ArchivedLogs:Steady Income

Steady Income
Dramatis Personae Anette and Dusk	2016-11-23 "I know some sites that get pretty steady traffic from people looking to get off on freaks"
Location <BOM> The Nightfort - Ascension Island
A comfortable three-bedroom cabin, sturdily built if inelegant. The front door opens up into a cozy sitting room, sparsely furnished as yet. A futon, a coffeetable, a bookshelf (largely stacked with programming books). The sitting room is adjoined by an equally simple kitchenette with room for small table. The three bedrooms here -- two off the sitting room, one on the other side of the kitchen -- are not uniform in size nor layout, with the considerably smaller kitchen-adjacent room having its own screened-in porch. The one bathroom off the living room has an extremely large claw-foot tub that takes up much of its space. Outside it's cold, late at night. Brisk, windy, heavy biting gusts whipping off the water. /Outside/. In here, though, it's snug and cozy -- space heater filling the room with plenty of warmth. Dusk has unfolded the futon and unfurled himself across it, starrily-painted wings draped down across his back. He's dressed in long green plaid flannel pants, no shirt, lying on his stomach with his laptop on front of him. His headphones are on, softly glowing lights pulsing in time with some unheard music piping into them, and his eyes are narrowed on the screen as he scrolls through a lot of text on a terminal. There's a thermos near to his elbow -- very chocolatey-smelling when he opens it to take a swig. As Dusk listens to his music and reads from his screen, a mangy looking black cat quietly makes his way across the living room. He glances up towards the futon and, upon seeing it's already occupied, he sits down and stares up at it, his tail flicking with annoyance. When the being doesn't move after roughly five seconds, the cat suddenly jumps up onto the futon and positions himself immediately besides Dusk's laptop, tail still flicking as he growls at Dusk. Kitty does not want to share. It's at this point that Anette steps out of her room, already dressed for bed with PJ bottoms and a t-shirt and a white bathrobe wrapped around her for warmth. She glances about the room and rolls her eyes when she notices the cat currently staring down Dusk. "Vader!" she yells, quickly making her way over. Dusk's wing slides up absently, one long wing spar pressing down against the bed, the multicolored canopy of his wing stretching up in a barrier between him and the cat. His eyes don't leave the screeen at the cat's staring, wing just flexing slightly stiffer between them. His opposite thumbclaw nudges one ear of his headphones back off his ear when Anette arrives, though his eyes stay fixed on his work. "If your cat's going to pay rent, they can have my seat." "I'm trying to teach him not everything is his," Anette says, picking up the cat by the scruff of his neck, ignoring the screeching noises coming from Vader as she semi-gently drops him to the floor. He stares up at Anette, hisses, and then turns away, tail up, hobbling on three legs towards the other half of the room. "It's not going so well. So how are you?" she asks. "Well he /is/ a cat." Dusk's wing folds in against his back, and he tucks his thermos into the crook of his arm. "I've met plenty sweet cats but my roommates keep getting assholes." He rolls slightly to one side, propping himself on a wing to look up at Anette. "Turning in already?" "Blame Captain America. He sold him to me. Besides," Anette says, glancing towards the cat as he curls up and makes himself comfortable beneath an end table, "he needed someone." She stares off towards the cat for a few more seconds, lost in thought, before turning back to Dusk. "I don't know, maybe. Too many late nights and hungover mornings lately. I should give my liver and stomach a chance to rest. I'll probably just stay up all night watching Netflix." "He gave Hive our house's cocky bastard, too. -- {God-fucking-dammit}." This last is grumbled, somewhat resigned, at the computer. Dusk's eyes have narrowed, fingers raking through his hair. He pushes the laptop back with a small huff, sitting up and popping the cap on his thermos for a sip. "I've heard good things about Black Mirror." "Vader's just...moody and cranky. I almost named him Anakin." Anette makes her way around and plops down on the opposite end of the futon, removing her bathrobe to let her wings drape over the edge as she faces Dusk. "I've been meaning to give Stranger Things a try." "Meh," Dusk offers his opinion of /Stranger