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Post by Hoch Kreatur on Jan 12, 2014 19:17:23 GMT
They called him the mouse; not because he was really quick, hard to find or that he had a particular liking for cheese - he did actually, but that didn't give him the name. It was because when he was born his parents noticed his face had a weird liking towards the common mouse, by the age of two it became more noticeable and the doctors couldn't figure out why! So at the age of two, he was abandoned on the streets; left for dead like so many other children before him.
That was seven years ago, when Hoch found him and made sure he was kept alive. The kids been working for him ever since, if there was something to figure out on the street Hoch knew he could count on Mouse to figure it out. Hoch leaned on a street lamp, casually checking his phone as he waited for his informant to arrive; the kid was never late and he didn't expect any different. Suddenly Hoch a child exit out of one of the alleyways, the kid walked over, his feet all tense from the cool ground and lack of shoes as he approached Hoch.
"How you doing, kid?" Hoch questioned the kid who simply shocked Hoch as he approached; it made Hoch chuckle at the fact that when they first met he towered over the kid; now the kid was at least five inches over him.
"S'okay," the kid mumbled weakly, perhaps he was tired, hungry, drunk or even high. Hoch didn't really care, as long as the information came in, "I know the guy your friend got into with..."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah - he works for some small time mana dealers. Mostly in the port, transporting mana from the harvesting companies to the dealers."
"So they're distributors?"
"Yeah, sure..."
"Okay, okay," Hoch said, digging into his pocket before taking out a roll of thelos and shoving it into the kids hand, "Go get yourself a warm food and a place to sleep. That should cover you for awhile..." The kid nodded thankfully before turning around and walking away. Most kids ended up his way; innocence taken away too soon, he'd probably waste all that cash on mana...
Hoch sighed, turning around and picking up his phone before dialing his boss's number, waiting for the phone to be picked up.
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Post by Morgan Flynn on Jan 13, 2014 2:22:06 GMT
Mana was a fabulous thing if you could get your hands on it, and not get caught of course. It was that little piece of Heaven, a little shot of utopia that made a person truly feel like they were in a different world. There was no pain there, not usually anyway, and even when the scenery made no sense and chairs started singing lounge music it was a very odd, comforting madness that Morgan took solace in. How befuddling for a world that cried against madness to create a substance that induces it. Was that not insanity itself?
"Dad! Dammit, really?"
Morgan had up until now been reclined back in his desk chair in his home, tucked away in his hidden study. With his eyes on the ceiling all he could do was relax and enjoy his little mana picture show, though clearly he was coming off of it now if he heard Tanya snap loud and clear at him. And now that he was sitting himself back up he realized that there was a strange buzzing and ringing coming from the desk by his computer. Turning a tired gaze to it, his eldest daughter at seventeen years old, Tanya, marched around the light brown desk and gave it a quick mention with the nod of her head.
"Yeah, that's also been ringing for a few minutes," she added, snatching up whatever used syringes he had laying around and covering them up, "you're lucky I'm the good one. Mom would have lost it if she found out about this..."
"That's why you're my princess," Morgan shrugged, a blissful tone in his voice as he reached out and grabbed his phone to answer it, "well, good afternoon!"
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Post by Hoch Kreatur on Jan 13, 2014 2:36:11 GMT
While Morgan enjoyed his blissful high Hoch had been standing under a patchy roof to a closed down pizza joint. He wasn't exactly a happy camper, the little guy was getting soaked by the rain fall while the night was rapidly approaching, this was not a good area to be at during the night...
"Right, right," Hoch muttered under his breath, "It's Hoch. I've been trying to contact you for the last couple of minutes, where have you been?"
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Post by Morgan Flynn on Jan 13, 2014 2:44:21 GMT
Morgan chuckled, leaning back in his chair as he gave another half glance back to the ceiling. For a moment he almost thought he could see the patterns in the ceiling tiles move in the same ways he'd seen them for most of the actual afternoon, but alas they were done with entertaining him for one day.
"Ah, Hoch. I've been many places today," he answered almost breathlessly, "what's going on?"
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Post by Hoch Kreatur on Jan 13, 2014 2:49:33 GMT
"I've got good information at who could be responsible for our missing cash," Hoch spoke as he began to walk down to his car, stepping into the back of his car and motioning for the driver to drive, "You've apparently pissed off a drug organization that receives packets of mana at the port. Thelotians ports are pretty legitimate, it won't be hard to figure out who they are. Hell, if we're down there now I could probably pick them out."
The car started to drive off. Hoch wanted to get out of the neighborhood as fast as possible, he truly didn't like this place. "Do you want to meet up tomorrow or something?"
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Post by Morgan Flynn on Jan 13, 2014 3:13:37 GMT
Morgan's grin slowly dripped into a bit of a sour frown as he was given the details. And where he was never the perfect model for cautiousness, the man couldn't help but address it immediately.
