Brxkencrowns

human | 28 | manhattan “I never lie to any man because I don’t fear anyone. The only time you lie is when you are afraid”

[brxkencrowns-blog]

jac-moore:

Jac felt the cool breeze of the night run through her hair, welcoming the chill down her spine while she soaked in the silence after spending the rest of her day in the heat of the kitchen. It was nice to have the rest of the night off to enjoy. She opened her eyes up again and pushed herself off the stone wall of the closed up restaurant and flagged down the nearest person. “Hey,” She greeted with a small smile. “Do you know what’s still open around here? Preferably not food, I’ve dealt with a lot of that today.”

It was hard to stake out a street without looking like a suspicious character, but it was a skill that Nikolai had become a master of. It had taken him at least three arrests for soliciting (because that was the only crime he could be conceivably committing), but now, most civilians and cops just looked past him like he was a part of the scenery. He wasn’t meant to be seen, just to be present and observant. Leaning up against the brick wall of a corner of a building, Nik appeared all too wrapped up in his cigarette situation when someone spoke. It took him a few seconds to process that he was being spoken to, causing him to hesitate before raising his head to look up at the woman. “What? You’re talking to me?” He asked, a little less suave than usual, but he’d gotten far too used to not being noticed when he didn’t want to be. Nik shoved his cigarette case into his pocket, giving her his complete attention for half a second while he looked around the area to see where they were. “There’s a couple of bars just down the street, if that’s what you’re looking for.”

[brxkencrowns-blog]

the-obstrovsky:

“What’s the point of anything at all?” Jon quipped, shrugging again. “All that is important is the very present. And you, mollyushka, are very very pertinent to the present way of things….” Nik was useful, highly so. Jon tended to pick one human or another from time to time. Possibly to groom, possibly just to have a sense of humanity near him. The reasons were numerous and ever-switching. “We will see about that. You know, why I have you here,” he turned some, arm along the back of the bench, hand propping up the side of his face. “Tell me about the young man courier you sent the other day for your folder.”

“I hope you realize that every time you call me mollyushka, I have a very strong desire to punch you in the throat,” Nikolai commented, sighing as spread his shoulders back to rest his arms against the top of the bench. He was quiet for a few seconds, as if imagining doing so. He raised his eyebrows disinterestedly when he asked about the courier. “The skinny kid? His name’s Penn. Did he do something stupid? I told him to keep his mouth shut when he picked that up.”

[brxkencrowns-blog]

ofthelast:

“You’re gonna get stuck in your own head if ya don’t come clean sugar.– That’s how it goes.”

“I’ve got no business with the coven today. Calm the fuck down.”

[brxkencrowns-blog]

pennedxin:

“Not an excuse,” Penn grumbled, taking a step forward and putting the package in his hand without argument. He wanted to argue with that - badly - but he managed to refrain and sighed. “Yeah, okay. Whatever you say.” He’d just command the buses to run at times that were better for Nick’s schedule. 

“The backtalk is going to make your payment a whole lot lighter,”  Nik said, sighing as he opened a desk drawer, tossing the package on top of a number of others. He shut it, and locked it tight with a key. Afterwards, he tossed another small envelope to him that had his name neatly written on the tab. “But, good job this week. You did good keeping your mouth shut with Romanov when he asked about my whereabouts. Don’t think I didn’t hear about that.”

[brxkencrowns-blog]

pennedxin:

Penn flung the door open and came into the office, closing it behind him more quietly than one would have expected. He wasn’t sure if it was true, but he was pretty sure that Nick had a perpetual migraine. Therefore, around him, he made an effort to be a little quieter. “Sorry. I had to stop for directions. I got this candle, even.” He lifted the small hippo as proof and then held out the brown envelope with whatever was in it. (Probably money, he guessed. “The buses stopped running and my cab left me in Brooklyn.”

“Don’t bother with excuses,” Nikolai spat, hand outreached for the envelope. He did not get up to meet the distance that was between his hand and the folder, still looking down at the papers in front of him. “Leave earlier, then.”

