11411/Footwork=Homework..Or something like that

Footwork=Homework..Or something like that
Date of Scene:	30 April 2020
Location:	Sunnydale, Avalon
Synopsis:	Buffy and Dean wrangle Information out of a shady tattoo artist.
Cast of Characters:	Buffy Summers, Dean Winchester, Thomas Raith

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Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy Summers had returned to the 'scene of the crime' so to speak. It's where she first ran into Dean, being chased by an angry mob of Ghouls. Surely they must have overlooked something, even if the bodies had already been removed, or eaten or...who knows what, she'd rather not think about the details.

    Anyways, she's out here, searching the alleyway they'd backed into, and the street that carried on for about half a block where the actual fight took place. It's just about sunset and it will soon be dark.

    Naturally she had contacted Dean to help her out. Just cuz.

Dean Winchester has posed:
Dean's here, with his best detective hat on. He's really got a hat on, too. Okay, okay, it's a baseball cap, fine, but...but....

It's a hat really!

See. See. Dean's on his hands and knees going ovrer the bit of the alley they fought in. Dean being smart, he's gone all CSI and brought gloves and his phone to record anything.

"Hey Buffy?" Dean calls ovr. "You know, something's been bugging me about those ghouls. Why would they team up with Armastus anyway, what's in it for them?" he asks, pulling himself up to his feet and leaning on the wall. "Just doesn't add up really why they'd team up with him, ya know?" Dean asks.

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy Summers hmms, "Not sure, I mean..I don't have a lot of experience with Ghouls really. I'll have to touch base with Harry and Thomas, maybe one of them can tell me more about these creatures." she shrugs, frowning as she peers into a trashcan, slightly dented from where she threw one of the ghouls into the wall.

"I imagine they were offered money or protection or who knows, power perhaps?" Buffy sighs as she peers around, shaking ehr head. "Not really finding anything useful, just a lot of garbage, old clothing, a piece of a car bumper, cigarette butts..."

She narrows her eyes, peering intently at something on the ground and picks it up. Looks like a business card of some sort/ "Hello, what's this?"

Dean Winchester has posed:
Dean looks over. "It's a business card, Buffy. It's this thing from the 2000s when you had bits of card with your name and number and things on it." he says. Stating the insanely obvious, Winchester.

"Question is, are they business ghouls? I don't really se e a ghoul in a suit and tie, working an office job, going into an office at eight and getting home to their ghoul kids at nine at night, and drawing a salary..." Dean muses, "Got a name on that?" he adds, "If so we could look it up and follow it?" he adds.

Great. Angel gives Dean a partnership with AI, and he's going all Nancy Drew. Just with way better dress sense, more guns, and a sweet, sweet car. And the wrong gender, too. Dean looks over the alley again, and smiles. "Okay, you got a business card. Hey what's that over there?" he asks, a little bit of shirt with a label. "It's a dry cleaner's? Or is that just some hobo's shirt?"

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy Summers smiles, "It's a clue. Check it out!" she hands it over to him. It's a business card, sure, but more specifically, it's a business card to a tattoo parlour. "Hey, remember how they all had the same tattoos as the vamps in Carpe Noctem? Wanna bet that they all got it done at this place? Well..It's a possibility anyway."

She nods and smiles, "Hey, they're not far from here, maybe two blocks max? We can walk there, hopefully they're still open..Let's see. Equinox Tattoo Parlour. We do tattoos, no matter how weird.."

She peers at the piece of shirt, shrugging, "Dunno, could be something one of them was wearing, but..Could be a hobo's shirt too. not sure if it can help us.."

Dean Winchester has posed:
"If they aren't openn..." Dean mutters. Yeah sure, just break in. That's the unspoken bit of Dean's sentence. "Oh look at Nancy Drew over here" Dean grins. "Sure let's check it out. We can handle any and all nasties that come our way" Dean grins, the firearm under his jacket proving that. "Or wee take Baby there. Tell you what. Got your tonfas?" Dean asks.

