Crows of a Feather

[harborborn]

Who: Kaz (harborborn) & the gang! (or anyone who wants to be in the gang)

What:
an official meeting of Kaz’s new gang so that everyone can get to know each other and (hopefully) get on the same page.
When:
Late August
Where:
664 Prague Mills Road, AKA the location formerly known as West Dream Analyics
Warning(s):
crime?


Now that spite has given Kaz the perfect headquarters, it's finally time for him to get the ball rolling on the whole gang thing so that it can be a little more than just 'talk.' A sense of community is important. He wants every member of the Crows (because that's what he's decided -- unilaterally -- to call them) to feel as though they can depend on each other, and that involves knowing who they are.

He informs everyone in person of the time and place, and makes it clear to them that they are welcome to invite whomever they like. Kaz, of course, will get the final say on whether or not they can become a member, but...at this point (with only 5 in their ranks) beggars can't exactly be choosers.

He wouldn't dare call this a party, but the structure of whatever is going on here is certainly a lot less 'meeting' and a lot more 'talk amongst yourselves and feel free to ask any questions you have.'

Comments

EARLY ON

[chainsawguy]

Denji wanders in with the usual noise and unsubtlety, giving an appreciative whistle as he looks around the house.

"Sweeeeet place! And they just up and handed it over, huh? Fuckin' crazy."

He'll promptly make himself comfortable, practically collapsing onto a chair.

"So, like, guess the most important question is how much brass do we need to get this shit started? Figure the town'll want a preeeeetty cut for a good spot downtown, and the cost for gettin' all the right shit."

Head tilt.

"Dunno about other requirements, but I wanna say we need to get a place I can keep a good eye on the entrances of. Kinda beats the point if people can get past me easy."

Re: EARLY ON

[harborborn]

"Sure, no one else wanted it. Apparently 'West Dream Analytics' used to be here, if you heard about that shit-show. Great luck for me, so I'm not complaining."

He sounds extremely proud of this, as though he'd orchestrated everything with Neil West himself somehow just to manage getting this vacant property no one else wanted.

"The current cost is...more than I have, at present, but I'm working on it. I'll estimate I should have enough by the end of September. In the meantime, I figured we could host a few game nights here just to drum up interest and start spreading the word about the possibility so they'll come when we open for real."

He doubts anyone could get past Denji easily.

[chainsawguy]

"So around October, huh."

That's a tight timeline, but if Kaz says so, then sure. He doesn't see a reason to doubt Kaz.

"Will ya need me to play guard on the trial runs?"

[harborborn]

It sounds impossible, but...he's dedicating himself aggressively to this cause. There's still a chance he finds an investor between now and then, too. He could say November, and then if they open sooner, he looks impressive. But no, deadlines are important.

"Maybe mid October, at the latest. It's important to be established before winter. People always spend more in the colder months."

He certainly hopes Denji won't need to be on guard here, but...considering what Marik's said about this place he wouldn't be all that surprised if a fight breaks out over this house. "Not formally, but it's always good to be vigilant in case something happens."

[chainsawguy]

"Alright," Denji nods. "That's about me done for questions then."

Head tilt.

"Uh, got anythin' for me, I guess? Particular shit you want me to get done? Anythin' I should know?

[harborborn]

"You talk to more people than I do," Kaz folds his arms. "I'd like to keep it that way. But...it's important to start building a positive reputation around the island. Start mentioning us to people casually, positively. I want people hearing our name before they ever need us for anything. If someone complains about a problem, remember it, and feel free to tell them there's a group that can help."

He thinks. Is there anything else? The early days are important, but Kaz hasn't pissed off enough people yet to really need Denji's muscle.

"Do you have a house yet? The lots around this one are open, if you wanted to move closer." It's not a requirement. It's just an opportunity he's presenting that Denji can either take or not. Kaz won't be offended (he will).

[chainsawguy]

Talking positively... Yeah, even Denji can do something like that. Just mention that he's part of the Crows whenever he gets wrapped up in something.

Then, Kaz asks his question.

