He just couldn’t let the coffee drop…or the kitchen….he just had to keep bringing things up, quietly enough that it seemed like he was talking to himself, but loud enough that she could hear every. Damn. Word. It was beyond reproach. She’d been serious about his apartment…if hers was so crappy, he could just go to his own place and wallow in the apparently awesomeness that was his kitchen.

”You said coffee. I provided coffee. What the hell is your problem anyway? I can’t believe you’re actually standing in my kitchen complaining about equipment. I don’t want a new coffee maker. I like my coffee maker just like it is. It makes coffee…easy coffee, which I love. Deal. With. It.” she finished with a poke in the general direction of Aurum’s chest and a pointed glare.

That accomplished, Riley sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to get her head wrapped back around the subject at hand while he jacked with her inferior coffee maker.

”So what do we do now? I mean…do we take the hint and drop everything…or keep going? Do I need to start packing heat or something more than pepper spray? I mean really…”

Jab jab jab, swing. Okay. He'd drop the coffee talk, lest she go fight club on him. Nobody would want to talk about that. Or mention it as a possibility. It was just too brutal, and he knew she wouldn't hold back.

"Alrighty," He shrugged, turning away from her, back to the coffee machine she loved... It must have been tough love. Wait. What had he just said? He mentally commanded himself to drop the subject. It wasn't worth... aww hell. It was still worth it bringing coffee up. He couldn't help it. Aurum mentally resolved to gift her a coffee maker anyways, as thanks for her not punching him in the face.

She'd probably punch him in the face.

He liked his face.

Alright. New topic. Not faces. What would they do now?

Aurum took a deep breath and held his forehead, making his way carefully to the kitchen table and its lovely chair. He felt a little faint thinking about that stuff. It was fun thinking about worthless crap like coffee (which wasn't worthless, mind you) as opposed to this. This topic... was a drag.

"It's getting pretty late." He said quietly, thinking out loud. "There probably isn't much more that can be done tonight. We can let the cop and the woman with the scar find out what they can... tomorrow we can deal with this. My head hurts." He cast a sidelong glance her ways. "And I don't think any killer'd stand a chance against you..."

Riley watched the coffee pot as Aurum walked away from it and graced her kitchen table with his presence. It was a little older, sure, and nothing fancy…but it made good coffee. Riley couldn’t stand those people who stood around with grinders and steepers and spent ridiculous amounts of time on the “perfect” cup of Joe. Sure, Aurum worked in a coffee shop to make ends meet…but hell, Riley didn’t run around judging everyone’s fashion by pin-up standards. The guy needed to learn to leave work at work.

He also needed to stop using words like, “tomorrow” and “we”. Riley kept her eyes on the coffee pot and sighed at that thought…no, he really didn’t. They were stuck in this together, assuming their meddling with Lonnie was what had caused this fiasco in the first place. Who knew what else Aurum was in to. Hell, he’d thought Lonnie was a great role model at first, God only knew what other model citizens he was innocently running with.

One comment in his speech stuck out to Riley, and she rose an eyebrow in his general direction. ” I tried to check out your head, but you wouldn’t let me.” she grumbled, turning back and rummaging in the cabinets next to the stove.

Riley considered throwing the ibuprofen at Aurum, but changed her mind and walked over to him, setting it on the table. In his state, he probably wouldn’t have been able to catch. That accomplished, she thought over his words.

” Tomorrow morning then. You got their names? We’ll figure out all this nonsense with that locker and move from there. “

The smell of coffee wafted in from the other side of the eat-in kitchen and Riley sighed appreciatively. Maybe the coffee hadn’t been such a bad idea. She turned and made back for the cabinets, grabbing two cups and working on filling them. Now nobody could call her a bad hostess.

>>” I tried to check out your head, but you wouldn’t let me.”

Riley rifled through some cabinets for something. Then, she walked that something to him and set it on the table with a 'klack'. Aurum picked it up, turning the bottle in his hands. He stared at it. "I didn't refuse your help..." He said slowly, then looked at her. "I just wasn't ready for... the niceness. The last conversation with you before today I remember is still... for the most part the one where we both decided not to give each other hell over Lonnie... and now... irony."

>>” Tomorrow morning then. You got their names? We’ll figure out all this nonsense with that locker and move from there. “

"... I never got their names." Aurum felt a bit foolish. "Didn't think to ask. One second, we were in the dark, and the next, falling out of a car... but they have a number to call us..." Her number. "We'll get it sorted out."

Riley just happened to be looking at Aurum when he turned to look at her. She held his eyes for a moment, then shrugged her shoulders. The last thing he remembered was them coming to a mildly uncomfortable truce. Who was she to argue? It wasn’t like he’d believe her if she said otherwise, and Riley really didn’t have the energy to try and convince him.

