It's fairly early in the morning that people are told to arrive for the groups going out to explore the wild Hau'ula forest reserve. The bus waits out front, parked, quiet, so that it doesn't burn more gas than it has to. Weather reports coming in of Rain, that only looks like it'll get worse, have caused most to cancel on their plans for the tour, so really not many people have arrived. Still, the tour guide waits, chilling out at an outdoor table and sipping on a cup of what smelled like heavenly tea.
The notification that Grayson had received via carrier pixie was simple. A time, a place, namely the coffee shop in this strip mall. It was an indication that the White council was asking for a meeting. Especially since the seal on the note was decidedly that of the White Council's Warden sect.
Sitting at a table not 30 feet from the Adventure guide were two rather mellow looking individuals. They definitely seemed to be a couple, as they spoke comfortably and quietly with one another, were of similar age, had the crows feet you get from years of smiling together, and would occasionally touch one another on the hand or arm while they set up their morning coffee. Easily in their mid to late 50's, the two seemed to have taken to the Hawaiian way of life without a care, and even sat leaned back in their seats. Despite the gray hair and obvious aging, there is also a youth about the two of them that seemed to permeate the air.
Having known roughly where to find who he is looking for, Ink has tried to dress for the occasion, all the better to blend in and all that. He's wearing his best Khaki outfit - a well worn jungle hat, a short sleeved shirt with pockets on the sleeves and the breast pockets, neatly pressed shorts and jungle boots.
Puffing away on a cigar, Ink looks quite fit for the part, although that part is possibly the villain in some sort of B movie, either way he seems to be quite relaxed as he rests against a wall, slightly off from the rest of the tour group. A small backpack lies at his feet, lunch supplies and probably some other essentials that he couldn't do with out. A pair of mirrored sunglasses does a good job at hiding his eyes but doesn't help to dissuade people that he's about to drop a hero into a crocodile put.
Grayson makes his way into the mall, heading for the coffee shop with the air of a man who's used to being up this early and considers coffee a drink rather than the substance of life itself. He's several minutes early and clad in his usual blacks, apparently not looking to blend in with anyone or anything. He too has a small backpack - in black, of course - and for once his boots are made for walking rather than style. His eyes linger on Ink for a few moments and narrow ever so slightly, but then move on.
Who else would the Adventure Guide be, if not Owen? He sat at the table outside of the little cafe in the strip mall wearing a T-shirt that was the color of crisp, green leaves and bore, quite clearly, the icon for Outdoor Adventures, Ltd. in a pale shade of cream across the chest and at each shoulder. If that weren't enough to mark him as the outdoor enthusiast that he was, he also had on a pair of khaki cargo shorts with more pockets than flat space, and the drawstring of a floppy, sun-blocking, adventurers hat was pressed along the front of his neck, holding the hat that hung down along his back between his shoulder blades. Naturally, his boots were likely a set featured in 'Outdoor Lovers' magazine within the last year, and built tough, designed for days and days of hiking without wearing down the tread or the heels of the foot. His skin had been tanned a dark, toasted, almond color from his time spent outdoors. He lifted a hand to the couple sitting at the nearby table, and his smile seemed to indicate that he recognized them. Rather than bug them, though, he took a sip of his hot tea and looked over at where Ink had arrived for the tour, despite the weather warning. "Aloha over there, are you here for the tour? You must be brave, so far everyone's cancelled on account of the rain on the Windward side." Owen's voice was warm, decidedly mid-western American, and also rather amused. It would seem that Rain stopping people from hiking all day on Hawaii made little sense to the man.
Reaching down, Shep picked up his mug to take a sip from it. "Jo, it appears old age is getting to me, because I can't remember if I'm supposed to be wearing gray before or during meetings." He cracked a hint of a smile, giving a slight shake of his head as he scanned the establishment, his eyes lingering on Owen for a moment. "So long as deputizing doesn't turn into conscription, I'm willing to call it a good day." The man scratched at the graying mane on his head. "Did you bring in the cricket bag?" The man leaned back in his chair to check around his feet, before toeing the elongated bag, and relaxing once more.
Jo, the female of the couple sitting at the table, smiled to Owen and gave him a nod, along with a warm, smile-infused "Aloha kakahiaka, hoa." She'd doctored her coffee with a slight amount of raw sugar, no cream, and was currently stirring the mixture slowly with a small coffee spoon. She snickered softly, raising one of her silvery brows as she looked Jo over. "Old? You don't look a day over 85, babe." The easy smile stayed on her lips as the expression was mirrored in her steel gray eyes. She glanced back over to Owen and looked more meaningfully at Shep. "You know how things like this go, Shep. Don't worry, there are always plenty of volunteers. Not all of them are worth the sweat it takes to train them, but they all have heart. especially now." Her eyes moved to watch carefully, despite her relaxed way of sitting, and she scanned over those people coming toward the coffee shop. Nodding in response to Shep's question about the bag, she finally looked back over to the man after examining Ink and then Grayson. "I don't think I've forgotten to bring your bag even once in the last couple of decades. Why do you always ask?"
Taking his cigar out of his mouth, Ink looks over to Owen and grins widely. "Aloha Owen, good to see you again and don't worry about the weather. I'm Welsh me, a little rain is what Summers were back home. I've packed me cagoule if it gets too bad and I've been looking forward to hiking in the mountains. Didn't know you ran the gig though, happy coincidence and all that butty!" He speaks in quite jovial tones although his accent is quite thick in places. "I'm in between jobs at the moment and there's nothing like some time in the mountains to help you achieve some inner piece and to get the creative juices following. I may have been born in the Valleys but it was always the mountains I ended up in, you couldn't keep me away when I were younger." Turning his head, Ink looks over towards the distant peaks. "Yeah, I'm right looking forward to this but I do warn ya, if I get a stitch you'll have to carry me back." There's a chuckle in his voice as he says this, the joke evident even if his eyes are hidden.
