A quiet night in

[Hood]

Hood stood from the table as she dialed her uncle, shaking his head ruefully and took his beer with him, taking a long sip as she barraged the man's voicemail with her ranting. A hedgehog was it? What ridiculous animals. Couldn't do a damn thing with the little creatures, other then maybe teach them to roll over. If one was going to get a pet, it should have been a dog. You could train them, they'd fight for you. Hell, it'd be nice to find a person he could trust as much as a dog.

The beer was set down on the kitchen counter, "Try not to laugh so hard, Candy. Don't want to bust those stitches. Doubt you want me rooting around in you again so soon."
He had no issue with her hedgehog being housed there with her until she had recovered; it'd give the kid something to interact with that wasn't him. There was no television, after all. Only a stereo, loaded with his taste in music. Mostly old rock. Bon Jovi, Rolling Stones, and the like.

"Rumour has it I was a kid once. A few lives ago. Had a dog. Every kid needs a dog growing up. Probably explains why you're so damn contrary."
Contrary was a nice way of saying 'annoying bitch.' She seemed to try too damn hard to be hard to get along with.

[Rune]

Rune promptly clamped her lips together. The prospect of White rooting around inside her was enough to make her sew her lips shut and cut out her funny-bone with a dull knife. She hadn't even thought about the fact that it'd been him who'd been the one to sew her up. She gathered that made sense, but it creeped her out like crazy. She was gonna have nightmares about that. She was sure.

She snatched her hand away from where it'd gone to the wound. It wasn't too high up and not too low down. And was getting more and more tender by the minute. Her head swam too. Maybe a nap would be a good idea.

She stretched her arm out on the table and lay the side of her face on it. Watching White, he tilted sideways in her vision. It made it easier to try and picture him as a little kid. Like in the Stone Age.

He was probably cute as a button. Cute as a button on a ladybug. Cute as a ladybug wearing a button and licking a lollypop. Mmmm fries.

What?

She rubbed her eyes and her face rolled toward the tabletop. "I wish I had had a dog."
She spoke toward her arm. "But dogs need like yards and stuff. Right? People that'll always come home?"

[Hood]

"Well, ya got a hedgehog now. Little less responsibility in that one. Good trainer. You're a woman now, Candy. Get to make your own damn decisions. Get a firm footing. Get your head on straight. Then get a damn dog if you want. No yard? More walks."
He turned to lean against the sink, and he took up and swigged a beer, watching her lull about on the table.

The food was starting to catch up on her; between the surgery and the drugs it wasn't all that surprising that she was nodding off. She needed her rest, after all. "Fuck, could start checking on those damn mongrels under the steps, once you're more mobile."


He'd make sure she was tucked in again once she passed out, unless she managed to make the move on her own. Getting her healthy again was his job at the moment. And when she was asleep, she wasn't giving him attitude, which was a nice change of pace.

[Rune]

You're a woman now, Candy.

Those were the last words Rune heard before she fell asleep. She was suspended in an animation of disbelief for those few moments, just too shocked to really understand.

A woman? Rune didn't even know what it meant to be a woman. She wore bright makeup and colored her hair in interesting ways. But that wasn't about being feminine, it was about enjoying things that weren't bloody and dark. Enjoying things that made her happy.

A sound woke her. She was on the floor she realized when she looked to the side. Her hoglet had nosed its little ball into a corner that it couldn't get out.

"Harry?"
She called but the hedgehog continued to nose at its ball. That meant uncle Seth had been there.

"White?"
She called for him but there was no response. She ached from naval to spine.

She closed her eyes for just a moment. Next she opened them, Uncle Seth was over her. He pat her on the forehead right before pinching her arm. The painkiller flooded her mind and she felt like she was floating away.

A few more days of the same in and out of sleep, a few more days of smoothies, and a few more days of shots and Rune was feeling more like herself again. At one point, she was sitting at the table slurping her smoothie and thinking about Jaxen and the ninja. Harry was scuttling under her seat.


((Tried to move it ahead a couple of days))

[Hood]

Hood sat opposite Rune, quietly disassembling and cleaning a recently acquired AK74. He paid the weapon little attention, his hands moving with practice and familiarity as he removed springs and broke down the trigger mechanism into it's constituent parts, laying them out in a seemingly precise order, left to right.

