You\'re Making Me Dizzy

[Black Philip]

Jake was horrified. Quin had just sprayed the countertop with coffee that had been in his mouth. Lucky for Quin, none of it had gotten on Jake or his clothes. Such a thing could have made an enemy. Quin might not have seen the stares and looks, but Jake certainly did. He turned and counted pairs of eyes, all focussed on him and Quin. One onlooker in particular seemed offended by Quin\'s display. He was a stout man, balding in the back, with thick muscles all over his short body. Jake thought he looked very much like a ballon animal that needed to be popped. He had tattoos on his arms and neck, and small, dark eyes that looked like coals. Jake instantly disliked him.

This was the man who Quin had spoken too. The man, who in Jake\'s opnion had no business in a coffee shop (then again who was he to talk) got off of his own stool and walked dangerously close to Quin.

"Yeah I got a problem," the brute uttered in a nasty dialect. "That shit was gross. Apologize and clean it up."

Jake decided now was not the time to intervene. He looked to see what Quin would do, being challenged so.

[Trillian]

Quin didn\'t see any danger in the brute\'s threat, for he was still in high spirits.

"I accept your apology," he said magnanimously, for hadn\'t the other agreed that he did have a problem and was now apologising for it?  "Do you carry around hankies?" he asked, surprised that the fellow was offering to clean the mess up, but he had just apologised after all.

It really didn\'t matter how stocky or muscular a human being was, no matter how happy or fiery Quin was, there would be no way he\'d be intimidated by one.  He was an Imp, a supernatural being, and one of Dark magic to boot.

[Black Philip]

Jake bowed his head. This was NOT going well. Jake wasn\'t afraid for Quin, oh no. Jake was terrified for the loud mouthed human. The dog was fuming as Quin suggested he clean up the mess. The veins in his thick, fat neck were about to burst. His face was a dark red, almost maroon.

"Are you some kind of smart ass?" the angry human barked. "Dumb Fag."

What would happen next was anybody\'s guess.

[Trillian]

The \'dumb fag\' comment was enough to turn the entire coffee shop against him.  Quin had been readying his magic once he\'d gleaned the hostile nature of the moron who\'d challenged him, but could see it no longer mattered so let his Blindness spell melt away while other customers pelted the offensive grunt with whatever they had on hand; empty polystyrene cups (and some half-full ones), half-eaten scones or crumpled napkins, cutlery and - in the case of one fellow - a cell phone, which hit the bully smartly on the head.

"Ow! What the fuck?" he asked, covering his face and peering around his arms and hands every now and then to see what was going on.  He received a round of boos and hisses for his trouble and finally left the coffee shop, getting cheers and applause once he was out the door.  People went back to their coffee and Quin grinned at Jake.

"Just goes to show you can\'t say \'fag\' in this city," he said, then raised his cup in toast to every single person within the shop, though they were no longer paying him attention.

[Black Philip]

Jake\'s presence ability was activated by use of the word \'fag.\'

What an ugly, offensive word, Jake thought.

Suddenly, Jake\'s aura filled the room and helped to edge on the already upset patrons. There natural distaste for such a word was only strengthened by angry vampire energy leaking around the shop. Insults turned into acts of violence as people hurled there cups at the offish brute. Jake refrained from making comment, for if he did he feared his fangs might show, and that was something that the people of The Painted Bean didn\'t need to see. When the man was finally gone, Jake clapped loudly to show his appreciation.

Jake returned Quin\'s toast with a fist pump, and nodded his head in agreement.

"You know some humans shouldn\'t be allowed to breed," Jake said in high spirits.

[Trillian]

"You sound like Lazarus," Quin pointed out with a laugh, for the blonde Ancient - when in Luminary position - had made many a caustic remark about the idiocy of the human race.  Mind, he\'d also made many a caustic remark about the idiocy of other vampires.

Quin had forgotten that Jake had been made Oligarch after Lazarus had been turfed out.  He hadn\'t been Oligarch at the time either, simply stepping into the role while another Oligarch for Fae was being placed.  He\'d quite liked the fact Kerr had offered the position to him - he\'d been acting as one for a number of months anyway.

"I\'ve heard rumour he\'s back, you know," he said, for the rumour had circulated around the same time as Brianna\'s firing last night.  Now that had been an interesting piece of gossip today, when Quin had started work.  It certainly wasn\'t a slow town.

[Black Philip]

Jake\'s hair almost stood on end. Lazarus was back! Years ago Jake had succeeded in monumentally pissing off the oldest vampire he\'d ever met, except for his Sire Sophie, who\'d been as old as dirt. If not for Kerr, Jake most likely would have killed or at the very least raped and beaten. Lazarus had a reputation for such things. In the end, Jake had not only escaped Lazarus\'s wrath, but he\'d ended up as an Oligarch, and all because he helped save the city from invasion.

