[open/closed] i want disaster, i don't want to sleep

[friendsfordinner]

Who: Hickey & OPEN
When: early September
Where: Gloucester, around the ADI complex
Summary: Hickey comes into his own as the Hunt's bitch a newly Entity aligned.
Warnings: Threats of violence, stalking, just general creepy behavior, will edit as needed

closed to Eda, the inciting incident
ADI has been asked to keep an eye on Dogtown, beefing up patrols and recording paranormal activity while not entering inside. One of those people who's been asked to patrol is Hickey—which is a shame as Hickey is fundamentally lazy. He's leaning against a tree, not doing much work, ignoring the world around him (and unfortunately ignoring the shifty-looking teenager who's been eyeing him for the past few minutes, fully intent on stealing his wallet).

He only perks up when he hears someone else enter his area. He looks around before a wide grin spreads across his face. Eda. He likes her, even if he wishes she could be a little more upfront about the whole owl monster thing.

"Here for a visit?" he asks, shitty grin on his face. "Or did ADI drop you off here to play security guard as well?"

later on, open
This? This is fucking phenomenal. It's exactly what he wanted when he first heard of these Entities, exactly what he wanted from tuunbaq all the way back on the ice. He's more than just Cornelius Hickey. He's something better. Something new. And as far as he's concerned? He's more than happy to help the Hunt out as long as he gets what he wants.

He tests out his new gifts in all sorts of different ways. He follows people as they walk through busy areas, seeing just how long he can tail someone before they realize he's there—and the adrenaline rush he gets when they pick up the pace or double-back to try and lose him feels better than any drink he's had. He actually does his job helping to patrol the borders of Dogtown, slipping into the park more often than not. And when he's back at his apartment, back at the ADI complex itself? He'll just sit somewhere and stare at someone or something, taking in all the new details, scents, noises that he never knew before.

It is all intensely creepy.

Comments

[abrightboy]

Malcolm feels the eyes on his back as he walks through town. He looks at a reflective surface as he passes. Another one as he reaches the next block. The same man is there. He looks vaguely familiar. He’s pretty sure he’s seen him around ADI.

He pauses, then turns.

“Can I help you with something?”

[friendsfordinner]

Fuck.

Hickey gives Malcolm what he hopes is an innocent smile. "Who, me? Nah. I'm just headed over towards the theater."

Which is in the complete opposite direction from where Malcolm's going.

But hey, now that they're talking, "You're from ADI, yeah? I've seen you around the building."

[abrightboy]

His eyebrows go up faintly when the man insists he's going to the theatre. Surely he knows this isn't the way.

"Yeah. Malcolm Bright. Investigations."

[friendsfordinner]

Fuck.

"Cornelius Hickey," he says, with a small nod, still keeping that fakely innocent smile on his face. "Facilities. Though I've been thinking about taking a transfer as of late."

[abrightboy]

“Not to cartography, I hope,” Malcolm jokes pointedly.

The Inciting Incident | Sorry for the wait!

[edalyn]

"Nah, I'm definitely here for a visit, out of all the things I could be doing," Eda drawls. To be fair, it's not entirely false even though she is playing guard. Security isn't her main department but she does, like today, volunteer to watch this place now and then. She's curious about it, and the excuse to occasionally chase things back inside doesn't hurt either.

She gives him a wave and looks friendly enough, though she doesn't mirror the grin. She doesn't dislike Hickey--he's usually fine enough company, but the overt jealousy over the thing that caused 90% of the trauma in her life is only easy to laugh off for so long.

She leans on a nearby section of fence and sips the coffee she's holding. If she notices the shifty kid, she isn't particularly worried about it. At home there'd be at least a few shady looking demons on any given corner, and usually they just went about their business.

no problem! <3

[friendsfordinner]

"Come see scenic Dogtown," Hickey teases, grin on his face as he gestures to the fencing and run-down park. "Home of all sorts of nonsense that would probably kill you. You know there's definitely some monsters living in the woods."

