None of them do, do they.
Thursday, 10 January 2013 17:50![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Just another day of monitor duty, right?
10 January, 2013
The moon is in the waning New (Ragabash) Moon phase (8% full).
Flint's on monitor duty at the moment, and rather than out in the main part of the lobby, the cliath's in the office, door open, curled into the computer chair, paging idly through a book. And he's quiet for the moment, attention split between book and monitors.
Kevin appears from the stairs. By his standards, he's neat and tidy; that is, his hair's been tied back instead of flopping around in its usual unkempt mop, his clothing, though still a t-shirt and track-suit leggings, is clean, and he either got enough sleep for once, or has had enough coffee to simulate that. "Flint, hi," he says politely. "Any guests call by? I'm expecting someone for a little talk."
"Thomas yesterday—or the day before?" Flint offers, setting the book down and nodding to the adren. "John—Silver Fang. Mr. Dalton was here, too. But, no one for you, Kevin-rhya."
Kevin shakes his head. "Nik, the Shadow Lord. You remember, he challenged me last Moot? I've been…" A smile plays about his lips. "Preparing stuff for him. And I sent him a message saying I was ready for him. I do hope he can make it. Trying to organise anything involving garou is a scheduling nightmare. There are so many things that can get in the way of being on time."
Flint nods at Kevin. "Ah. Yeah," Flint says, quietly, without much further remark aside from grabbing the jacket from behind himself and shrugging it on, then pulling it about himself. He's certainly too comfortable to get up at the moment.
A sudden buzzing may or may not interrupt the conversation in the security area, and inspection of the monitors shows a bundled, somewhat short fellow peering into the camera. He pulls off his hood to reveal that, indeed, he is either the Shadow Lord in question or his feral older brother. Poor guy looks like he hasn't shaved in weeks, let alone a haircut.
And only a moment after Nik buzzes the door, a second figure tromps up behind him, giving the Shadow Lord a faint eyeing from behind. Thomas has his hat pulled low, but it's quite unmistakably him; the duster gives it away.
Kevin hops across the room and peers into the monitor over Flint's shoulder. "Ah, looks like he's here!" He seems ready to buzz Nik in when another figure shows up and gives him pause. "Who the hell's that behind him? I can't see, Nik's in the way. Is that a trenchcoat? Is it Thomas again?"
"That's… it's Thomas," Flint agrees, leaning over to press the button inside the office that will open the door and let both of them in.
Nik seems to notice he's been stared at, so he casually glances over his shoulder at the other man standing out in the dark behind him. It takes a few moments for him to recognize Thomas, but when he does he shoots a teasing smile. "You working valet for the Tenement now?" he wonders.
"Not exactly," Thomas replies. He eases past Nik if the man isn't too quick to step inside, rubbing his eyes once the interior light hits them.
"Thomas… Nik," Kevin greets the two arrivals suavely. "Always a pleasure. Do come in out of the cold, for heaven's sake, and shut the door before we all freeze our socks off. It's bitter out."
"Hi, Thomas," Flint offers, though he doesn't even come out of the office, at least, not yet.
Nik follows Thomas in, somewhat disappointed that his bad joke didn't catch fire. The feeling doesn't last long, however, and soon enough he is inspecting the place with a vague interest when Kevin greets them. "Ahoy, Kev-rhya. Sorry it took me so long to get out here. We've been having… issues…" He shifts his weight, frowning a little.
"I'll say," Thomas replies, though it's not entirely clear whether that's to Kevin's remark about the cold, or Nik's remark about 'issues'. He ambles right over to one of the chairs and flops onto it. The man looks tired, but alert.
Kevin tilts his head a little on one side. "Issues? Good issues or bad issues… or should I not be prying?"
Nik heaves a sigh. "Tiresome issues," is all he seems willing to share. "On the up side, at least we KNOW the vamps are running amok in the city now, I assume. More amok than usual." His expression is, at best, one of distaste.
