[OPEN] I'VE SEEN TROUBLE ALL MY DAYS

[reticence]

A. WORKING HOURS
It's a slow day. With no clients booked for the afternoon, Faolan's finding himself with an unusual amount of time on his hands. Not one for being idle, he finds himself roaming the streets, rather idly, hands tucked in pockets, looking as nonchalant and unassuming as one can. Which isn't hard, considering the fact that he's a wiry little Irishman, standing 5'6" at full height. Looking a bit like he'd rolled out of bed only hours ago (perhaps he had, in all honesty), with a healthy growth of stubble on his face, curling into his rough brown leather jacket despite the warmth of the sun above him, he doesn't exactly make himself look approachable either for that matter.

It's going to be a long night. A long night after a long night the night before, and as he blinks up at the sky above him -- is that really the sun though? -- he decides that coffee is in order. In desperate order. Stopping in the nearest shop he can find, he orders himself the simplest drink he can and sits huddled against the counter, curling over it and willing the caffeine to do its work and snap his brain into functioning as well.


B. PREP WORK - HILLINGDON
Despite the lack of clients for the afternoon, Faolan's got a job that evening. As people start to get out of work and shuffle home to their normal families and their normal lives, Faolan decides to head over to Hillingdon House and see if he can find anything interesting to use on his hunt that evening. If there's anything that can be counted on, it's the fact that if anyone's at the "Hunter's Retreat", as they call it, then they might have some goods to share. Or to at least show off, if nothing else.

It makes the fact that he has no one to go home to and nothing but the hunt ahead a little more bearable than it otherwise might be.


C. ON THE HUNT
Faolan should have known that the tip had been shady. McCoy was good for some things, but details certainly weren't his strong suit, and Faolan had been less on the ball about his research than he probably should have been. He should have known that getting a lead on the location of the vampire he'd been after for the past week was too good to be true, that he wouldn't be alone, but he hadn't been thinking too hard about it. He'd killed four children, three of them under the age of ten, and Faolan wanted him dead.

So he'd gone in alone and unprepared for not one, but five vampires to greet him. He's a good shot and he'd made every one that he could count, but as his gun clicked empty and two of them still advanced on him -- two of them with their pet werewolf for that matter -- Faolan knew that he had a problem. So he ran, throwing himself down the stairs, through the closest window and off the fire escape down one storey to the alleyway below. He has just enough time to assess that the damage from the fight before, breaking through the glass, and falling from that height isn't too bad that he can't go on, before he hears the sound of the wolf scrabbling after him from above. Making a split second decision, Faolan stows the gun behind a dumpster nearby -- hoping the thing will be in the same spot when he comes back in daylight, since it won't do him any good now -- before he takes off at a run towards the nearest open area he can find. It won't follow him out into the lights of the street and the lingering evening crowds around, will it? God, he hopes not.


D. CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE
What it says on the tin!

Comments

[emotioneater]

Cooper ambles towards Faolan with a slow gait. He's got no reason to hurry. If the wolf finds them, he can always duck out if things get hairy. "Then I must be lookin' at a fool. Soon t'be a dead fool, if your luck runs out." He laughs, an amused sound with just a hint of cruelty behind it.

There's an overturned wooden crate in the alley and he hops on it for a moment. As he hops off, he notes with satisfaction that he's facing someone around his own height. So rare in this day and age. People had been a lot shorter in the 18th century. "Why is the dumb pup after you?" He wants to know the beginning of the story before getting anymore invested in it.

sorry for the wait work was killer this week :x

[reticence]

Faolan glances at the incomer. Asking questions like that, noticing the wolf. He has to be something, but Faolan isn't about to stop and figure out what. So long as he's not about to start attacking him himself, he'll let it slide.

