Jen
The King Xiao restaurant has passed the dinner rush, but there are still guest eating. Jen is talking in Cantonese to her Baba next to the kitchen door.
Ki Mondblume
*Chinese food is AMAZING, and buffet styles are certainly his favorite. He is BEAMING, as he fills up his plate. Again. And again. And again. His smile is widening, and it seems the people working there’s smiles are lowering more and more, as they wonder… when will the beast STOP EATING?*
Fiona Murray
Fiona is slowly learning to comprehend Cantonese. Not because she wants to, but because she needs to in order to get her words across to the people she has been addressing all day. It has been a hectic afternoon, her feet hurt from all the walking that she has done hunting through the city for something that you didn’t know exactly how to find.
She sags against the door of the fifth Chinese buffet restaurant that she’s been to in the past hour. A hand runs through blond hair, dragging it back from her face as Fiona heads to the counter to speak with to one of the employees there. Ki somewhere in the backdrop stuffing his face, she has yet to notice him.
Fiona holds up a piece of paper, tapping her finger on printed out image of a tall dark-haired man that clearly resembles Simon. “Excuse me…” she says, “Uh…” lays the paper down, “Have you seen this guy here… tall, pretty intimidating…swears a lot? He might be around this area a lot?”
Ki Mondblume
*He looks up suddenly, his cheeks puffed out with food like some sort of humanoid woodchuck. He looks over, and he squints at the picture. He wavers back and forth… but he doesn’t want to leave his plate. DAMMIT, what is he to do? Instead, he raises his hand.* HEY! PSSSST!
Fiona Murray
Fiona is shaking her head at the same time as the older cashier is behind counter, informing her in not so good English that she hasn’t seen the person. The blond leans over the counter, touching her forehead to it as she shuts her eyes.
“Hmm?” that’s about when she hears the “PSSST!! HEY!” She looks up, frowning as she looks around, her eyes finally settling on Ki. Fiona moves away from the counter with a sudden push, grabbing the paper and heading towards his table. “YOU!!”
Ki Mondblume
*He beams, and nods.* ME, *he assures her, that he is indeed himself.* Why do you have a picture of Simon there? It’s a really bad picture of him. Can I draw a moustache on him? One of those silly ones that curls up at the end. OH! And a goatee! It can be EVIL Simon, Simon’s twin brother who was separated at birth from him. I’m going to refill my plate! This place is GREAT! Can you believe you can refill it like… a thousand times?
Naomi Bryant
*Naomi is inside the buffet, consuming the very last of her fried rice and chicken. Seated at a table prepared for four rather than one, she has her purse in one chair and her guide cane leaning against the same one. She’s not a stunning woman, but despite that she handles herself with confidence. Eating carefully, she draws her fork full of rice and cool chicken to her mouth in a careful way, her eyes never really turning to the plate in front of her*
Fiona Murray
She stares at Ki with widening eyes, laying the print out on the table. She reaches for one of the chairs at his table, flopping down into it with a long drawn-out sigh. Shrugging out of her purse, Fiona just shakes her head at him, setting the hemp-woven tote on the table in front of her.
“Of course it’s bad. I had to pull the image off of a camcorder. I think it was kinda of fuzzy…” she starts to say as he gets up…”Hey, wait… I needed.. too…” she watches him go off to get more food, and just groans.
Izzy Montoya
Now, common misconception number one about the members of any police force is that all they eat is doughnuts. This is patently untrue, as this particular cop’s meal of choice is Chicago Deep Dish Pizza. And, since moving out here – well, she’ll have to settle for her second favorite for the evening… Chinese.
It’s a random draw, of course, that has her choosing the same buffet that houses Fiona and Ki, because life would be awfully boring without such coincidences, wouldn’t it? No matter, really – she’s hungry, she has a few minutes before she’s likely to get her next call, and Derek is busy doing research, or something like it.
