That was almost a disaster, part I.

Adam Compton] Cut to a scene of an office building. It is old brick amongst the shining glass and metal of sky scrapers and other concrete structures. A little piece of history right here on the street corner of Chicago. Adam stands outside the front entrance a set of keys dangling from a finger on one hand, a cigarette smoldering away in his other. He leans against the entryway, his back pressed tot he brick of the outer wall as he waits for Kage. People are coming and going from the building, though most of them are going. Leaving work behind after a long day and heading home to their families. Or their cats and dogs, and other faithful pets. Adam lifts his head, his gray blue eyes scanning the parking lot where his old model Saab sits with it's tinted windows gleaming in the fading evening sun. He searches the lot for Kage, taking a quick drag of his cigarette before flicking the butt off to one side. He spins the set of keys on the end of his finger idly. Looking cool, up until the keyring spins off the end of his finger and takes flight. Landing on the sidewalk with a clatter that has him looking up sheepishly before he pushes away from the brick to retrieve it. Inside the building a security guard sits behind a particle board desk, his dark gaze lifting from a monitor to the door from time to time. He watches Adam briefly, and then returns to his perusal of the monitors in front of him. Or perhaps his attention is on the crossword puzzle that rests open on his knees. Cars come and go from the parking lot as well. Some come and retrieve people. Some drop people off, and others come and sit idle in the lot. Neither retrieving, nor releasing people into the lot. [Kage R. Jakes] It can be difficult to find parking during the week, but this just happens to be that magic time -- twilight, for the city, when the population is in transit and the air is a net of savory smells. Because it is that time, there actually are empty spaces in the parking lot, and a big black clean and glossy as a mirror held up to the dark pick-up truck pulls into one of them, and the poised-and-swaggery-but-quiet woman gets out. Kage's hair is bright, against winter's early dark, and she is in the same blue shouldn't this movie be in black and white coat she was in previously. It does not take Kage a long time to spot the [charmer.] blond lawyer, all casual against the wall, and when she is close enough to pick out individual features, close enough not to strain her voice, she says, "Ahoy there, Mr. Compton." [Adam Compton] Ahoy there, she calls like a two ships passing in the night. She hails him, and he looks up from his retrieval of the keys as she does so, a slow smile easing over his handsome, and somehow boyish features. "Hey." He straightens, and again spins the set of keys on his fingertip, this time for show, before he claps them safely into his palm before they can take flight again. "I've got the keys for Wellington's office." Thank you Mr. Obvious. Unless he'd chosen to flaunt some random set of keys. "You ready?" He glances toward the door, and the security guard beyond whom he's certain is going to give them a hassle. He's trying to come up with a good story as he reaches for the door handle and pulls. Or, he could just whip out the warrent. But where is the fun in that? [Kage R. Jakes] "Very." Ready. Adam opens the door. Kage precedes him into the lobby. The lobby is 1940s decor. There is a taste in it: ashes on the tongue, pulp and ink -- a taste of another time. The lighting is low, what some might call tasteful in another place, but here rather gives the impression of a murder mystery, which is foolish. This is an office building, with an eclectric group who keep their offices there. The security is tight, though not as tight as it could be. The security guard does stand now that Adam's taken the first move inside. His eyes are bright, his mustache twitches when he breathes. He is keen to do his job, or perhaps just to take a break from doing nothing, and he is also new, so he does not remember Kage. Kage is keeping her silence for now, because let this be Adam's show. Right now. [Adam Compton] Balls. He'd hoped to come up with something before they stepped into the lobby, and he had, but he finds himself reaching beneath the lapel of his suit jacket and tugging the envelope that houses the warrant from the inside pocket. He's smiling before the guard even speaks, and when he does it is in a gruff, professional tone. Can I