Welcome to Hickstead, home to both Seven Oak Stables, and Blue Acre - two rival stables. Both offer opportunities for their clients to reach the highest level of excellence. Each stable differs from the other, so choose wisely and never forget, loyalty is everything... Meanwhile as the stables battle it out, there's trouble brewing at the university. Be careful, if you don't pick a side you may get caught in the cross-fire...
This is an chilled out rpg with a super friendly and relaxed atmosphere! Remember to sign up with your characters full name in all caps and don't forget to do your claims! Thank you and Welcome, we've been established since 10th March 2009 but unfortunately have had to close guest view of our boards due to multiple sites ripping off our hard work, such a shame! Come chat to us in Discord before joining if you like!.
She felt the light tap and gave Ky a quick glance, checking in that she wasn't about to overstay her welcome by out-eating the rest of the people at the table. Kenz was small and on the lighter side, but damn could she pack it away. She supposed it would probably all catch up with her sooner or later, but she wasn't the type to worry about that now. She ate what she ate, when and where she wanted. The spread smelt good, and tasted even better as she shovelled in food with abandon, remembering a little late not to look like some starved street animal who hadn't been fed for a week, and reluctantly slowing herself down.
“You’re doing fine, love. My grandpa will refuse the cheap stuff to you. So don’t hammer it too fast,” Kenz gave a small snort, being of Russian descent, the girl had grown up on Vodka the same way a baby did water, and her tolerance for spirits was higher than her stature would suggest. Still, she rarely actually picked a whiskey, it depended on the mood, and so perhaps it might go straight to her head. It depended on what 'good' stuff it was - sometimes, she felt it was overpriced and over rated for the sake of it's age, and not the flavour. But hell, she was no connoisseur. "I'll survive, I'm sure I can find my way back with a stagger or without." She was joking still, no need to worry about little old Kenz.
A glass was placed neatly in front of her, and she paused her hammering of the food to smile a thanks - avoiding doing so with her mouth full so she didn't look too much like a heathen. She saved herself a moment to take a sip, and raised her eyebrows in pleasant surprise. "Much better than the supermarket home brand," she teased, if only it weren't just a little on the truth side. Good liquor did cost money. “How are classes going?” It took Kenz a minute to realise she was the intended individual for the question, and she blinked in surprise, a little delayed in responding. “Ky said you’re in criminology?” Kenz nodded, swallowing her final mouthful of the taco. "Oh, yeah." She agreed, "It's going well, interesting for sure, though I'm not longer certain I want to go down that path.." She shrugged. Aside from the con artistry side to her life, she had to admit that the private investigator (she'd called herself) aspect did keep her on her toes. The formality and policeman-like parts of criminology put her off a little, given that most of her life she'd spent on the other side of the wall. She also wondered with her given history and family contacts, if she'd even be allowed to go into a job in that area, or if the background check would always flag up a red card. Probably best not to mention that to Ky's family though.
Kenzie pressed her lips together to hide her smile at his reaction - ah the youth, always so tetchy. "I'm fine." She gave him a quick glance, having allowed him a moment to cool his heated cheeks - how nice she was. "Mhmmm" she hummed, but left it at that, before she really upset him. She liked the guy, and they'd just patched things up for their first explosive meeting - okay explosive was dramatic but Kenz did have a feel for the drama some days.
"Why would I want to make you cry?" Kenz returned his look with slightly wide eyes, "exactly," She responded, knowing she was being annoying but finding it too funny to not wind him up. She already knew he wasn't the type to go around making people cry, even if he believed he was prickly. Prickly was normally just about being defensive, of wanting your own space and to be left alone, or if you were having a bad day and all that emotional crap. People that enjoy making people cry were more likely to come across as the 'nice guy', she'd met more of those than genuine grumps and guess which one's had done harder to try and upset her.
