I'VE BEEN A RAMBLER ALL MY LIFE (NOV CATCH-ALL)

[reticence]

A. COME AWAY, O HUMAN CHILD - CLOSED TO LANCELOT & RINGER
As soon as there is placed a bounty on a rogue fae kidnapping children into the Other Realm, Faolan knows several things for certain. One, that they must be stopped no matter what the cost, because children are innocents, and having had his own childhood taken from him, knowing others who have had their own taken from them as well, the sooner this is put an end to the less people there will be out there developing complexes around such things. For another, he knows that he's bound to get support when he asks around for help. He's certainly not going to be the only one after the reward, with a bounty like that placed on it. But it's not just the money he's after.

So he manages to rope a few people in to aid him on this. Ringer, from Hillingdon, who like him bristles when she hears that it's children who are being affected. And Lancelot, of course, for who better to aid in such an affair than a man who was once stolen away by the fae to the Other Realm when he was a child himself. He calls them individually, arranges for them to meet him in a cafe near where the latest child went missing, and lets them know that there will be company besides just himself on the job. He does not give names, figuring introductions can be made in the cafe itself.

He orders a coffee while he waits for them. He'd look suspicious not to, and to be honest even in the most dire of situations Faolan would rarely turn down a coffee. Sitting in the back of the establishment, his back against the wall so that he can watch who might be entering and approaching him, he sips at it and flicks through his mobile, making certain he'd told both of them the right time and place.

B. UNDER COVER WORK - SEMI-OPEN TO THE SHADOW COVEN
Faolan has been doing his best despite his new rise in the ranks back at Hillingdon to maintain his anonymity as 'Dubhan' as he does work for Kenzi, but everything has him more on edge now. As Leader of the Hillingdon Clan, even there he's still been keeping it a secret for the most part, his involvement with the Night Council as a Guardian, and here he has to keep double the secrets, not only the involvement with the Night Council (obviously), but also any and all mention of involvement with Hillingdon. As asking around about a 'Dubhan' there is going to bring an investigator up with next to nothing, but conveniently might lead straight into the fact that he's been lying to Kenzi about who he is and what he does for a living this whole time.

So he does his best to keep his mouth shut and keep his head down. Whenever she needs him, he's there. Whenever there's the need for someone to look imposing, Faolan steps up to the job. or rather, 'Dubhan' does. Looks imposing where and when he's needed, makes sure that Kenzi and her friends make their way home safe more than a few nights and generally plays his role of dutiful bodyguard. No one need know that he's there to collect information on them at the same time. It'll be his little secret.

C. HILLINGDON HOUSE - SEMI-OPEN TO HILLINGDON
Faolan doesn't really understand what he's done right (or wrong, for that matter) to find himself in this position. It's true, he's been with Hillingdon Clan for close to 10 years now. But he'd never imagined himself its top ranking officer. He knows that it has something to do with the fact that he's been doing good work for a good while and that he's finally being recognized for it. But honestly, isn't there someone higher than him? Someone more deserving of the job? Someone who isn't, say, spying on the clan for the Night Council? Not that he had much of a choice one way or the other, but that is neither here nor there.

He tries to make himself available for those within the clan itself to meet with, however. Most of his undercover work is done at nights, so the majority of his days are spent at Hillingdon House. He recognizes that there is a distinct lack of leadership here in the Hillingdon Clan, and that there has been for some time now. The best solution of course is not to blunder in and start installing himself willy-nilly. No, another approach must be made. So Faolan makes himself available. For the most senior members and the newest. He doesn't know that he's the best choice for this position. But he's willing to give it a try...

D. THE COFFEE FIX - OPEN TO ALL
Of course, Faolan's day would hardly be complete with at least one visit to some coffee shop or another. If he were to stop and think about exactly how much caffeine he put in his body on any given day he would probably wonder how he had any blood left running through his veins at all. And god help the day where someone tells him to give it up or cut back on the stuff.

