InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "salt and burn"

Seymour Birkhoff (bestnerd) wrote in madisonvalley,
@ 2018-12-01 02:22:00

Entry tags:

!closed, !log, ~2018 december, ~25 points, ~~nikita mears (neverhadahome), ~~seymour birkhoff (bestnerd)

WHO Birkhoff & Nikita
WHAT Checking in
WHEN Friday evening
WHERE On Birkhoff's way home from the Casino
WARNINGS TBD, probably not much
STATUS Closed | Incomplete

Birkhoff was looking forward to the weekend, weirdly. There was that party that got posted about on the network the other day, but it was for people he didn't really know so he figured they might skip it. Even if they did go, it wouldn't be the whole weekend which meant there could be some just general chill time happening. The three of them were rarely all home together so it'd be nice to at least get a meal in together. Not anything that involved actual cooking obviously, but he could order delivery. They were really good at that.

As he was thinking up some options, he heard his name come casually from the person who'd fallen into step right next to him and he jumped in surprise. Of course, Birkhoff glared at Nikita when he realized it was her. "Do you have to do the spy creep?" he complained as he continued back on his way, knowing she'd just settle into an easy pace next to him. "What's up?"

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neverhadahome
2018-12-02 04:17 pm UTC (link)

Nikita was on the way back to her apartment when she had seen Birkhoff. After years of knowing him, she could tell just from the way he was looking that he was off in his own little world. And he wondered why he was so easy to kidnap? As much fun as it was to screw with him, Nikita wanted to check in on him along with seeing if his research came up with anything.

“Do you have to be so bad at knowing your surroundings? At least I didn’t come up behind you and faked a kidnapping,” a smirk showed up for a minute, knowing it would probably annoy Birkhoff. “Seriously though,” she said as she stayed walking right alongside him, “I thought I’d see if you came up with anything about that thing you were looking into.”

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bestnerd
2018-12-03 12:22 am UTC (link)

Birkhoff rolled his eyes but he was definitely smiling at the familiar argument. He'd really missed her, way more than he'd ever realized. Nikita was family, even more so now that they had actual memories of being siblings. "Let's definitely not try the kidnapping thing," he replied with a wry grin. Kidnapping was so not fun. Ever. At all.

"Oh yea. I've been doing some sort of snooping." Birkhoff was trying not to outright spy, so it meant being very careful about how he was doing his digging. Bugging Jughead's computer had been ridiculously easy though. It hadn't taken very long to find the bullet points on the Serpents, but Birkhoff wasn't exactly trusting of it. Mal had probably told her boyfriend about how good of a hacker he was and it was just a decoy.

"It does seem like this kid is serious about it not being that big of a deal, just more social than anything else, but I don't get why they have to call themselves a gang." Even the matching leather jackets were a bit much.

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neverhadahome
2018-12-07 06:27 am UTC (link)

Nikita was very much fine with no kidnapping unless it was her doing the kidnapping, but she put on a slight sad face for a brief moment. “Oh, but I’m so good at it and you make it so easy.” With her, it was joking; however, he knew if he ever really got kidnapped no matter the world, she’d get him back at any cost. Though the joking and being around both Alex and Birkhoff only made her miss them, knowing back in her world, she might have to leave again and vanish from them.

“And what did you find with all the snooping,” she wasn’t surprised he found some stuff. If anyone could find anything online, it was him. It was slightly comforting on the whole what it seemed; however, kids weren’t stupid and they knew how to hide things or be careful so people didn’t know the real plan. “Maybe because it makes him feel like he brought apart of home to this place? Yeah, it might not be the normal gangs we know or well that I hung out with, but it’s what he knows.” If that was all he knew, then maybe that came from it.

Tilting her head slightly for a moment in thought, she shrugged slightly. “Well, if you want I can do my own poking. I mean if I happen to run into the kid somewhere and we start talking who knows what I might find out.” All that was where Nikita shined the whole pretending to run into someone and knowing how to get them to talk. Only she wouldn’t do that unless he was fine with it since Mal was his ward and last thing she wanted was to cause problems.

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bestnerd
2018-12-07 07:57 am UTC (link)

Birkhoff just shrugged. "I'm sure it'll happen sooner or later but honestly? I'm not worried though. Well. I'd be more worried for whoever thought it was a good idea to kidnap me." Between Nikita, Sombra, Alex and Mal, the kidnapper wouldn't stand a chance. Some possible future wasn't enough to distract him from the present and the very real problem he was facing.

