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Severin hadn't been in New York all that long, but he'd come to visit the Eight Ball pretty regularly and he'd left a few messages for contacts, and got a few in return. He'd met up with Remy briefly, touched base on what was going on with him. Then, he got a message he hadn't been expecting — Colette and JP were in town. He'd left them a message letting them know that he was around and asking them to meet up with him at a small diner.
Now, Severin sits at the back of a large semi-circular booth that he's staked out for himself at the back of the room with a cup of coffee, waiting for the arrival of Colette and JP.
JP walked in like he was itchin for a fight. He might very well be truth be told. It was a great way to find out how the social food chain looked. However, and maybe it was Colette that emphasized, that is the very definition of not laying low. IT was still hard to tell if there was more grease in his hair or in his car, but both looked in top shape. A side nod to the back indicated to Colette he found what they were looking for, and to the back corner they headed.
Laying low they are not, but Collette tries to manage it by wearing a hat, scarf and a coat…which probably serve to draw more attention to her than it does to cast it away. When JP indicates the back, she starts to head in that direction, "Finally."
Severin, sprawled out in his booth like a man prepared to hold court, grins broadly when Colettte and JP make their way toward the back of the diner, lifting his mug of coffee in a kind of silent salute. Grinning at them both when they get close enough he says, "Hey, have a seat. Coffee and whatever else y'want is on some guy named Jim." Probably the name on the license in the wallet that he stole.
JP widened the sour expression into a wide, dimpled grin, "Well, merci beaucoup, 'Jim'" He looked around at jsut how packed the place was. He'd been in big cities before; New Orleans, Daytona, Atlanta, and even down to Miami. New York? New York City was a different kind of beast all together. He dropped into a seat and observed, "With all the money goin through New York," he dralwed, "Yous think someone would have the lettuice to buy a bush or a tree or somethin."
"Hey." Collette greets, shedding her outdoor garments before she slides into the booth, tucking everything into a corner before she pushes herself into it with a quick look around, "No one cares about trees around here, just more buildings."
Severin lofts his mug of coffee and says, "To Jim," before taking a swallow from it and setting it down. He lets the two of them get settled in and then flags down a server so that they can order some drinks and get things going. "So, decided to come see the sights, or you followin' me for a reason?" he asks with a flash of a grin.
JP slouched back in the booth elbow up and sized up the listing of what they actually had to serve before making a decision. It wan't respectful if ya didn't shoot the moon on someone else's dime. It made the hospitality feel like it wasn't worth teh effort of extending right? "Oh yeah. Sights. Sounds. Sirens everywhere how you sleep?" He squint at Severin jsut bewildered. "Got hot. Left the SOutheast fa' now. Mama aint' too pleased with me none for needin' t'look in on you but, what kinda brotha' I be if I didn't?" Yup. Definiately on the lam.
Colette snorts faintly in amusement as she slouches in her seat, that smile teasing at her lips, "I'm thinking you could put it down to a little of everythin'. Both sights, and following…with a healthy dose of running."
"Well, welcome to N'York," Severin says, spreading his arms expansively. "Ran into an' ol' friend not too long ago. Good ol' Remy LeBeau. Says he's workin' t'fight for our folks up here. Thinkin' maybe I'll give'm a hand for shits an' giggles while I'm up here enjoyin' the chill of winter." As opposed to the heat of the last job he was on. He flashes a grin. "Made myself a new friend, too. Name's Wyck. I'm crashin' in his winnebago at the moment, but I'll introduce y'all soon."
JP looked impressed. "You know someone with they' own Winnebago? Who' this Wyck now? He' about to become our new best friend." He listened to teh story of Remy: champion of hte people and looked to Colette, "How you feelin about cold weather?" He looked around the place and shook his head. "I' be honest with ya, Sev. We need you t' hook us up. Now you're family so I' help y'all out, but truth is things is gettin lean. The guys I was with rolled over on me." Which didn't explain how Colette got involved yet, but he seemed willing to defer to her on the idea.
"I don't mind the cold." Which she says now, and could revise her feelings on at any time in the future. When JP starts to make moves like they are going to take advantage of Severin's friend she reaches over and pinches him, shaking her head. Evidently no, she's not looking to do that. Yet.
Severin shoots JP a look and says, "Don' you be gettin' no thoughts. He done right by me, an' I'm helpin' him out some." There's a warning in that look that says ''off-limits'' with not even a hint of uncertainty. The cat's done laid claim to that one. Then he looks from one to the other and says, "I don't have any jobs up here yet t'hook you up with. I got a corner of a bed and what I can lift. Things gettin' lean, we're gonna have to find a job or two."