"Hoch, I'm not laughing. When I'm not laughing, something's not funny. You know what's not funny? Discussing work over the phone--it's not personable, and I'm a real personable man. Work is a thing we need to embrace together in person, not through a series of wires that we hope someone set up properly and isn't intruding...as we speak..." he slowed for emphasis, though he watched the revolving bookcase door carefully then as it moved only the slightest, revealing Tanya peeking in just as she was about to invite herself back into the room.
"But I do graciously accept your tea party invitation, my dear friend. I could even come over right now, we have the rest of the afternoon to--" and again he was cut off as he had to do a double-take at the actual time, long already into the dead of night, "wow, time flies when you're having fun. I'll have Gillian make scones and you should come over tomorrow, hmm? We can talk about the...we can catch up and share all of the stories about our stupid children then."
Tanya listened to his side of the conversation and had to stifle a laugh, the absurd things he would say sometimes still always amused her. She kept an eye on the door for him in case her mother or siblings entered the public area of the study, she knew her father always greatly appreciated when she did that for him.
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Post by Hoch Kreatur on Jan 13, 2014 22:37:26 GMT
Hoch laughed a bit at Morgan's cover up story, "Well if scones are truly involved I shall be there in the morning at eight AM, sharp." Hoch meant sharp he meant sharp, he was rarely ever late, "But if you serve that disgusting Proti coffee then we're going straight out. That shit ruins my appetite."
Proti coffee - particularly the ones from the south which Hoch was referring to - was actually a very rich, expensive brand of coffee that made Hoch incredibly sick. Most Dwarv Minors hated everything from Proti, perhaps it stemmed from the fact they were always compared to the beefy, hairier and much larger Dwarves that called that continent their home.
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Post by Morgan Flynn on Jan 13, 2014 22:54:21 GMT
"Ah, good," Morgan answered before he pulled the phone away and said loudly to his daughter, "tell your mother she better start baking."
Gillian would do it to be nice, though she wasn't going to be happy to be told that she was expected to do any baking before she headed out to work. It was one reason why Morgan always told her her having a job was pointless, there was clearly so much more she was needed for at home.
Putting the receiver back to his ear, Morgan continued with Hoch, "We'll see what kind of mood I'm in on the coffee side of things. I could always just supply you with a whole jar of sugar, maybe it'll help sweeten that sour heart of yours, huh? Ha ha ha!"
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Post by Hoch Kreatur on Jan 13, 2014 23:18:47 GMT
Hoch merely chuckled, "I'm only a happy Dwarv so long as I have a strong drink in one hand, a girl in the other and enough gold to decorate my toilet with. Which, as it happens, I have none of those things so you can see why I'm a bit sour as of lately."
By 'strong drink' he meant something with a strong fruit base. Dwarv Minors rarely drank alcoholic drinks made for humans due to the fact their bodies were extremely sensitive to it; just a little bit would send them off the deep end. A good drink was made from fruit that was just starting to ferment, too little alcohol to give a human what they wanted but enough to please a Dwarv Minor.
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Post by Morgan Flynn on Jan 13, 2014 23:38:45 GMT
Morgan laughed all but a moment before he lowered his voice and said, "Well, you know if you go down to Clubway 302 my guy there says he hired a 'Crystal' who is apparently supposed to be pretty amazing..."
He didn't know, he owned places but he didn't partake in a lot of the girls' services. He heard things, he made money, he used that money to fund other projects and keep himself busy. He was like a hamster on a wheel, really!
"But I suppose we could always put that on the to-do list, hmm? I'll see you in the morning!"
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Post by Hoch Kreatur on Jan 13, 2014 23:55:46 GMT
"Bah," Hoch said as if spitting on the mere deal myself, "If I wanted a common service girl, I could get that. I need myself one of those A-grade models..." Hoch was day dreaming now, he still could remember the day he first saw one of them on TV. The fame and riches inspired him to come to Thelotia...
"Eh, anyway..." Hoch began with a shake of his head, "I'll see you in the morning." With that goodbye Hoch clicked off the phone and slipped it into his pocket. Leaning back in his chair he closed his eyes as the car sped off towards home.
5:30 AM, Hoch awoke from his deep slumber by the blaring of his alarm. Giving a meaningless growl he shut off the annoying thing before hopping out of his rather over sized bed. Normally, he'd make himself breakfast before anything else, but because he was expecting to have something at Morgan's place he reserved himself from feasting on the fresh fruit stored on the counter (most people in Thelotia got their food daily at the market, Hoch was no exception) and instead went about his morning routine - shower, shit, shave, watch the morning news while getting dressed and by 7:20 AM he was out the door!
About halfway to his house Hoch had his driver pull over towards the market area. If it was anything like their normal morning breakfasts there was a fair chance Morgan had already forgotten, and Hoch didn't exactly like the idea of making Morgan's wife do all the work. So Hoch picked up some grapes, freshly cooked bacon (because the market had EVERYTHING) and some Thelotian pastries. Just one minutes before 8 Hoch had exited his car and walked up to Morgan's house with a great many things in hand and on 8 exactly he somehow managed to ring the doorbell. Right on time, as usual.
