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#1 I ACCIDENTALLY A WHOLE BRIBE (FOR COOPER / early june)
Ghoul is not usually the type to take an interest in playing legislative games, but after this recent shitshow of an election, he's decided to shake things up. The entire Council is apparently corrupt or crazy or selfish or unpredictable in one way or another- and you know what? That's fine. If the Council members are so quick to take bribes, then he'll find a motherfucker to take a bribe.

That's where Cooper comes in. Not because Ghoul thinks he's the most corrupt, but because he's the only one he's ever met at all. Cooper seems pretty okay for a vampire, and Ghoul figures it's easier to start on familiar ground.

Which is how Cooper ends up with a determined looking Ghoul starting off their meeting with, "I wanna get a law changed."

#2 THE SLOWEST SUFFERING (FOR LILLIAN / early june)
The talk with Cooper had gone all right, but this wasn't where he expected the conversation to lead him. He'd assumed the bribery thing would be a one-and-done deal, but no. Now he has to write up some sort of bullshit formal proposal, and it feels like every word he manages to jot down sucks a little bit of the life force out of him.

It's awful. There are even books (fucking books!) spread out on the table in front of him, because he thought a quiet, cozy picnic area in a park would be a nice place to think.

It's not helping much, actually. After a while, he abandons the small notebook he'd been scribbling in and directs all of his attention to his phone screen. The shit he's scrolling through has nothing to do with his project, but hey. It's fine. He deserves a break.

#3 FULL MOON: DURING/AFTER (OPEN TO EAST END PACK / june 9th/10th)
And all too quickly, that time of the month has come around again. This time, he's prepared. He remains in the den for the duration, spending the night in the basement with some of the others. Keeping an eye on things with the newer members, being a nuisance towards older ones- the usual, really.

Once morning rolls around, he drags himself upstairs to recover. Face-down on a squishy sofa in one of the common areas is where he stays for most of the day, sore and half asleep.

#4 HILLINGDON HOUSE CALL (OPEN TO HILLINGDON & HILLINGDON ALLIES - feel free to reply as though he's made it inside the building and is wandering around, as well! / mid june)
Ghoul has a ghost to check in with.

He ends up finding Hillingdon House without much trouble. The place isn't as big as he'd imagined it to be (that's what he gets for looking at it from the front), and it seems pretty normal. Still, he ends up stuck outside of it, staring with a pensive look on his face. What the hell does he do with it? Knock on the door like some kind of jackass? Just waltz on in there? Where a bunch of hunters are?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Sounds fuckin' hard." He can barely keep up with things on just the east side. How does this anklebiter manage to keep tabs on the entire city?

That's a mystery for another time. The current mystery is how Dodger knows about the were-thing. Ghoul gets quiet and his face goes blank as he tries to remember whether he's mentioned that before. Usually he doesn't need to. People generally smell it on him, but he'd assumed Dodger was a regular human. "Say what now?"

"Part of the job," is his response. It's true. Fagin required all his 'little lads' - even those he's put on to the other work - to keep their ears to the ground and pay attention like no one else does. With the stuff they can find out, it's amazing place is still standing.

"Were. As in wolf." Another one of those graceless shrugs. "Grew up around one," he added as an explanation. "Ask Nance if you don't believe me, she were there too."

Nance... Nancy? Shit, of course. "Oh, yeah!" That makes sense.

It's always nice to run in to someone who acknowledges the wolf thing without turning up their nose. Doesn't seem to happen much anymore, so of course he's right back to grinning contentedly at this new development. "I'm just here for a visit. Might move in if I like the place, though."

Ha. Hahah. What a joker.

The Dodger gives a look at the house, and then looks at Ghoul again.

"You know this is Hunter territory, right?" Just because he didn't give a damn about politics, didn't mean he was ignorant of territories. He just... didn't particularly care enough to pay attention.

Oh, he knows. Lots of hunters and misfits around these parts, but the guy he's looking for supposedly lives in there. Or exists in there. Whatever it is a ghost does with its free time.

Ghoul flips the question back around on him without even really answering it. "Aw, you worried about me?"

"Worried or curious to see what'll happen," he says, though it's a bit obvious he's kind of fond of the odd wolves he's seen about the city. They're a bit of a laugh, at least in comparison with some wolves of his acquaintance. (Yes, he does know what the word means.)

"What you looking for then?"

Ghoul is almost completely positive that nothing will happen. Hillingdon makes him think of a beehive more than anything. Kind of freaky to be around, but they won't attack unless somebody starts kicking at it.

He'd better be right. Too late to leave now.

"Came to visit somebody in there. It's a ghost, actually. You seen him before?" Probably not. He forgets that ghosts are hard for a lot of people to see.

The Dodger tilts his head, and then shrugs.

"I got followed by some annoying arse of a ghost for a day. Couldn't get a thing done."

See, now Dodger knows how Ghoul feels when yappy dogs stalk him all over the city.

It's kind of funny when Ghoul's not on the receiving end, though, so he grins. "You made a new friend? Cute. What'd y'name him?"

At least you can out-run yappy dogs.

He scowls. "Called him a lot of things."

Unless it's a yappy ghost dog, which is an idea that ties in nicely with Ghoul's next round of teasing. "You gonna do that shit to me when I'm a ghost? 'Cause I'm gonna warn you, it'll just make me haunt your ass more."

"Who says yer gonna be a ghost?" It's a fair enough question. "Might just get someone to send you on yer way." He's grinning enough to show that he's just teasing.

"I say!" That's not how it works, but there's no telling him that. There's no reason for him to even want to be a ghost in the first place, ghosts don't exactly have it made. There's no telling him that, either.

Ghoul stands and stretches first, then he leans over and takes a swipe at the hat on Dodger's head. It's a very poor attempt to knock it off of there, because he's not actually upset, but it's still the principle of the thing that matters. "Can't believe you'd get me exorcised. Asshole. I thought we were friends."

Dodger ducks, grabbing his hat as tightly as he can because no one touches his hat. "Oy! Was only jokin'. Ain't touchin' that stuff."