Oh he's spoiling for a fight it seems. "If so, good. I got my knives, my gun and my fists. Anything that wants to pick a fight with us, gonna regret it" Dean nods confidently and grins.

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy Summers peers at Dean, afraid of what he's thinking. "If they're not open, we come back tomorrow.." her tone is a bit stern, yeah, she's not gonna devolve into Faith-like ways again. Been there, done that. Wasn't pretty.

"Heh, I always carry my tonfa." she pats her thighs where they're strapped and hidden under her jacket, all nicely collapsed and easily carried around. "Y'know, these were a Christmas present from Thomas? I mean, best gift ever." And no wonder she uses them all the time, as she obviously has a fondness for them for more than one reason.

"Hey, no need to be lazy, we can walk two blocks, right? If we run into trouble, that's fine, we can handle them..C'mon, let's go!" and she starts to head down the block..

Dean Winchester has posed:
Dean strolls along with Buffy and has his hands in his pockets. There'ss a reason. e's got his hands ready to pull out knives if needed, but he walks quite happily.

"See, that tattoo place looks promising, but...but I'm still not sold on it" Dean mutters. "So what's up with ghouls and vampires suddenly wanting ink, It's....well, it's odd" Dean admits shaking his head.

"I mean. Name me one vampire who likes getting tatoos?" he asks

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy Summers smiles as they approach the tattoo parlor. "Hmm, they seem to be open, 'cmon.." she pauses, glancing around warily. You never know when someone's about to jump you. But looks like there's nothing to wrory about..Yet.

She smiles and shrugs, "Heh, dunno I guess it's a way to identify who's who, I mean, it's probably part of an initiation thing, once you swear allegiance to the group, it's proof of your loyalty, and a way to track who is a real member and who's trying to sneak in.

And with that she steps in. It's a nice little place, kinda goth looking with an old leather couch in the waiting room, a dark mahogany desk at the front an rows of seats in the back room, along with some angry goth music playing softly, lots of posters depicting crazy metal groups and vampires and other creatures of the night. Oh yeah, this person is a definite goth lover.

The lady at the desk has long black hair, numerous piercings and is all dressed in black. She frowns a bit. "Can I help you?"

Dean Winchester has posed:
Dean pulls out a badge. "We're with the city's health board. We need to ask you some questions ma'am" he says and looks to Buffy. "You got the number of the girl who called it in?" he asks. Go Con Dean, go. Oh he's not quite as bad as Constantine. Or as drunk, but...Dean's so, so used to this. He sighs. "We need to inspect your premises, so could you step outside for an hour or so?" he asks the lady and glances again to Buffy. Ah the power of cons...

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy Summers blinks sloooooowly at Dean as he pulls out that badge and just..Grimaces a bit. But doesn't blow his cover. "Um. Right. What he said. Specifically, we got a complaint from one of your clients. Can you tell me which of your artists drew this tattoo on a number of clients?"

She pulls out a piece of crumpled paper with an ink drawing of a half black heart, an intricately drawn eye in the center of it with numerous spirals where the iris would be, and a few tear drops falling from the eye.

The receptionist, who doesnt seem very friendly but doesnt want to get in trouble, sighs a bit. "One moment please.." she flips through a book, pausing on a particular name. "Right, that would be Rosalie Simmons, I'll let you know she's here, she's just finishing up with a client.." the parlour's not very busy right now, in fact it's pretty quiet.

"Please take a seat, it wont be long."

Dean Winchester has posed:
Dean shrugs and sits, watching Buffy and the lady at the dessk for a few moments. "Alright" hee says with a shrug, "Alright, so, this artist, this Rosalie woman, what's she done beside the whole freaky tattoos?" Dean adds with a smile.

Buffy Summers has posed:
The cranky receptionist just glared at Dean as she types on her computer. "She does promotional art.." she mutters and nods to the poster above her head. It's a promotional poster for some weird metal band, depicting demonic looking bat creatures and fireballs and crazy half dressed band members with long hair.