Ink continues to look around the square, getting a look at the others who are willing to take this trek in less than perfect weather. He does spot Grayson although that isn't too difficult, Ink's head tilting to one side as he tries to work out just how he is functioning in the island heat while wearing all black. A soft nod is offered to the man, one of recognition although to be fair, Ink is struggling to place the man, some distant memory in the past no doubt.
At least today isn't the usual bright-and-sunny-heatstroke-inducing nightmare for Grayson. The tall man heads into the coffee shop, acquires some coffee, and comes back out. Or, well, whatever he's acquired has come in a coffee cup, at least, and with a breakfast sandwich and some form of chocolate-laced dessert. Grayson finds himself a place to lean, glancing around as though he's waiting for someone. His eyes linger on Ink again, but not with that who-are-you puzzlement. Must've been a good night.
Owen chucked and motioned to the table he was at. "You're welcome to come join me for some breakfast or some coffee or something before we go. I don't run the whole thing, I'm just the guide for the Hau'ula trip today. And honestly, I think you're the only one here for me. That other group over there are getting ready for an ocean excursion, and that's definitely not my tour to run." Owen paled slightly just discussing the idea of running an ocean excursion, but he quickly lifted his tea and took a sip, perhaps to sooth the dryness that had stolen its way into his mouth when he said the word ocean. Clearing his throat after he swallowed the heated liquid, he offered Ink a lopsided grin. "If it ends up just being the two of us, I'll be sure to make sure we've got a good downhill slant behind us at all times. Easier to roll you down than carry you, I'm sure." When Grayson comes back out of the coffee shop, Owen offers the man a wide smile, and a nod, along with the requisite "Aloha kakahiaka. Are you here for one of the tours or just enjoying an early breakfast before most of the crowd wakes up?"
"Aloha kakahiaka," Shep extended the greeting as a matter of good natured reflex. He watched as his wife added sugar to her coffee. "Not a day over 85? I'm no so sure you need to be adding anymore sweeteners to your coffee, seems like you're doing just fine on your own." The man smiled as he resettled on his chair, "Because the one day I forget to ask is going to be the one day it's not there when I need it." When his eyes picked Grayson out, his brow came together in concentration. "Makes me wonder how people don't find themselves a case of spontaneous combustion... When was that? '63? Not the Pele smiting, but the Kapohoikahiola human confetti situation?"
Jo gave Shep the most adorably twitterpated smile. "Remind me to repay that with a compliment you really deserve when there aren't other eyes in the immediate area, Shep." She glanced down at the bag in question, then back at Shep, eyes twinkling with good humor. "At least it's not my memory you're testing, but your own. I never was one to be against self-awareness." She looked over at Grayson when Shep called him to her attention, though she'd obviously already checked him over when he walked into the shop. She shrugged slightly, then winced and gave a little shudder. "That was a nightmare. And far worse than the Pele smiting." Jo continued to peer at Grayson as she lifted her coffee cup and took a sip, her hands steady as a rock despite the fact that she was older. "Are we taking bets on timeliness today, or are we going to just accept the fact that I always win?"
Ink's mouth drops open in surprise, having at least figured some people were here for the trip also. "Is that so? I'm sorry to hear that, they don't know what they're missing." Offering Owen a winning smile, Ink picks up his backpack and heads over, dropping it again when he's at the table and then slipping off his sunglasses and popping them in a pocket before he takes a seat. "I was actually hoping to run into you, wanted a bit of a chat like and all that." Settling into the chair, Ink scratches absently at some insect bites and then catching himself, looks up and grins. "Takes a while to build up an immune system to foreign mossies, at least I'm not ballooning up like I was before." Reaching down to his pack, Ink fumbles with one of the pockets and pulls out a bottle of water. "Also, I'd probably make a better sled than a ball. Would probably be easier on your back there Owen."
There must be something Grayson knows that the others don't - either that, or he's too interested in looking good to care about things like heat retention. Either way, he's looking quite cool in black, and with a minimum of that extra-pale skin on show. "Thanks," he says to Owen in a crisp English accent, "But I'm here to meet someone." He checks his wrist and goes back to leaning, this time adding sipping at the contents of his cup to the lurking watchfully and being watchful.
Owen simply nodded to Grayson and gave him a little partial wave, not pushing or even trying to sell the man an outdoor adventure. He could totally control himself. Or maybe it was just early. Turning his head back to face Ink, Owen grinned and raised his brows. "You're assuming I'd have to put any effort in at all. Those mountains can be really steep." He chuckled and lifted his cup to take a sip of his tea, eyes moving to catch where Ink was itching. "You obviously have the blood they like. I'm pretty lucky, they tend to come after me last in a group of many. I only get accosted by them if I'm in the marshes down past Kailua." Setting down his cup, Owen leaned back into his seat a little and looked at Ink curiously, examining his face but not looking the man directly in the eye, keeping his hazel gaze moving until it rested somewhere along the top curve of Ink's left eyebrow. "Something you wanted to chat about specifically? Or is this more of an idle chat we can have while we hike?"
Shep picked up his coffee cup, bringing it to his lips. "This is my exercise in self-awareness, so my mind isn't drifting to the tide table rather than the business at hand. You know, as well as I do, that Iokua is all but in a panic, mostly because we don't have cellphones." The man let out a chuckle, and finally took another sip of his coffee. "I told him he's more than welcome to send a telegraph, that's been working for the better part of a century." He shook his head as he set down his coffee once more. "The man was not impressed, but I got a kick out of it." Pushing back in his chair, he reached under the table, unzipping the bag to pull out a long gray scarf, with a plethora of stitched symbols of various designs. Folding the material, he rested it against his forehead, and tied it off on the back of his head like bandana. "Had my coffee, so there's as far as I'm going to hang the open sign."