He sits at a table in the back of the store with a pastry in front of him and a coffee gripped between both of his hands, soaking in the warmth of it. It's early still, he doesn't have any specific plans for the day other than to eventually get into Hillingdon and to answer his call from Kenzi if and when one comes that evening. Which means it's the perfect time to stop and take a breath and enjoy a good cup of coffee.

Comments

The Coffee Fix

[wolfmarked]

To say that Skip's bored isn't quite true. She has nothing to do today, but, in and of itself, that's not a problem. She's quite used to entertaining herself. Plus it's pretty hard to be bored when one just had a fairly loud row on the sidewalk not three feet away from the door of the little shop.

The man she was aruging with is gone, and she's inside now, leaning against the counter as she orders her coffee.

[reticence]

Faolan raises an eyebrow as she steps into the store, considering how loud the fight had been just outside of it. Well, perhaps fight isn't the right word. After all, there hadn't been any blows exchanged. Not physical ones, at least. He hadn't been close enough to hear exact words, but he'd been near enough to hear tones, and no one had seemed happy about what had just gone down.

He waits until she's finished ordering and moving to wait at the counter to pick it up before he speaks up. He's not normally one for invading someone else's business, but he is a Guardian, and the Hillingdon Clan leader, and he supposes that with the two positions combined the responsibility must be going to his head. Something like that...

"Everything alright?" he asks, glancing up at her, before nodding his head towards the door and the sidewalk outside where everything had just gone down.

[wolfmarked]

Skip looks over at the question, and she smiles at seeing the guy. Good-looking, definitely, and attention for a cute guy was never a bad thing in her book. Especially after dealing with the latest disappoint.

"Yeah," she says, tilting her head a bit. "Jus' a guy who doesn' get what 'no' means. Nothin' I can' handle."

Which, ultimately, was being a bit unkind. And twisting the situation jut a bit. But it was mostly true. He'd wanted something, she hadn't, and he'd decided to take it personally and start shouting. So, naturally, she had to shout right back.

[reticence]

Faolan glances out at the street again, uncertain of the man in question. But he doesn't seem to be out there anymore, so he must not really be all that much of a threat anymore. Maybe he's taken the hint now that she's made a spectacle of him. Who can say for certain.

Regardless, Faolan nods slightly, clearly placated by her answer. "Well, I can't say much for the company you'll find in here," he says, in his usual, drawling, Irish way. "But I promise to keep you from having to shout at me in turn, how's that?"

B

[stauncherhearted]

Nancy didn't need a bodyguard. She was 100% certain about that. But, apparently, after a full day with Fagin, she needed someone to make sure she got home alright. Not to mention, there was unrest in Lewisham, and sometimes you needed more than just yourself.

"This isn't necessary," Nancy said, a few steps into her walk with Dubhan. She'd had him meet her a bit away from the den, knowing full-well she wouldn't even be working after a full day with Fagin- if anything, she'd be drinking until she passed out. Wearing a pull-over and jeans, Nancy looked like absolutely any other girl tonight.

"But, thank you. All the same."

[reticence]

Faolan shakes his head. "It's not a problem," he says, before continuing, honestly. "If you want to look at it this way, you're giving me a reason to get paid for my job. Making me earn my keep somehow. Even if it is as unnecessary as you say."

He glances behind him, taking the look of her in. This is the streetwalker that Lancelot said he knew, isn't it? She doesn't look like much of a streetwalker, dressed like she is. Faolan's been accosted by enough of them to know. Then again, everyone's got to make a living somehow. He knows that all too well as well. "It's Nancy, yeah?" Might as well take the opportunity to get to know her, then.

[stauncherhearted]

Nancy gave him a once-over. "Alright, yeah. You've got a good point." Like the customers she'd had that just wanted to talk. She still charged 'em. Apparently a lot of johns just wanted someone to talk to. And she was very, very good at listening. Better at sex, but she wasn't the one paying here.

