Visiting Hour

Cast: date: '15 October 2012'
place: 'Tower Hamlets Cemetery Administrative Offices'
participants: 'Cedric, Jack, Mattie, Yuki'
synopsis: 'Cedric''s illness after a run-in with Hilary is investigated further with a chat with the victim. '
log: " By mid-evening, the normal Watch offices are usually buttoned up for the evening. This time of the evening, if there are people in the rows of cubicles, they're mostly agents dropping in before rounds to check email, or coming back to update the databases - all the clerical stuff that needs doing that for one reason and another is best done in the quieter times. Nobody's really here right now, but there's a light on in the kitchen, and someone had reported looking in on Agent Moseley and seeing him awake. \n\nThe door to the LAN closet in the back of the break room is usually shut tight, but today and yesterday was left open a crack so that Moseley could be looked in on if needed. It's stayed that way, and while the light is off in the room itself, the sounds of restless sleep and muttering are noticeably absent, a definite difference from earlier in the day.\n\n\"I doubt he'll know much more than what I already told you all, but maybe.\" Mattie's voice is soft as she and Jack approach the door. Despite the fact she's pissed off about everyone she's spoken to in the past few days (Jack, Cedric, and Hilary, namely), she carries a bag from a local deli and a cup of tea from the office kitchen to ply Cedric with. \n\nHer foot taps the door twice to \"knock\" lightly before she nudges it open, quiet as she checks on Cedric's form to see if he's sleeping, in which case she'll slip out again, or raving mad, in which case she'll likewise flee.\n\nThe evening means that Jack's shed a little clothing, contrary to the dictates of fine London weather. Just a raggedy black knit sweater over a tee shirt. No hoods, no gloves. He looks more comfortable at night, more at ease. \"Worth a crack though, eh? That Hilary bird was a pillock. Seemed like he had somethin' to hide.\"\n\nSkeptical Jack is Skeptical. Plus the other man rubbed him entirely the wrong way. He quiets to enter in behind Mattie, peering around her to see the state of the victim.\n\n \"What?\" There's movement from the back side of the darkened and slightly chilly room, and the voice is definitely Cedric's. Rough and hoarse to be sure, but Cedric. Rather than getting up, the shadow at the back of the room lies back down, and there's the movement of blankets. There's a rancid smell coming from somewhere back there, as if a cleanup might be required in a bit, but it's not overwhelming. \"Dahl? That you?\" /Definite/ improvement, and a fairly sure sign that he's at least lucid.\n\nShe is totally not cleaning up vomit. Or any other body fluids. \"Yeah, it's me. Got some soup and saltines here, or some tea, if you are up to keeping anything down. If not, I'll just set them somewhere else,\" Mattie says, inching closer and looking a little uncomfortable at being near the patient. \n\n\"We went to see that guy. While denying doing or knowing anything, he was fairly confident you wouldn't die and that you'd get better in a day or two. Quite the expert on stranger's illnesses that he supposedly didn't cause,\" she says, finding a table surface to set the soup and tea down where he can reach them. \"How are you doing?\"\n\nPeering over, the darkness doesn't provide any impediment to Jack and he regards Cedric with only the vaguest sympathy. \"Jesus, mate. You're going to need a bloody season ticket for the doctor at this rate. Startin' to think you should take a desk job for a while.\" It seems to be something of a joke, there's a wry little smile along with it anyway.\n\nHe moves in after Mattie, looking for somewhere to sit down while the conversation happens.\n\n\"Like you bastards would let me.\" There's a desk chair not too far from the bed that Jack can use, and Cedric looks over at him with a snort that holds just a hint of humor. He doesn't make any move to sit up, though, and he just shakes his head at Mattie's offer of tea and saltines. Clearly, he's not feeling up to that yet. \"Can't be that bad, Regal didn't even remember me. Least I don't think he did.\" A moment of silence. \"This one's my own damn fault, Mitchell. I want you lot to kick my arse the next time I go touching anything like that on purpose.\" \n\n\"I think he has a desk job,\" Mattie points to Jack, pointing to the equipment around them. \"And yes, rule 1 of field work is don't touch creepy black stuff, all right? But I think you learned that the hard way.\" \n\nShe leans against a wall, arms crossing around herself as if to keep herself guarded from whatever Gloom cooties Cedric might be carrying. \"So tell me what made you start opening up to that asshat. He was hardly Mr. Rogers as far as I could tell, but maybe his charm was lost on the likes of li'l ol' me.