Topic: A Meeting of Seconds

David Evans

Date: 2016-03-17 22:44 EST
Ian cussed under his breath, something colorful and distinctly Scottish-sounding. He dragged fiercely on a cigarette, smudging his thumb along the fresh set of abrasions at the opposite corner of his mouth. He was damn lucky his teeth still seemed anchored, that's for sure. Fucking Cole.

Stomping his way across the campground on his way back to Mac, the teen stops short, turning to peer into the gloom. Was that movement? The telltale glow of a cigarette? Hm. There shouldn't have been anybody over there just now, especially not this close to the boss man's bus. Strange. Quietly, he changed direction, heading over to investigate.

It wasn't long after stepping out of the camper that Dave was quietly checking himself over. Shirt straight, hair dry, clothes all on rightside out and proper. It wasn't until he was sure he was all in one piece did he slip fingers into his back pocket to find a cigarette and light it with the finger worn zippo. A snap of fingers and the lighter popped open and alight.

Apparently party tricks went hand in hand with street magic and he flipped the butt up into the air and caught it between teeth, just incase a certain marked man was watching through the window. Stupid tricks made him smile. Which caused Dave to smile. Until he heard something in the distance, a raccoon maybe and he pushed his glasses up his nose and shoved the zippo back into his pocket.

Ian could be super quiet when he wanted to be, and right now he wanted to be. He was almost on top of the figure in the shadow of the RV when he recognized him at last. "It's you." Brows furrowed instantly. "You were at the bar the other night. What are you, a Barlow spy?" There was gravel in his voice and fire in his expression. If he'd just caught a spy this close to Mac....

There was a jump when the kid spoke and in the time it took for him to speak the first words a hand was reaching for the revolver holstered at his back and it was drawn before a drag was taken and the embers lit the area between them. "Fuck kid, it's you." He sighed as if he almost made a mistake of some sort. Josh would have been fucking pissed if he wasted the kid on his front steps. "You know that's a goddamn good way to end up dead." Apparently MacIntosh Dave was a tad more crass than Barlow Dave.

Ian's face was passive when the gun was drawn, like maybe he wouldn't have minded if this dude just pulled the trigger. He was about to say something more when some pieces clicked together in his head --mostly the voice. "Hang on. I know that voice. You're the man inside, aintcha?"

"Yeah, boss needed briefing." He was able to say it without laughing and everything. They were amazing at this game, the pretending they were only friends, that there was nothing there, that they were chums at best, needing one another only in the sense where one hand would wash the other. "You are his new right hand yeah?" He was sizing him up. There was a bit of distaste for the man working so close to Mac, someone who got to watch his magic at all times, while he sat playing patty cake with the girl scout troop.

David Evans

Date: 2016-03-17 23:00 EST
"Sommen' like that, yeah." The kid bobbed his head in a nod. Now that he'd identified the stranger, Ian's posture relaxed, and he was pulling a fresh cigarette from the pack. The teen had come a long way in a relatively short time frame, proving his usefulness again and again until there was no one he felt ill at ease around except ..Cole. Even Sonny had taken to joking with him now and again. And as for Mac -- the boss rarely let Ian out of his sight these days, which was at once a privilege and kind of a nightmare. "Ian. You?"

A shake of his head and looked at the man. Shoving the gun back where it came from, he would have to stash it back in with his wheaties when he made it back home, pretending to be shitfaced and a couple wallets richer for his time away. "You can't use it if you call or text, its pretty important that the phone isn't mine if anyone finds it." He stared, and if Mac was trusting of the kid, maybe he should to. "Dave."

Ian just gave him a look. Deadpan, those slate green eyes were narrowed in an expression that seemed to say Are you fucking kidding me? "I know it, and I ain't planning on using it. Just wanted to know since you're here." Taking another drag, he held acrid smoke in his lungs for a long moment. "Makin' any headway?" With the wolf, he meant, the common subject that kept them on the phone together a half dozen times a day.

