Jul 08 11:07:57 105 PA
From Chronicles
The current game time is: Wed Jul 08 11:07:57 105 PA.
The front door leads to a small foyer - just a closet and a heavy steel hatrack with a few cloaks and coats on it, a second open closet with a cloth covering over it that seems to contain weapon cases and armor suits that are hanging from reinforced wall mounts.
The foyer opens to a decent sized living room - the floor covered in dark wood flooring and the walls painted a warm dark green with soft yellow trim. Two couches are angled to face a television and disc player, a reading chair is situated next to a angled lamp.
The kitchen is clean and well cared for - a dishwasher, stove and fridge and freezer, the clear doors on the cabinets showing off plates, a heavy baker's rack that stores pots and pans and some pantry items.
One door from the living room leads into a guest bath with a shower and toilet, the floors tiled. A second door leads to guest bedroom - currently also covered in that dark hardwood floor, two large desks that almost take up an entire wall with two executive chairs. One desk has a dayplanner on the surface, an old looking pocket computer to one side. The remaining wall is covered with an old bookshelf on which a dozen or so books sit - otherwise there's several stacks of legal pads covered with neat, elegant writing. There's several boxes stacked neatly around the walls, a mat on the floor near one desk has several broken part engine and mechanical parts.
The final door leads to the master bedroom suite - dark hardwood floors, the major furniture being the kingsized bed with a heavy dark brown comforter that takes up much of the room. Two nightstands with lamps, an armoire and dresser. A door from the master bedroom leads to the master bath - an antique claw foot large tub, toilet and sink.
The whole apartment has a warm, well cared for and tended to feel.
Atticus is working on dinner while waiting for Cali. Jeans and shirt, humming to himself as he's chopping and making up fixings for pizza - ground beef, sausage, pepperoni, onion, garlic, tomato, green pepper, mushrooms, cheese. He's humming to himself, wiggling his hips as he half dances his way across the kitchen.
The front door slams, and there is the sound of someone dropping a bag, and kicking boots off, one hitting the wall. Unusually, Caliopa doesn't call out a greeting, heading to the study, and sitting on the floor, her forehead wrinkling. Her coveralls leave a smudge of oil on the blanket she sits on, her hands reaching for a piece of machine.
"You okay babe?" Atticus calls as he glances out around the kitchen and into the study, finishing chopping some onion. He checks the oven before turning it on, washing his hands and drying them on a towel as he begins to cross the floor over towards you. "Everything fine?" he asks.
For a moment, her eyes had taken on that unfocussed look, the one that suggests that the piece of Cali that is her had slid away into a machine. Then she blinks, bringing herself back, focusing on Atticus. "It don't make sense, Atti. None of today makes a piece of sense." Her voice is thick with confusion.
"OK, what doen't make sense?" Atticus asks. He indicates the kitchen with a smile. "I'm making pizza. Why don't you come in and come hang out with me while I cook?" he offers as he dries his hands on the towel and offers his hand. "What doesn't make sense - Doc Kalvin disappearing? It doesn't make sense. Unless the bad guys want him for something."
"Someone searched Kalvin's place. I went back, to try again, to try and get summit that'd help us." She takes his hand, bringing the piece of machinery with her. "Pieces ain't in place, not quite. Stuff is just moved a piece." Her eyes are troubled, and she hesitates before speaking again, slowly. "'n' my stuff with machines, it ain't workin' rightly the same..."
"Hrmmm. Well, how is it not working the same. Are you getting better at it maybe?" he asks. He slices more pepperoni, offering her some pieces from his fingertips as he glances over at her. "And the people searching,t hat's weird. Means that someone has been through it again, recently. Maybe we can get those guys to try to track based off of that," he says.
She absently takes the pieces, eating them one by one but not releasing the machine piece. "Before, I sat and kinda sent my mind in to see what ain't workin'..." She speaks slowly, her forehead knitted, "Now, I touch it, and I jus' know. I know what ain't workin'. It comes and goes, sometimes it ain't there but..." She shakes her head, "You reckon the lads'd be able to follow the searchers?" Something in her eyes brightens, hope entering them.
