RP:Three of Clubs

Part of the The Dust Up In Cenril Arc

Summary: Hudson, Eleanor, and Leoxander meet up to discuss a little business.

The Office

Eleanor was high as a kite. The night spent with Leo, the aftermath of everything going on recent ... the rogue was on cloud-bucking-nine. Despite her mood, she was sober, smelled of the ocean, and looked in need of a proper shower. That being said, she made her way from the beach with the wolf, her cloak sand-scattered even as she pulled it over her, securing it before pulling the hood low over that messy black bun. They didn't have time to renew the illusion spell to mask the dark-dyed locks, and provided there were no hiccups en route back to the cabaret, it would just have to do. Stealing glances toward Leo, she informed him at one point that they needed to try and meet up with Hudson at The Office, and quickly guided him back there. As the night before, she entered through the rear door and slipped quietly into the manager's office, where those magic displays could keep an eye on all exits in the hopes that Hudson would find his way there soon. This meeting was long overdue, after all. Sitting on the edge of the desk, she turned to Leoxander to ask him how he felt about meeting her 'mukker'.

Leoxander, for once, hadn't felt himself homesick by the lull of the tide. Sand was shaken from his jacket that was carried with him for the walk to the office. Sure, they had a destination in Frostmaw but the Silver Queen knew the pirate's untamed schedule. Hudson's name was something heard, but he had yet to meet Eleanor's partner in business, but he wasn't exactly dreading it. Anyone she could vouch for he trusted would be on the same level. Once they arrived, he slung his leather jacket over the back of a chair and did a little hunting through her office for some morning coffee, which was more technically some afternoon liquor if he could find a source. Casually, his inked shoulder exposed from his filthy wifebeater style shirt lifted in a shrug, which was about as friendly as he could get. "It's overdue. He should know about Rynvale, at least." But Leo wasn't quite comfortable or secure enough to sit down. Not yet.

Hudson is also sleep deprived although not for exciting stay-up-all-night-get-lucky reasons. One of his children had woken up in the middle of the night and then started to wail which had of course woken up the other child, who had then started to wail too... So, sleep training is going really well. He has, however, managed to shower - though shaving, nope, the #dadbeard lives - leaving Alvina to deal with their children/hell demons for a scant but apparently unbearable 10 minutes, and then the nanny had arrived and they'd been relieved and parted ways and he'd made his way to The Office to do work, namely itemize the inventory they needed to make the next batch of product. He stops in the kitchen to hassle the staff for a milkshake and is still drinking it out of a straw when he enters the manager's room. "Oh," he says, with surprise, hadn't really expected to find Eleanor and shaggy man friend Leo encamped there. "Sup," he elbows Eleanor, moving alongside her to pick through the stack of mail on the desk. Nothing from Valrae or the girls at the nail salon, everything else can wait. "Never have children," he provides some unsolicited advice, then drinks some of the milkshake with a long slurp, tossing a glance Leoxander's way. "Introduce us?"

Eleanor nodded to Leo, letting her celadon gaze linger a moment before, with impeccable timing, Hudson stumbled into The Office's office, a smirk finding the rogue's lips. "Swatch whit th' moggie dragged in." It was then that Hudson looked expectantly toward Leo, and her smirk grew. "Leo, thes is Hudson. Hudson, Leo." Again, she found herself studying Leoxander, before flashing a grin at her partner. "When Ah tauld ye Ah was plannin' tae gang tae Rynvale ... ? Weel ..." The rogue drifted off, shifting her attention back to Leo as she pushed herself up onto the desk proper, crossing one leg over the other. "Ah wooldnae e'en hae considered it if nae fur heem." El would let Leo expand further upon that, gaze leveled at him even as she reached out to steal the milkshake from Huds for a quick, noisy slurp.

Leoxander stood away from the door and away from the desk to give Hudson space and a clear path to his partner. Beside, he was looking for something less than 'mini' in the small cold box tucked in the corner, breaking the lid from a bottle for a drink. Even before the bearded male arrived in the doorway, it was more than likely the pirate caught the scent of another lycanthrope in the building, maybe even a hint of that new baby smell, showered or not. What he also saw upon a first glance over the young father was the sleep deprivation evident in his eyes. Something struck a chord in his mind as distinctly as a pluck of a wire lute string but whatever the sound or the thought, it faded too quickly to be recognizable. Scruffed jaw lifted to acknowledge Hudson for the introduction, but he was a fairly quiet individual, opting to listen and let the two speak until it was necessary for him to join in. He might finally find a seat on the edge of a table or surface in his usual slouch, seeming to prefer that perch over the comfort of a chair.

