More Fool You

[Mina Crow]

Jack blinked several times as he entered the restaurant, to adjust to the semi-darkness. He looked right and left - not that there was much to see that he had not seen already, anyway. A few chairs and benches - either originally from the restaurant itself or dug out from someplace else - a few mismatched chairs, a stack of crates and sacks on a corner...

Eh, it was as good a place to hang around as any other. Shaking the hair off his face, the Wildcat hopped up, sitting on the bar. His heels beat arrhythmically on the bar as he scrambled a pocket for the notebook. A not-so-low hum joined the thumps as Jack sorted through the pages until he found one blank, dug out a gnawed pencil and started writing, head tilted to the side.

[Darky]

"You are making too much noise." crouched on the ground between the end of the bar and the wall, the Beta of the Wildcats felt irritated by the sudden intrusion of the other. From this angle she couldn't really see who it was sitting at the bar. But the one thing Reza did note.. was all that tapping and that humming.

It irked her.

There were few people who were that annoying.

What irked her even more was the possible need to change her current resting place. Reza did move, despite her reluctance to do so at the moment, and glanced at the commoner.

Aha.

"Oh, it's you."

[Mina Crow]

"Oh, hi, Reza!" Jack shifted and twisted around till he was facing Reza. A huge smile surged on his face. Intended to be charming - yet maybe a bit too big. Who cared?

If he had noticed her comment about the noise, it was not apparent at all. Jack tucked the notebook into one of his many pockets, the pencil following. "How're you? Having a nice day?"

It couldn't hurt to be cordial. After all, Reza was his Beta - and quite a nice person, on Jack's judgment. And perhaps it would also be nice to show a little concern for her wellbeing. "You look tired, you know. Have you been taking enough rest? I bet Azrael's giving you too much to do. Delegating too much and all that kind of stuff."

[Darky]

Reza resisted the urge to roll her eyes, instead she lifted herself onto the bar and sat cross-legged. Making a point to keep a good distance form the other. The Beta was not particularly keen on up-close-and-personal contact. Unless it involved blood and stuff like that.

She rested her elbow on her leg and propped her chin on the back of her hand, observing Jack. Reza didn't say anything for a few minutes, privately she agreed on being delegated too much work. At the same time, she didn't mind as much as she indicated. Mostly because it was preferable to keep a close eye on what was going on. "Well, I'm sure he has other things to preoccupy himself with."

...Like staring at the sky.

Talking to Jack could either be very productive or utterly irritating, Reza supposed right now she did have the patience to spare for this, so she went on to ask that dreaded question.

"Have you heard anything interesting?"

[Mina Crow]

When Reza didn't reply, Jack lost interest, and started scratching at a stain on the bar. He had almost forgotten she was there when she spoke again.

"Yeah, right. As if he did much. You're not getting enough rest, and that's that."

Mental note to self: Tell Azrael about it. Come on, it's not fair to Reza. Not one bit. Uh-uh.

"Anything interesting? Well, first off, it depends on what you consider interesting right now. I mean, sometimes the weather is an interesting thing - if you want to know if you might get wet and whether it would be a good idea to take a parka and an umbrella with you - sometimes it's not. Whether you are having enough rest is an interesting thing for me, right now - I care about you, so it is an important subject to me. You might want to know if there are good movies at the cinema right now - but there are no cinemas around this place, so I guess that isn't an important subject. Or interesting, for that matter. It all depends on what you're talking about." He made a pause to catch his breath. And to check if Reza was following his line of thought, of course.

[Darky]

Okay.

Wrong choice of words. So very, very wrong.

Reza shifted, resting her cheek against her other hand, debating whether or not she wanted to smack the commoner so he would be quiet. Then again, with Jack it probably would only serve to make him even more annoying.

Great.

Reza was following him- just about- but when he stopped a clearly annoyed sigh escaped her lips. Straightening to look past Jack toward the door the Beta contemplated on a rapid exit. But then she turned her eyes back to Jack. "Should have phrased my question better."

"Have you heard anything that may be of use to me? As in what people are doing."

[Mina Crow]

"You think so?" Jack looked pensive for a moment. "That's a dangerous thing, not phrasing your questions correctly, 'Cause then you never know exactly what answers to expect, as the other person doesn't know what you truly mean." He stopped abruptly and frowned. "Where was I? ...Oh, right. Interesting things, that are important for you right now. What people are doing. Hmm. Let me see." He searched for the notebook again and flipped through its pages, heels drumming on the bar once more. You need some rhythm while working.

"Soooo. By people, do you mean the Cigarettes, the Rats, the Vampires, us...? I mean, I wouldn't take the Vampires as people anymore, but you never know. The Cigarettes have been more human than they are now, but they're still better than the Vampires, me thinks. Or, of course, you could mean the kids outside the tribes. Or even the people outside the city. Not much luck there, I fear. Anyway. People, who?"