"That's me." She gives him a tight smile. "And you're the infamous Dubhan. I've been meaning to see more of Kenzi, but-" she gestures vaguely. "We've both been busy." she had a lot on her plate, and was working most nights, even with the cold weather. Which meant she couldn't really see Kenzi that often. "You any good at being a body guard?"

[reticence]

He raises his eyebrows slightly at that. "Infamous?" he asks, glancing back at her curiously. "Who's been telling stories about me, then, to have gained a reputation like that, I wonder?"

He keeps walking, shaking his head slightly as he does, before answering her question. "I wouldn't have volunteered myself for the job if I didn't think myself capable," he says wryly, before glancing sideways at her and then giving her a better response. "I've done more than a few similar jobs. Never lost anyone yet."

C

[anniesgonemad]

Annie didn't spend too much time at Hillingdon House. Her grandmother's flat was better for her, or if she wasn't there, staying with her boyfriend. But lately, she's been spending more time there, researching what she could about the attack on her school, even years later. She wanted to find out who was behind it, who had let them in. Why no one was there to help. The problem was that, given she was the only survivor, they were missing a lot of reliable first-hand accounts of what had happened. Karma, she supposed, in some sick sort of way.

carrying a few books in a well-used canvas tote bag, Annie pauses on the edge of a room when she notices someone inside. It takes a second for her to recognize him as- "You're the new leader." Did they have a fancy name? She didn't even know.

[reticence]

Faolan glances up from the paperwork spread out on the table in front of him at the girl who's addressing him. He doesn't recognize her -- someone he hasn't managed to get a chance to speak to yet. Better late than never he supposes. He realizes that her words are less of a question than a statement but he answers with a nod anyway, leaning back in his chair.

"For better or worse, I am," he says. "It's Faolan," he introduces himself, casual and relaxed here in one of the places he feels most at home. "I'm sorry, I don't know that I've caught your name around yet."

[anniesgonemad]

He's warm. So Annie shifts slightly so she's more inside of the room than outside of it. "Nice to meet you, Faolan. It's okay- not many people do. I don't, ah, spend much time here, when I can. No offense or anything. I just-" Annie pales slightly as she realizes just how much she's been speaking, and catches herself.

"Sorry." She mutters, and holds her hand out to shake his. "I'm Annie Cresta."

[reticence]

Faolan quirks something of a smile at her, shaking his head as he reaches out to take her hand and shake it in turn. "You're fine," he says. "I can't really blame you. If I had more of a better place to be, perhaps I wouldn't have wound up where I am now," he says, wryly. He spreads his hands before him. "I suppose I didn't, in the end. We're not all half bad, though."

He nods to her bag and the books she's juggling. "Doing some research, then?" he asks, because clearly she must have some reason for sticking around, if she doesn't like the place.

TIME FOR MORE HUGGING IN COFFEE SHOPS

[growsowngoats]

Faolan isn't the only one who pours a lot of coffee into his body, though he might not consider the frilly varieties full of sweet flavours and cream that Siobhan prefers to be actual coffee. Either way the fact remains that she is a lot more fond of consuming caffeine than an already mildly hyperactive person really needs to be.

When she spots Faolan, two things happen. The first is that she blushes an absolutely ridiculously bright shade of red because she remembers how she acted the first time they met, and the second is that she sort of decides to make the exact same move again. This time because she is a little shit and can't resist the urge to tease the prickly man. Mostly because she can tell that he is far from prickly all the way through, or he wouldn't have kept talking to her as nicely as he actually did after her impromptu hug attack.

So she leaves her spot in the line and heads over to his table to immediately give him a quick hug.

"Hello Faolan!"

She lets go of him and immediately sits herself down on the floor, legs crossed, so that she can start rifling through her backpack.

"I have something for you."

