Participants:
| Scene Title | Indiana Jones Meets The Matrix |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Cardinal sends over Alec to do security on Abby's new apartment. Sadly, her idea of safe and his idea of safe seem to differ, but they find a middle ground that won't make Alec whine about not being put to proper use. |
| Date | September 4, 2009 |
Old Lucy's - Upstairs
Though one might remember when a certain fiery woman lived here… Now the living area above Old Lucy's has changed hands. The open living room and kitchen are homey, a commingling of two people's tastes. The leather couch sits kitty corner to a one of red suede and a bit smaller. A large bird cage for it's budgie inhabitant takes up it's own corner beside dark paneled walls. Bookshelves with literary pieces of a variety both academic and not take up another small section.
The kitchen is large, with a rolling wood and black marble island to give more counter space to work on. Pots and pans hang from the roof and track lighting keeps it not gloomy. A proper oak dining table has been set up with matching chairs instead of the 70's castoff that the residents have been known to own and a bowl of fresh fruit sits in the center.
Down a hall lay's multiple doors. A master bedroom occupied by the oldest resident and occasionally have a pervading smell of whiskey and smoke coming from it when the door is open. A second door with a cross above it, a third with no marking that is occupied by the third resident of the premises. Two other doors lead to a linen closet and bathroom respectively. A black cat with a red velvet collar and a little swarovski charm dangling from it can be found meandering at will.
Above the bar is… above the bar. Below there's music, there's alcohol being served and women occasionally dance on the bar. On the hour. But above the bar is a different story. There's enough soundproofing that the music is barely heard coming through the floor unless you open the doors. Abigail is parked at the large kitchen table making a list of stuff that she's going to need come the next week. Top of which is "Need to get a car" There's a soft sigh to that while she waits for the gentleman that she stayed upstairs to wait for.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
"Come in!" Bellowed from the table, Coffee percolating in the space aged looking coffee machine that makes about probably any combination of caffeine that you so desire.
Alec opens the door and sticks his head inside, "Helloooooo?" he calls, wincing as it becomes obvious he'll not hear anything due to the music outside. He closes the door behind him as he slips inside, "Okay, trying that again. Helloooooo?"
"I'm the kitchen" Comes the southern voice that he hasn't heard since that day on the street and that poor scooter. Which was secured somewhere downstairs. "Alec?" Abby shifts her weight, using her hands to push her chair back on it's back legs and stick her head out the doorway. "I see they let you upstairs. Brenda didn't try to paw at your rear did she?"
Alec locks the door out of habit, "You're the kitchen, or you're in the kitchen? Two entirely different things." he points out with a grin, "Yes she did, which is why I'm a couple minutes late. I let her paw for a bit before meandering my way up here. I blame her." he looks around, "So, someone sent me by to fix something but I don't know what."
"Bugger. I'm in the kitchen. Sorry" Pushing the chair back, the young woman comes to the archway of the kitchen to peer out at Alec. "Uhh.. Security? I thought you were not a person who deals in security but then again you did completely wire Liz's place so, it's no surprise Richard sent me to you" her hands come out of her back pockets and gestures around.
"Izzy didn't need much security. She kinda, lit people on fire if they broke in. I already had one person break in, and it made me realize how not secure that this upper part is. Downstairs, yeah, but here.." And given what she's gone through in the past..
Alec shakes his head, "I'm a guy that doesn't deal in violence. Messy and icky. I am however one hell of an engineer." he grins at her a bit, "Well, I brought my tool box," he lifts a heavy looking box, "I'm gonna need to walk around, pretty much everywhere, and stick my nose in all your business. That's the downside to this work. That being said, I find any DVD's of you sexing up Brad Pitt you have my word I won't sell them on the net. I have my integrity after all."
That has to be a joke, so she's going to treat it like that. "No DVD's of Brad Pitt. Now, Someone dressed like Jesus…." But there's a sweep of her hand for him to get on up in her stuff. "Three bedrooms, cross above the door is mine, the one with the cot and minimalist decor is Leo's. He's got TK so, whatever goes in his room needs to be pretty durable if he has a night terror. The third room is just.. a guest room. Uhhh, I have money. Upside to suddenly owning a bar, I have like, a more than decent salary so… Don't worry about that." She offers a faint smile for the guy.
"How's liz, and I don't mean Elisabeth"
Alec eyes Abby for a moment, "I'm going to be honest, making a house secure costs a fortune. I can make you better off, safish, and safe. I can put in locks and some extra thick doors, or I can put in bullet resistant glass, steel doors that are all but blast proof, an hellaious security system, and self contained monitoring devices. I need to know now how heavy you want me to come at your problems, and then I can give you an estimate of the cost of materials." then he grins, "She's fine, had to rebuild her carburetor a week or so ago, got some inferior fuel, gunked everything up."