[Darky]

Prying a proper answer out of this commoner could take some time. It could also take more patience than what Reza had. Smacking the other probably wouldn't do much good so she didn't move- though she certainly considered it- blue eyes flicked to the side hearing the rhythmic drumming against the bar.

Annoying.

However she did hold vague hopes that Jack did have something useful to say. It would just require better phrasing. Reza considered for a few moments, staring at the other in silence.

"Well." She hoped she was being specific enough now, though... "Let's start with what you can tell me about people here, us."

And see how much patience Reza had for all this.

[Mina Crow]

"See, it wasn't that hard, was it?" Jack flashed Reza a winning smile. "It's always good to know exactly what others want. So."

He resumed his humming, scanning the cluttered pages of the notebook. Flipping back and forward, he finally settled on a page, topping the hum with a glorious "Aha!"

"You really should know this stuff yourself, I think. But that's my personal opinion only, and you can't be evrywhere with Azrael ordering you around." He sounded slightly admonishing. "Us, us... Wildcats. Eh, it's all pretty much the same around here. Winter's coming, you see - some are hacking down branches or even trees for firewood. Those who haven't burnt already, in any case. Border patrolling - did you know the Vamps are placing marks closer to the Cigs territory? - candle sculpturing, and so on, and so on. Nothing too interesting; 'interesting' here meaning something that would be useful right now."

Jack had the grace to look somewhat disappointed with the lack of activity on most recent times, his smile fading a moment - if only to spring back in a second.

[Darky]

Reza twitched and clenched a fist. Patience, patience- she chanted the word over and over inside her mind and after a moment she unclenched her hand and leaned back a little.

The Beta would like to point out that her 'taking orders' was a very... loose term. It was always interesting to interpret his orders in her way. Azrael was Alpha and as such Reza was careful but- she'd always had a bit of a reckless streak in her.

So far, so good?

But back to the main point of this conversation-

Nothing new here? Well that was not overly surprising it had been a little quiet. It hadn't hurt to ask Jack, after all he might have picked up on something she missed herself. Not that Reza would admit to that. But... "Mm." Well, if nothing crucial was happening here she could put her attentions somewhere else for the moment.

The mention of the Vampires moving into Cigarette territory caught her interest.

"There has been some restlessness in the grid." the girl muttered to herself and then glanced up at Jack. "What can you tell me about what the Vampires have been doing?"

[Mina Crow]

"Wait, wait, wait. Why the hurry?" Jack flashed Reza a charming smile. "You're not going to ask about the Vampires if there's something under your very nose, are you?" He emphasized the question pointing his pen toward Reza. "Serefly is being a nasty girl, you know. As in, the little kitty's playing with mice without killing them."

He tilted his head to the side, looking intently at the Beta. The hint wouldn't be too obscure, if he knew Reza. And, anyway, he would be glad to provide details, if asked.

[Darky]

Reza frowned when Jack smiled, under her nose- what? Now he had her full attention. Serefly. The Beta thought back, yes, she recalled her. Hunter. Thin. She wasn't someone that memorable in Reza's book.

Meeting the other's eyes, surprise crossed Reza's face as the meaning of Jack's words dawned on her. Kittens should kill little mice, not let them live.

Reza's eyes flashed, "I'm going to kill the idiot." But before that- "Details, Jack and don't jerk me around anymore." Any thoughts of being patience were thrown out the window.

[Mina Crow]

"When did I ever 'jerk you around', miss?" Jack's smile widened. Not too pleasantly, though. It always felt good, having the power of dealing out information. Every reporter - or so called reporter, in Jack's case - knew that very feeling. "Let's see... Details. Where? The Grid. When? Not that long ago. Who? Cat and mouse - forget the chase. What? Serefly threatening another Cat, and going friendly on Rats. Conversing with them. A little chit-chat. Oh, and there was some smoking, of course. Why, or what for...?" He paused theatrically. "I would rather leave that to souls more enlightened than me." Read as, people who could pull a threat and fulfill it without stuff going back at them. Also known as big bosses. Tribes' Alpha and Beta, if you put it that way.

[Darky]

Reza returned the smile with a plesant one of her own. Which didn't mean much if you knew her well, she could smile like that and stab you at the same time.

Little chit chat? Threatening another cat? That put Serefly down in Reza's bad list. A very bad place to be. Oh, that girl was in deep trouble.

Reza cracked her knuckles and stared at Jack. "Anything else?" Before she went to deal with the silly girl.

[Mina Crow]

"You might want to find Marco too; he's the 'threatened one'." Jack trailed off, scratching at a scab on the back of his hand, and resumed pounding the bar with his heels. "Oh well. Nevermind." He tucked the notebook into a pocket and jumped down from the bar. If there was someone going down, he wanted to witness it. "Hmm... I don't think so, miss." He was making a point of sounding subservient. The best he could, at least - no cause to break trouble with Reza, not when there was more 'important stuff' to do.