Front Office, Silverside
EarlierMentions: Adel, Asterion, Webb || Interactions: -
Eagle had gingerly taken Webb's hand, partly amused and partly incredulous about the entire experience. He'd seen some wacky looking people in Nocturnia, but this kid was definitely the most unusual. Even after three years he was still getting used to the city's unique... charm.
After the brief handshake Griffon stepped forward and made shooing motions at Webb, urging him away. He was like a part time intern, which meant she could bully him all she pleased. Well, not really, but she could pretend to. Plus he had a job to do! So once they saw the bug boy out, and with no other scheduled meetings for the day on the docket, the newbie and veteran were left to their own once more.
First had been code names. Second was expectations: the office was neutral space, violently enforced if needed. Eagle would have to
expect that spooky mafia villains were going to waltz in, and they were to be treated like clients. Bullying was allowed if someone named Cyrus Levine visited, one of very few exceptions. Eagle was not actually dumb so over the course of the day he learned that Griffon was something like an unreliable narrator, and he was pretty sure some of the weird or silly stuff she'd mentioned were just her own embellishments on the "rules."
In addition, if Griffon was unavailable he would be expected to take on all of her duties. These duties were: protect the office first, the employees second, and the district third. He was more than fine with that. At the moment his own duties were to learn the ropes so to speak, and to cover the office.
Third was, simply, "don't be stupid." Don't bring trouble to the office, don't mess up so badly that it got back to the boss, don't go off and do your own thing if that thing was dumb. The consequence of being stupid was: less pay.
"That's it?" Eagle asked, incredulous, as Griffon chuckled at him.
"Yeah, that's it. I mean, someone could get fired too, but I haven't seen it happen. Some of these guys know a lot, and we wouldn't want them going off to start their own information brokerage, right?"
Eagle rubbed at the back of his head. From the outside, the Silver Canary and his flock seemed mysterious, illusive, and efficient. Now, on the inside, it just seemed... like any other business.
It was really weird.
"You said before some of these guys were ex-gang members. They don't... I dunno, sell drugs or something? Extort people? There has to be a ton of rich wimps around here."
"Rich wimps that spend all their cash on PMCs to protect them," Griffon said. The two of them were seated on opposite sides of her desk and she stretched out in her chair. "Maybe they sell drugs on the side, I dunno."
Eagle was too disciplined to lean his head against his hand (his elbow wasn't even on the table), but he wanted to. "What about you?"
"Ha, no, I don't sell drugs. Do I look like I do?"
"I meant are you ex-mafia? You don't sound too concerned about it all. And what about the boss?"
Griffon shrugged. "I'm just doing my job~
Mr. Dawson doesn't like me going too far away when I'm on the clock, so since I'm here all the time I don't get to see what everyone else is doing on the streets. I used to be hired muscle for a few small time gangs, but..." she shrugged again. "No clue about the boss."
"Hmm."
Before the conversation lapsed into silence, Griffon stood up and laced her fingers together, turning them out with a satisfying crack. "Alright, break time's over. Time for number four!"
Number four was not actually a rule, it was Griffon dragging him to an obscured door with a stairway leading down. There was a gym with all of the amenities one might expect to find, as well as a separate area blocked by a clear acrylic wall as thick as aquarium glass. It was there that they ended up for an impromptu sparring session. Apparently Griffon wanted to make sure that his hand to hand was up to snuff. Now that he was confident about, and he met the woman in the center of the mats with a grin on his face.
Eagle lost their spar.
He and Griffon were back upstairs now, arriving just after a bunch of communication equipment that some of their own had gone to fetch from Merryland was being dragged inside.
"Whew, you're good," she'd told him right before he'd suddenly found himself knocked painfully on his ass by a hurricane force wind.
"Would have won if you didn't cheat," he'd said, more as a form of banter than out of anger. Her response to that had been tutting, wagging a finger in front of his face.
"Gyfts aren't cheating. You live here, fight here, you're gonna have to prepare for all kinds of shit."
Of course he knew that, but still. Before his squad had been wiped out, Eagle had heard of some kind of anti-gyft weaponry. The military had been attempting to make some, but he wasn't sure if they'd succeeded. Sarge would know. If they had, they sure didn't share that shit with them. And, apparently, there already were those kinds of weapons in Nocturnia. Maybe he should try and find some.
