Éva Jozsefa Illésházy
Wed 10:29PM EST
The GPS system was a good investment. She had found it useful over the past two years, when sent to some strange town, one of the rural counties, an address off the beaten path. Tonight, she paused to bless the thing again as she followed the small road winding through the dark woods of the deeper areas of the pine barrens.
To the south, industry, agriculture, mixed development interrupted by stretches of wetlands, crossed by the Atlantic City Expressway. Here, nothing but acres of would-be wild and towns lost to time. With specific directions, she did not find it hard to locate the general area. Once there, though, she found herself lost several times, staring down a road that had been blacktopped but was turning into gravel and then into nothing, impossibly black beyond the halo of her headlights. The trees were so narrow and close by then that a three-point turn was a nerve-fraying lesson in fine-tuned german engineering.
After several such dead ends, she at last discovers what she believes is the appropriate drive, hidden by a veil of invasive trumpet vine that has grown in more quickly than native plants. Brights sweep over the small cabin ahead, flashing off the narrow windows, a halo of harsh, artificial light, rainbows dancing at the widest concentric circle of illumination. Moments later, the rumble of the Passat's engine quiets, the lights are cut abruptly off, and the night is silent again. To a city dweller like Éva, the silence is eerie and close, almost thick, oppressive.
The jangle of keys in her hands does little to dispel the creeping edges of the night as she climbs out of the car and approaches the cabin. Her clothing is inappropriate for the setting: a black linen suit wrinkled from the long drive, dark heels, sinking into the mud, the flash of white, a shell beneath the suit jacket, at the collar. Gingerly, she crosses the muddied yard and picks her way up the steps to the porch. Pausing at the door, she glances around and only then knocks. Her eyes fall from her hand to her shoes, and kicks up one heel to better examine the damage. She'll need to clean and polish then tonight, if they are to remain wearable.
Santiago
Wed 10:41PM EST
The vague scent of food (a simple fare, and smelling oddly like...breakfast) drifts from the open window. She can hear a television, which is somehow out of place with the otherwise rustic setting. A moment after she knocks the door swings open to reveal an exceedingly simple floorplan: raw wood planks and roughhewn furniture. A television, a sagging couch, a coffee table, a conjoined eat-in kitchen, a door to (presumably) bedroom and bathroom.
And Santiago: straight black eyebrows, unsmiling eyes, roman-cut short black hair. He looks her over and stands aside to let her in. "Hi. Thanks for coming out." The door swings shut behind her. Wood squeaks heavily on wood. Lightfooted, silent-stepped, the Spanish Forseti (a contradiction if ever there was one) heads back to the kitchen area. "Eggs and toast?"
Éva Jozsefa Illésházy
Wed 10:51PM EST
"Of course." Quietly spoken, mere politeness, though he can find no fault with her words or her manner. Her eyes drift over the interior in slow, sweeping strokes, and though her face remains carefully neutral, with the barest hint of a polite smile cresting her lips, she is somewhat troubled. The cabin's sparcity, or perhaps its existance. She never thinks about where they go, when they leave the orbit of her life. That they go somewhere as ordinary as this unsettling, somehow. That they sleep or wash or cook eggs and toast unsettles her.
Just within the door, she steps out of her shoes. The wooden floor will ruin her hose, no doubt, but she does not wish to track mud around. Two inches shorter than she was a moment ago, she is pauses in her study of his living room long enough to realize that she is hungry. Half-a-faint, formal smile. "That would be nice, thank you." She walks further into the bare room, but does not make herself at home. Her hands hang awkwardly at her side and before another moment has passed, she prompts, "Did you need something?"
Santiago
Wed 10:59PM EST
The interior is different from her sprawling flat, to be sure. It has none of the sleek modern amenities; little of the creature comforts that counter the sleekness into a cozy homeyness. It's raw wood, great beams laid bare; it's sparse, old, but clean furnishes, no curtains over the windows, no rug on the darkwood floor. There's an oldfashioned clock and a phone on an endtable. Behind that, the only thing similar to decoration: a large cross, little more than two unpolished wood sticks at right angles to one another.
