In Passing Through.

Atticus walks through the empty Elysium and knocks on the Sheriff's door. "Hey boss, you in?" Atticus asks through the door. He didn't hear the Foosball table clacking, so that's a thing at least.

He didn't know how this conversation was going to go, and to be honest, he really didn't care. He knew what he wanted, and he knew what he didn't. And there was some stuff he just didn't have time for.

"Atticus, come in."

Lina's office was a simple dichotomy, split in half in the space. Two walls were covered in blackboards, one of which clearly outlined the progress on addressing a Hunter threat and the Echelon issue (if one knew what this meant). The rest were covered in shorthands that would take some time to decipher, but recent dates were on it. An astute individual would realize that these too were notes about investigations - just notes for Lina, as opposed to notes for the whole world. She had a rolling whiteboard stand that she could move a board onto tucked neatly into a corner by a filing cabinet and a simple oak desk with a computer on it. Wires were neatly tucked, a toilet roll keeping them all together so they weren't in the way. It was Work Lina, personified.

The other half of the office was chill. Detective movie posters from the noir era were on the wall. There was a worn black leatherette couch, a side table, and the foosball table. Still tidy, no shitstorms here, no sirree - but it was a much more relaxed half of the room.

The Sheriff was sitting at her desk. Her feet were up, her sensible black pumps on with one foot swaying idly. She had a laptop on her legs and was reviewing something and jotting notes down on a yellow legal pad. Very exciting. It could have been anything. Brood. Hunters. Cheating husbands. Who knew, when Lina Moretti, PI was involved?

She placed the laptop on the desk and put her feet on the ground.

"What's up? Get the door, please."

"Hey Boss," Atticus closes the door behind him. "Smoke?" Atticus offers his boss.

"So, I'll cut through it. When my current cases are done, I'm gonna give you the badge back." Atticus says knowing full well he wasn't actually given a badge of any sorts. No real warning or cuddling in his words. Lina ain't the type and Atticus knew she trucks with no bullshit.

"Why not?" she replied to the offer of a smoke, putting her hand out and pulling a lighter out of her desk. Zippo, with a magnifying glass on it. She had a motif, and she stuck to it. Lighting up, she took a long drag as he explained the purpose for his visit. She was somewhat surprised that he didn't hit her up at home, but hey. The key thing was his reasoning.

"Sure. You've certainly done your share. Mind telling me why? Getting in the way of studies, or is it something else?"

She reached over and turned on AC/DC's Thunderstruck, kicking the volume up as a means of interfering with heightened senses. Who knew who might be listening? She beckoned him closer as a sign of why she turned the music on.

Atticus leans in as per his boss's instruction. "It ain't my gig. After Bird, and the Gangrel Meeting, I am more and more reminded that my place is with the Dragon. It's like, you have a job and your good at it. It pays the bills and keeps food on the plate, but you just don't want to."

Atticus paused for a moment, taking a smoke off his cigarette. Lina knew by now that this is a tell from the Kindred that he was trying to formulate his thought.

"I appreciate you making me a deputy. I appreciate the opportunity. But this, all this... I just don't care about." Atticus gestures to the entire domain with a single turn of his hand. "It's a means to an end." He pauses again before looking to Lina's eyes, "This," The Savage points back and forth to Lina and himself, and in doing so to all of the dragon, "This I care about. This is what matters and this is what I work for."

Moretti gave a little 'hmm' and thought about what he was saying for a long minute. In her mind, having Dragons doing law enforcement made sense. Their martial prowess and wits being deployed for the defense of the Domain had been consistently leading to a safer, more prosperous territory, and a more perfect union between the Ordo Dracul and the Invictus who handled the burden of government. Still, she hadn't press-ganged him. That wasn't her objective.

"It is a means to an end," the Sheriff agreed. "But if it is coming between you and your studies, then we can't have that. And if this is purposeful change, then you must accept it. These are our principles, and it is right that you follow them. I trust your capabilities are available should a matter arise that threatens our interests?"

She was pretty sure she knew the answer and didn't need to ask the question, but then, she'd been wrong about Blackbird.

"Yeah, it just doesn't feel like the right gig for me. My work is best done in Florin or at the chapter-house." She was taking this better then he expected, but Lina was a realist. She understood that if someone's heart wasn't in the job, it wasn't getting done to it's full potential.

"Anything you need, I got you."

The youthful Grand Wyrm peered at Atticus, a long look over steepled fingers as she contemplated his statement. "Yes, I think you're right. For the Covenant's sake. Perhaps a different job is something you would prefer. Something closer to home."

She knocked twice on the desk, like she'd come up with something good.

"My Regency is our home, and our home faces threats. Perhaps, if you were inclined to continue in the service of your Order, you would accept an appointment as my Hound. We've got to keep our own backyard clear and safe, no?"

Atticus just nods along with Lina's words, "Yeah," Atticus noodles on that idea for a few moments. "That sounds like a better gig for me. I'll take you up on on it for sure." Atticus runs his hands down his pants as if wiping off the sweat. A look of revelation comes across his face. "Oh hey, I got you something," Atticus pulls a folded up napkin out of his pocket and hands it to Lina.

Napkin

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mcf4kbapdn..._5827.JPG?dl=0

"Then welcome aboard. I'll let the Domain know of your honorable retirement from the service of Her Majesty's Law, and your new posting." That was done. Easy. So long as the courageous Gangrel brawler was in service to their Covenant, she did not care what title he used. One day, she suspected he would take the Crimson and that would be that. However, until that Great Oath was taken, positions would be necessary. To be frank, with the Danse's focus on standing, this being having a title that indicated his standing as an enforcer made perfect sense. So long as Twist slummed it as a Hound for the Prince instead of letting her Primogency be known, Florin would have to do.

The napkin.

She glanced at it almost in passing. What could --

--oh.

Her mouth hung open a moment. She'd thought her path was set. The Twins of Mara had sent communication, noting that they had been watching her, that they were impressed, but not yet sufficiently so. That the Sworn of the Axe was looking at her did not surprise her. She was, after all, an enforcer for their Sect herself. That was what she thought she would be, that her existence would be spent serving the Covenant's military arm.

But since she had come to Sacramento, her competitive nature and her hope had driven her somewhere different. No longer was she just a thug, searching for a purpose and a way to overcome a curse not yet realized. No, now, the Curse was realized, but she had done so much more. She had become a leader, a politico, a social force, using her skills for more.

Her lips sealed, and she peered up at the Gangrel.

Wordlessly, she nodded. If he was to lead her there, then she would let him. If the Onyx would have her, then she would be their Seer.

Shall we wrap here?