"God, bullet proof glass I do not need. I just need.. I don't need anywhere near Liz's level of safety but if.. god forbid, I don't know.. Really Alec, I lived in places with five locks on the doors and bars across the window before I lived in Cat's building. I just.. want to make sure if that darned woman comes back, that she's gonna get a surprise. She took my statue and that was a gift and it really wasn't cheap"
Alec tilts his head to the side, "You were robbed?" obviously Alec is a bit outside the loop. "No one tells me anything Abs, I'm just the workhorse so fill me in on what happened and I'll tell you what I can do about it."
"The woman's robbed me twice. I haven't told anyone about the second time. Once here, and she stole my cross off my neck down in New Orleans. It's like.. some game with her. I walked in and she was eating an apple up here and everyone downstairs said they hadn't seen her come up. I realized after that she'd taken off with the statue. It was.. Jesus healing a blind man. Bronze, and not something you can just heft up and cart around on you for fun."
There's a slight shrug from the blonde. "I don't know how she came in. It's not like spare keys are hanging around. There's the one downstairs on the master set, and Flint has a set, Leo and myself. One other person too. There were no broken window but, like I said, when Izzy lived here, she just burned the bejesus out of everyone. I can't do that. I don't have any ability so.. " So.. "Like make it.. like, safe against a burgler? Maybe? What you think is best, I mean, I have the money to.. do something."
Alec eyes her, "Okay then. Bars on the widows that don't open, I'll make your door damned near SWAT proofed, you'll have to get new keys for the lock I'm putting in, and I'll toss in a security system installation just for giggles." he sighs as if disappointed, "Normal deal then, no biggie."
Abigail eyes him back. "You sound like you were hoping for laser protection things, and pressure sensitive stuff… " Her blue eyes watch his with raised brows.
Alec nods his head emphatically, "Hey, don't look at me like that. I got one thing, I mean I'm sexy and at least moderately successful in the sack, but outside of that I got one thing that makes me useful. I build stuff. Sue me if I get my hopes up when I get a call to make a place secure. I start thinking up like snake pits and poisoned dart traps. I get it my way your place would be Indiana Jones meets the Matrix." he makes a face at her.
Indiana Jones she gets. "Matrix?" Both hands find their way back to sit in her back pockets of her jeans. "I used the uhh, bars as examples of what I was used to… Alec. That doesn't mean that, you know, that's what I want. Ideally, I'd like to be able to get out of my windows if god forbid, something happens. I got a couple grand that I can sink into this place. I'm not gonna be moving anytime soon, I'm here, this is my place, this is my bar. And damned if i'll let some little New Orleans orisha babbling …. bitch… steal my stuff."
Alec scritches his chin and he ponders, "I got a few ideas then, not bullet resistant, but there are a few plexiglass constructs that look like glass but don't break and can't be cut without a torch. Lock them from the inside and unless you come packing the right tools they make the casual burglar rethink-Wait did you just swear? Awesome." he says approvingly.
"I have this quota, that I can't go over, but occasionally I do. There's a time and a place for swearing" Abby does do a bunch of things that most don't know or care to believe. Like that little stash of CD's that aren't christian music and might be questionable. Like that 3OH!3 song about doing it like helen keller that is likely to be found.
"Thanks, regardless, no matter what you end up doing. I didn't think that he'd be calling.. you"
Alec shrugs, "Like I said, I'm the guy that makes stuff. We can't all be made of Evo special but those of us that aren't still get to be useful from time to time." he grins to show he's not bitter, just teasing, "I'm gonna start in the back, this might take a bit."
"No, no evo special in this place" mysterious comment. There's a wave of her hand. "I got coffee almost done and i'll be here in the kitchen. If you need something just holler and I'll try and answer, or get it for you. If you want something to drink, I can run downstairs and get Brenda to make it or fetch it. And uhh.. " She mulls over various things in her mind. "Don't happen to know where I can get a deal on a good second hand non-gas guzzler?"
Alec snorts, "Abs, I'm from Detroit, if you want a car with more horse power then the 4th mounted cavalry, I'm your guy, you want one of those wussy little foreign Prius things? I suggest you check the paper." he hrmphs as if such cars were beneath notice. A guy has to have his city pride after all! "I'll holler." he says with a nod before pulling out an IPod and disappearing into the back to get to work.
And that's a no and Abigail's turning away, that idiot feeling, and flush to her face rising again. God damnit. Men. "whatever" mumbled under her breath as she returns to her kitchen.