explosion [rook]

[ocean]

The border collie careened down the hallway, shouting mindless apologies to the multiple Angels she bumped into along the way. Ess turned a swift corner, running into and almost knocking over a pig that had his arms full of papers. The confetti shower of said papers rained down above her ears as Ess bolted away, feeling guilty that she hadn’t stopped to help him pick them up but determined to reach her destination in the shortest time possible.

She skidded to a halt before the door, one hand raised to beat against the solid frame. “ROOK!” She screamed, causing the poor pig to jump and, once more, send the papers flying to the ground. Ess continued to berate the door without a glance the other way.

The one hand that wasn’t laying siege to Rook’s dorm clutched a notepad, Ess’s scrawl covering the first page of it. Between her fingers and the surface of the pad was a small business card, her business for being here. If the wolverine would open the damn door!

[Rook]

This time Rook felt his claws dig into the bed in mindless hung-over rage despite having recognized the voice, why did Ess always catch him at times like this?! He'd just been drifting off to sleep after a hard night of useless bullying (he'd been trying in vain to find Adeline's location) and disappointed drinking , but it seemed that almost as soon as his eyes had closed and his heart had steadied the insane Fledgling had been banging on his door, screaming bloody murder and waking up everyone else too, no doubt.

Rook tumbled out of bed, shaking the blankets off his leg and growling to himself, he had fallen asleep in his jeans alone (he was damn lucky he'd been too tired to pull them off and sleep as he normally did), his long hair messily hanging over his shoulders and in his face instead of tied up in the back neatly as it normally was.

He would have answered the door wearing a chicken suit, if it could have just stopped damn Ess from making all this noise!

He opened the door snarling several expletives, the last of which being "Okay I'm answering the fucking door, What IS it"?!

At the wolverine's dull roar of a growl several Angels who had been lingering trying to figure out what the fuss was decided they'd best keep moving on.

[ocean]

She nearly punched the wolverine in the face when he opened the door right in the middle of one of her particularly hard thumps upon the door’s surface, though pulled back her fist as soon as his face appeared. “Rook, it’s important!” She was somewhat offended by his annoyed tone, though God knew that he was justified; it was the middle of the night.

She sucked in a deep breath, settling her wild tone in order to deal with the Middle Angel more evenly. “I need you to see this,” she breathed, pushing past Rook and barging into his apartment. “I was at the café and there was this man, he was talking about the Gates like he knew everything about them and he mentioned holes in the Angel security…” Her rambling trailed off somewhat as she whipped around, her eyes anxious as they bored into Rook’s.

This was her first encounter with any kind of information; who cared if it was only a tip-off about something that meant almost nothing? She knew something and needed to know what to do about it. Rook would know. Rook knew everything.

[Rook]

It's not going to look good for her to always be pushing into my apartment like this he thought warily, as the hybrid babbled, despite the fact that he had scared most of them off, a few Angels had lingered and encountered Ess shoving him into his house and slamming the door.

Of course Ess, being young and naive wouldn't consider something like that, but Rook had been made to attend those wretched dinner parties, and he knew that Angels could just be as silly, disgusting and empty headed as normal people. Ah well, he'd speak to her about public appearances later.

He had heard what she'd said, but he only now thought about it as he put his heavy paws on Ess's shoulders, pushed her a few centimeters away from his face and into a chair on his kitchen table, then he backed away a few inches himself as sat across from her.

He paused for a minute, digesting what she had told him, it was a worrying matter to be sure, but he was wary of it, a lot of Fledglings came to him thinking they had found something important only to have rediscovered traces of old closed case files, it was a normal occurence.

He needed more information, regarding her with his hard gray eyes he growled in the tone he used when questioning "Do you have a transcript of the conversation"?

She should! They had taught her to take down notes of such things like a fiend.

[ocean]

She gritted her teeth in frustration at the lackadaisical way he interpreted her immediate speech. She squirmed impatiently as Rook first seated herself then himself, sharp eyes boring into his face.