[brxkencrowns-blog]

the-obstrovsky:

“Of course, of course,” the Vampire King nodded. “I will find cleaners for that, as well.” He always appreciated Nik for his lack of respect in that finest sense. He knew the lines not to cross, so when he teetered it was always jest. He just smiled to admit he appreciated it, before replying. “Ah, I remember making the call about the man who let that happen… Such a mess,” he shook his head some. But his eyes were elsewhere, lingering on memories long since past. “But handled. And all things were well. As all things will be that come Halloween, for you, you will have no excuses.”

“If you can do all of that, then what’s the point of me? I could make so much more money freelancing,” he half kidded, though he was interested to see if he would answer truthfully. Nikolai was a jack of all trades, and had many connections, but it certainly would have been easier to replace him with someone who didn’t talk back. He’d seen his boss break people’s spirits in mere moments. He would never be one of them. “A mess I had to clean up after,” Nik reminded him, shaking his head. “We’ll see. I’m just as dull when I’m drunk as I am when I’m sober, just so you know.”

[brxkencrowns-blog]

pennedxin:

@brxkencrowns

Penn took the stairs up to the office two at a time and slid into place in front of the door, skidding down the hall sideways. He was already late, given that he’d gotten lost in Brooklyn and late was never something that worked for this sort of thing. He rapped on the door quickly, trying to catch his breath and waiting for Nick to call him in.

Sleep was going to be a foreign thing to him that night. Nikolai shamelessly sighed as he poured a splash of bourbon into his coffee. He was thumbing over a pile of paperwork that sat on his desk. He didn’t look up when he heard the knock on the door, pausing to take a sip of the sweet, black liqueur. “About damn time,” he said roughly, annoyed at his tardiness, “Get your ass in here, kid.”

[brxkencrowns-blog]

the-obstrovsky:

“Pah, scruples,” Jon scoffed. He wouldn’t be told no or swayed. “Whatever work you have I will see to it you will be assisted. You know this of me,” pale blue eyes turned to his friend then. “You know, a wiser man would scold you for that sass,” he chided. Then, he grinned, and returned to surveying the park before them. He sighed. “So quiet. When I first came to the City, this was a butcher’s market. And a slave’s market,” he added as an after thought, looking off.

“Fine. Just don’t blame me if nothing gets done right. You know that I hate cleaning up after people when I could have done the job right the first time,” Nikolai said, his tone calm, but a tinge of agitation singed his words like fire near antique book pages. “Sure, but the wisest man would know that I stop working when he’s tried to undermine me,” his arms crossed against his chest. “Might as well still be. I’ve killed a mark or two in this park. Plenty of others have been butchered here. As far as slaves go, a shipment of human trafficking escaped here once. So, there you go.”

[brxkencrowns-blog]

the-obstrovsky:

Jon let out a soft, but hearty, laugh. “Net, Net Moy’ Mollyushka,” he chided in his native tongue, amused. “You will be attending. Have a drink, bring someone or find someone to take to your bed. For such a diligent little mortal you have so little zest for what can make life worth the exhale,” he looked around the park, before adding. “And my slang is perfectly fine. When the English language decides to make an equivalent for the word suadade, I will possibly care more.”

Nikolai rolled his eyes, sitting back against the bench to look up at the black, starless sky.“I have deadlines. Business propositions to fulfill. Debts to pay. Debts to claim. I’m not much of a party animal,” he replied, thinking back on one time a vampire had tried to force him to loosen up at one of the club’s in Manhattan he’d been keeping an eye on for a client. Fortunately, the first thing he did in the morning was drink a cup of tea infused with vervain. “A pleasure you suffer, an ailment you enjoy,"  he answered, smirking a little.

[brxkencrowns-blog]

the-obstrovsky:

“I wouldn’t call it life-threatening,” Jon disagreed airily. He turned to sit beside Nik, unbuttoning his blazer and sighing. “Quite a few men become gods when they shake the trappings of life… and speaking of god-like qualities. I have decided that it has been too long since we have gone the way of Dionysus. I feel for Halloween we should… have a little ‘shindig’.” 

