"She said she had to, quote, _literally_, unquote, fight them from keep them from rushing in."

[hazlogs]

It is currently 18:48 Pacific Time on Sat Nov 29 2003.

Currently the moon is in the waxing Crescent Moon phase (39% full).

Harbor Park -- Fountain

Situated in the center of a large, open meadow is a clustering of six trees, a flower bed, a few steel-and-wood benches set firmly into concrete, and a flagstone courtyard that is dominated by a large fountain.

The fountain is a wide circular pool of water some fifty feet across and about five feet deep in most places. The sculpture in the center is a mix of old and new, traditional and modern: eight concrete-and-stainless-steel slabs about six feet high are set in a rough Stonehenge-like circle around the center of the fountain. Water flows from their tops, cascading in bright mesmerizing sheets to the pool below. Rising above the steel circle is a large marble statue of the Water Bearer, an androgynous figure draped in robes of flowing water. It bears a large jug carved with various Greek symbols, from which pours a seething torrent of water into the pool at its feet.

Cars on the nearby street have an excellent view of the park as do any residents of the tall buildings which line the waterfront.

The murky waters of the Columbia River flow swiftly along the east side of the park. Bracketing the park to the west is First Street and the city of St. Claire. Recent construction work is creating an earthen berm several feet high all along the borders of the park in all directions.

Early evening, cool and slightly damp, big surprise for Washington State. However the rain has subsided for the moment and what stars have enough juice to break through the light pollution of the city can almost be made out. The crispness of the night and the sounds of the city just seem jagged enough to set ones teeth on edge. Except of course if you're the man walking down towards the fountain, dark clothes may be adorned by him, however as the lights strike his face an almost childlike smile is on his face. Hand brings to lip a lit cigar and Alec St. Jean, prodigal son, returns to the park. He's been returning to everything lately. A deep draw on the cigar lights up the heater and a cloud of slightly blue smoke escapes his lips. The fountain is his destination but there is no rush in getting there.

Renee is already at the fountain, hands cramed firmly into her pockets to protect them from the chill. A woolen cap cover her hair and ears, the red colour having faded to a sickly brown. As Alec draws closer, the young woman looks up from the large flat book in her arms.

Chill? If so the man making his way towards the fountain doesn't seem to notice... or care. As the fountain comes closer into view so does the woman standing nearby. Another draw of the cigar and while he directs the smoke away from her, any wafting tendril of it smells rich and heady. Good quality. "Good Evening." The baritone is rich like the smoke, and laced liberally with a French Accent.

Renee frowns and tucks what is aparently a sketch pad under one arm. "Yo." Thats about the only reply the girl is willing to say, as she shifts from one foot to the next.

A slight smile creeps out onto his face, well not surprising really. Just after 7, strange man walking up in the park. I mean really the guy looks to be past forty-something. A slight shrug of the shoulders and with a lean against something convenient Alec spares a glance for the sketch pad and then goes to considering the other things in the park. Which... really isn't a whole lot. After a puff or two of the cigar, he offers, "Some things it seems do not change eh?"

Renee frowns, eyebrows scrunching together as she does so. "Don't change? I don't think I know ya."

Salem comes into view from the direction of Bridge Street, a tall figure well-bundled in his big black coat, the hood of the grey sweatshirt pulled up to cover his shorn scalp. Long-legged strides eat the distance, but he isn't hurrying. Not particularly.

Just as a draw of the stogie is taken the comment or challenge is sent Alec's way. A smile wraps around the tobacco leaves and he nods. "No, probably not. I do no think I know you." He extracts the cigar and continues, "Thought the things that don't change are that people who come here to draw, or write, or otherwise compose." Gesturing with the cigar Alec motions to the book.

Renee shrugs. "S'jus' somethin' I do." As Salem arrives, the woman lifts a hand in greeting. "Yo, big man, Heard ya did okay at a drinkin' contest a few days ago."

Eyebrows raise and a slight shake of the head, everywhere he goes... daily event it seems. "Oui, and how was the headache the next morning Salem?" Alec's gaze is a mixture of amusement and concern.

"Unpleasant, of course," Salem says dryly. Obviously, he knows both the older man and the teenage girl. "Worth the price, though." He gives Renee a faint smirk. "Last man standing."

Renee blinks and glares at Alec for a few moments, then shrugs and returns her attention to Salem. "Yea, I heard that point. Should try that Should try that with me sometimes. I'm pretty solid when it comes ta booze."

Alec says "No doubt the Fianna were feeling better before you got home that night." Derision laces his voice as he moves closer towards the approaching giant of a man. "You look like merde Salem, and by that I mean more than usual. But damn it is good to see you still around." He does a little bit of a jerking motion to bring the previously concealed pack strapped to his back around to his front. From within he draws out a small leather case. Popping the top he proffers it towards the Walker. "Cuban?"

Salem arches an eyebrow at Renee, his expression suggesting that he'll gladly take her up on the challenge... and that he's certain he'd win. Then he shakes his head at Alec. "I quit, actually. Thanksgiving was... a holiday."