Atticus nods, "They may be able to. We can ask them, see if they can follow them or not. It's worth a shot at least," he asys with a grin. "Sounds like your abilities are transitioning to a new type, Cali. That'll happen sometimes, the more you use them. It happens to me, for example. "Maybe soon, who knows. Don't try to push it, just let it happen."
She nods slowly, her eyes returning to the worriedness of a moment before. "I guess. But if I ask Etienne, and Erik, they might be able to figure something out from it." Her thoughts are on Kalvin, written all over her face. "I ain't keen on them changin'. I'm used to them."
Atticus smiles, "I know. But life is change, sweetheart. It's all about rolling on, moving forward. We each change. Before you and I met, we didn't have each other. We changed in that way, right?" he mrmurs. "Change doens't always mean bad. It can mean it is what you make of it. What if these new powers, you can use them in the future to do good? That could be really helpful."
She twists the piece of machine in her hands, turning it over before lifting eyes to Atticus' face. "This thing, I been tryin' to figure out for days, couldn't get a grip on it. Today, I get in, pick him up and I know for sure what ain't workin' right and why." She holds it up as it might demonstrate for him. "Jus' like that."
Atticus smiles, "Well, those are new powers. They happen, baby. I mean, I feel my mental reserves growing now and then. Like I can use my powers more every day. Or, like, when I learned new magic spells - just woke up one day, did hours of meditation and I just knew intuitively how it worked. I think it's kind of like that. Just don't fight it - embrace it."
She nods slowly, her face echoing the discomfort she feels with the change. She twists the machine piece, for a moment, turning it over in her hands, before she turns, to take it into the livingroom and her bag. "I guess. I mean, I know things ain't gonna stay the same but..." She trails off, returning to the kitchen. "Oh! I forgot. That bloke 'bout the garage, he said to come over, and we can sort the papers out now."
Atticus smiles, "Alright. WE can come over. I won't let us get shaken down for protection money," he notes as he shifts and glances over wtih a grin, tilting back as he reaches for her wrist to try to guide her more into the kitchen. "You excited about the new place?"
"It don't matter a bit if we pay someone, if it works like that, does it?" She doesn't seem to care much, either way, leaning herself in the doorway. "I want my place. The lads, they ain't bad, you know, but they use my stuff sometimes and I ain't fond of that, at all." She wrinkles her nose, her face expressing precisely how unfond she is.
Atticus smiles, "Yes it does. It's a matter of principle. If we let them shake us down they'll always want to shake us down," he explains, glancing over with a grin. He moves to the kitchen, kissing you and he moves to the counter ot continue his work. "Well this way you won't have anyone messing with your stuff at all."
She returns the kiss, her face softening into a smile. "I can put it in place, know it ain't movin' until I pick it up again. I guess you and Kid are right 'bout the protection but we ain't gonna have it easy, not payin' and all." She moves nearer to him, drawn, and watches him cook, her hands moving to her back pockets
Atticus smiles, "I think Kid and I can convince them to see the error of their ways," he notes. A grin at her as he begins to put together a pizza for her - indicating each ingredient to silently ask if she wants it before moving to the other. "And there's a room upstairs for us to crash in. For nooners," he teases. "And the Si Sera offices, that's great."
She nods at some, shaking her head at the olives, wrinkling her nose. "You ain't suggestin' that we... there... at work? It ain't... I mean." She stops abruptly, blushing deeply and ducking her head. "Offices look roomy." Topic change, quick!
Atticus smiles, "They do look roomy. And we could, at work. You were nude at work taking a bath that one time, remember," he asys with a grin. "and wanted to make out in the bed of the truck. That isn't different right," he teases, leaning over to kiss her cheek.