While Jo was dressed comfortably in a pair of light, linen pants and a matching, linen shirt that closed with a drawstring up the front, and could fully well have been photographed for a Tai Chi company advertisement, there was still that air of awareness about her that didn't quite scream 'most relaxed sexagenarian in the world'. Reaching down into her tote that had been set next to her seat, she pulled out a soft, gray, fold of fabric that seemed well worn to the point it likely felt light as a breeze. Still, that fabric was unfolded to reveal that it was a shawl, and she slid it over her shoulders, then around herself, giving Shep a grin that grew into a smirk. Jo was chuckling openly at his 'bandana' as she adjusted her long, silver and pale gray streaked hair to be out from under the gray shawl, allowing the thick, softly curling mass to settle. Upon closer inspection, the 'shawl' had symbols and runes stitched into it, small, almost invisible against the fabric as they were done in the same shade of grey. "Hanging out the welcome sign is always a good way to get things going. Especially when people are early." She looked at Grayson meaningfully after she spoke, then took another sip of her coffee.
Ink slowly unscrews the cap from his drink and takes a sip, not looking at Owen until he has had a moment to think. "I'm a bit of a hippy me, comes with growing up in a commune and all that. I might look as rough as a badger's arse but I'm all tie-dyed underneath." He takes another sip from his drink and then sighs. "I ran into your mate the other day, the little feisty punk lass. Now me, I've had plenty experience with mind altering substances and I'm not one to complain when someone else indulges. However, I think you mate might be on something that takes more out of you than is healthy. If I didn't know better I'd say she was chasing the dragon but I can't be all that sure. I do know she looked all strung out when we sort of went clubbing the other day." Ink seems distinctly uncomfortable in relating this information and it is some moments before he speaks again. "I saw more than a couple people get hooked growing up, it's decidedly uncool when stuff like that takes over your life. I figured you might want to look into like. Maybe give her a nudge." He shrugs his shoulders, apparently putting the ball in Owen's court.
Leaning back in his chair, he casts his gaze around the square, getting a quick look at Shep and Jo and nodding in appreciation of their decorative scarves. "Nice that, good craftsmanship. Prefer Celtic myself though of course." Of offers them a smile before looking back to Owen. "Sorry to drop all this on you mate but I figured you should know."
Grayson leans away from his wall once the two older people have donned their grey and makes his way towards them, threading gracefully between the chairs en route, his pace one more formal than brisk and his coat - linen, but still ankle-length - perhaps serving as its own mark of formality. "Aloha, sir and madam," he says, still with that same crisp English accent unmarred by time in Hawaii. He then offers, "Grayson, James Grayson. Mind if I join you?"
Owen looked at Ink for a long moment, the smile on his face melting away so that it was a pressed, flat, line of lips that cut across it. Concern had his blood up, and his eyes sparked a bit as he reached for his teacup again and seemed to need another swallow of liquid, perhaps as much for the moment just to think as it was for the need of lubrication on his tongue. "That sounds really bad. I haven't seen her since the last time she and I took a hike after that crazy night where we ended up at the beach." His lips turned down further to form a frown, delicate and almost entirely unnatural on his face. "Can you tell me where you saw her? I might be able to track her down. She doesn't exactly have an address she's left behind, and I don't think she has a phone, or at least she's never had to worry about turning one off around me."
Shep pushed the ends of his bandana over his shoulder, reaching for his coffee. "People aren't early. They're just confused as to where the waves are." He watched as Grayson made it over to the table, offering the man a nod and a smile. "James Grayson... I'm just going to call you, Jim. I'm Shep, Rider of Waves, Something-something of the White Council... This beautiful wahine is my wife, Jo, also Warden." He gestured with his coffee, "You want one before we get started? Saves bursting the barrier if the help isn't stomping back and forth over." The man raised his hand, waving Owen over. "Wrong place, wrong time, why don't you have a seat too." He took another sip of his coffee, "Owen, is a member was well, just not one suckered into being a Warden... Yet."
Jo looked up at Grayson and offered out her hand, giving him a broad smile and a nod of her head. "Aloha kakahiaka, James Grayson. Johanna Sheppard, Warden, Mother Time, winner of bets, rider of waves, wife of Troublemaker. Please, though, call me Jo. And if I had to guess, I'd place bets on you being willing to be a Jim, and likely not a Jimmy." Her chuckle was easy as she waited until her hand was given the traditional handshake, her own firm but not forceful, relaxed, but not lax, before she motioned to the chair at the table with herself and Shep. She glanced over at Shep when he motioned for Owen to come over, then she looked at his face for a moment, her lips turning to a soft frown. "He looks troubled, the poor child. Maybe this will brighten up his day." Looking at Ink, she offered him a winsome turn of her lips as they chased a smile back up her cheeks. "I hope you don't mind if we steal him for a moment?"
Ink raises an eyebrow as he hears the distinctly English voice from Grayson, looking over for a moment and figuring it must be a meeting of the Masons or something. Looking back to Owen, his smile disappears and he nods slowly. "I were in the dodgier area at the time, got lost looking for cough syrup. You know how it is." He shrugs again, not quite willing to meet Owen's eye at this point.
"So... anyway, that's where I see your friend. She were negotiating to get into a club and I thought I'd hang around for a bit, make sure she were alright and that." He takes a breath, meeting Owen's eyes for a fleeting moment. "As I said, she looked strung out. Anyway, she gets into this 'club' and points out a way for me to get in which I thought were nice of her. It were like free drugs and sex inside but with the fittest of birds. No wonder it were exclusive and all that. Could do with out the bed bugs or what ever it were though, fucking bites itch like buggery." For some reason known only to Ink, his accent is wandering away from Welsh and heading to Yorkshire territory.