Renee's fingers twitch, as she walks up behind the kinsman. "So, Salem, ya wanna tell me who this is, before I gut him fer usin' Tribal names infront of a chick he doesn't know."

Salem grunts. "Oh, yes. Of course. Manners." His gaze shifts between them, from one to the other and back again. He clears his throat slightly. "Renee, meet Doctor Alec St. Jean, kinfolk of the Children of Gaia. Doctor, this is Renee, one of Kaz's students and now Elder of the Bone Gnawers."

Alec's eyebrows lift in a little bit of surprise, 'Ooops.' But what have you, herr doktor seems not to mind one way or not. A head turns towards the chick he doesn't know and proffers the cigar case towards the new Elder. "Really? One of Kaz's students. Indeed. Congratulations."

Renee grunts and takes one of the cigars, never one to turn down anything offered for free.

Salem gives Renee another eyeball, then turns back to Alec. "So. What brings you back to St. Claire?"

Alec nods and closes the case up and puts it back in to the pack, and chomps a bit on the end of his cigar. "Eh, well things... they no work out over across the pond with Seirian's family. She stayed, I did no. And I do figure being thirty-nine is a little old to go running back to Momma and the rest of them back in Ottawa."

Renee turns the cigar over in her hands a few times, then pockets it. "Thats a name I ain't familiar with."

Salem utters a grunt of sympathy and frowns. "I'm sorry to hear that, about you and Seirian."

Alec sniffs and fishes a bit of tobacco off of his lip tossing it away. "Happens... should have figured that they'd be a little hesitant with their daughter in the hands of a hippie." He smirks and shrugs. Towards Renee he nods, "We left a bit over a year ago, Fianna Galliard. My fiancee... my former fiancee." Alec's eyes are withdrawn, cool about the whole thing in general. "At any rate, I figured I'd had unfinished business with this place and had more connections here than anywhere else, though I had hoped more of them would still be here. But such is the way of things."

"Indeed," Salem murmurs. "Things change. Sometimes quite drastically." He pushes his hands deeper into his coat pockets, nose wrinkling as he glances past Alec toward the river.

Renee just shakes her head. "So, now that yer back, ya got any plans? Ya should check in with Alicia, her bein' the only top Gaian around that yer likely ta find."

"Oui, I shall probably do that, we did see each other at the dinner the other night." Puff, smoke ring. Ooooh. "Alors, interesting who has left and who remains with us, but enough being maudlin about what we can no change." Puff, smoke ring. Wheee. "I probably will set up a small practice out in the county somewhere. The hospital do be no place for me or anyone still...." The half-question tossed towards Jack. "Alors I will probably find ways to attract undue attention to myself by those that do no wish me around but perhaps then at least some good can be done when the trouble me no more." Well, that was sharp, Alec's eyes hold that almost hope that it would happen sooner rather than later.

Renee wrinkles up her nose. "No shit. Hospital is still a fuckin' mess. Hey, Salem, you heard anythin' from Eb lately?"

Salem's expression turns more grim at mention of the hospital; answer enough. He frowns, then shakes his head at Renee. "Not since I got back, no. Why?"

Renee shrugs. "Eh, tried givin' him a call yesterday an' no answer. S'kinda odd fer him, thats all. S'probably jus' busy with K.C. or somethin'."

"Figures." Alec's nod takes in Renee's comment with Salem's lack of one to be proof enough that that place still needs levelling. Letting the two Elders chat gives Alec a chance to contemplate his cigar and the plans swirling in the back of his head.

"Mm," Salem says. "Possibly. I haven't spoken to K.C. much lately, either." Broad shoulders lift and fall. "If there's still nothing in the next few days, we'll try Questing Stone."

Renee grunts. "I'll do that myself," she rumbles. "Other then Rina, I've always kept closer tabs on yer kin you you seem ta."

Alec snorts softly, ow, bad idea. Smoke in through nose not the plan. A few coughs and a self-deprecating shake of the head and shrug the doctor offers up.

Salem narrows his eyes at this remark, and after a moment, he utters a very non-commital grunt. He lets himself be distracted by Alec's smoke issues and asks, flatly, "You all right?"

Alec nods. "Oui, I'm fine. Filthy habit really, only a few a year mind you. So I suppose I'll be well enough." His head bounces faintly towards the direction of the old Safehouse. "I remember you saying something about a place being blown up. Your house or...?"

Renee scowls. "That woulda been the church, an the old Walker place. If ya go back far enough."

Salem exhales a breath that mists in the evening air. "The old Walkerhouse was destroyed last year. Rialto Theater's gone, too." He squints at bit at Alec, considering. "Were you around when we lost Smith?"

Alec winces. "Merde...." He shakes his head. "Temporal enemies or more...." He waves his hand around in the air, "..not." Well he's not supposed to be eloquent. "I remember Elan doing something truly amazing there back in the day." Wow, now does he feel old in addition to sounding like the geezer her is. "No, I was no." His eyes give away that little bit of sadness as well.

Salem grimaces. "Fucking shame that was." He shakes his head.