She shakes her head, the cheeks pink as pink. "It is different. I ain't sure how, but our own business it ain't so..." She shrugs, "It was my place then, my home." She pulls a face, shaking her head before she turns to hop onto the counter, swinging her legs. "We got enough for desks and the like?"
Atticus smiles, "WE do. I'm ordering 'em and stuff. ANd you know I wouldn't want you to do anything that isn't comfortable for you," he says with a grin over at her. Finishing making her pizza the way that she wants before getting it into hte oven and working on his own.
She reaches over, picking up olives and placing them lightly over his pizza, in the shape of a smiling face. "I need some shelves for the garage, his ain't orderly. I figure a load to one side, for the parts, 'nother for the tools, worktop so I ain't sat on the floor all the time..." She gets a slightly abstracted look, her eyes focussing elseplace, as her hand stops midair over the pizza.
Atticus grins and glances over, "You tell me waht you need and I'lll make it happen," he says. "What's wrong baby?" he urmurs as he waits for her - not doing anything, waiting for her to get done.
She looks up, blinking, her forehead wrinkling. "Ramps." One word that sums up the worries in her mind, before she drops the final olives down. "Might need to use the AIM for the stuff that ain't allowed in the gates." She explains, her eyes thoughtful. "Stool too."
Atticus smiles, "Stool and ramps. We can do that," he says with a grin over at her, leaning and kissing her throat before he guides her to finish working on his pizza.
"There ain't something of nothing but I was at Kids, with Etienne, that scout. She weren't... I mean, I figured she's be as bothered that Kalvin ain't there but mebbe she was pretendin', so noone knows she is bothered. If you see it." The jumble is given to Atticus along with a worried look.
Kid comes trotting up to Atticus' door in quick step. Already late, might as well make things interesting. Thus she comes to knock on the door firmly, the raps a bit quick, with that hurried quality to them. And after, she waits with her toe tapping.
Atticus smiles and kisses Cali, "Well, maybe she isn't, maybe she isn't. One second," he says as he begins to move to the door, checking it before opening it up. "Kid we were just talking about you, come in. We're making pizza, you want some?" he asks. "Here, in the kitchen."
Caliopa's smile isn't quite as warm and sunny as normal, for Kid, her eyes holding the trouble inside her head. "Hey Kid." She ducks her head, reaching for a piece of cheese to take and nibble at it, keeping her fingers busy.
As might be expected, Kid's eyes narrow slightly when there is mention of talk about her. Instinctive, that, though she comes in without a fuss. "Not here to eat or visit, I figured I might as well come drop some info on you two before too long." She adds in a, "Hey Cali." Either not noting or not concerned with the dim of that sunniness. "I've been keeping an eye at the Nut and Bolt now and then.. not so much as before, but keeping track of the place casually. Not a bad place for info and all." She pauses, the notes, "I got wind that the merc that was with Kalvin and that Sev character has shown up again. And he's got a name now. Carlson." She glances between the two. "What you decide to do with that fact is up to you.. I don't imagine he'll be easy to pump for info, but if you can get a watch on him.."
Atticus considers, "Carlson. So he was seen with Kalvin before he left, right? And that Sev guy? So we should run him down and pump him for info. Find out what he knows," he says as he glances over. "And we should do that as soon as possible."
Caliopa's head lifts up, her gaze fixing on Kid with hope growing in her eyes. The smile gains a million watts of sunshine in one go and she hops off the side. "I figured you were pretendin' you didn't care." She comments, giving Kid a smile full of pleasure and happiness. "I reckon so, Atti, ain't it something you two can do? Both of you, you do that stuff well... else followin' him, see if he don't talk to folks and... " She stops, aware of her babbling, the hope and happiness in her eyes undaunted. "You want pizza, Kid? You can have half of mine. We got the garage, too, gonna see him, fix up a price and sign the papers."