"That is exactly why. She'll be mad at you, not me." Kenz laughed and looked at the trunk's interior and then gave it a hearty slap, "sorry old gal," She peered at her companion, "is that better?" Probably not, but she tried at least. "Eh...Muffin's a rag doll. They're not exactly known for being ferocious." Her eyebrows rose slightly, "well that's a relief," She murmured, scrolling through playlists. She'd spent far too many times trying to grab on to snarling, growling, scratching creatures she'd had to try and pick up before. Luckily, she'd gotten inventive at picking up or collecting wild one's.
She glanced out at the scenery for a moment as the tracks came on. "Yeah, appropriate indeed...Your killer cat playlist is titled Dark & Gothic? That sounds dramatic." Kenz rolled her heavily lined eyes, as if she didn't scream 'emo' as it was with her dark hair, gothic clothing and dramatic daily make up look. "We're on a dramatic mission," She shrugged, watching the scenery change from heavy suburbs drifting into green and trees. Less Kenzie's forte but she figured the kid knew where his cat would go. "Might as well have a dramatic movie-style playlist to accompany..."
Kenzie had just about had enough of prissy blonde pants running the joint, thinking she could throw giant parties and disrupt everyone's night without so much as a calling card. Not that being told in advance would make Kenz any more amenable to dealing with Princess Bitch tits and her ass kissing crew. If anything, it just would have given her time to come up with a plan of how to stop the party from happening. It wouldn't have been difficult to unwire some speakers, kill the wifi for the night or something along those lines... though the wifi would have been an issue for her own evening plans.
As she cranked the knob on her speakers again, only to have the metal sounds of guitar drowned out by bubblegum worthy pop bullshit, she decided that was it. She was about to be buzzkill number one and cut the chord on this drink enthused fun time. Even if it made her public enemy number one, she'd happily walk around with a target on her back - there was nothing uni kids could do that her own family couldn't do - and they were a thousand times worse. Reapplying her lipstick - because she had to look good whilst she was ruining peoples lives - she grabbed her phone and her keys, sure to lock her door behind her. She knew that retribution would be swift and painful and she'd need to watch her shit for a while. Storming into the party central like a black cloud, she spotted the giant speaker and beelined for it, battling a drunken idiot to reach the plug and finally successful in managing to yank it out. "You want to be in a club, they've got one in town. Party's over."
"I would hope not," She hid a smirk as his blush, almost deciding not to comment but then, that wasn't her style. "You good? I could fry an egg on your cheeks," She teased, knowing that it was just one of those teenage things that happened to young people, as if she wasn't young. There had been times when people had caught her out, though it hadn't happened for a long time, until Ky came around and surprised the shit out of her. Flirting she could do - not that this was what was happening here, Ronan felt somewhat like a little brother coming to her for help, even if he did find that offensive - but genuine feelings and all that were a little out of her comfort zone.
Kenzie caught the roll of his eyes and gave a nonchalant shrug. "Yeah? You have a killer cat-finding playlist on that phone of yours?" "I have a playlist for every occasion. Even for killer cats." She knew that wasn't what he'd meant but she found it funny anyway. She did like music though, perhaps a lot of stuff that the masses wouldn't enjoy so much, and she was always looking for new stuff - the kind of girl to get bored of the same track if it played over too many times. "I ask myself the same thing. Guess I'm too prickly for my own good. Clearly you think I'm harmless though." Kenzie shot him a look, "I'm undecided," She amended but her tone was friendly enough. "But if it helps, you haven't made me cry yet. You'll have to try a little harder." A lot harder actually, Kenz was not a natural crier, things tended to glance right off her tough skin, but if you knew the right spots to hit...
She let out a snort of laughter as he patted the old thing and apologised on her behalf. "Is that so when it doesn't start, you can blame me for the attitude?" She joked, but also knowing how some people treated their cars like people, with personalities to boot. "There's not like...wild animals here that snatch domestics, are there? Cause...I thought a human taking her was bad enough." Kenzie was busy attaching her phone to the car, fiddling with the aux cable to get it to work. She wrinkled her nose, not even looking up from her task. "Not unless you've met some cat eating deer. Foxes and badgers might have a go but if your cat has some balls, they won't bother." Not that she'd heard much of badgers of foxes trying for cats when there were chickens and rabbits about. "What kind of music is this?" She grinned triumphantly as it finally worked, looking at him in surprise. "You've never heard this song? Me and the Devil? I thought it was appropriate for us."