JP levied a look at Severin long and hard. Would he test that? Likely. WHat he was really weighing was not his conscience but what it would be like to be mauled by a god blessed bear and in teh end shrugged as it wasn't worth it. Push come to shove he could control his car to try to hit the bear but knowing his lil brother the fucking bear would win and then he's got to not only endure an asswhoopin, but also the lecture from ma about not runnin over kin and really? He'd feel a bit bad once he was done healing up. "A'ight." He relented as if it were a favour but wholly let the ordeal go. "He want in though he contributin. So we put a job togetha'. You say we avoidin hitton our own? Is fine by me. THought son targets?"
Colette glances at JP, brows furrowing, then she shakes her head, "You have any advice on where we might be able to find a safe place to hold up for a few?"
The look that Severin continues to level at JP does not owaver until his older brother relents. Finally he nods though and he settles back in his seat, sprawled comfortably. "Nope," he tells Colette, "But then, I jus' curl up wherever I am." The unfortunate thing about having a shapeshifter as a brother is that he can literally turn into a bird and roost just about anywhere. The requisite roof and four walls that most humanoid folk need do not apply. "I mean right now I'm crashin' as a cat in the corner of a guy's trailer. And it ain't a big trailer. I mean, I got enough cash on me right now I could get ya a cheap motel room for a couple of nights."
JP shrugged and was happy enough when drink and a meal came. "Well if Jimmy don' want' pay for it, Colette, you're up."Have her convince a hotel desk clerk that they already paid and give the room key over? That wasn't to bad. Dicey, but not too bad. "remy connected though? Maybe we ask him if there's people out there lookin for jobbers. How you doin for you self anyhow?"
"As a cat?" Collette shakes her head, picking up a drink to take a sip from it before she sits up, shifting her weight forward to rest her elbows on the edge of the table, "We could, sure…but then we'll risk being caught after a while. But it might work."
"Like I said," Severin grins over at Colette, "It ain't a big trailer. Besides, it's kinda funny how he'll scritch me behind my ears an' then get all awkward when I'm a person again." He flashes a grin that is all teeth. He may be having a little bit of fun at Wyck's expense with that, and he isn't even a little ashamed. "Hey, I jus' said I'd help out with the motel." He smirks over at JP. "Jimmy'll cover it."
JP smerked and shook his head, "Nine hells, person can scritch whatever they wan' so long as I'm gettin a place t'sleep out of it. Yeah, if Jim wan' pay for it I ain't gon' argue." He looked back to Colette and laughed, "If you' real nice t'Sev maybe he sleep on your feet when it gets cold." Was he amused? Yes. Yes he was.
"You two are terrible." Collette points out with a roll of her eyes and a laugh, then she starts to her feet, "I'll be right back." She glances around, figures out where she needs to go, then heads for the restroom.
Severin just laughs at JP and says, "How you think I get by half the time? People jus love pickin' up stray cats an' dogs and feed'n them an' shit. Take'm right into their houses with all their valuables and don't think twice 'bout it." It's a great racket for a shapeshifter.
JP snickered and shook his head. "Trust me, I get it." It really did sort of describe his social life, only he didn't shapeshift, he jsut let himself in, and let himself back out again. The grin hung there. He was so proud! "So what's the situation been like up here? I head somethin about riots. Get anythin' good?" Because riots were a great time for looting. No pride. None.
Severin shakes his head and says, "Riots were over the summer and early fall I think. Weren't no riotin' when I got here, but I've only been here for a spell. There's plenty a' tension though and folks ripe for gettin' riled up over it all."
JP clapped his roughened hands and rubbed them together. "Sev, that's the second best news I heard all day." He looked up considering the direction of the ladies' room and then back to the other Bonaventure present. "She might be in a lil bit of a bind too. Best you know now. Far as I can' tell no one's lookin for us this far north, but she did good. She got chops since you went on about."
After a little while, Collette comes back, and…she appears to be counting some bills as she does so. When she settles back at the booth she sets the cash on the table, which amounts to maybe five or six dollars.
Severin glances from JP over to the ladies room just in time to see Colette coming back toward the table. He gives a nod and smirks a little as the cash appears. "Uh huh," he says, and then he takes up his coffee to take another swig. "Well, I'll get you guys set up with a room for a couple a' days. We'll see what we can't swing. Wyck, he'll fit right in. He's runnin' too. Pretty sure we can all find some work 'round here to keep us goin'."
JP arched an eyebrow, "Runnin, hmm? Well good." A hand reached up and smoothed back his hair with a squint around the room thinking on that one, not that he was ever the idea guy, he was the wheelman. He just thought about getting in and gettin out and generally left the smarts to people who did things like pay attention. "We won't have to worry about him knowin how to keep up 'den. Hmm?"