Midnight Manor Boarding House, Friday Afternoon

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Well, well, well," Duke said, pausing in the street to regard the thing that looked like a house. "Isn't this just delicious, cousin?"

Grimm stopped next to him and laughed openly. "That's where you stashed Arden? You weren't fucking around at all, were you?"

"If I might remind you, Grimm, you were the one who found the place."

"Yeah, but I didn't know what it was," she pointed out. "Didn't that Spector guy tell you it was a living house?"

"He did," Duke said with amusement. "But either he wasn't telling the full truth or he doesn't know the full truth of where he lives."

"Well, that sounds like the kind of thing that'll be fun to find out, huh?" The red-head's eyes gleamed.

"I was just thinking the same thing myself," Duke noted. "And we really ought to be checking up on our dear Arden. Make sure she's settling in, no?" He offered Grimm his arm. "Shall we, cousin?"

"Let's!" she said, sliding her own through his as they approached the House.

Marc Spector	At some point there would be a need to be social, Marc knew that. But Steven had pointed out that their residents might have guests. To which Marc felt he had legitimate reason to be around just in case there was anything he needed to be aware of. Not from the residents or Midnight, the guests. Not like Marc knew these people. Plus at least one resident had someone she didn't want as a guest, so yeah. Keeping an eye on things. Just in case. His office was as good a place for that as any. The door to it and Midnight were open. Just easier this way if anybody had welcome guests.
Eh, are names REALLY that important?	Duke and Grimm were most certainly welcome guests, just ask them! Marc likely heard them enter the house before he saw them, they paused in the entry hall to look around a bit, grinning. "Well, well, well," Duke said again. "She's certainly getting the most of what I paid for." His dravite eyes gleamed. "I'm impressed." "It does have some old world charm, I guess." Grimm admitted, a little reluctantly. "Cousin, behave," Duke reprimanded. "We're guests here. Put your party manners on." And much like how Arden had when she'd first moved in, he bowed to the House. A moment later, Grimm followed suit. "Our thanks your hospitality," he said. "For ourselves and for our..." The word he used was in a strange, lyrical language. "We intend to offer no harm to you and yours while under your roof, save only in defense of ourselves and those who have claim on us." "Yeah," Grimm said. "Ditto." "You're hopeless, cousin." "You're old, cousin."
Marc	Marc's eyebrow quirked up at the hospitality comment because he only knew of one person who put emphasis on that and, well, suffice it to say neither one of these two looked like people she'd be hanging out with. Plus the guy's voice was a little bit familiar. But mainly because Marc did tend to file away information about potential problems just in case. "You're Arden's guy," Marc said. The information in no way included names.
Y'all're real precious about this name thing, aren't you?	"Ah," Duke said, rising back up. If he was discomfited by being caught bowing to a house, he didn't show it. Instead, he simply turned an affable smile to Marc. His eyes were a bright red, nearly glowing as they caught the light. "And you're Mr. Spector. Mr. Spector, may I introduce you to my cousin?" "You can call me Grimm," the woman said, openly looking Marc over, though her interest seemed not (entirely) physical, but like she was looking for the best place to tap him to make all his secrets come out. "Charmed." "We received an invitation to come visit for the weekend and so, obviously, we had to come by and see the place where Arden is nesting for the next year." "The expensive place," Grimm noted. "You're worth every penny, I'm sure, my dear," Duke told the house.
Marc	Marc noted the red eyes but didn't react to it. He'd dealt with plenty of weird shit. Red eyes didn't rank high enough. Due attention to Midnight, on the other hand, "You guys sorcerers?" Hey, if Illyana had peers he wanted to know.
What're a few names amongst friends anyway?	They both started laughing at that, Duke shaking his head. Grimm went a bit further. "Not even a little bit," she said. "Witches are Othersiders, but not our type of Othersider."
Marc	Marc relaxed at that, because now they were back on vocabulary words he wasn't too worried about asking about. (Steven would be facepalming at him later and wondering if he could ask Arden followup questions.) "Good to know," Marc said. He leaned back in his chair. "Looking for Arden?" He wasn't telling them where to find her, he was just asking if they were looking.
What's in a name anyway?	"Oh no," Duke assured him. "We know exactly where Arden is right now." Which was a very normal way to say that, thanks, Duke. "We'll be catching up with her later." "Our visit is a surprise," Grimm said, waggling a finger at him. "Don't ruin it now." "But in addition to talking to Arden, we wanted to get a better idea of the place she's living now. Her departure was quite abrupt, after all, and she's very far from home. So. Tell us about your..." His lips twitched. "Living house."
Marc	"The Midnight Manor," Marc said, because in this case names were important. "For the people who live here, the people I care about, it's a place of safety." Yes, there was an implied then to that similarly implied if statement.
Ugh, if you're gonna be THAT way about it	"And those you don't care about?" Grimm asked, leaning forward with obvious curiosity.
Marc	"Depends on how they behave," Marc replied, easily enough. "Behave themselves, be respectful, there's no problem. Try being a danger to anybody here - " Marc shrugged a casual shoulder. "This is a House of Shadows, and it works with me."