She caught Ky's smile and it melted the anxiety in her just a little bit. She could do this with him next to her, she was sure of it. It seemed stupid to others, probably, that she was anxious about a damn family dinner, when she'd faced off drug barons and loan sharks and all manor of shit her family had gotten her into.. and things she'd admittedly gotten herself into over the years... but a sit down meal with a normal, respectable family? Oh hell that was way out of her comfort zone - above her paygrade - all of the above.
“Looks like we have birria tacos, shredded chicken, and the classic ground beef. Various toppings and such. It’s hard to find some solid Mexican food around here, so we try to recreate it as best we can,” It was probably lucky, and useful, that Kenz had such a big ass healthy appetite for eating. Any food was good to her, though she happened to lean toward unhealthy - but she was a regular for going sniffing for food in friends houses, unable to help herself. She would quite happily have a bit of all that was going, and she tried not to overdo it as she started loading up her plate. "Well all of it can come my way," She said appreciatively, hoping there wasn't some kind of order that she was messing up.
“Can Nat get you anything to drink, Kenzie?” Kenz blinked, not having thought of that given, "Now that you've mentioned it, I am a bit parched." don't ask her where that came from. "I'll take a glass of your cheapest whiskey." she wondered if she might be about to cross a line. "Maybe add a couple of ice cubes, as I'm driving..." as if watering it down would make a difference then she half grinned, "joking.. joking..." her usual sense of humour felt like it was digging her a hole right then and she abruptly shut up. "Why haven't you kicked my shin yet?" She whispered out the corner of her mouth to Ky.
She gave him an angelic smile when he didn't seem to appreciate her comment on his looks - he'd brought it up and he should have known she wouldn't have resisted saying it all the same. ”I need to go home and acquire enough money so I can afford to go wherever you send me.” She raised a brow at that, "Well count your lucky Kenzie stars you don't need to travel anywhere. Perhaps I should just charge extra instead as you're so willing to part with the cash." Which was tempting and Kenzie did occasionally overcharge someone if she thought she could get away with it - but not with Noah. If anything, she'd gone slightly above and beyond for him out of the kindness of her heart. Wasn't he lucky. ”Hi, how are you Kenz? How’s the boyfriend? School? Life story?” She rolled her eyes and muttered another few words in Russian that weren't quite as pleasant as her tone suggested.
She sat back once she was done with her report, swigging from the cup of coffee before it could go stone cold. Kenz loved coffee like an addiction but she couldn't deal with it cold - none of that ice bullshit for her. ”Shit seriously? Nah I just googled the closest PI’s to London and your name popped up. . and you just so happened to be the cheapest.” She snorted at that, "Forget the glowing stand out reviews..." She tutted, "For that comment your price definitely just went up." As if she hadn't just proven the point at how good she was. She accepted his bow of praise however, looking just a little smug as she settled into her chair for him to rain more nice words upon her. ”The hell did you find all that out?” Kenz's left eyebrow arched, reaching for the muffin but finding she'd already eaten it with a touch of sadness. "Well if I went around divulging my methods, I'd be out of business." She commented, shrugging. "I have my sources." and some borderline illegal methods that she would certainly not be blabbing about. A lot of it had to do with straight forward reconnaissance once you had a person's address - follow them to work and school and home, see who else came out of home, ask about town a little, pretend you know them and people loooooved to talk. The other side of it involved a laptop, internet and some dodgy history searches that may or may not delve into the dark web.
Kenzie was bored. Not unusual for her actually, she tended to have a short attention span and it didn't take long for her mind to wander. It wasn't even a proper class today, but a study session, so it wasn't that she had to be here exactly, but it was highly suggested she make the most of the time. There were a few students she knew in the room to be from shared classes with her, but a fair share that she didn't recognise. Professors were kind enough to leave the room unlocked for students so they could use the free hour to get on with homework or coursework during the day. Kenzie only bothered if she didn't have any clients to meet or something better to get on with, but sometimes this was the only place she was likely to actually complete her school work because there weren't as many distractions.