SIGHS ABOUT IT

[reticence]

Faolan really should know better, sitting alone in coffee shops like this. He should know to expect things like this, considering the last time. His only consolation is that this time he isn't really in much of a mood at all. In fact, he's almost in a good mood. Almost. (Mostly because the day's just begun and he hasn't found anything to be annoyed at yet but that's neither here nor there.) He stiffens, jumping slightly in his seat and only barely managing not to spill his coffee all over himself before he recognizes Siobhan.

He lets out a sigh as she sits on the ground beside him, running a hand over his face for a moment as he sets his coffee down, calming his nerves before he answers her. "Please. Please. If you're going to make a habit of this, just. Announce yourself, or. Keep it to places like this, alright?" Places where he isn't liable to think he's being attacked and accidentally stab or shoot her. He takes in another deep breath before trying to figure out what she's doing.

"Something for me?" he asks, slightly warily.

[growsowngoats]

"Sorry, I can always tell when people and sometimes it's hard to remember that it's not the same for everyone else."

Especially when she gets excited, and she really was genuinely glad to see Faolan again. She's generally speaking glad to see most people, but in this case she was especially so since she had hoped that she would run into him again so that he could receive his present.

"Here you go."

She offers him a round silver medallion that is hanging from a piece of leather string. On it, a shield knot is engraved.

"You seem a bit jumpy so I figured you could use a shield, and I had that medallion lying around so I made one for you."

It was going to become an amulet, but she'd decided to make a gift for Faolan instead on impulse. There's nothing magical about it, it's just an offer of friendship.

"Or you can give it to someone else, if you'd rather."

[reticence]

Faolan looks at the medallion she's offering him, then up at Siobhan, and wonders to himself whether there is something magical about it. She did tell him that she could read people's emotions, after all, he wouldn't be surprised. He'd hope that she'd tell him if there were some sort of charm on it, though. If it's just a medallion, well. There's no harm in that either.

He reaches out to accept it from her, shaking his head slightly. "No, I. Thank you. I." He takes a moment to try and figure out what to say specifically, before shrugging. "I guess you could just say that I'm not used to receiving gifts like this. Forgive me if I'm... Awkward," he ends, closing his fingers around the medallion in turn. "You made it?"

A

[knightscode]

Lancelot is used to being called in on Faolan's various jobs by now. He doesn't know Ringer specifically will be there too, or else he might have told Faolan how he'd met her and how peculiarly unfriendly she had seemed.

He turns up dressed down, plain black jeans and pale blue shirt -- black coat to try and keep out the autumnal weather and no dog. Lily isn't exactly an expert on the other realm herself, and she's also a tad conspicuous. Faolan is easy to spot when you know him and what to look for, curled up toward the back and clutching coffee as if his life depends on it. Lancelot shoots him a grin and orders once himself, waits for it to be made and carries it over to grab a chair near him.

"Can't seem to stay out of trouble, can you?" he whispers, but he's only teasing. The smile as he sips his coffee assures Faolan of that.

[reticence]

Faolan raises an eyebrow at the other man, though he can't help but quirk a smile at him in return. "Admit it. If I were to stay out of trouble, you'd be wondering what other sort of trouble I'd found myself in, in turn," he says, wryly. He leans back in his seat, glancing at the other man out of the corner of his eye and taking him in. It's been a while since they've met face to face. He really needs to finish up this undercover job, sooner rather than later. He wonders whether Lancelot's even heard of his promotion yet. Ah well, it's neither here nor there, he supposes.

He takes a sip of his coffee, glancing at the door to see if Ringer's on her way in, before starting idle conversation with the other man in the meanwhile. "What's it like, work without me there? Is it everything you'd dreamed?" he asks, wryly.

[knightscode]

"Very true," he allows, and settles himself more comfortably. There's something pleasant and familiar about this dynamic, about the gentle teasing of Faolan and the way he teases back. He had missed it, in truth, and he's glad of being able to see him again. Even if it is over fae.

