to convince them it wasn't their person, but at the same time making it sound like he was suggesting they could spend a few extra minutes and a few extra dollars cross-examining his house-guest, just in case, of course.
"Good afternoon. Neighborhood watch" The snazzily-dressed weasel cheekily remarked from behind the two goons as he tapped on a cigarette to ash in the hallway. Their other hand casually rested on the handle of their own thompson hanging from a sling. Much to stereotypes' expectations, the shaky one held Twombly at gunpoint while the bruiser pushed a bit of barbed wire back into position on their bat with a work glove. The bat seemed impacted along the wires with poorly cleaned blood staining the metal and wood. He noisily popped a chomp of gum, looking up during Twombly's explanation with furrowed brows that a grip of scars marred on the left side. Even the jumpy one seemed perplexed by the description, eyes twitching to the side for a moment as if about to look to their boss for confirmation though snapping back to fix on the maned fox's. Their eager finger on the trigger of the thompson clicked a claw against the trigger guard, a tell of anxiousness like a need to scratch an itch. Of the monty, the most aggressively armed one was probably the most pathetic, as he was likely paying off favors with this mission; dipping into a stash he was supposed to sell, he wanted to be done with business by any means necessary.
Either thankfully or unfortunately for Twombly, the third of the squad at least appeared to have the others under control. "Easy, boys...Pointy ears, antlers? Are ya sure you're not either retarded or feeding me bullshit?" The apparent boss inquired with a skeptical smirk as he looked Twombly over with a darkly interested glint before a light shake of their head dismissed whatever thought they had. "Is your 'girl' a he? I hear some messed up fucks are into that kind of shit" they continued, the question posed as both an insult against Twombly's character and a legitimate question. After a moment and another drag, he tilted his head to try to look past the man and into the apartment, "And you wouldn't happen to have...heard a noise? Would ya?"
---Thankfully the busted window was around the corner and out of sight, as the question was accompanied by a gesture from the third weasel. The brute of the three stepped forward to shove Twombly aside with a vaguely annoyed grunt of "s'cuse me" as he stepped into the room, followed closely by the jumpy one. Obviously untrusting, the leader held back, though leveled his thompson at the maned wolf while waiting for his possy to sweep the apartment.
Creaking cupboards and the slam of a coffee table being needlessly overturned raged behind Twombly. Whoever owned the apartment was certain to have one hell of a day, though the window set the stage well enough as a break-in and ransacking.
"So, this 'girl', eh?" The weasel in the hall lazily began, "If you're looking for money, I may be able to take her off your hands...assuming the boss likes wh-" having been cut off in their allusion to their business by a call from the back; ""Hey boss! The window is kicked in. He definitely came in, here!" The first of the batch peeking out from around the corner, causing the second to look up from admiring a small china cabinet in the main room.
"Wonderful! Keep looking while I have a chat with our new friend" The boss chirped, jabbing Twombly with the muzzle of his gun to urge him back into the apartment after flicking their cig down the hall. "Right, lets try one more time to remember your 'girl'. Say something I like and I might just let ya go with a new lead knee for wasting my time!" He growled, closing the door behind him without looking. "Where the fuck are you hiding him and how do y-!" he began, thumbing the safety off at the same moment the roar of a garbage disposal cut into the tension. The two looked up as the sound persisted long enough to make even the boss seem uneasy. "He's not hiding in the drain, you moron!" The boss barked, being met with only an uncomfortable silence as the garbage disposal abruptly stopped with a click. Another palpable moment passed before what sounded like the first weasel softly came, "I think..."
"What, ya having a sandwich in there?" The brutish weasel chuckled, looking to their boss who nodded at them with a gesture to inspect. With a shrug, he complied with bat raised while rounding the corner, "-Cuz ya better save same some for me!" he roared, swinging with the report of twisted metal against wall plaster and a meaty 'thunk'. Their expression changed from cockiness to terror as they stumbled back, hand clutching the stump of an arm where there used to be a hand.
"Holy-! D-DIE!" the boss screamed, lifting the thompson from Twombly to 'spray and pray' into the wall in the hopes of scoring a lucky hit. Caught up in the shock of watching his associate's wound spurting blood, he'd forgotten to account for his 'new friend' he'd shoved just barely out of arm's reach.
The moment the thompson swung away was perhaps the weasel's final, fatal mistake. As Twombly tucked down to grab his rifle off the floor, he rolled into his legs and sprung back to his feet, knocking the nearly twenty pound submachine gun very far from its intended target as he slammed their boss to the ground. "What makes you think I'm hiding?" He asked, but it was clearly rhetorical, as he leveled the rifle and put a round through the weasel's windpipe; this way he'd be granted the courtessy of an open-casket funeral. "Y'all right in there, darl'n?" Twombly asked in a bit of a drawled-out growl. Being threatened and insulted by such an amature followed by launching twenty pounds of steel off his back wasn't exactly a pleasant experiance for him.
