ArchivedLogs:Planning Ahead

Planning Ahead
Dramatis Personae Ion, Isra, Regan, Egg
In Absentia	2015-09-20 "What you stop by here for, then? Coffee? Rabbit-murder? Hope-to catch a glimpse of Kay when he get all fresh out the shower?"
Location <BOM> The Allspark - Ascension Island
Small and compact in the manner of most cabins on the island, this place is solidly built. Hardwood floors, sturdy log-wood walls, fireplaces in every room. It consists of a small sitting room, a bathroom with claw-footed tub, and two small bedrooms. The furnishing in here is eclectic, to say the least; it looks somewhat as though it has been scavenged piecemeal from what you might find if you did a google search for 'luxury home decor'. There's a plush dark sofa with a round marble-topped coffee table in front of it, a wrought-iron and red-glass side table beside it with a colourful Tiffany lamp on top. A full-sized tiger pelt as a throw-rug in front of the sofa. A large dark-brown leather recliner near the fireplace. Binding most of the room together, though, is the /scorch/ marks, floor and walls and furniture alike permanently rendered a little /crisped/ around the edges. Fall has arrived a few days early; outside it's dreary and chill, rain pattering down against the windows. Inside here, though, it's toasty warm. A fire crackling merrily in the sitting room's fireplace and the spicy-savory smells of dinner. Grilled goat, chimichurri, mashed potatoes, sit out on the table in front of the sofa. A fat sleek rabbit (as yet unbitten) hops lazily around the room. Ion is just as lazily kiiind of attempting to herd the rabbit vaguely towards a blanket on the floor on which the Eggling has been lying; he's only half dressed, jeans, barefoot, a gourd of mate held in one hand. In the background the shower is running. "{Fff no stupid meatsack} -- he always trying to go in the damn fire -- {I don't want a /cooked/ rabbit} -- I mean /I/ think damn tasty yes? But Frittata not so much." Scrawny still but finally beginning to fill out, the small gargoyle sprawled on the blanket also looks rather interested in the fire, though at least they have not made any attempt to hurl themselves into it. The huge green eyes that bulge from their fuzzy black head stare fixedly into the blaze, and the drooping tips of their long, pointed ears perk up at every snap and crackle. Occasionally they respond with soft clicks and gurgles of their own. When the rabbit passes in front of the fire place--chased from it by Ion--Eridani finally takes note of it. Bracing both wings and arms against the floor, hooked claws digging into the much-abused blanket, they raise themselves up just a couple of inches, head wobbling unsteadily but eyes keen on their prey. Folded on the sofa with her horned and hairless head pillowed on the heel of one hand, Isra watches the spectacle that feeding the baby has become. She wears a long royal purple wrap dress, her skin this week a light pearlescent blue that shimmers in fractal spirals of pink and purple when the light catches it a certain way. A generous triangular shawl of black velvet devore--the burnout patterned like spiral galaxies--covers her shoulders, upper arms, and even the top third of her folded wings. She nurses hot coffee from a chipped, hand-glazed green mug. "I cannot recommend seared fur, in any event. It smells revolting." Knock knock knock. Outside the door, Regan is /looking/ fall-like; slim tan trousers tucked into high black boots, a thigh-length lightweight blue sweater, black raincoat held closed around her only with one hand. The other raps crisply at the door. "How many times Kay he burned the baby food huh?" Ion jerks a chin towards the half-closed bathroom door, shower water still running behind it. "Yeah that smell it's no good -- ey-o it's turning into a dinner /party/." He leaves the rabbit -- and the baby -- to their own devices, fire or no fire, skirting around the table and couch to go open the door. He waves Regan inside in a hurry, gesturing with his gourd. "{Oy, mama, it's shitty out there why you standing out there getting cold? C'mon. Hot food. Hot drinks. Hot fire. Waaay better in here.}" Spreading their rather insignificant weight more evenly across their numerous limbs, Eridani manages to pull off something resembling predatory stillness. Then they begin slinking forward, dragging themselves toward the forwardmost limb--a wing, in this case--before carefully lifting the rearmost one. The rabbit freezes, nose twitching fast. It has retained enough of its prey animal instincts to know something is wrong, but countless generations of domestication has rendered it somewhat ineffective at doing anything about that. The infant gargoyle continues stalking it, slowly but surely reaching the edge of the blanket. Isra sits up, not turning away from the child altogether, lest they suddenly rekindle their interest in the fireplace. "Good evening, wind and damp notwithstanding." She shifts to make room on the couch. "We've coffee on the stove that won't need much heating up, unless you would prefer something less potent." She lifts one bare eyebrow ridge. "Or more?" Regan sheds her coat as she steps inside, lifting a hand to sweep damp hair back out of her face. "Food. Coffee. Excellent. God, it smells fantastic in here -- ah." Her brows lift, a small amused smile curling upward at her lips. "Dinnertime for everyone, I see." She drapes the rain-spattered coat over the back of a chair, moving further into the room to lean against the back of the couch, watching Egg and the rabbit curiously. "They're starting to almost look like a predator." "Shit yeah, right? Almost like they know what's /up/, huh?" Ion practically coos this, beaming proudly over