you're no protagonist

[pushtheboundaries]

Characters: Krei, Callaghan, & Anton
Date: Marchish, following this TDM thread which we are taking as canon because Reasons.
Location: The Hotel
Situation: Callaghan drags Krei to the Hotel after dragging him out of trouble with some Kedan and finishing the mugging they started. Hi Anton, have his best frenemy, please help keep him out of further trouble.
Warnings/Rating: None except for repressed homicidal thoughts?

---

By the time they reach the Hotel's entrance, Callaghan is relatively certain he's made clear the need for Krei to behave; intimidation is not something he particularly likes, but he reasons it's necessary, here. And even if Krei did talk- who would believe him? Robert's already been here long enough to feel that people would at least doubt, but he doesn't want any sort of rumor undermining what he's begun.

He's barely started to accept he has to make a life here, and now Krei's threatening it all with his mere presence.

But true to his words, he's brought him to safety. Pushing open the doors to the lobby, Callaghan takes a look around, then makes a gesture towards the sitting area.

"Stay there. I'll find Anton and explain."

Comments

[kreitech]

Krei doesn't do anything quite so tactless as sigh with relief as Callaghan departs, but there's an obvious shift in his demeanor. Suddenly he's more relaxed, more confident, and he smiles at least twice as often as before. He's not a completely new person but he's certainly brighter without Callaghan's influence nearby.

"I'll take a look, and I'll see about contacting this... Stark, was it?"

If there's someone who can hook him up with a power supply even in this place, as technologically backwater as he's been led to believe it is, they might just be his key to finding out the exact state of the tech here--and what's been done to improve it.

Of course now without Callaghan around, knowing that he and Anton are on friendly terms, Krei can't help but feel that there's some sort of vacuum in the conversation. An obligation to explain that whole unpleasantness, as it were.

He smiles and ignores it.

"I do appreciate this. The room, the..." He gestures to his face, the busted lip. "It's been a hell of a day."

[gistful]

The change is almost astounding. So astounding as to be troubling. "Yes," said Anton, deadpan but with a hint of humour in his eyes. It always amused him when someone didn't recognise Tony's name, given that 'Tony Stark' was such a pop-culture icon. Not that Anton ever mentioned it. Privacy, and all that. "He's young, but something of a genius in the field of engineering."

But at the thanks Anton only smiled, and contrary to his usual impassiveness, the smile was the unexpectedly gentle sort--unexpected only because there were times Anton presented as far too uptight to soften at all. "You're welcome," he said, and his tone matched his expression. "Shall I show you to your room? We've only dormitories available currently, I'm afraid, but there are one or two without many boarders."