The Same Results

Participants:

abby_icon.gif cardinal_icon.gif delilah_icon.gif niklaus_icon.gif

Featuring:

rhett_icon.gif

Scene Title The Same Results
Synopsis Cardinal bring Nick over for his ferry qualification interview with Delilah and Abigail.
Date July 14, 2010

Le Rivage - Abby's Apartment

Sprung from the pages of an IKEA catalog, Red sueded couches, love seat, armchair, a comfortable cushioned recliner that doubles as a rocking chair. A black cat can be seen on occasion, perched atop something, same for a brown furry dog that promises to be bigger as time passes. Baby paraphanelia seems to be strung //everywhere from burp cloths, onesies in a laundry basket beside diapers ready to use, a colorful swing and baby blankets.//

Pictures on the wall of a blonde woman and two adults who look like her, blown up pictures of beautiful scenery. The kitchen is partially open to the main room, meticulous and clean, nothing out of place, a dining table and chairs in the dining area with flowers always in it's centerpiece.

A hallway leads to bathrooms and bedrooms, Three in total and one of which bears a gold cross hanging above it. Inside an antique arm chair in a black and red floral pattern, at odds with the rest of the room in it's pine, purple and cream theme. A painting hangs on the wall across from the bed by a long dead painter and worth a great deal of money. The other rooms unoccupied most of the time.

Somewhere, a budgie sings it's loving tune in it's spacious ornate cage.


"You should have let me bring at least a scone."

Some days Richard Cardinal can't believe he has the arguments that he does. That he's currently on his way to have a wanted international robber interviewed by a tiny southern baptist and a young single mother for forged papers is surreal enough, but that he and Niklaus Zimmerman are on their way to do that while arguing about the appropriateness of bringing cookies to the meeting is unbelievable.

Le Rivage is an unexpectedly mundane place for a meeting of this sort to happen, no shady back rooms or smoky bars. Just the tiled hallway and peeling paint on the walls, the out of service elevator and row after row of green painted apartment doors. That Abigail Beauchamp and Delilah Trafford are overseeing this interview at the behest of Susan Ball borders on the preposterous, but not knowing the pair Niklaus seems at least willing to accept the situation as it comes.

He needs proper identification, after all, and if he has to jump thorugh a few oddly shaped hoops to get it, than so be it. On stopping outside of the door to Abigail's apartment, Niklaus crosses his arms over his chest, furrowing his brows as he gives Cardinal a look over the frames of his round, wire-framed glasses.

"A scone wouldn't have hurt anyone," the German snorts with a roll of his eyes. "Just knock." Yes, they're having a fight.

"In the unlikely event that something goes wrong," Cardinal observes with a rather pointed look at the German, "Bringing a tray of scones would just leave more things with fingerprints and DNA traces on them."

Paranoid? Of course. That's par for the course in this business.

that said, he raps his knuckles on the door, allowing wryly, "We'll have Abigail over for dinner sometime."
"No. No Delilah. The baby stuff is not for you. Lord. How would I take care of Kasha if I let you walk off with it" There's a gesture from the blonde on the other side of the door that Niklaus and Cardinal approach.

"It's a walter not a Wilma and heavens! That would confuse him! Hello Walter, here's a little pink frilly dress for you to wear so that we may confuse you when you get older and have blackmail material for when you don't go to the school that all of your not really aunts and uncles approve of"

Niklaus doesn't need to worry about scones or the absence thereof. The smell of cinnamon and yeasty bread is redolent, creeping into every corner and provides a pleasant counter to the likely underlying scent in the hallways that only heat of summer can produce.