"I may have killed his master," Faolan says, dusting off his hands and then moving to look up, trying to see if there are any windows that are open above him, any fire escapes. It looks like he's in luck as far as the fire escape is concerned, but the ladder isn't down of course. And unless he can figure out a way up. He glances around, trying to find something to climb up on. There's a dumpster nearby, but if there's anything in it at all it's not going to move an inch. That is if it isn't bolted to the ground already. "Or at least his masters cronies. I didn't really have time to stop and check for identification."

I know the feeling well. Work is the devil.

[emotioneater]

"Nice going." Cooper grins. Anyone who could take on a werewolf plus whoever was backing him up had to be pretty tough. The compliment was quickly nullified by Cooper's next words. "Did you run out of bullets or brain cells first?" He says this as he deliberately leans up against the dumpster Faolan's been eyeing.

He could move the dumpster over with ease and let the hunter escape, but why make be nice? Cooper can be quite the little shit when he wants to be. If Faolan wants to lose the wolf, Cooper's going to make him work for it.

it so is :(

[reticence]

Faolan shoots the man a look, both at the comment and the fact that he's leaning against his seeming only method of escape. "Bullets," he says, not particularly liking the tone of where this conversation is going. Certainly not liking the fact that he doesn't know who this is, or why he's there.

"You seem to be awfully observant, for a random passer-by," he observes, before deciding to hell with it. If the dumpster won't move, then he's going to see what he might find inside of it, so that he can either hook the escape down or pile it up to stand on to get high enough.

[emotioneater]

"Who said I was a random passer-by?" Cooper is anything but ordinary despite what he looks like. He watches as Faolan opens up the dumpster. There's various odds and ends inside in the midst of all the garbage. He might just be able to find an old rod or something with a hooked end to help him pull down the fire escape.

Cooper stands up on his toes and looks over the edge, snorting to get rid of the heavy odor of the trash. "The problem here is that you're tryin' t'go it alone. You gotta learn when to ask for help, fool."

[reticence]

Faolan stands back from the dumpster, taking a deep breath in and letting it out slowly before turning to the other man, raising an eyebrow at him. "Are you suggesting that you would actually help me, if I did?" he asks. Because he doesn't know whether he should believe it or not. Then again, he's hardly ever had the option to ask for help, so of course he wouldn't be in the habit of doing such a thing. But if he's not just a random passer-by, and if he's saying things like that. It's worth at least giving a moment's pause and some careful consideration, if nothing else.

[emotioneater]

"I might." He won't give a definite yes or no answer. Cooper's just as likely to turn him down as to help him just to mess with his head. "You'll never know unless you actually ask."

He glances back down the alleyway. He can hear the scrabble of nails on the pavement stopping. The werewolf is looking around after being unable to find the hunter. They don't have much time. "Better make up your mind soon. That wolf is gonna be back sooner rather than later."

[reticence]

Faolan glances down the alleyway in the direction of the sound as well. He knows he doesn't have long, and if it's a choice between being eaten by a werewolf, being turned into one, or trusting in a stranger, he supposes he's going to have to take his chances.

"Help me," Faolan asks the other. "Please. I don't know what you could want from me in return, but. If it is something that I can spare, then it is yours."

[emotioneater]

"Those--" He pauses, pushing over the dumpster easily with a strength that belies his small, lanky frame. "--were the right words." The loud scraping sound such an action produces will no doubt draw the werewolf right to them like a moth to the flame.

Cooper jumps on top of the dumpster lid and pulls down the fire escape in one fluid movement. Then he's scrambling up the ladder, sparing Faolan only a brief glance to make sure the hunter is following him. He's got no interest in fighting a big hairy wolf tonight now that he's decisively picked a side. He can't even say why he's decided to help the hunter. Maybe he just finds the idea of one who hunts his kind being indebted to him just too delicious to pass up.

[reticence]

Faolan doesn't ask how he moved the bin that easily. Right at this moment, there are more important things to worry about. Like getting away from the wolf behind them and making sure they do so as soon as possible. He can worry about the less pressing concerns later. So he follows the other up on top of the dumpster and starts up the fire escape behind him. The wolf might be able to make it to the top of the lid, but ladders at least will be beyond it. Of course, here's hoping he doesn't come to regret this.