\"\nTaking a seat, Jack does make a point of checking it for creepy black stuff first. Or Cedricvomit. Finding neither he relaxes a bit, \"Now that is something I can get behind, I'll happily kick your arse mate.\" It's what he's good at.\n\nNodding, there's an agreement with Mattie on that, \"Yeah, I wanted to give him a right seeing to. Pretentious as all fuck. He do some juju on you?\" A lean forward, resting elbows on knees as he stares across at Cedric, seeing in the dark as though it was bright as day.\n\n\"Expect that creepy green stuff is probably right out,\" Cedric's attempt at humor is delivered a little flatly, and there's a silence before he answers. \"Knew there was something dodgy about him when I saw him, the footprints didn't look right, and he didn't even care.\" Another pause, as if he's trying to gather his thoughts, and he shivers convulsively. \"Dunno,\" he says finally. \"Reckon it was on my mind,\" he says quietly. \"He asked.\" A shift in tone, although he's still hoarse. \"Wanted to get him talking, find out who he was, learn a bit more.\"\n\nThere's another pause, and an arm moves up among the shadows to cover his face. \"Dunno why he wanted to know. Still want to know why the footprints went away.\" \n\n\n\"You didn't feel compelled in any way? No weird feeling like, 'why am I telling him this, why can't I stop talking?' while it was happening, or after the fact, wondering why in the world you told a complete stranger things that are private?\" Mattie asks, then holds up a hand. \"Not that I'm judging you for talking. I'm trying to figure out if he somehow made you do it.\" \n\nShe glances over at Jack and gives a slight shake of her head. \"But I don't know, if he could do that, why wouldn't he have tried on us? Unless three's too many. He didn't try to get me to open up to him at the park, either, didn't ask me anything there. Tried to get away pretty much as soon as I got there.\" \n\nBack to Cedric, she smiles. \"You did good. You got his card, and now we can monitor him, make sure no one's dying in his wake of black goo or whatever.\"\n\n\"See, if he ain't clued in about what the deal is, and is leaving blatant footprints and infecting people then it seems like an easy path for Them to track him down and bad shit to follow. 'Specially if he's dealin' with the public on a regular basis.\" Jack's sitting on a chair, while Mattie stands nearby talking to Cedric who is all bundled up in a shadowy corner.\n\nDisgruntled with the whole affair, the mechanic ponders the exchange, rubbing the heel of his palm against his stubble-ridden jaw. \"He seemed threatened by us lot though, so maybe he was wary of showing his hand.\"\n\n Yuki wanders back into room proper, having done her business and cleaned appropriately. She's dressed in a pink spaghetti-strap and faded denim, as she was with Mattie and Jack before, looking every bit comfortable in the chilled room as she steps in. She wanders a little on her way towards the group, but by the grimaces, and changes of directions in walking, she's figuring out this isn't the sort of room to just wander around in all willy-nilly. Stuffing her hands down in her pockets, she looks between the others, \"S'rry, 'ad t' use th' loo…did I miss much of an'thing?\"\n\nMattie makes a face. \"Maybe you should go back and tell him that. Play good cop for once, yeah?\" she says to Jack, a little bit of a wry smile on her face. \"Since I've probably burnt that bridge.\" \n\nShe shrugs to Cedric. \"Tried to explain to him without giving away too much who we are, what we do, offered assistance, but he took it as a threat. I may have been a bit heavy handed.\" \n\nShe recrosses her arms, tapping fingers of one hand against the elbow of her other arm. \"So. Out of the blue, the creature from the black lagoon starts talking to you, gooey footprints for no apparent reason, doesn't seem to be bothered by them, gets you to get all upset, walks away, no more goo. You touch goo and get sick. He definitely knows about it, which he let on, but refused to talk about. That's about the sum of it I think… my guess is the goo is a defense mechanism or something, but that's about all I have,\" she muses. \"I've recommended we keep an eye on him, but maybe someone with a gentler hand than I have can go back and chat at him, see what happens. Maybe pretend to be an actor or a theatre critic.\"\n\n\"Accused me of ambushin' him. Twat.\" Jack rolls his eyes before giving the returning Yuki a nod. The smile becomes more of a smirk with Mattie's comment, \"Hah, I reackon that's out for me an' all after I showed him that I didn't know my King Lear or whatthefuckever it was.\"\n\nHe asides to Yuki as Mattie recounts the current situation, \"That's about it. Not much in the way of new. 'cept Ced here gave his permission to kick his backside if he ever does stupid shit again. Anyhow. How do you know this bloke?\"\n\n \"He actually Touched? Any chance he's an Other?