As he talks, the shifty-looking kid walks closer to them. Give it thirty seconds and that kid is absolutely going to steal Hickey's wallet.

[edalyn]

"Sounds just like home," Eda says with a snort. All sorts of nonsense that would probably kill you isn't exactly an inaccurate description of the Boiling Isles, after all. "I've run into a few of those monsters... still not sure why people here are so freaked out by stuff having hands," she mused. That was just what deer looked like, right?

Distracted as she is thinking about this, she doesn't notice quite as soon as she normally would when the kid makes a sudden move towards Hickey.

[friendsfordinner]

Hickey doesn't notice either. Not until the kid's hands are in his pocket, he feels something brush against his thigh, and he sees the kid running away from him, wallet in hand.

"Oi!" Hickey yells, as he turns to immediately give chase. "You fuck! Get back here!"

The kid continues running, moving to quickly scale the gate and enter Dogtown. And Hickey, without any hesitation or any concern for his own safety and the fact that Dogtown is technically off limits, is right behind him.

[edalyn]

Eda hesitates briefly. It's technically none of her business, and she can't blame him for chasing the kid. Then again, she's not sure if she entirely trusts Hickey not to hurt said kid, and well... she's been that kid picking pockets, for the hell of it when she was especially young and to feed herself later. She doesn't actually want to see anything bad happen to them.

And then, of course, there's everything that might eat them in Dogtown. Not to mention the fact that following them is a pretty good excuse to go in. It's not long before she sighs and scrambles over the fence herself.

[bindlestifflost]

George is aware of Hickey at the kitchen table, boring a hole in his back while he puts up the few groceries he has bought for the week. Aside from how messy the guy can be, he hasn't had much issue with him. NPR nights have always been fun with the three of them, joined by an occasional neighbor wanting the more social aspect of taking in one of the various shows.

After he has the eggs put away, he closes the fridge door a little harder than usual and turns to meet his stare. "We got a problem? You been actin' weird ever since I got home."

[friendsfordinner]

Even the groceries smell different now. Yeah, the eggs smell like eggs. But now Hickey can tell that one of them should be used up first, that one'll go off quicker than the others. And meat? It's amazing just how bloody meat actually could smell. He could smell the blood, smell the traces of the animal itself, and oh hell George is talking to him.

Hickey gives him an innocent little smile that doesn't mean shit. "Sorry 'bout that. Just had...an odd day, that's all. Granted, isn't every day an odd day in this place?"

[bindlestifflost]

"You ain't wrong about that." He folds up the paper bags and tucks them in against the side of the fridge before heading over to the table to drop into a seat and grab his card deck. It's getting a comfortably worn look, the gloss muted and edges softened. He starts his usual Solitaire layout.

"Somethin' happen? You find an artifact?"

[friendsfordinner]

George has been here for a while. George might get it. Hickey slowly blinks, like a predator watching his prey before his posture shifts. It's deliberate, him trying to seem human and nonchalant instead of the finely tuned machine he is these days.

"Something did happen. I didn't find anything, though. I just...changed?" He gives George a little chuckle, shaking his head as he points out, "It's hard to explain."

[bossyboiler]

Kate is in the ADI complex at the same time Hickey is. Specifically, she's in the lunchroom eating lunch. Her meal is simple. It consists of a turkey and cheese sandwich with an apple that Winter had given her. She sits in silence while eating, occasionally scrolling through her phone.

She sits in silence until she feels eyes on her. It might be nothing but Yelena has taught her (in theory) how to spot and drop a tail. Kate raises a hand to her mouth and yawns. Her green eyes dart over to Hickey, waiting to see if he yawns too.

[friendsfordinner]

And then, without realizing it, Hickey gets caught in the sneaky yawn spiral and yawns himself as well. He places a hand over his mouth to try and cover it, but it still is very obvious what happened.

Fortunately for Kate, he is also very stupid and doesn't know that you're more likely to yawn if you see other people yawn.

[bossyboiler]

Thank you, Yelena.