All this is lit by two ceiling lights, both turned on by a dangling steel cord. The stove is large and hulking and black. The fire roars, almost certainly propane from a tank outside. Eggs sizzle and toast sizzles; there's no microwave, no toaster oven.
"Look on the coffee table," he says over his shoulder. The coffee table is unadorned, one slab of wood atop four legs. There's a notepad on it, written on in a flowing, slanting hand. It's Spanish, if she reads it, and mostly seems to be notes of some sort. Dates, names. Events. Crimes.
Beside it is the eviction notice.
"Inconvenient." His voice comes from right beside her. Somehow in the meantime the fire has shut off and he has crossed the room silently, handing her a plate with a fork on it. His button-up shirt is unbuttoned, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His skin is tanned and taut, and the two coiling tattoos down his sides are visible now and again as the shirt moves. He sinks down on the couch. "Not for me. I can pack everything and go in an hour if I need to. But there are people here who've lived here for years." The yolks on his own plate run yellow when he stabs them with his fork, and he mops it up with a slice of toast.
Éva Jozsefa Illésházy
Wed 11:22PM EST
Absorbed in legalese as she is, the sounds of sizzling eggs and browning toast fade into the distance. It's a trick attorneys learn sometime in their first year of law school, extreme concentration, tuning literally everything else out. Legal language is obtuse and abstract, endlessly dry. To understand it, one must put one's mind in circles around circles until little curliques of thought and sprawled everywhere.
And so she's startled by his sudden appearance, the plate at her shoulder, the voice in her ear. Startled enough that her shoulders tense and her head snaps backs, dark eyes roaming over her shoulder. The cabin, the plate, the wolf-man at her shoulder.
Plate in one hand, notice in the other, she hesitates her eyes trail, briefly, over the notebook. Names. Dates. Crimes. Something cold on her spine, something raw in the pit of her stomach, and she tears her eyes away before any of the words (Names. Dates. Crimes. His next victim. His last execution. She doesn't want to know.) have been committed to memory.
"Do you know who owns the land?" she asks as she circles to the couch. She stands there a moment, considering positions, and then sits at last, gingerly, on the very edge of the couch. The notice is set aside, and her attention turns to her eggs and toast. "Or, perhaps, why they're doing this? We're in the state reserve, aren't we?"
Santiago
Wed 11:29PM EST
Noticing the direction of her gaze - there's very little, perhaps nothing, that Santiago does not notice - he reaches down and flips the notebook casually over. It's best if she doesn't know. The last execution, the next victim. It's best if she didn't think about such things, because sometimes they tried (futilely) to stop it. And then they stood in the way of the iron law of Fenris.
The couch is a three-person affair. Santiago doesn't sprawl. He almost seems to crouch, compact and liquid-boned, lean. There's plenty of room in between. A shake of his head, and he swallows before he speaks, washing it down with black coffee. "Coffee?" he offers, first. Then, "I don't know. Corran, a Fostern Child of Gaia, and his mate own these cabins. They might know."
Éva Jozsefa Illésházy
Wed 11:37PM EST
Fostern is not a familiar word to her. Child of Gaia, however, she recognizes. So too, the peculiar term mate, one she does not particularly like. It makes them sound like so much chattel, and even if that is all they are (that is all they are, who stand on the sidelines, chattel and tools), it is not something she finds pleasant to contemplate. Some faint smile passes across her mouth, though, a distant thing. "No other information?" A bite of toast, small and precise, just dipped in the yolk of her egg. "Or, at the least, where I can find Corran or his wife?" Preference there clear.
Afterthought: "No, no coffee, thank you." She offers a mild shrug punctuated by the wave of her fork. "This late, it would just keep me up."
