Speaking At Sundown

The Copper Lily
Clearly a place for the frugal tourist, the hotel room is built to a low
standard. The walls sport a single coat of black paint that is chipping and
peeling in most places, barely covering the splintered wood that makes up both
the walls and floors of the room. Sand covers the flooring as well, probably
left behind by ill-mannered guests but positive proof that no cleaning staff has
been through the room for quite some time. From a single window with white
shades a little natural light eeks through and provides the lone source of
illumination for the entire place. In the corner of the room there sit a few
wooden chairs and in the opposite there is a small bed covered by a black
bedsheet that's stiff and scratchy to the touch. This seems to be the 'main'
bed, whereas the rest of the room is almost broken down into 'tents' that serve
to replace the more modern or normal 'rooms'. There is no sign of electricity
or air conditioning of any sort.

* Exits *
east - Khan el Khalili: The Bazaar

As he sits down on the chairs with a long sigh, Phelan closes his eyes and leans forward with his open palms on his knees. He seems to be focused on something in his mind very deeply, as though whatever it is he searches for is almost out of his reach. His knuckles grow white as he focuses on it with all his will.

Maiyun was just laying there. In front of her sat a pile of sand that she had built out of pure boredom. Too much free time. She had to do something. A sigh was heaved as she picked up another grain of sand, and hovering over the pile, watched the particle fall on the pile. It was better than nothing. But that wasn't the only thing that was on her mind. Her parents, her dog Kayla who must be having extreme separation anxieties, her work. Both eyes gently closed. She missed them all so much. She couldn't wait until the day she returned back to LA.

Just as he smiles as if he's about to find what he wants the Pup's eyes shoot open and he glances over to his tent as he hears its occupant sighing. As if thinking differently of it he suddenly smiles and gets up from the chairs. Taking what few steps he needs to to reach the small shelter Phelan sits down in front of it with his hands in his lap to cast his eyes down on her. "What's up, Mai?"

She lifted her gaze to Phelan, and then lowered it to the pile of sand. "Nothing. Regular things others would think about if they were far away from home, and somewhere they're not familiar with." Sitting up, she crossed her legs, and then put her hands in her lap. "I shouldn't complain, I guess. You miss home too."

Phelan nods in understanding, scooting up again but only a little. "Actually I just miss the ocean. I could use a dip in salt water again. It'd do wonders for my mood…" Shrugging, he chuckles looks over to her pile of sand. "But I guess there's nothing to complain about, huh? You've got things waiting for you back in LA besides the surf and the sand."

Maiyun thought about it, then shook her head. "Guess not… I do have pets to care for and sell, my own pet, and my home to return to… But you know." She looked at him. "Sands, shells, fish, and such are part of the ocean… Don't you favor a certain kind of beach over the others? Or is it just the water that pleases you…?"

"The water. No doubt." Without hesitation Phelan delivers the answer. "I tell ya. When you just lie down in the ocean and let her wash you with her cool, refreshing hands…" Stopping in mid-sentence, he sighs dreamily. "…Her touch is sweeter than anything." Looking back down to Maiyun, he rocks back a little. "But that's enough about that. You said you sell pets?"

Maiyun listened, and nodded in agreement. "So you're what they call a Surfer, right?" She brushed the sand off of her feet, then rubbed the sand off her hand. When she noticed the sand underneath her nails, she made a face, but thought nothing of it. Could have been worse. She would have feces in her nails. Thinking about it just made her shudder. Her gaze lifted from the dirty nails to Phelan, and she nodded. "I sell many types of pets. But mainly every day pets. Rarely I get exotic animals." She smiled. "Unlike other corner pet stores, I give the animals the treatment, attention, and food they need to be healthy. I get tons of calls, though, when the new owners of the pets call for adice, though…" She scratched her head. "That I don't miss…" she muttered under her breath.

Phelan nods to answer her question. "Good catch," he tells her, then scoots a little closer. "Who does the store belong to? Your parents, I bet."