Once they've reached a safe distance up, Faolan turns to peer down at the creature and lets out a breath of relief. One crisis averted at least. "Thanks..." he says, warily, and turns to the other once more. Now what... What's more, he didn't seem all that concerned at the sudden appearance of a werewolf, which can mean a few things, most of them not the most wonderful news.

[emotioneater]

Cooper peers down at the enraged beast that's now far below them. Never one to be above petty taunting, especially when it comes to werewolves, he picks up a piece of stone debris and throws it down, chuckling when he scores a direct hit. "Lookit that. Got him right between the ears!"

Alright, time to go back to being serious. He smiles at Faolan, an expression that still manages to look quite sharp without ever once showing his fangs. "I didn't do it just out of the kindness of my heart. Consider it one favor you'll owe me." Cooper should have been a fae with how he knew to wheel and deal people.

[reticence]

Faolan glances at the other beside him, not quite sure what to make of him. What he does know is that you shouldn't taunt a werewolf, not unless you've got a death wish. But perhaps he does. Or perhaps he really is that cocky -- judging by the look of him, Faolan wouldn't put it past him, after all.

And then comes the rest of it, and Faolan's expression hardens, though he shakes his head. "I hadn't supposed that it was." People hardly helped anyone for nothing, not in Faolan's book. Not out of the goodness of their heart, certainly. And he'd hardly expected it of this fellow, for that matter.

[emotioneater]

"You can call me Cooper. Cell phone, please. We'll be needing to stay in contact, unless you use carrier pigeon." He says this all very matter-of-fact and holds out a hand expectantly. While some older vamps seem to be a few decades behind the times, Cooper knows the value of using current technology to keep in touch.

[reticence]

Faolan raises an eyebrow at the guy, at the outstretched hand towards him, before he decides that well, he's given his number out to strangers before, at least this one has helped him escape a tricky situation on top of that. He reaches into the breast pocket of his jacket and pulls out a card, placing it in the outstretched hand. It's a simple white business card, with black letters printed on it. Just his name (Faolan O'Neill), and his telephone number. He'd thought about putting the fact that he's a PI on it, but it's better not to have it when giving it out -- should someone be caught with it, better not raise too many questions.

"That has my mobile on it," he says. "No carrier pigeons, I'm afraid."

[emotioneater]

Cooper flips the card over a few times before he sticks it in his pocket. One eyebrow quirks up. "I haven't seen one of these in years." He'd honestly thought people had given up using business cards in this day and age. "Gives one a nice sense of continuity with the past."

He looks around the rooftop. It shouldn't be too difficult to jump to the next one, for him, that is. Faolan is on his own in terms of getting down.

[reticence]

Faolan shrugs slightly. "Guess you can say that I'm old-fashioned," he quips. Though the phrasing of that strikes him. 'Haven't seen one of these in years,' the guy he's talking to isn't that old. Faolan has a fair idea of who and what he might be dealing with now, but files it away as more of a reference than anything. He's one of the few hunters who doesn't attack any supernatural he comes across. Not if he doesn't have a reason. No matter if the vampires did kill his family and take his sister. He's trying to be better than that. And he'll never be better than them if he exacts blind revenge on people who have no connection to what happened.

It doesn't mean that he has to like them, though. "I suppose I'll be hearing from you, then," he says, narrowing his eyes and steeling himself for whatever Cooper is about to do.

[emotioneater]

"You will." The way Faolan seems to be bracing himself, like he's waiting for Cooper to attack, gets an amused reaction out of the vampire. He laughs, a sound that isn't entirely unkind.

"Relax, hunter. I'm not going to bite. 'Least till I get t'know you better." He walks off towards the edge of the roof. When there's nothing before his feet but air, he turns his head. "We'll be in touch." Then he jumps with blurring, inhuman speed. He lands on a nearby rooftop in silence.