RP:Closing The Loop

Part of the The Dust Up In Cenril Arc

Part of the Hour of Wolves Arc

Summary: Hudson and Meri meet at The Office to talk about that one time they went with Lionel to a club in Frostmaw to look into red dirt and got jumped by thugs and then she vanished. Hudson had always assumed Meri had teleported herself out of danger, but he learns that she had been snatched by the bad guys, who might have mind controlled her. She surprises him by telling him that she's trying to figure out what happened with Valrae. Hudson then shares that he's working on some real estate projects as well as supporting his friend, Fitz Johnson, in his run for mayor, and asks Meri to dig up dirt regarding his opponent, a man by the name of Sterling Townsend who has recently moved to Cenril from Rynvale and taken up politics.

The Office (cabaret dancing establishment and home base of distribution operations), Cenril

Since that one time that they went to the club with Lionel, Hudson's long been operating under the assumption that Meri had escaped like a bat out of hell. After all, she'd hung out with his wife since and then been groomside at his wedding. They hadn't talked about that one night at the club but there hasn't been a chance to, what with Hudson's attempting to help his friend run for mayor, build condos seaside, and also get married. To say the very least, he and Meri are overdue for a meeting, and this one takes place after his honeymoon with Alvina, daytime at the Office, when it's closed for actual business. He's in the office inside the Office, drinking a protein shake, sporting a tan, but in his usual sweats. Tuna is literally snoring on the couch, leaving only the folding chairs. A girl would've let Meri in.

It was true, Meri and Hudson were long overdue for a meeting. Hudson had his reasons, sure, he was busy and a lot of planning and plotting was underfoot -- though Meri was really only familiar with plans for a wedding. Meri had her own reasons too, but the biggest one was that she was just not looking forward to having a business chat with Hudson and thus she wanted to put it off for as long as she could. Hudson being busy worked out juuuuust fine for her. Still, it had to happen sooner or later and what better time than shortly after coming back from a honeymoon? I mean perfect world this is a happy time for Hudson? He married his redhead, no one died at his wedding, he probably got laid on his honeymoon. He should be in a good mood? Which makes it an opportune time to talk about things that may have taken place following the Lionel-Club-Fiasco. And so Meri would be shown in and Hudson would have been greeted with her usual smile and a casual, "Hey, Huds."

At the interruption, Hudson grunts into the bamboo straw of his protein shake. He looks Meri up and down to confirm that she is, indeed, herself, whereupon he puts the drink on his desk, gets to his feet, and claps her into a quick hug, the kind that men generally give other men. "Sup," he exhales. He sits right back down after that. "Drink?" he asks her, gesturing at his. It's green. "We have alcohol around here somewhere, obviously." He gestures in the direction of the bar/main floor. If she wants something, he'll shout it out to Crystal before getting down to brass tacks, straw back in his mouth, "Sooo I think we are due to catch up. Where do we start? Have you recovered from having to do that dance? I don't think Alvina's recovered. She was into it, though, for sure." A little casual catching up before they get to the big stuff.

Meri is accepting of this hug, more so of some of the other greetings or goodbyes that Hudson has given her. She is good with the bro-hug, it does not seem to invoke any bristling on her end. The dance is of course brought it and mention of it is met with a smirk and a good-natured roll of her eyes. "I don't think I will ever recover from it," she murmurs as she crosses the room, finding a seat not on the couch itself but on the arm of the couch. "Naw, no drink. But what the heck, Huds? That crap is green. What are you drinking?" It's healthy Meri. There is probably plant life in it. In a protein shake? Is that what they are made of? Plants? Meri did not know. While waiting for Hudson to confirm or deny her suspicions, Meri is going to reach into the back pocket of her pants (before she is settled on the arm of the couch) to pull out her cigarette tin only to go usual routine of lighting it up. She does not ask, she has smoked in this space a few times. "I'm sure Alvina hasn't recovered, but she had a good time, everyone could see that much. You guys settling into married life nicely?"