The rolling pin thumps to the counter, flattening out dough so that it resembles a vaugly square shape. "I will be buying you baby stuff Delilah, closer to when Walter comes. Blues and greens and yellows and whites, I'll get you all the baby stuff you could possibly want and desire and more so." She lifts the pin, pointing the silicone and weighted plastic contraption at delilah. "You could even make a list of stuff, and i'll see that when we have a party for you, that folks know what to get you and what you need"

Delilah being beckoned over was a bit of a surprise when she got asked; it is a rare thing when she gets asked to help with more important business than moving things or helping in a house. It's not that she can't do anything else, just that at this point she shouldn't. True, she was looking at the baby stuff when she came in, but by now Abby is preaching to a wall- she knows it isn't going to be passed on- maybe stress is just making her take everything too seriously! Right. While waiting, she's been helping Abby fuss a little in the kitchen, thought for the most part only getting milk out of the fridge for her, or just making sure nothing falls over. Better to stay out of the path of a tornado.

"My birthday is October seventh. Maybe I could do a baby shower instead. And I'll still do embarassing things to him, I swear. He'll be unafraid later. Worked for me." The redhead looks up at the knocking from her leaning on the kitchen counter, one foot playing idly with the sandal on its bottom. "That them? Want me to get it? I'll get it." Delilah decides this for herself, skipping her way out of the kitchen in her dress of pale red, the white dots all over it making her seem like a blue of pink. To her credit, she does look through the peephole first, to make sure it is the right person; it isn't long before she is working to unlock it and crack it, face in the opening.

"Does the Eagle know what is in the pit?" She whispers, hushed, an expectant expression on her face to both of them.

While she makes a bit of fun out of no fun- and no sense out of sense- there is a minute to observe the man in the glasses.

Honestly, Zimmerman looks shocked by the question. His eyebrows raise, blue eyes dart towards Cardinal with a helpless, expectant look on his fact that practically says you didn't tell me the code word! Perhaps somewhere in the years of wandering Europe he'd managed to actually find himself ina situation where something like this actually, legitimately, happened.

Right now, however, Niklaus is playing victim to the capricious whims of one particularly mischevious mother-to-be, and is all the more unaware for it. Nodding his head towards the opening of the door, Niklaus lifts his brows again, clearing his throat in that universal pantomime for go on, tell her.

Sometimes he just seems to harmless.

As the faux-code request is whispered through the edge of the door, Cardinal brings one hand up to rub two fingers against the bridge of his nose, pushing his shades up a bit with the movement. "No, because we haven't finished digging it yet," he replies dryly, "But we'll all be neck deep soon enough. Just let us in, okay?"

A peep of blonde aroudn the pillar that served to help delineate between dining room and kitchen reveals Cardinal at the door and some other bespectacled individual. "Oh for heavens sake, let them in, so they're not standing in there and letting the smell out Delilah. Less all my neighbours start banging on the door and wanting some." She's prone to sharing, but right now, just with the people in her place. "Make yourself at home, come get drinks, get comfortable, don't worry, Kasha isn't he- shit"

The dog is making a break for it, wriggling or trying to wriggle past delilah and get out into the hall. "Rhett! RHETT YOU GET YOUR FURRY ARSE BACK IN HERE! Don't let him out!"

"Does nobody read William Blake anymore?" Delilah scoffs loudly, springing open the door for them, one hand on her hip. She looks totally disappointed in Cardinal. "Thought there really was something, didn't you?" A fluttery gesture goes to Niklaus, and she is now smiling- up until Rhett, in all his fuzzy, stupid glory, comes wriggling out between Dee's calves, ready to pop out of the gate like a greyhound. Though she leans over to catch him, all that she gets a hold of is russet fur. This is why she is grateful for Samson. And may suggest a puppy course using him as a professor. Christ, these little buggers are just everywhere!

When Rett goes running towards the door, Niklaus' brows furrow on hearing Abby's shout. Lifting one hand up, there's a visible rippling distortion of the air around the German's fingers, followed by a low humming noise in the air. Immediately, Rhet lets out a throaty yelp as all of the metal buckles and tags on his collar hoist up and yank him just slightly off of his front feet, leaving his back legs clawing on the floor to support his weight.