Santiago
Wed 11:42PM EST
Santiago doesn't wolf his food down. Nor does he contemplate each bite. He eats at a moderate pace that soon cleans up the plate, and he mops up the last of the yolk in a swirl of toast, nearly artistic. Going to put the plate into the sink, the drains his coffee.
"Just up the road." The water comes on and he does the dishes. "The big house. I can show you if you like."
Éva Jozsefa Illésházy
Wed 11:49PM EST
"Please," comes Éva's quiet reply as she rises from her place and brings her own plate to the sink. It is not cleaned. Half the eggs, half the toast: neither her usual late night supper, though a strangely satisfying one.
The clink of her plate beside the sink. The subtle swish of her spring suit, the quiet pad of her feet as she crosses the rough-hewn floor. She prefers not to watch him engage in domesticities. It is too humanizing, and she knows what he is capable of. She slips into her shoes at the door and the walks outside, to wait for him on the porch, contemplating the silence, the thorough darkness, her expression closed as a furled flag.
Santiago
Wed 11:54PM EST
Soon enough Santiago reemerges. The wood door grates open, squeals shut. He has the notice in hand. The shirt is buttoned up, rolled the sleeves down, and stands buttoning the cuff on the darkened porch. The street is a black river of gravel, but his eyes need no light. "Come on," he says, and takes her over to Corran and Kimber's cabin, where they converge with Corrina and Matthew.
Santiago nods to the other pair. Swimming out of darkness, he holds up a hand in greeting to the Coggie. "Corran-Rhya, Eva Illeshazy." A curious respect there, the tone midway between formal and friendly. "Eva, Corran. She's a lawyer and interested in this whole mess with this." He holds the flyer up. "I told her you're the one to talk to."
Corran Vong
Wed 11:57PM EST
He looks up from his burger with wide dark green eyes.
Looks to the door, then back to them and stands taking the portch rail. There are two chairs and the swing holds two
"Please come and join me... if my wife comes out one of yall brought me the burger."
He offers Eva his hand.
"Dr Corran Vong."
He smiles and nods, then offers it to Matt too
"THanks.. "
He peeks at the flyer and raises his brows and looks to Eva and nods
"What kinda layer might you be Eva?" His smile bright. They would all feel an air around Corran. Something that supports them. Lifts them up. Calming and gentle it flows out from him
Santiago
Wed 11:58PM EST
Santiago finds a comfortable post to lean his shoulder on. Sooner or later, when it's polite to do so, the rather low-key (another contradiction) Forseti heads home.
Éva Jozsefa Illésházy
Thu 12:00AM EST
The woman accompanying Santiago is of moderate height, and could perhaps be called tall in the shoes she calls her "court heels" (or court hells, of an evening, after a long, long day). She is dressed in formal business attire and her dark hair is bound in a sleek French twist. Dark eyes beneath arched dark brows swing from Matthew and Corrina to Corran as she is introduced. Her smile is crisp and professional, though the same cannot be said of her suit, wrinkled now from a long day and a long drive.
"I'm a public defender, Dr. Vong," she says, taking his hand in a brief, firm handshake. Businesslike and attractive, she is, though to Garou eyes there is something more: a hint of pure blood, and not the most favored kind.
Corrina
Thu 12:03AM EST
Corrina offers her hand for a polite shake as well.
"Nice to meet you."
Her breeding is evident as well, her bearing, manner, everything about her suggesting that once there were heroes in her family.
Matthew Burk
Thu 12:04AM EST
"Nice to meet you, Dr. Vong."
The offered hand is taken, and shaken as firmly as the young man can manage. Which, to be truthful isn't very much at all. Now, Santiago referred to Corran as -rhya... and those here are bred well (he feels so... common..), so it's a fair bet.
"Matthew Burk, Wide Eyes. Cliath Angalkuq of the Younger Brother."
Corran Vong
Thu 12:05AM EST
He nods "I see." He looks her over and his brows go up
"Lemme grab the papers."
