Cats Candy And Guns

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angelina_icon.gif bones_icon.gif

Scene Title Cats, Candy and Guns
Synopsis Angelina runs into Bones. She shows him up, he subtly threatens to shoot her, and a kitten enjoys a candy wrapper.
Date February 26, 2010

New York Public Library


From the outside the old main branch library looks like any of the other buildings in the district from the outside. The inside however is slowly but surely coming alive; the floors actually are starting to look buffed and polished, graffiti is painted over, chandeliers are rehung with all new bulbs. All thanks to the New York taxpayer's dollars at work. And because Bones seems to enjoy working on his pet project in his free time. Although the library is very, very slowly making a comeback, the one room that seems to be a model of what the once great edifice once was and promises to be again is the cartography rooms. The two large chandeliers shine brightly, the large windows blackened out with tarps and soundboard to protect it against the weather and deaded any noise that might be coming from within. And noise comes from within indeed. AC/DC's Shook Me All Night Long plays on a boombox in the corner as the tall man hovers over one of the tables he has turned in to a work bench, bobbing his head to the music and fiddling with some fuse switches.

Though Angelina was invited to stay, she's mostly stayed out of the way since first arriving in the library. Who knows, maybe she hasn't even //been/ here. But she's here now! She enters the library, her still grungy coat snug around her, arms held over her chest like she's holding something beneath her coat. Or perhaps hiding it. The music gives her pause, and after a moment she begins creeping towards it, her steps slow, cautious, the expression on her face wary. Trust for Cardinal's group, it seems, is coming veeeeeery slowly.

The big double doors that lead in to the cartography room are open about a foot or so, allowing someone to peek in first should they wish. As the music comes to the instrumental bridge, Bones apparently gets a little too in to the music and tosses the fuse switches aside in favor of playing air guitar along with the soloist, bopping around a little and doing some rather silly stage moves. "I tell you, you! Shook me all night long!.." he sings along with the music. Badly.

Whatever Angelina was expecting to see, it's obvious that this wasn't it. She blinks several times as she watches the tallest man she's seen acting a little…involved. Some of her wariness begins to fade, and her lips twitch as though she's having to fight back a smile, or even a laugh. She watches in silence for a moment, then, when the next verse starts, she joins in. But while he sings badly, she sings very well. Surprise! He's not alone!

Bones drops his hands to his sides as he turns and openly stares towards the 'intruder' who just beat him out in the home version of American Idol. Damnit. He reaches forward to pick up the boombox's remote on the table, flicking the music off just at the height of a reprisal. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but I think you are lost. You see, this building is condemned and closed to the public. Can I help you find your way back out of the blast zone?" he asks diplomatically, his hands coming to be held behind his back, sweeping his dreadlocks back out of his face.

Angelina is quiet for a minute after he speaks, then she shakes her head slowly. "No, I'm not lost. I was invited here," she explains, voice soft, and just as cautious as her steps were a minute ago. "I'm a friend of…" No, can't say Cardinal. He wants to remain 'dead' to the public. But there's always, "Peyton's. Sorta."

There is a brief flicker of recognition in his eyes as Bones hears mention of Peyton but he raises his brows a little higher. "I'm sorry but I am afraid I don't know any Peyton and even if I did she would need to be on my list of authorized city, county, state, or federal personnel. This building is not same as well as most of the buildings surrounding it. Civilians are not supposed to be in this part of town." he explains

His reply has Angelina frowning, and her arms tighten a little, a result of her confusion it seems. Which wouldn't be a problem except it causes a soft, muffled, but angry mrow! Someone's smuggling kittens into the library! "But…No. That can't be right. I need to find Peyton. Or…" Think, think, think…They mentioned other names! "Bones! He knows Peyton! Do you know Bones? Have you seen him? Apparently he's the cookie stealing type?"

