Participants:
| Scene Title | Social Contracts |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Cardinal follows wendy home, who calls Peyton to make sure that the shadow in her place is nice. |
| Date | September 29, 2009 |
Solstice Condominium's - Wendy's Place
I have yet to put up a real desc!
Home again home again. Wendy's not really into the scene tonight. Eh, there were some new Evo's and she's gonna write them down in her book. But the taxi ride home was uneventful. Cellphone whipped out, quick conversation with some woman named Anna and a meeting for coffee the next morning. A message left some someone at an art gallery. Otherwise, it was a quick ride from lower east, to the upper east and being deposited in front of a high income condominium building. Security up the ass, and an elevator ride later, Wendy's locking the door behind her and kicking off her shoes. Thud, thud, to the floor they go and she's down to her regular just shy of 6 feet.
And through the apartment she goes, undoing zippers, buttons, ties, tossing it down as she goes. Maybe in the morning she'll pick it all up and put it away proper, or the maid will do it. But eventually, she's in a mens button down with sleeves folded up and a pair of boxers while plodding towards the kitchen.
Oblivious.
Of course, home is a safe zone, isn't it? The security of familiar surroundings, worn in by countless hours of routine. The place where one sleeps, where they shower, where they make love - well, assuming it's not at someone else's place for a one-nighter. It's safe, secure…
…but then again, not so much. A shadow spills beneath the door, washing over the floor in a slow shift down the hall in the direction of the kitchen, trailing after the half-dressed young woman.
Bare feet plod on tile, real tile, not this fake linoleum that looks like tile. Fridge opened, some coca cola taken out and a glass poured. contents of the fridge shifted through before some leftover tandoori is plucked out. Pop that sucker into the microwave and one minute later, success. Munchies.
She's unaware of the intruder who easily bypassed the buildings security and likely if her brothers were here, him too. She's on the move again, fork in the tandoori, glass tucked between arm and to the livingroom. Snatch up a small wooden chest on top of the coffee table and away she goes humming along the way to the art studio. No rest for the wicked.
On the way to the art studio, there's a shadow on the wall; as if a man were standing there beside the doorway, leaned to the wall in casual relaxation. "Now," speaks a voice just as she walks past, a hollow, raspy echo of words, "Where were we, Miss Hunter…?"
The glass of coke goes flying, instinctual really. The glass shattering against the shadow there. "What the FUCK!" Next goes the Tandoori, but not that little carved chest. Nope. That's held tight as Wendy backs up into the studio proper and right for her various carving implements. "Who the fuck are yo-" She cuts off her question as she realizes it's a shadow on the wall. But when no body yields the counterpart to cast it, much less light in that direction.
"Fucking Fish. Well, I guess that answers that question" She's still holding onto a wicked looking chisel.
"That it does," replies the shadow with a hint of amusement twisting his voice, "Now why don't you answer mine, Miss Hunter? Some fish aren't so easily thrown back off the side of the boat, you know…"
The stain of soda and of tandoori slides slowly down the wall, dripping towards the flooring as the shadow stretches slowly, Cardinal's 'arms' reaching away and then up, folding behind his 'head', "…and it's only fair, after all. One for one."
"Told you, party trick. Just like you" There's going to be a gouge in her floor as Wendy makes to stab at the shadow that slithers across her floor. "Besides, I answered you back at the bar, couldn't you knock like a sane fucker?"
"I have a moral opposition to doors," answers Cardinal rather drolly, the shadow splintering apart where she stabs against the floor, as if injured and shattering— though it soon flows back in upon itself. "An evolved detector? Interesting…"
"Yes, evolved detector. By god, if you opt to turn me into shadow along with you and kidnapp me, I will make your life fucking hell" The carved box is held tight to her chest as she studied him reforming and becoming one whole shadow again. "So what the fuck do you want now?" She's keeping her front to him, a slightly unhappy and even a bit scared. Her's was not an offensive, or even defensive ability. Just passive. Dangerous in the wrong hands.
"What would I do with you? Stuff you in a closet? I have better things to do than babysit a hostage, Miss Hunter…" The shadow swirls across the wall, straightening once more before seeming to lean forward, shadow opening in two places to seem like eyes in that face, "…I'm wondering who you work for, though. With an ability like yours, I'd be surprised if someone hadn't snatched you up yet."