Speaking of distractions however...
There were some idiots a few rows down from her that were taking great delight in fucking with some of the other classmates. Kenz didn't know if they were part of Shiloh's crew or not, she didn't really care in all honesty, though she tended to avoid the politics of the school if she could. It was annoying her though, the constant cackling of the girls laughter, the irritating way their heads fell back to let the noise out, and the swacking noise as the balls of paper and other items found their intended targets. With a heavy sigh, Kenz tilted her head and threw a paper aeroplane at one of the group as they attempted to chuck a book at one of the girls three rows across from them. "Jeez, if your aim is that bad, better quit whilst you're ahead, no?"
Kenzie caught Ky's raise of a brow and felt a little sheepish, knowing full well she'd been caught in the exaggeration... or well, let's be honest it was a lie. She just wasn't good at family get together's, no matter who's they were - her own families in particular she stayed well clear of if she could help it, and stepping into someone else's family stuff felt.. like dodgy territory to her. Still, she kinda owed Ky given his whole 'face' situation, and she'd dragged him into her dodgy family drama. She probably should have gone with the usual 'I need to wash my hair' quip that girls loved using so much, but that had felt a little on the nose. The goat thing was original at least.
“Are you sure? You can at least take some food home? Or eat downstairs?” She cringed on the inside - eat downstairs? That was worse than her coming out with the goat line. She'd feel totally awkward knowing everyone else was eating upstairs and she was lurking downstairs like a gremlin in the basement. Her own fault, Ky was trying to be nice. Wrinkling her nose a little, she knew there was only one way to fix this. "I guess the goat can wait, he's good at feeding himself anyway." There was an element of truth there - her cousin had a goat, and that thing had eaten everything under the Goddamn sun, before her Aunt had made it into goat soup one day out of frustration. Poor Geraldine. "I could do with some fatting up anyway, let's eat." She agreed, giving the family a half smile and trying not to seem too weird. "So what do we have here?" She asked, heading for an empty chair out of instinct.
"Ah. I should have known that your fists are as sharp as your wit." Kenzie raised a dark eyebrow at him, "Keep complimenting me like that, and it'll get you everywhere." She paused and tilted her head a little, "Well not quite everywhere," She amended with a wink. She meant nothing by it, there was no flirtiness to her tone, but she did like to breeze back and forth across the line and make the odd inappropriate jokes - besides, she didn't need him thinking she was that easy, she had standards and all that.... though chocolate and coffee really did get someone a long way. She had an almost unhealthy obsession for both tastes.
She half followed and half lead the young lad, as if she knew exactly which car they were taking. Confidence was key and all that, she didn't walk through life, she strode - strutted even, with an extra little sashay of her hips just to make her point, with a clack of her high heels gothic boots. "I was, unless you're one of those people who prefer to drive cause they can't handle being in the passenger seat." She wrinkled her nose and shook her head, though she could drive, she didn't often get behind the wheel and she wasn't interested in navigating the traffic today. "Nah, passenger gets to be DJ, and I'm pretty sure my playlist is going to trump yours." She said, not unkindly - she had a killer playlist for every occasion, and had no qualms with taking over someone's aux - even a stranger's.
"Glad to hear that. I have an unfortunate habit of making people cry sometimes." Well that sounded interesting. Kenzie glanced at him curiously, tucking a long strand of black hair behind her ear. "And how do you manage that exactly?" She wouldn't have expected him to be the type - he wasn't rude or obnoxious, or harsh tongued the way most people were who liked to upset people. She caught his nod and casually redirected her steps toward the truck. "That's the steed, I live over near the countryside, but it shouldn't be too long of a drive...you really think you'll be able to figure something out by looking around our yard?" She ran an eye over the truck as she headed to the passenger side. "It's not going to fall apart on the way, is it?" Not that she was usually one to care about her wheels, but a bit of style never hurt. "A lot of animals are found closer to home than you think, and even if not, it's worth grabbing something familiar that we can put out there that might encourage the cat home." She explained as she climbed into the cab.