He puts his plate on the railafter taking abite and covers his mouth with his hand in an "oops" thing and nods "Eva this is Corrina, Corrina, Eva" He ducks inside and comes back with the thick packet of papers and gently offers them to Eva and looks around taking up his plate agan and whispers
"Wife is pregnate... if I don't eat this out here I'll lose it." A bit of a grin.
"My brother is coming in from Montana tomarrow, He's in enviromental law. He's going to help with the other stuff. Do you think you can help with the eviction?"
He looks to Matt.
Nods
"Ironwood, Fostern Theurge to the Children of Gaia. Ranking Theurge and garou in these parts Welcome." He smiles looking back to Eva and gestureing again to the chairs
Corrina
Thu 12:08AM EST
Corrina takes one of the chairs, leaving the swing or a closer chair for Eva, since she and Corran have important business. Hers can wait a little longer.
Corrina
Thu 12:10AM EST
Although . . .
"I'm going home this weekend and I was going to ask my dad to see what he and his colleagues could do. Most of them are environmental lawyers, but there are a couple of corporate lawyers. I figure that's a good mix to stall the proceedings."
Éva Jozsefa Illésházy
Thu 12:12AM EST
"It's a pleasure, Corrina," Éva replies, shaking the young woman's hand. Then, a nod to Matthew. "Mr. Burk." The rest of his words found small purchase in her mind, unfamiliar with them as she is.
The niceties finished, Éva climbs onto the porch and takes the chair Corran offers, glancing through the packet he gave her. For several moments, she seems absorbed. Then she lifts her head and looks over the edge of her spectacles toward Corran. Her eyes rest somewhere on his face, but never meet his eyes. "I'm sorry, did you say your brother was coming from Montana?" Back to the papers, and then back up a moment later. "Do you own this land, Dr. Vong? Or is this government property?"
Matthew Burk
Thu 12:13AM EST
"Ironwood-rhya."
Bowing his head (lower than Corran's), Matthew moves back, taking a seat furthest from the conversation. Eva is talking to Corran, Corrina is his kin, and Matthew.. is just here.
Corran Vong
Thu 12:16AM EST
"It's deeded to another Gaian, held in trust though grandfather clause I belive. My wife knows more about it. I should have that information soon. SHe's gathering it up"
Éva Jozsefa Illésházy
Thu 12:21AM EST
"Then I suspect they are seizing the land through exercise of imminent domain." Quietly spoken, her voice is crisp and professional. "Technically, imminent domain is only supposed to be used for public projects such as highways, or schools perhaps, but in recent years local and state governments have expanded that definition to include economic development. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has upheld such use of the power when there is a compelling public interest." Her smile is brief and strained, dark eyes drifting out toward the trees. Mild disbelief, then. "It's hard to imagine, though, what they could want out here. Do you know?"
Corran Vong
Thu 12:24AM EST
He nods "To destry as much as they possibly can. Endron is the 2nd largest oil company in the world. They claim they are drilling for oil. In reality they are a wyrm tainted company. I fought them in Montana. It's how I achived my fostern rank. There it was a lake. Here... 1.1 million acres of ecological marvel. They don't even have to find anything. Just putting up their facilities to TRY will do serious harm to the enviroment and maybe harm this place for millina."
Éva Jozsefa Illésházy
Thu 12:33AM EST
The woman's brows draw together, and her wreathing smile is a distant thing, some meager response to his passion and eloquence, perhaps. "Whoever holds the deed will need to oppose the eviction, unless he or she is willing to give you power of attorney, in which case you can act as his or her agent and contract for such."
Her dark eyes drift back to his face. "Once you have that information, I can draw up request for injunction to stop the evictions, and a limited power of attorney for the owner to sign, giving you, Dr. Vong, the right to act in his or her place in all legal matters concerning the property." Her fingers drum briefly on the thick file. "I cannot file the response, since I am a public employee, but I can refer you to a local attorney familiar with real estate law. I think you're less likely to draw too much attention to yourself and your wife if you use a local attorney for the private matter."