Hudson's gaze floats upward, marking Leoxander's as they're introduced. A fellow wolf, but not one he knows, not one of Desparrow's victims. "Sup Leo," he says, putting his milkshake down to grab the other man's hand for a quick shake. It's then that his milkshake is purloined. He grunts, whether out of begrudging acceptance for women stealing food from him - a theme in his life of late - or understanding of the connection between Leoxander's presence and the makings of their foothold in Rynvale. "We value your assistance, welcome to the business then," his gaze moves from Eleanor to Leo, noting that the guy seems to have uncovered the stash of room service size liquor bottles they keep in here. "That's for emergencies, but today seems like one so you can have it," he jokes, sitting in the chair to face them since both Eleanor and Leo are taking up the table space. "'Emergencies' is defined pretty loosely to mean anytime someone feels like having a drink." He looks at his jeans, there's some baby spit up that he hadn't noticed, and he tries to scrape it off with his nail, shaking his head when he can't. Back to looking at Eleanor and her man friend here. He addresses them in a dry tone: "I take it you brought him here to meet about work and not just introduce us like two dogs at a dog park....... pun intended. What's shaking?"

Eleanor eventually relinquished the milkshake, setting it on the table in order to face Hudson. "Och aye. Ah brooght heem haur tae see th' tois ay ye duke it at." The rogue snickered then, before switching gears. "Actually, Ah wanted ye tae meit coz Ah hink he'll ... be quite an assit tae th' team." Crossing her arms over her chest, she shifted her gaze between either lycan, at last settling on Hudson. "Ah brooght heem haur lest nicht tae see a wee ay whit we're abit," she added, leaving out the part where she and Leo had talked about more than just The Office. "Ah hink we shoods make heem a partner."

Leoxander complied for the handshake, callused grip of his right hand grasping the others while his bandaged left hand held his bottle. Hudson might come to learn really quick that the pirate didn't tend to follow rules, but he would nurse what was already stolen from their stash to make it last and not disrespect her partner's authority in the matter. A slight chuff of an exhale, like a sarcastic breath of a laugh, leaves his nose at the male's remark about dogs in a park. As irritating as it could be, he was starting to get used to it... being referred to as 'dog'. A consequence that came with not being alpha, anymore. That same hand lifted when Eleanor spoke, and finally he chimed in. His accent wasn't near as thick as Eleanor's, but he had that seafarer brogue. "Jus'... a thought. You should prolly know I've got a slight... itch when it comes to yer product. Sealin' it well enough fixes that. But I plan on gettin' across the water to check out my old digs, savy? Can't tell you what it's like there since I... since I left." 'Died', was the rumor, but he didn't get into that. "But I plan to make profit, one way 'r another."

Hudson reaches for his milkshake and with a grunt finds that it's empty and Eleanor has finished it. Classic woman. Like Alvina and any leftovers, the topic governing many of their arguments. Sometimes you are really looking forward to eating something! In this case, he can literally just ask the kitchen to make him another milkshake though so the damage to his hopes and dreams was minimal. It had been a pretty good milkshake, for a strip club? Not that he has a mental catalog of strip club milkshakes to do a proper comparison. Anyway. "Go on," he says about Leo being an asset to the team. As she talks, he rummages around the desk for their financial statements, he'd put that posh private schooling to good use and drawn them up for their reference. He finds what he's looking for under a catalog for sports apparel. Of course. He puts it on the desk for everyone to see. They're making money hand over fist in Cenril and have recently paid for the nail salon in Larket. There's another large capital expenditure noted as 'Larket lab.' He scratches his incipient beard. A little bit of red on the cash flow statement, fine, it's just usually they're rolling in it. But the idea is spend the money now, reap the benefits later. Like any business, you gotta invest in it. "Well any partnership decision you guys need Emelyan to agree too," he points out, his finger hovering over the Cenril bottom line in net sales. "Like how much more compared to Cenril do you think your business in Rynvale will get us?" he asks Leo.

