Crisscrossed - {Private}

[Maderu]

-A Private Roleplay-
-Lurking is Welcome, but please no posting.-
-Inspired by Rob Thurman-
-PS. Please let it be March.-

[Maderu]

New York was known for its angry volatile weather. A woman who carried enough scorn for the entire human race, but why oh why did it have to be today and at this time? Cal looked up at the sky as the clouds began to darken and the inevitable pitter patter of rain sloshed against the concrete. There was nothing that Caliban had against the rain, usually they were on friendly terms. It washed away the distinct smell of pollution and grime, and kept away the more unruly of customers at the bar. However today; the rain threatened to make sure that all the work Cal had been forced to endure would be washed away, quite literally.

Ah hell, how had he been put on the duty of applying a fresh coat of paint to an obviously dying building anyway?

The paint bucket clamored noisily as Cal kicked it with as much effort as he could muster watching the blood red color spill out onto the sidewalk and be washed away into the rain gutters. More rain poured down and continued to clean off every ounce of blood red color, including the coat that he'd so laboriously took hours to coat over the slate gray that the building had started with.

Now he wasn't even getting paid for this lame a** job.

At least sulking was one of Cal's finer points, and something even he admitted that he completely excelled at. "As if a gnoll or whatever the hell the creature was needed a building painted." Niko was picking up increasingly stupid jobs, this being the newest of a long line of endlessly ridiculous excuses for work. Cal had to go to the firing range once a week just to make sure his aim was still good after not having shot anything in so long. He'd get rusty at this rate.

Knowing there was no recovering from this mess, Cal bent down and picked up the discarded paint bucket and headed back to the apartment. No reason to stay here, the rain wasn't letting up anytime soon and surprise surprise, he was out of paint. At least the trek in the rain wasn't so bad, it'd be better if he could go to their client and pick up a wad of cash, but finishing work early was it's own reward.

When he got inside the apartment, Cal immediately tossed the paint bucket, thanking the rare luck he had that there wasn't a splatter of red that escaped the tine confines and collapsed on the couch. No one told him that painting was a pain in the a** and totally unsatisfying, then again to Cal anything that didn't involve pulling a trigger was dull and pointless. Giving a mighty yawn, Cal the half-Auphe half-human placed his boots on the barely held up coffee table and closed his eyes, trying to get in a quick nap before his super ninja of a brother came home.

[- Lord_Francois -]

He had only sat down for about a minute before there was the pressure of cold steel against his throat, the smell of oil under his nose, Niko’s cleaning oil that he used meticulously when cleaning his countless blades. “First…remove your feet from the coffee table, it can’t support your lazy a** weight and your shoes are dirty, so unless you want to be scrubbing it clean with a toothbrush… Second, this is the front room not your bedroom, keep it clean, does that look like the place you leave your trash? Third, I know I taught you better then that little brother. Always watch your surroundings, I’m going to assume that you must have addled the one brain cell you have or you would have notice that the door wasn’t locked when you walked through it, or that there was someone else in the apartment. You would have been dead now little brother.”

Niko, his super ninja of a brother, removed the blade and then smacked him upside the back of his head. “Pay attention next time.”

[Maderu]

The press of cold steel against the tender flesh of his throat wasn't what woke Cal up, it was the movement of the blade itself. By the time it was against his neck, at least his hand had reached to a weapon that was something. Of course his brother was a lot more than blond locks and had infinitely more speed and skill than Cal when it came to wielding weapons, especially pointy things.

Usually Cal would have entered on full alert mode at the knowledge of the unlocked door knob, but after the months of well...nothing, he'd become lax. Cal had known it was his brother before the sword had come swiping down, that comforting scent of oil had filled his senses more than any grime or pollution ever could.

"I think I'll die of boredom before to long. Seriously Nik, a painting job? No pay was worth that humiliation, and since the rain started to fall, now we're not getting paid at all." Cal knew his brother was only looking for the good of their wallets, and it had been a nice break after everything hat happened just a few months prior with the whole forget-me-not fiasco. The brothers had definitely needed a break to rest as had Robin. Now that break was turning into a full out slumber that not even Prince Charming would be able to break with his well-timed kiss.