Her brow furrows in thought. "Do you know if they are seizing more than just your own land?" Some gesture, towards the night, south toward the agricultural areas.
Corran Vong
Thu 12:38AM EST
He nods listeing to her as he eats his burger and looks to Matt to see if he's soaking this up and back to her
"I'm not sure but muy gut tells me they have to be. They want maximum effect. They will try and access headwaters of streams and rivers as far upstream as they can and the like. While they make money. This company seems to honestly want to hurt the enviroment more.
As for the power of attorni my wife might already have one. I'll check on all that.
Whom do you work for?"
Matthew Burk
Thu 12:42AM EST
Matthew, of course, is just keeping quiet. This isn't something that he knows much... well, anything about. Laws aren't his forte. One thing is, and he doubts that would be any help. Unless he could...
Éva Jozsefa Illésházy
Thu 12:47AM EST
As Corran looks to Matthew, the Shadow Lord kinfolk follows the track of his gaze. It's a natural motion, sure and quiet as her dark eyes. "If they're taking the whole of the pine barrens, Dr. Vong, you have a natural constituency." She glances back, and perhaps for the first time there is a spark of hold in her eyes, a genuine weight to her smile. Perhaps it is merely the sure, slow effect of Corran's calming presence. "I don't know what the population is, but there are several historic villages and profitable blueberry farms and other agricultural concerns that fall within the area governed by the Pine Barrens commission. That's a rather large group, all of whom will be displaced from their homes, some of whom have roots reaching back several hundred years."
She falls quiet, and only then remembers his question. "Oh, I'm sorry. I work for the state office of the public defender. We defend indigent criminals." Her smile, brief and weaving, mildly tart. "You know, you have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney..."
A small shrug offered after the explanation. Her profession is not the most popular one: defending criminals, drug dealers, rapists, murderers, with only the occasional innocent caught in the middle. "Do you mind if I make a suggestion?"
Corran Vong
Thu 12:49AM EST
He shakes his head "Oh I doupt they are taking all 1.1 mill acres.. even THEY don't have that much money and yes any suggestions will be appreciated. And please Call me Corran. We're all of the blood here."
Éva Jozsefa Illésházy
Thu 01:04AM EST
"Even so, doctor..." There is comfort to be found in titles. Comfort: comfortable distance, formal ties. These are all things she prefers, when dealing with the Nation. His given name sits uneasily on her tongue, but as he bids, she does. "Corran," a quick, apologetic smile. She clears her throat before continuing. "Even so, there are doubtless other lives that will be disrupted. Locals, farmers whose watershed will be affected, small recreational companies, bed and breakfasts. Who wants to vacation in an oil field?"
Some quick shrug and a gesture of her hand. They might think she could go on and on, and they would be right. How easy it is to get caught up in one's own rhetoric when one is preaching to the chorus. Color, faint in her cheek. "Form a non-profit organization with some vague purpose, to protect the cultural and environmental heritage of the Pine Barrens. I can draw up the papers, if there are local kinfolk who would be willing to file them. From there, you can do several things: you can file suit, you can recruit your human neighbors to your cause, you can publicize the situation, and you can solicit donations to pay for the legal fees."
Her brow darkens briefly, furrowing and then clearing once more. "It would also serve to deflect attention from you and yours, as the immediate opposition, to organization, camouflaging your identity and preferably - " another shadow, furrowed. " - actually, perhaps you should have someone entirely unconnected with you. Someone safe. The corporation's officers will be public information. Perhaps your wife has some local friends who would be similarly outraged?"
Her hands spread wide. "You'll need local counsel in addition to your brother, as I doubt he's admitted to practice law in New Jersey. In order to be recognized by the court, he'll need someone who has stood for the New Jersey bar and passed to sponsor him. If Corrina's father's firm is in New Jersey or New York, it would be perfect. He'll also need assistants, access to westlaw and a law library, some sort of legitimacy that local counsel brings, particularly before local courts."