"Listen kid, I don't know where you're from, I honestly don't fucking care, I have seen shit go to pot over shit dumber 'an hell, and when people say "it goes without saying" its a pretty safe bet it doesn't." He watched Ian carefully. He had to give the kid some kind of break. He didn't know Dave, didn't know that before all this, he was planted firmly at Mac's right hand. "Well the wolfsbane didn't work. But, he's looking for other guys who wanna be like him. So I might tell him I'm interested in learning more so I can get that kinda info out of him."

Finishing his cigarette, he flicks the cherry off its tip, stomping on it a moment later. "Fine, fine. Now you've said it so y'free and clear to kick my ass later if I screw up. Good news is, I'm not gonna." Giving the other guy a reckless grin, he scrubs his hand over mouse brown locks, pulling them down over his eyes. At this latest news, the kid snorts. "I fuckin' told 'em there'd be more wolves. What's he doin', building an army?"

"I mean I don't know if its an army, problem is, he already has others. They don't come to camp, but if he asked him to they would. He's like the boss of a bunch of them. I heard him talking on the phone to someone about needing to find them a pack ground or some shit. And the sister of the wolf is fucking another wolf. So she's probably one of them too. But man, werewolves are the least of our problems."

"The ... sister of the wolf? Which one is that again?" He was having a hard time keeping track of who was who in this camp of people he'd never actually seen. "The blonde bimbo?" Scratching at a scab on his jaw, he gingerly fits his thumb against that fresh wound again, checking for blood. "If she's fucking another wolf, though, that means even *more* wo---what do you mean? What are our bigger problems?"

David Evans

Date: 2016-03-17 23:10 EST
"That place is crawling with all sorts of fucking freaks man. Dragons, a ten foot tall bull man. This tiny fucking blonde chick who feeds everyone cookies and pinches asses." He pulled out his notebook from his back pocket and flipped through it. " There is shit here I haven't even heard of man. Also yeah the sister has purple hair. She was drinking with the werewolf at the bar the other night. If you didn't notice, there were a lot more barlows in there than there should have been."

Ian just nodded, absorbing this information. Brows knit themselves together over his eyes; you could practically see the wheels turning in his mind. "The purple haired girl, yeah. I remember her, now. Something's off about that, though. Especially if she's hanging with one pack and fuckin' somebody from another. Maybe see what else you can find out about her?" He scratched at his jaw again, like he couldn't leave it alone.

"You got crabs?" He looked at the guy and raised a brow. And ignored the request. He didn't take orders from Macs new little twink, no no no, he wondered what was what between them, but if it was nothing, and he said something, that would be an issue. So he just chewed on his bottom lip and flicked his cigarette butt away from himself.

"Dunno, is Cole a crab?" His smirk was rough-edged, twinged with violence. Watching the other guy for a moment, those grey green eyes are assessing, critical. Whoever Dave was or might have been, Dave had been out of pocket for a hot minute now, and Ian wasn't. Was this dude really about to just... ignore a useful tip? "C'mon, man. Are we working together or what? He wants *us* to handle it, so let's handle it. Just... check out the chick, cool?"

"I think Cole is a pain in the dick. So yeah maybe..." He thought a moment before nodding slightly to the man before him. "Yeah yeah I will check her out. Don't worry about it. I mean, I will talk to him about it." Head jerk towards the camper they were standing in front of. "And if he's into it, I will do it. I tend not to abandon his tasks for other ones without asking first. Sorry. I don't need that kinda asswhoopin"

Ian snickered. Patting down his pockets, he's looking for another cigarette or maybe a joint of something. Pain in the dick was an excellent description of Cole, and the kid was kinda glad to have someone around who agreed. He nodded his immediate understanding at the comment about the ass beating. Mac had actually never yet felt the need to "handle" Ian, but he'd seen the aftermath on others. "...Course. I'm not saying you *shouldn't* do what he's got you doin'. Just maybe work this in, too. The wolfsbane shoulda' worked, and you said there's weirder shit than we even know. Maybe the sister's a key, yeah?"

"Should I off the sister?" He made the swipe motion with his hand to his throat. "What if we need her later. I mean I am not entirely opposed to killing her, I think it would piss him off though. And there is something weird about her. So, maybe, I didn't use enough of the wolfsbane. You sure it was supposed to work?"