“Hardly relevant to me at all, but to each their own,” Nikolai commented, shrugging at the vampire as he sat beside him. “You seriously need to update you etymology of slang of this generation. No one’s called a party a ‘shindig’ since the 1960s. But, sure. I doubt I’ll be there, but I can start arrangements.”

[brxkencrowns-blog]

the-obstrovsky:

“Sitting alone in a park in the evening? Some might call that either bold, or stupid.”

“Is it, now? Can’t say that I’m able to give a damn. It’s a life threatening illness of mine, you know. I just don’t have any fucks to give anymore.”

[brxkencrowns-blog]

darcy-brink:

“I’m sorry, what did you say?  I had my headphones in.“

“It’s nothing. I was just trying to inform you that, while you were concentrating on your music, someone stuck a sign on your back that said ‘Bitch.’ I would have removed it, but I didn’t particularly feel like risking getting maced.”

[brxkencrowns-blog]

nyxromancy:

“We were actually just about to close.” She lied with her back turned as she cleaned up, more interested in getting past the new customer and getting to the bar a block over than giving some drunken girl a tramp stamp. They always liked to come back the next day and scream about how she had completely ruined their life. How dare she provide the service that they were paying her to do. She was truly a monster. She swiveled around in her chair to face them. “I can schedule you for tomorrow, if you’d like.”

“I’m afraid I’m not interested in a tattoo today, but thanks anyway,” Nikolai replied, shrugging his shoulders as he took a few steps into the shop. He looked around, eyeing the tattoo examples on the wall with limited interest as he tossed a manilla packet onto her desk. “I don’t like having to make deliveries. Answer your damn phone sometime.”

[brxkencrowns-blog]

 “I wouldn’t expect anything else, dear brother.” She chuckled, taking another generous sip of her drink before turning to him. “Fine, fair enough. I’ll humor you because I know grandpas don’t have much of a social life.” She pointed at him, wagging her finger at him. “And I mean it. No intimidating my marks.”

“Alright now, enough with the grandpa jokes. I’m not that old and you damn well know it,” Nikolai rolled his eyes at her while he leaned back in his chair. His index finger glided across the edge of his glass in nostalgic thought about the implication of her words. He couldn’t help but smirk. “Just because I pointed a gun at one guy once -- I’m ashamed at how little you think of me, Anya. I wasn’t actually going to shoot him.”

[brxkencrowns-blog]

“Nik, remember; you ruin my life, I ruin yours.” She didn’t feel and threat coming from him, and she was sure he may read truth in her words, yet she hope he knew it was a last resort. She went to sit down, crossing her legs as she gave him a big smile on his next few comments.

“Well, sometimes you have to lie. The less they know the better. Honestly, I think you should have gone with a private detective or something.” She shrugged then, actually giving it a thought. “I would just give simple answers honestly.”

“I’ve got no intention of ruining your life, so I’m not very worried,” he shrugged at her in his eternal nonchalant manner, as if he truly could care a little less for everything in the world. Nik was a genuinely calm person, even in the most stressful of situations. It was why he was good at his job. “Well, the plaque on my office door does say ‘lawyer’, and I do have a degree in law; I guess I just feel bad lying to girls that I could potentially marry. I’m getting a little old for one night stands.”

[maisiecarmel]

[brxkencrowns-blog]

snowshxe

“I finally have a family, Nik– I’m not going to risk them by telling you.” It sounded cold, but she wasn’t sure why he was here, or what pulled him to this area. “What brings you here, because I know for a fact it wasn’t for all this fresh air?”

“I can respect that, though, you know they’d be safe from me -- unless someone paid me enough, but that’s besides the point,” he replied nonchalantly, like it was just business, before a smirk forced itself to break character, “but I’d probably turn down that contract for you.”

“I’m out here because--” he paused, stopping himself,”it’s --just business. Is this why I never get past the first date with woman? This suddenly explains why most of them get quiet when I try to tell them what I do for a living while I be as vague as possible.”