The Entrance

[Cindy Harker]

Cindy tried not to cringe at hearing Austin say 'mansion'. Oh well. She supposed Damaris and Zin would have found out sooner or later, it wasn't like she could hide it from them when they were stood in front of it. And he did have a point. For all of its fittings, it hadn't really come designed with werewolf keeping in mind.

"Well, I suppose the wine cellar is reinforced. I cannot open the doors down there when they aren't locked..." Although, Cindy had to admit, she was hardly the best person to test the strength of something.

"Although I suppose we would have to move the wine..." She added, as if that was a major problem. It wasn't as if she included herself personally in the 'we' anyway.

[Austin]

Austin waved his arms around alittle to indicate the whole building
"what this place here lacks in mansionosity, it makes up for in sheer Swiss army knife usefulness - I could put a rampaging lycan in lockdown in one command"
He grinned, realising that his last statement sounded like a sales pitch
"it also comes in five oh-so-unfashionable colours and is wipe clean for your convenience" he added with a slight chuckle

[Damaris Y Blaidd]

Damaris considered Austin's words carefully. Mansion, huh? she thought. I had sort of figured, but still.... nice of Cindy to mention that. She sighed internally and processed the more important points of Austin's statement. That is a good point, but...

She listened, pondering, while Cindy and the Commander spoke, and then coughed. "If I may, Commander?" She asked polietly and then continued without waiting for an answer.

"If we made some notes on the basic security features of the warehouse, you know, materials and such, I think it might be possible to kit at least one room of Cindy's out to be lycan-proof. I mean, I'm pretty sure I could handle Zin long enough to get her in there at least and... well, I'm generally ok. I had the opposite problem, if you recall." She paused. "Obviously we'd have to scout out Cindy's beforehand, but..."

[Zin Siripong]

((I'M SO FRICKIN' SORRY!! I know I vanished for ages and I'm really, really sorry. I've been going a little crazy lately waiting on some stupid Criminal Record Checks to come through before I can start working - money has been tighter than a rat's asshole and I've actually started work now. I'm really really sorry. I'll try to be on more often.))


Zin looked between the arguing adults and rolled her eyes slightly, sitting down on the abandoned stool, watching and waiting for them to finish deciding... whatever it was they were deciding. Something about Lycans, Swiss Army Knives, wipe downs, mansions...... She lost track and instead decided to study the differences between these people.

Austin, Damaris and Cindy... the obviously odd one out was Cindy but looking at her, she was obviously here for a reason, she had to have something to contribute beyond money or they wouldn't even be allowing her opinion on this. Damaris wore simple clothing, natural colours that could blend in almost everywhere. Austin.... She tilted her head, it looked like he was going for the dramatic and intimidating angle. She supposed in a town where it never saw sunlight this would be a rather good idea but.... The girl fingered her fuzzy yellow duck dressing gown, she liked colours.

[Cindy Harker]

((No worries. I think we've all been pretty busy ))

Cindy seemed a little put out by Austin's lack of interest in her mansion. As somebody who hero worshipped the Commander a little, she was obviously disappointed when he seemed to look down on her way of life. Not to mention her upper class upbringing and very formal education meant that she couldn't help but wince at 'mansionosity'.

"There may be an advantage to that." Cindy piped in, really not wanting to spend the next few months living out of a small room in the Watch headquarters. "Perhaps a drawback of the classical 16th Century mansion is that they weren't fitted with modern safe rooms." This was about as close as Cindy could get to joking about her home or upbringing, although she felt she had a point.

"A secure room would serve both as a safe place for a lycanthrope to transform as well as a safe place for the...uhh...residents of the mansion...to hide if it were to be targetted." There were no doubts by 'residents' Cindy meant herself and her servants, but living out in the countryside (even if it was in daylight) she knew could leave her overly vulnerable.

Before she allowed the conversation to continue, she turned to Zin, and bent over her in her seated position, making sure to maintain her distance as to not discomfort the poor girl with her perfume again (a fact that annoyed Cindy no end).
"<We're discussing security arrangments at my home. We may need to introduce some new facilities>." She explained in Thai, not wanting to leave the poor girl out of the loop.

[Damaris Y Blaidd]

((Aahhh no worries!))

Damaris nodded as Cindy spoke, backing her up. She could feel Zin's eyes moving between the three of them - it must have been quite an odd sight, they all looked so different. She glanced at the young girl as Cindy spoke to her in Thai - explaining what was going on, she supposed.

She looked back to Austin, waiting. It was all very well her and CIndy making plans but, in the end, if he didn't agree then it was a no-go. She hoped he would though, despite the fact that it sounded really quite impersonal, Cindy's mansion was starting to sound like somewhere she'd like to stay for a while.

