Meawhile, Back at the Ranch...

Cast: date: '25 August 2012'
place: 'Watch Headquarters'
participants: 'Cedric, David, Mattie, Wynn'
synopsis: 'The Headquarters is grand central station with Watchers from different departments stopping by.'
log: "Paperwork. Even when you're a clandestine organization dedicated to fighting the creatures that go bump in the night, there's still paperwork. Seeing as Wynn shelters newcomers and chronicles their abilities, he amasses quite a bit of it. It's also sometimes easier to get people to fill out paper forms than it is for them to have a go at a secure station. So here he is, doing the glamorous work of filing. He's got a radio on in the background that's playing a mish-mash of 60s hits.\n\nDavid moves down the hallway of the Watch's headquarters, his direction of travel suggesting that he is coming from the Armory. He pauses for a moment as the music from the radio echoes down the hallway and reaches his ears. He glances in the direction of the music before he moves down the hall towards it to see if someone had left the radio on.\n\nLooking for Edith in all the wrong places is Mattie, having wandered through much of the building before she comes around the hallway to where David is making his way to the door. She glances inside the room to see if her target lies within. \n\n\"Hey, Bevan, Darkholme\" says the American. \"You seen Edith?\" The men in the Watch seem to all get called by their last names, though Edith seems exempt. Maybe it's because Sonnenschein is more of a mouthful than most of the rest of the agents' names. \n\nThe redhead leans against the doorjamb, arms crossing in that defensive posture of hers.\n\nAnd there's Wynn, sitting on a rolling stool, scooting between filing cabinets, whistling along to 'The Ballad of John and Yoko.' He occasionally sings a lyric or two, as you do. He stops when he hears footfalls though, and looks up. \"Nope.\" He pops his 'p.' \"Then again, I've been in here the last hour.\"\n\nThe front door - or whatever passes for it - opens to admit another figure, smelling distinctly of soap and cigarette smoke. Cedric's wavy black hair is still damp from the shower, and drips onto the faded black T-shirt he's wearing, leaving his collar rather damp as well. He casually tosses a small duffel bag just inside the doorway, where it lands with a soft *thump* to reek softly of sweat, then sets what appears to be a bamboo sword of sorts much more gently atop it. The sound of a zipper, and he strides into the back room, an iPad in one hand. \n\n One shoulder rises and falls. \"I was nearby so I figured I'd see if she was in, but it's nothing important.\" Of course it's important, or she wouldn't be looking for her, but critical and important are two different things in the Watch. \n\nMattie moves into the room to flop into an office chair and props her feet up on the desk nearby, waiting for Wynn to answer David and apparently not in a hurry to trek back out of the cemetery and into civilization anytime soon.\n\n\"Filing intake forms. Nothing even remotely interesting. But it gets me out of the hostel for awhile. My staff are a little more self-reliant when I'm not just upstairs.\" Wynn grabs a series of forms and checks them for names, then zips across to tuck the pages away. \"I've got them trained to leave me be when I'm coming over here. I only get texts if there's an emergency. Though I admit, sometimes I lie and say I'm coming here when I'm really going round for a pint.\" He grabs another handful of forms. \"What about you two, then? Any news from the front?\"\n\nDavid nods his head as he listens to Wynn's response to his question. \"Sounds like a blast.\" He says as he leans up against the frame of the door, his hands slipping into his pockets. \"No real news here, but I'm on my way out. I gotta go open up the shop here soon. I'll catch you two later.\" He says before he offers them both a slight wave as he pushes himself off the door frame. \"Take care guys.\" He says before he heads towards the exit, offering a glance in Cedric's direction as he hears his approach.\n\n \"Hi,\" Cedric greets David casually as the man passes him by, with only the most cursory of second glances. That tells him where the people are, though, and he takes the stairs two at a time, making no attempt to be silent. The smell of cigarette smoke still lingers around him as he walks into the office, looking around. \"Oy. Someone said one of the computers wasn't acting right?\" he asks of nobody in particular, looking from face to face to see if anyone knew about it.