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* Dawn is sitting at his desk, his feet on the floor for once, working. His appearance is even more unkempt than usual, and he looks exhausted, but every now and then he looks up from his work and casts an almost satisfied look at his guests on his sofa - a young man and a boy, similar in appearance, curled together and napping on the dingy sofa. * Angel raps on the door frame and walks in without waiting for the go-ahead. He looks slightly better, although he is still haggard and has matching bandages - one around his shorn hair and another around his broken wrist. * Dawn tenses, half-standing, then relaxes as he recognizes Angel. He sits again. "Afternoon." <Angel> ::grouchily taking a seat:: I'm under orders... Jewel's taken Bienca off to some tea-party with her old friend from the school. ::rolls his eyes:: I don't know what she thinks she's going to get from that source, aside from a diatribe on current fashions. <Angel> ::gestures to himself:: So, here I am, so you can make sure I don't pass out from the indignity of getting my hair shaved off. Or something. <Dawn> ::grins:: I wondered why she wasn't hovering. I'm hoping she'll gather some more intel about the mindbenders they had working on you... ::he pauses, glancing toward the sleeping guests:: Hang on, let me get them out... Shiver. Shiver! <Shiver> ::The youth stirs and starts awake. He seems surprised to have been asleep, and even more surprised to note Angel's presence.:: Sir? <Dawn> ::points toward the stairs:: Take him upstairs, and get some proper sleep, for fucksake. <Shiver> Yessir. ::He gathers the boy in his arms and carries him up the stairs. As he passes, the boy's head lolls slightly, showing the remains of tear-tracks.:: <Angel> ::raises an eyebrow:: * Dawn watches them go, then turns back to Angel. "Stupid fucking system... It was easier to get Shiver out of prison than it was to get Ear out of the fostering home. I'm keeping them here so I can make sure they stay under cover." <Angel> ::shrugs:: Don't ask me to explain it. <Dawn> I wasn't going to. ::he makes a last notation in his books, then pushes them away. "Beer?" <Angel> Gods. Please. * Dawn grins and fetches a couple of jars from their hidden stash. He gives one to Angel, then opens the other for himself, flopping back into his chair and putting his foot up on the desk. "She didn't seriously send you here to be babysat?" * Angel absently rubs at the bandage around his head. "Between her hovering and Bienca acting like a mother-hen - there's something *wrong* with that woman - I'm lucky to get out of the house with a promise to come *here*." * Dawn snorts, and drinks deeply. "Hope for a long tea-party, then, so you can catch your breath." <Angel> ::eyes Dawn:: So, straight scoop. How bad are things? Jewel acts like I'm made of glass. <Dawn> ::considers:: Not as bad as they could be. As soon as they grabbed you, we made sure most of the high-risk folks were shoved deep under cover. We're not earning much right now, because we're trying to stay out of sight, and we've had a few others picked up. We're trying to make arrangements for them all without getting the lizards suspicious. Concentrating first on the ones who've seen Dusk, or who knew Mace. Not that there's many of those left. <Angel> ::nods briefly:: They're not that subtle. It was sheer stupidity on my part that I fell for that ambush. <Dawn> ::snorts:: Getting careless in your old age? ... Speaking of straight scoops. ::He slants a look at Angel, then takes a drink from his jar:: You going to mend? <Angel> ::snorts:: You're older than I am. ::takes a long swig from his jar, the clinks the jar against his teeth:: It may be... a long recovery. <Dawn> ::nods:: It looked pretty bad, what I could see. ::he eyes Angel again, not quite asking about the part he *couldn't* see.:: <Angel> Getting soft, I suppose... With Snowman off in retirement, I don't get my head handed to me often enough... <Dawn> Ha. You'd think by now, it'd be so loose, you could just take it off yourself. ::he drinks:: Boss. We do that bitch, you reckon it's over? We don't owe something to the mindbenders? ::he watches Angel from the corner of his eye:: * Angel starts briefly, then begins to shake, his hands trembling badly. "I don't... I don't know. I dream about her... she comes to me while I'm sleeping." <Dawn> ::quietly:: Fuck. Which her, boss? Vander? <Angel> ::quietly:: No. The girl... young thing. Maybe seventeen or eighteen years old. She was always there, when they were... probing for information. <Dawn> ::eyes narrowing:: They were taking stuff from you? * Angel sighs. "I