There's always room for one less...

[akablackkitty]

The general atmosphere of the Conrad Hotel basement still isn't at its best, all things considered. Despite the looming threat of Romana waking up and possibly smiting everyone who isn't one of her angels, there are people around. Doin' Stuff.

Marshall Flinkman has staked out a little corner of the common room and jacked a table that is now filled

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[thepizzalord]

The odd, slightly demented-sounding giggles have attracted Harry's attention, so he takes a break from organizing his latest batch of supplies and seeks out the source. He pokes his head into the sunroom and spots Sonja. "Hey," he greets her with a smile. "She lives!"

He eyes her book curiously. It doesn't strike him as a particularly funny subject, but he's run across people with all sorts of ridiculous ideas on how magic works. "Good book?" he asks, not really meaning that at all.

[powerisall]

Sonja looks up from the book, the laughter dying down to a snicker. "She does. It takes a long time to recharge from something like that, but I'm better now. I've actually been up for a week, but I've been at Shep's building trying to get that fucking door fixed." And succeeded too, finally. Sonja's multi-talented and she didn't want any actual repairman snooping around in the area, especially since the building was obtained in desperately illegal ways.

She stares down at the book, shaking her head. "Stupid as fuck, but I needed the laugh. Spice racks and chanting naked in the woods to unnamed pagan goddesses just sounds ridiculous on any level, no matter how magic actually works." She arches an eyebrow at him. "And if they do that where you're from, I reverse the right to mock you forever."

She means that out of love, Harry. She likes you. Really!

[thepizzalord]

Harry laughs. "Nah, I could never really get into the whole naked dancing thing. And sacrificial virgins are just so hard to find nowadays." Once, he might've hesitated at making light of human sacrifice. Now it's just a silly idea. No pagan goddesses here, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, go about your business, citizens.

"Granted," he adds after a moment, "it's not always the most glamorous thing in the world, but normal people have no idea how it really works. Better that way."

"Although it does lead to your kind being mocked and belittled for their contributions to society," Lash adds. He looks over at her and gives her a warning look, although it's not too severe. She's right, although he hates to admit it. At least here, his abilities and knowledge are respected. That's a definite improvement.

[powerisall]

Sonja laughs. Shepard said he was a decent enough guy, but somehow she missed the memo on him being funny. Maybe he was funny before and she didn't notice it, because she was too busy focusing on transmuting the circle. Either way, she thinks he's funny now.

The laughter dies away and she fixes him with a look. Not so much a threatening look as a deeply serious one. "You bet your ass it's better. What people don't understand, they try to destroy or squash out. It tends to make people a bit tetchy. And I don't want any witch hunts down on my head." She frowns and looks away. "'Course with the way things are going in this city, eventually people are going to start figuring things out. The boss man thinks he's got a war with the angels, but wait until the normals start banging down his door."

Sonja... Doesn't have a very appealing view of normal people. For what amounts to good reasons, not that she needs one.

[thepizzalord]

Harry shudders. "Yeah, witch hunts suck. Pull a rabbit out a hat and you get blamed for killing the neighbor's cow or something, and then it just gets messy. Even back home, most people don't accept magic. They like their neat little world where science can explain everything, even if they see supernatural events right in front of them. Gotta get rid of anything that messes with that worldview, because they don't want to believe they don't know all there is to know." There's a silent Morons! added onto the end there. He is so sick of the human capacity for denial.

[powerisall]

"Preach it, brother," Sonja grins, holding up a hand in what amounts to a 'hallelujah' type gesture. The irony was clearly intentional. "You came to the right place though. Personally, even if the boss man himself isn't the kind to go out and kill normals just for spite, his little demon pets aren't so nice. I reckon when the ratio starts veering in the favor of demons, supernaturals, and people like you, we can put the witch hunt fears aside."

Implied genocide is fun? Or apparently it is in Sonja's world.

[thepizzalord]

"I've met a few normals that I like," Harry says, not quite agreeing or disagreeing with the whole "genocide is good" idea. "Back home I had this friend, a police officer. Too damn stubborn for her own good, but she could put up a hell of a fight. We saved each other's asses more times than I can remember - Bob might've been counting, but I don't know. Half the time she was completely out of her league, but at least she didn't have her head up her ass like the rest of the Chicago PD."

[powerisall]

"Well, some of 'em have their uses," Sonja shrugs, waving him off. "And some of 'em are tenacious enough to survive in brave new worlds by understanding what's going on, which I gotta respect 'em for."

But really? As a whole, normal humans are not a species that Sonja particularly cares for. There are always exceptions, of course. She doesn't like men, but she likes Harry.

She taps her fingers on her chair and rolls her shoulders a bit. She was down in the training room earlier, because Buffy made her feel positively out of shape that last time she spoke with her. "You seen the new digs?" She asks after a second. "I'm still tryin' to fix it up, but I thought maybe Shep might have taken you by while I was konked out."

[thepizzalord]

Harry shakes his head. "Shepard's told me a bit, but I haven't gone to see it in person yet. She wants it all cleaned up nice before showing it off, apparently." Which is fine with him. No sense in having your secret lair all cluttered and stuff. It just ruins the atmosphere.

[powerisall]

"Yeah, I'm workin' on it," she waves her hand again. "It looks better than it did though."

She grins and reclines a little bit on her chair. She loves that damn building more than anyone should love a building. She has plans for that building.

"There are hooks in the ceiling." She says that so gleefully in the same way that some teenage girls often express delight that their new camaro is pink.

[thepizzalord]

Harry's eyebrows shoot up at that. "Hooks. Really. How'd you manage that?" He can't decide if he's disturbed or impressed. Depends on how she's planning to use them, he supposes. Intimidation is something he's come to rely on when appropriate, but dealing with blood and guts is just... well, inconvenient sometimes. Not that he enjoys killing people for no good reason, of course. Good reasons to kill people, sometimes. Not everyone would agree, especially not his good friends the Knights of the Cross. But then, that's why they got him to do some of their dirty work back home, isn't it? Can't have God's holy warriors with blood on their hands, but Dresden's already damned, let him do it.

[powerisall]

"It's an old meat processing plant. Meathooks and shit." She bounces a little in sociopathic glee. "I haven't gotten to give it a proper christening, but I'll do it. Eventually."

Hey, the first blood on that floor can't be Shepard's little victim. She wants there to be blood on the floor when he gets there. And stuff.

[fightyourfoes]

"Can't christen the place without a proper name for it," a voice states abruptly.

Shepard stands there in the doorway to the sunroom with a tiny smirk on her face. She plops down in a spare chair and kicks her feet up. "So. Let's brainstorm. Then I'll take you there, Dresden."

[thepizzalord]

"Oh, I'm no good with names," Harry says with a grin. "I called my dog Mouse. He ended up the size of a small horse. And ate half my furniture." Slight exaggeration, of course. Mostly chewed, but definitely still useable. The teethmarks gave his apartment a very hunter's den atmosphere, if you ignored... well, everything else in the room.