"Yup. My parents." She smiled. "But they don't work as often now. My dad's into crafting, my mum into gardening. I manage the pet store since I am seventeen. Close to being a adult now." Shrugging, she rested her hands on her thighs. "I don't feel a lot older, though. Still feel pretty young…"

Watching as she rests her hands on her thighs, Phelan smiles softly and looks a little more deeply into his eyes. "Finally, something we have in common," he comments with a wink. "The feeling like a kid, I mean. The day I do a hard day's work is the day the ocean's boil over and the world is ripped in half." After considering this for a second the Pup chuckles deeply. "Well, technically I work harder than a lot of dudes my age but I have fun doing it so that doesn't count."

"I… guess so." She smiled. "And I can understand that. Only I love to do what I do, even if it seems like something older women would do." She looked down. "I enjoy my job, my life. I don't like to run around like some attention-seeking girl and score every male on the face of the planet." Avoiding his gaze, she looked away towards the pile of sand. "But… anyway." She gathered the pile up in a hand even though it defeated the whole purpose of her brushing the particles off, and poured them outside the tent. She rubbed her hands together, then brushed them against her pants.

"Okay, that makes two things. We're off to a Hell of a good start." Phelan's words are delivered in a playful but quiet tone, his smile growing broader by the moment. "But that makes me wonder. If you're not going after every guy in the world do you even have one yet?" Putting his hands up for a second, he adds "Don't answer if it makes you uncomfortable."

Maiyun giggled softly. "Wow… Small world, eh?" She poked her tongue out. "It's a little scary, our likes and so on." Then she heard the question, and thought about it. she shook her head. "It doesn't really make me uncomfortable…" she lied as she attempted to pick the sand out of her nails. "Not that uncomfortable, anyway. Just feel like I'm… not good enough." She mumbled the last part silently before clearing her throat. "But I'll have to be patient." Looking back up at him, she gave him a fake smile, though inside she was beating herself up mentally for revealing that much. Even if it didn't tell him much, it could start curiosity. Changing the subject, she looked about. "When am I permitted to go to my parents…?"

As he is about to ask another question of the young Irish girl, Phelan hears her question about her parents and blinks. With a tilt of his head he seems to chew over how to answer for a moment only to sigh and shake his head a little. "I still don't have the answer. I haven't talked to Charlotte about it yet and without her permission there's no way either of the two of us is getting out of this hotel."

"Of course. Leader's law." She nodded, then flicked a bit of sand at the tent wall. "I won't complain… At least she didn't tell us to sit outside, right?" Her emerald gaze lifted to Phelan slowly, relieved he didn't dwell on the other subject. "But I'll wait. Just worried about my parents. They get worried extremely easily, even if they are oblivious to my presence at times…"

Phelan nods slowly, rocking back and forth for a few moments before speaking up once more. "I'm gonna see if we can devote a little time to helping you in your search so you don't have to go out there alone. If those men who are after you come back again the wound that Max took and all of our work will be for nothing." He stays silent for a moment, then scoots cloer to her again until he's finally inside the tent with her. "Mai. Are you scared?"

Maiyun looked at her fingers again. "No rush. I mean I'm content inside… Just worrying about my parents, is all. I man I perfectly understand the men part… I don't want to be put outside, told bye, and that's it." she giggled, then looked back up when he had scooted closer. She scooted back. The question made her feel more hesitant as she stared. "No," was her instant reply.

Phelan notices the girl scooting backward and, with a nod, rolls bacward out of the tent and sits down on the floor outside it. "It's good that you're not afraid," he mentions, then looks down at the floor for the sole purpose of averting his eyes, it seems, since he continues to speak to her. "I wouldn't want you just thrown out either. I mean, we saved you in the first place. We should be the ones to help you get back to where you're going." He pauses. Then, lifting his gaze back up to the girl he smiles once again and shrugs. "But if you live in LA maybe you can wait and take the plane back home with us. Then you can go back to your pet shop and meet up with your folks there."