Cal decided next time he was picking the job.

[- Lord_Francois -]

He slipped the blade aside and headed back to the table where he had been working. He was well used to Cal’s whining when it came to the kinds of jobs they had been forced to take to pay for the rent and groceries. “Pick up your things, Cal.” He repeated blandly.

He set the blade back down with the others. “It’s the only think available Cal, and I don’t feel comfortable asking Promise for money to pay for rent. I am looking but between my work at the university and the dojo and your pay at the bar, it isn’t enough. You know that.”

[Maderu]

Cal dipped his head back and looked at his brother Niko through upside down steel gray eyes. "Yeah Nik I know, but painting? Couldn't you find an extermination job or even trying to help some poor grandma find her lost whatever. There is just something about painting that is completely degrading, plus I'm getting rusty and as much as I love your weekly beat downs, I still reserve the right to practice my Auphe given talent to kill all things vile and corrupt. There is nothing vile or evil about painting a worn down warehouse, even if the new color is a hue close to blood."

With great effort, Cal swung his feet down onto the carpet, his boots squishing from the soaking rain that had been absorbed into the leather and walked over to pick up his discarded bucket and opened his door to throw it into his room. The resounding clatter probably didn't mean anything good. "There all clean Cyrano, do I get a treat now? Say a job that doesn't suck and actually involves me shooting something."

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~

The trek to one Robin Goodfellows accommodations had been a long and arduous journey. Not because his apartment was located in the richer part of the city, but because it was a long trip from Ireland all the way to New York. The Puck wasn't exactly excited for the trip, mainly because Robin Goodfellow was by far the last Puck on Earth that he wanted to receive any sort of help from, but he was in trouble and Goodfellow had developed quite a name for his little investigation crew through the Supernatural community. Jacky was always one to take advantage of a situation no matter how turmoil it might seem, and using Robin and his friends as cannon fodder could only lead to good things for old Jacky boy. Maybe even his enemies would forget about his sculpted a** and instead concentrate on the much bigger threat of an Aupheling and sword wielding mortal body guards.

When he got to the door, Jacky paused only to fix his black dress pants and re-situate his green with real gold embroidery button up before knocking on the door. There was no reason to tell the gentleman exactly what was after him or why. So long as he could hire them for a reasonable price, wait for the stupid beasts to attack, then get the hell out of dodge, everything would work out peachy keen in his favor. Now what sort of lie could he make up that would sound reasonably dangerous that he'd go to them for help, but not the actual danger he was in? Decisions, decisions.

[- Lord_Francois -]

Niko didn’t react to the crash that came from Cal’s room, as long as he kept the door closed and nothing smelled like it died in there; then he would only worry about the mess in there if Cal never came out of there one day. “Cal, you would complain about any job that we took, especially if it was helping some grandmother. There are no other jobs to take.” He wouldn’t comment on Cal’s ‘Auphe given talent’. Those bastards would kill anything, not just the vile and corrupt.

He was cleaning his swords and looked up at his brother with his own steel gray eyes, the only thing that would link the two as related. “Isn’t allowing your lazy a** to dirty up my kitchen and house enough of a treat?” He set one blade aside as he finished cleaning it. “I’ll look again, Cal. But I make no promises.”

~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~

Someone else, heading to their apartment passed him on their way and when they realized whose door he was at, they only gave him a look and then quickly passed on their way.

There was no answer at first from the door until there was a bit of a mumbled cursing on the other side. “Back, back, Salome. No you do not get to go out tonight; I have no desire to find another dead god forsaken creature on my pillow.”

There were a couple sounds of locks and then the door opened just a bit to show Goodfellow blocking the door as there was a feline yowl. “I said back or no stake tomorrow night.” Then he looked up and stopped. “Oh for the love of Poseidon’s over estimated trident…I’m not in the mood for a family reunion.”

