ArchivedLogs:Skulking About

Skulking About
Dramatis Personae Isak, Toru	2014-05-08 '
Location <NYC> Lower East Side
Historically characterized by crime and immigrant families crammed into cramped tenement buildings, the Lower East Side is often identified with its working-class roots. Today, it plays host to many of New York's mutant poor, although even here they are still often forced into hiding. It's a bit early in the day - not too long after lunch traffic has subsided - and among those fine upstanding citizens who make up New York City's foot traffic, there is one teenager in particular who has apparently opted to take up residence against a lightpost. Really, to most passers-by it doesn't look all that unusual, but in the position Toru's set himself in, he's all but staring at a particular house across the street from his position. He's also smoking, to make it seem slightly less unusual, and occasionally checks his phone for notifications, but to anyone who's aware of the goings-on around here, it probably looks a little sketchy that he's more-or-less casing the Brotherhood safehouse. The kid isn't nearly as subtle about it as he seems to think he is. Isak has proven himself in the Brotherhood - more or less. All that really means at this point is that he's allowed over to the island and people aren't paranoid about talking about things around him. He still has the duty of babysitting the safehouse. And, as the new guy, he also gets the unenviable task of checking out shifty characters. The front door of the safehouse opens, and a tall, lean young man in a yellow trenchcoat with gray skinny jeans and a v-neck sweater steps out of it. He is not exactly the best at the spy stuff, so he only hesitates a minute before he crosses the road and heads towards Toru's location. The sight of Isak heading toward him is enough to make Toru start in surprise, looking around a bit like he's trying to see if maybe it's someone /else/ the other man is after, but once that becomes obviously not-the-case, he takes a last drag off his cigarette, tamping it out against the lightpost, and slipping it into the pocket of his hoodie. He then lifts his arms above his head, doing a little stretching routine before Isak makes it over to him, and folds his hands behind his neck once the guy is actually within talking distance. "I think you got the wrong idea, mang, I ain't workin' this corner." Toru's got a definite Bronx accent, played up a little to make himself seem more macho. Isak stops a few feet from Toru and arches an eyebrow at his little stretch routine. He reaches into his jacket and withdraws a black matte cigarette case. He withdraws one and then lights it with a silver zippo. It would all be very noir if it weren't for his screaming yellow trenchcoat. "I do think you're working it, just not for the sex." He has an accent - something European and difficult to place. "Waiting for someone?" "Hn." Toru snorts at that remark, then just shrugs non-committally. "I don't really see how it's any of your business." He turns to finally give Isak a full look-over, one eyebrow raised just a touch, then lowers his arms to fold them across his chest. "Aren't you kinda fucking fancy to be hanging out around here?" Isak purses his lips and then presses his tongue to the front of his teeth. He squints and grins, then drags from his cigarette. "I'm an amazing discount shopper." His clothes - even secondhand - would be too expensive for most. "And it is my business when you're staring at the house of my friends." That eyebrow gets raised again, this time with an attached smirk. "Right." Toru finally shrugs, then, tilting his head back to rest it against the lamp-post, and looks back towards the safehouse again. "I ain't /waitin'/ for nobody, I just thought maybe I'd see if someone was around." Pausing, he frowns and adds, as an afterthought, "And I wasn't /starin'/, I was bein' /subtle/." "Right. You're about as subtle as I am in this coat." Hey, at least Isak is self-aware Eurotrash. "You looking to see anyone in particular? Maybe I can pass along a message." He taps out the ash from the end of his cigarette, then takes another drag. "It's a complicated situation; I'm gonna go ahead and figure you get my meaning." Toru lets out a bit of a sigh, shaking his head a few times, and pushes away from that post. "We had kinda a falling-out. Some heated words were said, you know how it is. Not by me, I mean," he hastens to add. "I'm the fuckin' picture of perfection. Anyway, forget it, I ain't leavin' a message. He doesn't need to know my weird ass is stalkin' him." "So you had a break-up, and now you're the ex who wants a glimpse of the person they were once with. I get it." A toothy smile from Isak. "Was it just heated words, or heated other things?" Which is sort of a loaded question given the existence of mutant powers. Toru turns and affixes Isak with a /look/, which gradually softens into a smirk. "Dude, you have no idea how close you are." He shakes his head a few times, though, and continues, "Just words, though, I ain't /that/ stupid." Pulling out his phone, he gives the home screen a look-over and sighs, shaking his head gently. "Look, this is a great time and all but I ain't really inclined to go into much more detail than I already gave ya. Think you could do me a solid and maybe forget to mention that I swung by?" "Well, considering I haven't any idea who you are, and I don't know who I would tell on you /to/, I'd say you're pretty safe. I do have to report that someone matching your description was lurking around. Can't be too careful these days." Isak makes a vague motion back towards the safehouse with the hand that holds the cigarette. "Trust me, kid," Toru says this with the full realization that he's the younger party in this conversation, "if I'm the best anybody's sending at you guys then you are so not in a position to be worried about shit." He pauses, frowns, and shakes his head. "Job's a job though, I guess. Whatever, it doesn't really matter either way anyway." Isak purses his lips and looks thoughtful for a moment. "Or you could man up and come talk to whoever you pissed off. I don't know them all especially well, but the ones I've met all have bigger problems than holding a grudge over a few heated words." Toru takes a deep breath, looking once again over at the safehouse, then just shrugging weakly. "I've got a ton of shit on my plate, it isn't really a priority right now. I just had some free time today and figured, y'know.." A hand gets waved dismissively, before both of them are crammed into the pockets of his hoodie. "Maybe some other time." "You just figured you'd use your rare time to sit here and stare at a house?" Isak sounds skeptical. He smirks and shakes his head. "You've got shit time management skills." "Well, not all of us can afford to walk around the Lower East in banana coats," Toru shoots back. Stepping a few feet away, he turns to face Isak, giving him another quick look-over then shaking his head. "You might wanna work on the whole stealth thing." "Uh.. huh." Toru nods slowly, then gives another slow shake of his head. "Well. Good luck with that, I guess." He checks his phone once more, lets out a sigh, and moves to turn away. "I gotta thing I gotta take care of, maybe I'll run into you later, who the hell knows. Seeya." "I do have a feeling I'll see you again. It is a premotion," says Isak as he touches his temple. He finishes off his cigarette, but he doesn't move off. He'll wait for Toru to clear the area before returning to the safehouse.