"Well...yeah, I thought you were going to do that." She cocked a brow, but she supposed that was probably an impression she'd given him after their first interaction. "No!" the smile on her lips was coy, amused at how fast his response had been, as well as how loud. She made a show of wincing and rubbing at her ears, as though he'd damaged them. "Alright kid lower the decibels a bit, I'm not that old." She half smiled again, seeing him realise he was being played. She had no doubt she'd soon aggravate him like she did everyone, she couldn't help but enjoy messing with people, it kept her entertained on a boring day to day.
She had to admit she might need to tone it down at that look of relief. This obviously meant a lot to him, and she wasn't a tot asshole. A genuine smile from the lad, it made him look younger, and she gave herself a mental nudge to stop being quite so harsh to the babies of the University. "After we get Muffin back, I'll take you out for all you can eat and drink chocolate and coffee for a day as long as you don't have a man who might beat me up over it." At that she rolled her eyes, though his offer was definitely a winner. "You might regret that unlimited offer." she warned. "I might be small but I can pack a lot in. Most of me is stomach." she fixed him with a look. "And I dont need a man to do my beating up for me." Small though she may be, she was mighty, and very used to scrapping.
"Alright. My grandpa lent me his truck so I have it parked right here on campus. No ubers or taxies for us today." Kenz raised a brow again but gave a slight nod. "So you're going to chauffeur as well? Nice." Kenzie wondered if he might take offence to that too but she couldn't censor all her jokes, she was made more of humour than she was water. "Well. It's a good skill to have, so thank you. Come on, let's go." A thanks already, and she hadn't even done anything yet. The boy really was worrying. She didn't appreciate being hurried and she took her time to shut the door and make sure it was locked before the sound of his sigh reached her. A glance over her shoulder for a question as to what that was supposed to mean. "Hey Kenzie, sorry I was a dick the first time we met." a slight surprise, Ronan was apparently full of them. If he thought he'd be getting one in return he was sorely mistaken. "Water under the bridge, I didn't come home and cry about it." she added a quick laugh so he knew she had already waved it off. "Now come on let's go. Sooner we find the cat, sooner I get fed." and she took the lead towards the car park even if it wasn't her wheels they were using.
"What? Why? I like seeing you and I like buying you waffles,” She gave a slightly awkward shrug, not quite up to her usual standard of humour, but it did dampen the funny somewhat to see your friend battered and bruised from your mistakes. For once she didn't have an answer and so she kept her smart mouth shut, trying not to stare too hard as the patchwork of colours on his good looking face. As much as she joked about people owing her treats and coffee, she wasn't greedy, it was often a joke and she didn't expect that kind of stuff. She hadn't had proper friends in a long time, rarely made them in fact, and so genuine generosity often caught her out and made her feel a bit squishy inside, when it was used to being all dark and twisty.
She didn't know whether to feel sad or relieved when he dropped his hand, the skin warm from his touch, but yet another thing she just wasn't used to. "It’s over now. Just call me next time before you have any more dark alley meetings,” She rolled her bright blue eyes at that. "And here I was thinking you wanted to make it a regular occurrence. The more surprise the better." She managed a joke in return, though in all seriousness she had no intention in getting him involved in anything like that again, no matter what the cause. “But c’mon – I’m sure we’ll both be better after we eat!” She pulled a slight face at that, especially at the arm draped over her shoulders, effectively cutting off her escape and pulling her inside. She shot a wistful look to the outside before her escape route was closed off to her. "Are you sure that's a good idea? I'm not about to get thrown to the wolves?" another half joke, well aware of how protective families could be of thekr kin, especially their young lads.
It seemed she wasn't going to get a chance as she suddenly found herself standing awkward tucked into Ky's side and facing what seemed to be his entire family. Oh joy. She was going to kill Ky for this, and then a look at his face had her rescinding that thought pretty sharp with a stab of accompanying guilt. "Oh, if I had known we would be having a guest - I would’ve set up the other dining room!.....No, it’s fine, Everyone this is Kenzie! Kenzie this is everyone.” the group of smiles was somewhat disconcerting for old Kenz and she gave a slightly nervous one in return, raising her hand for a wiggle of her fingers. "Uh hello," she glanced from one face to another. "Not a problem if there's no room, I'd best get back anyways. I need to feed my uh...my goat." an animal she'd never met in her life, let alone owned as a pet.