[Maderu]

There was never any promises when it came to jobs, they were either boring or came with enough stress to last a lifetime. By this point, Cal honestly didn't know which was worse. Why the hell was every friggin monster in Manhattan acting like freakin angels anyway? You'd think someone would stir up something, but nope everything had been quiet. Yay for the world, boo for his attention span.

"Alright Nik, no promises, but please no more paint jobs. Next time we get one I'll paint the warehouse with a different sort of red." There wasn't any harm in saying things like that, Cal knew that Niko would know he was only joking, it just wasn't him if he answered with anything different.

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~

Jacky gave the someone a bright pucky smile, his hand already down to the nearest weapon on his person, but when the individual kept on walkin, Jacky let go of his firearm and turned his attention to the door listening with great interest at the sounds coming from just inside. By the time Robin made it out, Jacky was putting on his best million-watt smile and wiggling his fingers a fine hello.

"Mornin sunshine." He drawled with a thick Irish accent, Jacky Rowan spent most if not all his time located in Ireland and there were very few reasons for him to leave what he thought was his now home country. "I can tell ya this ain't no family re'nion. That's not for a few more months after all." The smile that accompanied that was both sorrowful and enigmatically hopeful. "Right then, I actually came to hire yer little pets for a job, mind if I come in?"

[- Lord_Francois -]

Niko didn’t react to this in any special way either. Replying to it in a calm tone he reacted to most of Cal’s temper tantrums. “I know your head is hard, little brother, but I don’t think that would be good for the wall.” He said with only the faintest of smiles on his face.

~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~

“It’s nighttime you a**, and not the good kind.” He said with a bored expression. “I’m aware,” he said about the family reunion. “And I believe I just said I’m not in the mood for one. That includes a few months from now, so why would I want to entertain family ahead of time?” he snapped.

“You interrupted me getting ready to go out for the evening.” Goodfellow stopped however at his question, arching a brow. Not even he had been able to find a job for the Leandros duo and he had connections. He rolled his eyes and sighed, “Oh very well. Don’t let the cat out.” He stepped away from the door to let him in. “If It’s a Puck problem then I’m going to assume that I’ll need something strong to drink. Come in and tell me about this job. If I think it’s worth their time then I’ll pass it along and they can decide if they will actually take it or not.”

He didn’t really wait for Jacky at the door, instead he walked straight to the kitchen to get them drinks.

[Maderu]

Cal just smiled sweetly back at his tube sock killing brother. "Who's to say the iron wouldn't be good for the wall?" A jab here deserved a jab there did it not? "Speaking of iron, I've noticed there's been a lot of free time for you and a certain iron craving princess." There was no way in hell he'd dream of saying something like that around Promise, but he knew that Niko would be able to appreciate the brotherly torment for what it was.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It seemed despite Robin's lack of manners for company, their little team was in need of a job more than he could have possibly hoped. Now all he had to do was think of a suitable lie in-between the door and that much appreciated drink. That shouldn't be to hard, after all he was a puck, and every pan knew how to lie; little ones, big ones, black ones, white ones, it didn't matter the shape or the size.

"Aye any of our problems require many drinks and plenty o' women. Shame that lately the grapevine be talkin' that there ain't much of the latter here no more." Jacky gave a shrug, making sure that the mummified cat was given a wide berth, his hand automatically moving to the treasure in his pocket and giving it a quick rub. It had become habit now and would ensure that he'd be safe at least for another week, that was ample time for a quick escape. "All the same Robin, I thank ye for hearin' me out. And if you have any of the stronger whiskey from Ireland, all the more appreciated."

If Ireland was known for anything it was the drink.

[- Lord_Francois -]

The look that Niko gave him was not pleasant. “Don’t…” Was the only kind of warning that he was willing to give. Niko’s relationship was still on rocky cold deeper then the grand canyon cold. It wasn’t clear if the same level of trust they had before would ever be the same. “Go clean your room and I don’t mean just shoving things under the bed. Wear a has mat suite if you need to.”

~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~

Robin snorted. “You insult me.” He moved about the kitchen getting glasses, ice and then a bottle of the good stuff and put some in and slipped him the glass. “Alright then… what is this job? Be quick, I still have plans tonight.”