Narrowing his eyes, Bones slowly walks towards her and stops to lean against his work bench, reaching in to a large box of Chips Ahoy and pops one of the cookies into his mouth. He continues to look at Angelina with a rather skeptical gaze for the moment as the skin alone his arms actually crawls as bone plates slide around. "Bones doesn't steal cookies. He buys his own, thank you." he says, his brows raising slightly, apparently having decided something as he stands from the table, walking back to where he had been standing at his bench, "So you know Bones, huh? That still doesn't explain why you are here."

Angelina glances at the cookies, a brow arching slightly as she frees the kitten from her coat. It's a tiny black ball of fur, who seems immensely pleased not to be trapped anymore. She shakes her head as she eyes his moving skin. "No, I've never met him. Peyton just said to hide the girlscout cookies because otherwise this Bones guy would steal them." She looks back up to his face. "I'm here because I was told to come here a few days ago. I did. And now I'm back. It's…warm here."

Bones turns to look at her, frowning deeply once more and looking quite indignant. "I have never eaten anything that was not plentiful or did not belong to me already. And I would certainly never eat something that was sponsored by those little green nazis. Last time I bought a box of thin mints, they ripped me off! Took my money and never returned with the damn cookies." he shakes his head and turns back, taking one of the fuse switches apart.

Angelina frowns. "Wait…so…are you Bones? And I never said that anyone stole cookies. That's what I was told! And if you're Bones…you know Peyton's…well, guess he's sorta her boss?" she asks, moving further into the room with the same slow steps as before.

"I'm Bones but I have no idea who you are, kitten." He says, not looking up from his work as he picks up a soldering gun and some soldering wire, redoing a set of electrical connections. "And yes, I know her boss. My boss." he shrugs his shoulders. He gestures with the soldering gun towards a chair opposite where he works. "Sit. Stay away. Take a load off. There is a Kit Kat bar taped under the table top right in front of that chair." he advises.

Angelina stops and just frowns at him, confusion showing plainly on her face. "Well…I'm working with him too. Your boss, I mean. Worked with him in the past," she says, before she moves forward again, sitting down and reaching for the candy. "I'm Angelina though. Ask Peyton, she was here when i showed up. Showed me to where I could sleep and all that," she says, settling the kitten in her lap so she can open the Kit Kat and start munching. She eats very slowly and precisely, watching him curiously.

"Out of curiosity, what is your favorite species of bird?" Bones asks, glancing up at her for a moment as he finishes with one of the fuses and starts putting it back together, eyes mostly on his project for the time being.

Angelina looks blankly at him for a moment. "Uh…I don't know. Hadn't really thought about it. Any of the ones that talk? Or the ones that do the really pretty birdsongs, I guess. Why?"

Not the answer he was looking for. And it shows on his face as he goes back to frowning once more. "So you know Peyton, hmm? And you met with the boss. Would you say he seems a little too transparent these days?" Bones seems to be the one asking the questions here, not answering them. Apparently someone forgot to fill him in on the new recruit.

Angelina's eyes narrow slightly. "Transparent isn't quite the word I'd use," she says dryly. "But why did you ask about birds? And why did you not like the answer I gave you?"

"Think about my bird question and relate it to the boss." Bones says a little dryly. He finishes with the first switch and starts to work on the other. He picks up the remote for the boombox and flicks it back on though lowers the volume greatly.

Realization dawns almost instantly and Angelina groans softly, rolling her eyes. "I don't normally use his full name. You would've clued me in quicker asking what sort of games I prefer."

"The kind that end." Bones says as he looks over at her, gauging her reaction to his saying an approximation of what would be considered a right answer. He seems to relax a little more though as actually draws up a chair, seating himself and leaning forward, idly drawing the gun that was holstered at the small of his back and places it on the table, putting the safety on.

Angelina glances at the gun, then back up to him, and for the first time since entering the room, she smiles. "That too, but I would've said card games."

"Nice to meet you, Angelina." He says, reaching down beside him into a flat of gatorade. He picks up two, sliding one across the table to her. "I got to get us a newsletter or something. I almost shot a perfectly good person." he shakes his head, unstopping his drink and downs half of it before he places it on the table. He then reaches over into a bag of Doritos, grabbing a handful and dumping them on the table next to his work so that he can eat and work at the same time.