Kid shrugs her shoulders slightly at Atticus and says, "Well, its your info to do what you want with, but if he's with those.. machine things, then I doubt pumping him for info will be all that easy. That or follow him and see what he does. If you pump him first, following won't likely net you much." When Cali speaks, Kid pauses, seeming unsure just how to respond to the declaration of her care level. She decides, ultimately, to let it slide after a few moments of quiet, a shrug moving her past it. "I'm late for work, so I can't hang out," she clarifies. "But you get with me later, Cali girl.. I can try and figure out what's up with the area." She pauses, frowning a little as she gives Cali a more direct look. "Gunna need your mind powers too. I want you to touch my door.. see if you can get something about whoever knocked it in. I don't got no leads, but I want to find out just how heavy it is before I decide to relax."
Atticus nods, "How good are you at shadowing him?" he asks. "Hrm. We'll need someone really good at it," he says. "Oh, and as for the garage, I suspect that guy is going to want to shake us down and we'll have to make it clear to him that isn't an option," he adds.
The look Caliopa gives Kid would have lit a fair few rooms with the bright sunshine in it. "Sure, I should have thought of it when I came over, never crossed my mind. I'll come tomorrow, after work, if you want?" Even Atticus' comment about the shake down doesn't dim it. "Reckon it'll all be fine." She declares, the rose tinted glasses firmly in place. "I'm gonna change, get out of the grease." She gives both that bright smile and heads to the bedroom.
Kid glances at Atticus and gives her shoulders a casual roll. "I could try shadowing the guy, but that would take a lot of time.." She gives him a meaningful look. Of course, time is money, you know. "I figure I'm not too had at it, but tailing someone is a dance you can't just guarantee. Too much random. All it takes is one sideways glance at the wrong time to screw the pooch." She pauses, glancing after Cali for a moment as she goes. Waiting until she's out of earshot before she looks back to Atticus. "Gimme the address. And the name of the guy. I'll see what I can dig up. On him and on the area. At the very least, I'll let you know if there are any gangs you should watch out for. And what sort of protection you might have to pay for with the local toughs."
"This is really important to me and to Cali too. You do whatever you need to do, for crying out loud," he says, exasperated. He nods, calming as Kid offers about the other guy. He writes down an address and name, smiling at her. "And lets get someone on that Carlson guy - whoever you can trust, you or someone else. You just tell me how much," he says.
The sounds of Caliopa moving in the bedroom carry and she is humming cheerfully. She emerges in ancient jeans and a shift of Atticus' that hangs to her knees almost, her hair lifted into a ponytail that bobs almost as cheerfully as she is being. The smile she gives both as she returns is bright and shiny. "Reckon it'll all happen now."
"I'll handle it," Kid assures Atticus as she takes the paper when he offers it. "You might not like the answers when it comes to the garage, but keep in mind.. paying out protection is easier than having a gang on your ass. And if the gang is 'good', it can be an advantage.. keep on their good side and you can get work from them. Price of doing business in the Dregs and all." Something she's quite used to, really, thus it comes out quite casually. Then Cali emerges and Kid clams up a bit on that topic, casually stuffing the paper into her pocket. "We'll see. No promises, but I'll see what I can do. Right now, a pair of fucked up servers are waiting for me, so I'd best get going."
Atticus nods, "I suppose so. But I need to know waht's good and what's not, I'll need your help on that," he agrees with a smile. "OK. Thank you Kid, again. If I can ever do anything for you, you let me know."
Caliopa nods, giving Kid a happy grin, reaching over to take another piece of cheese which she eats slowly, tearing it into pieces, contentment on her face. "'ll need sand too, Atti." She observes, apparently randomly, her eyes lifting to him.
"Fair pay for fair work is all I ever ask, other than that you don't owe me anything," Kid replies, casually brushing such things off. She lifts a hand to grip the strap of her bag, turning to take her leave. "Later." A hand lifted in casual gesture along with that light parting word as she takes her leave.
Atticus smiles and watches her leave. "Take care Kid," he tells Kid, "We can add it to our list," het ells Cali.Tags:atticus, caliopa, kid