"Anyways, that were I last saw her, I remember something about get a bunk for her being important but I were otherwise distracted by a lass who were sitting in me lap." If Ink's back stiffens when he hears the word 'Warden' mentioned, he tries to hide it, the tattooed man taking a sip from his drink to calm his nerves. Turning his head, he looks to Jo, or at least her forehead and nods. "Sure, the lad could probably do with a brandy and I were going anyway. Got to see a man about a dog and all that. Nice to see you again Owen, I hope peace finds you and all that."
Grayson reaches out to take the offered hand in his own; his handshake is firm without being either test or challenge. "Jim is fine," he says, then adds a hint of a smile, "From you, at least." He twitches his own cup in response to Shep's question, then takes the offered seat. "Actually," he muses, glancing towards Ink, "He went in as well, without having been invited, although I don't know how much he remembers - and I believe I know where the missing girl is and why those bites itch like buggery. Although, to be quite honest, if buggery itches you're doing it wrong."
Owen looked at Ink, his jaw slowly dropping as he listened to the man go on about the night he'd run into Max. He stared at Ink, still gaping, his eyes having gone wide. "Wait... Maybe I'm just completely out of my element here, but NONE of that struck you as a problem?" Owen had managed to shut his gaping maw, but his eyes were still at risk of rolling into the back of his head and searching for an oncoming aneurysm when he heard Shep. Turning to look at the Warden, he nodded once, though it took a moment for him to realize what he was saying yes to. As an afterthought, he managed to blink and moved to stand with a jerky movement as if he'd been surprised that his body moved at all. "Crap... so she's somewhere having sex and drugs... and the same bugs that bit you? Let me..." He looked at Ink's neck, more closely, more focused, and only then did he go completely pale under his tan, leaving himself wan and washed out against his shirt. Turning to look at Jo, then Shep, he motioned to Ink. "You probably want to talk to him, too, honestly." But he walked over after grabbing his tea, and took a seat to the right of Shep, settling his tall frame heavily into the chair, brow furrowed in thought and now liberally laced with utmost concern.
Reaching under the table once more, Shed pulled at a side zip to retrieve a notepad, pen, and eyeglass case. Setting them on the table, and flipped through the half used notepad to a clean page, and opening the case to put on his reading glasses. Uncapping his pen, he dipped it against his tongue. He peered at Grayson over the rim of his glasses. "I hope note taking doesn't make you nervous. When you've on the islands for the better part of two centuries, you learn that a misusing a punu and a hunu can result in all sorts of issues..." The man uncapped his fountain pen, dipping the tip against his tongue. "'46" The number offer to his wife. His gaze moved from Grayson to Ink, and back again. "Honestly, we're not used to getting as complete of a report from your people. When less cryptic it is, the worse the situation." His eyes shifted to Owen, and he gave a slight nod. Then his eyes settled on Ink. Shep was not the sort of wizard to dodge eyes completely, letting the man feel that pull as he gestured to an empty seat. "You should join us too." It wasn't a question, but he offered a hint of smile that disappeared as he started writing in his notepad.
Jo offered Grayson a smile in return for the sparse flirtation, a small chuckle even leaving her as she shook her head. "Oh that's very sweet, even if I am old enough to be your great-grandmother." She patted his arm in a friendly way as Grayson took the seat near her, though her eyes strayed to Ink for a moment as she heard not just Grayson but also Owen mention that they should speak to him as well. "Young man, we definitely have enough room for you here. The gentlemen are right, come and join us." Her smile was something you'd hope to see on the face of a grandmother meeting her new grandchild for the first time. Warmth wasn't lacking. But the fact that she was being welcoming didn't at all retract from the implication. Come. Sit. Here. Now. "It seems we all have some to discuss." She looked at Shep and snapped her fingers. "YES! '46. Same year we had to deal with that demented water dragon... Good lord." She sighed softly and shook her head. "Sometimes I wish things like that had happened when we were younger, it would have felt less like work and more like an adventure. The dragon, not the punu/hunu debacle." Jo's hand moved through the air as if to shirk away a 'debacle' that was still thoroughly memorable after the better part of a century.
"People wanting to have sex with me and give me drugs is not as rare as you might think butty. I'd draw your memory back to that time on the beach and remind you that even your knickers were wet after I got moving." Ink raises his chin a little with this, looking at Owen and then his eyebrows raise as the man heads over to the other table. Not being deaf, he has at least heard some of what has been going on and Owen's reaction wasn't hard to miss either although it could be confused with concern for his friend.
Reaching under the table, Ink gets a good hold on his backpack and then gets to his feet, letting the chair slide noisily backwards as he gets his bulk upright. The offer from Shep gets little initial reaction from Ink, some confusion perhaps but he does find himself having to turn away from his gaze. Tilting his head, he looks to Jo as the offer is repeated and he has to think for a few moments before curiosity overrides his other instincts. Walking forward first hesitantly and then with more purpose, Ink smiles to those at the table as he takes a seat, his eyes flicking upwards as he racks his brains to recall his sins like a child waiting outside a headmaster's office. "Isn't this lovely?" He says with a forced smile as he settles at the table, putting on his best 'visit to the grandparents' etiquette but still finding himself reaching for a cigar from a pocket in his vest.
"Not at all," says Grayson, before extracting a notepad from one of his pockets. He turns it to a particular page, then hands it over; revealed is what looks like a map of a building, with notes in Latin. "There are a few more pages under that one; this particular source tries to be thorough. The situation's not too bad at the moment, but if we don't do something it's going to get very bad, and it'll do it very fast," is his professional opinion, expressed to Shep and Jo. "Also, the woman that these two were talking about," he nods to Ink and Owen, "Is still in there. They won't be letting her go voluntarily."
