Even When They Lie

Participants:

cardinal_icon.gif monica_icon.gif nelly_icon.gif

Scene Title Even when They Lie
Synopsis Redbird gets a new safehouse, and the girls end up unexpectedly roommates.
Date February 10, 2011

Piccoli's Delicatessen


Life has been a little odd lately, for Monica. As much as she's been a part of la resistance for a long time and has been hunted by gangsters and such, actually being a wanted fugitive has been a new, paranoid ball of wax.

But, even fugitives need to eat! As long as they can pay with cash. And that is why the roving rooftop ninja has touched ground at the deli. She sits in the back, tucked away to herself with a sandwich and a biiig basket of fries.

Piccoli's is the place where Richard Cardinal buys his sandwiches. It's not unusual to see him walking through the door and into the sub shop, and that's what he does, pushing the door open and approaching the counter. A quiet order's made, some familiar banter with the man behind it, and then he pauses.

A sidelong look across the room, and a smile tugs a bit up at one corner of his lips. He moves down the length of the counter as the order's being made, wandering along over to the table where Monica's seated, dropping himself down to sit across from her. "Long time," he smiles easily, "No see."

When there's suddenly someone sitting at her table, Monica looks up, but any idea of shooing them away leaves with a smile when she sees who it is. "Well, I thought it might be a bad idea to show up for work," she says with a crooked smile. "Sorry for not being around. But I figured if I ate here often enough, I'd run into you eventually."

"Probably." Cardinal folds his arms against the table's edge, leaning forward a bit, "You doing alright? Sorry I haven't been able to make contact… I think we may have the whole— business with the government almost wrapped up, I doubt I can do anything for your status just yet, though."

"I'm okay. I think bored, mostly," Monica admits somewhat sheepishly, bored wasn't exactly what she was expecting what with being wanted. "No, I understand. No need to give 'em reason to hang around longer," she replies with a crooked smile, "As far as my status… well, Liz did warn us it was a risk and all. I'm just not really sure what to do with myself. I'm a terrible fugitive. The movies all make it seem way more exciting."

"To be fair, the only thing you're wanted for is violation of the Linderman act and breaking probation," observes Cardinal with a smirk, "So it could be worse. And it means they're not actively hunting you… although I'd keep clear of Heller." He snorts faintly, "Anyhow. Sure you're alright?" A concerned look, "Where're you staying these days?"

"Yeah, I guess I should've done something with more pizzazz if I wanted the action," Monica says, her head tilting and her smile doing the same. "I plan on keeping clear of all the military types, if I can help it." At the question of where she's staying, she glances off to the side a bit, grabbing one of her fries as she does. "Around. Hey, what do we know about this dome thing? I was over there the other day, I think people in there are going a little crazy."

"It's… a bad scene," Cardinal gives his head a slow shake, "Elle and Jaiden are in there, I don't know who else - but it's a goddamn mess. No idea who's behind it, either…" He pauses at the vagueness, adding, "You know, I'm meeting with someone later about setting up a safehouse of our own… want to come along?"

"Yeah, it didn't look good. You know if there's anything I can do to help figure that out… I mean, I'd like to help." Monica looks up at that last bit, though, and it's fairly obvious she'd very much like to come along in that touch of excitement in her expression. "I sure hope you don't need a bodyguard to go see whoever you're meeting," is what she ends up saying, though, teasing a little, "But yeah, I'll come along!"

"You'll be able to get second pick of rooms," Cardinal offers by way of bribery, just a little teasing, and then he tilts his head to the basket, "Wrap it up to go, we'll eat on the way." Pushing up to his feet, he moves along over to the counter to pick up his order, wallet flipped open.

"Aww, you know the way to a gal's heart, Rich," Monica says as she stands up with him. And she does wrap up her sandwich, tucking it into a pocket before she grabs the fries, too. She's ready to go whenever he is!


Empty Parking Lot


Nobody would expect Richard Cardinal, head of Redbird Security, to be tooling around in a Ford Escape. Which, of course, is why he drives one. It's a fairly recent acquisition, but hey, whatever works.

As the crossover SUV drives along through the streets of Long Island City - part of Queens, and a rather rundown part at that - the newest addition to the city's skyline can be seen in the distance. The Dome glistens faintly in the skies, the latest horror to be inflicted upon the city of New York. "Hopefully she's found us something good," he says quietly to the woman in the passenger seat, pulling over into an empty parking lot and parking in one of the spaces, "She said to meet her out here."