don't think so. I don't know. Either with what my wife's taught us, or something else, but they couldn't just reach in my head and take it. They resorted to more traditional methods of interrogation. But she was there for them. Always." <Dawn> ::considers, then nods:: Aye. If they could take it out, they'd not have bothered with the rest of it, or only enough to make it look convincing... ::glares at nothing in particular:: I don't like it. What did she do? Jewel blew half a night running down the various possibilities for me, and... ::he shakes his head:: Fucked if I understood a third of it. We gonna have to scrub this girl out, too? <Angel> ::harshly:: No. No, damnit. ::his hand tightens around his jar of beer:: <Angel> You don't... She wasn't doing it because she liked it. It made her sick... whatever she was doing, watching them hurt me. We were alone together, once. I... ::he sighs:: I killed one of them. He hadn't secured the cuff and I managed to get out of it long enough to break his fucking neck. I... ::he pauses, then looks at Dawn:: <Angel> I thought they'd kill me for it. I *wanted* them to. I knew I was close, close to giving them whatever they wanted. <Dawn> ::to his beer:: Aye. I've been there. ::looks up:: What happened? When you were alone? <Angel> ::his eyes foggy, far away:: She touched me. She stepped over the dead lizard as if she could barely notice him. She touched me, and for just a few minutes, she took all the pain away. All of it. Gave me a chance to rest, to recoup. She said... said she was *sorry.* She gave me a few minutes rest - all I think she dared to - before she went to tell the rest of the lizards what happened. <Dawn> Fuck. ::sighs and finishes his beer:: They're forcing her? How the hell do you... ::considers:: We could grab her. Wouldn't be too hard, unless they're keeping her locked up down there, too. <Angel> Just don't... don't hurt her. Or scare her too badly. I don't... I think I would know, or Jewel would know... if someone was influencing me. But... ::he shakes his head:: I *am* getting soft. <Dawn> Oh, stop that. I'm not going to pat your head and tell you you're still big and scary. I'm not your fucking wife. Not every mercy is a softness. ::he glances toward the stairs, and his guests at the top of them:: I wasn't going to hurt her. If she's really sorry, if they're forcing her - maybe we can use her. * Dawn starts to drink from his jar, then realizes it's empty. "I'll have to talk to Jewel when she gets back. See what she can tell me, what kind of direction we should point her in." * Angel eyes Dawn carefully. "Well, maybe if you shaved more, you'd look more like her." <Dawn> I'll keep that in mind, if I ever want to try to pass. ::scratches his face:: <Angel> ::snorts:: And I was blind. And it was very, very dark. <Dawn> ::grins:: I didn't know you cared. <Angel> I don't. I shouldn't. Makes it harder. Things were so much easier when I just hated everything. ::he sighs and leans back in his chair:: Maybe I should retire. <Dawn> ::pulls up short and stares at Angel for a moment, then very deliberately laces his fingers behind his head and leans back in his chair:: It's hardly a secret that I want the promotion, but I don't want you on my ass every three days telling me how to do it, either. You're not old enough, and you're not fucking broken enough to seriously retire. <Angel> ::snorts:: Yeah, listen to me whine. I sound like Snowman. ::shakes his head:: It was easier when I didn't have anything to lose. The bottom looks like hell of a drop, these days. ::sighs:: You got anything, straight up wetworks? I might feel better if I killed someone. <Dawn> ::considers:: Yeah, I do. Was going to do it myself, but... Turns out it was a dissatisfied customer who tipped the lizards off to Shiver and Ear. He needs to go. <Angel> Give it to me... and make up something to tell my wife... ::grins suddenly, wickedly:: See, I give you all the *hard* jobs. <Dawn> Ha. Should've talked you into retiring, after all. ::he scrawls a note on a scrap of paper and hands it over:: Here. Go. Jewel can satisfy herself with "business of the Guild." *She's* the one who wanted me to start treating her like a true member. * Angel takes the scrap and tucks it into his vest pocket after a quick glance. "Oh. Him... this should be fun... " He drops one hand to his knife, then walks out. Despite his injuries, he looks a fair bit better than he did when he came in. * Dawn watches the empty door for a while, his expression unreadable, then he glances toward the stairs and pulls his book back across the desk and takes up his pen. |
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