Owen couldn't really have gotten much paler, and it left the tan of his skin looking like an oil stain on parchment, even as he took another long swallow of his hot tea, draining the cup. "It's not that I don't think you'd get plenty of either, Ink. Not at all, it's that I can't believe you thought everything going on there was alright. And there's that part in my brain that's screaming that you left her there." He shook his head. "Not that she's in any way yours to watch or take care of, it's just that part of me that would be getting the crap slapped out of me by my mom if she'd heard I'd done the same thing." He rubbed his hand along his face, then looked at the paper Grayson had slid over, then looked at the two Wardens with a realization that literally dawned on him in such an obvious way it could have caused a cartoon light bulb to show up over his head. "No... oh. No." Disquiet danced around the young man like a cloud, palpable even if it wasn't particularly visible. "I have to go get her. I can't say for sure, but she was really mad about what had happened to those two men we found dead in the woods from the Reds. I don't think she'd take too well to being one herself. Not if she had a choice about it." Owen pulled the hat off, as if the light line across his neck was choking him. Shoving the flexible thing into his back pocket, he seemed to be trying to center himself enough to think instead of simply react. Even if he was getting blown away a little so far this morning.
Shep rolled his eyes, staring at the page as he wrote. "He insisted he was not a water dragon, by a mouth of the river dragon. Life was so much easy when this place was a kingdom, and it did feel more adventurous." With a momentary glance at his wife, he smiled, before taking notepad from Grayson. Shep adjusted his reading glasses, and started pouring over Grayson's notepad, flipping pages back and forth. With sigh, he added, "I know this area... It's not the only one like it. If bodies appear at all, they tend to be a certain radius from the epicenters. And the nature of a transient population is there's never an accurate head count..." The man frowned as he continued reading James' notes. His eyes focused on Owen, as he turned back pages of his own notepad. "The twins found Windward that Iokua mention," he repeated for classification to his wife, then swapped back to recording from James' notes. The man took in a deep breath, focusing on Owen. "Owen. I understand your concern, we are here, discussing the matter. And I'll be bringing Io.. Sheriff Kamaka in on this as he's been tracking the situation as well. It's... Complicated, to put it lightly."
"What on earth is a 'by the mouth of a river' dragon if not a water dragon, I ask you." Jo said this to Shep and shook her head, grumbling under her breath with a smile at the pure absurdity. Her fingers moved slightly and the air seemed to shimmer around them, for the briefest moment, as Jo threw up a protective sheath that would garble their words and anything they were reading, just in case. "By the mouth of a river dragon..." She took a moment to have a swallow of her lightly sweetened coffee while leaning forward a little and peering at Grayson's notepad while Shep flipped through it. Jo then looked at Grayson and nodded to him. "Nicely done. And at the time, you just saw one or two, no more of the Reds? I wouldn't be shocked if there were more. They tend to congregate anywhere they can in these dingy areas. They do like the lower stratta." When Shep mentioned the twins, Jo nodded her head, then looked back at Ink. "When you left, was this girl alright? I'm sure the evening is a bit of a blur." She examined Ink's face, then reached to her plate, picked up a chocolate chip cookie, and held it out toward Ink with a gentle smile. "Have a cookie, I'm sure you need some extra sugars after giving up some of your blood."
"I don't recall much odd going on to be honest. They gave me some Oxy which must have been laced with LSD or something and after that it were a wild ride but I didn't feel unsafe. There were plenty of strung out people there but no one being hurt that I could see. It were more a concert orgy, with the society folk looking for a bit of the old rough."
Ink takes a settling breath, looking over to Owen and considering him for a few moments, battling with keeping his face emotionless and failing somewhat. "I suppose I could have taken her out of there but I'd have been robbing her of any agency if I'd done so, you dig? I get punks, I really do. They're kinda like hippies just more spiky and with a lot more gobbing. I'm hardly going to go all establishment on her, especially just because she were a lass. That sort of talk will get yer teeth rattled in the wrong circles." He says this all softly, not wanting to upset the man further and trying to emphasize that he really didn't see anything terrible going on.
Ink looks over from Owen to Shep but struggles to follow the conversation, finding himself nodding along anyway much in the manner one does when trying to follow the ramblings of someone talking about their invisible friend, a mix of politeness and just enough surprise when needed. The same attention is given to Jo although Ink can't help but notice when she casts a ward. The real shock is when she mentions blood loss. "My what now?" unconsciously, he finds himself reaching for a cookie. "I remember a bit of a commotion at one point by my view were blocked by the last who were erm sitting in my lap. If anything, they seem concerned about her well-being if that helps?" Taking the cookie, Ink munches on it quietly as he tries to figure out what is going on.
Grayson nods to Shep. "That about covers it," he says of the area, before he nods to Jo. "You may want to look at the page about the upstairs. To be quite frank, given that report I'd like to fill that whole room with napalm. And, given the construction of it, that might actually be possible, to a few inches at least." He nods to Ink, then. "If you didn't know what you were getting into, it's going to have been a wild ride. I'm surprised you can remember anything at all, much less that you came back out. You lost blood, quite a bit of it." And then to Owen, "They were taking care of her, my scout said, but ... well. That's why I'm here. This was too much for my scout to handle."