Being contrary is just part of his charm, right? Monica was among those surprised at the choice of vehicle, but in an amused way. She looks over at him, between bites of a stuffed deli sandwich, "I hope so, too." But she looks out at the parking lot, one eyebrow arched as she glances around, "I think we're early." Which is okay by her, she's still got half of this sandwich to get through.

Half a sandwich? Not anymore. At least, not in Monica's hands. The woman would find her sandwich suddenly missing, though not for long. With her newfound snack in hand Nelly emerges from a nearby alleyway, glancing around the parking lot as she takes a bite from the untouched end of the sandwich. After a moment she fixes her attention on the suv, staring at the stranger in the passenger seat briefly before she makes her way around to Cardinal's side of the vehicle, lifting one hand to rap her knuckles against the window.

As the sandwich vanishes, Cardinal blinksonceand then he cranes his neck, looking around the parking lot. Finally he finds the woman emerging from the alley, a smirk curling to his lips. He presses a finger on the power window's control, lowering it, and observes dryly, "If you don't give Monica back her sandwich, she just might kick your ass for it. Fair warning."

"Wha— Hey," Monica says with a frown. That was a good sandwich! And as Cardinal rolls the window down, she can't help but laugh at the warning, which might just erase any worry about her doing so. If there ever were any, given that she looks like such a sweet little thing. "He's right, ya know. I've been looking forward to that sandwich all day!"

Nelly takes a rather large bite from the sandwich as she looks past Cardinal to Monica, chewing deliberately slowly. She lifts a hand as she finally swallows the bite, giving a dismissive wave as she smirks. "That's assuming she could get anywhere near me. Good luck with that." She does tear off the part of the sandwich she's bitten from, porting the other half back into Monica's lap. "Anyways, we're here for business right? I think I found a place that'll work for what you wanted. It's not too far from here."

At that confident statement, a smile twitches to Cardinal's lips. "You might be surprised," he replies simply, hand dropping to the latch to push the door wide and moving to step out of it, "Monica, Nelly— vice-a vers-a. Let's see what you've found us, dislocator."

Monica picks up her sandwich when it comes back, taking a bite herself. And since Cardinal is doing the banter for her, she only adds a smile to his reply. But she gets out of the car a moment later, coming around to join them. "Nice to meetcha," she says to Nelly with a nod, "Lead the way. I'm all kinds've curious."

Nelly just smirks before she takes a bite from the bit of sandwich she kept for herself, glancing toward Monica as they're briefly introduced and offering a nod her way. She quirks a brow at that dislocator bit however, giving a roll of her eyes. "What is it with people and nicknaming me?" She mumbles, mostly to herself as shse turns and heads back towards the alleyway she had come from. "It should be plenty of space for what you wanted to do an' I've stayed here a bit, haven't seem too many people. As long as you don't make a big scene while movin' in stuff it should be good." She begins to explain as she leads the pair.

"Your abilities should make moving into the place rather… quiet, if it's suitable," Cardinal observes, pushing the door closed and heading to cross the parking lot towards the alley she's beckoned him towards, "Let's take a look at it. It could be just what we're looking for…"

Following along with Cardinal, Monica seems to be focusing on finishing her sandwich at first, but she is listening to Nelly's explanation. She doesn't say anything right off, though, perhaps waiting until they see the place.

It's not long before the narrow alleway opens back onto the streets and they come into view of the brickfront. "Yeah, should be easy and quiet enough. You'll have to remind me exactly what you're planning on bringing in before I could say for sure though." She brings one hand up, pointing out the building before glancing back toward Cardinal. "That's it over there. What do you think? Not much to look at, but that's the point I s'pose. The interior is fairly solid I think, no worries about it collapsing or anything."

As the slender brickfront comes into view, Cardinal looks up and over it with a raise of eyebrows. "No obvious structural damage," he murmurs, "Fairly unobtrusive… quiet neighborhood, shouldn't be a lot of patrols through here… let's take a look inside." He seems pleased with the building so far.

"I can handle some repairs, if anything's too bad off," Monica notes, mostly toward Cardinal there. A skill she even picked up the old fashioned way, in fixing up housing after Katrina down in New Orleans. "Looks nice an bland out here, though," that she means for Nelly, and it is meant as a compliment!

Nelly looks rather pleased with herself, or perhaps just with the fact that it sounds like she's going to get paid, as she leads the trio the rest of the way to the building. "Yeah, like I said, I've been hanging around a bit and I haven't seen much of anyone. Nobody that's gonna stir up any trouble." She notes as she steps aside at the door to usher the others in. They'd find the floor fairly clear, all large debris settled in an unnaturally neat pile off to one corner of the room.

