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JP was not dragging his car all over the city in cross town traffic IN rush hour where he might back over two or three people like oops. After totally missing two exists and thinking better about seizing the subway train and throwiing it into reverse for his convenience they found themselves riding around for a while. Thankful for dodgy appearances 'sensible folk' rode at the other end. That's right, keep steppin. "So… I bet you's wonderin why I called you here."
Severin sprawled in one of the seats, slouched down in it comfortably and giving anyone the eye who stepped into the car until they shuffled off toward the opposite end. When he felt like it, there was a certain feral nature about Sev that seemed to bleed through. It wasn't anything in particulr, just the way that he smiled that could be a little disturbing. He turned his attention to JP and says, "I figured you jus' got bored and wanted a change of scenery."
Hey, the subway is a far less worrisome place to meet than some of the places his father has sent him as back up on, drug deals take places in scary back alleys that reek of urine and the decay of life, this was much better. "I'm just wondering what I can do to help you. I'll show up wherever you call me to." He admits, a secret smile growing on his face anytime that Severin shoots a feral grin at someone thinking that it might have been a good idea to sit anywhere near them today.
JP was weirdly the one that actually barked at a couple people. Severin was a feral creature by JP was just sa crazy asshole. He was perched up on hte seat, one hand on the vertical support beam to keep his balance. "I tol' you V, I'm fine. But good. Shit, we should just keep e on retainer." Looking to Sev he said with a smug grin, "Tol' you you'd like my guy for the job." Not how he intended, but a win is a win is a win! "THink I found a couple places that might be good pick ups to occupy. Problem is in order to do business? Well, we' needin' to actually buy the buildin legit. So. I figure, we find this place and either get the current occupants t'vacate or we fin' some place we can wrangle up case to afford no qeustions."
Elmo makes his way back from the occupied cars. People often don't move for him. He encourages them with just a little static when he contacts them, and it works like a charm. When he gets to the meeting car, he takes a moment to rake his hair back and straighten his tie. "Hope I'm not late," he says, in a tone that suggests in fact he doesn't hope any such thing. "Hey, guys."
Severin grins a little over at Vitale when JP says that he told him he'd like the guy he'd found as a medic. "Yeah, I'd say he's alright," he drawls, but the fingers of one hand brush lightly against Vitale's thigh from where he sits next to him. It's kind of an absent gesture he might not even realize that he's making, and yet still.
Vitale's pinky catches Severin's own when it brushes over his thigh and gives it the quickest squeeze. Affectionate but quick, drawing slight attention to what had come from Severin but not much. "You need help?" Money wise he means but he doesn't want to give too much life to that offer and have it offend JP. Severin had already told him that they didn't want monetary help, but JP hadn't heard the offer yet. He leans slightly against Severin's shoulder as another… much smaller.. man joins them.
He offers his hand out to him. "Vitale." He says as way of introduction.
JP was living amused while he was living, still breathing free, from moment to moment. That rakish grin widened to Elmo and he got an upnod, :Trouble." There we go. Gang was literally all here. He looked around and hopped off as the car came to a stop. The few passengers got out and JP made like he was exiting, but instead just held out five fingers to catch a new passenger at the chest and point him that-a-way. "Wong car. Yours' over there, hmm?" It wasn't a helpful suggestion. Man JP could literally switch to ON mode on a moment couldn't he. WHat happened instead was his hand slapped the carriagedoor and willing to shut it prematurly. He was grunning like a hyena just so proud of himself. "There. Now we can talk. Elmo, V. He the one that fixed my bullet allergy tha' made me break out in bleedin. Elmo's with us." Without a doubt. No, Elmo, nothing was weird. "You migh' be able to help us out. DUnno that yous got a lot of real estate invested into Mutant Town where we's lookin." Turning his head he informed, "I checked on them 4 places you said t'look at. Two might work."
Elmo grasps Vitale's hand with very little hesitation. "You saved JP's life. Thanks. I owe ya one." He grips the subway pole for balance, not sitting. JP's news makes him half smile. "Great. Thought at least a couple of 'em would. Got the right hookups."
The catching of his pinky seems to draw his attention at that brief touch and Severin can't help but grin a little sidelong at the medic. But his focus resumes as Elmo approaches them and he grins at Elmo, doffing a hat as though he were wearing one even though he isn't. "'Ey, good to see you again." He then watches as Vitale and Elmo get introduced before JP settles down to business. "We don' need to buy the whole buildlin' either. We could always just lease some space from whoever owns the real estate. Then we don't need quite as much paperwork." He then glances over toward Vitale and he says, "If we do anything with your money, it's gotta just be between us. We don't want any entanglements with the rest of the family.." He's not beyond considering it, but he wants to make real sure that they keep what they're doing separate.
If there were any pain Elmo was experiencing, a sore wrist, a neck he'd slept on wrong, a bruise from a fight or a fall, it fades upon contact with Vitale's hand. He smiles when he mentions that he owes him one for keeping JP alive and looks over at JP. "No you don't, I am pretty fond of him too. I'd like to keep him around. You'll owe me when you bring me a stranger." He teases.