"Might even know where in particular many of 'em are running," Thomas says, in a terribly casual tone.
Flint watches the conversation, clearly, but the cliath doesn't seem particularly inclined to come out and join in on this topic.
Kevin raises one finger. "Hold that thought," he says. "Thomas? You have knowledge about the whereabouts of those… those things?" He imbues the last word with a nice dose of distaste and hatred.
Nik tilts his head slightly, gazing at Thomas for a moment with nothing written on his face. He seems only curious as to the answer to Kevin's question.
"I've been following one of the Gaia-damned assholes for days," Thomas says, with an expressive amount of exhaustion. "I got a map of the routes they take, a few of their hideaways—though they ain't likely to be using most of those now—another name, and possibly a date of when they'll all be in the same place." He eyes Nik. "A lot of the routes criss-cross under your place."
Kevin's head swivels round for a moment to look at Nik piercingly, then returns to focus on Thomas. "Well. My word. What a very useful gatherer of information you are." Kevin's normal flippant tone is slipping quite plainly to reveal that he's more than a little impressed. "Is it stupid of me to ask whether you've shared this information? Or are going to share it?"
Flint comes out of the office, pulling his jacket around him, and glances from Kevin to Thomas, and back again. "When?" Flint queries, biting his lower lip.
Nik shows nothing by way of surprise or objection, so it seems certain what Thomas says is true. "Which is why you'll excuse my appearance," he requests, grumbling. "Haven't been home in a while. We've vacated the place till we've decided how to handle it."
"And you come here." Thomas sounds darkly amused. "You realize they're watching this building round the clock, yeah?" to Kevin, he says, "I been doing it for Kavi, yes. They're calling Rose 'Queen' or 'Your majesty', and they were talking about holding court on *date*."
Kevin runs his hand through his hair, which promptly loses some of its unusual tidiness and begins to look more like its normal mop. "Jeez. I need to talk to Kavi more," he mutters. "I can't be doing with those things spying on me in my own house…"
Flint bites his lower lip more, but it seems the younger Walker is just going to be silent. Whether he edges a bit closer to next to Kevin or not is hard to really say.
"I did," Nik amiably agrees with Thomas, without skipping a beat. "And it wasn't to talk about vampires." He glances sidelong at Kevin and Flint with a polite smile.
Thomas's left brow raises, while his eyes narrow ever so faintly. "Just wondering," he says slowly, "how long ago did you go and vacate your territory due to the vampires?"
Kevin looks back at Nik again, like a man watching a tennis match, to see what his answer is to Thomas's question.
Flint steals half a glance at Nik. It isn't necessarily a kind or well-intentioned one, but the cliath just stays put, then looks back to Kevin.
Nik glances back at Thomas, since it seems he is stuck on the topic. He fingers his jet goatee that is now more of a beard. "Still doing recon? I can assure you, I am no vampire. Should I have become one, I would have died of self loathing. Scout's honor. And should one of mine become one, there will be announced a sudden festive barbecue, and you will be the first invited."
Thomas's expression doesn't lighten in the slightest. "Wasn't what I was thinking. Way I understand it, the Walkers only just found out they were compromised. Just wondering how long ago you knew, is all." He waves one hand.
Kevin twitches a little at the word 'compromised'. "Kavi will make sure those bastards get nailed good and hard back into their coffins," he says firmly. "We probably ought to arrange discussions about this that aren't quite so… impromptu. Plus, I have something very important to say to Nik, here, as well."
Flint seems like he's curious to know the answer to Thomas's question.
Nik tilts his head. "A fair question," he allows, thoughtful. "The Vault is a base of ours in the city, but we don't hold so much love for it that we would ignore our safety and the security of our nation to linger on." He shrugs. "It's a body shop to the world. Nothing more. In fact it's kind of a dump. Not to mention you can hear the music from the Slaughterhouse at all hours of the night." He dramatizes a sigh. "Neighbors. If you'll excuse me, sir, I need to speak with Kevin here. Call me if you have further questions, I never mind grabbing coffee with a friend." The last is a word rarely spoken and done somewhat oddly by him, along with that smile that never reaches his mismatched eyes. He gives the kinfolk a nod, a half salute to Flint, and gestures to Kevin. "If you don't mind…"
Thomas leans back in the chair, crossing his arms lightly over his chest. No friendliness whatsoever reaches his features.