Pushing his hand forward, Niklaus sends the dog — half hoisted up by his leash — back into the apartment as he walks in ahead of Cardinal, brows furrowed and blue eyes sweeping around until—

"Oh my goodness that bread smells heavenly," is noted as if nothing out of the ordinary is happening, and Rhett is dropped back down into his own four-legged stance a no less worse for wear bit a little less than thrilled with his new German company.

"Guten tag," Niklaus offers with a nervous smile, realizing how this all must have just looked.

As the canine is defeated by the power of electromagnetism, Cardinal lets out a brief, amused snort of breath and shakes his head slowly from side to side. He walks along into the apartment after the german man, his hand lifting to the door's edge to push it closed behind him.

"Nick, this is Abigail, Delilah… you two, this is Nick… sorry for bothering you like this, but Susan's kind of an enormous fucking bitch and wouldn't just trust my word on things," he allows, his tone a bit dry, "That does smell delicious and oh my God you're pregnant."

He looks at Delilah with a furrowed brow as if trying to figure out why she's wearing a fake pregnancy belly, because clearly that's the correct answer here.

Fleeeeeee.

RHett's off, fast as his furry clawed feet can take him after niklaus lets him go with a pause when far enough away to look at him, bow down a bit in the front in false bravado and let loose a series of barks that display his obvious displeasure when he's near the kitchen. "Oh hush you, you deserved that! Lookit you, trying to make a break for it. I told you I'd walk you when I was done stupid mutt. That doesn't mean that you just run off willy nilly as you see fit"

Flour speckled here and there on her face, nose, arms and even jeans, there's a black elastic strap running from under her shirt, disappearing over her shoulder and presumably disappearing down the back of her shirt. Abigail's foot prods the dog to get out of the kitchen and go somewhere else. Which he does, going for her bedroom so he can stand at the door, offer a huff and disappear off.

"Cinnamon buns. Guten tag to you, Salve and hello! Welcome to to my home. There should be some cooled for you all to eat." There's a black elastic strap running from under her shirt, disappearing over her shoulder. She wipes her hands off on a cloth, no offer of a handshake.

"She is. Biiiiig as a whale, and only gonna get bigger. I help deliver him on November 8th. In a store. Joy of joys! But at least we're all okay supposedly and Susan.. well, I'm surprised she suggested us. I'm not in her good books right now after I spiked her tea. Careful of Susan, she's…" Abby's not enamored of her either and her attention turns to whom they're supposed to interview. "Hi. I'm Abigail. I'm a friend of Richards. Please, come in, make yourself comfortable. I promise this will be painless as possible"

For Nick, not for Cardinal who gets a swat from the blonde across the back of his head. "Language!" She admonishes.

Delilah is only left inside the door to watch as this new man makes the dog float back into the apartment. Floating is relative though- it seems like he lifted Rhett by the collar. She locks the door as Cardinal closes it, joining them as they wander inside.

"Hi Nick." Delilah gives the German man a small wave of her fingers, only to be distracted by Cardinal stating the obvious. The redhead peers back at him, squinting a little. "You're kind of late to the ball game, aren't you?" She says this to him right before Abby starts up about whales.

"Excuse me, but right now I'm still at- like- dolphin level-" Dee puts her hands out and in, as if measuring how far from being a whale she is. Dolphin, sure.

A polite but thin smile graces Niklaus face as he assesses the two young women, then folds his hands behind his back on meandering in to the apartment, making certain not to look too presumptuous about where to be seated or where to stand until the hostess' have shown fit to point the way. If nothing else, he seems well-mannered, if not a bit hair-trigger with his ability, which— at the moment— seems to be puppykinesis?

"As much as I would appreciate the company and light-hearted fare on any other day, I will profess some nervousness to this, ah, test?" One brow lifts at the choice of word, seeming to have a bit of 'hunt-and-peck' syndrome at times for the proper English word. "I would prefer we get the business out of the way, and then if there is more time… I would be a fool not to allow two beautiful young women to entertain me for the evening."