When Severin breathes life into the money by calling it money, he nods. "I don't have to run every decision I make by my father and I have my own bank account. It'll be my money, not his. Not De Angelis money, but Vitale's." The fact that his father may notice the big chunk of change he takes out of it, that Vitale leaves out. There's nothing his father can throw at him that he can't heal from.
JP tosses Elmo a wink and looked so wonderfuly pleased and not full of holes. Could mechanics preen? Maybe. His brother could. He'll have to ask Sev how that works exctly later. "So! Problem wit' that? Is is Vitale's month and not JP's moolah. I was thinkin we get some horses and take a train" Really JP? Rob a stagecoach? "Or maybe I been watchin too much Bonanza. Either way? one, VItale, we jsut need t'keep you on payroll. Objections?" He looked from Elmo to Sev and then blinked at his brother waving a hand at him like I know your votea nd just looked back to Elmo about concerns adding Vitale to their shenanigans. "I eman we' gon' get hurt and we gon' call on em anyways."
Elmo's ears pricked up when Sev mentioned family money. Now—"Oy Gutt, you're a de Angelis?" He gives JP a wide-eyed look, like, did you know?! Back to Vitale, "I don't mean no disrespect, just, that's a real surprise. Wait a minute. Are you…" He trails off, realizing what he's about to ask, and holds up a hand, halting himself. "Never mind. I don't wanna know. And yeah, I mean, you wanna be an X-ternal? Of course you got my vote." He scowls at JP next. "No knockin' over anywhere. We gotta be discreet. I know you don't know the meaning of the word, but that's what we gotta do."
Severin just calls it like it is. When it's just the four of them, he doesn't hedge around the topic at all, since they all need to be on the same page. He glances between Elmo and Vitale and says, "We're.. keepin' our distance from that. He's a medic, an' a damn good one, an' he isn't gonna get us mixed up in that." He then nods to JP though on the point that it isn't JP's money. "Well, alright…" Severin takes a deep breath then lets it out. "So, that job I was runnin' up here from, it weren't because it went bad.. well it did go bad, but it weren't bad for me. See, I got away with the cash. So.. I stashed it.. as a retirement fund. But.. I could take some of it, and we could legit put a down payment on a building with it.."
"You're inviting me? To be a part of your crew? I would love that, but.. you gotta know I can't escape the family business, either. If that's still okay, I'll run with you. I just have to still heal busted heads, idiots with bullets, etc. They won't have any idea what I do with you, it will be two separate things. And any money that I have is yours as well then, JP." He gives a firm look at the man suggesting they rob a train. When Elmo trails off on a question, he frowns. "No, go ahead and ask, bud, I'm an open book. My family and I.. we're not close. I don't do the drug deals, I don't exploit the gays, I don't con people but I could steal your watch if it's nice enough and I think it might look better on me. When it comes to my family, I'm just.. the bullet catcher."
JP looked to Elmo and shrugged like Wut? You DO realize what the rest of us do for a living right? the words though were, "We need a bullet picker. We like this one." And seemed generally groovy when Elmo coooled his heels on being terrified of Vitale's uncomfortably close connections. What did catch him by surprise was Sev telling him he had a nest egg. "Mon dieu, frere! You didn' tell me- well… eyah I see why you didn' tell me that." He nodded sagely. Yeah that made sense. He winced and said, "Half wish I took that think when I had the chance… still glad I didn'." Yes, ELmo teh one he almost got his teeth kicked in by an angel over. that thing. "Alrigh. We fin' a place, see what it' taking to open her up, we split four way? Good face as any for real work we doin and whatever yous wan' front in?" He considered and looked to ELmo arching an eyebrow in unspoken conversation, "We can reimburse yous for as it works out so we all get paid back over time. FIgure couple jobs should do it before we's all squared with the bank, oui?"
Elmo winces a little at 'exploit the gays'. From the way Vitale and Sev are touching each other, though, there's probably a good reason Vitale isn't in on the 'bring em in and then bust em' gay clubs. "Guys, I don't really want to take your money. But I ain't sure we have a whole lotta choice if we want to get this thing going sometime this century. On the bright side, JP and I are damn fine mechanics, and I can fix anything he can't in the way of electronics. Power we won't need to worry about, I got that covered." With one hand in his pocket and the other casually gripping the subway car's pole, he seems bizarrely comfortable giving this pitch. He meets JP's eyes, eyebrows hiking as he considers whatever it is JP is communicating to him. "Yeah, I'm confident we can be in the black in not too long."
To be fair, Severin hadn't told anyone about that little ace he was keeping up his sleeve for later, but it seemed like a worthy cause to dip into it, even if only partially. He nods to JP and says, "Whatever we put in, when we profit, we put some back in the place, we pay each other out until everyone's got what they put in back." He glances at the others to see what they think of that plan.