Duke (and Grimm)	"Ahhh, so you do know what this is," Duke said, leaning back in his chair. "I'd wondered." In a hushed aside, Grimm leaned in and murmured, "Do you think that'd be enough, if--" "I honestly don't know." He motioned her to subside with a gesture and focused back on Marc. "How is Arden getting on with the house? She was raised to be behave and be respectful, so I would assume there are no problems there...?"
Marc	"Before we moved in," Marc said, since this information he had no problem confirming. "It's why we're here. And Arden's great. Midnight likes her." Sure Marc wasn't there every time Arden interacted with it, but from what he and Steven had seen of the two of them he felt safe saying that.
Grimm (and Duke)	"Is that enough?" Grimm asked. "You specified that it was a place of safety if you liked her, not the house." "Midnight," Duke supplied. "Midnight," Grimm corrected immediately.
Marc	Marc gave a nod to acknowledge Duke giving that little nudge on the name. He appreciated that. "If I didn't like her she wouldn't be living here. No offense to your money or anything. But her being a good fit was more important. Someone who understands what she's living in and can make friends."
Duke	Part of being a guest was being polite to one's host! Duke sat up a little more about that. "Is she making friends? With more than just Midnight, I mean."
Marc	Marc held up his hands to disclaim any responsibility for that answer. "Her business is her own. Who she hangs with is none of mine. Long as she's not inviting anybody back here who's not safe." Marc tossed in another shrug there to indicate such an invite hadn't happened, since again that seemed fine enough information to share.
Grimm	Grimm just looked at her cousin and rolled her eyes. "You really thought that this guy would be your hot goss hookup?" she scoffed. "C'mon. Look at him. Nobody's gonna be voting him Mr. Congeniality." Duke sat back, saying nothing, though he looked a little more chagrinned. "Real talk," Grimm said. "Have any other people been calling up, asking about her? Stopping by? Strangers, maybe? Anyone who smells like--" "Grimm." Grimm also subsided, rolling her eyes. "Whatever. My questions still stand."
Marc	Marc nodded at Grimm because see? She got it. (Not that Steven was the hot gossip hookup either. He tended not to even notice gossip worthy things about himself. See also: how long it took him to realize Watts was into him.) "Well," Marc said, propping one foot up on his desk to balance his chair as he leaned back in it, "if there were the person I'd be telling about that is Arden." Which on the one hand wasn't an answer to the question but on the other did perhaps provide an answer that Arden did have someone watching her back here.
Grimm	"And not her very dear friends who are just so terribly worried about her, so far from home?" Grimm asked, batting her eyes.
Marc	"Lady," Marc said, easily enough, "I know Arden. You? Not from a hole in the ground. So no."
Grimm and Duke	Grimm immediately dropped the coquette act. "I like him," she announced to Duke. "Give him the picture." Duke looked pained. "I was going to--" "I know, I know," Grimm said. "You were going to make a whole big production with a lot of winking and 'Do we understand each others' and all that. But I'm hungry, they said there was going to be a meet and greet, and I wanna see if anybody here in interesting enough to get laid. Hand over the picture." "Excuse my cousin," Duke said with a long-suffering sigh. He pulled out a picture from the inside pocket of his coat and handed it over. "She suffers from a tragic defect called 'her personality'." "I'm his favorite," Grimm informed Marc in a stage-whisper. "You looked like you cared about that vital bit of information, which is why I'm telling you."
Marc	"Plenty of hot people on the island even without the visitors," Marc told Grimm. Hey, just because he wasn't into testing those waters himself didn't mean he was blind. He took the picture and studied it. "So who's this and why do I care?" Marc could probably guess who it was given what Arden had told him, but Duke and Grimm didn't need to know that.
Duke and Grimm	"I didn't say hot, I said interesting," Grimm declared. "Callista, Arden's legal guardian," Duke said, all of his humor having fallen away. "Odds are very low you'll actually see her--" "Odds are very low she'll actually come herself." "--But sometimes she does enjoy doing the unexpected, so it doesn't hurt. And it's highly doubtful Arden has a picture to show you." He'd be tucking that one away as soon as Marc was done looking at it.
Marc	"How interesting can somebody be in a weekend?" Marc asked, which said a great deal about why he was still single. He studied the picture, letting the image filter in to the shared memory so there was a better chance of both him and Steven being able to recall it. Once that was done, he handed the picture back. "Legal guardian? She's 18, they still have any rights?"
Duke	There was the slightest pause before Duke answered. "It depends on who you ask, I suppose," he said. "And whose rules you're following."
Marc	"The rules of whoever say this is her legal guardian," Marc replied. "If someone cares about that it's useful to know. If not then what's the next thing for me to worry about?"
Grimm	"Arden cares," Grimm said. "Arden knows very well what rights Callista still has over her." She gave him a shark-like grin. "And that means it matters, right?"
Marc	"Goes back to my question of what rights are those?" Marc asked. "Not saying that means I'm respecting those rights, but it's good to know what to expect."