There's a snort at that. Who does she work for. The snort turns into giggles and then outright laughter. "Oh, that's good. That's just real good. Who do I work for. I'm an artist asshole. You're standing in my studio. I work for myself. Real ripe there. So it's twenty questions then, with the shadows" She turns then, giving him her back and heading out the archway that leads to the hallway and doubles back to her livingroom. Clean up cola later. "who do you work for Mr. Shadow. If you're going ot make assumptions on abilities"
A faint chuckle stir through the air. "It must be your sparkling personality," points out Richard, his tone amused even as the shadow follows along after her; blending with her own, unseen save for the disembodied voice that drifts after her, "You really don't do anything with it, Miss Hunter?"
"I really don't. Beyond my own personal amusement. Short of sitting in the park and touching people. I have my own personal scavenger hunt really. If I come across an Evolved who doesn't know they are, I let them know what they can do and tell them to go register. That's it.
She keeps the chisel close to her, but flops onto the couch in the living room, flipping the latch on the carved chest. There's the tell tale blue glow that comes from the box, as well as a myriad of other drugs some soft, nothing else as hard as the refrain in it. "Humanis fuckers were going to use me as some bloodhound, but that was about it"
Silence lingers in the air for a few moments as that latter question is stated, or perhaps it's because of the cerulean luminescence of Refrain gleaming from within that little cache of chemical pleasures. "That's right…" A thoughtful stir of voice, finally, "…Hunter. That bastard Dean picked up you and Whitney, didn't he?"
Another pause, but before she can speak he offers more quietly, "I'm sorry we weren't able to get to you before you escaped yourselves. We were closing in on the location, but— I can't say we would've gotten there in time."
"I dunno who that Dean person is you're talki-" Wait a second, he's apologizing for not finding them first before they escaped? "You better not fucking blame me for her getting kidnapped. You do, I'll.. call the fucking cops or call up Peyton and ask what the fuck to do with a shadow on my floor" Actually calling Peyton… She reaches for the phone.
"William Dean." A derisive note to the shadow's voice, "'Bill'. You may be familiar with the name…?"
The latter brings a moment of bemused quiet from the shadow, which spills along up onto the table, casting itself across the chest and dimming the light of the luminous drugs. "…blame you? Why the hell would I blame you?"
"Oh, good!" She really does mean, oh good. "You're not in love with her" Peytons on speed dial, number 7 on the list and the phone rings this late tuesday evening. "Long story and no doesn't.. wait, the guy at the bar? There was the marine and then there was the.. uhh… chubbier older one.. Come on Pey, answer your phone and not fucking Aaron."
Half asleep watching television, Peyton reaches for the phone, glancing at the caller ID before clicking "talk." "What's up, Wendy?" Peyton murmurs, her voice a bit rough from want of use.
A thread of shadow creeps along the side of Wendy's chair, sliding up her neck and through her hair to better listen to the phone call. "Danko and Dean," replies Cardinal easily, "The chubbier one was who I was talking about…"
"There's a shadow in my room Pey. you know, like the Peter Pan to my Wendy darling. Says he knows you. He sorta followed me home actually. Seems he doesn't like me being a touch slut much either. I don't know who Danko is, Really, do you need to listen in? God, get out of my hair, that is gross. That's.. fucking perverted. You're touching me and I still don't even know you're name" Two conversations in one it seems from Wendy.
Peyton sits up and reaches for the remote to mute the television. "I know a shadow guy, yeah. He's not a bad guy, though he probably should have asked to be let in. Manners and all. What's he saying about Danko?" she asks, urgency and anxiety audible in her voice at just the sound of that name. "Danko's HF, not one of the guys who took us, at least not that I know of, unless he was masked, but he's one of them, works with Dean and Legrime. Er, Davey." She doesn't know if Wendy knows the name LeGrime or not.
"She should've asked before being intrusive with that little power of hers," comes the dry response of Cardinal, spilling across her in a ripple of darkness before spreading down over the floor once more, drifting casually about the studio to investigate its confines, "You touched me first."
"I shook your hand. You deigned to shake it therefore, you entered into the social contract. In other words, I knocked on your door and you let me in so suck it up and get the hell away from my body please. Unless you're planning to screw me with it. If so, you better do it normal, I don't dig evo sex" It's easily heard over the phone, hers and cardinals conversation.
"He still hasn't given me his name" But she launches into a description of Cardinal ala normal and sighs. "How the fuck do you know all this shit Peyton? Their names and such?"
"That's true. He's right, Wendy, you need to be careful. You're going to get hurt if you keep that up. You're lucky he's not a bad guy. I don't think he'll hurt you, not if you know me," Peyton says, sounding a little weary. She runs her hands through her dark hair, closing her eyes. "I told you, remember? I helped some people out, when the other people got kidnapped. They showed me pictures of these people, asked me if I knew them, told me who they are. Bill Dean's the loud guy who hit on you. LeGrime's the marine. Danko's some other guy, somehow involved. That's all I know. They kidnapped that blonde from the piano bar place, and they kidnapped that FBI agent from Lucy's that night too." She sighs again. "What do you want to know? He can tell you his name — I'm not going to out him anymore than you already have."
