mind_bullets | More Fun in Belgium~ @ open

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More Fun in Belgium~ @ open

'Eventually' had been an appropriate estimate of time after all, given how long it was after the message had been sent. After a bit of fumbling with keys in the lock, the door opened to the sound of humming, indicating at once that Miklos himself had not returned. It was an upbeat sort of tune, interrupted only by the extended crackling sound of someone trying their hardest to suck the remnants of a drink out of a near-empty cup with a straw. Apollo lifted his head up and made a few quiet 'woofs', but otherwise stayed put. A+ guard dog.

Sir Pugsley, on the other hand, started barking and howling. How dare an intruder come in. He bounced off Apollo and Peace, and made his short-legged way to the door. The noise was enough to rouse Peace from the impromptu nap the dogs had impressed upon her.

The sound stopped when Sir Pugsley appeared, though there was still the sound of the barking and the rattling of the keys until they were pocketed. "Hey there, little buddy. You're.. not at all what I was expecting. Hello~?"

Sir Pugsley barked again, and stayed just out of the visitor's reach. Peace patted Apollo, still half-asleep. "...Hello?" she mumbled, her voice raspy. "He...loooooooooo."

Following her voice, Calen stepped around the still-offended pug. Finally, Apollo jumped up and trotted off, his apparent recognition of the voice eliminating the need to bodily protect Peace from the potential threat. "I had a key. I'm supposed to be here. If you're lurking to hit me with something.. don't?"

"A pillow, maybe." Peace groaned as she say up and combed her fingers through her hair.

"Well, that's not too bad.." He said, though now he talked around the candy he'd unwrapped and started eating. "What's wrong with you? Hangover?"

"Nap." Peace replied. "I don't drink." She flipped over bonelessly and rested her chin on her kneecaps. "What time is it?"

"Whaaat? Really? It is-.." Calen patted his numerous pockets with one hand until he found his phone. "... A little after seven, apparently. Huh. Time zones. That's always weird."

"Where's Miklos?" Peace rolled until there was no more bed and stood up. A squinty glare around the room did not reveal where her glasses were. "Have you seen my glasses?"

"Back in New York. Something came up, s'all I know.." He started poking around in his phone, holding his candy bar between his teeth for the moment. "Oops.. oh well.." he muttered quietly around it, biting another chunk off after he slid the phone back into his hoodie pocket. "And I didn't see any glasses, no."

"That's stupid, he's my handler, he's supposed--" Peace went back to the bed and felt around for the thin black frames. Still half-blinded, she looked over her shoulder at Calen's blurry form. "You're not my new handler, are you?"

"No. Haha, no. Me? No, I don't handle anyone. I'm just supposed to help you if you need it and watch out for the-.." He stopped and looked around as if he'd missed something. "Creepy roommate," he said in a hushed tone.

"Are you bee-approved?" Peace crawled onto the bed and looked for her glasses, until her fingers finally found the slim black plastic frames and shoved them on her face.

"Yep," Calen said, peeling the wrapper off the last of the candy and finishing it off all at once. He rubbed his hands together and made a face, thinking nothing of wiping any residual stickiness off on the back of his pants. "You?" He was very much the opposite of Miklos: quite a bit shorter and dressed very casually, in an 'I purchased these jeans pre-ripped' kind of way.

"Yeah," Peace nodded and turned to sit on the bed. Her feet didn't even hit the ground, dangling just a couple inches from the hardwood. "Among other things, I guess. Who are you?"

There, finally, now that she was feeling less squish-brained, she could get to the important questions. She reached for her cellphone and woke it up, sliding a finger across the screen to send a message to Miklos.

Who is this dude, where is the coffee, why are you in NYC?

"Oh, right. I'm Calen." He grinned and gave her a little wave. "Have you tried any of the food around here? It is fantastic.."

The response to her message came about quickly.

You didn't think you were the only one I handled, did you? I assumed you would prefer to not be left with just a dog to cover you. You're welcome. I assume you've been un-wedged.

The coffee is where the coffee's always been. If you've run out, buy more.

I'm here taking care of a problem that couldn't wait.

"There's a lot of fried things, I noticed." Peace said, kicking her feet. "Do you drink coffee? Because I really need some before my head starts throbbing."

"'Do I drink coffee'," he repeated with a laugh. "Yes. Yes, I do. They have another coffee shop near here?"

Peace frowned at the message at it came through and wrinkled her nose. I have been unwedged. This person is weird. How much do they know??

"Yeah, there was a cute one down the way." Peace's head turned suddenly, watching something move in the kitchen. "Let me find my shoes."

"Sweet. I like this country so far.." At Peace's sudden turn he spun around to face where she'd looked, reaching a hand behind him. "What what?"

Another message returned at the speed of someone who didn't need to type.

He knows not to touch you. And what you're capable of, loosely, in the event you have an episode.

You're weird.

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i am not weird! YOU ARE LIKE 4 STEPS TO BECOMING THOR. Peace huffed at her phone and shoved it into her pocket. "Nothing, just someone in the kitchen."

There was no one in the kitchen.