Things/. "I mean there's definitely /worse/ things to binge." His eyes flick briefly to his computer. "I have such a ridiculous queue backlog. I need to take a break from responsible adult life." Anette grins. "You have a responsible adult life? Now I see why they moved me in here. Maybe they thought you'd be a good influence for me," she says. She glances briefly towards his screen as his own attention is diverted. "Is that part of your responsible adult life?" she asks, ticking her head towards the screen. "I /very/ much doubt that." A snort accompanies these words, Dusk's head shaking. "I make my own choices, I don't try and lead anyone astray with me." His nose wrinkles as he looks to the computer. "This is how I pay my mortgage, yeah. Or it would be if it weren't a buggy piece of shit." "I don't try but I tend to lead people astray anyway. Just the fun of being around me I guess," Anette says. "Pay your mortage? Wow, you are an adult. And here I am still living off zombie plague loot. I should get a steadier income one of these days." "If zombie plague loot works for you --" One of Dusk's wings hitches in a shrug. "It's not like we're charging room and board /here/. And you can just feed Vader on the remains of lost tourists who try wandering onto the island." "It works until it runs out. And they may not charge room and board but food is still useful." Anette does glances towards Vader, snoring softly beneath the end table. "I think he'd enjoy that. He seems to enjoy hunting, I've already found two mice in my room." "'least he's making himself useful. Fuckers chewed into a bag of my cookies, took little nibbles out of half of them." Dusk lifts his chin in a small nod over to Vader where the cat sleeps under the table. "Good work, TerribleCat! I guess you get to stay after all." "The little monsters," Anette responds in faux-horror as Dusk mentions the fate of his cookies. As Vader's praised, he merely snorts, dreaming kitty dreams and rolls over onto his back, his one rear leg twitching. "Once gets used to you, he'll be better. He growls at me a lot less than he did when I first got him." "I live with Isra and the sharkpups. I get growled at every day by much scarier." Dusk rolls onto his stomach again, chin propped in his palm. "They were /good/ cookies. S'no respect. -- What would you do, anyway? If you /did/ decide to go for stable income?" "Don't tell Vader you don't think he's scary. You'll hurt his ego," Anette says. The question of what she might do income-wise earns a snort. "I'm not exactly qualified for much. Nothing more than I offer the Brotherhood. I suppose could do some...side-work but I'm out of touch with the few connections I had. Otherwise, I don't know. Stripping? Prostituting? It's not like I have a whole of options, even McDonald's does background checks." "That is why I love the internet. People pay me without any silly nonsense like wanting to know who I really am." A small shudder ripples through Dusk's wings. "Can you get a job as a professional drinking buddy?" This suggestion comes lightly, as he settles back comfortably in front of his work. "That'd be right up your alley?" "Ah, cam girl it is," Anette says, rolling her eyes as she leans forward against her legs. "A professional drinking buddy? I'd spend more in hospital bills than I'd make. Though being paid to drink sounds /fantastic/." She glances towards Dusk, her eyes narrowing slightly as she eyes him up. "Y'know, we haven't been out drinking in a long time. We should change that. At least, it'd be nice to go out with someone other than Akihiro for a change." "Don't knock it, I know some sites that get pretty steady traffic from people looking to get off on freaks, there's good money in it." Dusk hooks a smile over his shoulder, only a little lopsided. "I have a much lower risk of stabbing anyone than he does. Whether that's a pro or con is up to you. Tomorrow? I'll -- probably not be done this by tomorrow but I'll probably be /way/ readier for a drink." "Believe me, do you know how many free drinks I get when I let the wings breathe?" Anette looks over Dusk and suddenly grins in realization. "Right. Anyway, I think I just need to spend time with people who aren't exes. Though not worrying about stabbing is definitely a plus. Tomorrow though, I'm holding you to that." Anette winks and, as she rises from the futon, drapes a wing around Dusk in some semblance of a hug. Dusk's eyes flit over Anette. "I could hazard a guess." His smile has curled just a touch wider. His wing presses up, brushing back into the drape of Anette's. "Tomorrow."