"Well I surely hope I'm not a threat… I haven't even seen your leader either." She smiled weakly. "But… my folks aren't that oblivious to just leave without me. That would be child neglect." She flicked the rest of the sand out of her nails, then runs a hand through her damp hair. "I don't see how people could deal with such weather… It's scorching hot here…"

Phelan nods slowly to her. "To be honest, I don't think you're really a threat to us. It's the people who attacked you that we're concerned about." Shrugging his shoulders once more, he looks up at her. "And if your parents will be here looking for you then I'll definetly ask Charlie to give you some help in finding them." Standing up he heads over to the water cooler. "Want some more water, Mai? It's still cold."

Maiyun nodded slowly. "Do you… have any idea who those men were? If it's not to be revealed, it's all right… Just wondering what they wanted from me." Then she looked at him, and smiled. "Thank you, Phelan. I appreciate it. And yes please. My mouth is feeling dry already." Blushing, she rubbed her neck with two fingers, rubbing the sweat and sand off.

Pulling one of the bottles of water from the cooler, Phelan returns to the entrance of the tent and hands the liquid to her. "Here." As he pulls his hand back after letting go of the water he nods to her and his expression suddenly turns a little less cheerful though he still manages a smile. "Okay. The only reason I'm even telling you this is because it's not something they don't already know. You remember how I mentioned that the Garou and Kinfolk who are native to Cairo have been going missing? My guess is that the guys who were attacked you were behind the kidnappings and they've been looking to add you to the list." Sighing, he looks straight into her eyes with a stare that seems to dare her to hide her secrets. "Maiyun. The man who injured Maxwell attacked him with a baton made out of a really pure metal. Silver, by my guess. Now, isn't it ironic that there's a factory out here that's making anti-Garou bullets out of silver and two well-dressed goons decide to come at you with silver weapons?"

She frowned. "But why me? Why do they think I'm a Garou? I can't do the things you guys do…" then she bit her lip. 'But what about those other things?' Refusing to tell him more, she settled down, and opening the bottle began to drink in small sips, now more paranoid than thirsty. Looks like she was trapped like a rat now. There was no escape.

Phelan shrugs his shoulders. "Who said anything about being a Garou? Maybe they think you're a Kinfolk. In any case there's gotta be some reason they picked you out of the crowd. And it might be a good idea to find out why." The last bit of his speech delivered, Phelan chuckles as he watches her drink. "It's okay to take longer sips, y'know? No need to throw back like that."

Maiyun nodded. "Understood…" She took one long drink out of her bottle, and set it down on the floor. "But how can I be a Kinfolk or Garou? How do they know if I am or not?" She raised a brow. "They don't even know me. I've been here for less than a hour - now almost a day!" Huffing, she shook her head. "Ignorance…"

Looking Maiyun over, Phelan chuckles softly and scoots closer without coming inside of the tent so he does not make her uncomfortable. "Y'know, I said something like that just before my first change. I didn't believe it was even possible, but the next day, all of a sudden, I was not only aware that I was a Garou but I was already being taught about our people." He stops after this, though he stands up and goes over to the chairs he has laid out in a row as a makeshift bed. "Not saying that you're the exact same case, but like I mentioned before. There has to be some reason those suits chose to attack you. Maybe it was just to trick us into shifting in public. Maybe it was a pre-planned attack with you as the target. There's a lot of possible answers but only one is right. That's the one we need to find."

Maiyun nodded slowly. "That… could be it… You never really know." She bit her lip. "I could be… a Kinfolk, for all I know… Whatever they are, anyway." Her gaze lowered to her bottle of water. "But… we'll find out sooner or later, I guess. Have to wait and see what the leader says, right?" Then she looked back up at Phelan. "She knows all, correct…?"

"She knows only what the pack knows. And thusfar we're just as in the dark as you are," Phelan admits, then looks back to Maiyun and chuckles. "If you'd like a lesson in what Kinfolk are maybe you could talk to Charlotte about that. She'd be able to explain it better than I could."