And there the European accent and charm comes rolling on in.

"I haven't seen you in a few months," Cardinal points out with, well, a point of his finger at Delilah as if to show the entire room hey guys she's pregnant has anyone noticed with a dubious expression, "Who's the lucky guy?" Please not Magnes. Please not Magnes. Please not Magnes.

Oh, right, business. A wry look over to Abigail, "When have I ever listened to you about language? Sorry, though. Yeah, let's get this done with."
"Never Richard, but that won't stop me from reminding you that in my house, foul language will not be used lightly. Cut your hand off… maybe you can drop the eff bomb" She sticks out her tongue at him before her attentoin flickers one more to Nick while snickering at dolphin comments. Whale. Maybe a humpback. Or well, that's what they were doing 22 weeks ago!

"Not so much a test for you I thinkas just conversation and getting to know you as much as you'll allow" Abigail confesses, a glance to Cardinal. "They're shaking things up in the Ferry, making it more effecient, forming a council. A couple handfuls of people who will be the heads of specific sections to help facilitate a smoother process to helping people. I've been nominated to a seat. I suspect this is Susan with something up her sleeve. I don't really know why she would have chosen myself or Delilah"

There's a gesture to the red couch and other furniture while Abby peeks into the kitchen to see how much time is on the timer before she takes up in the rocking chair. "We're supposed to determine whether the Ferry should help you, I assume, by getting you false documentation that will pass muster. Are you needing a place to hide out, or travel to another state or country? What do you want the Ferry to do and why should the Ferry do it?"
"It's not really a test." Delilah confides. "And don't you be all Euro at me, or I'll make notes." She knows their tricks. She's one of them! "But I'll be happy to do it anyway." A grin. Cardinal's pointing is met with Dee's hand going up to it, nudging it back down. That's impolite, stop that.

"I'm a little over five months. Teo." Definitely not Magnes. "I think Susan is having me help because I can't exactly go around being projective or something. Pregnant ninjas aren't all the rage. If I can help like this, alright."

"Well," Niklaus offers with a raise of his brows, "there is no pulling the fast one over on you Britons, is there?" Flashing a smile to Delilah, the German's attention turns towards Abigail. "Would you prefer we have this conversation at a table, or would the more leisurely setting of your rather wonderfully decorated living room be more suitable?"

Glancing into the living room, the German's blue eyes track around the furnishings, then back to Abby. "I need papers for travel in the country. A ah," he makes a square with his fingers, "identification, yes? Something that does not out me as having a special power or the like would be preferable. Whatever else is needed, I do not believe I will be traveling overseas or across country borders at any time in the near future… and passports, they are such a difficult thing to reproduce, yes?"

"The last I knew about things, you all didn't interrogate everyone who came to you for help," Cardinal observes with just a hint of aggravation, his brow furrowed just a bit, "But, hey, I guess the Ferry's gotten a little paranoid… just a shame they haven't cleaned their own house yet."

That said, he looks over to Delilah, blinking twice, "…Teodoro? But— but he's gay."

He needed ID. Fair enough. To travel in the states, and get by without being stopped for his registration card. The Ferry weren't strangers to doing such when the time came to making them.

There's a glance to Richard, and an unhappy one at that. "Richard Cardinal. You came to the Ferry for ID. Now I can't presume to yet know the inner working minds of those who I devote some time for to help, and no, this isn't standard. You made the mistake of going to susan instead of myself, or Eileen, or even some others. If they decide to not give ID, well, then they don't. But I'll have another route you can take that probably won't cost you so many hurdles. But we can try this way first, Herr NIck can converse with Delilah and I, and we can decide whether to give the okay. Or would you rather just sit and eat cinnamon bun's and walk out with nothing?"