Owen rubbed his face and looked at Ink, his expression baleful for a moment. "Of course they're concerned about her well-being, because they're vampires. And she's likely either going to be dinner for however long they want to keep her, or she's going to end up one of them if they turn her. One of them bit you, left those marks on your neck, and all you can remember is a wild ride. If she turns? it's not just a wild ride, Ink, man. It's the end of her wild life as she knows it." Owen shook his head and took a moment, attempting to reduce the level of his distraught thoughts down to something he could handle at the moment. Looking at Shep, Owen just nodded his head a couple of times before he could talk. "I'd like to help, any way I can. At least she knows me, so hopefully if I went in there to help get her out she wouldn't fight me on it. Or at least not so hard." He looked around the table at those gathered, worry shading his eyes. "Wait, we are going to try to get people out first, right? Not just... " Owen waggled his fingers and made a 'fzzzzzzit' sound. "Right?" He looked over at Grayson then and nodded, licking his lips. "Thank you for that, really. I just can't help but feeling like... I'm going to break out of my skin. I guess I'm not doing so well thinking of a friend stuck in that."
"Demented, as you said, dear." Shep offered back to Jo, as he continued to pen his notes from. His hand left the pen, which continued to write on his own as he flexed and unflexed his fingers. "As a matter of a history lesson, the Vampire Courts have been a part of this island for centuries, be it Jade, Red, or White... The Black not so much as they rarely do so well in the sun. Blood sacrifice is just as much a part of this place as it is in South America. It has created offshoot, though the local deities have been less than impressed." He picked up his coffee, and took a drink as he nodded to Grayson, "We have our official capacity and rank in the White Council, mostly because the area requires a level of maneuvering the rest of the Council doesn't bother to understand. It feels... Well, it's common to have someone attempting to raise some ancient and forgotten sea god. The deities prefer them to stay asleep, and that goes double for..." The man paused, taking his pen to add a note to Grayson's notepad. "Not beating the drum, honey." There was a pause as he listened to Owen, "Leveling the building would upset more than a few parties. You understand that sort of disregard for human life is the anti-thesis of what the Wardens are supposed to be, even when I can say the Council have been... Underwhelming in their response. The problem with just getting everyone out is that most would likely try and find their way to the Reds..." The man frowned, leaning back into his chair, "Open negotiations..." He eyed the ceiling, "The moment they relieve there are members of the White Council, they would kill her or worse." Shep closed his eyes, pulling off his glasses to set on the table. "We could check the Ways... Maybe."
Jo sighed softly, looking at Ink with obvious compassion. "When things like this happen, it's often something we never expect. Nor do we ever know quite how to deal with appropriately. Especially right away. You might find you have nightmares. You might find you don't. Everyone is different. But blood loss, well, it effects everyone the same on a cellular level. Your body needs sugars and hydration. It'll help you get through the after fog, and help the the reproduction of the blood." She looked at Grayson then and smiled, giving him a solid nod. "We'll see if we can't scout out a way to get in. Are there any others in your hunting party? Or are you all we'll be seeing from your side of the fence, Jim?" She then looked back at Shep and smiled, leaning over a bit to take his hand with hers and squeeze. "At the very least Io will find it interesting, and a challenge. He always enjoys poking at them when he gets a chance without actually having to up heave the entire balance of the island. Righteousness really is his middle name. Almost as bad as a holy roller, without the big white beard behind him." Amusement had Jo's eyes crinkling at the corners and a smile on her lips, which she offered to Ink and Owen. "Don't worry Owen, you can come and help. It'll be good for you to get an idea of how some things have to work here on the island. Otherwise, I'd be far too keen on the idea of Jim's napalm. If I could do that, I would have been a happy woman long ago. I figure I've had to live this long to endure my disappointments and find pleasure in the small victories."
Ink peers at Grayson, staring long and hard at his forehead as is the apparent fashion here abouts. "A lot of blood? That'll explain the need for a smoothie I guess." He lets out a long sigh and then sinks back in his chair, letting his head roll to the side to look to Owen. "So there were vampires in this place. Super dangerous. Kinda begs the question as to why your friend went to such great lengths to get in. I mean, there's other places to get drugs in town, hell one block down the road would have been plenty." Letting out a breath, Ink leans forward in his chair and looks back to Owen. "What's to stop me just going back in and getting her to leave then? They know me there now and if we get out onto the street or via a way as your fellow here just said, that would be okay right?" Ink looks over to Shep now, paying more attention now that he can follow the conversation. "Wardens concerned over humans now? Groovy. It must be the islands, I knew I'd like it here."
Looking to Jo, Ink finds himself smiling, something tickling at his memories or just her manner. "You'll have to excuse me, I don't mean to be rude, I've just heard bad things over time. You really think there's more of these flop houses? It were quite nice inside, a decent shower even. Fresh towels too. I do remember that, were quite fluffy." He looks to the others at the table. "Is this not just a boot down the door and drag em into the sunlight type of thing? Or can we not go John Carpenter on them? What with the harpoons and jeeps and whatnot?"
Grayson eyes Owen. "They have a reason to keep her safe," he says, "And they want her intact so badly they'll probably take some time over it." To Shep he inclines his head, before nodding to Jo. "To the best of my knowledge it'll just be me, but I've armaments for a few more and I might even share." And then to Ink, a gentle, "They aren't going to let you take her away. They want her, desperately want her. Which is probably her best chance of getting out of this in one piece, believe it or not - they need her mind, so they're going to have to be more careful." He sounds as though he knows. "Booting down doors isn't that easy, according to my scout's sketch it'd be easier to boot down the wall - and sunlight doesn't kill them, it just makes them really angry. Harpoons, sort of - cut the belly open and it all gets a bit freaky - but do you want to try getting jeeps down those streets?" He glances upwards, towards the angle of the sun, then rises to his feet. "I need to get moving, I'm afraid. My contact details are in the pad if you need them. Lady, gentlemen, thank you."