\n\n\"Not much here,\" Mattie says with a yawn. \"Babysitting that firebird that doesn't want anything to do with us. Been a quiet couple of weeks. Knock on wood.\" She only says the phrase, though, apparently not superstitious enough to actually do it. The horrible things in the world are not kept at bay by the rapping of knuckles against a desk, after all. \n\nCedric is given a nod of greeting, then a shrug for his query. \"Got me. I only use them when I have to,\" she says.\n\n\"Oh, I met that one. The fire girl. She's read my books,\" Wynn smiles and looks quite pleased. \"Doesn't know I'm involved with you lot, though. Not yet, anyway.\" He knocks on wood, even if Mattie doesn't. Force of habit. He looks up when Cedric enters. \"That one over there, I think. A blonde lady I haven't met before rushed out here and pointed at a stickie before saying she had a thing. I wasn't listening, honestly.\" The computer monitor has a series of four post-it notes that detail the problem.\n\n _Users,_ Cedric's long-suffering expression clearly reads, his eyes rolling up to the ceiling as if to beg some non-existent God for patience. His voice is a rough, fairly deep baritone, almost a bass. \"All right,\" he answers. He does flash Mattie a grin before striding over to the desk in question, tossing his rubber-covered iPad to the desktop, and fairly throwing himself in a chair. The intermittent tapping of keys and the clicking of a mouse follows, punctuated by, \"What firebird?\" He doesn't look over as he asks the question.\n\nMattie's brows rise at Wynn's words. \"Yeah? Do me a favor and try to win her trust and reel her in so I don't have to go play Miss Co-Ed at King's College, will you? Edith wants me and Mitchell of all people to go take classes with her in case she gets upset at getting a D on a test or something and becomes a living Molotov Cocktail on campus, I guess.\" Her tone is clearly irritated at the prospect of playing student. \"21 Jump Street, Touched edition. God.\" \n\nFor Cedric's benefit, she explains. \"Teresa Murdoch. Yank like me. Apparently fire powers. The Watch back in the States apparently spooked her and she came here. Wants nothing to do with us when I offered help. Paranoid sort. I guess the Maine Watch agents lack our finesse and sophistication.\"\n\n\"Ohhh, no. See, I'm not a field agent. I'm a homebody. I deal with them after you've gotten them to accept the truth.\" Wynn waves a hand. \"Besides, I'm allergic to third degree burns.\" He rolls his chair across to the 'W' section of the filing cabinet and drops a few sheets in. \"I did mention I run the hostel, though. And that she's welcome to come by and get her books signed. I'll try and relax her a bit if she does. But I don't fancy getting my business burnt down.\"\n\n \"Right, then,\" Cedric answers, back still turned, typing away. \"Oy, she arsed this thing up right, she did,\" he sighs. \"A few more clicks - he's doing something with it, and is silent for a moment. Finally, he pauses and turns around. \"Reckon you'd best get to know her good before bringing her to a safe house … if she finds out about us, there goes the neighborhood.\" Another grin. \"Good luck with that …\" He pauses, seeming to consider Mattie and Wynn for the first time. \"Didn't catch your names, sorry. I'm Cedric. Cedric Moseley.\" \n\n Mattie chuckles at Wynn's comments, then turns back to Cedric. \"Mattie Dahl,\" she says, with a wave. \"And she knows about us. I mean, the basics. I was honest with her that if she didn't want our help or to join us, that we'd be keeping tabs on her for safety's sake. She didn't throw a fire ball at me, but I don't think she was particularly happy with that either. But… I figured the truth was a better route with someone like that.\" \n\n She shrugs, pulling her feet off the desk and setting them back on the ground proper. \"Hopefully it won't bite me in the butt. Or burn it, might be more appropriate.\"\n\n\"Wynn Bevan. I run the Hollow Tree. If you're a tech, I'll likely be seeing you at some point. We're supposed to get our network security updated. Hence why I file things the old fashioned way.\" He waves a sheet around and continues to file. \"If she's properly unhappy, she'll leave the city. Then she'll be someone else's problem.\"\n\n The mention of the Hollow Tree seems to mean something to Cedric, and he nods. \"The Hollow Tree? I'd heard mention of that. I'll probably do that for you next week. Lot of old equipment?