[Maderu]

Cal held up his hand in surrender like any little brother would do, but his good mood instantly fell at the consequences of his actions. No problem, not under the bed huh? Well the closet wasn't probably off limits and Cal was sure he could stuff a few more things in there and everything else could probably be thrown away. "Alright Cyrano I know when not to pry, but seriously that's water deep under the bridge and I'm sure she misses you as much as you miss her." Now before Nik decided to tackle his pasty a** to the ground, Cal hurried to his room and started to hastily stuff his closet full of things that he thought he should probably still keep and throwing everything that wasn't salvageable into a clumsy pile.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once they were seated and Jacky gave Robin a well deserved toast for the drink, he mulled over the remaining contents with an unusual air of seriousness for the Irish puck. "Well ta put it bluntly Robin, I may have taken something that wasn't exactly mine to take. Then again with our like what else is new?" The best lie was always hidden in the half-truths, Jacky even gave a simplistic shrug as if to say what were you gonna do? "Any who, long story short; I may have angered a hornet's worth of banshee's who were intent enough ta follow me all the way here. Well with yer pet's record of destruction I'm sure the girls wouldn't stand a chance against yer boys, and I'll pay fairly well for their tragic end." At this Jacky put on his best smile and held up a single finger. "One thousand a pop and for just over ten that's not a bad deal."

It was a creature far from banshee that was on his trail and something more more diabolical and few in number. That they didn't need to know until it already was on their doorstep and making a fine feast of their entrails and by then Jacky ol' boy would be long gone. A flawless plan, so long as they didn't catch up with him first.

[- Lord_Francois -]

“And I’ll be inspecting Cal, so no slacking off!” He was snapped at as he retreated to the relative safety of his bedroom. If Niko didn’t kill him anything toxic growing under the bed probably would, even with his Auphe genes.

It wasn’t that he minded talking about Promise; he just wasn’t sure how he felt about her. But she had crossed a very dangerous line, lied to him about so many things, things that had nearly gotten his brother killed. They were mending, but no, things would never be the same between him and her again. Cal wouldn’t understand that, not after what he had seen. Though Niko smiled, smart a** little brother that he was, he had his moments. Like making sure that he was alright. Taping that stupid picture on his bed so it was the first thing he saw every morning, he still had the picture; it had helped him get over the nightmare he had seen. But he had seen Cal die and almost die more times then he cared to count…and Promise…

He counted of mantras in his head as he worked on cleaning the blades instead. “ ‘Water deep under the bridge…’” It wasn’t plato…but…

~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~

Robin listened to his plight and he tossed the contents back in one gulp once he was finished. “Well said… now in a manner of speaking stop ******** around with my finest attribute and tell me what is really going on?”

Robin looked at him seriously, slamming the glass down and peering at him through narrowed forest green eyes. “One, don’t try to trick a trickster, especially one better then you cousin, Two, you stole something and pissed it off that’s your problem not my boys. We’ve been there, done that gig, and it really didn’t end well for our little trio… In fact this sounds almost exactly like that case. A little underestimation there and we ended up dealing with something we really didn’t want to ******** with.”

His eyes narrowed more. “And three…What kind of self respecting puck offers that much cash for anything? So apparently you think I am a gullible moron, and you thought you could dump your s**t in my lap for my friends because you ******** with something you shouldn’t. Now come straight we me Jackie-boy, or stop wasting my time.”

[Maderu]

There were multiple reasons why Cal had brought up Promise, but the main one was; Nik deserved to be happy. After everything they had been through, especially since last year when Cal hadn’t exactly been himself, it had been a real wake up call. If something were to happen to him, as if most likely would with his resume let’s face it if anyone was getting out alive it was his older brother, then Cal at least wanted someone else to pick up the pieces. Maybe it was selfish, but if anything happened to Nik then Cal wouldn’t be far behind, but if something happened to him? Caliban wanted Niko to move on.

Hell that sounded more unreasonable than asking a chicken to start laying golden eggs instead.