I am glad you feel I am that near to godhood.

"Kitchen's empty, you realize?" His hand stayed right where it was. If Calen had been briefed on the seeing of things that weren't there, he'd forgotten it in the moment.

It was at that point the doorknob rattled again as another person unlocked it. When the door opened, a black muzzle poked through, then a scruffy black lab pushed his way inside. He was an odd-looking dog, just a little too big with red eyes and an unfriendly look. On his heels was Nicolae. He had his nose stuck in a French newspaper, but when he realized there were strangers in the room, he said sharply, "Ghost, fuss!"

The dog moved reluctantly to his left side and stood, looking up at Nicolae.

"Kitchen's only empty for you. Don't worry too much about it," Peace replied, and pulled her boots out from under the table. How they had gotten there? She really had no idea. It was probably Sir Pugsley.

The pug gave Nicolae a long work and trotted back over to Peace as she pulled on her boots, like she'd do something. She pulled her gloves out of a pocket and pulled them on, well past her wrist. "Hi, Nicolae and Friend."

"Right. 'Cause that's totally comforting," Calen muttered, his hand dropping back to his side even as the door opened. He'd been expecting at least one more in the safe house and obviously this person had a key. His brows lifted at the sight of the dog, which seemed perfectly in line with the vague idea of Creepy Roommate he'd formed in his mind.

Nicolae moved over to his bed and said, "Ghost! Hopp!" The dog jumped up onto Nicolae's bed and laid down. Nicolae said, "Bleib." Then he set his bag and his newspaper down and turned back to the group. "I didn't realize we'd have more visitors. I hope you don't mind, Ghost is staying while dad deals with some things in Moulins. Shouldn't be more than a few days, and he won't bother Apollo or Sir Pugsley."

Indeed, when he caught sight of Sir Pugsley, Ghost's tail wagged, though he didn't budge from Nicolae's bed. Nicolae turned, reached in his bag, then handed Ghost a rubber bone. The dog happily held it down with his paws and chewed on it. Some of his teeth were oddly long.

Nicolae turned from the dog and extended a hand to Calen. "Nicolae Molyneux. Nice to meet you."

"It was-.." Calen was momentarily distracted. Sir Pugsley? ".. Yeah, it was unexpected. I'm standing in as her backup while Miklos ruins lives in New York. He had no sympathy whatsoever for the fact that I had a date."

His brows furrowed as he eyed Ghost and his strangely long teeth, doing a bit of a double take before he shook Nicolae's hand. "Calen Lismore. Nice to meet you.." He smiled, deciding Nicolae earned a few points for making him the tallest person in the room for once.

Still, he had a lot of questions to wonder about. Who are you? What's the deal with the eyes? What's with the dog? He stared a bit more than he should have and focused a little too hard, Nicolae likely able to feel an odd pressure at the base of his skull before Calen snapped out of it.

"We were going to get coffee, actually.."

Edited 2014-10-04 05:31 (UTC)

The pug looked at Calen as if to say, And what, motherfricker? before Peace deposited the pug on the chair and went looking for the leash harness. "If you want to come, it's fine. I was just stuck between two dogs and a wall and a gap for-freaking-ever today." He was going to trip over every rug in the Labyrinth if she could work it. "I need to get out of this tiny room and--"

She stopped and looked in the kitchen. "And you had better unhand that coffee cup." There was a soft click of ceramic on the counter top. She looked back at the other two, "And get some fresh air."

Nicolae could feel pressure, and behind him, Ghost looked up sharply from his bone and gave a throaty growl. When the pressure eased, Ghost went back to his bone as if nothing happened. Nicolae, meanwhile, acted as if nothing had happened.

"If you don't mind. It'll be nice to get out for a bit. If I have to stare at any more tomb walls while I'm here, I might scream." He turned to rummage in his bag and pulled on a slightly worse-for-wear Innsmouth Academy hoodie. Ghost looked as if he wanted to jump down to follow, but Nicolae pulled out a bowl and moved to the kitchen to fill it with water for the dog. He gave the coffee cup a wide berth. Ghost, meanwhile, gave the area around the coffee cup a clear look. You're fooling no one, you know. Nicolae set the water bowl down near Ghost, then stood and joined Calen and Peace.

Calen glanced into the kitchen again briefly, though he was more concerned with Ghost again and not the thing that was only in the kitchen for everyone else.

"I.. don't have a preference. I'm just hoping they have a good selection. Is your dog alright?" It could have been purely coincidental, but the timing was such that he was seriously doubting it.

"It seemed pretty good, from what I noticed. Where did Apollo get to?" Peace held up the harness, which set Sir Pugsley into what could only be described as a bouncing wiggling dance of pug-shaped excitement. It took her a minute to get the harness attached.

Nicolae watched the pug with barely contained laughter. "What, Ghost? He's fine. I don't think he'll get hungry at least till I'm ready to go find something, so." Nicolae shrugged.

"I'm good with whatever you guys want. Peace knows, I don't usually drink coffee, I'm just tagging along for the company."