Buffy just smirks, raising a slight brow at Dean, "Looks like she's into all that creepy stuff..Think she's our gal?" the receptionist continues to frown at everyone in general and continues to furiously type type..

Dean Winchester has posed:
Dean glances to the poster then to Buffy. Shaking his head, Dean sighs. "Yeah, I think that's our gal and seeing what we got, I'm pretty sure she's one of those don't ask question types? Though hey, I can call Sammy and get him to look stuff up? I mean, we're here. Least the rest of our crew can do is to be useful" Dean offers sarcastically...yeah like the rest of AI is doing what, sitting around drinking tea and playing backgammon or something?

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy Summers nods, "Sure, though I hope we do t catch too much attention here, that receptionist seems suspicious.." she sighs, tapping her foot impatiently and picks up a magazine, flipping through it, "I just don't get why people would willingly blemish their skin with graffiti, just..."

Rosalie walks up to them some 15 minutes later, a tall, gangly girl whose way too skinny and bordering on anorexic. She has short red hair, black lip stick on pale pasty skin and tons of tattoos on all that bare skin, which is a lot. She's only wearing a bright red bra top that shines through a black transparent mesh top leaving her midriff bare, and ridiculously short black cutoffs, a red heels. "Yeah, I'm Rosalie, what do you want?"

Dean Winchester has posed:
"Not some skank wearing just enough to be legal" Dean whispers to Buffy, "Look, we want to ask you questions. How much will it cost?" Dean adds. Yeah, he just tried to imply she's an, ahem, working woman who turns tricks for money. Ouch, Dean. Good first impression. Then again, Dean has got a hair trigger mouth and....

Looking to Rosalie, Dean then nods to Bufy, she's got the picture, she's the more knowledgeable of the two. Dean's just here to help Buffy out. Mostly.

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy Summers rolls her eyes at Dean, shaking her head, no need to get them in trouble here. She smiles at the goth woman, "Hi, I'm Buffy and this is Dean, we'd just like to ask you a few questions regarding some of your clients.." Buffy pulls out a piece of paper with the half heart surrounding an eye design, "Look familiar?"

Rosalie scowls, snatching the sheet of paper, peering at it intently then back at the pair, eyes narrowed, "You got a badge or something?"

Dean Winchester has posed:
Actually....Dean does. Plenty of 'em. He picks out the same one he used before, and nods. "Here's my badge." Dean offers. Sure, his opinion of Rosalie hasn't changed. But she's at least going into this asssuming they are frauds. Points for being cynical. Points lost for how she's presenting herself. Okay then.

Dean though nods to Buffy then Rosalie.

Buffy Summers has posed:
Rosalie grabs the badge and peers at it intently. Evidently it looks authentic enough because she seems to accept it, nodding and handing it back with a sigh. "Sure, whatever. Follow me." she cocks a finger for them to follow her into the office in the back of the parlour, glancing around warily as if she's afraid someone may be listening. There's another patron sitting in the waiting room, quietly reading a magazine and he peers at the woman briefly, eyes narrowed before looking back at his magazine.

Buffy pauses, glancing at Dean, "Best be careful, the walls may have ears.." she whispers as she passes by..

Dean Winchester has posed:
Dean nods to Buffy and pockets the badge again. hey, if the walls got ears, Dean can clog them up. Or however that goes...or something.

Watching Buffy and Rosalie, Dean looks to the Slayer and motions for her to lead on. If anyone neeeds protecting or putting down? Dean can jump in. Buffy's the less mouthy one of the duo. Which, all things considered? Is good

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy Summers follows Rosalie to the back office, a dark, goth looking room that's a little spooky with all the creepy horror movie posters, displays of her grim artwork, even a little goth shrine in one firmer of her desk with a skull, fake bats, black candles and other creepy hinges. "So, what's this all about? Was there a health problem with one of my clients?"

Dean Winchester has posed:
Dean's got no words. None. Nada. Nope. Just....nah. Besides what the hell is this office?