She’s dressed in her standard ‘uniform’ of sorts: slacks, a tailored blouse, a light blazer that serves to hide the weapon at the small of her back which is most certainly not the only one she carries. Her shoes are sturdy and comfortable, and there’s two things that are undeniable about her: 1. she’s a cop. Through and through. and two – but only for those that notice such things – her blood sings the songs of viking warriors, blood and conquest, strength and fire.
Otherwise – well. She’s simply someone else here for the food.
Ki Mondblume
*He returns with a plate almost overflowing, and he blinks at Fiona, and then beams.* Cool! You’re still here! You can’t have any of my food, though. It’s MINE, and I only share with one girl. Just one.
*He puts the plate down, and he starts to eat. With his hands. He’s a damned savage. He looks down at the picture, and he frowns. He starts talking, with his mouth full.*
Fiona Murray
She rolls her eyes shut for a moment, leaning back in the chair. Her hands brought up to run them through the blond strands of hair, gathering it all back off her shoulders and securing it in a loose ponytail at the nape of her neck. Fiona waits for Ki to return to the table, her eyes opening to roam around the buffet place, catching sight of Izzy as she comes in, and then over to a couple at a table nearby, eventually taking Naomi in.
“Where’s your bromance at? The last time I saw him he wasn’t in a very good state of mind and I was a bit worried he might’ve ate some nice old lady’s poodle after what happened to him.”
Ki Mondblume
*He chokes on an egg roll, suddenly, cacking up half of one onto the plate. That is disgusting. He pauses, and he slowly eats it again, as if no one would notice. And THEN he speaks.*
Ahh. It’s not a bromance. I like to punch things, and so does he, so with our mutual love of violence, we fight crime. Or something. *He’s… got a really vivid imagination.* And poodles have no meat on them. He needs to go for a nice fat chihuahua.
Izzy Montoya
She pays, and takes up her plate, and her place in the buffet line. she doesn’t go overboard, taking only enough to stave off the worse of her hunger until she has dinner at home, later. Chow mein, rice, sesame chicken, an egg roll, some coffee and she’s moving her way toward a table. She settles in, does not take off her blazer, pulls out her phone and starts to flip through her messages as she eats.
Fiona Murray
“Oh! Gross…” Fiona scrunches up her nose, leaning forward, she grabs the edge of her chair scooting it away from Ki as he proceed to regurgitate half of the egg roll and then consumes it again. It makes her stomach queasy watching him do that.
“I’m pretty sure whatever it is you two have… it’s a bromance.” Blue eyes slide away from him, much to her relief that Ki doesn’t do anything else disgusting and focuses on Izzy, watching the cop as she lowers her voice. “So you haven’t seen him then, Ki? He was ready to flip his shit if you know what I mean… a few nights ago.”
Ki Mondblume
*His eyes widen, and he stops eating.* He was ready to go all ballistic on something? NOT fair! I told him if he was going to kick some ass? I’d be going with him! We AGREED to it! *Which is likely… Ki thinking he said it once and agreed to it, mentally.*
What sort of flipping stuff? *He doesn’t swear.* What did he find?
Izzy Montoya
She hears someone exclaim about the grossness of another, and only glances up… and then looks again. Her brow furrows slightly, and then she rolls her eyes.
Naturally.
She watches Ki a moment more, shifts her gaze to the woman next to him, and then just shakes her head and goes back to her phone.
Fiona Murray
Fiona swings her gaze back to Ki, arching an eyebrow at him. One hand grabs for the tote bag to open it up, fishing inside for a ball-point pen. She pulls it out, twisting in the seat to face him. Fiona grabs for the print out, flipping the paper over so the blank side faced up.
“If you look around town you’ll see fliers going up, we saw some folks putting them up…” here she starts to doodle. Writing: Akalah + Leeu and draws a circle around it. Below the names, she draws a box with a triangular roof with the “the Club” written inside and next to that draws a stick figure with vampire fangs next to it.