Corran Vong
Thu 01:07AM EST
He listens and nods "Enviromental law superseeds juristiction as it's usually federal court but yes your right local legal councel would bee needed. The rest is good advice. Thank you." He smiles. She can tell he honestly listened and is taking her advice. Not some arrogent know it all garou this one
Éva Jozsefa Illésházy
Thu 01:24AM EST
"Dr. Vong," some faint smile. "I'm afraid attorneys are more jealous of their privileges than physicians. Even were the suit to be filed in Federal Court - " a mild pause, a sound in the back of her throat, " - and likely, it should be as you will be suing for an injunction against the State of New Jersey - your brother would have to either sit for the New Jersey bar, a process I am certain he does not wish to repeat, be admitted through a reciprocity agreement, or be sponsored by a member of the New Jersey bar. I suspect that Montana and New Jersey do not have a reciprocity agreement. It certainly would not come up often, and I know you would not want to see your brother disbarred for the illegal practice of law. I'll let you stitch people up, and fight the Wyrm, if you will leave the practice of law to me."
Éva rises then, straightening her suit jacket as she hands the packet hand to Corran. On top, a white business card. "When you know the legal status of your land, give me a call and I will draw up a response. If you want to form a corporation, let me know and I will speak to your kin so that we can organize something."
Then, a quiet glance toward the night. The mild asperity in her voice disappears. "You realize, all this is likely only to slow them down." Her gaze trails back to him. "That's all we can do, Dr. Vong. It's up to you to stop them."
Corran Vong
Thu 01:27AM EST
His brows rise at the first part. Many garou would anger. Her own people might strike for such words. A talon would kill, A Fang banish. Corran listens and smiles. A soft chuckel and he nods
"Quite right. Law was never my thing. I stand admonished."
He takes the packet back and nods "Thank you I'll be in contact soon. We'll stop them." He smiles to her
"Go with Gaia Ms Illeshazy"
Éva Jozsefa Illésházy
Thu 01:36AM EST
"I know you will, sir." Quietly, and perhaps abashedly, she replies. It's rare she oversteps her bounds, and doubtless she is aware of the transgression. "I suppose it need not be said that my involvement should be kept quiet. You, your kin. No further." Her smile is self-conscious and not a little wry. "I'm not supposed to offer legal advice outside the bounds of my office.
"Good evening, Dr. Vong." Éva nods quietly to him, and climbs down the porch steps. As she walks, she nods to Matthew. "Mr. Burk."
Her footsteps on the graveled drive, disappearing into darkness. After a moment, they may see the meager light of a slim flashlight the size of a credit card lighting her way as she stumbles toward Santiago's cabin, and her car parked in its drive.
Éva Jozsefa Illésházy
Thu 01:36AM EST
"I know you will, sir." Quietly, and perhaps abashedly, she replies. It's rare she oversteps her bounds, and doubtless she is aware of the transgression. "I suppose it need not be said that my involvement should be kept quiet. You, your kin. No further." Her smile is self-conscious and not a little wry. "I'm not supposed to offer legal advice outside the bounds of my office.
"Good evening, Dr. Vong." Éva nods quietly to him, and climbs down the porch steps. As she walks, she nods to Matthew. "Mr. Burk."
Her footsteps on the graveled drive, disappearing into darkness. After a moment, they may see the meager light of a slim flashlight the size of a credit card lighting her way as she stumbles toward Santiago's cabin, and her car parked in its drive.
Corran Vong
Thu 01:38AM EST
He smiles and nods
"Never met you."
He watches her depart. watched for an extra few moments knowing sound carrys in the woods. then a few moments just for good measure and looks to Matthew
"Is it me or was she hot as hell? Oh man I am such a sucker for intelligent women." He fans him self
"She gave good acdvice though. Some of which I'd thought myself. The nonprofet thing and all but damn if she didn't package it all up well."
He smiles
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