She raised a brow at his frown, wondering if he realised that the attitude was much less likely to bring her enthusiasm to help. She was curious though, and bored enough to want to get involved despite his less than stellar personality. "I don't think you - wait, you'll help me?" She gave a roll of her eyes and a derisive snort at his response, "What, you thought I was going to flip you the bird and shut the door on your face?" She could be rude but she wasn't that mean, she didn't think so anyway - clearly she was giving off an interesting impression of herself. "I can do that if you'd prefer..." She suggested, holding back a smirk as she knew he kind of response he would have. It was surprisingly easy to wind the kid up, he was going to have to work on that and develop some thicker skin, or perhaps more patience.
"Okay, so maybe hate is a strong word. Whatever it is we feel about each other, we burry the hatchet and start aknew." Kenzie considered the kid in front of her, debating whether or not to play nicely. It would be a little harsh to say no, though tempting just to wind him up a little more. In the end she sighed and shrugged, "yeah alright." She agreed casually, then fixed him with an eye, "though if you really want to win me over, chocolate and coffee is the way to do it." She suggested, she'd forgive almost anything or anyone for either of those gifts. He hadn't actually done anything to her other than annoyed her, and she didn't often hold grudges - unless they were for a particularly good reason.
She pulled on her favourite leather jacket and slipped her phone into one of the pockets. "Thanks Kenzie, I owe you..." Kenz quirked a brow and glanced sideways at him as she found her keys too. "Like I said... chocolate and coffee..." she decided not to say anything like 'it'll get you everywhere' - it felt a bit weird to say to the kid. "Last time we saw her, she was just lounging on the front porch this morning. She has a collar and everything....How on earth did you get into finding animals? I admit, I was surprised when I got your name from a fellow student when the police rejected me." Kenzie wrinkled her nose and tilted her head as she went to nudge him out the doorway so she could shut and then lock the door; she never left it unlocked in this place. People loved to steal shit. "Alight, we'll start there then and figure it out." She had to admit she tended to have more of a luck and knack for it than anything. As for his other question... she pursed her lips. "I'm good at finding stuff out, not just animals. You could say I have a sixth sense for it." Yeah, that and good fingers on a keyboard. "Extra cash really, and just seems to be something I'm good at." She shrugged, unwilling to delve too much into her criminal-heavy history.
It didn't take sitting there for long, in order to Noah to show his face - lucky for him, Kenzie didn't appreciate waiting around for anyone, friend or not. She had shit to do, and she felt it was rude if people didn't think your time was worth the same as theirs. There were some exceptions, particularly with people she knew were liable to turn up late; Noah was one of them, he was like family after all so she allowed him a bit more leniency than others. She was even more appreciative when a fresh coffee was plunked down infront of her - alongside some muffins. Her eyes lit up, "Oooh you did good," She praised, also reaching for one of the muffins; chocolate of course.
"Morning, yes I look like shit, you don't have to tell me." Kenzie snorted and raised an eyebrow at his disheveled appearance. "You look like shit," She commented anyway, a smirk playing on her lips. He kind of did but it was not her business, if he wanted help he'd ask for it, she wouldn't pry. She bit into the muffin and then took a long swig of coffee as she saw the direction of his gaze. "What did you find?" She rolled her eyes, "Straight to business is it? No, oh hey how you doing Kenz? No no, just 'tell me what you've got'." She complained, drifting off into her favourite Russian slurs as she turned the folder and slid it over to him, taking another swig of coffee.