help you? Adam had been expecting something a little more... menacing? In turn, he lowers his arm, the warrant still in hand, but forgotten for the time being. "You might be able to actually." And Kage can see it, the switch that flicks when he turns on the charm. She can see it because she was with him a moment ago, outside in the chill night. Before he'd turned on the heat. Now, there is something warm and inviting about him. That it factor that makes him who he is. "I'm looking for the offices of Mr. Wellington." He adds briskly. "I know he's passed on, God rest his soul." It is a ploy, and a good one. He's good at reading people. At manipulating them. "I have a letter here that I told his wife I would slip in the mail slot in his office door. It won't take but a second. Could you tell me which floor it's on?" [Kage R. Jakes] The security guard is charmed. They are, usually, when Adam speaks; but security guards don't always trust charm, and although he doesn't necessarily enjoy doing it (or perhaps he enjoys doing it a lot, prolong the time), the guard doesn't immediately answer. His eyebrows lift right up to his hairline, but he says mildly enough, "Wife didn't tell you?" Kage, for her part. Kage gives Adam a sidelong look, covert; nonetheless, he might be able to feel the pressure (point) of her scrutiny. As if he'd revealed himself a piece of a long-forgotten language scrawled on a long-forgotten somebody's long-forgotten toy, and then her mouth twitches, and she says soberly, "I was just saying I wasn't certain I remembered. Is it the seventh?" The guard frowns, says, "You two won't take too long? You're only supposed to go in if you've got an escort." [Adam Compton] Or a warrant. Which he has, but again. Where is the fun in that. Adam levels a winning smile of the security guard, glancing at Kage and then back at the man in the wrinkled uniform. "She forgot to bring the piece of paper the office number was written on." Adam slings a familiar arm across Kage's shoulders and pulls her into a loose and sloppy hug. Over her shoulder her mouths the words Forgetful, but cute! to the guard, and then releases his unwilling pawn before tapping the envelope against his thigh. "No sir. We won't be more than five minutes. Dinner reservations to keep." His easy grin can border on being smug at times, but when he puts thought into it. When he really tries, it goes above and beyond in the earnest charm department. [Adam Compton] Man. 4 + Subterfuge 3 [Kage R. Jakes] Forgetful. But cute. Kage shyly ducks her head and gestures with one hand. The gesture coincidentally (there is no coincidence) should get Adam in the face. Or at least make him need to move his head. Still: from the security guard's perspective, the slender and self-contained magi is rather easy for Adam to wrap up in one arm; no flinch, no surprise. "Oh, darling," she says, cool as water, cold as moonshine: it'll give you a kick. The security guard is mostly watching Adam; he takes attention that way. He's a fire right now, isn't he? Even if he isn't exactly on fire. A performance like that would be a bad day in court, and the security guard begins to straighten his uniform, but arrests himself mid-gesture. He waits a beat, before the touch of dubiousness in his eyes gets shelved, and he says, "Well, I'll do you this favor. Just sign the guestbook. Was too bad," he adds, judiciously, "about Mr. Wellington. He was a kind man." "Thank you," Kage says, and she snags Adam by the arm and drags him to the elevator. [Adam Compton] Adam grins. Grins. At the security guard, and nods his accent as Kage tugs him toward the elevator. "Will do." When he turns away from the blue collar working man, he chuckles under his breath. It is not a cocky, look at me I'm awesome kind of chuckle, but rather a man that was close kind of chuckle. He straightens his tie, his free hand tapping the warrant against this thigh in agitation as they wait for the elevator. Under his breath he mutters. "That was almost a disaster." And he chuckles again as the elevator dings, and the door slides open. He steps inside on Kage's six, moving to the back of the box. She presses the buttons. She's in control, as he pulls his tie free of his suit jacket and makes a show of wiping his brow with it as the elevator doors slide shut. "Fun though." Anything to stir the pot. To get the juices flowing. To pump adrenaline through his veins. [Kage R. Jakes] "I would love to kick your ass right now," she says, fervent. He tap, taptap taps the