This was very dangerous territory though. He was comfortable in his relationship with Mal in that he knew he was allowed to care about her and her wellbeing, but she wasn't going to just let it slide if she ever found out he was seriously concerned about the fact that she was in a gang. Honestly though, it was more that he was worried she'd find that the Serpents and Jughead were her 'home' and that she wouldn't want to be part of his family anymore. He didn't want to lose her.

"I can't exactly stop an accidental meeting," Birkhoff replied, stressing the word because they both knew there wouldn't be anything accidental about it. That was a convenient little loophole he was fully prepared to exploit. "And I want to know if he's really as harmless as it seems like he is." They both knew that it was the things that appeared harmless that were sometimes the most dangerous.

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neverhadahome
2018-12-09 05:16 pm UTC (link)

“Now see saying something like that is only putting a big red target right here,” she replied, tapping his back. Nikita knew why she had kidnapped him a few times, but it wasn’t exactly the same reason Amanda went after him or anyone from their world. “They should be worried cause you got a bunch of people who will come save your ass.”

This whole thing was a big complicated mess and she couldn’t even imagine what was going through Birkhoff’s head considering it was his ward in a gang. Yes, she had been apart of a few of those when running and in hiding, but she knew what she was getting herself into and could also hold her own. The fact that this gang from what she gathered just popped up told her most didn’t know what to expect and that was dangerous when you didn’t know all of that. It’d be one thing if eveyone knew the gang was harmless, but it wasn’t the case right now.

“No, I mean this place isn’t all that big and people have their routines so it isn’t my fault I just bumped into the kid by accident,” Nikita replied with an innocent shrug. One thing both knew she was great at was faking the accidental meetings, especially playing it off like it was nothing. She could understand why he was wanting to know on the harmless situation since some of the toughest people were considered harmless by the way they looked. “I like to think I’m a good judge of character so that won’t be too difficult. Since Mal’s your ward and the whole looking into everything, do you know either her or his routines? Or am I going to need to do the research? Since I can’t really talk to him if she’s around so I need to hit him when he’s away from her, but in a place where anyone could be even if it isn’t a place I would normally hit.” Nikita didn’t mind doing the leg work, but it’d be easier to see if Birkhoff had the information already.

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bestnerd
2018-12-10 03:31 am UTC (link)

Birkhoff shrugged unapologetically. Being kidnapped would probably be a little more fun nowadays, although that would depend a lot on who was doing the kidnapping. It was a given that he'd be rescued but he wasn't keen on being tortured while waiting for said rescue. He'd be perfectly fine being tortured by not having his electronics but most people didn't consider that to be a real punishment. Those people were assholes usually.

"Do I know their routines she asks," he muttered, appearing to be affronted even though he really wasn't. He was maybe taking this whole 'keeping an eye on her' thing a little too far, but Birkhoff didn't know how to care about people in a normal way. He just went with what he knew and took solace in the fact that both his ward and her boyfriend weren't computer savvy at all. "Saturday mornings are when you'll catch him on his own. Mal doesn't get out of bed until at least noon and he likes to have breakfast with his best friend anyway. They're either going to be at Hinkles or at Archie's place. My guess is Archie's place since they're on better terms lately."

With a few taps on his phone, he sent Nikita the address in question. Included in that message was the information he'd collected on the boy currently dating his ward. Birkhoff trusted Mal, but not her boyfriend or her boyfriend's friends. Or even really her friends, but he did like them a bit.

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neverhadahome
2018-12-20 04:30 am UTC (link)

Nikita couldn’t help but roll her eyes at his muttering. Did she really expect anything other than the sassiness to her question? No, but that didn’t mean she was going to let him slide without a comment back. “You might be slipping, you know? Not be as great as you once were just saying.” One thing he never lacked was confidence around his hacking skills, which was why she had no problem poking at them. If she knew he was feeling low, she avoided poking at those areas, but it was a different story when he was all confident.

Listening to the routines, she took note almost feeling a bit like back in their own world with him doing the computer work and her doing the field work. Then again it was the way she liked it. “And I’m called the one with my nose in everything,” she teased as she took out her phone to study the address. Already knowing it considering she had learned this place like the back of her hand when she first showed up. Last thing she needed was any surprises and not having an exit plan.