[Zin Siripong]

The girl made a sound of realisation, "<Ahh, thank you. I don't mean to be a pain,>" she said with a heavy sigh. Though to be honest she had already put everyone to such an inconvenience already, "<Maybe I could help with the construction? I used to do most of the repair work to the gym as the only girl. I can sew pretty well and fix holes in walls and stuff.>"

[Cindy Harker]

Cindy forced a smile at Zin's decision to volunteer to help. She wasn't overly keen, because of the mention of 'holes in walls'. Not only was she not eager to put holes in the walls of her own mansion, but also she couldn't help but wonder what kind of destruction Zin and her friends must have rained down on their training area if they regularly put holes in their walls, long before having any lycan powers.

"<Well, one would hope the walls would remain in tact.>" She said, her smile becoming more genuine as she realised Zin's genuine offer to help was very touching. By now, even Cindy could see that Zin felt a little helpless, and she thought accepting the offer might do good to help the poor girl feel more accepted. Besides, Cindy could always hire professionals to over see what she was doing and make sure that it was okay.

"<That would be very nice, Zin. I would greatly appreciate your assistance.>" She added, hoping it helped in making the girl feel useful. "<That is, if the idea is approved by Commander Darkora, of course>." She added, beginning to feel that Austin wasn't keen on letting a group of his team disappear to a luxurious mansion for some time (even if one of them owned it).

"I think, regardless, the construction of a safe room would be advisable, Commander." Cindy offered. "Zin has said that she would like to help in the construction, and it may be a good bonding experience for her." Cindy hoped that it didn't sound too much like she was desperate to get her own way, but she also felt that the ability to help out would be valuable to Zin, and wanted to promote it as much as possibile.

[Austin]

"In time"
Austin replied, having taken a few minutes to consider the situation carefully
"once I feel confident with Zin's training, then it can be moved to yours, until then, I feel this is the best venue - I'd rather I was on hand to assist should things get out of hand and the first few sessions will be the most critical"

[Cindy Harker]

Cindy's usually perfectly held shoulders sagged a little at this, and she finally gave up in defeat. It seemed obvious that Austin wasn't going to budge any further, and she reluctantly accepted that her immediate future would involve far more time spent in the headquarters than her luxurious mansion tending to Zin.

"Understood Commander." She answered, hoping that she didn't sound too upset.

"<Commander Darkora has requested that we train you here first before moving to my home.>" She explained to Zin, hoping that her awkward Thai would hide any disappointment in her voice.

[Zin Siripong]

Zin tilted her head and hummed thoughtfully, she wasn't used to having to change venues for training, not much anyway. But she supposed Wolf training and Muay Thai training would be different. "<Alright. It sounds fair. I wouldn't want to hurt anyone,>" she admitted, the fact that she'd very nearly attacked someone while she was in her wolf form - something which she got the impression was a bad thing to do - then she didn't want to do it to Cindy who was a Lady and Ladies never knew how to defend themselves properly. To be honest, Zin thought she could defend herself pretty well but evidentally not if she'd ended up in this position.

Besides, Ladies shouldn't turn into big hairy dogs that attacked other people.

[Damaris Y Blaidd]

Damaris' face fell as Austin told the three women his decision. She understood, but she couldn't help but be a little disappointed. "Understood." She repeated. The 'in time' gave her some hope. Then again, it wasn't as if she didn't like living in the HQ, it had become her home in the past year or so.

[Austin]

Austin sensed their drop in enthusiasm
"As soon as Zin has enough control that I don't need to be nearby all the time, then you can move the training to a venue of your choice"
He put his head on one side as he received the message from Azrael and then sent off his reply
"Now ladies, if you'll excuse me, I have some business to attend to"
he smiled grimly before putting on his hat
"Damaris, I'm leaving you in command here for the moment"
he called behind him as he made his way towards the car park

[Damaris Y Blaidd]

Damaris' face brightened a little at the commander's promise. "Thank you, sir" she said with a small inclination of her head. She watched him curiously as he recieved a message telepathically and sent one back - at least, she assumed that what he was doing, it usually was when he looked like that. She assumed it was from Azrael, as he was the only member not there at the moment.

She nodded again as Austin put on his hat. "Understood, sir," she called after him. Once she sensed Austin was out of the building, she relaxed her posture a little and turned back to Cindy and Zin. "Well, that's settled I suppose. There's not really a lot we can do about training until Austin comes back, so what say we give you the guided tour?" She asked Zin, smiling at Kunoichi to include her too and hoping Cindy would translate again.

((Sorry, I forgot Kunoichi was there too xD))

[Kunoichi]

Kunoichi had leant against the door post to listen to their conversation, unfortunately she didn't speak a word of Thai so she had been thankful for the translations.
"Good luck!"
she called after Austin as he left, slightly surprised that he had left Damaris in charge but she knew him better than to dispute his judgement over such matters. On closer inspection the new girl was certainly interesting, she could tell from her bearing, posture and demenour that she was a martial artist, looking at her she would hazard a guess at muay-thai but that would be prejudiced by appearance, for all she knew the girl could be a master at judo. Deciding to break the ice as it where, she approached the girl cautiously
"Welcome to the base"
she said, trying to keep her voice clear and her face friendly, hoping to the gods that Cindy would translate for her