Owen looked at Grayson and blinked, understanding more thoroughly dawning on him. "Oh my... They want to use her abilities to step over." He looked over at Shep, then at Jo. "She can walk through veil at any point, she's been skipping through the nevernever for decades. An ability like that would almost be as good for the Reds as picking up another Wizard." He looked back to Grayson and nodded. "Thank you, I needed to get my thinking back in line." Then he looked over at Ink and offered the man a shallow smile, but at least it was a smile. "I really appreciate you offering, Ink, but I don't think it's a good idea to send you in there after her. What would you do if they stopped you from taking her out? I can't in good conscience put you into that sort of harm. Especially now that you've already been bled out by them once. It's like making a kid sit next to his bully or something, that's just mean." Owen shook his head, then looked at Shep and smiled sheepishly as a little blush rose to his cheeks. "Not that it's my call at all, of course."
Shed finished his coffee, "I can brew up some anti-venom to prevent farther addictions, but it doesn't change current dependencies. I can see about setting up a place, but there's a certain point we'd just be locking up addicts... People tend to call that kidnapping." The man pushed Grayson's notepad back to him. "I have no problem keeping you in the loop, Jim. I don't know how they do things in Oxford, so I apologize if it seems like I'm skipping gears on you." Shep focused on Ink, "There's nothing stopping you from returning. You may not be there yet, but you're going to start feeling the cramps coming on. The sweats. Alchemically... Their saliva hits all the right receptors, and the mind and body starts craving it. You show up through the front door, they're going to want things to go the same way. Show up around their lunch time and they may take too much from you, and they're not exactly the sort that drops you in front of a hospital." Shep shook his head, "I'm met Pele twice now... When you see that sort of power, you learn real quick that Wizards are far closer to normal folk than someone like her." Shep eyed his wife at the mention of harpoons and jeeps, then back to Ink. "Maybe not the best course in downtown Honolulu." Shep closed his eyes as Owen mentioned the veil jumping, "And that may close off the Nevernever option..."
Jo waited until Shep had closed up his notepad, then leaned over and grabbed it herself. She also grabbed up Shep's reading glasses and settled them onto her nose before she took a couple of notes specifically for herself, in scrawled, gorgeous handwriting that could have penned royal wedding invitations. "I'll get to work on the anti-venom, at least that will be something I can focus on." She glanced over at Shep from under her lashes, attempting to look like she didn't notice and nearly burst out of her chair in agreement with the idea of jeeps and harpoons. Instead, she just cleared her throat and nodded her head. "We'll have to be very cautious. And it's definitely in our best interest that they NOT keep her, and not have her become part of their number, if she's got such a talent." She licked her lips and then looked at Ink and then Grayson, over the edge of her glasses. "out of curiosity, though, have you got someone that might have a jeep with a harpoon and possibly some... sort of long range SCUD missile? You know... just in case?" Grandma was trying to hide it, but the hope in her eyes that either Grayson or Ink might say yes was obvious. "Mahalo for all of your information, Jim, and take care. Don't let us keep you." She lifted her hand to offer it in a handshake goodbye to Grayson as he left.
"I can be sexy and persuasive I'll have you know.. Jim is it? Although admittedly, I don't know if I'm that great in confined spaces. Although, if she's on the ground floor it wouldn't be so bad I guess." Ink almost makes to stand as Grayson starts to head off, looking to his pad and offering the mad a little salute instead. He turns his attention to Owen then, regarding him carefully for a few moments. "I tell you what, if you could get her out to the street or out a window, I bet they couldn't catch me. I just, well I ain't great in small spaces really. Well, in doors in general, not for the sort of work out your thinking about anyway. I don't mind trying though and as I said, they might be cool with me being there. Just think on it, I'm a grown lad too you know."
He looks over to Shep now and listens carefully. "Oh shit, were that why she were strung out in the first place? So desperate to get in? Oh shit. This is why I avoid needles..." Ink lets out a heavy sigh and settles back in his chair, his face a mask of concern now. Listening to Jo, he looks up briefly. "It were sort of a joke but I could kind of provide something jeep sized with what you could call a lance on it, not quite a harpoon. Scuds would be someone elses department."
Grayson inclines his head to the assembled company, each in turn, starting with Jo. "I do have seven or eight litres of blessed oil," he offers. "I've been very careful to avoid even thinking warm thoughts near it since I picked it up." He takes his notepad back from Shep. "I've spent a good part of my life interacting with Wardens, sir," he says with a hint of a smile. "I'm used to it." To Owen, he nods. "You're welcome." Ink gets a slightly odd look, Grayson's head tilting a little to one side and his eyes narrowing - but then the tall man nods. "Take care, everyone," he says, and then he turns to go, vanishing swiftly into the crowd.
Owen chewed on his lip for a moment, then nodded to Ink. "I certainly would be willing, but Shep's right. I don't want you going in there and then getting yourself hurt or even dead. If we can get her out another way, we'll have to try that. If what Jim said is true, they'll at least be treating her well instead of giving her more of that poison in her veins. And hopefully they won't be draining her constantly to keep her week, if they want her mind to function." He looked back at Shep and nodded to him. "Can we try to do something before it's too late? Just in hope that we might get her out before it IS too late?"
"Aloha, Jim. Stay safe," Shep offered the man as he left. He eyed Jo for a long moment, managing only a hint of a smile to the woman. "I doubt the powers would appreciate us mistaking Honolulu to be the Bikini Atoll." The man picked up his mug, only to set it back down with a frown. His eyes lingered on Owen, and Shed nodded. "The last thing we want the Red to have is someone that has mapped out and can open a door to the Nevernever... I can't say that we should level the building, but..." He glanced at Jo, "Mass illusion spell? Have them swinging at a few dozen images while someone else veils in?"