Kevin follows Nik towards the door, a frown on his face and his earlier jaunty demeanor dissipated. "I'll catch ya later, Flint," he promises. "You too, Thomas… I'd like to talk more about what you were just mentioning."
Flint nods to the others, and heads back for the lobby, though Thomas gets a much friendlier wave than the Uktena has in a while.
Thomas tips his hat to Flint, though that lack of friendliness has yet to fade. "Now there was a fair bit of air with no substance."
"Don't like him—" Clearly meaning Nik. "Never have," Flint mutters, moving towards the laundry room. "Coffee?"
"Shadow Lord," Thomas says, as if this reason were obvious. "Think he didn't bother to warn anyone else so's to cover his ass." To the offer, he shakes his head. "Nah, thanks."
Flint nods, and there're the sounds of coffee being made from in the laundry room, and eventually Flint remarks. "None of them do, do they." He doesn't really sound like he wants to know the answer.
"Not generally." Turtle reaches inside his duster, retrieving a small flat tin and a cheap lighter.
Flint just nods, getting himself a cup of coffee and returning to the main lobby, lingering in the open space. Coffee seems to help calm the teen, but Flint never seems too calm when it comes to the subject of the vampires.
Thomas lights up a cigarette from the tin, clearly handrolled, and proceeds to smoke in silence. He looks a little distant.
Flint watches the kin for a while, and then nods once. "Anyway, I'm… going to…" The teen jerks his head towards the office. "Seeya. And… really. Thank you." After which the teen proceeds to return to his earlier-abandoned reading.
Thomas waves after him, but says nothing. The acrid smell of smoke follows Flint into the office.
10 January, 2013
The moon is in the waning New (Ragabash) Moon phase (8% full).
Flint's on monitor duty at the moment, and rather than out in the main part of the lobby, the cliath's in the office, door open, curled into the computer chair, paging idly through a book. And he's quiet for the moment, attention split between book and monitors.
Kevin appears from the stairs. By his standards, he's neat and tidy; that is, his hair's been tied back instead of flopping around in its usual unkempt mop, his clothing, though still a t-shirt and track-suit leggings, is clean, and he either got enough sleep for once, or has had enough coffee to simulate that. "Flint, hi," he says politely. "Any guests call by? I'm expecting someone for a little talk."
"Thomas yesterday—or the day before?" Flint offers, setting the book down and nodding to the adren. "John—Silver Fang. Mr. Dalton was here, too. But, no one for you, Kevin-rhya."
Kevin shakes his head. "Nik, the Shadow Lord. You remember, he challenged me last Moot? I've been…" A smile plays about his lips. "Preparing stuff for him. And I sent him a message saying I was ready for him. I do hope he can make it. Trying to organise anything involving garou is a scheduling nightmare. There are so many things that can get in the way of being on time."
Flint nods at Kevin. "Ah. Yeah," Flint says, quietly, without much further remark aside from grabbing the jacket from behind himself and shrugging it on, then pulling it about himself. He's certainly too comfortable to get up at the moment.
A sudden buzzing may or may not interrupt the conversation in the security area, and inspection of the monitors shows a bundled, somewhat short fellow peering into the camera. He pulls off his hood to reveal that, indeed, he is either the Shadow Lord in question or his feral older brother. Poor guy looks like he hasn't shaved in weeks, let alone a haircut.
And only a moment after Nik buzzes the door, a second figure tromps up behind him, giving the Shadow Lord a faint eyeing from behind. Thomas has his hat pulled low, but it's quite unmistakably him; the duster gives it away.