Kate yawns again, this time for real because yawns are contagious like that. Still, she now knows that he had been staring at her. It could be nothing. Maybe he had just been looking at her because he didn't know her. It could be something innocent! However, Kate has never met a situation in which she couldn't make things worse and awkward by a direct confrontation.

"Can I help you with something?"

[friendsfordinner]

Hell.

When Kate looks over at him, Hickey realizes that he's caught. So he frowns, deciding that playing dumb is the best answer to this situation.

"No? Why would you?"

He is not as good a liar as he thinks he is.

lmk if this works! happy to edit as needed.

[conning]

Neal picks up on the fact that he's being followed almost at once. He doesn't see who it is, not this time around, but he doesn't need to. He's been losing tails since he was a bullied pre-teen; a few carefully executed turns, a shed jacket thrown over one arm when he's walking between two buildings, and he changes his silhouette to merge out onto a new street's traffic and vanish in plain sight.

When he feels himself being followed again--starting from the same place--he lets it play out a little longer. Takes a few meandering turns like a tourist shopper enjoying the neighborhood.

Then pulls another vanishing act.

The third time, he feels someone at his back almost as soon as he leaves the ADI building. He waits until they're in a relatively private space before starting to execute a fresh set of tricks to get away. But instead of vanishing, he waits until his follower catches up, passing his hiding spot before Neal steps out behind the other man. "Do you want something, or am I just that pretty?"

good for me!

[friendsfordinner]

The trail leads here but he's got no idea where that man is. He should be—

Ah. Fuck.

Hickey gives Neal an innocent little smile that is also shifty as hell. And hell, if Neal is going to offer him this excuse of flirting, even if it is obviously in jest, Hickey will take it like a drowning man grabs onto a stick. "Perhaps," he shrugs. "I wouldn't peg you right off the bat from first impressions but a man can be adventurous. And first impressions only matter so much."

helloooo apologies, I was traveling and then COVID knocked me on my ass, feel free to ignore!

[conning]

He wrinkles his nose in clear reaction to the proposition, eying Hickey with distaste. "I'm taken, and you're not my type. Why are you following me? You're the one who's been doing it, right?"

shows up late but like fuck it

[lesbeau]

Now, here's the thing. Most people probably aren't very good at noticing when they're being hunted, or seen, or stalked. More than that, most people probably aren't very good at noticing when someone else is. But also, most people aren't a trained monk with a little too much eyeball juice who know what Hickey's face looks like from a distance. So when Beau is also out around Dogtown, and she sees him fixated on someone... well, unfortunately for him, she can watch too.

So while he may be in one of his hunts, Hickey will get the striking feeling suddenly that he's being watched, as well. Not by the person he's following, of course, but something and somewhere. And it knows what he's doing. Oh, it knows.

If he looks around he might catch Beau just slightly around a corner, eyes bright and a bit too piercing for just a second if they lock, but if he can't spot her... well, have fun with that paranoia buddy.

rat out his ass, beau

[friendsfordinner]

He's definitely being watched. After fifteen minutes of stalking some man in his twenties, Hickey feels someone's eyes on the back of his head. Five minutes later and that feeling is still there.

He spins around, spotting Beau's gaze. But that's just enough. He doesn't have a firm grasp on her scent, but he has a slight grasp.

"I've found you," he points out, in a sing-song voice, as he saunters over towards Beau's direction.

ALWAYS

[lesbeau]

In all fairness, Beau isn't trying to be stealthy or hide when he turns, because she's been watching long enough. She likes Hickey, don't get her wrong, but she has to be on the lookout for this shit. Especially after everything with Jeff. She isn't... responsible for him or anything, but still. It's dangerous.

"I'd say I found you first." She steps out from around the corner, crossing her arms and leaning against the Dogtown border. "But you weren't looking for me just to see me."

[friendsfordinner]

"Yep," he readily admits, shitty grin on his face. He likes Beau, he'll actually admit to this. Besides, she's spotted him. There's no way he can try to weasel out of this one.

"I wanted to see if I was able to track you. I've gotten better at these sorts of things recently. Might as well see how well I'm doing."