Not Just Anybody

**Richard Price** · Apr 10th, 2019 01:32 PM

Rich had been debating where a good place to book a meeting was, but decided that it may have just been better to keep things as an in house affair, literally. While normally wary of who he invited to his home he figured this matter was one that allowed him to bend the rules.

Rich had sent John the address and the time for a nice lunch. The Ogre had hauled in a massive amount of Chinese, if there was a Chinese dish to be enjoyed, Rich had brought it home. Meats, noodles, rice, soups, vegetables, etc...Whatever the two of them didn’t finish, well that was dinner, a midnight snack, breakfast, and lunch in that order. Plus Fawkes could always help himself so it never hurt to have more.

Being that the meeting was at his own house, he chose not to dress for a night on the town, instead going with a simple pair of blue jeans with a black t-shirt tucked into them. His accessorizing was limited too, a pair of ruby studs in his ears, and a gold chain on his neck. He had finished setting out the food on the island of the kitchen while the television that was built into the fridge played through one of the basketball games for the previous night.

”You know, if you had tried winning a little earlier we may not be in this mess.”

He exclaimed as the Lakers began to pull ahead. At this stage all he had to do was wait for John, checking his phone to see if he missed the door bell

**Richard Price** · Apr 10th, 2019 01:33 PM

John Doe ErlangShen

Apr 12th, 2019 11:12 PM

John hurried up to the door and rang the door bell. Once Richard opened it, he could see that John was breathing heavily. "I..." inhale, exhale, "am so sorry, for being late." His Mien was a deep onyx, seemingly indicating how embarrassed he was.

He produced a bottle of Sudwerk’s Dry Hop Lager. "Read about this in the Bee. Heard it's good," he held it out to Price as a gift.

**Richard Price** · Apr 15th, 2019 01:05 AM

The Crimson King heard the doorbell, and smiled as he assumed his guest must have finally arrived. Long strides took him quickly through the home before he reached the front door, and opened it to find the Winter Courtier there, with a peace offering of all things.

”John, pleasure to meet you one on one finally. Don’t worry about timing, the only thing that we might have to worry about is the Hot and Sour Soup being a little cold. And I appreciate the offering.”

The Ogre was all smiles, if he had wanted a strict meeting time he would have made it very clear. In this case he wasn’t about to launch into a speech for being a few minutes for what would be a huge lunch and some informal talks for the time being.

”Before I let you in, though, do you promise not to cause any damage, or trouble while you are in my home?”

Housekeeping, a promise broken was just that - and if bad things happened Rich could smell it. He wasn’t about to let that go unaccounted for. Once that was taken care of, he stepped aside and waved John in.

”Kitchen is straight ahead, past the dining table, and kitty corner left. You can’t miss it. Help yourself to whatever you want, and I will let you get a good few mouthfuls before we talk any shop.”

When there was no need to talk down those seething with anger, Richard Price was quite easy to get along with. And he wasn’t about to let anyone into his home without at least feeding them or getting them a drink - or sometimes too much of both.

”Reminds me, have we ever had a formal introduction?”

Apr 15th, 2019 11:23 AM

John quirked a chrome bump of a brow at the man's request. His voice was unmistakably confused, yet he complied, allowing the Wyrd to take notice of their agreement. "Of course I promise, to cause any damage, or trouble while I am in your home."

He then stepped across the threshold, zipping into the kitchen to drop off the beer in the fridge and returned to Richard with two plates, one for the Summer and one for himself. The Darkling had a surprising speedy efficiency in his movement when Price wasn't looking. "Nice to officially meet you. I know we didn't get much chance," he stated, handing the Ogre the plate. "I've seen you at the Freehold events, but, that's about it."

**Richard Price** · Apr 16th, 2019 02:40 AM

The promise was made, it made the Ogre feel better like things were right with the Wyrd. He at least hadn’t gotten to the point requesting waivers be signed yet, but who knew what the future held for them. Following the Darkling, he was almost to the kitchen when his guest reappeared, and almost made him jump.

”Thank John, any preference of seating? I have the table in the kitchen, we can toss the playoffs on the TV if you are an NBA kinda guy, I have the patio set up.”

He was happy to let his guest pick where they would enjoy this feast of cheap and delicious Chinese food.

