Lower Tadfield Safehouse

"Well, great!" Kirby said, smiling brightly. "Maybe we can go to London for a night or two at some point? I gear it's got good places to party away the night. I'm from the States originally, you see, just taking an extended holiday here. It's a nice place as such, but awfully quiet at times."

Actually, for most of the time she'd been here that was a lie.

"But the place does have a pretty good bar." She grinned at him in a way that made the statement an invitiation, if he chose to take it as one.

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"Sounds like a plan," Loki agreed happily. "What part of the states? I travel a lot, but mostly stay in the northern states."

"Ah yes, I remember the bar. Is my old friend Belial still running it?"

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"I don't think so," Kirby said. "Unless your old friend Belial goes by Joe Dawson in his free time. He's a good one, though, quite the wizard behind the bar. Plays a great Blues, too."

She cocked her head at him. "California, preferably, though I've been travelling a lot. I love beaches, you know."

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Rose's fine hearing meant that she had heard the bell from the third floor but getting down the stairs without looking like an unruly cub took her a moment. In the lobby Mrs. Mitchell was talking to a man she didn't know.

She stepped towards those two and smiled.

"Hello, sir? Did you ring the bell?"

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"Ah no, though he did perform feats of magic as well," Loki said wondering whether this Joe could conjure up fresh carrot juice as well. "And here I see another new face. Hello, young lady, I'm LowKey Lyesmith. I don't suppose my old room's still available?"

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"Well, good day, Mr. Lyesmith. My name is Rose Heerkens, I take some shifts at the reception desk and clean the rooms here."

She smiled at the new guest, then at the woman.

"Ms. Mitchell."

Wouldn't do to ignore guests. She then turned back to the man.

"Do you remember which room you had during your last stay or should I check in the books?"

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"It was 109," Loki told her hoping to finish this quickly before Kirby got impatient and went off without him.

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Rose thought she knew that the room was free but went to check in the books nonetheless. It was always possible that Ms. Hodges checked someone in during her shift or that she'd gotten the rooms confused in her head or something.

Turned out she was right, so she smiled at the man.

"Well, you're lucky, Mr. Lyesmith, room 109 is free. Please fill in the form and sign it, then I'll hand you the key. We also have a special door sign now. One side is the usual 'do not disturb', the other's for when you wish your room cleaned."

She handed the man a form and a pen and waited.

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Loki accepted the pen and paper. Strange, he didn't remember the form from his last stay.

"Do you mind if I take this with me and hand it in later?" he asked with a charming smile. "I promised to let Kirby show me the bar."

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Rose looked from Mr. Lyesmith to Ms. Mitchell and then back at the man.

"Well, you get the key once I have the form. So if you want to get the key later, you can hand the form in later..."

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"Sure," Loki said. "I won't need it in the bar anyway. I'll bring itin an hour or two." He could write down a few creative lies while he was flirting, no problem at all. He even usedto be able to do it while drinking, but ofcourse that was out of the question now.

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"Cool," Kirby said. "Leet's get going then."

She gestured towards the bar.

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Loki still remembered the way of course, and the bar itself hadn't changed much either. He almost expected Belial to come out of the backroom when he settled on a barstool, but of course Kirby had said that he was no longer here.

He glanced over to where he'd fought the stranger who'dclaimed to be him, but didn't notice any traces of the fight remaining. Hopefully the other him had left as well.

"Still as comfortable as I remember it," he told Kirby gesturing invitingly at the stool beside him. "Have you been here long?"

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josephdawson.livejournal.com

It was Joe who came out of the back room, to smile and Kirby first, then the new guest.

"Hello," he said. "What may I serve you?"

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"Some weeks," Kirby said vaguely. "It's been a busy few weeks, though. One thing's to say about this place - it never once gets boring here."

She turned to Joe, who had just come over to the bar. "I'll have cold milk," she ordered. Far too early to get any semblance of drunk.

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"Hey," Loki exclaimed with a smile when he saw Joe. "I do remember you! I showed you and your friend to your rooms when you arrived."

"Do you still serve fresh carrot juice?"

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josephdawson.livejournal.com

Joe smiled back at him. "You carried by luggage upstairs," he remembered. "Took you for the hotel boy. But you weren't around later. Give me a second, I'll be right back."

He went back out again, to rummage in his crates for the desired drink, which he returned to the counter.

Producing two glasses from the cabinet and a bottle of milk from the fridge, he proceeded to pour for both his guests.

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"Just being helpful," Loki said with a shrug. "And curious. I like to meet new people."

Milk would have been an alternative, if they didn't have carrot juice, he thought, but after a first cautious taste he decided that he still liked the juice better. It wasn't as good as the one Belial had produced by magic, but of course Joe was only human.

He laid the form out in front of him and took a first glance at it. Should he admit to his true age?

"Oh, what did I miss?" he asked Kirby.

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"Miss?" Kirby asked. "What do you mean? Since you left? Hm, let me see. Some new people arrived, and it seems you didn't know the girl at the desk yet? She got here before I did in any case. And then there's this guy these other guys who sometimes grow wings grovel before, but he doesn't want them to, and most of the guys with wings flew off anyway. And the girl at the reception desk can turn into a wolf, and we had the funnest game of truth or dare while back, Duncan McLeod plays basketball somewhat decently and I tend to meet here with a few of the other guys for drink and cards in the evening. And there's been two guys snooping around a lot lately, no idea what rock those crawled out from under."

She paused to take a breath

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"Well, I didn't know you yet, either," Loki said. "Unfortunately. But we'll correct that oversight now."

Guys with wings?

"You mean the Judeo-Christian gods? Which ones are still here?" And what had become of the cats, if Gabriel had left?

Another shape-changer sounded promising. Maybe he should have paid more attention to the girl after all. Wolf was one of his favourite shapes.

"Who's Duncan McLeod? And can I join the card parties? I love card games, especially when the company is this pretty."

He'd have to find out who the snooping people were, but saved that question for later.

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"Yes," Kirby said. "We should correct it very quickly."

She gave the man a dazzling smile. "No idea who's a Judeo-Christian god here. Don't they only have one? So how can there be several? Duncan McLeod's a guy who can give you one hell of a workout with a sword or unarmed. Card games are open to everyone, usually in the evenings, right over tehre at that table." She pointed. "We sure wouldn't mind another player."

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Well, he already knew that Belial was gone.

"Gabriel, the librarian? Crowley and" he frowned with distaste. "Aziraphale?"

"Count me in then." A steady income, if he played it carefully enough.

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josephdawson.livejournal.com

"Great," Joe commented to that. "More contributors to my pension fund!"

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"You sound very confident," Loki remarked with a grin. "Had a lot of luck lately?"

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