at the Gremlin. "Like maybe this time they get the teeth somewhere near a right place? Maybe-maybe?" His tone is so encouraging. "Dusk try to show him sometimes but then she just bite on Dusk maybe lessons not take so good, huh. /His/ blood the tastiest." Shrug. He's gathering food onto a plate, now, turning the heat back on underneath a saucepan of coffee still on the stove. He offers the plate to Regan, takes a perch on the edge of the table, himself, to watch the HUNT. The baby attends Regan's arrival with the faint twitch of one long, droop-tipped ear, but does not otherwise stray from their path to dinner. The very slow nature of their progression seems to confuse the--obviously not overly bright--rabbit. The novice predator continues advancing, coiling and then not so much springing as /flopping/ at the rabbit, which, little understanding its peril, only takes a couple of uncertain hops to get away. "I do wonder how much of this hunting behavior they have learned and how much came innately," Isra muses. "They certainly do not yet have the coordination to do it /effectively/." Unfurling one wing, she neatly pin the rabbit down with the edge of the membrane stretched between index and middle phalanges. Her bright green eyes watch the rabbit's escape attempts dispassionately. It acts more confused than frightened, furry paws paddling at the floor uselessly. "Yet." Regan accepts the plate with a thankful nod, skirting around the couch, now, to settle down into the spot that Isra has vacated for her. "Yet." She skewers a slice of goat, swishes it through the mashed potatoes. Spends a moment savouring the bite, eyes closing briefly. "-- I may not have actually stopped by here for dinner, but I'm glad of my timing all the same. You have a gift." "Yeah." Ion flashes a grin over his shoulder. "A gift for throw any-old-thing on the stove, make it fucking /banging/. It's called live on the road for goddamn ever, is that gift." He takes a slurping pull from his bombilla, watching the rabbit's frightened scuffling with a lively interest. "What you stop by here for, then? Coffee? Rabbit-murder? Hope-to catch a glimpse of Kay when he get all fresh out the shower?" Eridani does not seem to comprehend that their prey cannot escape, for they continue stalking, only giving another comical attempt at pouncing when nearly upon the immobilized rabbit. One of their wings and the opposite arm wrap around the animal, sharp talons hooking into soft fur. Their mouth opens wide, long canines flashing briefly before sinking into--more fur. The rabbit finally starts thrashing in full-blown terror. The tiny vampire finally succeeds in latching their teeth onto the rabbit's side, and within seconds the the struggling ceases as the venom takes effect. "I think you deserve more credit than the force of necessity," Isra says mildly, crooking a smile at Ion. "I could spend the rest of my life on the road and never come close to your aptitude. In fairness..." She turns back to the child now basking in their success, coiling around the limp rabbit and purring with satisfaction. "...like them, I can get away without much food prep." Her eyes skid back to Regan, as keen and interested as Eridani had been when they spotted the rabbit. Like them, she is patient. "Hm -- ahh." For a moment Regan's brows lift in surprise when the rabbit stills, but then lower again in comprehension. "Venom, yes. Convenient. I suppose it does not matter so much if they don't pick up as quickly on /where/ to target." Her eyes flick towards the bathroom door, smile slightly askew. "Ah -- no. Not quite the side of Kay I was looking to see." She gives a small shake of her head as she takes another bite of her dinner. Chews it over, swallows quickly. Her eyes lift from the infant up to their guardians. "Dusk has been collecting information for me on the recent developments within the Mutant Affairs Division. Problems like the ones with your friends are only going to pick up. I'm collecting a team to pay them a visit. In Washington, this time." Ion is pouring a mug full of coffee, but at this he leaves it on the stove. Leaves the /pot/ of coffee on the counter by the stove. Lets out a small whoop and goes over to bang on the wall by the bathroom door, poke his head into the bathroom. "YO. Yo, hermano, you hear this? Mama she taking us to blow up the fucking Capitol this time {about fucking /time/}. We torch all them motherfuckers, huh?" Once the rabbit has gone still, Egg takes their time to find a more comfortable place to bite--around the shoulder, this time; at least they have gotten closer to the neck. The rabbit's eyes, half-lidded, struggle without much success to track the movements around it. Gremlin, for their part, continues purring happily as they feed, coiling around the rabbit like a serpent with altogether too many limbs. Isra lifts her wing from the rabbit, leaving it to the tiny gargoyle. She sips at her coffee, expression unchanged through Regan's explanation. The tip of her tail, however, twitches, thumping softly against the side of the couch. "Washington." Both sets of vocal folds sound, so that, although she speaks quietly, her words resonate with uncanny power. "We might expect to meet with well-organized, well-trained, and well-supplied resistance, then." Her head tilts just a fraction, glossy black horns reflecting the dancing flames. "You may, of course, count me in as well." Regan opens her mouth -- closes it again. Tips her eyes down to her food with a very small smile. "Very select parts of the Capitol," she demurs lightly. "And yes. I expect we will meet with quite a bit of turbulence. But this time --" She is looking only a /little/ bit pointedly at Ion, honest! "We're planning ahead."