"I didn\'t know he\'d come back," Jake said. "I feel like as vampire oligarch someone should have told me."

Vomas. Jake wondered if Vomas knew. Did Kerr know? Jake\'s mind began to rase as he sat there. Why couldn\'t someone have tipped him off, that the city\'s most dangerous villain had come back? Quin was now not the only person who was a bit dizzy.

[Trillian]

"I have a suspicion we\'ll get notified tonight," Quin declared, his finger moving upward to tap the side of his nose, except he missed each time and eventually had to give up.  He turned his head and spied his coffee.  "Oooh, coffee," he said, re-discovering that he had one, and wrapped his hands around it to glean its warmth.  The coffee was halfway drunk, now.  "I only found out earlier today, while you were sleeping... or recharging... or whatever it is your kind do in the daylight."

[Black Philip]

Well that was a load off. If Quin had only found out today then Jake would probably find out tonight when he checked his email. Quin had proved to be a good companion tonight. He looked at the coffee guzzling imp with fondness.

"Thanks for telling me Quin," Jake said. "Oh by the way, we sleep. We\'re not The Borg."

Jake wondered if imps knew about Startrek.

[Trillian]

Imps who were interested in science fiction would likely know everything there was to know about Star Trek and the assimilating Borg, but Quin wasn\'t one of them.

"Borg?" he asked, not recognising the word.  "Are they Fae?"

He\'d looked at the booklet of species that he represented as Oligarch for Fae, and after going through the list three pages long, and not understanding what most of them even were, he\'d put it by the wayside.  Borg could\'ve been one of them.

"I bet they\'re some kind of tree fairy.  Those tree fairies call themselves all sorts of weird names," he said, nodding at Jake, wanting him to agree about the peculiarity of tree fairy names.

[Black Philip]

At first, Jake planned to explain to Quin what the Borg were. His natural tendency to correct people, and otherwise always be right, came to the front of his lips. But as he looked at the chipper Quin, he decided the explanation not worth the effort. After all, in Quin\'s current state, he thought himself fortunate that Quin was talking at all.

"Yeah, that\'s it," Jake lied badly. He turned his stool to not directly face Quin.

Jake looked around. It was getting late, and the sun would be up in just a few short hours. Jake looked to Quin and decided he\'d better move this along.

"Shouldn\'t we be going Quin?" Jake suggested.

[Black Philip]

At first, Jake planned to explain to Quin what the Borg were. His natural tendency to correct people, and otherwise always be right, came to the front of his lips. But as he looked at the chipper Quin, he decided the explanation not worth the effort. After all, in Quin\'s current state, he thought himself fortunate that Quin was talking at all.

"Yeah, that\'s it," Jake lied badly. He turned his stool to not directly face Quin.

Jake looked around. It was getting late, and the sun would be up in just a few short hours. Jake looked to Quin and decided he\'d better move this along.

"Shouldn\'t we be going Quin?" Jake suggested.

[Trillian]

Quin was still sipping from his giant pot of coffee, pleased that he\'d correctly identified one of the species he was Oligarch over.  There were too many to get a handle on while sober, so hitting the right mark when drunk pleased him no end.

He turned to give Jake a long, hard stare, trying to figure out the reason behind the rush.  Even though it should\'ve been obvious, seeing as Jake was a night creature and the night was drawing to a close, Quin couldn\'t make the connection in his inebriated state.

"Going?" he repeated, "Are we late?"

Was there a meeting he didn\'t know about?

[Black Philip]

Jake latched onto the train of thought, and decided to go with it.

"Yes Quinn, we\'re very late. Kerr want\'s to see us at the Oligarchy as soon as we can be there," Jake lied.

If it got Quinn indoors and into a bed, Jake was okay lying to his friend. Seeing as how Quinn would probably not remember the night, Jake\'s guilt was minimal. Also, if Quinn did remember, he hoped the fae wouldn\'t be upset by the fib. Jake flashed a big grin and waited for Quinn to finish his coffee.

[Trillian]

[ooc: Be careful when reading Quin\'s mind, he\'s Fae not Human and shouldn\'t be so easy - FYI for next time *wink*]

"Ooh, we\'d better be off then!" he exclaimed, downing his coffee in a few quick gulps and performing a graceful fall off his stool and somehow retaining his balance (even though it had taken a few pinwheels of his arms to do so).  "Just as well we bumped into each other," he said, slapping Jake on the back.  "I would\'ve missed it, that I would."  He was thoughtful for a moment, waiting for Jake to step out of the coffee shop with him.  "What do you suppose the Grand Poobah\'s got planned then?"