Renee grunts. "Anyway, Elan ain't around these days. Took off with his pack. Kaz took off as well, ta look after another group'a Gnawers."

Alec says "Oui, and has left it to you it seems." 'Good luck.' is the offer along with that statement. But in a hopeful way, that you will actually have some. "So what are the current events that are going on here? Anything worth getting my nose dirty in?" Alec almost sounds hopeful on that note. "I take it the hospital has slid to the back burner?"

Renee hmms, as she looks over at Salem. "There was a scoutin' party that went ta check out that Leech nest. They were spoted. No tellin' what those things are doin' now."

Salem grunts. "Alicia told me about that." His nose wrinkles. "And it sounded as though the _next_ time, it ought to be left to city-types alone. Judging from what Alicia told me... Leonard and Jamethon made fools of themselves." He glances at Alec and nods curtly. "Hospital, like the sewer, is on the back burner. For now, anyway."

"Screw that," Renee snarls. "What the fuck did they do?"

Alec's eyebrows lift up and he nods letting Salem answer the angry Gnawer.

Salem rubs at his chin, where he's missed a bit of stubble in the morning shave. "Mm. She said she had to, quote, _literally_, unquote, fight them from keep them from rushing in. It was _her_ idea to send Craig closer pretending to be a dog when Leonard and Jamethon wanted to just walk up." He shakes his head. "Craig didn't even get close. And the mission was incomplete. No proper scouting. No rooftop check. Only one entrance that she could see."

"Madonna...." He mutters to himself. Alec's specialty is medicine not tactics, but still!

Renee rubs at her temple. "An' here I was stuck watchin' the Squeaker."

Alec, finally finishes his cigar and crushes the heater against the heel of his boot. "So if the Sewer and Hospital is off to the back burner then what right now is currently bubbling over?"

"Hicks," says Salem, with definite scorn. "Still, you'd have thought they'd have the basic sense to defer to someone who knows the environment better. So." He folds his arms across his chest and lets Renee answer Herr Doctor's question.

Renee stuffs her hands into her pockets. "Well, there is this whole vampire thing. Some Leech is makin' Ghouls an' havin' them take out Russian Maphia. Gun fights an' all that jaz. Other thing is that liver eater, but I ain't heard a peep about that in a long time."

A nod and slight working of his jaw and a hand through the shorn (and thinning) hair on his head. "So we have one group we don't need, taking out another group we don't need. Joy." Alec's drawl is thick with something decidedly different from it. "Liver eater? Hm?" Eyes flick from Salem to Renee as he looks a little curious about that one.

Salem arches an eyebrow at Renee. "You mean the little old lady from hell?"

Renee nods. "Yea, that chick."

Salem reaches up, pinching the bridge of his nose lightly. "Lovely. Anything else?"

Alec looks confused, "Quelle petite vie... I mean what little old lady from hell and what little Squeaker are you talking about?"

Renee mmms. "Well, the Squeaker is a Mule, 'bout six months old. Little old lady from hell, came outta this certain buildin'. Old granny, dumpin' bodies in the river."

Alec says "Well I see." It's plain that he understands but doesn't..quite comprehend. "And the parents?" He asks about the child, that being of course for Alec the most important thing. "Or are they no longer among us?"

Renee shrugs. "Kaz brought the kid up, 'cause she didn't have the time or resources ta watch her. Never said nothin' 'bout the kid's parents."

Alec nods. "Fair enough. I can understand Kaz's interest and so forth." He shrugs, such things are the concerns of others that are more qualified than him. "Is there any other fires 'ere in the city or out in the forest that you know of?"

Renee shakes her head. "Nope, not really. Those are the only real big things, city side."

Alec sucks on his teeth for a moment and runs a hand through his hair. "Fair enough, problem enough with the Sangsuce and his little thralls running around. Though it forces the question why attack the mafia and what is it that /we/ are doing about it?"

Renee rolls her shoulders in a shrug. "No fuckin' clue. Oh, an' we've a Corax buzzin' around the place, of all things. Ain't seen it, myself."

Alec says "Vraiment? They really exist? That makes me truly believe I came back at an interesting time of things." He looks up skyward as if to check and make sure he's not going to get something dropped on him. "I do no know if I like the idea of sharing the sky with something that would be jealous of it's territory."

Renee smirks. "Fuck, I know about the bird is that its been 'round the farmhouse a bit an' that it shit on Alicia's head, 'cause hse called it a crow."

Salem has excused himself to take a call from his cellphone, letting the two talk. Now he returns. "Have a good evening, you two. I'll be seeing you around, I'm sure." The second is directly mostly at Alec.

Alec laughs at that. "Oui, I can imagine that that went over well with her and with everyone else." He looks up again and mutters something about jealous wings. "Anyways. I will have to keep my eyes open about that when I'm out on jumps from now on." A smirk. And a nod towards Salem, "Oui, I should be on my way as well. Call me soon." That towards Salem, and to Renee, "A pleasure." Hand offered with a smile.

Salem clasps hands briefly with the kinsman, gives Renee a nod, then heads off.