Valid question, really. Dean's just...well, a little worried and skeptical and oh yeah, he's not okay with alll this

Buffy Summers has posed:
"Well..?" she frowns as she stares between them impatiently. "What are you trying to accuse me of, Health Inspector?" she smirks and reaches for her phone. Buffy shoots Dean a look, rolling her eyes slightly, looks like she's gonna do all the talking here, much to her annoyance.

"Okaay, we need a list of all your clients who were given that exact tattoo, over the past month or two, we suspect a certain type of dye used in the red part of the heart may have caused negative allergic reactions.."

The woman sighs, glowering some more. "Well, that's a long stretch but.." she pulls out a sheet of paper from the desk and hands it to them, almost as if it was already prepared. "Here you go.." she smiles sweetly. If Dean is watching carefully, he may notice how her other hand slides under the desk, pressing something hidden there, button perhaps?

Dean Winchester has posed:
Dean's noticing and not happy with it. He's wondering what she's pressed, alarm maybe? Silent alarm?

Great. They need to get out of there. On the other hand, fighting vampires or, or, whatever else comes in through a narrow doorway and funneling it all into a doorway...

"It's a stretch? Look, lady. We're from the health board. People are getting sick from that tattoo"

Yes. That too is a stretch but...but....Dean's trying. Dean's actually trying to make it all make sense.

Buffy Summers has posed:
"I'm sure they are." she smiles sweetly. "That's why I gave you the list. Have fun with that. There's the door, don't let it hit you on the way out. If that's all then, have a wonderful night." her voice is suddenly sugary sweet, looking pleased with herself, "Oh and do take the back exit, the front door is locked now."

Buffy grabs the list and smirk, "Well, aren't you a piece of work. Seeya!" she replies brightly, pocketing the list. Of course it's likely they're gonna get jumped on the way out. He k she's counting on it as she heads for the back. "You ready, Dean?" she pauses at the door, checking her weapons.

Dean Winchester has posed:
"I'm ready" Dean nods, "Let's get out there and see what we're up against. I mean, I'm all for kicking butt tonight. She seemed too nice, y'know?" he asks and pulls his knives out of his pocket and shakes his head. "I'm ready to fist fight my way through vampires. Let's go" he offers, gearing up to, yeah, try to kick the door in.

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy Summers frowns, "Nice? You thought she was nice?" she just chuckles and shakes her head, pulling out her tonfa, "Right let's do this.." and once Dean kicks open the door there is....Nothing!? Buffy draws in a deep breath, looking around. "Seriously?" with a sigh she steps further into the alley but doesn't lower her weapon. "Be on your guard.." the door slams shut behind them, and locks, and it's only then that some six thugs pop out of the woodwork, four vamps, two ghouls. They dont talk, they just slither out of the shadows surrounding them, two vamps and a ghoul turn on each hero, rushing at them.

Dean Winchester has posed:
Dean's pulling off Jackie Chan move. Just the one since, hey, he's got his once a fight flashy move in and goes back to bar brawling with two bowie knives in hand. Which is mostly headbutts, stabs, and staying out of Buffy's way because no thanks, tonfas hurts!

Dean's not one to be messed with and he looks to Buffy for a momet and ducks. "We got this" he calls over. Go figure, Dean's a hunter not to be trifled with, nah. See. He's dangerously lethal and there's quite a few dead ...things that understimated Dean and Buffy.

Put them shoulder to shoulder fighting together, take away the taunting and they actually make a very scary team.

Se. Dean's not about to open his mouth. Buffy's earning his respect and...oh god, admiration. It's not like he has a crush on her. He just sees her as an equal or little sister type. Oh, snap. That's bad for demons, vampires, and anything else that takes a swipe at Buffy where Dean's within stabbing or shooting range.

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy Summers smiles, "Of course! I'll grab these three, you can have the rest, but this time we gotta keep one alive if we're gonna get the info we need." at least she knows how to deal with ghouls this time..And-she rushes at one of the nearest ghouls, hacking and slashing at it viciously with her silver tipped tonfa, while swatting the less powerful vamps out if her way. best to pour most of her energy into the big ugly one first.

