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The knock came without any warning, and Finn's heart began to race. He'd schooled practically everyone on the shibboleth, and there was no way he'd missed it - his signet would have gotten the message no matter what. That someone was knocking with no advance notice... perhaps it was an emergency, or an oversight, or much, much worse: a raid.

Fearing who might be waiting for him, Finn raised the cover off the peephole and looked carefully out into the alley. Recognizing the man on the other side, he breathed a sigh of relief - it had been a long time since he'd seen him, but his identity was clear. The unchanged glamour came as a reassurance: Azzo had not corrupted.

He opened the door, just a crack, with the chain still on. After all, he'd skipped the shibboleth. "Hey, man," he said, peering out. "Long time, no see. You missed a security check, so, like, I hope you don't mind if I keep the chain on until you give me a reason to let you in. Times are tough."

Finn nodded and hurried to undo the chain. He flung the door open and ushered Azzo, the cat, and the dog inside, locking the door tightly behind them. "s**t," he said, eying the pen in the other man's hand. A senshi, separated from her pen, well - there weren't a lot of things you could read into that. "Azzo, man," he said awkwardly. "I'm sorry. I am so, so sorry."

"It's no powers in the house, anyway," he added, gesturing for them to come upstairs with him. He'd - he'd put on some tea, he thought, and make Azzo take a shower and shave, and-

It was sort of silly, grasping for normalcy when this was anything but. He kept up Kaatje's rules partially out of respect for the dead, but also because they were common sense. The shibboleth, two lines of call and response, those were his own addition, but look where that had gotten him, pissing off an old ally.

"Can I get you anything to eat or drink?" he asked, waving them all into the apartment he kept for himself. "I think I've got some dog food here somewhere." Well, he knew he did - he kept it for Mendel - but Mistral's position was perilous without him blabbing that she was a deep-cover spy to half the faction. "And then we can get to what brings you to my doorstep."

"Yeah, well," shrugged Finn, putting on a fresh pot of coffee. "No harm no foul. It's just a call and response to let me know you're coming and so I can tell you the way's clear. But I don't expect anyone terrible to be running around with your face." He took a few minutes to get the animals all appointed to - kibble for Merlin, cream for Snowball - and put some soup on the stove for Azzo.

The other man had a powerful scent. "Do you want, like, a shower or something?" he asked. "There are laundry machines in the basement and I can lend you some clean stuff."

It was nice to have someone in the building who needed his help again. After Kaatje's corruption and subsequent death, it had fallen on Finn to stick to their mission statement. Sometimes, that made for lonely work, but he'd spent enough time moping and the soup was ready.

"So, do you want to tell me what brings you to my doorstep?" he asked, setting a bowl of chunky beef and vegetable on the bar. "Hell, I can't even remember when the last time I saw you was."

"Yeah, our little slice of paradise," said Finn, giving Snowball a scratch behind the ears. Straightening, he nodded to Azzo. "Yeah, I remember that much," he said. He just didn't see how Azzo and Aurora went from being the happiest couple he knew to Azzo, homeless, and holding a henshin pen. Like, obviously he could extrapolate - but they hadn't even been in Destiny City, had they?

"You were in Alaska, yeah?" he asked, pouring two mugs of coffee. "You want milk? Sugar?" He dressed up the cups, then set one out for Azzo beside his soup.

"I was there for a while - Fairbanks. It's a nice place." But it was no place for a knight. Time didn't stop back in Destiny City just because you were away from it. "s**t, that was years ago. Anyway. I'm not gonna pry, I just want to know what I can do for you."

Finn nodded. He'd heard snippets about Barren Pines over the years from Elke and Laney - Elke had given him the whole story, about it being a Negaverse operation, but Azzo didn't need to know that on top of everything else he was dealing with. The guy had had his world turned upside down enough times for a lifetime. And god, he missed Elke.

"The youma upwellings are everywhere," he said, cupping his hands around his mug. He'd heard about Vindemiatrix's death third-hand, and even though whatever they'd had was long behind him, it had still hurt. You couldn't save everyone. Some days, you could barely save yourself. And you couldn't stay in Alaska (real, metaphorical, whatever) forever. "I'm really sorry all that happened to you."

But, moving on. "I think your house'll be fine," he said. "The Negaverse isn't interested in destroying the city outright." If anything, property damage had been collectively reduced since their takeover. Which made sense: no one wanted to rule rubble.

Leaning back against the counter, he asked, "How much contact have you had with the resistance?" Obviously enough to find this place, he thought. "Everyone's gone to ground or settled outside the city. If you want to head out to Headquarters, you can stay here and I'll call someone to come take you."

"Ana... you mean Anabel?" asked Finn, eyes knitting together with concern. Mistral had always been regarded with suspicion by the rest of their faction - it was what made her position as a double agent so believable. Still, if Niflhel had spoken to her since returning to town, there was no telling what he thought of her position. It was essential that Mistral remain in deep, deep cover - if she were found out, the Negaverse would not try to convert her. She was transcendent, and that would lead right to the executioner's blade.

"Everyone still in the city has their own cover to worry about. The cowards have mostly turned traitor already, but everyone else - we have to hold our cards close to our chests. People will be more willing to talk if you get out of town," said Finn, and took a long sip from his coffee mug. "I can call someone to come collect you tonight, or I can take you tomorrow. I have some supplies to run out and could use an extra set of hands."

Casting Snowball a sidelong glance, Finn added, "And, you know, cats are something of a limited resource. They'll be overjoyed to see you."

He looked down at his hands wrapped around his mug. On his right ring finger, he still wore his knightly signet. On his left, he wore a wedding band, and he self-consciously looked to see if Azzo still wore his after all the bullshit that had rained down on him. "It's lonely," he said measuredly. "I miss my family. I sent my mother and my sister out of town and I'm not sure where they are right now." He could only hope they were safe - they both had knightly blood, but had no powers of their own. He was awkwardly reminded of his observation years ago that his family tree had been systematically pruned, century after century.

"Avalon and I have a daughter," Finn continued, trying to cheer himself up. "Antonia. She just turned three a few weeks ago."

"When did you see her?" asked Finn. It wasn't public knowledge that he was in regular contact with her, and he'd like to keep it that way. He sometimes wondered where people thought her technological innovations were coming from, if Mistral had truly turned traitor. Perhaps they chalked it up to the cats.

"You might find some of Polaris's knights with the resistance," said Finn, although he wasn't perfectly sure. He knew he'd seen at least one on a report of losses to corruption - but it was better if Azzo not know that. Much longer, and it would be too late to call someone to take him out of the city tonight - and if both Snowball and Azzo wanted showers, then they'd be better off waiting for tomorrow. He made an executive decision. "I'll take you to camp tomorrow."

Finn smiled self-consciously. "She's a delight," he said. "And to be perfectly honest with you, I wanted to wait, too. But she happened and some things are just meant to be. Gather ye rosebuds while ye may and all that." Antonia had been conceived against all odds and precautions, but Arkady had been too excited at the prospect of a baby for him to go against her. It would have been cruel - and in wartime, sometimes you needed a concrete bit of happiness to fight for.

"I've just got whatever's in the bathroom," he said to the cat, pointing to an open door with a hint of tile beyond. "There should be an assortment. Check under the sink." Not that he had any idea how a cat would shampoo its own fur, but Mauvians were weird, and significantly more dextrous than ordinary felines.

"So the dog," he said, nodding to Merlin, "Is just an ordinary bog-standard dog?"

He was pretty sure Mistral had done some sort of mad science to Mendel. But not absolutely certain.