David Evans

Date: 2016-03-17 23:23 EST
Ian shook his head. "No, not yet."Finding the cigarette pack, he shakes one loose, tapping the pack against his wrist lightly to make the lighter fall out after it. Shoving the cancer stick between his teeth, he thumbs the lighter a couple of times to get it to ignite, inhaling as he gets it lit. Pushing the lighter back into the pack a moment later, he shoves it back into the pocket of his pants. "I mean, we may need to waste the chick later, but... if she's *that* important she might also make excellent leverage, yeah? Maybe y'should just. I don't know. Become her best friend?"

"Fuck me." He sighed and followed suit with the cigarette and nodded. Wonderful. He had to play buddy buddy with the fag hag. Why couldn't he have to become best friends with the mean girl who was shitfaced all the time and called everyone by assholey nicknames? Or someone who didn't make him think that she was about to hump her own brother. Lighting the cigarette he shook his head and looked to Ian. "Listen, I am serious about the stuff around here, Mark wasn't lying about it. There are scary folks here."

Ian's face was a grim rictus of a smirk, and he took another long drag. "What, right here?" This was an almost automatic response to 'fuck me', one born of untold hours spent antagonizing Cole on purpose. You could tell by the look on his face that he wasn't serious. As for the creatures of Rhydin, the teen had a little experience with that already. "Yeah, I saw some of it for myself. Went to the marketplace to get more smokes and do some laundry, and there was fuckin'.. talking cats and a horse lookin' thing and shit. This place is nuts."

The response caught him off guard and he looked Ian over, this was who was cozied up to his better half while he was sitting fucking pretty in the fucking gypsy version of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. He just punched him right in the guts. "Shit, don't get all faggot on me! You start talkin like that I'll have you outta here faster than you can fuckin blink."

Ian just quirked his brows at this, amusement evident in eyes the color of grass smeared on concrete. For a time he said nothing, just dragging quietly on the cigarette, its burning ember glowing brighter for a long second before he exhaled. "...Sorry. Force of habit, being around Cole all the time. I ain't no faggot, fear not."

"Cole ain't no faggot either." He spat and shook his head taking along drag and blowing out smoke in a rather annoyed fashion. There was a spitting and he looked at Ian wondering if he could believe him. What choice did he even have? Josh had put this man as his second and really what could he do about it? Not a damn thing.

Nope, not a one. The punk kid just grinned, unapologetic, invincible the way only youth can be. "Think you should be getting back?" He asked casually, after another drag. "...don't want 'em catching on to you this late in the game, yeah?"

David Evans

Date: 2016-03-17 23:30 EST
"Yeah, but I uh..." He patted himself down and with a slide of hand, he slipped his wallet behind his belt and under his shirt. "I dropped my wallet, maybe when I was in the bathroom, I gotta go find it. You good to get back on your own? Or you need a guide?" He was pushing buttons, but there was a bit of mischief in his eyes.

"Mm. That's a shame. I'll help you find it?" Unperturbed by the needling, he takes a final drag off his second cigarette, flicking the cherry off that one, too, His grin is all malice as he turns for the door of Mac's RV.

What was this kid playing at, was he in on this, did he know, there was a panic raising up his throat, in the form of bile and he furrowed his brow. "On second thought, if you find it, let me know yeah? Quinn is asking where I am." It was a lie but how would Ian know that. He waved his phone and turned to take off. "Nice talkin to ya."

Sure thing. Night Dave." With a grin and a nonchalant wave, the kid takes the couple of steps up to Mac's door, knocking once lightly before he lets himself in, though he doesn't wait for it to be answered.

He heard him knock, heard him let himself in and it took literally EVERYTHING in himself not to turn around and make that boy suck start his revolver. No, he had to trust Josh, that's the only way this had ever worked, he didn't give a shit who went in and out of camp or that camper, he couldn't because if he did, everyone would know it. And in return, they had a very careful and guarded relationship, but one that he could trust fully.


As he wandered back to his own camp, he let his thumb run over the side of his phone and when he punched a message out to mac, he almost felt guilty about it. But they needed to talk.