(no subject)
About a day and a half after I brought Tara home with me, Lorne got up the gumption to evict me. I can’t say that he kicked me out… hell, the guy gave me the inside scoop on a nice place where the landlord’s willing turn a blind eye to tenants of the not-quite-human variety. Even helped me pack. But the bottom line remained the same: Either Tara left, or we were leaving together.
I subjected him to all my best cross-examination strategies, but he wouldn’t give me much more than a woeful look and more ominous predictions for my future. It’s the first time since I met the guy that Lorne has been anything less than completely helpful and sympathetic towards me, even during some of my serious low moments under Wolfram & Hart’s banner, so I wasn’t about to begrudge him his opinion this time. But no more anti-demon-violence-charmed roof over our heads, no sir. Now it was going to have to be me and Tara against L.A.
Hell, I’m ready for it. We’re ready for it.
I still haven’t been able to get any more details from Tara about her past… or this guy that she keeps looking over her shoulder for, that undead son of a bitch who left scars on her in more ways than one. (Maybe my cross-examination skills have gotten a little rusty…) That’ll come. No need for me to force it. (But when I do find out, by god, that’s one vamp who’s got a date with the business end of a pointy piece of wood.)
As it turned out, Lorne’s last bit of advice to me was right on the money. I liked the landlord within five minutes of meeting him, a gangly twenty-something who introduced himself as Lizard. He had tattoos to rival mine, enough piercings to set off a metal detector, and a seemingly permanent smile. With Tara waiting until nightfall to join me, I explained our situation to him in the vaguest terms possible. He just laughed and turned over a key, pointing me towards a little two-bedroom deal with a single window in the main area looking out into an alleyway.
“Not much of a view,” he joked as he showed me around the place, “But you won’t have to worry about sunrise sneaking up on you, eh?”
“And if we want a view?”
“Roof’s public property, dude. Do your star-gazing up there. You throw somebody off said roof, you’re cleaning up said sidewalk. No loud pets, no fighting unless somebody’s trying to kill you, no eating other tenants, and no Simon & Garfunkel.”
I agreed to his conditions and his grin got impossibly wider. “Welcome to Haven Court, dude!”
After he left, I took a minute to look around the place with a more critical eye. How the mighty hath fallen. It was a big old step down from any place that Wolfram & Hart had ever kept me in, and although it was bigger than what Lorne had to spare, it was in serious need of some TLC. Let’s hope Tara’s got a nesting instinct, because I’m sure as hell in over my head here. Nonetheless, it’s ours now. It’s ours, with blood in the fridge and a window safe from the sunrise, and it feels like it’s got the potential to become a home soon enough.
Unpacking the few belongings that I’ve been dragging around with me all this time, I putter around the place tidying up, waiting for nightfall and for Tara.