“Alright, so Saturday mornings are the best bet for when to have an accidental run in. I’ll let you know how it goes.” Nikita told him before looking him over. “How are you doing with this whole gang thing?” Birkhoff was a member of her family, and it’s why she was happy to look into this guy his ward was dating; however, she wasn’t just going to run off with the information. She had to make sure he was okay, knowing this couldn’t be easy on him and giving him the chance to talk if he wanted.

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bestnerd
2018-12-27 12:22 pm UTC (link)

Birkhoff glared at her, but there wasn't any real heat behind it. "I'm going to pretend you didn't just insult me because I need your help but after that, see if I help you with your computer troubles," he replied, and it was clear that even though he wasn't entirely serious, those computer troubles would be ones of his making. It honestly felt really good to have Nikita around.

"I mean. I know objectively that it's probably fine. Mal and her friends were in a gang in their world, too. Hell, Division was sort of like a super charged, government black ops sanctioned gang. I just. I don't trust her boyfriend. And I know that trusting her should be enough but it isn't. She's mine. My responsibility." He was quick to catch himself there, but it was clear that he considered Mal part of his circle of people and that circle was very, very small. It was a testament to how well he and Mal got along that she was even part of the circle. Just because he was her guardian didn't matter.

"I don't want her going down a path only to realize it's poisoned."

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neverhadahome
2018-12-28 04:09 am UTC (link)

Nikita tilted her head with a smirk at his threat. “You say that, but we both know if I needed the help, you’d come to my aid. Plus do remember I can be a real nightmare when I set my mind to it,” she teased with a bit of an innocent shrug. Though Birkhoff probably knew better than anyone around here how much trouble she could cause when Nikita wanted to bring trouble. Alex had a small idea; however, she was never with the adults area when everyone was trying to take her down like Birkhoff. It was fun to give him a hard time cause both knew it wasn’t anything serious.

The way he sounded about Mal, Nikita knew it well cause that was how she had felt about Alex. Alex was a tough one who could handle herself, but Nikita always worried about her and wanted the best for her, which sometimes came with putting her nose places it didn’t belong or getting Michael to do it for her. “I get it. At the same time, and I know this is rich coming from me,” she quickly pointed a finger at him, “so even say a word towards calling me a hyprocrite and I’ll hurt you. But try talking to her or maybe do a whole boyfriend coming over for dinner type thing?” Nikita was still going to do as he asked, but she was also going to offer up advice the best she could around the situation.

“Like I’ve learned sometimes they need to walk down that path and learn the hard way. It sucks, but only way they learn.” Which had been the hardest thing for her when Alex was against her and helping Amanda; however, she understood it was her own fault and Michael had made her see this was something she had to let go. “You just make sure to be there for her if it happens.”

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bestnerd
2018-12-30 10:13 am UTC (link)

They did both know that. Still, he wasn't going to admit that because it would undermine what he was saying and he didn't want to completely do that. It was enough that they both knew the truth. He had no intention of trying to start anything with Nikita, not when he knew exactly how it would go. He could only really hope now that Sombra didn't find the need to needle her the way she did the Freelancers. A prank war between her and Church was one thing, but her and Nikita? Birkhoff did not want to get caught in that crossfire.

"I think we're a little past that, but. We'll see how your thing goes, alright? And maybe I'll consider it." He didn't want to do anything too crazy and things were kind of contentious as they were already. Birkhoff wasn't exactly ready to play nice with the kid either. That would take some time and about a dozen stiff drinks more than likely.

He did appreciate her point about being there if things did go south for Mal. He wasn't quite ready for her to end up in trouble. He honestly didn't even want to be right about her boyfriend, but until he knew without a shadow of a doubt that Jughead wasn't going to make Mal's life miserable, he wasn't going to let up on his suspicions. They kept him alive and his team alive for this long, so suspicion was going to stay.

"I know she's gonna go her own way no matter what I say, but- it's hard." It was hard to not just pull her off the path and keep her close, keep her safe. Birkhoff ran a hand through his hair. "But whatever it is, whatever it was, I'll deal with it." He turned down the street toward the apartment building. "You want to come upstairs for a bit?" he asked, figuring if she wanted to, it would be alright.

[ooc: want to wrap/fade on yours?[

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