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Post by Morgan Flynn on Jan 14, 2014 0:55:49 GMT
The door swung open but instead of Morgan or Gillian there stood a 4'11'' boy with ruffled brown hair and large, brown eyes. The youngest child, Matthew, whose demeanour was very much like his mother's thankfully as his facial structure resembled too much of his father's.
"Hiya, Mr. Kreatur!" he shouted, turning to look over his shoulder, "Mooooommmm!"
Gillian was there in an instant, hushing her son and ushering Hoch inside the foyer.
"Matty, here, take my keys and wait for me in the car. I'll drive you to school in a minute," she spoke quickly, giving the young boy her keyring. She was an elementary school teacher so finding keys amongst all the colourful charms she collected from her students was a scavenger hunt several times a day.
"I'll start it," he said as he took the keys in one hand and threw his other arm through a loop of his backpack.
"No, you won't. Sit and wait."
"But I know how."
"Matty..."
"I'm just saying I know how," the boy rolled his eyes as he marched out the door. Gillian sighed as she watched him, turning her attention immediately to Hoch the moment her son was gone and opened her arms out to him.
"Here, Hoch, would you like me to take something for you? You might be surprised to know that I haven't seen Morgan this morning, I think he's hiding out in his little 'secret study room' that's hardly a secret at all," she gave a worried look to the study/library just to the right as she spoke, "I don't like when he does that for as long as he does. He smokes so much and his lungs could collapse on him and I'd never know because I can't get in there to check on him. He listens to you, though, maybe you can find a way to get in there for me sometime."
Morgan himself had been, indeed, hiding out in his study room. A gold-coloured ashtray sat by his side that was too full to have been used in only one night, and his eyes were dry, tired, and bloodshot. Before him sat his laptop, hot to the touch from all of the work it had been put through for the last several hours. He heard sounds through the bookcase door. Glancing at the clock he realized that not sleeping might have been a bad thing, but he rose from his chair anyway and walked over to swing open the door and peek his head out from the inside.
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Post by Hoch Kreatur on Jan 14, 2014 1:07:13 GMT
Mathew was growing at LEAST five inches every time Hoch visited, it seemed. The kid was changing so fast that it wouldn't be too long until he was as tall as his father.
"Gillian," Hoch said happily, giving a small bow towards the tall lady, "It's very much alright, I seem to have caught you at a busy moment so please, carry on." Hoch had been here enough to know where the table was; not that they were going to stay long, but he had to get SOMETHING into his stomach before they left.
He eyes turned towards the bookshelf where Morgan was hiding. "Any time you need his butt kicked up, just give me a call! It's one of the few hobbies I have."
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Post by Morgan Flynn on Jan 14, 2014 1:23:29 GMT
A giggle escaped Gillian as Hoch mentioned giving Morgan a kick into gear. She'd barely heard the creaking of the bookcase rotating at the time, but when she noticed it was slowly moving she felt at least a pang of relief. Seeing Morgan make his appearance she stood where she was and made no move to embrace him, nor him her, which might have come off as something very awkward for most guests who knew they were married.
He had that bored expression on his face, the tired eyes of a man who clearly hadn't slept and the stubble all over his jaw would have made him look like a bum if it wasn't for the decent clothing he wore. He stared at her and she smiled at him, and she waited patiently to see if he would emerge from the room to come see her but when he didn't she finally just sighed and gave him a sweet wave instead.
"Have a good day, sweetheart," she said, looking to give Hoch a polite nod on her way out, "and to you, Hoch. Try to make sure he doesn't work too hard?"
Awkwardly so, she slipped out the door. Morgan half waved to it when it was already closed, but it was a gesture he made nonetheless. He stumbled out of the room and across the hallway to go find his business partner in the kitchen.
"Oh yeah...scones..." his shoulders shook as he chuckled to himself, realizing he had completely forgotten. The one thing he hadn't forgotten, however, sat only a counter space away from him and rang like the trumpets in Heaven.
"Oh, hell-oh, Beautiful!" he exclaimed as he approached his coffee pot. That was something that was programmed since the night before and the pot was made nice and hot for them, "Hoch, I made coffee..."
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Post by Hoch Kreatur on Jan 14, 2014 1:34:14 GMT
Hoch did his best to ignore that awkward moment between the two married couple, so much so he slipped into the kitchen just before wishing Gillian a good day. Every waking moment with those two around was awkward, Hoch wasn't sure if they really loved each other or were just incapable of showing it - in private or with guests. Either way, Hoch enjoyed the company of them individually, but together it was just weird!
As Morgan entered and began to pour the coffee, Hoch climbed up onto the chair with the bags of food he had purchased, "Excellent! So Gillian was thoughtful enough to put on some coffee on before she left?"
He hoped Morgan at least made sure it wasn't that dreaded coffee from Proti, seriously, something like that would ruin his day. One sip was all it would take, too!
"You look horrible, Morgan. Were you up all night?" Hoch asked as he arranged the food he brought out on the table to create something of a good looking breakfast.
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