"You picked good, kid. She lives and works in this town - are you sure you didn't know what before giving me all this work?" It was a joke, but she gave him an eye anyway, curious. "A tough case to crack this one, given that you had pretty much nothing. But her name is Monique Bradlee, 23, works at the local bar most nights, dating Deacon Kelly, one kid, lives in the local flats; number 22 actually. Has a close knit group of friends who have all dabbled in the dark arts a few times over the years. Some criminal convictions - that helped me pin her down in the end, along her journey - and quite a lot of blank history where I guess she's been running on cash and nothing else to her name for some time. Far as I can see since you guys split she went to a kids home, and then a second one later where her and a handful of others made a break for it before they hit 18. That's when there's a lot of blank history until here." She shrugged, "it's all in there and more," She smirked. "Am I good, or am I good." She peered at her nails and blew on them to make a point.
“Oh, well thank you. Honestly, I’m just glad to see you.” Kenzie frowned slightly, "I'm surprised you'd be saying that." Most people tended to sidle away from her if they got too close, like they'd been burned. She'd have assumed he wouldn't want to see her, even though it hadn't been her fault - wrong time and wrong place and all that - she had still gotten him involved because he'd known her. If he hadn't, it was likely he'd have gotten away with it, or maybe cared less to see her hurt. And now he was there, looking like that, because of her. She sighed, her shoulder drooping a little at the mess everything had become - seriously, her stupid fucking cousin owed her big time.
“Do I have toothpaste on my lip?” An eyebrow rose slightly at that, her gaze dropping to his lips, ignoring the slight swoop of her stomach in that moment. Inappropriate and not the time or place. "No, you know it's not that." She said quietly, unable to provide her usual sarcastic self and quick wit. She knew people usually preferred jokes to sympathy, but she couldn't help herself. She felt subdued and unlike her usual self anyway. Life was hard and whilst she did well to keep it at bay, every now and then the suckiness of it got to her.
She was careful with her touch, aware of how much it would hurt, and her fingertips ghosted the bruises. “How are you doing? How’s your cut? I owe you a lot of waffles,” She frowned again, "Why do you owe me waffles? Not that I would turn them down," She added, a hint of a smile as she sighed again. "I'm fine." Somewhat of a lie, but all she was going to give him in that moment. The raising of his hand surprised her, but she didn't flinch either as he cupped her cheek. It felt surprisingly intimate but rather than shying away like she usually would, she found herself leaning into the touch somewhat. “Sorry I couldn’t prevent you from getting hurt,” She shook her head, trying not to think about how nice the caress of his thumb felt. "Sorry I dragged you into getting hurt," She countered, because there had been many steps prior that could have prevented it. She dropped her hand slowly after a moment, not wanting to overstep the line.
Kenzie enjoyed working a good case, especially one that held a little mystery or difficulty for her. She might bitch and moan if she struggled to get to the bottom of something, to find the links she usually sought out so easily, but she secretly reveled in the challenge of it. As long as she did get to the bottom of it anyway. She didn't like to turn back a job as unfinished, she hadn't done so yet but a couple of them had been close calls. This one had actually been pretty tough. She'd had to call in some serious favours which were really going to come back and bite her in the ass at some point, she was sure. It was worth it though. Now, she also wanted to know. It kind of made her feel a little bit like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, even if her cases weren't about finding murderers and more about lost family and fluffy animals.
She had agreed to meet Noah in Starbucks, on the request that he fill her caffeine addiction to accompany the information she was bringing him. She had to admit, Kenzie was surprised Noah didn't know where his sister was, given the irony of him settling here as a place to live where his sister had done the same. Perhaps they were more alike than they realised. She was looking forward to telling Noah exactly how difficult this had been to pull off; 100's of phone calls made, at least 6 different persona's used including four different accents, once even pretending not to understand English when someone became suspicious. She had needed only 3 counts of illegal activity to get some old police records, but finally, she had a name and an address. You really could find anyone using the internet if you tried hard enough.
Kenz had already finished one cup of coffee. She'd practically inhaled the damn thing, having missed out on her usual first cup when she'd woken up thanks to the coffee machine in the dorms packing up. Kenz was not impressed with it and was going to order her own for her room the first chance she got, damn the rest of them. She nursed the empty mug, waiting on Noah to turn up to buy her second as she looked down at the plain brown manila file in front of her. Very cliche, and she didn't give a damn shit.