Abby can be a bit like her mother when provoked and Cardinal did provoke. SOmewhere, her cellphone has an icon that's reading a low grade fever. "Worry about your own house, and we'll worry about cleaning up the Ferry house. It's already being done thank you very much. I still love you dearly regardless Lassie"

But back to the matter at hand and a shared look with delilah. "Why do you need the ID's Nick? Who are you running from and why? What exactly did you do that warrents Richard to bring you to my doorstep and that of the Ferry and asking for their help. THey must have a better idea of what's going on if they're pulling the 'interview' stance, instead of just helping. I wouldn't call it paranoia but they aren't just going to take 'I need new ID because I flashed my ability' as a good enough reason. Be honest with me please, I want to help, but I can't, unless I know and…"

"Things are shaky. I'd ask you to try to do it better but I already hear you've got some kinda- posse-" Delilah answers, only to pause midway when Cardinal blinks at her like that. His reply earns a pair of fists on her hips, and an affronted expression. "Obviously not entirely." She quiets down when Abby begins the actual business they were contented with, unsure of if she should be adding something to what the blonde says, or maybe getting the guys to sit down. Dee listens for now, only piping up when the other girl seems to stop for a moment.

"How about we all sit down in the den for this?" Oh, how mediating! She's totally helping. "We're all standing around like a bunch of giraffes at a tree." Whatever that means, anyhow.

"I rob banks," is Niklaus' immediate and almost backhand worth answer as he crosse shis arms over his chest where he stands. "That is the most honest answer, in Europe, I have sizeable debt to the Russian mafia, and I may have done some things I regret with my ability to try and cover this, yes? Further complicated by problems with a group called the Institute."

Lifting up his glasses with one hand, Niklaus pinches at the bridge of his nose, looking into the kitchen before turning his attention back to the young women. "I am here in the states to find mein father, who I believe had been kidnapped. I will need these, identification papers, in order to legally travel around without too much scrutiny."

Letting his eyes wander to the den, Niklaus finally starts to make a slow progress towards where Abby's seated, eyeing the living space for the most appropriate place to sit. "I know this is perhaps not what you wished to hear? But it is truth. I am not a dangerous man, but I am a determined one, and I am determined to find my father… no matter the cost."

"Obviously," Cardinal admits in wry tones; his hand raising to scrub against the nape of his neck a bit dubiously as he looks back down to Delilah's stomach once more. "Well, uh… congratulations."

Well, that's awkward. Moving on, then! "Hey, I went to Catherine technically, Abigail. Obviously I should've just gone straight to Wireless, though," he admits his mistake, moving to step along into the den as well, slanting a look back to Niklaus and listening to what he says - more carefully than his casual appearance might suggest.

"Oh lord on high, you went to Cat. You really must have been smoking something, as Melissa would say. Go to wireless next time, or me, or just… Eileen." Now she knows what happened. Somewhat. Sorta. "Okay, so. People possibly hunting you, evolved, unregistered. I don't know if evolved from other countries even have to register if they're visiting" Might be something to look up. "So you need to fly under the radar while you look for your father." Not an eye is blinked to the fact that he's robbed banks. Look who's she's dating, and look at who's sitting beside Nick. Cardinal has done quite a bit himself, self professed bad man. She looks to Delilah.

Delilah finds a place to sit herself down after a moment or two, effectively the last person to do so. She may not be the most experienced in this field, but perhaps that is why she is here. "I have to say, he's not the usual type we help out like that. Even some of the worse people we've gotten in with us have stopped being criminals, or if they came from bad places they aren't bad people. I can tell you probably mean well, but unless you're willing to stop those kinds of …extracurricular activities-"

Her brown eyes may not be the most threatening when they turn to Niklaus, but her voice has a definite point on the end of it, like a spear trained on him. "-I wouldn't vote to help you. Now, if that's a sticking point for you, We could always point you to someone who deals with forged identities, and let them decide if they want to help you, outside of the Ferry. But if you're willing to turn over some leaves, that is something we can understand, right?" Delilah finally finishes, glancing to Abby as if to ask if that was a good place to come from.

