Jul 31 14:35:49 105 PA
From Chronicles
The current game time is: Fri Jul 31 14:35:49 105 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.
Varying her time between pacing the floor, staring anxiously out of the window and trying to concentrate on her work, Cali has finally settled for pacing as the best use of her time, whilst Atticus meets with the gang leaders. She takes a moment to peer through the peep hole, just in case he is stood out there waiting, before returning to pacing.
Atticus returns with a bag of treats and a coffee, stepping into the apartment nad whistling as he shuts the door. "Hey you," he says as he puts both down with a smile, moving to begin taking off his armor in careful pieces, storing it in the closet. "It went okay, I guess. How are you doing?" he asks. "how are you feeling?"
She hurtles at him, ignoring the coffee and the treats, her relief obvious. "You ain't hurt? They ain't killed you or Karl? I mean, obviously, you ain't dead but..." She stares up at him, the worry in her face faded only slightly. "What did they say? They gonna leave us alone?"
Atticus smiles, "They didn't kill us, no. They didn't hurt us. I tried to talk some sense into them and I couldn't," he says as he moves to hug her and walk to the couch and offer his arms. "So I kind of paid them two thousand, just enough to buy us some time. I'll figure out a better long term solution but this way they won't bug us for now."
Her forehead wrinkles, and perplexion shows in her brown eyes. "I thought we weren't payin' though?" She questions, following him and curling up against him. "I mean, ain't it that they're jus' raise the price 'n' mess with us, til we give up 'n' move, if we pay? What are we gonna do?"
Atticus nods, "Well, I didn't want to pay. But we didn't have a ton of options - either we may, or they ratchet up the violence. This way I've bought us a month or so I hope, or some time. I can look into the the other options we have. Like maybe getting another gang to take them out, or maybe some targetted work to just take out their leadership. but this way we have more time, you know?"
She leans in, snuggling her cheek against his chest. "I guess. Are there other gangs out there?" She questions softly, her worry faded to be replaced with trust. "Time is good though, worth havin'. Is there anything I can do? I ain't much use, with the fightin' 'n' talkin' to them and..." She stops and sighs.
Atticus nods, "There are other gangs out here. And I met one of the biggest with Kid over the junkyard thing, i may try to get in touch with him to find out more about what's going on." he says with a smile. "Well, we're trying to run down this guy, he was a full cyborg but had a barely working arm and his legs were all screwed up and he seemed kind of insane. If we can run him down I'd like you to take a look at him to try to help him?"
She curls her legs up beneath her, wincing slightly as it tugs on her stomach wound. "Cyborg?" She questions, a spark of interest and curiousity growing in her eyes. "'Course I would, jus' to see...I mean, I ain't got many parts for one of them but I could try jury rig something up." She tilts her head, her mind already rushing to solve a problem.
Atticus nods, "Just think about it. But he's kind of crazy, so be careful if you run into him. I think Zaphod and I are trying to find out more about him. I really think he could use our help," he says as he leans over to kiss her cheek.
Her forehead wrinkles and she nods slowly, not really paying attention to the warning, her mind already poking at how to replace parts on a cyborg with no money. "Worth lookin' into..." She murmurs, chewing on her lower lip./
Atticus nods and leans over to kiss her cheek. "I know Zaphod said it'd be a half million to replace the parts on him, but we don't need to worry about that right now. If we can run into him again and convince him to come in, it would just be to make sure he's okay first, not try to replace all his parts."
She smiles at him, drawn back from the thinking, the planning, by the kiss. "I could go take a look, see if I ain't so scary compared with you two? I mean, mebbe if it ain't two big blokes...." She gives him a questioning look, her brown eyes wide.
Atticus thinks for a moment, "Only if you had someone out of the way and able to help make sure you were safe," he says, "I know the gang said they'd leave us be but for now I want to make sure that we aren't being too overconfident," he says.
"Why would anyone hurt me, 'pecially since we paid up 'n' that means me 'n' my garage, we're protected, right? That is what we're payin' for?" She leans back into the cushions, her hand absently rubbing over her stomach.
Atticus grins, "It does., But it's still the Dregs honey, and you're hurt., And you know me, I'm protective," he says as he reaches into the bag to pull out some warm cookies and stack them up on a napkin within reach.
She giggles then, leaning forwards to snag a cookie, her grin mischief filled. "Ain't you always? Sometimes I reckon I don't know how I survived before you. Ain't it a wonder?" She is teasing now, lighthearted, warmth in her eyes.
Atticus smiles, "A damn wonder, no doubt," he says as he leans in to kiss her cheek and glance over at her. "Anyway, I'll get with the others and get working on some sort of plan to solve the gang thing once and for all. I'll still make sure I'm at the garage with you, just in case they try to shake us down for more."
"Atti... it is my garage still. I ain't wantin' other folks to be protectin' it if I ain't doin' as much." The soft words are spoken as her smile fades a little. "It ain't fair otherwise. I oughta be doin' at least the same."
Atticus nods, "Well, my plan wasn't to have people protecting it, so much. I meant, we need to bide our time to figure out how to fix them. Maybe it means intimidating them, or something else. But I also want to play it safe, and I don't want them coming by again when I'm not there, because that's not fair to you. Does that make sense?"
She nods slowly, the concern in her eyes causing the pucker between them. "I guess. But I can go down there? Get myself sorted?" She checks with him, softly, nibbling on the cookie she snagged. "I want to tidy up, sort my stuff clear so I know what I got to buy."
Atticus nods, "You can, I'll go with you and help, we can air the place out, get everything working again. And I like watching you working on cleaning up and tidying and I can help you lift the big stuff so you don't strain yourself."
She nods and snuggles down next to him, contentedly planning her garage in her mind, nibbling around the edge of the cookie, her brown eyes gazing into her mind. "Renos said he'd help out." She observes.
Atticus nods, "That's good. He said he'd help with the tools and stuff?" he ask with a smile.
She nods, turning the cookie to bite again, nibbling around the edges. "If it's needful..."Tags:atticus, caliopa