”Things have been very hectic to say the least. Getting things in order has been a task and a half. Hopefully this little lunch will let us bond a little, I have heard a lot of good things about you John, and you seem like a genuine person. How long have you been in the City if you don’t mind me asking?”

Apr 16th, 2019 11:57 AM

The Darkling paused, thinking for a moment, "Kitchen is good. Home is where the hearth is, and all that." He smiled revealing slightly darker, reflective silver teeth. He was, after all, a living mirror. "Again, thank you very much. I haven't had Chinese food in a while. Tacos are good, but, even then, too much of a good thing." He chuckled.

Then the Ogre asked the question. "Over a year, that much is certain." His voice hinted at a memory eluding him, "Probably just passed my one year mark here. It has a great community, so I stayed."

**Richard Price** · Apr 17th, 2019 03:27 AM

”It is certainly a unique community, one that sucked me in real fast. There is a charm.

Rich chuckled and enjoyed some of the greasy mess on his plate. Chinese food was like a drug that you needed to indulge every once in a while or the compulsion would consume you. It also meant that Rich needed to add a mile to his next run.

”I have also heard you have been trying to help some of the other new arrivals out. Any truth to this? And I mean more than offering directions and maybe a free meal. It is an admirable course of action if it has merit and I would like to be the first person to thank you for your efforts.”

He waited to see what the Darkling had to say in response, Rich wasn’t about to go and offer deals to somebody who really had no interest in them. He wanted to try and figure out of John’s heart was really invested in helping people move on and adapt to the city.

Apr 19th, 2019 09:46 PM

John smiled as he was pleased to hear how quickly Richard managed to integrate into the Freehold. "That's wonderful news. I'm glad to hear that. It really is a marvelous community."

Then the bigger topic at hand - John's own goals. He nodded, then ate a few pieces of sweet and sour chicken, each one dipped into that mysterious red sauce they always provided. He slowly breathed in and out. "Yes, you have heard right. I was homeless for a very long time. There's a story behind it." The tone of his voice was solemn, yet quickly picked up being cheerful. "That experience is what led me to pursue a dream. I want to help other Lost overcome their own grief and other hidden flaws. We have enough grief. What's wrong with lightening the load just a bit, yea?" He smiled his chrome plated teeth - some of that red sauce tinted his teeth an odd shiny crimson.

"It starts with me improving my own ability to read other people. I know that I'm not very articulate. This is especially troublesome when dealing with those who genuinely can't understand social cues like Elementals and I end up talking Fawkes like a child. Which, in turn, makes him upset. It's sort of a downward spiral as I try to explain myself and make it worse."

He concluded by shoveling spoonfuls of rice into his mouth.

**Richard Price** · Apr 20th, 2019 01:59 PM

”You gotta be careful with some of us, as hard as it is to judge a book by its cover the nature of what we are now makes that incredibly hard. Knowing your words is a good place to start, and an admirable cause - never stop learning because you can never know enough. Just like expanding that vocabulary make sure you put those ears to work. There are times when it is best to just listen and something that can be just as valuable as having the right thing to so.”

“I assume I am just reiterating what you already know, of course, but helps me wrap my head around the process.”

Rich let the young man’s story sink in for a moment between steaming bites of whatever had become a mess on his plate, mixed together and barely separated.

”We have that in common at least, I had a period where I had no roof over my head. Managed to get by bumming on couches and floors when I could. Other Times just chose not to sleep until the sun was up so I didn’t wake up with boots in my face. Ironically enough I never had a more stable life then when I got back to reality, I lived on shoe strings trying to make everything look like it was okay, successful even.”

Rich set his plate down and turned towards the fridge, pulling out two of the bottles of his own stock of beer, letting the gift John had provided continue to chill. It would be in poor taste to ask the Winter to use magic to cool the bottle.

”But I don’t want waste all your time, knowing what you want to do I think we need to establish a starting point for you to start doing some good. I have come to the head of a very troubled Court, if you couldn’t tell already. Demons, delusions, and denile are amongst the troubles the Iron Spear faces. If you are willing, and true with your intentions I believe we could come together on an arrangement that would help you accomplish your goals, start the healing process for many of the courtiers I serve, and strengthen our position outside of the Hedge.”

If John wanted to help there was no better start than here. The only question was did John want to tackle the personalities of Summer in such a way.