It was only then that she realized he wasn’t wearing a shirt; if she hadn’t been preoccupied she would’ve blushed. Ah well, at least he was wearing pants. Better than McGuffin answering the door with a towel around his rather large waist last month…Ess nearly gagged at the reminder.

“Yes,” she said breathlessly, pushing the pad that held her conversation with Tarsus on it towards Rook. She was proud that she’d thought to copy it down, but now was not the time to act like a preening apprentice.

She knew that Rook had seen more than his fair share of hysterical fledglings who ended up with nothing, but she had heard the man speak clearly of a hole in Angel security. Even if it wasn’t exactly the names and addresses of the assassins at Kenn Park, it was still information.

“His name was Tarsus Ridge,” she recited, sticking her hand into her pocket and pulling out the business card that the man had given her. “He didn’t seem to be too…well, I didn’t see Adeline’s sign on him anywhere. Mind you, I’m more concerned about where he got the information from than what he’d do with it….he was older than you, Rook. If he was gonna do anything, he’d have done it already.”

She leaned back in her chair, tilting backwards on the rear feet of the seat and ran a hand through her hair. Glancing over at Rook, she dropped a hint of the normal Ess. “Got any vodka?”

[Rook]

You got a problem... he thought as he read over the transcript his pelt bristling in unease. Tarsus Ridge. That name should have rang a bell, he'd heard it before, but he couldn't recall exactly where for the life of him.
Frowning, he ignored Ess's request and stood up again, reading the transcript and pacing, his sleepy eyes had become bright and his tail beat methodically with the clock on his wall.

"Don't assume things about this man, Ess" said Rook finally as he turned back to her. "Just because he spoke in a charming fashion dosen't mean he's a Santa Clause in the mall, I can't imagine anyone who'd been exposed to an Arc Angel at a young age..."

Despite asking Ess not to make assumptions Rook had already made some himself, it was his job however to do so.

"...I'm thinking this person that Ridge spoke to must've been mentally unstable. Otherwise he'd know the consequences..." he couldn't go into that with Ess though, what happened to others like himself after their use had worn out...it was not his place to speak of it.

It did make relating his ideas to her rather difficult however.

"He's running his own businuess, and eating pancakes, we can assume he's fairly active. With what though..I'm not sure. I'm guessing it has little to do with busted laundry dryers however."

He bit his lip "Can you describe Ridge for me? I can gather a bit from the transcript but..."

[ocean]

Ess fidgeted in her seat, more put off by his ignoring her request for alcohol than anything else. Finally making up her hand to take matters into her own hands, she stood and wandered into Rook’s kitchen, recalling the correct turns and such from her previous drink raid not too long ago.

Propping open cupboard after cupboard, she found no alcohol but the next best thing: a small jar of brown sugar. Relishing in her find, Ess returned to Rook’s table and sat down again, unscrewing the cap on the jar and sticking her tongue into it. Mmm. The familiar taste of her favorite flavor calmed her down immediately.

Licking her lips until they were clean of the powder, Ess propped her elbow on the table and, leaning forward, rested her chin on her open palm. She chose to ignore what he was obviously hiding from her (Middle Angel secrets were not her business), instead brooding on what he had said.

She really didn’t think there was anything wrong with Tarsus… Really, she’d shown up here on strictly Angel business. Who cared if he was involved in some shady dealings? Nearly everyone was in St. Lucent, anyway. Just because he dipped his toes in the deep end of the pool didn’t mean that he was a bad person.

“I really don’t think we should look into him, Rook,” she said quietly, tracing her finger around the top of the glass jar. She hadn’t meant to get Tarsus in trouble…just to patch up Angel security, that’s all. No matter what the seasoned Angel said, she had a feeling that Tarsus was a man…even though he liked syrup. Ick.

[Rook]

Rook gave her a mild glare, but it subsided quickly "You shouldn't let your emotions get in the way of your job" he paused his scolding "Though I do agree that even if he is involved in crime, Angel's security is far more important. In the transcript it said the breach was fixed, but it's still a major issue. We need to investigate further before we involve the rest of the Guild. I think, and don't quote me on this, I think you've actually done something useful Ess".