The pair of security helped move the comms equipment. Easily recognizing it as having belonged to Del Guarde, a deep set frown spread on Eagle's features. Why hadn't it been destroyed? He'd just assumed that Kairo -or in this case, the Order- would want to get rid of anything that could be used to contact the military outside of Nocturnia. But now the Silver Canary had it.
"These..." he said, trailing off before even really starting. The handful of canaries carrying things into a room toward the back glanced at him curiously.
"You were... uh, sorry, you are military, right?" One of them asked. When Eagle nodded they smiled slightly and said, "It'll be handy to have you around then. It would take us a lot longer to find the right frequency, or... you know."
"Wha- you're going to use it?"
The man who'd spoken blinked, looking between Eagle, Griffon, and the others. "Yes...? Why else would we take it?"
The combination of feelings that circulated through Eagle almost made him trip over the wires dangling down from the load in his arms. He was confused, but also a little relieved, and anxious, and somehow there was still some residual anger mixed in. If he called out on his Del Guarde frequency then maybe he could arrange for an evac... but he doubted it. Maybe he could see if anyone else had sent word, meet up with some other survivors. There were so many possibilities, but also a lot of ways he could see it backfiring. What if their connection had been hijacked? Kairo's forces could probably do that. What if he was able to reach the platoons outside and they told him personally that he was a lost cause?
He set the equipment down on the table. "I'll help. We can get it set up now. I'll- we can call for help. I'm sure brass won't sit quietly after what Kairo did. We could get reinforcements, take him on, get out-"
The other canaries gradually grew uncomfortable. Everyone besides Eagle was a Nocturnia native of course, and the thought of even
more military getting involved wasn't one they wanted to entertain. Many people were sure that someday they'd just drop a bomb on the whole city. Griffon frowned and put a heavy hand on Eagle's shoulder.
"Hey. Eagle. We aren't gonna do that. You know that."
He looked up at Griffon. He had really resigned himself to being part of the canaries while he figured out what to do, but now this communications equipment meant he could get in touch with his superiors. It was another stroke of fate.
"Why? They can help!"
"Maybe they can help you, but otherwise it's just gonna end up the same way."
"Then like I said, we'll deal with guys like Kairo first-"
"
We aren't dealing with anything.
We are not touching this shit until the boss gets back and as for Kairo
we sure as hell aren't going to-"
"He killed my comrades. My
friends," Eagle said. Griffon snapped her mouth shut, letting him speak. "He... look, I'm not gonna break your rule three. I'm not gonna do anything stupid. I know I'll just get killed too. But they deserve some justice, don't they?! And more than that, I have to- I want to make sure the people outside know I'm still alive. So I can get back. And so- let me call out."
No one said anything, just looked at each other, and as an awkward silence descended Eagle swallowed his pride once more and added, "please."
"Tch." Griffon crossed her arms. She couldn't empathize with him, and he really shouldn't mess around with this crap while Adel was gone. But she also kind of liked Eagle so far, and she didn't want to come across as a bitch by letting him down hard.
There was a small cough from one of the other women in the room. She set her soft eyes on Eagle. "About Kairo. Apparently his tower was attacked again. Earlier today - helicopter. Of course no one in Nickel has said a thing about his status or if he was even targeted in the first place, but..."
"There ya go, Eagle. Karma," Griffon said, gladly taking the information and running with it. But Eagle had looked at the other woman in surprise.
"A military chopper?" He asked her, but she shook her head. She didn't know.
There was something like hope showing in the man's eyes, and Griffon didn't crush it by telling him that it couldn't have been. The canary who'd spoken up likely knew it too. Since all of the equipment had been moved it was as good a time as any to make her exit and make sure Eagle went with her. She slung a casual arm over his shoulders.
"Listen, I'm sure the boss will want you to help out with the comms stuff. Don't worry too much. Just focus on your current job, alright?"
"...alright. Alright, I'll drop it- for now. I'm serious though," he replied. "I just don't get it. Don't any of you want to get out of this city?"
So long as he wasn't court-martialed, he really did believe the military might be able to help. But as he looked around at everyone gathered in the room, he found the same answer to his question on each of their faces.
None of them had any desire to leave Nocturnia.
Member
Lemons,
Noctis,
Carlyle,
angelsgrief,
ErosSense,
Veilsight,
Candelabra,
LanaStorm,
puddingpunter,
op2024
it was a busy day for all the characters!