Kevin hops across the room and peers into the monitor over Flint's shoulder. "Ah, looks like he's here!" He seems ready to buzz Nik in when another figure shows up and gives him pause. "Who the hell's that behind him? I can't see, Nik's in the way. Is that a trenchcoat? Is it Thomas again?"
"That's… it's Thomas," Flint agrees, leaning over to press the button inside the office that will open the door and let both of them in.
Nik seems to notice he's been stared at, so he casually glances over his shoulder at the other man standing out in the dark behind him. It takes a few moments for him to recognize Thomas, but when he does he shoots a teasing smile. "You working valet for the Tenement now?" he wonders.
"Not exactly," Thomas replies. He eases past Nik if the man isn't too quick to step inside, rubbing his eyes once the interior light hits them.
"Thomas… Nik," Kevin greets the two arrivals suavely. "Always a pleasure. Do come in out of the cold, for heaven's sake, and shut the door before we all freeze our socks off. It's bitter out."
"Hi, Thomas," Flint offers, though he doesn't even come out of the office, at least, not yet.
Nik follows Thomas in, somewhat disappointed that his bad joke didn't catch fire. The feeling doesn't last long, however, and soon enough he is inspecting the place with a vague interest when Kevin greets them. "Ahoy, Kev-rhya. Sorry it took me so long to get out here. We've been having… issues…" He shifts his weight, frowning a little.
"I'll say," Thomas replies, though it's not entirely clear whether that's to Kevin's remark about the cold, or Nik's remark about 'issues'. He ambles right over to one of the chairs and flops onto it. The man looks tired, but alert.
Kevin tilts his head a little on one side. "Issues? Good issues or bad issues… or should I not be prying?"
Nik heaves a sigh. "Tiresome issues," is all he seems willing to share. "On the up side, at least we KNOW the vamps are running amok in the city now, I assume. More amok than usual." His expression is, at best, one of distaste.
"Might even know where in particular many of 'em are running," Thomas says, in a terribly casual tone.
Flint watches the conversation, clearly, but the cliath doesn't seem particularly inclined to come out and join in on this topic.
Kevin raises one finger. "Hold that thought," he says. "Thomas? You have knowledge about the whereabouts of those… those things?" He imbues the last word with a nice dose of distaste and hatred.
Nik tilts his head slightly, gazing at Thomas for a moment with nothing written on his face. He seems only curious as to the answer to Kevin's question.
"I've been following one of the Gaia-damned assholes for days," Thomas says, with an expressive amount of exhaustion. "I got a map of the routes they take, a few of their hideaways—though they ain't likely to be using most of those now—another name, and possibly a date of when they'll all be in the same place." He eyes Nik. "A lot of the routes criss-cross under your place."
Kevin's head swivels round for a moment to look at Nik piercingly, then returns to focus on Thomas. "Well. My word. What a very useful gatherer of information you are." Kevin's normal flippant tone is slipping quite plainly to reveal that he's more than a little impressed. "Is it stupid of me to ask whether you've shared this information? Or are going to share it?"
Flint comes out of the office, pulling his jacket around him, and glances from Kevin to Thomas, and back again. "When?" Flint queries, biting his lower lip.
Nik shows nothing by way of surprise or objection, so it seems certain what Thomas says is true. "Which is why you'll excuse my appearance," he requests, grumbling. "Haven't been home in a while. We've vacated the place till we've decided how to handle it."
"And you come here." Thomas sounds darkly amused. "You realize they're watching this building round the clock, yeah?" to Kevin, he says, "I been doing it for Kavi, yes. They're calling Rose 'Queen' or 'Your majesty', and they were talking about holding court on *date*."
Kevin runs his hand through his hair, which promptly loses some of its unusual tidiness and begins to look more like its normal mop. "Jeez. I need to talk to Kavi more," he mutters. "I can't be doing with those things spying on me in my own house…"
Flint bites his lower lip more, but it seems the younger Walker is just going to be silent. Whether he edges a bit closer to next to Kevin or not is hard to really say.