"Could just stay here, couldn't I? Big enough place for both of us."

Denji doesn't actually want a whole house to himself. That sounds awful.

[harborborn]

Oh. That thought hadn't occurred to Kaz. Staying here has been the first time he's ever had a place to himself, and even though he thought he'd want it, if he's being honest with himself he does miss the noise and business of the Slat. More of the gang living here wouldn't be all that bad.

And the vibes aren't all that good (which he'll say out loud never) so it couldn't hurt to have company.

"Sure, yeah, if you're up for it." He won't go so far as to say he'll enjoy it.

[chainsawguy]

Not to worry, Denji's been trained into being an actually pretty decent roommate by one Hayakwa Ak—that thought is not being followed to completion.

"'s why I asked," he says. "So, good as done. I'll bring what shit I've got over soon."

EARLY ON

[thewisestofthewise]

Right on time, Meowth knocks on the door; since his arms are full, he does so with his tail. As promised, he's turned up with gadgets: stacked in his arms are two strange, metal boxes, one chunky, metal controller studded with buttons and levers, and a much smaller box balanced on top of the controller.

Re: EARLY ON

[harborborn]

"Do you have the lockpicks?" Kaz asks, in lieu of hello. He doesn't help Meowth with the boxes, but he does leave the door open as he limps back into the living room so that Meowth can follow behind and drop them somewhere.

[thewisestofthewise]

Meowth does follow, and he nudges the door closed behind him.

"Right here," he says, jostling the stack to draw attention to the smallest box. Inside of it, Kaz will find the lockpicks, as well as other tools that Meowth thought were normatively relevant to lockpicking endeavors, such as screwdrivers and hammers. "I've got more experience making locks than the tools to crack 'em open, so if there's anything you'd want me to add, just let me know. The tech around here also isn't exactly what I'm used to, so I'm still feeling some things out."

[harborborn]

"No, no, this is perfect," Kaz says. It might just be the first true compliment he's issued since getting here. Something about being able to hold lockpicks in his hands again makes the whole world click into focus. He pockets them immediately. He doesn't need the scrwedrivers and hammers now that he has these, but the more tools the better.

"What else did you make? If you brought locks I'd like to try them out, see if you're as good as you say. If they are we can use them for security."

[thewisestofthewise]

"I brought the one lock today, just to see if you like the model," Meowth says. He sets the one box down and holds the other up. Both of the boxes are mostly sheer except for where they absolutely needed to have semi-exposed segmented parts, because Meowth <3s welding. The box he holds out has kind of a weird, ridged top, studded with chunky, unlabeled buttons. "It's this thing. The other one is something more experimental I wanted your input on."

Looking at the lock, it becomes eminently obvious why Meowth assumed more heavy duty tools would be useful in lockpicking: Meowth has not actually given a thought to things like maintenance access in his life. From his perspective, it's better to have to break into his own machines with power tools if he has to spruce them up and then fix them than it is to leave things like a maintenance hatch or screws exposed. The only concessions he's made are those that are absolutely necessary for the thing to function at all.

Taking a page out of James's book, and since the town is much lower tech than he's used to, he's forgone some of his usual sensibilities and essentially made the lock into a heavy duty puzzle box.

"The key is pressing the right combination of buttons in the right sequence," Meowth explains. "And I want to add a mechanism that shocks ya every time ya get it wrong, once I get the go ahead on the design. And maybe build pit traps at the doors that it'll activate if ya get it wrong three times, if the house's architecture will support it."

[harborborn]

Kaz won't lie, it's extremely impressive. Especially considering the craftsman is a cat. He still keeps his face carefully neutral though, inspecting it all as though he were any other employee and not some kind of magical marvel creature. Kaz hasn't seen anything like it before (and yes, maybe 'carefully neutral' still means his face lights up a bit when he starts trying to solve it), it's definitely not like any kind of lock he's seen in Ketterdam.

"The house seems a bit older, so I'm not sure about the logistics of the pit architecture, but the design of this is acceptable."