warrant in his pocket and she touches his hand: be still. The elevator dings! and she'll go in first if he doesn't and press the button that should indicate seven. The number has been worn away. [Adam Compton] The elevator sets in motion, and the smooth flutter of butterfly wings alights in their stomach in that brief moment of what feels like zero gravity. At each floor, the elevator sounds a metallic ding to tell it's riders that they are on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th floor. Adam leans against the back of the car, his arms crossed over his chest as he smiles at the back of Kage's head. "I'd love let you try." He chuckles, then pushes away from the back of the elevator car and comes to stand beside his new companion. "I like to live on the edge. It keeps me young." And is the driving force behind his magick. He looks at her profile with a smile and then turns to peer at their reflection in the polished brass of the elevator door. "Do you know where he keeps the files on his voodoo research?" [Adam Compton] Perc [Adam Compton] Perc 3 + Alert 1 [Kage R. Jakes] Perc 3 + Awareness 2 [Kage R. Jakes] I'd love to let you try. "Mm." A sound that isn't quite a chuckle. A sound that lives in her throat and on her tongue. And then expires. That's all. Kage is watching the old fashioned elevator's hands light up. The buttons are the color of vanilla, or discs of bone. Then the corner of her mouth curves, lines around mouth and eyes appear in stark relief. Adam says what might be his essential manifesto. Kage says, "I don't know where to find the edge, or why one would want to stay young." The last bit of that sentence is said with a quick smile, and she looks at Adam; then her smile disappears and her eyebrows pull together, slightly. "And, no." That was said after a pause. "But I believe I remember Welly's habits well enough to make some educated guesses. He's an organized man. Was." The elevator opens up on 7. Adam will notice two things. One, the elevator just opposite their elevator has JUST dinged closed. He can hear the end of the ding, see. Two, it's a little bit chilly, more like outside all blouzy with winter-coming-fast-and-rain than anything else -- maybe someone's left a window open? [Adam Compton] He shivers, despite his layered suit as the elevator door rolls open, catching the tail end of the opposite elevators ding. "Chilly." He mutters the word as an aside to himself as he steps out of the elevator and glances at the numbered line above the opposite elevators door. Going up? Or going down? He watches to see which round light illuminates, and then turns to Kage with the keys in hand. "Office key is brass. Filing cabinet key is silver." He tosses the keyring to her and takes a step toward the opposite elevator, a dark blond brow raised as he cants his head to one side before looking up, and then down the hall. "Someone must have been working late." [Kage R. Jakes] "We can't be the only ones. Shall I meet you inside?" Kage caught the keys, and although she agreed with Adam's assessment, it was cold in here, she didn't comment. Her breath plumed on the words 'meet you', ghostly. She spoke from the door to Wellington's office, which she was opening. "If only I can remember where the light is." And the darkness swallows her up whole, wolf-to-little-red-riding-hood. The other elevator is going up and light moves [tinkerbell like, do you believe?] from 7 to 8 to 10 to 11. There are 12 floors in the old office building, and there might be a 13th, although if there is, nobody's definitely saying anything and it's just used for storage. [Adam Compton] "Janitor maybe." He murmurs the words to the lights above the elevator door, even as he turns away from it and watches Kage as she's swallowed by the darkness in Wellington's office. He glances at the painted name and title on the glass front door as he moves to follow her inside. His voices raised slightly to carry. "I'm coming." The ding of the elevator doors that they emerged from sounds in the empty hallway, and he pauses to glance over his shoulder toward it. Brow cinched briefly before he reaches out to push the office door open and slip inside after Kage. [Kage R. Jakes] "You're edgy, for a liar," she says. Or maybe she said 'lawyer,' it doesn't really matter. Wellington's room is full of frigid pockets of air, and it is Adam's turn for his breath to be written large in the air. Kage has pulled on one lamp's chain, to no avail; she's pulling on another, but also to no avail. "This