Eleanor dropped her gaze away from either wolf to survey the paperwork Huds produced, scanning it briefly before leveling a gaze with her partner. Before speaking about the problem-child known as Emelyan, she sent her glass-green eyes over to where Leo was, studying his features briefly before saying, "'at soonds mair loch yer markit, but ..." El looked at Hudson again before continuing, "We'll ken mair efter checkin' it it suin." A beat, and the rogue added, "Ah hae foo confidence Leo can brin' in th' numbers."

Leo was a little boggled. He'd run a 'business' a time or two. A pub and parlor, some underground merchandising, and a far more shady side that had no morals at all. But Leo had never been the books and records sort of manager. Perhaps that's why it had all crumbled in the end, but he had a good run. Never before had Leo really felt like he was in some interview for a job, because he had never needed to be. His stare at Hudson is fairly blank for a moment, before he washes it away and swallows another drink from the bottle pilfered from their cold box. "Emelyan...?" Why did that name sound familiar? He couldn't put a face to it, but it kind of made the aftertaste in his mouth a little sour. "Look, mate, I don't have the answers, yet. It's gonna take a trip over to figure that sh** out. But I at least got a ship to take us an' lady luck willin'... somethin' of my warehouse over there still stands. I ain't gonna flake out on this. I need my bloody wealth back." He gave a glance toward Eleanor. "An' I got another 'appointment' to go to. Whether you two wanna come or not."

Hudson pencils in two new columns: LARKET and RYNVALE. He looks between Eleanor and Leoxander, as they're both talking. He's thinking. He writes half the number from Cenril under both of the new cities and totals everything. It's a huge number. He circles it, twice. He rubs his face, glances between Eleanor and Leoxander again. "If you're for real, if we even get halfway there, look where we're at," he remarks, his gaze lingering on Eleanor to wait on her reaction. Their small little business is growing up! And becoming a monster. "Ship is good. Looks like simple math to me. If Leo can make the numbers go up, my vote's a yes," says Huds, dropping the pencil. He's thinking about Emelyan, if they're adding more markets then they need to produce more product. And Emelyan's been getting chased around by one of his personal problems. No doubt Eleanor is having the same thought. He looks at her again. "Man this is a lot of product," he muses out loud. "When we get it up and running, I'm thinking I have some of the witches in Larket do some of the stuff that an alchemist doesn't need to do, just to speed up production. Anyway." He refocuses the conversation back on the partnership discussion. He addresses Leo: "Mate, we gotta get Emelyan to sign off but get it going and I'm sure he will. Numbers are good." His gaze flicks between the pair. "Where you guys going?"

Eleanor slid her lithe form off the table, lifting a chin as she cast a knowing stare in Hudson's direction. She would have words with Emelyan, and knew that if Huds was on her side with this, the other would have a fight on his hands if he wanted to oppose them. After all, they did most of the work while Em hightailed it all over the damn map, fleeing from personal demons. Maybe they didn't even need to tell him? It was an idea, one she put a pin in, for now. "Ye dae whit ye can tae increase production," she said firmly to Hudson, "we'll dae whit we can tae move th' product." Tearing celadon twins from one wolf to the other, her lips twitched in a vague smile as she addressed Leo. "We'll gie it," she said to him in a lower tone. Then, to Huds she looked again. "Business in Frostmaw."

Leoxander didn't mention anything about his own ship. That was not a reality, but a fantasy, for now. But some of the tension in his shoulders relaxed as Hudson seemed to come to some conclusion. Strange, he never really needed anyone's approval before, but he was glad for this one. "Jus' be careful with those witches, mate..." Leo said this as he stood, finished off his bottle, and set it down on a surface for someone else to clean it up. He went to the chair he had draped his leather jacket over and shrugged into it an arm at a time, not nearly warm enough for Frostmaw, but he wouldn't have too much problem with his running temperature. During this time, he heard the last of Hudson's words, and met the green gaze of his new partner. "Yer serious about gettin' somethin' done about it, you got someone to handle the job, now." Subtle words for a vicious contract. Those words were far more binding to him than a handshake. A nod agreed with Eleanor's answer to the last of the fellow wolf's questions, and he had a slight squint to his eyes. If this was a new father, he probably could use the romp into dangerous territory. "You wanna take a walk with? Meetin' Royalty, herself."