Kaz is still trying to solve it himself. It's new enough that usual tricks like seeing which buttons have the most wear and figuring out the order from there won't work, because none of the buttons have any wear. He can't use his lockpicks on it, but he's not about to be defeated by it.

"I'll hold onto it for a bit before you add the shocking mechanism. I'm going to crack it." He needs something to keep him engaged, this place can be incredibly dull at times without his business running.

[thewisestofthewise]

Meowth does beam at having his work/hobby appreciated. He knows a puzzle appreciator when he sees one, considering all the time he's spent with James.

"Then I'll get started on making more of them, and I'll add the shocking mechanism to the next model to see how I can best work it in," he says. "How many of them d'ya want? And I assume yer gonna want a safe, too. Any preference on the dimensions of the thing?"

[harborborn]

"One for the front door and the back that everyone who lives in the house can get access to. One for the door to my room; I need to be the only one who has access to that one. One to the equipment room that only you and I will have access to. That's where we'll store everything, there's an unused storage closet here that I thought would suit it. Perhaps one extra, just in case? More for the Crow Club once we get it running and operating, but that won't be for another few months at least. Make sure the locks are all different, if one is figured out we don't want it to be able to open every other door."

As for the safe...

"Sixty by forty five by forty five centimeters. Hidden hinges, no exposed pins. Mechanical first, then whatever ridiculous gadgets you want to add after. Is that manageable?"

[thetombkeeper]

Marik arrives on time, of course. Nyalathotep's old residence — when he was still masquerading as a human. His master. As he walks up the door, the boy pauses as the dark energy of the place surrounds him like a miasma.

Gods, it's intoxicating. Like having the Millennium Rod with him again. He misses it so much... Misses that ancient, evil, gods forsaken magic.

The tomb keeper shudders and does his best to recollect himself, then knocks on the door.

[harborborn]

Marik...be normal about the house, please. You just got here. The vibes are really normal and everyone is feeling them.

"You're late," he says, even though Marik is just on time. He just felt like hazing him for some reason. "Welcome to the house, is it everything you dreamed of? I won't bother giving you a tour. Denji lives here now, too."

[chainsawguy]

[wave from the denji in the background]

[thetombkeeper]

He's never normal about dark magic. It's his thing.

"I'm on time." He interjects. "It's exactly as I told you."

Oh, it's Denji! Marik immediately perks up in body language and waves back. And as soon as he focuses back on Kaz, he switches back to being more business oriented.

"I'm assuming most of the gang members will live here with you?"

[harborborn]

"Sure, by a certain definition of the word," Kaz shrugs. He notices the complete change in demeanor when he notices Denji, however, which...makes him feel a little odd. What's happening there? Does he need to be concerned about that?

No, they're all a team here. He doesn't need to worry about Marik stealing Denji. He's side-eyeing it though just a little bit.

"The house is big enough, so I see no reason not to if they want. Houses next door are empty to. Not about to make anyone, though." Why, does Marik want to move in too so he can be weird about the energy more?

[thetombkeeper]

It's just because they're motorcycle bros, okay? Nothing more. He's had no one to really geek out over his bike with!

But Marik scoffs at Kaz's comment. He was on time. That's what matters.

"Mn. That's rather handy. A pity I never had such luck when I first arrived..." He lets out a dramatic sigh. "Of course... this house wasn't available at the time..."

He's just being dramatic.

[harborborn]

Kaz rolls his eyes.

"Marik, are you asking if you can move into the house? It's available now. You could just ask, if you want to so badly."

Does he think Kaz is going to say 'no' if he asks? It would be funny, he'll give him that. If he's waiting for Kaz to extend the invitation he'll be waiting for awhile-- technically Denji invited himself when Kaz told him the house next door was free.

[thetombkeeper]

"I'm not. I'm very happy in my own home."

Marik rests one hand against his hip. "If I moved in here, it might tip my hat. It's better I remain in a separate home. Besides, it's better this way."

He doesn't need to deal with the people he cares about leaving and can shut out the world if need be.