"A social contract, hm…?" The shadow splits away from the wall, Cardinal pulling out of the darkness and fading slowly back into light and colour as he emerges corporeal once more, tilting his head to either side with a pop-crack of vertebrae and flashing over a crooked smile, "…funny, I've never really been one to obey those. And I don't really want to think about how I could screw you in shadow form, because that just reminds me of some fucked-up anime I've seen…"
"Jeeze, Outed him.." Now that gets Wendy's ire up. "You think I just walked around the fucking bar and yelled what he could do? what you all can do at the top of my lungs. Fuck, I just whispered it to him. I just asked him what exactly it was that he did" Irritation reigns supreme in Wendy's tone. "He doens't have to tell me his name, Whatever. He followed me home and got past security.
"Not like he's the fucking flying dragons" She fishes through the box on her lap, eschewing the refrain for now - she wants some, but she's not gonna take it in front of cardinal and be vulnerable - and digs out some pills. "i just wanted to make sure that the guy apologizing to me for not finding us sooner really was someone you knew. Friend of yours is a friend of mine" Unless it's Aaron and then his ass can be in the freezing cold. "Don't you be touching anything covered. I don't want you to break stuff. Then I can't sell it and it'll be worthless and get the fucking Henati out of you- fuck, now it's in my head. Pey, can you come pick up your wayward shadow so I can do my refrain in peace and quiet and get some work done tonight?"
"I didn't mean you necessarily shouted it off the rooftops or anything, Wendy, but the fact he's angry about you knowing what he can do, made me assume you said it aloud. Sorry. I didn't mean to assume." The apology is actually sincere. "Come pick him up? Why, is he drunk or something? Seems like he can get around pretty well on his own, if he got past your security. He need me for anything?"
"There're people who'll kill you just for knowing what they can do," Cardinal says with a rough snort of breath, turning away from something covered to look over with a brow's lift over the edge of his shades, "You really should be more careful with who you talk to. The Dragons will be the least've your worries if you keep it up."
hat said, he moves to walk past the table, reaching out to lightly push the edge of that carved chest closed as he walks past. "Refrain's nasty stuff. If you knew what I did, you'd find a different drug've choice. See you around. Give Peyton my best."
"Newsflash, A person walks near me, I know they do something. I bump into them, I know what it is they can do Pey. It's not something I can turn off. It's there, it's on all the time like a radio in the background that gets louder when they come near" But she accepts the apology. She's been verbose before in front of the woman when it comes to abilities. She can forgive her for assuming.
Though there's a raise of brow at Cardinal and his advice, and the touching of her drug box. "He sends his best, he dislikes my chemical habits. Looks like he's taking off." and he still hasn't given her his name. Wendy sighs. "I'll let you go Pey so I can walk him out. He's chosen to go corporeal"
"All right. He's not a bad guy. Good intentions. Tell him to contact me if he needs me," Peyton says softly. "Take care, Wendy. Love ya." She says the last to remind the other woman that she's her friend, that while they may disagree on things at times, they have a bond from escaping their hell hole that will take more than some disagreements to break. There's a click, and Peyton's off the line.
"I can let myself out," Cardinal replies with aplomb, glancing back over his shoulder with a slight smile crooking up at one corner of his lips, "Just thought I'd leave you that warning, is all, cute stuff. You pull that shit on someone who doesn't want anyone knowing what they can do, and you'll end up dead in a alley somewhere…"
"Yeah yeah Pey, me too" And she hangs up with a click of the button and regards Cardinal. "Not the first to tell me that. Can only guess how much they'd want to get their hands on my guide. Get the fuck out of my place already Mr. Shadow" Wendy makes some shooing motions with her hand.
"Such a charming hostess," observes Cardinal in amused tones, slipping out into the hall and calling back over his shoulder, "If you do run into that sort of trouble— just ask Peyton to give me a call. I don't like the idea of anyone else using your ability."
"Shoo fly, don't bother me!" Spoken to the closing door as she's flipping back open her box and getting the syringe of refrain out.
The casual demeanor is dropped as soon as the door's closed, Cardinal's lips pursing in a line as he turns to look back after himself again. Whatever thoughts he's having about the druggie and her abilities are his own, silent for long moments before he vanishes into the darkness once more.
Leaving her to past memories.