Vitale nods at the plan. "Absolutely," He knows that JP and Severin aren't going to just take his money like a hand out, that's not who they are as people. And he doesn't have any problem waiting for the money to come back as their garage blossoms. "I honestly think that the garage based in Mutant Town is a fantastic idea as I was telling Sev here. It's hard enough being a mutant, you can't even go grab coffee if you aren't passing without getting refused service. I am behind this, a thousand percent. You make honest money, the mutants benefit. But I don't know a damn thing about fixing cars to be of any practical use, but I know that fixing cars comes with scrapes and scratches that I can take away from you and if anyone does try to mess with you, you both know how well my aim is."
Well, when he hadn't just recently kissed Severin, it was fantastic.
"Now, we've got two mechanics for sure, Sev had told me that all he's planning on doing is sitting around being pretty. Are we putting him in front of the shop without a shirt on to bring in customers?" He teases, bumping Severin's shoulder with his own.
JP took this opportunity just to fuck with Elmo a bit while they were having someunspoken confersation and jsut waggling his eyebrows at him, then winked. Ohhhhh he was just making all sorts of faces that were of questionable confersation from goffy to possibly just making a pass at him. In eyebrows. He was such a shit that it was a wonder he was able to focus in life, but, lo, he was. The question about his brother being shop boy make JP laugh "What? You kiddin? Mon frere is more useful than that. For one? I hate shreddin tires. For two? It's fun as heeeeell watchin a polar bear do it." Oh yeah, big Sev fan. Look at the pride on the older brother's face right there. "Soooo is settled. Two the places I lookin at got space up top. I mean I wrote of the one withthe proper kitchen cause cash buuuut if we can get it? …" He bounced on his toes and shook the shit out of Elmo's sleeve dropping his chin on elmo's shoulder while teh other hand appeared over the other one (sorry Elmo you are improv puppet theatre stage until you run dude) In terrible ventriloquism the naked hand pupped said "Seeeev We wants it, our prescious!" Okay terrible Smeagol hand puppet. Bottom line: Chef JP wants a damn kitchen to do shit in.
Elmo swats JP away, annoyed yet reluctantly amused. Annoyed being the keystone. "Knock it off, ya momzer. Cripes, how are we supposed to do any business with you bouncin' around like a drunk sparrow? Yeah, yeah, we'll get you a kitchen, all right? That make ya happy?"
Severin snickers at JP using Elmo for puppet theatre and makes no comment on shredding tires as a polar bear other than to lift his shoulders and let them fall again, apparently not against it. "I told'm I was jus' gonna lay about and be a freeloading loafer. But I guess I could be convinced t'do somethin' other than sit around, drink beer, an' look prety every once in a while."
Vitale finds himself laughing at the way that JP uses Elmo as an improv puppet. "Well, then we have a way to feed ourselves while we work. You know, I've been trying to learn a little cooking myself." His eyes slide over to Severin slyly. "If you don't mind too much, I'm real susceptible to learning new things. Teach me anything you think you might need help with, otherwise.. I'm good at keeping books, keeping track of your money. Running numbers, making sure all the bills are paid. You can keep the electric on sure, but water, you might need to pay for." Vitale offers, a hand brushes against Severin's knee lightly. "You'll look pretty all the time, Sev, you don't know how not too." Feral grin or not, Severin was always gorgeous to Vitale.
JP didn't mind being swatted at. Hell he was grinning. One can be a screwball and a cunning rogue at the same time. Multi-classing is a thing! The sight of Elmo trying hard to be annoyed and trying to frown was entertainment enough for JP for the rest of the month…which was a couple hours away. Yeah that seems accurate. A hip bump later he admitted to Elmo, "Yeah, Vitale's not wrong bout that. Sev can cheat, turn into tiny kitten with big big eyes. It's unfair." Still his mind was sharp and still stuck on business apparently as he came abck around to topic, "RIgh' well, tehn tomorrow we dgo inspect ti and check it out. This way I stop gettin yelled at fo' takin a nap." Because even JP could only take getting chided for living out of his car and shitty motels, neither of which had a kitchen, for so long.
Elmo gives JP a hooded look that could mean several things, from 'quit it, you idiot' to 'you are gonna get laid so hard'. "We can lure 'em in with Kitten Sev," he says, mouth quirking. "Or shirtless Sev. Both would work." He nods to Vitale. "That's stuff we'll need, for sure. I'm kinda familiar with it, but I got other things I should do, yannow?" He shoves JP in the shoulder. "Okay, tomorrow we'll have a look."
Severin leans over into Vitale's shoulder and gives him a sidelong grin, "Welcome to the team." He nods his head toward JP and Elmo, "We're callin' the X-ternals. Since we're, ya'know, on the outside of things.. in all kindsa ways, and we do our own thing with our own rules." He then nods to the other two and says, "We should all go take a look at it, figure out what we're gonna do with it and how."
"X-ternals. I like that. I like that a lot." Vitale says, and throws an arm over the back of Severin's chair. He smiles up at JP and Elmo. He'd rather like it if JP and Severin weren't living in cars or other people's homes. This is a winning scenario for all parties. "Sound like a four way date, we've got guys." He winks at Sev, fingers lightly brushing against his shoulder.