Hudson is both surprised and impressed by Meri's choice of seating. Tuna registers her proximity by snorting loudly in what is close to, but not quite, a sneeze, and then resumes snoring. And yet, Meri is more focused on his drink, somehow. Hudson ceases drinking, holds it at arm's length to consider it. "It's a kale and peanut butter protein shake," he tells her. "Surprisingly tasty." She doesn't seem the most convinced. He watches Meri help herself to a smoke and says nothing. It's a dancing club, of course people smoke in here. There's a magical air filter that he'd rigged long ago to clean up the air (and prevent himself returning home reeking of strip club). Her question inspires a shrug. "Yeah, it's great but no real change. We already live together and have kids so..." He flexes his left hand, looks at his wedding ring. Ordinary, thick platinum band - the silver in white gold makes it a no-go. "But. Sometimes it's nice to make things official," in his case, especially if you've a history of not doing so. He wags his eyebrows and drinks noisily from his straw, leaves it at that. It inserts a pause, which he breaks a beat later: "I have other stuff I want to discuss but I have to say I'm dying to know how you escaped that place in Frostmaw, can you teleport or what? Because damn, woman, we should talk about that."

Kale and peanut butter. Gross. Well Hudson says it is good and he usually has pretty decent taste. I mean he did marry Alvina, for example. Regardless it is met with a wrinkle of her nose. "Yeah. It is probably the peanut butter that makes it good." Talk of married life is met with a smile but Meri does not really understand, woman has never really made it to the 'let's move in together' stage of a relationship and she is perfectly fine with that. No further commentary on that from Meri, she is good with the confirmation that things are good. Hudson of course goes straight for the mark and has to talk about the one thing that Meri does not want to talk about. Meri fidgets and shifts about where she sits, perfectly comfortable with the fact Tuna is next to her for she is convinced she has befriended the tiger (hah), and takes a long drag from her cigarette before answering. Her eyes may be searching for that baseball bat Hudson likes, was it in the room? If yes, was it in reach? Meri's words are measured carefully when she speaks, "I mean no, like I sure he hell wish I could do that because really." She could get into so much trouble. "Not one of the party tricks I can do." Which means that..."I don't really remember. Some guys grabbed me. A lot of it is kind of...I don't recall a lot of the details. I was in Larket for a time, according to Cal and Valrae. And then Frostmaw." In what order she was there or who else she was interacting with is a haze. "Valrae and I are working on whatever it was..."

Hudson drinks from his nods in agreement that the peanut butter is the MVP of his protein shake situation. For sure. For his part, he is casual as ever, and is rooting through the desk drawer for a pencil that doesn't have a broken tip. Who keeps putting these broken pencils back in the desk? This person is his nemesis. (It is him.) Meri's reply thus comes as a surprise, and pulls his attention back to her. He lifts his brow. "Woah woah woah. They snatched you," he comes in, widening his eyes at her. "Holy S woman, you could have said something," he adds, draining the last of his protein shake with a loud slurrrrrp. He's paying attention now. He's not having any sort of wolfish inclinations at present because they're still the bad guys, and the mention of Valrae is as good as a trump card as a person can play. "I guess there was never a time to mention it," he bug eyes, slightly. "I .. you know Valrae? The witch? Lives in Larket, uh, blond, pretty..." The words dry up in his throat, they feel too strange to say, to describe his ex-sidepiece like she's someone they just both happen to know, that's it. He remembers Lionel's dry remark that it was rare for names to repeat themselves twice in the realm, but even so... Had he and Meri gone over this before? He doesn't remember. He's been so distracted. He waves a hand through the air to signal that it's of no importance. His life is crashing into itself, though, because Meri's friends with Alvina too and doesn't know she's straddling a very big fault line. Oy... Well the lesser evil here is saying nothing, because to say anything would be to further humiliate Alvina. Bad enough that he cheated, she doesn't need everyone they know to be aware of it. "Right," he scratches his face. "So they messed with your memory. Well, Val's as good as it gets for that stuff." He remembers that Valrae's name is somewhat infamous in Cenril because of her being in jail for altering a guard's memory... to cover up a murder he did. "You're still working on it?"

A bulk of what Hudson says goes unaddressed because Meri would rather skirt around the details. In earnest she actually does have a very hazy recollection of events only slightly filled in by those she knows that they encountered and from what she has heard it is not good! Meri did a dumb thing, but that dumb thing is in the past. Where it will stay. "She provided like a quick fix before..." Well the protest, which Meri does presume Hudson knows about but it is not like she is going to just go out and say it. "Anyway, I have not really seen her since." And rp still technically a WIP. Come back to us Valbae! "Anyway. Yes. Of course I know her." She who shall not be named in front of Alvina. "You had me meet you at the nail salon in Larket once." Told Meri how to get Valrae's addressed as they plotted a trip to DA CLUB. But much has transpired since then, Hudson has had a lot going on. Hopefully Meri won't say anything rash to Alvina right? Naw, she probably would not. All of this is dismissed with a casual. "Don't worry about it. It will be as good as taken care of." She comments to the fix Valrae will hopefully be providing. "So, onward. Did you guys find anything of note? What else is on the agenda to chat about?" Because clearly Meri does not want to linger on the subject of that problem of hers, which is typical, but in this case she feels like she did a particularly dumb thing, you know? Gut feeling, as a hazy memory is usually no good. Hudson's turn to talk, Meri puffs away at her hand-rolled smoke.

