(OOC: Continued from On the Road)

Stepping out of the car Hunter took a look at the building. The apartment he had chosen was on the second floor. High enough to avoid a casual break in, but low enough for swift exit in the event of fire. The apartment itself had been heavily modified to allow it to turn into a fortress at a moment’s notice.

While the aim was to infiltrate, Hunter had planned for the eventuality of failure. “What do you think?” he asked Paragon. As he did so Nigel pulled up and got out. “Well here we are Jenny,” he said to Katrina with a smile, “Uncle Darren’s new home.”

Katrina stepped out of the car. She and Nigel or rather "Dad" had talked for a long time, about all sorts of things. He had sort of glossed over her questions about his personal life and relationship to Hunter, but he had been perfectly willing to talk about things such as favorite food. Katrina personally couldn't believe that the man had eated squid and liked it, but didn't like oreos with peanut butter.

Katrina glanced up at the apartment building. It was made of pretty bricks that were reddish, and had white trim. The windows were respectably sized and they were in a nice looking neighborhood that even had a few trees, so it promised to have a good view.

"Which one is yours, Uncle?" She bounced over to grab his hand and then continued to gaze up at the building, searching for the one that the two of them would call home for awhile.

“What do you think?”

“Well here we are Jenny. Uncle Darren’s new home.”

"Which one is yours, Uncle?"

Iris stepped out of the car, and craned her neck to look up at the building. She was a rural gal, and this apartment living wasn't high on her list of 'likes'; she tended to feel closed in. But she had to admit Hunter had good taste in the neighborhood department.

"Not bad. Does it have a balcony?"

The building looked like it may have once been a very fancy hotel in past decades. It had that 'historic' elegance feel to it. She paused to look up and down the street, but only saw the two cars. "Um.... did we beat the movers?"

“See that one,” Hunter said, pointing to the third window from the left on the second floor, “That’s the one. No balcony I’m afraid. Also Milo has been amazing and the movers have been and gone. We’re all set up.” Giving Paragon a grin he led Katrina inside.

Once at their new apartment pulled out two sets of keys and handed one to Paragon. “If you’d like to do the honours,” he said, standing back to let her unlock the door and let them into their new home.

“We’re all set up,” Hunter said. Katrina was confused, but didn’t show it for the sake of the game of pretend. She thought she was here to help move in, but now it had already been done. Hunter was changing the rules mid-game, but she could roll with it. Maybe the movers had just brought the furniture and boxes into the apartment, but they still had to unpack the boxes. She’d see when they got upstairs. She let Hunter lead her up, still holding his hand until he needed it to get out the keys to hand to Iris.

“Open it!” Katrina encouraged, bouncing a little in excitement. “Let’s see what it looks like!”

(OOC: I'm taking a few liberties here, so please PM with any changes that need to be made/deleted/added, etc.

“See that one? That’s the one. No balcony I’m afraid. Also Milo has been amazing and the movers have been and gone. We’re all set up.”

"Oh. Okay." He sure didn't waste anytime. Iris didn't say anything else as they entered the lobby. She got the impression that the building had once been a hotel. A smartly dressed doorman greeted them with a grin, opened the door for them, and buzzed them through to the main lobby. There was a desk with a bank of mailboxes next to it. She could imagine seeing a desk clerk checking in guests and passing out keys in olden days. A small smile tugged at her lips.

They followed Hunter to the elevator, also made over with olden elegence, and up to the apartment. She waited for Hunter to open the door, and was a bit surprised when he handed her a set of keys to enter first.

“Open it! Let’s see what it looks like!” Katrina practically jumped in excitement, causing Iris to chuckle a bit.

"Okay, okay. Tell ya what...." She stuck the key in and unlocked it, then turned to Katrina with a smile and wink. ".... You go ahead." She waited for the girl to push open the door before peeking in herself.

In contrast with the outside and lobby of the building, the apartment was obviously modern, and already furnished and unpacked. The living room was decorated very contemporary, and was much brighter than she'd imagined. The kitchen also was larger than she expected for an apartment. There were three bedrooms, much to her relief, all decorated very differently, almost as if different designers each had picked a room without the others' knowledge. She noticed one had a Cat Treehouse scratching post in one corner.

She raised an eyebrow at Hunter, debating whether or not to warn him that Ebony tended to gravitate toward the belongings of people she didn't like.

<"Mmm.... nah, he'll figure it out eventually....">

Aloud she simply said, "It's bigger than I expected."

(OOC: Nice choice Iris, I approve)

IC: Hunter followed the girls inside and watched them review the apartment. As they looked at the aesthetics Hunter turned to Nigel and asked, “All the last minute additions in place?” Nigel nodded that they where and Hunter turned back to the girls.

“Well, I know how you like your space at times,” said Hunter with a smile to Paragon, “Now I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry. Whose up for making a quick trip to the grocery store, grabbing some stuff and coming back here and trying out that kitchen?”

