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Finn woke up to the smell of eggs and toast, and he thought to himself, s**t, I am the world's worst host. He got out of bed and, figuring that he'd already let Azzo get up to his own devices enough and a little more wouldn't hurt, quickly got dressed. He made it out to the kitchen just as the other man asked out jam.

"There should be some in the fridge door," said Finn, putting Azzo's clean laundry on the bar top. "That's for you, by the way." Obviously. They were his clothes.

"That smells really good," he said, surveying the pans. He didn't usually eat fancy breakfast when it was just him - cooking was a hassle when it was just for one person. "Are you trying to steal me away from my wife?" he joked, pouring himself a cup of coffee. He checked the time on the microwave.

"We'll get on the road once the morning rush hour clears," he said. "So in an hour or so."

Finn glanced down at Snowball and gave him a hesitant scratch on the cheek. He found Mauvians intensely disconcerting sometimes, usually when they displayed their massive intellect concurrently with doing something so intrinsically catlike as rubbing up against your legs. "Just uh, tomato and onion and cheese is fine," he said.

He didn't quite see how energy draining stations could be good for anything. "They're bleeding people dry and calling it taxes," said Finn bitterly. It was almost enough to make him want to live with the resistance full time... but his position here in Destiny City was too key. "It wouldn't be too hard for them to figure out that you used to live here," he added. "So I'm not sure what kind of cover that would be."

Though - Destiny City was a decent place to live these days, provided you were a member of the Negaverse or one of their allies. Property damage was at an all-time low. "You might not even wind up as part of the Watchers," he said offhandedly. The Guard could always use more experienced fighters, and a Saturn knight would be useful to the Shadows. "I'm not in charge of that."

Actually, it was totally a matter of self-determination.

"Uh, sure," said Finn, who really had not had anything nearly so fancy for breakfast in years. "Whatever you think's best." Butter? Pepper? Woah, this was way too fancy and bound to start an endless cycle of reciprocal giving, ********.

The question about saving the Negaverse gave him some pause. "Yes," Finn said measuredly. "Some of them, at least." He'd seen purification with his own eyes - performed it, even. He knew that it could stick. But there would always be those that the darkness held too strong a hold on. Even after all these years, even long after her death, his heart still hurt for his first mentor. Lina, he thought sadly.

"We've had success luring defectors to our side," he said. "And there are more royals who can perform purifications. It makes things easier." The first time he'd participated in a purification, it had been a desperate scramble to contact a princess before Avalon caught up them. It never had to be like that again. At least, as long as Babylon stuck to knights.

"Why do you ask?" he asked, accepting a plate from Azzo. "What do you think we should be focusing on in this war?"

"I have more kibble," Finn volunteered, watching Merlin and Snowball snipe each other over breakfast. "This is really good," he added, digging into his breakfast. Gosh, maybe he should cook for himself more often - this sure beat Pop-tarts. Eggs weren't that hard...

Once they were finished, Finn cleaned up the kitchen. It was only fair, seeing as Azzo had done all the cooking, and if he was going to be gone for a few days then he didn't want to leave a mess. That, after all, was how you got ants, and he had a duty to keep the building clean and maintained. Kaatje would have wanted it that way.

He could only hope that Eternal Sailor Gunn had found peace in the Cauldron.

"Let's get on the road," he said, herding them all out to the little detached garage where his car was parked. He'd reluctantly traded the red Jeep for a beige Subaru hatchback years ago - it was less conspicuous. Finn tossed some supplies into the trunk "We'll have to hike once we get close," he said, spreading a towel over the back seat for the animals. "That okay with you guys?"

The drive ran a bit long, not only because headquarters was a ways out of town but also because Finn had to stick to back roads in order to get there. He played music off an MP3 player the whole time, some classic Bob Dylan record that seemed horribly nostalgic given the circumstances, and after an hour and a half of driving, turned onto a barely-defined dirt road. Once they were out of sight from the main road, Finn threw the car into park and killed the engine. "It's about twenty minutes," he said, getting out of the car. He grabbed a large backpack out of the trunk and hefted it onto his shoulders.

"Supplies," he explained. "Stick to the path. There's poison ivy and all kinds of nasty s**t out here."

They began to walk. "You got any friends you're looking for who I should aim to hand you over to?" he asked. "I can't promise everyone's still around, but if you give me some names I'm sure we can find at least one of them."

Finn pursed his lips. "Iris is with the Mainstay," he said, after a moment. "We can definitely find someone to relay a message to her, or you could use your ring and do it yourself." Really, people were dense sometimes. All Oh, I don't know how to contact them..., when come on, you had a ring that sent magical emails straight to people's souls. "********* with the guard, so she's around camp and probably not too hard to find, and she can get you to Iris."

Sutai was a name he recognized, but he couldn't say he'd seen her in years. Babylon shook his head. "Can't say I know where the Polaris knight is," he said. "A lot of people are dead or corrupted. You might start by sending her a letter. If it bounces back, she's dead. If it goes, either she'll reply or she doesn't and the latter says a whole lot about whether her Signet ring still works. I'm sorry I don't have more useful information than that."

After another ten minute's or so, they began passing signs of human habitation. Another four and they reached the camp proper. "I try to make it out here once a week," said Finn. "Where should I drop you off? I've got some errands to take care of and don't want to drag you on them."