“These people.” tapping the two names, “And that dude.” she draws an arrow to the stick figure. “We ran into after you left, they were putting up fliers for some kind of event. They were looking your buddy up and down, like sizing him up… we ran into some young girl that’s family to Simon..and she had some interesting stuff to tell me.”
Fiona looks around, scrunching her nose as she starts to doodle storm clouds, thunder and lighting on a blank corner of the paper. “They pissed him off really badly by insulting him. Almost to the point of losing it completely.”
Ki Mondblume
*His eyes widen.* Stick figures make me mad too, *he admits, although despite the silly words, he looks rather serious. He scowls. Getting angry makes him hungry! Clearly.*
*When he’s taken a few more bites, he looks over it.* I’ve seen that flyer. And… well, Simon’s got a worse temper than I do. *DOES he have a temper?* I could do a bit of… well. Checking things out. I’m good at that. I’m a NINJA. It’s why I like Chinese food so much.
Fiona Murray
There is another doodle forming under the storm clouds and lightning, one of a squiggly lines fashioned into a shaggy dog that looks like it got zapped –err is getting zapped by a bolt of lightning. Fiona looks up at Ki, nodding her head.
She stops doodling, sets the pen down and looks away again. Her features drawn into a tight frown, her voice low, troubled by what the way she speaks. “I can’t…can’t really go into more here. I need to find your friend to tell him. He was concerned about the young girl we found… she wasn’t no older than sixteen.”
Ki Mondblume
Then we should find her! *He stands up quickly, and he looks back to Fiona.* We have to go! Now! *RELIEF from the crew working the place, and his eyes widen upon Izzy.* DON’T you DARE shoot me!
Izzy Montoya
She looks up, and arches a brow slightly at Ki’s exclamation. Lips curve into a familiar smirk, as she takes a sip of her coffee. It’s too hot, it tastes like shit- which means it’s perfect for her.
She lets her gaze drift over him, to the woman he’s with, then back again. “Wouldn’t waste the fuckin’ bullet and it wouldn’t do any fuckin’ good..”
Ki Mondblume
*He pauses, and he grins.* It’s true. I’m superman.
Izzy Montoya
She snorts. “No, you’re a moron. You wouldn’t fuckin’ learn anything. Therefore – waste of my time..”
And she turns back to her meal.
Fiona Murray
Fiona’s cheeks darken to four different shades of red with embarrassment at Ki’s exclamation, she watched him stand up quickly. One hand slapping down on the piece of paper to slide it off the table and begins to fold it up.
A glance to Izzy and then back to Ki, “Why would she shoot you?”
Ki Mondblume
Because she’s a massive jerk, *he says with a grin to Fiona.* Who likes to shoot things and ruin missions. Come on, lets go.
Fiona Murray
“Ruin missions?”
Confusion settles in pretty quickly into her expression, she doesn’t get up just yet from the table. Her eyes cutting across to Ki, then to Izzy and back again. “Wait you two know each other? From where?”
The folded up paper is thrown into the tote bag along with the recapped pen, her hand clutching the corners as Fiona stands, looping the strap over her arm.
Izzy Montoya
She snorts again. it wasn’t her that ruined that mission, it was him and his little buddy – but then again, Garou are champions of revisionist history. It does nothing to change her opinion of him, or others either.
Good thing the kinfolk had the sense to find the photos, hm? None the less, she ignores him, and studies the messages on her phone.
“He knows nothing of me.” To Fiona.
Ki Mondblume
*He grins at that.* I know enough of you, *he says sincerely to Izzy.* Your temper is worse than Simon’s. Gotta work on that.
Izzy Montoya
“You know nothing.” Dry, that. “You’re an idiot. You should work on that.”
Fiona Murray
Fiona rolls her eyes to the ceiling, counting the cracks in the tile for a few seconds and then brings her gaze back down to watch Ki and Izzy interact. She waves a hand in the air, gesturing between the two of them, interjecting.
“Clearly! The two of you know each other.” She says, “Former lovers, perhaps?”