The last weasel stumbled in the opening of the wall section leading to the kitchen, watching in shock as his boss was dispatched. In response to Twombly's question, he looked over to the apparent entity out of sight for the time it took to open his mouth. The goon was prematurely silenced with a rattling crack of the barbwire bat hissing through the air with Luciel in tow, striking true and scattering blood and mangled flesh across the cabinet doors. The goon caught himself on the counter with a spurt of blood from his stump while the jackalope gave the bat a turn to its clean side. "Be right with ya, hun!" he chirped before bringing the instrument of destruction down on the brute who unfortunately had the constitution to remain conscious through the assault. "Fuck this thing is awesome! I should make myself one!" Luciel laughed, giving a golfing swing to disfigure the arm the man lifted to defend himself, but getting caught up in hide and hair after crushing it against the cabinets.
Finally, the man found the wind in his lungs to scream in anguish, bone poking through flesh messily torn from Luciel's motion of lifting the bat only to bring it down once more onto their head with a shrill "Woo!"
He chuckled, pacing a few steps around the numbly convulsing body with one hand on his hip and huffing a sigh before looking over his shoulder back at Twombly. "Better than coffee~" he chirped with a wink before turning back and messily caving the man's skull in with a merciless series of about five more full-body swings which knocked out a ceiling light from how 'into it' the small man got with their needless brutality.
On conclusion, Luciel simply tossed the dented and fraying weapon to the side and wiped his hands off on the kitchen towel which he dropped in the middle of the floor once he was done with it. His ears fluttered, accompanying the small hint of a smirk on his lips hinting to how he shamelessly enjoyed himself. "Right! One more floor" he said with a clap as if just now remembering business while making to pick up the boss weasel's thompson. Adrenaline coursed through his veins, wounds from the crash becoming distant as his hands shook, slightly.
The level of Luciel's highly-motivated ferrocity took Twombly a bit by surprise as he inched away from the scene and out of the bat's splatter-zone. The seer face of glee hinting that his aim to maim was on more of a personal level than that of a normal paid hitman. It was when they finally reached the jack's apparetment that he realized, looking around the somewhat run-down furnishings: he wasn't in the business of killing for money, his secretive nature and multiple personas told a story of a person that did not do these things for fame or noterity, yet here in this housing complex were the bodies of well-supplied hitmen.
It was the signs of a person that had been pushed too far, and did what came naturally: he pushed back.
Luciel hadn't been too thrilled with his ransacked room, earning its temporary occupants a far less glorious death than others by way of a few dozen holes riddling the walls and corpses. His aquarium was smashed along with his pet spider. The kitchen was in the state one would expect save for the series of duct-taped pickle jars on the counter and a mess of vomit on the floor. The jack didn't seem too interested as he hastily robbed the dead and stuffed quantities of his clothes into a large backpack along with a few sets of makeup and false jewlery. While his other stash was at The Hole, his room was still well stocked with various hiding places.
About ten-thousand credits in a metal box hidden in the cushions of the lone mangled chair in his livingroom, a base P99 in his pillow. Two medkits stood out as one was the typical red with a white cross while the other was spraypainted black with enough white taped off for an x to show. The place was run-down seemingly out of negligence and a few violent tangents that left gouges in the walls. The bathroom's reinforced locks on the outside would be call for concern as it appeared set up like a makeshift holding cell; two bolts and room for a padlock on what was a non-standard door for the apartment complex, a door with a metal kick-plate on both sides and made from solid wood rather than cheap particle board.
Luciel worked in silence, collecting his life into a backpack and dufflebag along with an old sleepingbag belted to the backpack. Thankfully, Twombly was a sport and opted to carry the bag which contained scavenged weaponry, his vests, ammo and the black box.
Whatever goons were left had fled as their mission was clearly a wash and they had no intention to end up like the rest. In this, it was fairly easygoing out to the SUV.
While helping lift the more obviously heavier bundles out to the car, he decided now was the best time to ask: "So who are you trying to avenge?"
Much to the surprise to any uninformed observer, Twombly's seemingly-prying question was met with little resistance as Luciel simply replied, "Kaitra...Kaitra Yvelle. She didn't deserve the things that happened to her..." Before his eyes drifted down to the ground, lost in thought.
Cinders of newspaper clippings smoldered in the sink, their contents indiscernible. Empty pickle jars sat on the counter while a foul smell rose from the sink for the next person to find.
"...For protecting me. They deserve it, though. Every last one of them" Luciel cryptically hissed on their way over to the vehicle.