Delilah finds a place to sit herself down after a moment or two, effectively the last person to do so. She may not be the most experienced in this field, but perhaps that is why she is here. "I have to say, he's not the usual type we help out like that. Even some of the worse people we've gotten in with us have stopped being criminals, or if they came from bad places they aren't bad people. I can tell you probably mean well, but unless you're willing to stop those kinds of …extracurricular activities-" Her brown eyes may not be the most threatening when they turn to Niklaus, but her voice has a definite point on the end of it, like a spear trained on him.

"-I wouldn't vote to help you. Now, if that's a sticking point for you, We could always point you to someone who deals with forged identities, and let them decide if they want to help you, outside of the Ferry. But if you're willing to turn over some leaves, that is something we can understand, right?" Delilah finally finishes, glancing to Abby as if to ask if that was a good place to come from.

"Richard has offered to pay off my debts to the mafia," Niklaus notes as he circles the den like a hawk, seemingly now to jittery to sit, finicky in ways like a cat. "So, these things… they will not happen again. My only job now is reuniting with my father and meeting with my siblings… I have no grudges with anyone, of… note." There's a subtle dip of Niklaus' head down into a nod at that.

"I would be disappointed if you did not think it well to supply me with the credentials I need. I… I have made some mistakes, yes," blue eyes wander to the floor, then lift up to Abigail, "but I like to think that all men can make amends for their wrongs, yes? I swear that I will not abuse the courtesy you are showing me here today. I fear, though, without your… network's support? It may be harder to do what I need to do, identification aside."

There's a subtle tilt of Niklaus' head to the side, light glinting off of his glasses. "After all, if I am turned away for identification, who in this Ferry will wish to help me if I need to hide, or… otherwise? I beg of you, look past my mistakes… see the man I really am."

At last, Cardinal sits; sprawling back in his seat, he brings one hand up to scratch against the side of his neck before it falls down to rest on the opposing arm, folded loosely across his chest. "We're not asking you to… hide him or anything, and he's not a stone-cold killer," he says, a slight little white lie, "Just get some identification so he can function while he's here. Trust me, I don't think he wants the attention that sort of thing would bring even if he hadn't turned over a new leaf."
"Eileen and Jensen, a few people in the network Delilah have surely not turned over that pristine a new leaf" She points out to the pregnant woman. It's not meant to make her change her mind, or to even counter her but to point out something. Blonde brows crimp down, inwards even, her tongue flicking and running over her back teeth as she thinks.

Ricahrd was paying off his debts to the russian mafia. So that stood to reason that yes, he could pay for fake ID. Even good fake ID. He didn't need to be hidden by the Ferry, not yet at least.

"He won't be getting ID from the Ferry"

Abigail sits back and up. "Save the Ferry for when you really need it Nick. I know people, I'll see what I can do for you, outside of the Ferry, save that for when you find your father, who is your father and siblings? When you need them, then we can rally the Ferry. Save that as your egg in the basket"

It is a testament to the boundary between Dee's warmth and her increasing instincts, that she doesn't start making big eyes back at the German man. "I know that, Richard, just that if something and it comes back, it'll come back on us and the Ferry too. It's the same with anyone. We never make trouble, but we'll finish it." Lilah tilts her head to pull her red hair over one shoulder, fingers fussing with the ends. Her eyes on Abby, she listens and only chimes in at the end.

"She has a point. And I meant people like- the ones that actually run houses, things like that. Eileen and Jensen are their own little bracket." A nervous little laugh. Hrrhrr. "For now, I kind of agree with Abby. You've got no debts left in your way now, so at the least we can refer you, maybe help you find a place to stay in the meantime, while you look. It's not that I think you're being facetious- just that you can probably get on for now without us as a whole. Eventually, we can probably help you more, but right now there's nothing we can do that people we know of can also do."