"Awesome. That is.. a real load off my mind.." Calen gave Nicolae a long look, but at least there was nothing out of the ordinary accompanying it that time. He hadn't been thinking directly of Ghost's eating habits until just then and he was ninety percent sure 'something' wasn't going to be Kibbles n' Bits.

Hearing his name, Apollo made another appearance, having tucked himself back into the space where he'd been 'guarding' Peace earlier. He ignored Sir Pugsley despite the bouncing and excitement, rather more interested in taking the opportunity to wander past everyone and inspect them for food. He was wary of Ghost, pausing and looking over toward the red-eyed dog whenever too much of a sound would come from the chewing.

Peace - now with wiggling, excited pug leashed and harnessed, waiting impatiently for her to move to the door - couldn't remember the command Miklos used to get Apollo to come to him and just lifted the thin leash instead. "Wanna go out?" You moose.

Apollo knew the leash, even if she didn't know the word and bounded over to her. Rather than leaping on her, at least, he sat down in front of her. Awkwardly, as he was trying to stay seated while also wagging what amounted to his entire back end.

Calen fished his phone out of his pocket again, shooting off a text or two while waiting for Peace to be finished with the dogs so they could head out.

Peace latched the leash to Apollo, murmuring niceties about the Doberman ("Please don't pull my arm out of its socket, puppy...!") And stood. Sir Pugsley leapt from the chair and led the way to the door, leash trailing behind him like an absurdly long tail. He say and turned to the humans, slightly curled tail wagging incessantly.

"Okay, I think we're ready!" Peace patted her back pocket, looking for her phone and wallet. She then retrieved her pug's lash and looked at the boys.

Nicolae watched Sir Pugsley and Apollo with amusement. When they were finally ready to go, he reached in his bag and pulled out a book and a pair of claws. Both were stowed inside his hoodie. "I'm ready." He headed for the door with his hands in his hoodie.

"I'm kind of glad I don't own a dog.." Calen said, following the others out. He had his key in hand to lock the door behind them again.

Apollo was very well-behaved on the leash, leaving quite a loose lead as he stuck by Peace's side.

"Why? They're super cute. And if you're like me, it means they're the only thing you can touch without the Twilight Zone happening." Peace asked as she led the dogs out and down the hallway, then down the stairs and out into the street. "Cats are pretty good too, just keep rodents away. So creepy."

"I prefer cats, really. Ghost is alright, but he does his own thing a lot. A smaller, louder dog would drive me nuts." Nicolae followed along, slightly behind them. "I had a pet squirrel once."

"Well, I'm-.. not. And it just seems like a lot of responsibility I'm not necessarily willing to deal with right now. I dunno. I always thought maybe I'd want a bird?"

He glanced back at Nicolae with the oddest look.

"Why a squirrel?"

Pugsley trotted along ahead, occasionally stopping to sniff this bit of sidewalk, or that decorative shrubbery. When Peace slowed to look at Nicolae as well, he huffed at the lot of them. "Squirrels are... something. I don't like their beady little eyes."

"Cat brought a baby squirrel in once. Mom and I nursed it back to health. We let it go once it was old enough to take care of itself. It always used to come back to us and beg for food or scratches." Nick smiled and shrugged, almost shyly. "I dunno, I liked it. Mom was always doing stuff like that. We almost had a raccoon, but dad convinced mom to take it to a rehab place." Nicolae bent down to scratch Sir Pugsley's ears as they walked.

"Yeah, alright. I'll accept that. Though that's less of a pet if you let it go.." Calen said, sounding almost like he was reasoning it out aloud. Only after a moment did he seem to realize he was picking apart what were perhaps treasured memories and paused briefly.

"Anyway. Probaby a good move on the raccoon though. Every few years the news would tell us we had rabid ones in our area. Did not want to go outside those winters.."

"I didn't have any pets." Peace shrugged. "Pugsley is my first pet ever, for real." She left it at that and patted Apollo's side. "And it took forever to get the higher ups to approve it."

She looked over at Nicolae for a moment, and her eyebrows drew together. Red-Eyed People Eater didn't mesh well with the shy, boyish smile. Weird. "Did you see those really fat squirrels in Central Park?"

"I did. One tried to take my sandwich once, when dad and I first started working in New York. I don't think they're afraid of people at all." Nicolae grinned.

"Rabid animals are pretty easy to spot. They act different. Aggressive, out when they're not supposed to be, acting all confused and stuff. Raccoons are pretty cool. They're like cats with hands."

"... I believe you. Mostly. But being a little kid then it's like all you could think of was some horrible, drooling monster that was going to try and tear your throat out. Best to just stay inside where it was warm, rabies-free, and full of video games.." Calen wore a thoughtful look for a little bit, keeping an eye out for the shop.

"And I don't really care for cats. Cats with the addition of hands sounds awful. They're already into everything as it is.."

"My father made me a little seat out of a raccoon skin once. Like... a really furry throw pillow." Peace looked thoughtful, "It was really soft." She was almost apologetic sounding, "But where I grew up was really... weird."

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More Fun in Belgium~ @ open

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