Angelina polishes off the last of the candy before she reaches for the gatorade, opening it and drinking, while the kitten peeks over the table and starts batting at the candy wrapper. "Well glad you decided not to shoot me, but unless you're really fast you wouldn't have gotten a shot off," she says absently before setting her drink down. "So how many people are there here? I've just met you, Peyton and Card."

"I'm really fast." Bones advises, looking up at her and then back down at his soldering. "The other person you should know about is Claire. Short blonde with a shotgun and a mean right hook. She usually tries to ask questions first before shooting. Kind of like me." he shrugs and tosses the soldering gun aside, sitting back in his chair, apparently having completed his work.

Angelina smiles faintly. "Well glad we didn't have to see who's quicker. I've got enough scars," she says, watching the kitten go to town. "Short blonde…Nope, haven't met her yet. But small group, hmm? Works for me. Was half expecting something larger, but smaller…I like smaller. You could say I have trust issues."

"Oh, you are in good company then. So far as long as I have been hear, I kind of get the gist that we don't really trust anyone but us if we can help it." Bones says with a bit of a shrug, rubbing his forehead with the back of his hand. "We're nice and mobile like this and if need be, we can pretty much pack up within a very short period of time with relatively few equipment losses. Escape plans all mapped out."

Angelina smiles faintly. "Only person I even trust remotely is Card, and I don't even trust him fully. As for packing up…If I got my coat on, only thing I gotta grab is the furball there," she says, nodding to the kitten. "I'm an expert at getting out fast - and causing distractions."

Bones nods shortly, continuing to sit in his chair, fidgeting a little. "Well that all will certainly come in handy I am sure. Distractions are always good." he thinks for a moment and slowly gets up to his feet, walking around the table. "So Peyton showed you to a room you can use?" he asks, stepping over to the circuit panel and begins to detach a couple jumper cables, the lights in the room flickering and dimming a little. "Do you need blankets?"

Angelina glances upwards at the flickering, then back to Bones. "She did." There's a long hesitation for some reason before she answers the next question. "I wouldn't mind a blanket."

The lights in the room go out completely and plunges them both in to darkness. No sound is able to be heard for several seconds before Bones switches on a lantern across the room from where he was before. Leaning down over the pile of quilts and blankets that must serve as his bed. He picks up the sleeping bag on top and rolls it up, walking over to the table where she sits. "Sub-zero sleeping bag. Good up to fifteen below. Should keep you and the furball nice and toasty."

Angelina doesn't seem startled by the darkness, and when she takes the sleeping bag, she glances to his 'bed', then back to him. "Don't you need this? I'm used to the cold, so if you need it…"

"My metabolism is extremely accelerated. If I get cold, it will just kick in to overdrive to keep me warm. I might wake up in the morning hungry enough to eat a herd of water buffalo, but I will be just fine." Bones says, giving her a light smile and slowly reaches one of his large palms out to tousle her hair though he would not be too offended if she ducked out from under his palm. "Go on and get some sleep. You are perfectly safe here. It would take quite a bit for anyone to get the drop on me around here."

Angelina is obviously not used to casual touches, but she doesn't do more than tense a little. "It'll take a while for me to feel safe, but…thanks," she says, rising, closing the gatorade and dropping it in a coat pocket before she scoops up the kitten. "So…um…g'night. Sure I'll see you around plenty," she says, before she starts off to wherever Peyton put her.

"That you will. And out the doors, turn right, turn left down the hall and down the stairs until there aren't any more stairs to go down. Straight down the tunnel. Odds are you are either the fourth door on the left or the fifth door on the right." Bones smiles and gives a wink in the dim light as he begins to shrug out of his coat, his bare feet padding along the cold marble floor. "Make sure to meet up with Claire as soon as possible. The sooner she gets to point her shotgun at you and judge you are not out to get us, the better."

Angelina pauses and glances back at him, nodding and lips curving a bit. "I'll keep that in mind. I just hope she's as subtle about it as you were." Was that a teasing note in her voice? Why, it was!


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