Blue eyes divert to Cardinal, brows furrow and Niklaus presses his tongue to the inside of his cheek. As he settles his attention back over to the two women performing his interview. "Allow me to frame this request differently then, if your organization does not see fit to help people in need…" there's a furrow of his brows, "then who might I be directed to that would?" Lifting his chin up, Niklaus' demeanor seems to have backslid a little, his German accent a touch thicker and his patience obviously thinning.

"Also, consider, that in this equation I may not be on the best of terms with the Company or other, ah," there's a look back to Cardinal, and then to Abigail and Delilah, "underworld connections in this wonderful city of yours. Mine is a debt that spans back here, and I assure you that if certain well meaning old healers were to discover my whereabouts and… situation? I may find myself yet on the inside of a very dark, and very deep hole."

Smiling thinly, Niklaus spreads his hands apart. "What alternatives do you have to offer? Or, is the hospitality of the Ferrymen that Richard spoke so highly of more limited in reality given my… predicament?"

A quiet little chuckle tumbles past Cardinal's lips at the roundabout words of the German, his head shaking ever so slightly. "You don't have anything to worry about from Danny-boy, Nick," he says quietly, "I think the old man's got bigger things to worry about than some old debts, and we have enough… pull in the Group to keep attention away from you."

A slight grunt as he straightens, admitting, "If you don't think we should go through you all, Abigail, I can just contact Wireless. I need to ask her for a favor anyway, might as well kill two birds, one stone."
Crap. Should she try it anyways? Would Robert do it or know where to go? He needn't ever KNOW who it was for.

"I have connections. You can ask Robert. Doing what I did over a year ago, favors accumulate. I'm not saying Richard, or Nick, that you shouldn't go through the Ferry. I'm saying I don't like that it's Delilah and I who were chosen to do something that has frankly never been done before and singled out by someone who Delilah and I seem to have something going on with." She clasps her hands together again, looking back and forth between the small group.

"If I can help you outside of the Ferry, it will save you heartache, and it will save Dee and I probably put in a pretty cruddy situation. I don't know what's up susan's skirt and I don't trust it. I do know who to contact, to see where to go for the best ID, even if it's not here in New York, and I have the means to get you to wherever, and back to here, if you need it and no plane trains or automobiles required. Do you trust me Herr Nick?"

Delilah hates disappointing people. It's made clearer by the way she grows an exasperated little look and rubs at her lower neck. "I would help you, if it were just me- but it's not-" She lets out a noisy grunt of her own, looking at Abby with her brows knitted. Lilah crosses her arms, her mood alternating into brooding as quickly as it cropped up. Apparently this means she totally agrees with the other girl.

"I wanna help, but not if I have to act like Eileen all the time." Snort.

"No, I do not," Niklaus notes with a furrow of his brows, "but I am willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. I am not a man of faith, fraulein Beauchamp, I am a man of cause und effect. You furnish me with the papers I need, from whatever the source and you will have earned my trust. But with the life I have lead and the troubles I have faced, trust is not something I can so easily… hand out."

Eyes narrowed, Nillaus tilts his chin up and looks over to Cardinal, offering a reluctant nod before turning his focus over to Delilah and Abigail again. "It sounds to me, like you have more internal problems than I was aware of but… that— is your business to deal with, and not mine." Though the way Niklaus narrows his eyes behind his glasses implies the forthcoming, "But," because there's always one. "If this were me, having to deal with your… problem? I would find out why this, Susan?" His brows lift, "Has a bone to pick with you and… turnabout is fair play, I believe is how you say it?"

There's a faint smile spread across Niklaus' lips. "Complicate her life."

"If there's anyone in the city I can trust, it's you, Abigail," Cardinal says with a slight nod towards the woman, a rueful smile tugging up a bit at one corner of his lips, "If you think we can get some identification through your connections…"

He trails off, then exhales a wry snort of breath, "I rather agree with Nick. I'd offer to help myself, but you have no idea how full my dance card is at the moment."