"Work?" he echoes, frowning and pretending to consider the question. "It's... quiet, peaceful. Almost as if there's a lack of something in particular. A lack of someone to... lead me into danger, perhaps? Does that seem right?" His frown deepens in exaggerated thought, face screwing up with it.

C

[specifiercity]

The idea of having a leader gives Arthur pause. He's always thought of Hillingdon more as a retreat, somewhere he could put his allegiance without making much of a statement, but a leader gives them organization. Having a leader means you're meant to have some direction, or some unification at least, and for Hillingdon that could potentially be good or bad.

He doesn't bother himself with it at first, but as November rolls on and the whispers about Islington making a move start to float his way, he decides it's time to introduce himself to this new leader and make a connection. He finds Faolan one day at the House and approaches him with a casual demeanor, not wanting to give away too much about himself right off the bat. Faolan's doing paperwork or something, so Arthur clears his throat.

"Excuse me, it's Faolan, right?"

[reticence]

Faolan glances up from the paperwork spread out before him to the man addressing him. He doesn't recognize him, but that's unsurprising. He doesn't recognize a lot of the people in Hillingdon. He's been making a push to try and change that, to varying degrees of success. Clearly he hasn't been able to catch everyone yet, considering the fact that he doesn't know this man's name.

He shuts the file in front of him and sits a little straighter in his chair. "For better or for worse, it is, yeah," he says, before pushing back to stand and offer his hand. "I apologize, I don't know that we've met before. And you are...?"

[specifiercity]

"Arthur," he says as he takes Faolan's hand politely, not at all offended that he doesn't know who he is. Arthur's not the kind of man who stands out, and that's by design.

"I'm a hunter," he explains further. "I thought I'd introduce myself, now that you seem to be in charge of us here."

Early Resignation

[kleptofaeniac]

Kenzi sniffled loudly as she waited, the cold she'd been contesting with took her out of commission for a while and it was still sort of kicking her ass but a little vodka to kill germs and determination would get you out of bed quickly enough. She had waited until she knew the alcohol was out of her system (though with how she drank, was it ever really?) to head out with her trusty - if not overused - silver knuckles.

She was dicking around on her phone after texting Faolan the address of the building she was waiting in front of and told him to 'meet me here in an hour.'

When she spotted him showing up, Kenzi straightened and put on a smile that was so fake it might as well have been plastic.

"Hey, big guy. Glad you could make it!"

She looks a little...haggared. Like she's worn down. Being pale is sort of a run of the mill thing with her, but combined with her general demeanor now it just seems like what she needs is a nap.

[reticence]

As Faolan approaches Kenzi, he has several reasons to take pause. For one, she hardly looks as though she should be out of bed, the pallor of her skin and the circles under her eyes. Then there's the fact that she's calling him 'big guy', which. Alright, it's probably just a figure of speech, but seeing as he stands a full 5'6" at the best of times, it rankles a little. And then there is the fact that she has asked him to meet her here, of all places. No, none of this sits well with him at all.

As he sidles up and raises an eyebrow at her, he wants to ask, 'What are you playing at?' Instead, the words that come out of his mouth are a bit better thought-out. "What are you doing out here?" he asks. "I thought you were sick." The tone implying, of course, that he doesn't think that she seems that much better.

[kleptofaeniac]

She shrugs in a non-answer and stands away from the wall as she pockets her phone.

"Got better," sort of. She still feels all stuffed up, like cotton was just shoved into her head. But she has a job to do. A self-appointed job but a job nonetheless.

The thing is, she isn't sure if she should tell him all about Nancy and her and what happened. Her best friend being cursed at a vampire's behest wasn't really what she wanted to start the night with. What he doesn't know won't hurt him right?

Yeah. Totally.

"There's someone in there that owes me some answers. I need to make sure I get them out of him. Got it?"

In short: You're my muscle.