"Oh yeah, jeez, wow," says Hudson, in reference to his own sloppy memory. "Clearly I got married and forgot everything I did leading up to that point," he jokes in a dry tone, widening his eyes slightly to underscore the message. He considers his empty drink, exhales slowly. "Well I'm glad you're OK, let me know what you guys learn..." his gaze moves to meet hers. "We took those guys out, dunno if you were there for all of that, then we went through their pockets and found a little cat talisman that sort of reminds me of a little charm we found on T-slice," that's Tuna, "when we picked her up." He rubs his face again. "Yeah I'm not sure I ever told you but we rescued her from the Larket mob while we were at war with those guys soooo... I'm pretty sure they're involved. I'm technically 'at peace' with them but it's complicated I'd say. I'm working on a confirm for their involvement." Meaning he needs to figure out who their alchemist is and from there follow the guy to their leader, whose identity as of yet eludes him, Hudson's only ever met with lieutenants. "Anyway," he waves all of this off. "If they snatched you best to keep you out of that. So .. this is unrelated but this old buddy of mine, Fitz Johnson, is running for mayor of Cenril and I'm thinking it would be useful to have my buddy be mayor. Could get a pardon for our mutual friend Valrae, among many other things. So I'm helping him out a bit." To say the least! The entire campaign is funded by him! He waits to see if Meri's following before continuing, "He's running on a blue collar platform, which, good, I think that's strong, but his main opposition is coming from this guy... Sterling Townsend. Who," he lifts his index finger, to signal that this is where Meri comes in, "is originally from Rynvale but only recently moved to Cenril. I was wondering if you might ask around in Rynvale about the circumstances of his move... Just got a funny feeling about it." Maybe because it takes one to know one: hadn't Hudson and Alvina moved to Cenril, leaving Larket and Valrae behind them? Of course, it's more complicated than that, but, things always are.

"I mean from what Cal has told me, as he was one of the ones I ran into. He says I was acting real weird and that it looked like I was making some deal with some people." Which is about as detailed of an answer as Callum gave her. Hudson could do with that information what he will, speculate as he pleases. Meri has provided as many dots as she has for Hudson to connect. "But no, these are not things you have ever formally told me. And if they were meddling with me in some way? Yeah, I mean, maybe I should stay away from that nonsense. At least until Valrae figures this out...and I am sure she would appreciate a pardon. I mean, she has talked to me a couple of times about wanting to come out to Rynvale for some ink work. Hard to get to Rynvale without going through Cenril." A pause, one long enough for Meri to take another draw from her cigarette. "So last time I was asked to nose around for some info, Eleanor sent me in half-armed." As in not fully informed. "It felt like I was chasing a damn ghost and when I came back and said I found nothing and asked if she had more insights on this hunt she put me on so I could fish a bit more efficiently...and while I am sure she knew more. Of course this is different. You are not asking me to chase after a ship long missing. This man is recent and in the flesh. But I still got to ask, is there anything special about this guy I ought to know before I start asking around? Or are you doing this on a hunch?" Another pause, another drag, this one the final one and Meri snuffs the remains out between thumb and index finger. "Suffice to say I'll ask around in Rynvale, covering my bases."

"What the heck," says Hudson, a little disturbed by the suggestion that Meri had just blackout gone off the reservation. She seems earnest and disturbed by what happened. So he doesn't think she'd change allegiances and work with the red dirt people, plus there's Valrae rooting around in her mind, that's a comfort. This is all very strange, though, not being in control of oneself is serious... He widens his eyes to think of it. "Yeah, well I'm gonna make that happen if Fitz gets elected," he says, somewhat distractedly, about Valrae's pardon. He rubs his face, still thinking about Meri's mystery adventure. Those guys are really working hard to conceal themselves, is what he concludes, because they're mixed up in something nasty. Meri pulls him out of his line of thought, and he puffs out his cheeks in an exhale as he says, off the cuff, "He's a rich dude who suddenly moved with his family from Rynvale to Cenril, even though they always lived in Rynvale." He purses his lips, counts off one finger for that observation before adding a second, "He's a good looking dude, I never see his wife at events or mentioned in the paper. Kinda weird." He shrugs. "I dunno, maybe I'm just a pessimist but I bet there was some kind of scandal and they moved to get away from it."