Her story hadn't changed much; she had Jaxen in the bag, but hesitated. Not that she would say as much, but it was how she danced around the topic. The playboy didn't 'reek' of violence. Probably never would. And she, briefly at least, doubted the reason to kill the man. Everyone needed a reason to kill, or else they were just some shit-brained homicidal murderer.

It was a thin line, a grey area, but one he reasoned was what separated folks like him from some nutbar mass-murderer. Sure, some of the folks he killed didn't necessarily deserve it, but there was at least a reason to it. A bigger picture.

She had healed up nicely, and was on a quick road to recovery. Mostly thanks to the fact that she was in such good shape to begin with. Her body was young and strong, healthy, and eager to patch itself up in order to get back into the swing of things.

Her hedgehog was up to it's usual mischief; he'd had to take care of it more often then he would have liked; she was often asleep, after all. But, at least it was quiet, and didn't take up any space. And the mess was easy enough to keep track of.

"So now your 'gods' can summon ninja. No more cowboy'ing these hunts then. More hands on on the ground. Watching each other's backs."
He had a newspaper wrapped package sitting on the seat next to him, which he tossed onto the table in front of her. "Early Christmas for you, Candy. Try wearing that next time you decide going Lone Ranger. Don't much feel like having to go rooting around in your lower intestine again."


The package held a stab vest; an expensive one. The material was remarkably thin, the plates made of a rigid, light weight, advanced, flexible polymer. It would still hurt, and would probably lead to broken ribs, if one were shot or stabbed by a strong enough attacker, but it wouldn't penetrate. The flexible nature of it meant it could be worn, mostly unnoticed, under normal clothes.

He continued working on the assault rifle. A small container, one most folks would use to hold decorative beads or small screws, sat open beside him, and he began replacing the springs he had removed from the weapon with new ones of a far better quality.

[Rune]

Rune grumbled into her smoothie.

She didn't like working with people that weren't Uncle Seth. More people just complicated things and meant a greater chance for someone to get hurt in the chaos. Of course if those people were Atharim, it'd help, but if they were they were likely to be Euro-Atharim (old school), and Rune had had as big a taste of that as she'd ever want. No offense to Aria. Then again, she also didn't like getting stabbed. How was she to know a ninja was going to poof into existence right in front of her face???

She looked up when White shoved a present under her nose. Her gaze lifted until it was locked upon him, leery of what was going to be inside. Probably some sort of bomb. Or an insect liable to bite off her finger. The idea that he'd give her an actual present didn't even register.

"I'm not really in the mood for a practical joke right now."
She mumbled and slurped on the bottom of the smoothie glass. It was about Christmas though. She hadn't gotten Uncle Seth anything. Nothing at all. Which made her feel about as small as an ant. She could at least get him a package of his favorite beer. Assuming she could find Michelob in Moscow. While she was at it she might get something for White. Like a sign to wear 'round his neck that read:

I know I stink, but don't stab me. Furia beware.

She'd probably get in trouble for that though.

[Hood]

"It's not a joke."
She didn't need to accept it of course, but if she didn't, he'd just toss it in the weapons cache and someone else would come along eventually that it would fit. "Well, not entirely a joke."


Hood began the steady process of reassembling the trigger mechanism, building back towards a fully assembled rifle. "You're healing up nicely. Should be able to start whipping you back into shape in no time. Get that flabby sweatpants ass of yours back to it's former glory."


She seemed far too intent to stare into her smoothie and sulk. It was a common thing for very active people who were injured to the point of being bedridden for days. Depression; came from the enforced diet, the lack of sunlight and activity, and the endless, boring hours of nothing to do but think and dwell on where they went wrong. The weapon was set aside, and he rested his elbows on the table to watch her. "Whats on your mind, Candy? Not your usual bubbly stab-y self."



Edited by Hood, Jul 21 2014, 10:00 PM.

[Rune]

Rune squinted like she didn't quite trust him, but in the end her curiosity got the best of her. She snatched the box and ripped it apart. It was wrapped with the strangest paper she'd ever felt that left smudges on her fingertips. Her nose curled up at the oddity and she wiped the mess away on her shirt.