Ooo. Iris let her open the door first. She did so, and looked around the apartment. It was very modern and clean looking. Very nice.

Katrina was slightly confused, but relieved that all the boxes were unpacked already. She remembered helping someone move once and unpacking had taken hours. Especially all the little knick-knacks that people often had. There weren't many knick-knacks here though. Mr. Antonytail didn't seem like a knick-knack kind of person.

At the mention of food, Katrina's stomach promptly growled. Oh yeah, I didn't have breakfast yet.

"Food sounds good to me," she responded.

“Well, I know how you like your space at times.” That raised an eyebrow, but Iris didn't say anything. “Now I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry. Whose up for making a quick trip to the grocery store, grabbing some stuff and coming back here and trying out that kitchen?”

Katrina's stomach growled audibly. "Food sounds good to me." Iris smiled, but wisely didn't laugh, instead replying,

"Same here. Sounds like a plan then." Though she'd gotten up at dawn, between the conversation and confrontation in the Canteen, and the Q&A session with Calley, she hadn't eaten more than a bite of sandwich and a few cups of coffee. She was surprised her stomach wasn't talking along with Katrina's.

"Let me set Eb loose first." She retrieved the, once again, yowling Siamese, set the carrier in the room with the Treehouse, unlocked it, and shut the door. Since the doorknobs were normal round knobs, she didn't bother blocking the door from being opened.

She walked back over with a, sort of, satisfied smile. "Hope the walls are soundproof. So are we doing breakfast, brunch or lunch?"

“How about some brunch?” Hunter suggested. “Brunch sounds good to me,” said Nigel, “I know a store nearby where we can pick up a few things. Come on Jenny, we’ll go and get the food and give Darren and Katie a chance to settle in?”

Hunter wanted a chance to check on the extras and make sure they were all in place. However, he also wanted a chance to talk to Paragon about fully utilising the gems. He guessed that he’d wait and see whether she felt like talking before deciding which he’d do first.

"Okay dad," Katrina responded, taking Nigel's hand and heading towards the door and eventually the grocery store.

Before exiting, she turned and narrowed her eyes mock-suspiciously at the two who remained standing in the apartment, "Just don't get too settled in while we're gone."

And with that the twelve year old was off to spend some more quality time with Hunter's favorite employee.

(Okay, let me know when it's safe for us to come back!)

“How about some brunch?”

“Brunch sounds good to me. I know a store nearby where we can pick up a few things. Come on Jenny, we’ll go and get the food and give Darren and Katie a chance to settle in?”

Iris resisted the urge to groan. She'd been hoping to spend a bit of time finding out more about Katrina, not 'settling in' with Hunter.

Katrina turned and narrowed her eyes mock-suspiciously at the two who remained standing in the apartment. "Just don't get too settled in while we're gone."

Iris returned the look and stuck out her tongue. "Cute. Real cute." Inside she shuddered at the implied thought.

Once the pair of them disappeared, she crossed her arms and fixed Hunter with an annoyed expression.

"All right, what's going on this time?"

“You need to get familiar with the added security features I’ve ha installed,” said Hunter, reasoning that now was not a good time to talk about her powers, “The sooner the better.” Walking over to a painting on the wall of a vase of flowers he pressed the far right flower once, the middle flower twice and the second left three times. The picture slide aside to reveal an inbuilt computer.

“This allows us to see everything going on inside and outside the building. It also allows us to activate the various security systems in place. From inside this apartment we should be virtually unassailable from the Church, but only if you know how everything works in event of attack while I’m out. For starters do you remember the combination I use to access this panel?”

While speaking he’d been flicking through the various cameras and doing a full sweep to check all around them. He’d seen nothing suspicious, but the system would remain active and alert him to any threatening changes.

(OOC: Sorry, a bit rushed. Hope it works)

Iris listened to and watched him demonstrate the painting/computer activation.

"For starters do you remember the combination I use to access this panel?”

She rolled her eyes. "I think you've seen too many spy movies. And here I thought I was overly paranoid. And no, I wasn't watching that closely. If we were ever attack, my reaction would be to run, not to stay and fight."

She shifted slightly, arms still crossed. She was a tad irritated that he obviously had spent quite a bit on fixing the place up, but yet he was going to quibble about her and Katrina using one credit card for a bit. But then again, right at that moment, anything he did or said was liable to irritate her.

Hunter could tell this wasn’t going to get him anywhere. Paragon seemed determined to be set against everything. “In that case the best route of escape from this apartment would be via your bed room window,” he explained, “Open the window, tap the corner of the bedside table closest to it three times and a ladder to the ground will extend.”

Shutting down the security station he turned and went into the kitchen. Paragon needed some space to cool down and he would give it to her. In the kitchen he stopped and wondered what Katrina and Nigel would get for brunch. He also wondered if this would work. He’d hoped that at least some of Paragon’s hostility would have dulled by now, perhaps he just needed more patience.