Priest-De Ulloa Residence, London, 12/14

[bitten_notshy]

Enough word had handwavily filtered back from Fandom that Jack was dimly aware everything had worked out once again. He still wanted the whole story, but for the moment he'd settle for knowing everything was all right.

Besides, he'd been a tiny bit distracted with matters on the homefront. He hadn't been around long enough to do any organizing, but it was always a good time to watch, listen, and figure out who people were and what they wanted.

He hadn't precisely forgotten that today was his nineteenth birthday. But he'd never made much of a fuss over them, save the one in Fandom that marked his passage into adulthood. When the man you lived with was in his second millenium, the details of anything in the human lifespan seemed a bit silly.

He made himself some tea and a sandwich and settled in to work on a final paper.

[OOC: Open for calls, texts, surprise guests, etc.]

Comments

[chosehumanity]

Mitchell was back home in Fandom, but he was a bit sloppy about listening to radio broadcasts to begin with - leaving him with absolutely no knowledge of the entire invasion issue to begin with.

He had other things to talk to Jack about, though, and so his phone would be ringing right about... now.

[bitten_notshy]

Strangely enough, Jack was a tad wary as he picked up his phone and checked the caller ID. It might have had something to do with there being such a crisis the last time he'd heard from Mitchell.

"Hello," he said, edge barely in his voice. "Everything all right?"

[chosehumanity]

"Right now? Yeah, it's fine." Mitchell sounded a little harried, but no more than that. "How are you holding up?"

[bitten_notshy]

"Never dull," Jack answered, leaning back in his chair now that he knew he wasn't going to hear about imminent disaster. "I have papers to finish if I don't want to fail, but after Friday I've got most of a free month. Things could be worse."

[chosehumanity]

"Things have been calmer here, as well." And before last weekend, he would have just said 'calm', too. "A lot of the old ones seem to be slipping out of town."

There was a slight moment's pause, and then: "You mind filling me in on how your lot of vampires keep everything in order?"

[bitten_notshy]

"That's Herrick's chums?" Jack wasn't sure if that was good or bad. From Mitchell's tone, he was going with good. Ish.

He ran a hand through her hair, considering the question. "How do you mean?" he asked. "Here, that would mean you wanted to know how Sebastien manages his household, but I doubt that would help you. There's not a government."

[chosehumanity]

"Herrick's chums, older vampires who are unaffiliated, older ones who hated his guts," Mitchell sighed. "Anyone old. An old friend decided to show up the other night and start banging on about power vacuums."

Which hopefully answered Jack's question.

[bitten_notshy]

A hesitation. "Do you count as old?"

Power didn't like vacuums, and he thought he saw where Mitchell's friend was going. Better him than Herrick II.

[chosehumanity]

"I'm a hundred and twentyish," Mitchell said, eying his ceiling. His rather cracked ceiling. "Ivan's over two-hundred and fifty. No, I don't qualify as old."

[bitten_notshy]

"Oh." Well, there went one idea ... though Mitchell was respected, if for reasons Jack preferred not to think about. He might be able to convince the ones that mattered to overlook his age.

"So I suppose the next question is if you want to support Ivan -- assuming getting out of town until the bloodshed dies down isn't an option."

[chosehumanity]

"Ivan's a tourist," Mitchell said. He didn't sound all that charmed by the fact. "Two hundred years, he's been going from war zone to war zone for his own entertainment. And he could still be wrong about it. Maybe it will just blow over."

[bitten_notshy]

"There's a lovely hobby," Jack said, pulling on a chunk of hair. It was getting long again, and at the moment he appreciated that it was giving him something to do with his hands. "And forgive me for being skeptical that anything ever blows over with you lot. You're not known for getting distracted."

[chosehumanity]

"It's supposed to be over and done with. I told Ivan that, too."

And could the duct tape on these quick fixes please just hold? Just once?

[bitten_notshy]

"Then maybe it will be," Jack said. He wasn't sure he believed it, but he didn't know enough to pick a fight, either. "Maybe Ivan will get bored and toddle off to Afghanistan, and everyone else will go back to however they occupy themselves."

His tone strongly suggested he didn't really want to know. He'd gotten enough of an idea.

[chosehumanity]

"Yeah."

Mitchell would be happy to get off the topic now, too, actually. Maybe if things took a nosedive later, he'd call about it again, but he didn't really want to think about that either.

"So, papers...?"

[bitten_notshy]

"Papers," Jack agreed (though he'd be thinking about the larger topic for a while). "I have another thousand words to write on Boadicea in premodern literature. I don't suppose you have strong opinions on the matter...?"

[chosehumanity]

On his end of the line, Mitchell pulled a face. "I was always more about the films," he said, "And we didn't exactly have any books at home before all that."

[bitten_notshy]

"Not a childhood hero of mine, either, but it was the best topic of my options," Jack said. Briefly, he wondered if Mitchell even remembered their conversation when he was a child. "I just need to bang through this and then take myself out for a birthday drink."