She sighed. "Ah… then I suppose listening about the Kinfolk wouldn't hurt. At least some of my curiosity will be relieved." The female chugged down the rest of her water, and set the empty bottle down. "Again, thanks for the water, Phelan. I really appreciate it." She smiled at him.

"It's no problem," Phelan says to Maiyun, smiling softly all the while. Looking out the window, the Pup blinks slowly and chuckles. "Looks like we've whiled away the whole evening talking. The stars are coming out."

The female looked toward the window as well. She blinked, tilted her head to one side, then smiled. "At my home, I sat on top of the roof and watched the stars - mainly the moon. I'd stare at it all night long." Coughing, she looked down. "Sorry. Doubt you care."

Phelan looks down at the girl, then smiles again and shakes his head. "Actually, that makes three things we have in common now. I used to sit out on the beach late at night when nobody else was around, or if it was still crowded I'd climb up the skyscrapers and stare at it." Sighing softly, he turns his attention back to the window though he does quietly say "For what it's worth, Mai, you're still prettier than the stars."

"This is quite scary, Phelan. Three things." She smiled weakly. "No sarcasm intended either. I'm really creeped out. Most things I like others don't like." Giggling, she shook her head, then shifting her attention to the stars, stared. Though her gaze averted over to Phelan every few seconds.

"I did say I used to, didn't I? Haven't had the time lately." Phelan looks down to her again, then chuckles. "Look, if you don't want me to hit on you just say so. I'm not like some guys who can't back off. I'd rather you feel comfortable here, especially considering that I'm the one who brought all the heat on the two of us."

Maiyun coughed, and looked away. "It's fine, Phelan. I try my best to ignore it, and surprisingly I'm doing well. Don't worry about it." She crossed her arms over her stomach, feeling a bit cooler now that the sun was going down. "Much better…" she mumbled softly to herself.

The lump on the main bed of The Copper Lily stirs a bit, before it kicks off the blanket to reveal that it is truly no lump, but the awesome form of Maxwell Hearkenstone, dressed in a pair of khaki shirts and a white wifebeater. He shoves himself to his feet, which hit the floor with two soft thuds, and his hazel sights are cast around the room as if he were going to be attacked. Arms spread wide and prepared to defend, it takes him a moment to realize that he's just standing in the hotel, "Mother of Gaia, that was intense..", he murmurs, before grimacing at his side.

Hearing her answer, Phelan winks to her and looks back at the stars through the window. "Then expect no mercy, Maiyun Silverwind," he comments playfully. As he watches the twinkling of the city's night sky the Pup fights back a yawn… all up until he catches Maxwell stirring in the corner. Giving the Kinfolk a nod and a wave he smirks. "Evening, killer."

Maiyun gave him a small look but brushed it off with a light giggle. As soon as she heard a voice, she looked towards the direction of Maxwell. Her head tilted. "How's your side…?" she couldn't help but ask out of curiosity and sympathy.

"Eh. It's better. I think. I don't know. I'm not real familiar with it, since I can't see it all that well, and we don't have a fucking mirror in this place..", Maxwell states, snatching an ice cold Coke from the cooler, which looks twice as awesome with it's foreign branding wrapped around the red label, "I can't sleep for shit though. Every time I roll over on it, I wake up.".

"Looks like it's healing okay. With any luck you'll be in shape just in time to go with us on the next one." Phelan stands and walks over to the man, though he casts a glance back to Maiyun and smiles softly. "By the way, Mai. If you're really curious about Kinfolk, Max would be a good guy to ask." Standing by Maxwell's bed the young Garou nods to him. "I've got a few things I'd like to talk about with one of the more experienced members of the pack, and since you just so happen to be the only experienced one around maybe we should speak."

She nodded, and smiled weakly. "I'm sorry to hear that… Hope you get to feeling better, Maxwell…" Then, looking at Phelan, she blinked. "Maxwell's a… Kinfolk?" Then she looked back at the other male. "You sure he can? I mean I don't want to intrude. He looks like he needs some rest."