Okay, so it wasn't the best compliment but it was a doozy for Rook to give a Fledgling any more than a tolerant grunt, let alone any kind of praise.

"Futhermore, I'm giving this to you. You will look into it, I will advise you if necessary, but this is your first real investigative mission, and if you can not screw it up...."

[ocean]

Any fledgling would have been elated to have gained something near praise from Rook, let alone to receive their first assignment. Yet Ess only cradled her forehead in her hands, knowing at the same time that she didn’t want to do this and that she had to.

There was no option of turning Rook down; that would be counted as obstruction of justice and might result in her dismissal from the Angels. After all she’d worked for, it was ridiculous to toss it all away for some stranger she met at a café. Rook was obviously right. She was too soft for her own good.

Yet she couldn’t help but to question Rook’s exact assignment. Did he want her to look into Tarsus, look into the person who had given Tarsus the information or look into the holes in the Angels security? Knowing Rook, he probably meant all three.

The canine hybrid stood in one fluid motion, crossing her arms over her chest as she did so. “Fine,” she said tonelessly, neither acknowledging his near-compliment nor thanking him for the mission. She felt a twinge of regret and wished that she hadn’t come here in the first place.

Maybe she was too soft, but maybe Rook was too hardened. She wasn’t about to swoop down and obliberate the lifestyle of an old man who had been kind enough to help her. She had received okay vibes from Tarsus, and if there was anything Ess relied on, it was her instincts. He was a normal citizen, with his bad side, of course. But who was she to cast it into the limelight?

“Who do you want me to work with?” She questioned him with the same even voice, allowing no emotion to crease the smooth surface of her face. Fledglings rarely worked alone on their first project, though the last thing Ess needed right now was an overly-eager partner who was dying to prove themselves, even if it meant tossing a perfectly decent man in prison.

"Oh," she added, her face twisting into something of a sneer, "and I'll try not to put a black mark on your spotless record." Her tone was almost mocking. It wasn't like Ess to mouth off to her superiors, least of all Rook, but she was frusturated, confused, tired and angry at the Overseer for assigning her a mission that he knew would put tremendous strain on her.

Ess knew that being an Angel required the ability to work under great stress, but this was different. She had to choose between what she thought was right and what the Angels thought was right. How was she to decide?

[Rook]

Spotless.

Rook repeated in his mind, he could tell she was emotionally conflicted about his assignment, and perhaps laughing wasn't the best course of action, but he could hardly suppress it.

I wish I could tell you Ess, I'm the farthest thing from spotless. He couldn't even begin to touch upon the undercurrent of ill will the Seraphim had towards him. They needed him for his talent for eliminating the bad guys conveniently, and swiftly, he was nothing more than a garbage man. All he did was take away, he never gave anything back to the world to deserve the praise that was put to him.

They knew however, where his true loyalties lay, and because of that it was clear that once he slipped up, once he lost the ability to do his job he would become expendable, and they would eliminate him before he could do further harm to their political ideals.

He had no wish to put Ess in the same, joyless, hopeless situation as himself. Angels...could be and often were happy people, they often never had to shed blood or tears in their wake, they could do great things, Rook however, did not consider himself anything more than a legally funded Assassin.


However, no Angel could put their own interests before the rest of the guild's and he couldn't allow her naivety to grow.

He figured he should clarify though, just to save himself a pain-in-the ass in the long run. It was pretty damn brave of a Fledgling to talk to him like that, but he wasn't suprised, he knew Ess more personally and anyone who began to know him that way often discovered what a irritating bastard he was in the long run.

He blinked as Ess's glare and responded, seemingly unaffected by her obvious lack of respect, in a slow voice

"I want you to find where this hole in our security is or was, who was involved, how Tarsus Ridge is involved, yes, Ess, I'm not interested in his life story, just how he knows our secrets and who he may have related this story to besides yourself. I already have missions of my own, I have no time to go tromping around town after ghosts and tears in the fences...this may be completely out of date. But we can't afford to assume that".