That is about as much as Meri really wants to say regarding her adventure, which is also to say that is about as much as she really knows. I mean, there might be a few more oddball details about how she probably even got into this mess but Meri did a dumb thing, okay? True though, it was not technically the 'Larket' people she had agreed to work with they just happened to have what the bad guy needed. So here we are. Think about Valrae, Hudson. Her perfect hair. Yes. Okay. No. Don't. Bad Hudson. Think about Alvina, you're pretty children. Speaking of wives, "I mean you -have- seen her, right?" Meri wrinkles up at the thought. Hudson's mind may be spinning over Meri's adventure, or was, Meri's is going over the number of plausible shady reason that Sterling Townsend has relocated from Rynvale to Cenril. Dead wife was rating high on that list right about now. It may not be the most reasonable of suggested but that is her knee-jerk thought based on what she has been told thus far. "Well I will ask around and see what I can find." Red lips are pressed together for a brief moment, her mind drifting from what skeleton's Sterling was hiding in his closet to her plan of attack, but a few harmless questions regarding a up and coming politician in his hometown should be a breeze. "Right-o. I'll see what I can find on this Sterling guy. And politics. Got anything else cooking up behind the scenes?"

Hudson lifts an eyebrow at Meri's question, catching the implication. "Oh yeah, she's real," he says, about Sterling's wife. He appears to hesitate, privately he's mulling over whether it's cool or not cool to describe her as significantly less attractive than Sterling. You don't have to be a gay dude to see it. Hudson doesn't have to worry about aging, because turning wolf keeps that at bay, but during his pre-wolf life, he'd always hoped that he'd keep all his hair and go grey slowly just like Sterling, that guy's hair game is ace. Women love the salt and pepper look. Anyway, Hudson's got a different idea of scandal than Meri does. He says so: "I am thinking more there was another woman. Maybe ask in like, woman venues. I don't know, nail salons. I think that's the only woman venue I know of and it's because I own one." He shrugs, gives Meri something between a grimace and a smile. He's trying to truly exit narcotics but he keeps that to himself, that information is valuable and for revealing at the right time. "I'm working on some real estate stuff by the water," he tells her. "That and the politics stuff is taking up a lot of time. I hired a guy to cook so... that's freed me up a lot so now I just scheme about putting in a casino or something. I dunno, you got any fresh ideas?"

"Oh," she says, sounding slightly disappointed. Ah well. Another scandal, probably an affair, this also makes since for a good-looking man with a wife who is not so good looking. "Hm. Yes this is probably more reasonable." The woman snaps her fingers only to promptly roll her shoulders in a shrug. "Me? Ideas for something legitimate? I mean a casino would be fun. I would probably enjoy hanging out there over a strip club any day of the week. Though you know...psions and gambling, I think I might have an edge on certain games. I don't know though...If you go with a casino then...I think it might be fun for me to pick up a part time job. Maybe I can run a table for you on occasion, eh?" Meri cracks a grin at this notion but then shrugs, because who knows how serious of a venture that was for Hudson. "The Kraken out in Rynvale has a few gaming pits, nothing serious, but it's a good time." Meri is pushing up and out of the arm of the couch at this point, as if sensing this business chat was probably going to be seeing it's close soon. "As for fresh ideas...Nothing fancy. The usual." Trying to work with Lita. Scheming to scheme with Cal, when they weren't being awkward. "Sterling Townsend. Maybe an affair. Wonder if he didn't marry this kind of homely looking chick for money or something. Maybe he's broke. Maybe he's got a gambling problem. You know...maybe we can pay a few people to say a few things if I don't manage to find any dirt on this dude." A casual grin. "Just a thought."

Hudson hadn't gotten so far as to think about the psion edge, but at the idea he cocks his head and considers Meri like she's just cracked the riddle underlying the universe. "Yeah," he says, the word injected with both surprise and pleasure at the suggestion. He mirrors her grin. "The Kraken," he repeats, snorting faintly, because of course a place in Rynvale is called The Kraken. "I'll check it out, gotta scope out the competition after all," he tells her, likewise rising from his seat to see her out. She has the idea of what they're looking to find, all right. He slides her a cool smile. "I'm not above planting a story if we need to," he says, holding out a fist an invitation for her to give him a bump goodbye. "Anyway, thanks for coming in. Let me know how this stuff pans out. With Val, too. See ya, Meri."