As forDean, his three monsters are already rushing at him, one trying to slam him into a wall, another attempting to punch him repeatedly in the face.

Dean Winchester has posed:
Dean ducks, and leaps back up again and lunges with his knives. Fine, see, see. Dean is used to this with his no nonsense way of fighting. He's not got time to check on Buffy though. Instead, well, the Slayer's got tonfas. Dean's got knives and, huh, fists and such. Still though, she wants to kick tail, and, oh yeah, yeahDean does too. Dean lunges and ducks again with a yell. Something something, your mother, ghouls and vamps!

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy Summers whirls around, instantly stabbing a vampire here, kicking back another as the ghoul grabs her and hurls her against a brick wall. "Oof!" she runs the back of her neck, climbing shakily to her feet. "Geez, this is getting old.." she rushes at the vamp, grabbing and throwing him at the ghoul who shrieks and staggers back.

She glances briefly at Dean, wondering how he's doing. He managed to dust one vamp too, though the remaining two charge at him from opposite directions in a pincer attack.

Dean Winchester has posed:
Dean just spreads his arms, watching the vamps. "Nice try" he growls and lunges toward Buffy. Protect the woman with, y'know, tonfas and...yeah, that. Dean's got knives. Dean's smart, and just a little nuts. Go figure. Go figure...

Dean groans and is so, so over these vampires and ghouls. Go figure. Still though...he's wanting to sort this out and get to the bottom of this. Who likes to send ghouls and vampires after both of them, anyway. Just who wants them both dead that badly...

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy Summers smirks, "Watch your own back, Dean.." she shrugs off the vamp easily, rushing at him and the ghoul and stabs them bits from behind. The vamp explodes, but the ghoul just snarls in annoyance, rushing at Buffy and Dean with a furious flurry of punches. Buffy rolls to the side, "Duck!" she calls to Dean as the other ghoul charges from the opposite side. As she darts to the side, Buffy shoots a bolt at one of the ghouls' legs, causing it to stumble and crash into the first. Hopefully Dean isn't now an sandwich.

Dean Winchester has posed:
Dean ducks and rolls, and....yep, he's ducking and weavingnow and slashing with knives, well then...good job, Dean?

Good job. Sort of. Yeah he needs to figure this one out, doesn't he? Well he and Buffy. Well, fine, get through this, and what, regroup?

Yes, regroup and go over everything.

Buffy Summers has posed:
The two ghouls clash and struggle to disentangle themselves as Dean hacks at them and Buffy shoots more bolts into them. They shriek in pain but are not dead until she hits then in the head, then draws nearer to slice their heads off with the silver blades tip. Black ichor flies everywhere but she doesn't stop, hacking and slashing them to bits before they can regroup and heal.

"There's one more vamp, grab him before he runs but don't kill him!" she calls out between slashes.

Dean Winchester has posed:
Dean just....launches himself at the vampire. Fine, tackle the fanged guy and, oh yeah. Don't. Don't kill him. Nope nope nope. Make him talk. That's what they need, a confession or something, right? Or at the least, absolutely get the vamp talking.

Either way he's doing what Buffy's telling hiim. Sheesh, who leashed the Winchester boy anyway. Or maybe. Just maybe, Dean's just thinking big picture, get info, get info.

Thomas Raith has posed:
Just then two more vamps round the corner fangs gleaming in the artifical street light....and then they both explode into piles of ash. One from having his head cut off the other from a shot gun blast right to the skull. Thomas sighs as he comes into view, smirking. I let you out of my sight for one second. " He says teasingly.

Dean Winchester has posed:
Dean's....yeah, Dean's being Dean, tackling the vampire and making sure he's alive....undead....whatever he happens to be. Great. Dean's doing what he's told. Go figure. See, they do make a good team, really.