\" He turns back to the computer he's eyeing, and pans through a few more windows; apparently he's satisfied with what he finds, because he nods, clicks on a lock icon, which snaps shut, and turns back to the pair again. \n\n He shakes his head and runs a hand through his damp hair. \"Good to meet you both. As for this chick … if you hadn't told her, it /would/ bite you in the bum if she found out. Best to tell her straight.\"\n\n\"True,\" Mattie says regarding her being someone else's problem. \"But she has family and work here so I doubt she wants to leave. But yeah, maybe if you pal her up or something, then eventually she'll see we're not so bad when she finds out you're one of us. Pour on the charm, writer boy.\" \n\n To Cedric, she nods. \"Nice to meet you, too. So you fix computers and stuff for us? If my smart phone stops being smart, can you fix it?\" Always good to know a tech.\n\n\"Charm? What charm? I write in a small, dark room and I get my friendly young staff to handle the guests. I'm not really a people-person.\" Wynn tucks away the last of the filing, then stands to stretch his skinny self out, fingers reaching towards the ceiling. He drops his arms and rotates his shoulders. To Cedric, \"Not old equipment, no. Just concern over network security since we've got so many mundanes right next door.\"\n\n \"Maybe,\" Cedric tells Mattie with an expressive shrug. \"The phone companies lock those down pretty tight. You can unlock 'em, but sometimes that makes 'em even worse.\" To the question of whether he fixes computers for the Watch, he just nods and leans back in the chair, folding his arms across his chest. \"The whole network is a bit of a cock-up right now. It'll take me some time to lock it down right, but you're right to be worried about it. Just be careful and don't let just anybody use the terminals if they have access to Watch databases. It's not as if it's on the Web.\"\n\nMattie smirks, but there's not a lot of humor in it. \"None of us are people-person-ish I don't think. Maybe once upon a time. Some of us can pretend better than others.\" \n\n Standing up, she stretches and shoves her hair out of her eyes. Long shaggy bangs are definitely in need of a trim. \n\n\"I suppose I should get moving. Gonna go patrol a bit to look for any activity we should be aware of.\" She's a good agent for that, given her ability to be both invisible and incorporeal, thus less likely to get noticed in areas she might not technically be allowed. \"Nice to meet you,\" she tells Cedric, then to Wynn, \"Call me if you make any progress with Murdoch or if you notice anything I should know, yeah?\"\n\n\"I don't intend to try and make progress with her. Not a field agent, remember?\" Wynn tries not to let a hint of annoyance slip into his tone, but he can't entirely help it. \"I'll try and make nice if she happens to drop by. Otherwise, not my department.\" He gathers up his things and tucks a few folders into a messenger bag. He looks to Cedric. \"It's not the actual terminals I'm worried about so much as some hacker renting a room from me and finding a way to tap into the lines. I still do paper forms because it's actually the most secure. The girl who does all the database entry hates me a bit, though.\"\n\n \"By the time I'm done, the Watch network will be air-gapped,\" Cedric answers, snorting at the byplay between the other two but not otherwise commenting. Best way to not become involved, after all. \"Have you got a way to lock them up, then?\" He stands up abruptly, reaching to grab his iPad. \"Cheers, Mattie. Be seeing you around.\" \n\nThe irritation doesn't completely escape Mattie, who just rolls her eyes in the way that comes naturally to any Californian native under the age of 30. \"Later,\" is all she has to say and disappears from view. No footfalls mark her exit; it's hard to tell if she's gone or not.\n\n\"There's someone else rattling about. Caretaker or such. I'll latch the front door on my way out, just to be certain.\" Wynn looks down after Mattie's eye roll. When he looks up, she's gone. No time to snipe a comment back. Probably just as well. Then to Cedric, \"Go on if you're finished. I'll make sure things are secure, or that there's someone else around.\"\n\n\"Right. I'll ring you next week about locking your boxes down.\" That's all it takes, and Cedric shoves at the chair he was sitting in before striding out the door and rattling down the stairs at breakneck speed. A minute or so later, the front door opens, and closes. He's gone.\n\n"
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