"Shit. I'm /the/ Kinfolk..", Maxwell states, cracking open the Cairo Coca-Cola and taking a long drink from it, allowing the cold carbonation to wash his insides. He pulls a face when he lowers the can, letting out a satisfied sound and then murmuring, "I hope it doesn't leak out..", before turning his attention back to the pair once more, "..But are you? I don't know where you're pulling these terms from, and I'm not trying to be rude. Just cautious. Because we still don't know anything about you. You could just be a plant from Hercules, working off of our good charity. And no one has had the time to check you out yet, so I'm not real big on sharing world-changing secrets.".

"Thing is, Hercules will know about us now thanks to our rescue efforts. You most of all," Phelan comments, nudging Max in the shoulder playfully. "If she is a plant working for them there's not a lot you can tell her that she doesn't already know. But speaking of her, that's what I wanted to speak to you about." Casting a glance back to the young Irish girl he winks before turning his crystal orbs up to the man. "Have you ever stopped to think about why those two men decided to attack her with silver weapons? As far as I can tell the two most likely explinations are that they were trying to trick us into bringing her here, as you seem to believe as well, or she's more than we know."

Maiyun just blinked. She watched him, then she raised a brow. "Um okay" Turning her head, she shrugged. "I, myself, am just as confused. And I don't know why in the world those guys attacked me. All I know is that I was attacked and am now stuck here with Garou and Kinfolk with no where to go 'til the leader permits it… No need to apologize. As I said, Im just a outsider who unfortunately got herself into trouble." She then looked back, and blinked at Phelan. She didnt say no more, just watched, not wanting to cause any trouble.

"Or, they'll know that we're two dudes that didn't want to see a girl get kidnapped. Which is way better than them thinking we're werewolves..", Maxwell states, arching a bit of a brow at Phelan as he has another drink of his Coke, "..If she was a plant, she'd be here to get information to use against us. They weren't attacking her with silver. They were attacking me with silver. They used chloroform on her…". Favoring his wounded side a bit, the Glasswalker Kinfolk has a seat on the bed and just shrugs, "I'm not saying that we're going to put a bullet in her or anything. Just that Hawthorne probably needs to check her out first before we go revealing our whole world to her. You should be attentive to that, too. Since you've got nothing to lose. You're working off of Charlie's reputation, being her Ward and all..".

Phelan nods down to Maxwell, smiling. "Understood." Giving the tousle-haired man and pat on the back the Pup tells him quielty "Hope you get better soon, Max," before walking back over to the row of chairs outside his tent and lying down on them with his face turned up to the ceiling. "I'll leave you two to chat. Puppy needs some shuteye." Finally letting out a long yawn he puts his hands behind his head and closes his eyes.

Maiyun watches Phelan. She frowned, a bit hesitant now. Of course, she could understand her possibly being a spy, but how was she one? She barely even knew what those men were doing, who they were. Pushing all thoughts from her head, she attempted to relax as she lowered her emerald gaze to the ground. She felt so much like a outcast, though. 'Relax, Maiyun…' She bit her lip, and hung her head. 'You can't relax, Maiyun…' A light sigh was heaved.

"I'm probably going to get some sleep too, I think. I need to sleep this thing off, because I'm not sitting out the mission. Wound or not. I just won't. So it's better that I get as healed as I can..", Maxwell states, a third drink from his Coke taken before he sets it on the nightstand and kicks back in the bed, "We've got to get up early, too. Because Holiday should be getting back. And we'll need to find out what happened with her little reconnaisance deal..".

Nodding and shifting a little, Phelan sighs. "Can't wait," he muses. "Sleep well, you two." Not another word escapes his lips though he does offer a moment's glance both out the window and to his two companions before drifting off to sleep.

Nodding, Maiyun lay down on her side. She stared at the floor, then the empty bottle. "Good night." She gently closed her eyes. After a few minutes of thinking of her parents, and of course her waiting companion, sleep overcame her.

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