"Good. Quiet is exactly what we want here," Cardinal replies firmly as he steps along over after Nelly, passing over the threshold and into the foyer. "I see you've been doing some cleaning, too," he allows with a look over to her, lips quirking in a smile, and then he steps over to look up the stairs, "…how're the rooms? The plumbing working at all, or are we going to have to rig something up?"

"Oh, I've always wanted a moat," Monica says when the question of plumbing comes up, and she breaks off from them to start poking around at the rooms. Curiouser and curiouser!

Nelly lets Monica take the lead, following along after her as she begins to explore the building. "I'm afraid the moat is gonna have to wait. There's no working water here and no power either. So you'll have to figure something out." She shrugs a bit at that. "Plumbing and wiring aren't my thing though, so no idea how much work you're going to have to be doing exactly."

"We can move over the generators from the library. So long as we can keep bringing in gasoline… we can keep things powered," Cardinal suggests as he walks along after Monica; pausing here and there to look into a room or down a hallway, boots crunching on the occasional little bit of debris that hasn't been cleaned up yet. "Water, we should be able to jury-rig somehow."

"It's too bad we don't have our water pump out here." Jaiden is, of course, who she means. Monica looks back to Cardinal as she pokes her head out of a room. "It would be nice to have a shower. Even if it was a dorm style thing."

Nelly nods as she moves to follow along with Cardinal now. "If you could put a rush on that stuff, I'd appreciate it. Once this place is setup I'm probably gonna be staying here for awhile until I figure out what to do about that other problem I talked to you about. Anyway, sounds like you think this place will do then?"

Cardinal's hand thumps against the wall lightly, knocking twice, the edge of a smile tugging up at the corner of his mouth. "Yes," he says simply, "Yes, I think it'll do just fine." A glance back to the pair, and he grins, "Ladies. I guess you're going to be housemates for awhile."

A prospect that gets a blink from Monica before she states dryly, "Okay, but if she keeps stealing my sandwiches, I can't be held responsible for what happens." She's teasing! Really!

Nelly quirks a brow as she glances towards Monica. "I didn't realize you planned to start using the place immediately." She murmurs before shrugging slightly. "Ah well, plenty of space I s'pose." She does laugh softly at Monica's remark. "Hey now, I can't be held responsible either if anything goes missing, Cardinal knows the kind of company he's making you keep."

"You lie worth shit, by the way, Monica." A look over, a smirk twitching to Cardinal's lips, and then he glances back along the hallway, "We'll start moving things over this week. Generators, bedding and lights first… and we'll make sure to block out the windows so that the light doesn't show to the outside world."

Monica lets out a sigh there, and looks over at Cardinal. "I thought that one wasn't so bad," she comments, but it's true, she's a terrible liar. But as he details out the plans, she nods. "Sounds like a plan."

Nelly smirks and shakes her head. "Don't worry, if we're gonna be roommates, I'll try and lay off the sandwich thieving." She then turns her attention back to Cardinal. "Just lemme know when you have the stuff an' want me to start moving things and I'll get on it."

Cardinal reaches over to try and ruffle Monica's hair affectionately. "I look after my people, Moni," he says with a crooked smile, "Even when they lie about it." Back to Nelly, he nods once, "I'll let you know. And I'll have your payment."

"Turns out, I'm a pretty good cook, so maybe once there's something in here to cook on, there'll be enough for everybody," Monica says to Nelly with a friendly smile. When her hair is ruffled, there's a bit of batting him away, but it's more playful than anything. "Hey, I didn't lie, necessarily. I was around. The city." Even so, it's a warm smile that she sends her boss, because she is grateful. "And I'll be around to help get things set up," she adds to Nelly.

Nelly smiles and nods to Monica. "Sounds like a good deal. Do you do laundry and windows too?" She teases, though as payment is mentioned her attention quickly shifts back to Cardinal. "Good good, I could use that money. Speaking of which, I need to go see about making some. I don't hink you need me here right now, yeah? I'll contact you tomorrow for all the details and whatever."

A smile's flashed over, Cardinal's head shaking slightly. "That's fine. I'll talk to you later, then…" Back to Monica, he arches a brow, "Up for a trip to the library? We can start packing things up there and getting a general idea of what we want to move."

"Only if I'm getting paid for it," Monica notes, which is… also a lie, because she's got that 'everybody pitch in' attitude. But she looks over to Cardinal, answering him with a nod, "Yeah, of course! Back to the birdmobile!"


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