Duke with a side of Grimm	The two of them looked at each other, a whole conversation in their gaze. Grimm said one word in that same almost-Arabic tongue, and Duke shook his head. She suggested another and he wrinkled his nose. Her next words seemed more to be commentary than anything useful, leaving Duke rolling his eyes and turning back to Marc. "We'll say...Arden is very deeply in her debt. Food, clothing, shelter, training, protection...for eleven years, Callista has provided for Arden and now that Arden is an adult, the tab has come due."
Marc	Marc casually kept an ear out in case any of those almost-Arabic words became actual Arabic without being obvious about it. Sadly no luck, but he tried. He took in what Duke said and filed that with what he and Steven knew about Arden already. "Got it. And that's not a debt you want paid." Said with a tone that said Marc was picking up that there was more to paying the debt than simply paying the debt and walking away.
Very Helpful Cousins	Grimm and Duke shrugged in unison. "Honestly, I don't really care," Grimm said, examining her blood-red nails. "I think this is all very stupid and Arden should just come home before Callista finds out we've had anything to do with her running away." "And I think that Arden deserves to have a few years to grow into the person she could be, outside of Callista's shadow, before she's hauled back down to North Carolina. You can't blame a bird for wanting to fly, even if her wings have been clipped." "Not that any of this growing or flying is going to help her if she gets hunted down like a partridge," Grimm said with saccharine sweetness. "Not that even Callista's protection will keep her safe if she hasn't learned the lessons we've tried to instill," Duke ground out, finally irritated. "Not that Callista is going to be particularly keen on protecting her after she ran away and has proven to be a risky investment." Weren't you glad you asked, Marc?
Marc	Well hey, since everyone was putting votes in, "I say she's an adult who can make her own decisions." Whether or not those were wise decisions was a separate issue. Also not for Marc to decide. Arden got to be stupid on her own time if she wanted. Marc leaned forward. "Seems to me she's decided to come here. So far as I'm concerned that means she stays long as she wants to, no matter who says otherwise." Not a threat to anybody in particular, more just him tossing his pennies into the metaphorical pile.
Very Normal Cousins	Grimm huffed, rolling her eyes again. "Yes, yes, well, Duke agrees and that's why our little curly partridge is here, just waiting to get plucked out of the sky by a marshmallow and thrown into the pot." Duke snapped something, the word harsh and guttural and for a moment Marc might feel like he was in the deep desert again, the air hot and unmoving, the scent of burning sand heavy in his nose, the sun an overbearing bronze disc in the cloudless sky. Grimm flinched and nodded, looking down and the oppressive heat and stillness in the room faded. "My cousin speaks out of turn," he said, and then, shifted in his chair to look at the closest wall and added to Midnight, "I apologize if that disturbed you. I'm sure you understood the concern, however."
Marc	Marc shook off the weird - vision? Definitely not a memory. Not one of his anyway - whatever it was and focused back on what was being said. "Marshmallows don't fly," he said. Which wasn't totally the point but he was a little curious if maybe Grimm was the sort of person or being who didn't know what a marshmallow was.
Very Curious Cousins	"You've clearly never been in a food fight," she said, giving him a wink and a sassy smile. Duke just pinched the bridge of his nose. "Well then," he said, squeezing his eyes shut a moment, "I think that's pretty much everything we can cover here. We're agreed that Arden is an adult and is staying here for as long as she wishes to stay. I don't think there's much else we need to discuss?" "How living in a House of Shadows changes jurisdiction--" Grimm began. "Much else that we need to discuss with Mr. Spector," Duke amended with another sigh.
Marc	"It's its own universe," Marc told her. Was that being helpful? Was he worried overmuch or just enjoying her reactions? Possibly a bit of all of the above. "Which means technically it's its own jurisdiction."
Grimm and Duke	"Not the same thing," Duke said, cutting off the Well, actually that he could see Grimm already preparing. Grimm went back to pouting. Duke silently asked the aether why he hadn't just decided to come alone. "Thank you for your time today, Mr. Spector. We'll be taking our leave." "Mmm...hang on a sec," Grimm said, looking at Marc speculatively. "You know, you're kinda interesting at least..."
Marc	Grimm wasn't hard on the eyes but - "My ex is in town for the weekend." If that didn't offer all kinds of answers about why it'd be a bad idea, Marc couldn't help her. (On the plus side it did mean she was free to trade notes with Layla if she wanted.)
Grimm as Duke wants exactly none of this	"Is that a no or a two-for-one?" Just checking!
Marc	"Feel free to talk to Layla," Marc said, because really no matter how that turned out it'd be interesting. Possibly not smart for him, but interesting.
Duke who is involved only because they're leaving and also Grimm	If I weren't in the woods this weekend, I would "Let's go find this Layla and see if she's interesting," Grimm said, bounding up to her feet. Duke sighed yet again, but his smile was back. "I believe you mean, 'find Arden and check in'," he drawled. "Nope!" Grimm declared and sailed out the door. "A pleasure, Mr. Spector," Duke said. "And appreciations for your hospitality, Midnight. Farewell."
Marc	"Interesting meeting you," Marc replied, figuring Grimm would appreciate that if nothing else.
Grimm	From her laugh floating in through the door, she had.

[Preplayed with the wonderful hasaknightjob as I'm running away to the woods in a few hours. NFI]