Hudson sucks in a breath, meeting Eleanor's gaze. "Yeeeep," he agrees with the logical course of action. Production needs to go faster. He'll get the witches involved. Most unlikely drug cartel ever or best drug cartel ever, unclear. He swings a look at Leoxander when the other guy warns him off witches. "Yeaaah," answers Huds in a knowing tone, trying not to reminisce about a certain witch in particular. Surely Leo just means that witches are powerful beings, little does he know that Hudson apparently has this social skill that's +10 to dealing with witches. "Let's get it going then, I got kids I need to send to private schools one day," he jokes. At the invitation to join them, he rises from his seat. "Sure. You guys meeting with Hildegarde or Josleen?" he asks, slotting the financial statement back in a drawer of the desk. This particular drawer also happens to contain porn, and as Hudson had selected it at random he's now reminded of his unfortunate fact. It's not even his porn. It's definitely not his porn. It has literally been there since their acquisition of this joint, and it's weird stuff too. Dwarves. Just so Leoxander doesn't get the wrong idea about Hudson, Huds feels compelled to point out the porn to Eleanor, who obviously knows about its existence. "Never forget," he says, shutting the drawer. "It's been there since we bought the place, nobody wants to touch it," he explains, waving everyone to the door. "How are we traveling? Carriage? I just need to get back before dinner or I'm in trouble."

Eleanor couldn't help but snicker at Leo's warning of witches, sending a pointed glance in Hudson's direction. Oh, if only Leo knew. Her amusement of the irony overshadowed any thoughts she had over the porn-drawer, instead letting the conversation switch to their plans to make it to Frostmaw. Since it was Leo's appointment after all, she deferred to him as she stood nearby, controlling her desire to reach out to touch his hand, keeping her own hands curled around her own hips. The night before was still fresh in her mind, the change between them. But this was neither the time nor the place. "Carriage is probably th' best way," given the distance, but nevertheless, the look she gave Leo implied she'd defer to his judgment.

Leo murmured, mostly to himself. "Kids..." He was about to add... he would never have kids. But something just didn't feel right about that statement, so he decided not to say anything more on the matter at all. It was fairly inspiring that Hudson was a new father still in the business, not that he would admit that, either. "Hilde'..." He was so bold to shorten the Silver Queen's name as though they were old chums. Mostly because didn't actually know Josleen as 'Josleen'. Unaware of the porn stash (at least as of yet), he makes his way toward the door to lead the way outside. "What kind of a wolf can't run? Live a little, brother." That was his remark in the hallway, though they probably still had that carriage available. Still, it wouldn't be wise to arrive to the Queen's territory in their getaway travel. But he'd deal with the irony as it came.

Hudson shoots Leoxander a knowing glance, his shoulder rising in a shrug. It's mostly kids, but also... if you stay out real late one too many nights and then get caught in bed with a hot witch when you said you were on a golf trip with your buddies, well, coming home late becomes a Thing. A Thing that you try not to do because it dredges up all sorts of old drama. (Also, if Hudson is a little honest with himself, he really likes coming home and seeing his girls before they go to bed. They recognize him now and make little noises and are really cute when they're not hemorrhaging piss.) "Easy," he tells Leoxander for the ribbing about not wanting to do it wolf-style. "I'm a baby, and my daddy didn't love me so I grew up bad. Don't have control of myself when I'm in wolf form, still working on it." The carriage is indeed waiting, and they all pile in, presumably with Hudson sitting across from the newly minted couple or non couple or sometimes making out on beaches buddies, whatever. They make small talk on the way over, for his part Hudson provides a few stereotypical anecdotes about being a new father (it's horrible, but then you love them so much, it's demented!), including telling everyone about the size of his daughters' poops, mostly because it amazes him how such delicate, tiny girls can produce such, frankly, impressive and sizable poops. Surely Eleanor and Leoxander also have anecdotes of their own to share, but in any event they arrive in Frostmaw after some time and unload from the carriage, making their way toward the meeting spot.