What was inside was much more familiar than what was outside. She'd only ever seen this kind of stuff on the internet! Never in person!

She shoved the box out of the way and held the vest up to herself. It was thin enough to wear under her regular clothes without getting bulky, and stretchy enough that it would likely fit her tomboyish shape perfectly.

She let it fall to her lap and looked at White in shock. Was he being nice? Naahhh, she must have just misunderstood. Surely?

"I've never gotten a present before."
She said somewhat in awe, but she quickly amended the statement. "Well, not a present from anyone besides Uncle Seth."
Her mouth quirked kinda smiley. She wanted to try it on and do a few pull ups or something, but that could wait.

"I was just thinking about these gods that's running around everywhere. Okay so maybe Jaxen shouldn't get the ax cause he's a god. But maybe we should be looking for the ones that are gods and ARE hurting people too. And I miss home."
She rolled her eyes at herself again,[coor=teal] "I mean, the US." [/color] She looked him over a moment. She'd always figured thats where he was from too. "Do you ever miss it? Or your family? I figure you got family somewhere, right? Or are you like me 'n Seth?"


He'd probably just tell her to go home if she wanted to go home. It's what she'd tell herself if she was him. But she knew it wasn't an option yet. Which meant he'd probably tell her to get over it and do her job and stop whining. That was also what she'd say if she were him.

Supposing she was just wanting to have a conversation or something. Fill the time with something else besides cartoons and reading about all the bad news she couldn't do a damned thing about right now.

[Hood]

He stared at her for a moment, somewhat surprised by the level of reaction. She tried to recover, and to hide the smile that almost popped up, but her thoughts seemed entirely scattered. "Yeah well, I give all the girls that try to kill me presents."


She jumped from a topic worth discussing to being home-sick in a snap, and he just sighed quietly before standing, grabbing the AK-74, now fully assembled. "Your people find one that deserves killing, and I'll be right there with ya, Candy. They drum up another one like that play-boy shit Jaxen, and you're on your own."


He moved to the storage closet, went through the motions, and opened the trap door to the weapons locker, where he quickly deposited the rifle with his other toys. On his return, after it was all locked up again, he returned to the table. "Honestly? No. That implies regret. Far as they know, their son died a long time ago, and I'm okay with that. This side of the pond, there's money. Jobs. Fucking food. Back there? One state's an irradiated wasteland for fuck sake."
He hadn't looked in on his parents since early after his 'death.' They'd taken the news hard, but had gotten over it.

Hood rested his hands on the back of the chair, remaining standing, and drummed his fingers against it idly. "'course, end of the day, America all the way, right? Those fuckers in Congress'll get their shit together some day. Or some General will finally step up and have the whole lot of those corrupt shitbird politicians shot."

[Rune]

While White was below, Rune sent a message to Uncle Seth. She snapped a picture of the vest to go with it.

Look what White gave me! She added a smiley face at the end but quickly deleted it and instead replaced it with a fart sound.

She giggled at his response, and put the Wallet aside when she heard White climbing back up the ladder.

He was actually opening up a little bit. So he did have parents and did come from somewhere. And he admitted to being MURICAN! Therefore, Rune had to wonder what town he was from. Or even what state. Being that she'd been all over the country forwards and backwards and sideways, she guessed.... Indiana. Don't know why.

Did missing something imply regret? She'd have to think about that. Rune regretted nuthin', but she sure did miss home. Then again since coming to Moscow she'd met a whole lot of trouble. Maybe deep down she was regretting coming here. Which that just wasn't gonna do. She didn't believe in regret. That meant she'd have to decide to stop missing home. She had Uncle Seth and where ever they were together, that was where home was.

"Alright. That's what i'm gonna do then. I'm gonna go back to Regus and tell him what happened and tell him we should have bigger priorities than Jaxen. Though he did break into the mansion, he won't do it again I bet."
She nodded like it'd been decided whether he or Seth liked it or not.

"And Sorry, again, for trying to stab you. I really was just checking to make sure you weren't possessed."
Rune looked up at him where he drummed his fingers on the chair. Come to think of it, she wasn't sure if she'd ever actually apologized for that. "But I don't regret it, though. My mom died because she was possessed. You never know who will be until its too late. Seth had to kill her."

"So we good?"