”Just take the pills.” she said, and went back to getting the coffee, listening as Aurum explained how he’d further screwed up the situation. There just wasn’t anything else to say, and she sighed as she poured the dark liquid. Yelling at the lawyer wasn’t going to procure a phone number they could call…the best she could do was hope. If nothing else, they knew that the cop worked at the police station, and it was somewhere to start.

Riley took her coffee cup, and sipped at it black while she walked the other one to the table and held it out for Aurum to take. ” Then we’ll wait for a call.”

In the morning. After Aurum stayed in her apartment. A thought occurred to Riley and she frowned in his general direction as she sat in the chair next to his, ”You don’t have to show up at work tomorrow or anything, do you? I wonder if Lonnie will be expecting you.”

For some reason, that mental picture made her smile.

It was kind of hard to take pills without a glass of water to go with them. Aurum let the pill bottle sit on a table for a minute, just thinking about the whole situation.

Still messed up? Yeah. It was. They'd have to wait on the call... and worry about it tomorrow. Although telling himself he could put off worrying until tomorrow didn't stop worrying from being a thing still. It'd still happen.

Riley sat next to him and gave Aurum something else to think about.

"Ugh. I don't want to think about it." He got up, snagging the pill bottle, and walked it over to the sink. He grabbed a glass from a random cupboard, getting lucky, then cracked the bottle, rattling out a couple pills. Down they went. Aurum chased them with the glass of water, then wiped his mouth. "I take it you don't have any clothes for guys my size just sitting around in some closet," He sighed.

He didn’t take the coffee she’d offered, instead Aurum opted to go and rummage in her cabinets some more. Riley sighed and set the cup down with a slightly louder than necessary clunk and continued to sip hers. Man, she was tired…which made the coffee make even less sense, but it was warm and somehow comforting…so sip she did.

The pill bottle rattled, and Aurum chugged water from the glass he’d pilfered. Then he asked if she had any clothes lying around that would fit him. Riley deadpanned as she looked Aurum over. ”Why would I have a closet full of men’s clothing?” she asked, ”It’s not like I just randomly keep things in case a baby lawyer needs a change.”

Okay, maybe that had come across more peevish than necessary…and maybe it had been a rhetorical question. And…oh…

Riley set the coffee cup down and disappeared down the hall for a moment. She returned with something in a stupid looking box and set it on the table. When she did, a little cloud of dust poofed into the air and she sneezed before speaking.

”Sometimes I get things when I do photoshoots.” she shrugged her shoulders. They were simple…but nice silk pajamas that had been sitting in the top of her closet for close to a year. The other half of the set was something Riley would not be wearing tonight, or probably any night. She eyed the box...so what if they were pretty much a garish red? Aurum would wear them or sleep in his tattered clothes...beggers couldn't be choosers after all.

”Might as well.” she said, sitting back down and taking up her coffee cup again.

>>”Why would I have a closet full of men’s clothing?” she asked, ”It’s not like I just randomly keep things in case a baby lawyer needs a change.”

"So, that's a no." He said dryly. He'd thought as much, but it hadn't hurt to ask her.

Apparently, it hadn't hurt at all. Riley ran off.

Aurum sat back down in his chair with his glass of water. The glass clacked against the tabletop next to the coffee mug. For a minute, he just sat and waited. Then, he noticed the coffee mug.

"..." Riley came back. He was staring at the coffee mug. The coffee mug she'd offered him? "How long has that been there?" He gawked. Aurum looked to Riley for answers... then found his eyes dropping to the box she'd presented him with. "And what's this?" The curiosity was evident in his tone.

Aurum was obviously confused about something when Riley returned, and she rose an eyebrow, openly staring as he tried to figure things out. Finally, he asked about the coffee cup and Riley stared at him for a moment like half his hair had fallen out, or something else ridiculous. ” I put it there the last time I sat down.” she said slowly, like she was explaining a difficult concept to someone who wasn’t getting it, ” It’s a coffee cup. With coffee in it. Like you wanted. “ There she went again, being nasty for no particular reason other than the fact that Aurum was the only outlet for her ire at the world. Oh well.

He was also confused about the box. Riley reached out and flipped the top off, revealing the pants and shirt. ”They’re pajamas….also like you asked.” Riley eyed the lawyer and took a big drink of coffee.

”Seriously. I hope you hit your head because….” she said, trailing off with a slight shake of her head.

He stared at her some more.

"It's entirely likely. I fell out of a moving vehicle, after all."

He'd missed her giving him coffee. He'd probably missed other things. Yeah. He needed a bit of bed rest to get his head back on track.

He took the coffee and drank some. He only flinched a little. It wasn't THAT bad. He'd made it... he could... drink a little. He set the coffee back down in polite disgust.

"Maybe I should go take a look at these pajamas in the bathroom... see if I can't change." He said, picking up the box. "Which way is it?"

”Well. One can hope.” Riley said sagely. She’d never known the lawyer to be a complete moron…naïve idealist yes, idiot…no. Hopefully if he was this confused it was as the result of a head injury and not natural stupidity.