At least he was making an effort to clean out his room, even went so far as to drag the stuff out from under his bed that is until he saw something moldy twitch in which case he happily tossed that back under. As long as his overly sensitive nose wasn’t picking up anything rank, then Caliban didn’t see why Niko should care. Sure it looked disgusting, but it didn’t smell that was important. Hopefully the distraction of Promise would stop his obsessive brother from coming into his room with the white gloved treatment.

Yeah, here was hoping.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Identical forest green eyes blinked back with an emotion crossed of amusement and boredom. How the puck pulled that one off only another pan could fathom. So a lie off the spot wasn’t going to work? Well if he bothered to do a bit more research or thought more on the subject then perhaps this would have gone much smoother. At this rate he’d have to…share. With narrowed eyes, Jacky glared down at his drink as if it were responsible for not letting Robin believe the lie. That better comment was still ringing in his ears, an overly loud Church bell that just kept being gonged.

Well now he may have to share, but he’d make sure it didn’t end well for Goodfellow, not in the least.

“Alright, don’t get your thong in a twist.” Jacky smiled and rattled his glass back and forth watching the glass clang together merrily. “I just didn’ want ta share if the truth be told. Now it seems as if I don’t have much a choice.” Spoken with the same merry tone, Jacky reached down into his pocket and pulled out a simple looking charm. It was ash wood wrapped into a circlet with several green stones imbedded into it. “You’ve heard of the Green Man yes? Big tall fella with enough old magick to rip apart modern society who happens ta be the father of nature and all of that. Well lucky enough it ain’t be him I angered, but his offspring. Several Glaistig’s became very unhappy with me when I took this charm right out from under their noses. Shame too, if it weren’t fer those goat legs they’d be mighty fine specimen. Had a thing fer em once, didn’t turn out in me fancy.” Jacky smiled at the reminiscing, and then snapped back to the situation.

“By themselves they ain’t bad, but in a group, na a horde, their fierce and rather annoying. Still it be something I can handle meself, but I didn’t want ta piss off their substantially much more powerful brethren. Tis why I came here, and as far as the money is concerned with this charm I don’t need ta be worryin about money troubles.”

With a sly smirk, Jacky pushed the charm forward. “I stole it just fer the reunion. Somethin for a bit o’ luck, seeing as it’s a literal lucky charm.” Chuckling at his own joke Jacky looked at Robin seriously. “If we both hold on ta it at the lottery, it’s guaranteed we won’t win. Wouldn’t that be payment enough? However yer pets are down in the ****-hole or so I’ve heard so the money is fer them. This however is fer you.”

[- Lord_Francois -]

Cal wouldn’t be that lucky, mentioning Promise had a backlash affect that had Niko being more brutal then ever when it came to cleaning. When he came into the room to inspect it he tore open the closet and pulled everything out of it forced Cal to sit down and systematically go through everything. Whether it was a keep, a questionable and a definite get ride of. He made him take out the trash and then start a full scrub down of the whole entire room. If he had time to complain about jobs then he would give him one.

~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~

Robin was pouring himself another glass of the whiskey waiting for him to explain and reclaim his dignity for trying to pull one over on him. It was never as simple as they said it was, though he wasn’t surprised that another puck had tried to pull one over him.

He really didn’t know if Jacky was lying or not, but he was willing to bet quite a bit that he was lying through his teeth. He smiled when he caved.

He watched silently, managing to not have a smug expression on his face as he watched Jacky pull something out of his pocket and dangle it in front of his face. He didn’t touch it, he wasn’t that foolish, but he leaned forward to peer at it carefully. He looked back at Jacky when he started talking. Arching a delicate brow at his explanation, if he was stupid enough to piss off the green man then it was his own problem and he wanted nothing to do with it. Going against gods was never a good idea, again, they had been there, and they had done that.

He stared at the charm as it was pushed his way looking at it rather suspiciously, then he pushed the charm back at him across the table. “I’ll talk to them, see if you are willing to take the job. I will not tough that…until they accept or not. That’s up to them. I’ll be in touch, now if you don’t mind….” He motioned toward the door.