See. Dean's just doing what Buffy tells him. Yikes. So much for the freee wheeling Winchesteer, but he's thinking big picture. Do what's best for all of them.

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy Summers has just finished pummeling the two ghouls to death, breathing lightly now after the extra elbow grease that went into it, when she hears the sound of two vamps behind her exploding. She smirks, "Well, aren't you fashionably late?" Thomas is given a wry smile and winks, "Welcome to the party. We just got a lead on Armastus' minions." she flowers at the captured vamp, and grabs a couple of stakes, stabbing him on each shoulder, pinning him to the wooden fence behind him. "Alright, speak. I *know* you're one of Armastus' men. Where did he take the next group of teens? They're not taking him to the tunnel, and not that Brendan cemetary either. So what's the deal?"

The vamp just laughs and spits in her face. "Slayer.." he snarls, "I'll never talk!"

Thomas Raith has posed:
Thomas Raith sighs a little bit, "Why do they /always/ say things like that?" he asks and leans down, seizes the vampires left hand and cuts off his pinkie finger with his kukri. "Now you have twenty reasons left to talk to this lady. Ten of them are toes. Do the math. :

Buffy Summers has posed:
The vampire shrieks in pain as his pinky finger is sliced off, spraying blood everywhere. "Aaaargh! ok, okay! I'll tell you, but he's gonna kill me!" still, it doesn't look like he'll live either way. Buffy narrows her eyes, pressing the stake close to his heart, "I'll make it quick and painless at least.."

The vamp swallows, eyes widened, peering back at his fallen allies, "Ok ok! He's meeting them Friday night at 10 in kingman's bluff!" he nods towards the temple on a hill a few blocks south from here. "That's all I can say!"

Thomas Raith has posed:
Thomas Raith considers for a long moment before holding the kukri to the man's ring finger and asks casually "I don't think that's all he can say. Buffy does that seem like all he can say to you?

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy Summers frowns, not really a big fan of torture. She pauses a moment to glance at the business card she had pulled off the ghoul from before and nods, "Its okay, his story checks out. Let's just put him out of his misery.." and with that she pulls out her stake from his shoulder and stabs him quickly in the heart, turning him to dust, ignoring the shrieks with a slight sigh. "I've heard enough. Let's go." she turns and walks out of the alley, wiping the dust and blood off her hands as best as she can. "Ugh, gonna need another shower.."

Thomas Raith has posed:
Thomas Raith sighs a little bit and places his Kukri away, a playful smile crossing his lips. "Well I happen to know where there is a great shower. Not bad food... And someone to wash your back if you were so inclined.

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy Summers smiles, leaning over to pick up her duffle bag (which was totally there since the beginning) and nods, waiting for him to join her. "Oh yeah? Sounds like a nice place, wonder where I can find those things?" she winks.

Thomas Raith has posed:
Thomas Raith smiled, obviously amused. "Play your cards right and you might even get dinner out of the deal." he considers and adds, not feeling too fancy tonight, how does taco salad sound?"

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy Summers grins, "Well I was kinda hoping to eat in tonight, but I love a good cook...Unless you wanted me to try my hand in your nice clean kitchen..?" she's got that playful smile, and how terrible a cook she is, Thomas might not want her to set his kitchen on fire, "But after all that fighting and footwork, I could do with a little R and R. I need to thank Dean later, I guess he's more helpful than I thought."

Thomas Raith has posed:
Thomas Raith would sooner let Harry program his computer then turn Hurricane Buffy loose in his kitchen. Not that he would tell her that! He smirks slightly, "Dinner, shower, and a nice massage after? Get those muscles loosened up?

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy Summers smiles, although a bit disappointed he won't let her cook. Cmon she's not that bad is she? Still Buffy mock pouts as she grasps his hand, tugging him out if the alley, "Awwe, one of these days I'll cook a really good meal for you, but until then, how can I possibly say no to being pampered like that?" she rolls her shoulders and nods, "Yeaah, a massage sounds really nice right about now.."