He suggested he go and examine the pajamas in the bathroom and Riley snorted a bit into her coffee cup, ”I didn’t plan on you changing in the middle of my kitchen. First door on the left.”

Aurum went off towards the bathroom, and Riley sighed, trying to figure out how she got herself into these situations. Why had she felt the need to shove Lonnie in Aurum’s face? Why did she feel obligted to make sure he knew what a creep he was associating himself with? Riley wasn’t the type to go out of her way for someone like that. Why was Aurum worth it, and…why was someone knocking on her door?

Nobody knocked on her door…especially not at this time of night. The dark haired woman spent a moment waiting to see if they’d go away, but the knocking just got more insistent. Up she got, keeping the coffee in one hand as she approached the door. It didn’t have a peephole that worked, something that had bothered her off and on for a long time. The knocking came again…more a banging now and Riley reached up with her free hand and turned the deadbolt, intending just to open the door a crack and see who was there. Instead, the door flew inwards so fast that Riley barely missed getting hit with the thing.

”Aurum!” she shouted, tossing her cup of still-steaming coffee at the face of the first intruder and the cup itself at the head of the second who had his hands up like he was trying to throw something at her. Her field stopped him from whatever he’d tried and the cup struck home giving Riley time to scramble backwards four or five feet. Her field wouldn’t work this far away, but she was also out of arm’s reach. She chanced a glance over her shoulder…where was he?

It was time he learned. About. The silk pajamas. They were red. Like regular pajamas. Top and bottom. Button-up top with lapels. And juicy stitched on the butt.

Aurum put the pajama bottoms back in the box. He had pants that weren't in nearly as much stitches as his shirt. He could... survive.

Hauling his shirt over his head, Aurum stripped out of his tatters. He held the shirt up in front of him and looked at it one last time.

Alas, fair shirt. I knew ye well.

He tossed it into her waste bin, then eyed the silky red pajama top. He never got the chance to try it on. A shout skewered the silence like a sharpened pole.

Aurum exploded back into the living area, dual-wielding blades. A plunger in one hand, a toilet brush in the other, he rushed the bulkier of the two men. He didn't know what the hell he was doing, but it didn't take a combat genius to wail on someone with a toilet brush.

"Oh god! Ew! Ew! Ew!" The thug's complaints punctuated every downward blow as he cowered under his arms, shielding his head.

After what seemed like an eternity, Aurum emerged from her bathroom…wielding her plunger and toilet brush like they were weapons. The situation might have been humorous…if it weren’t for the breaking and entering and attempted assault. As it was, Aurum took the bigger of the two, the one Riley had hit in the face with her cup, and she focused on the one who had finished wiping coffee out of his eyes and was now obviously furious.

Up went his hands a second time, and Riley had a feeling she knew what he was going to do. She stood her ground as the thug built up something glowing and dangerous looking between his hands. Riley crossed her arms. He threw his fireball. It flew menacingly for a few feet, but exactly four feet from Riley’s face, it ceased to exist as if it had never been thrown. The moment’s shock that crossed the mutant thug’s face was more than enough. Riley took a couple of jogging steps and kicked him as hard as she could right between his legs.

Yeah…Riley definitely wasn’t above that sort of tactic. As the man’s eyes bulged out of his head, Riley shoved him backwards out the door.

”Aurum, get him outside.” she said, torn between helping and making sure that the one on the ground stayed where he was. And woah…when had Aurum lost his shirt? Show off.

It was a good thing Aurum hadn't seen the brutality. He would have had a flicker of sympathy, and that seriously would have put a crimp in his beating thug B over the head schtick.

The plunger whipped around and closed in over the big guy's face. His arms went up, attempting to jerk it free. With Aurum's free hand he smacked the goon's head. He jerked the plunger back, causing the jerk to bend forwards in surprise, then brought up the toe of his sneaker. Toe met face. The man stumbled back unceremoniously out the door, onto his ass. And the other guy.

Aurum shoved the door shut and snapped the locks in place.

Bracing his back against the door, he looked at her urgently. "We're going to have to go down the fire escape, aren't we." Oh, forget today.

They got the bad guy out of the apartment, and Riley huffed a little as they shut the door. Apparently she hadn’t been immune to what had happened today, and apparently it did have something to do with the digging she and Aurum had done on Lonnie.

Aurum put his back against the door and Riley deadpanned a little at the frantic look on his face and the coffee stain on her carpet. Then he suggested the fire escape.

”The fire escape?!” she exclaimed, almost ready to simply say ‘screw it’ and face what was on the other side of the door. She stood for a moment considering just that, then cursed and stomped off to grab her purse, then it was to the window they’d just been sitting by. Those a-holes probably had guns somewhere, and when they figured out their stupid powers weren’t going to work they’d probably result to bullets.

”Well, don’t just stand there.” she said, hefting the thing open. ”This is your bright idea…and you’d better know where we’re going.”