could be unfortunate," she says. "I didn't bring a flashlight; did you? Ah hah!" Finally, the light flickers on. It's far brighter than the lobby lighting, and floods the dead man's office. It is not in disarray. It is, in fact, quite deeply in array: as neat as a pin that innumerable angels might dance on. There are lots of bookshelves and lots of books filled with weighty and esoteric tombs, and lots of pictures. Of himself. Wellington's first love, Kage would've attested. Himself with various luminaries, of course, and a host of degrees in a box on the floor. He has a safe, too, and file cabinets that gleam in that faintly weaponlike way cabinets gleam when they're witholding information. There is a rug, and there is a fireplace. And there is a dumbwaiter, because this is an old building, and there are fine hairline cracks in the ceiling, but it's an old building. There are also knick knacks: bones, more esoterica, things from Wellington's travels. The latest in computer technology. He liked himself, a lot, and he was brilliant, and knew it. And it shows in his office, because the personality lingers on, no? [Adam Compton] "Edgy is good." It's good because it gets those essential juices flowing. For an adrenaline junkie like Adam. Edgy is fan-freaking-tastic. Kage searches for a light fixture that works, and when he's about to reply that no, as a matter of fact he didn't bring a flashlight (he brought the warrant!) the lights flicker on. The room is bathed in brightness, and any part of him that was perhaps expecting something uncommon. Something out of the ordinary, is sorely disappointed as he looks around the book lined room. "Hrm. You want to take the computer and I'll take the filing cabinet?" He glances at Kage with a raised brow and a smile. "Me and computers... we have a mutual hate hate relationship." His gray blue gaze trails around the room once more as he moves toward the filing cabinet. Wits + Subterfuge [Kage R. Jakes] Perc + Awareness, redux [Kage R. Jakes] "Edgy makes your feet bleed. I'll take the computer." Agreement. Then Kage sits (.witchess.) in Wellington's large chair. Large chair for a large man. Large, large chair. Large, large man. The computer takes a second to turn on; once it does, there is a password, but Kage remembers her boss's password after a moment's serious thought. The moment went like this: her elbows, on the desk; her fingers, pressed against her temple. There is something supernatural in Kage; there is something eldritch and quick; it beats at her veins and sings. She swallows, and begins to search, in relative quiet. Her concentration is not quite total, and she keeps two fingers pressed against her temple as if she had a headache. "He liked printing carbon copies," she says, after a minute or three pass, when Adam's in the filing cabinet. She'd tossed the keys back at him, too -- tossed low, like a girl, but a girl who knew how to throw things across offices. "He said that it was less likely he could be plagiarized or 'snookered into bamboozlement' if he kept most of his information in hard copy." Now, let's talk about Adam. Adam is sharp, and clever, and he understands how to separate a lie from the truth: why? Maybe because that's the devil's job, and what's a greater thrill than dancing with the devil? He is sharp, and clever, and once he's in Wellington's office he intuits that something about the picture is false. There's something wrong, something off, things have been moved and things have been changed. There is real conviction, too. What's been changed? What's off? The file cabinets have been moved. Recently. The couch -- there's a couch -- has been moved, recently, and so have some of Wellington's books. They've been put back in their normal places, so that they look innocuous. But Adam's getting anything but an innocuous vibe. And cold pockets, of course. [Adam Compton] "Does this place look strange to you?" He casts the question of his shoulder at Kage as he starts a slow turn about the room. Astute eyes flicker from one photo to another. From the couch, to the rug. From one book shelf to another as he stands at one end of the recently moved couch and turns where he stands. "Like... just off? Like things were moved maybe?" He looks pointedly at Kage where she sits behind the computer, a brow raised. "You've been here before right? Does anything look different?" [Kage R. Jakes] Perception + ALERTNESS, BABY. [Kage R. Jakes] (facepalm) [Kage R. Jakes] (and on that note, logging out! to be continued)