\" Cedric just nods, but a sudden chill in the air heralds Yuki's arrival, and he starts to force himself up onto one elbow again as she speaks. \"The hell is Yuki doing here? Or'm I dreaming again?\" Clearly, sitting up like that requires a good deal of effort judging by the tight way he speaks, and he shivers again at the abrupt chill in the air. \"Fuck. What a git. Nah, came across 'im in Regent's Park.\" \n\n Yuki shrugs a bit at Cedric's question, \"S'rry, w's I not s'posed t' be 'ere?\" she asks, stepping in a bit closer before lowering to the ground and sitting, hugging her knees up as she look over at Jack, then back to the others, \"I met 'im a few days ago in Covent Garden. I's catchin' a show by a friend, street performer name of Decker. I w's 'elpin' 'em pack up w'en tha' Hilary bloke propositioned us both. Asked Decker t' do som' paintin' for 'im at th' theatre, an' asked me t' be a stagehand,\" she explains, giggling a little bit before shaking her head, \"I 'ad t' turn 'im down. Those stage lights get bloody 'ot.\"\n\n\"Seems Touched, but could be an imposter,\" Mattie says with a shrug, then glances at Yuki. \"You're fine. She went with us to observe, and she's observing now, to get a hang of how things work around here.\" \n\nThere's an arpeggio of tinkling notes from her trench coat's pocket, and she pulls out a cell phone to glance at it, before putting it back. \"Yuki, when you met St. Thomas before, were you guys discussing anything from your history that he seemed interested in?\" she asks, glancing down at her.\n\n\"Yeah, seemed like a Touched. I dunno. They're a tricksy bunch. Seems like he's well known though. Ain't many Others around what get a career in the theatre. Generally they've got other shit to do. Although some might consider theatre to be part of the whole human sufferin' agenda.\" Jack smiles at his own jest, just in case no one else is going to.\n\n\"Odd, that he'd pick you out on the street to be a stangehand. Generally they've got people with trainin' an' all that for those kind of things. Hoity toity drama school ain't cheap.\" Again he goes for rubbing at his chin, as though the friction of skin and stubble inspires thinking.\n\n\n Yuki nods in affirmation at Cedric's description, \"That's th' bloke…big, 'andsome, eats like a goat,\" she confirms with a bit of a giggle, stretching her legs out a little and leaning back on her hands, turning towards Jack again, \"Yeah, 'e said it'd pay, but not well, an' that I should've been grateful since any number of art students woul' gladly sign on for free,\" she explains, shrugging her shoulders a little bit, leaning forward again, \"If y'ask me though, 'e seemed more int'rested in tryin' t' insult me than anything. I jus' didn' care. Told 'em 'e could go an' 'ire them students, th't I couldn' do th' work.\"\n\n\nYuki's words get a raise of brows. \"Yeah, he's a charmer,\" she says with a shake of her head. \"Something's definitely up. I do think he knows he's leaving these puddles behind; he knew exactly what I meant about you being sick, even if he didn't cop to it. So the question is if he's doing it deliberately or if he can't control it. We'll keep an eye on him, maybe check out the medical records if we can of anyone working with him, that sort of thing.\" \n\nShe turns to Cedric. \"You should rest, get some sleep that's actually restful now that you're not seeing pink elephants or the like.\"\n\n\"Eats like a goat?\" Jack looks faintly confused, trying to picture how a goat eats. There's not many goats in central London, but for the occasional community farm and clearly he's unfamiliar with the process. Aside from that he's mostly quiet, trying to puzzle it all together. \"Yeah. He also made a clear point in telling us that he wasn't at fault and hadn't killed anyone. Which made me think that he was at fault an' likely killed someone.\" A sage nod follows this tremendous leap of logic, believing himself to be a smart people person, despite all evidence to the contrary.\n\nMattie's last comment prompts Jack to stand up, stuffing hands back into pockets.\n\n \"Wish it was that bloody nice,\" Cedric shakes his head in disgust, and shivers again, but doesn't seem interested in arguing the point further. \"Should recruit Kincaid,\" he mutters, but simply lies there for a minute, watching the others as they prepare to leave. \"Right.\" He seems like he wants to say more, but doesn't have the energy, his eyes instead resting on Yuki.\n\nYuki pulls her legs back up and stands, crossing her arms behind her back, looking over at Jack, \"Goats c'n eat a lot. Read a bit 'bout 'em,\" she explains, seeming to mean 'a lot' in a manner of variety more than quantity. She looks back at Cedric, shrugging and smiling, tilting her head a bit, \"Take it easy, I'll see y'soon, I trust.\"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n"
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