Jo looked at Shep for a long moment, slightly frowning as he reminded her that this wasn't a war zone, and shouldn't look like one. "You know, we could mass illusion, move in, let someone else focus on getting this young girl out, and then we could handle some of the issue upstairs. Not with a bomb, of course, but Jim did mentioned that he had quite an amount of the holy oil. We could take care of the extra mass of them there, without having to flatten the building, or even burn it to a husk. And it's likely that we wouldn't even kill any humans. We could have them all out in time." Jo looked at Shep with a slowly building smile. "I love the way holy oil works like the ultimate purifier when you handle these things." She blinked and looked over at Ink and Owen. "Owen, I'll contact you with a plan. Since you know her, it's likely you'd be the one to grab ahold of this girl and get her out of there. And then you'll have to get her somewhere safe they can't follow you immediately."
"Either way Owen, I'm certainly willing to help if you come up with an idea that doesn't turn me into a combination blood bank and smack-head." Ink pauses as Grayson leaves, returning his look with a blank one of his own.
He watches the exchange between Shep and Jo, his eyes glossing over occasionally but certain words sticking out. "Illusions and veils would certainly be an easier way. Erm..." Ink's head dips for a moment as he thinks back to that day. "A lot of the folk in there were quite out of it, I don't know if marching them all out will be easy. I mean, with Owen's friend I'm confident either him or I could get her out of town right sharpish but it might not be subtle. Although I do get that them keeping the young lass would be terrible at this point. You do all seem to know what you're doing though, so there is that.!" Ink grins with this, always happy to find the silver lining.
Owen listened to Shep and Jo planning an assault on a Red Court hideout, and he just kind of seemed like he was ready to jump out of his skin. He did nod, though, when he was spoken to, and clearly was ready and up for about anything when it came to getting Max out of there. He finally looked over to Ink and gave him a ghost of a smile while reaching over and squeezing the large man solidly on the shoulder. "Thanks, Ink. And I really do appreciate it. I'm sure there's more than one way you can help us out, and just the fact that you're willing... well it's huge. Max is abrasive and sharp, and can be cruel, but she's also got a good heart and she is fiercely about protecting people that need it. I'm pretty sure she got herself into this mess because she was outright looking to find it. She was really pissed about the two dead men we found. Those poor guys didn't deserve to die that way, and she definitely doesn't deserve to go through what she'd go through becoming like the Reds." Owen pushed to stand and nodded to Jo and Shep. "Jo, Shep. Let me know when you're ready. I'll be ready." He then turned to Ink. "I think i'm going to have to cancel the tour entirely today, I need to go prepare. If you want to come and prep you're welcome to come along, since your plans for the day got kind of ruined. It may not be all that exciting, but I do have beer."
Shep listened to his wife, offering a slight nod to the woman. He focused in on Owen, taking a deep breath, "I can understand that place may be the last that you want to be in. It's a situation that the heart may want to take the lead, so if you think it would be better for someone else to do it, we can work that in. Jim has a solid idea of the layout... From the looks of his notes, he wouldn't surprise me that he took a tape measurement of the place." The man focused on Ink, "I'm sure the girl is having a time of it right now. How long has it been since you were bit? From our information, you're looking at psychological dependency lasting for years. Just know your limits... And speak up if it eats at you more than it is, alright." Shep glanced at Owen and nodded, "I'll so if I can check for any sort of warding they have in place, and where it is in the Nevernever. So 24 to 72 hours max depending on the temporal shifts. And Jo's brewing... I love the woman, but she likes to burn things." The man offered a hint of a smile, trying to lighten the mood as he reached under the table to grab the cricket bag, standing it upright and leaning it on his thigh. "We'll get as many out as we can, and at the very least, force the Reds to have move locations."
Jo moved to stand up, obviously ready to go. She took down the last of her coffee with the ease of someone that had been rushed through enough cups in her lifetime that she'd figured out how to never waste a drop. When she looked back at Owen and Ink, she winked and gave them a smile. "Don't worry boys. This will just be a nightmare in a couple of days. Then you can move past it, and get over it as you're able. Until then, unfortunately, we've all got to get neck deep." She reached over and touched Ink's arm gently, squeezing slightly to reassure, then did the same for Owen. "You two be careful, I'm going to get started on cooking. Because apparently I need to burn a couple of these batches, just to make sure Shep knows I listen to him even after all these years." Jo reached out her hand to Shep and once he accepted, and stood, they walked toward what had to be the most ancient, WW2 Jeep. They got in, it started with a rough as hell cough, and they started down the road, despite the poor engine whining like it was actually, physically crying.
"I'm obviously missing stuff here and so a beer and chat could be just what the doctor ordered. Sounds like a plan to be butty!" With perhaps more cheerfulness than her feels, Ink gets to his feet also, grabbing his backpack once more but this time slinging it over his shoulder. Taking a moment then to straighten out his shirt, he offers a nod and a smile to both Shep and Jo. "I'll be sure to let someone know if I get any especially odd cravings. It were erm... possibly twenty hours at a guess? I may have lost a day someone though, it's been emotional." Ink nods again as Shep goes on, his smile returning more genuinely now. "I'm real glad to hear it, thanks." He offers Jo a big, toothy smile. "I'll keep busy and at least for tonight, Owen has offered to keep me busy. Thank you for the cookie!" He steps back and watches as they take their belongings off, trying not to think to hard about what is in the Cricket bags.
Only when the jeep is in the distance does Ink turn back to Owen, slapping an arm around his shoulders. "Preparation and beer sounds like a fantastic idea. Hell, we can keep each other for doing anything stupid. Okay, anything stupid with regards to down town, anything else, I'm not making any promises." Taking a last look over his shoulder, he looks back to Owen. "How fast can you run anyway?"
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