Ki Mondblume
Ohh, I HAVE been. YOU should work on your temper. Difference is, I’ve LEARNED. *He looks back to Fiona at that.* Oh no. Not at ALL. I think she’d bite Tonto off.
Izzy Montoya
She looks up at Fiona and narrows her gaze. “Give me more credit than that. I wouldn’t touch that worthless sack of shit with a ten foot pole.”
“and you’ve learned nothing if you still believe you didn’t fuck up in chicago. You missed the pictures, the memory card, you missed what was actually going down, you missed who the motehrfucking victim really was, AND I had to cover your fucking ass with police and press. You. are. a. moron.”
Ki Mondblume
We got the camera, the memory card, and we wouldn’t have HAD to cover our butts if YOU hadn’t SHOT at the mortal! So don’t start with me. You don’t know what you did wrong. You’ll deny it to the bitter end.
*Despite all of this, he’s still smiling.* You helped screw up just as much as anyone else. So, thanks.
Fiona Murray
“Tonto?” Eyebrow arched, the corner of her left eye twitched; “You call it, Tonto?”
It is clear there is a relationship between Ki and Izzy. Fiona is seeing that now. She folds her arms over her chest, shifting her weight to lean most of it on her hip as she watches them banter at each other like she was at a tennis match.
Her eyes widening when Izzy glared at her, “Hey, I didn’t know you two had a history!” she drops her arms, throwing her hands up defensively. “I don’t want to get shot.”
Izzy Montoya
“Actually, I got the memory card, you idiot. You didn’t even see where she stashed it. Hell, you didn’t even see that you were trying to save the bad guy.”
She just shakes her head, and stands. “You believe what you want. You dickwads always will. Rest assured I won’t be covering your ass here. And when someone does shoot your stupid ass? I’ll buy them a goddamn drink.”
She takes the last swig of her coffee, and walks away.
Ki Mondblume
Hah! Joke’s on YOU, I don’t HAVE an ass! *He laughs. He can’t help it. Okay. So maybe he IS a little crazy.*
Fiona Murray
“Oh my god…”
Fiona lifts up a hand to cover her face, bowing her head down as she steps away from Ki. She looks around from beneath her palm to see if anyone was staring at them. Sure enough, a few people might have looked up from their plates. She scuttles away from Ki, heading for the door to wait for the man outside.
Izzy Montoya
Izzy doesn’t deign to reply. In fact, he may as well not even exist anymore. She simply walks away, pausing outside to light a cigarette. Then, she dials a number, and waits for the other person to answer while she walks to her car.
Simon Zahradnik
Simon could be seen wandering down the street. Wherever he found one of those fucking Flyers he had taken the time to rip that shit down and throw it in the fucking trash. Assholes just plain pissed him the fuck off. Still he was feeling better tonight and he even wore a smile.
Dark clothing, backpack, bandanna, with his hoodie dropped backwards. Simon wasn’t hiding and would be visible enough to anyone passing him by.
Ki Mondblume
*He does jog out after Fiona, and he frowns at that.* You wandered off. You didn’t even EAT anything.
Fiona Murray
Fiona stood outside. Blue eyes glued to Izzy as she watches the woman walk away, talking to someone on the other end of the phone. She tilts her head to the side, her attention focused for the most part, that she doesn’t even register Ki’s presence until he speaks.
He frowns at her, asking why she didn’t eat and wandered off. Fiona nearly shrieks in surprise as Ki startles her. She pivots suddenly, throwing her arms up into the air to flail them about. “DON’T do that! You scared me!”
Somewhere down the block was the Shadow Lord, creeping into her line of sight as he makes his way towards them, tearing off fliers as he goes along.
Ki Mondblume
*He looks curious at Fiona, with a slight frown. And he pokes her nose with a slender finger.* Boop. Hey! Simon! *He raises a hand.*
Simon Zahradnik
He smiles at the sight of Ki and his head bobs a little in greeting before walking up to Ki.”Hey S’up?”He asks with a little smile before looking at Fiona.”And you again…”
“How is everyone tonight?”