"I did," Nik amiably agrees with Thomas, without skipping a beat. "And it wasn't to talk about vampires." He glances sidelong at Kevin and Flint with a polite smile.
Thomas's left brow raises, while his eyes narrow ever so faintly. "Just wondering," he says slowly, "how long ago did you go and vacate your territory due to the vampires?"
Kevin looks back at Nik again, like a man watching a tennis match, to see what his answer is to Thomas's question.
Flint steals half a glance at Nik. It isn't necessarily a kind or well-intentioned one, but the cliath just stays put, then looks back to Kevin.
Nik glances back at Thomas, since it seems he is stuck on the topic. He fingers his jet goatee that is now more of a beard. "Still doing recon? I can assure you, I am no vampire. Should I have become one, I would have died of self loathing. Scout's honor. And should one of mine become one, there will be announced a sudden festive barbecue, and you will be the first invited."
Thomas's expression doesn't lighten in the slightest. "Wasn't what I was thinking. Way I understand it, the Walkers only just found out they were compromised. Just wondering how long ago you knew, is all." He waves one hand.
Kevin twitches a little at the word 'compromised'. "Kavi will make sure those bastards get nailed good and hard back into their coffins," he says firmly. "We probably ought to arrange discussions about this that aren't quite so… impromptu. Plus, I have something very important to say to Nik, here, as well."
Flint seems like he's curious to know the answer to Thomas's question.
Nik tilts his head. "A fair question," he allows, thoughtful. "The Vault is a base of ours in the city, but we don't hold so much love for it that we would ignore our safety and the security of our nation to linger on." He shrugs. "It's a body shop to the world. Nothing more. In fact it's kind of a dump. Not to mention you can hear the music from the Slaughterhouse at all hours of the night." He dramatizes a sigh. "Neighbors. If you'll excuse me, sir, I need to speak with Kevin here. Call me if you have further questions, I never mind grabbing coffee with a friend." The last is a word rarely spoken and done somewhat oddly by him, along with that smile that never reaches his mismatched eyes. He gives the kinfolk a nod, a half salute to Flint, and gestures to Kevin. "If you don't mind…"
Thomas leans back in the chair, crossing his arms lightly over his chest. No friendliness whatsoever reaches his features.
Kevin follows Nik towards the door, a frown on his face and his earlier jaunty demeanor dissipated. "I'll catch ya later, Flint," he promises. "You too, Thomas… I'd like to talk more about what you were just mentioning."
Flint nods to the others, and heads back for the lobby, though Thomas gets a much friendlier wave than the Uktena has in a while.
Thomas tips his hat to Flint, though that lack of friendliness has yet to fade. "Now there was a fair bit of air with no substance."
"Don't like him—" Clearly meaning Nik. "Never have," Flint mutters, moving towards the laundry room. "Coffee?"
"Shadow Lord," Thomas says, as if this reason were obvious. "Think he didn't bother to warn anyone else so's to cover his ass." To the offer, he shakes his head. "Nah, thanks."
Flint nods, and there're the sounds of coffee being made from in the laundry room, and eventually Flint remarks. "None of them do, do they." He doesn't really sound like he wants to know the answer.
"Not generally." Turtle reaches inside his duster, retrieving a small flat tin and a cheap lighter.
Flint just nods, getting himself a cup of coffee and returning to the main lobby, lingering in the open space. Coffee seems to help calm the teen, but Flint never seems too calm when it comes to the subject of the vampires.
Thomas lights up a cigarette from the tin, clearly handrolled, and proceeds to smoke in silence. He looks a little distant.
Flint watches the kin for a while, and then nods once. "Anyway, I'm… going to…" The teen jerks his head towards the office. "Seeya. And… really. Thank you." After which the teen proceeds to return to his earlier-abandoned reading.
Thomas waves after him, but says nothing. The acrid smell of smoke follows Flint into the office.