"I know exactly why she does Herr Nick, I don't intend to try and complicate her life, more than I already have." Richard trusts her, she knows that. Delilah surely does too. "Richard and I go way back. he knows that I trust, who I choose to trust, even if it makes no sense to everyone else around me. It frustrates some, and at times, bites me in the arse. We'll tell the Ferry that you chose to not go through with asking for our help at this time, changed your mind. I'll keep in touch with Richard and make my own calls. For all that right now, I seem to be painting a pretty bleak picture of our organization, really, it's a good thing or I wouldn't be part of them"

Delilah claps her hands once in response, palms held up after. Nothing here. She is with Abby on this one. When the buzzer goes off and Abby leaps out to the kitchen, it leaves the redhead with the two men in the living room for a bit. She looks between them to gauge how satisfied with the idea they are, firstly. Her pointer fingers find each other, fiddling.

"So- Germany, huh?" Worst conversation ever. She really isn't sure what to do after such a bomber.

"Ja," is Niklaus' sarcastic comment to Delilah as he tucks his hands into the pockets of his somewhat ill-fitting jeans, then turns blue eyes to Abigail and Cardinal. "I trust in the both of you then to aid me in this endeavor, regardless of what hoops you jump through. I have to be careful who I turn to for help, lest the… wrong people find out where I am. If you trust her, Richard, than I trust her. But be warned, if she burns me, or if she fails to pull through… that reflects poorly on you."

But such is the story of Richard Cardinal's life.

"Now, if there is not any more pressing business to attend to," and suddenly it's like a whole different man is at the helm, because Niklaus is smiling rather than scowling. "Which bank do I need to rob to get a slice of that heavenly bread, mmn?"

'The bank of Abigail Beauchamps heart" She calls from the kitchen even as the door to the oven thumps closed to release even more heat into the apartment and therefore kicking on the AC. Rhett's head pokes around the door to her room to see if Herr Meanie is still there, and seeing Nick, pulls back into Abby's bedroom.

An alarm goes off on a cellphone on the table and there's a groan, roll of eye's. "I'm bending over a stove you stupid piece of BLANK! Of course it's hot!" Yelling to herself it seems, possibly. "Come and get your cinnamon buns, plenty of butter. Richard, there's some to take back to your hidey hole and the others. Y'all gotta clear out by 7 unless you wanna meet Kasha, but till then, come stuff your faces"

"She might burn someone…" Cardinal gives his head a slow shake, "…but it won't be you, Nick."

A reassuring, if tight smile to Niklaus, and then he pushes himself up to his feet with a chuckle, "For now, let's go test out Abigail's cooking… and hey, if you get a chance, Abs, can you tell the African I'd like to talk about the Cheerleader sometime?" There's those code words they were looking for earlier!

"Of course. Bread." Delilah allows the matters of more important things to pass by in favor of bread. "You seem to know your baking, Nick." This is perhaps a bit of a loaded question, as she appears out from the air beside him, peeking at his face not unlike a squirrel that found a new tree. Chitter chitter chitter. The only thing that is missing is a big, poofy red- okay no, her hair is in a tie.

"I lived for three years above a bakery in Prague in the late Nineties," Niklaus admits, taking a slow, meandering path through the den towards the kitchen, "one of the few things I remember about my mother was her passion for baking, so when I stayed there… it helped remind me of better times, before mein family was divided and before I had to go on the run."

Pausing before he gets out of sight, Niklaus looks back into the den towards Cardinal and Delilah, then back into the kitchen to Abigail with a crooked smile. "This meeting may not have gone how I had planned, but it seems the same results will be meted out, even if through alternative means. If there is one thing you have proven to me in our short acquaintance, Richard, it is your resourcefulness."

Offering an askance look back to the shadowmorph, the German's lips creep up into a faint smile. "Come, victory bread," Niklaus insists with a jerk of his head to the kitchen, "such as it is."


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