[R]--First Test [[cue: Tynan]]

[Kevin Brennan]

At the end of a long dead end of unused factory buildings owned by the Brennan estate, Kevin kept his secret Dray meeting rooms.  He'd summoned his newest member this evening to join him here.  The horrid grey stone exteriour and heavily boarded windows and decaying first two floors were a sharp contrast to the upper two floors that were poshly decorated in fine furniture.

He'd asked that Tynan be brought to the "ballroom".  This was Kevin's party place and where he indoctrinated new members into his numbers through sheer excess.

There was no party tonight, but there was the best liquors and a newly acquired girl who looked about eighteen.  She was scantily dressed and looked dazed where she sat on a small sofa near the fine mahongany bar.  A bartended cleaned glasses without noticing her.   A few of his security guards lingered at the fringes of the room.

Kevin was dressed in good suit, his hair tied back in a ponytail. He sat in grouping of leather chairs, his chair situated slightly higer than the rest.    He sat sipping brandy, listening to the soft music playing from a nearby radio.  His gaze looking at the empty stage out in front of him where many shows went on in previous nights.

[Tynan OSullivan]

There was little about this lavish space that impressed Tynan. From outside, the meeting place looked like home, but the deeper he was lead into the interior, the thicker the upper class decor became. In his simple, clean, earth-toned working class garb, the Barber did not look as if he belonged. The decadence did not bode well with his tastes, though this was hidden beneath a placid deadpan expression. Tynan had spent the better part of his early career as dumb muscle, and knew how to play the silent, obedient lackey. It wasn't something he relished, but he was a survivor, and that's what this arrangement ultimately came down to: the continued existence of him and his men.

The guard that lead him to the final large room directed him toward a set of chairs with a nod. his gaze flicked about the room, taking in the number of guards and their positions before falling on the girl. She was a little young and trashy looking for his tastes - between those flaws and the spacey look to her, she did little for him. Tynan followed the guard's direction, coming to stand next to the seated Brennan. He did not take a seat himself nor did he bother saying anything. He glanced to the empty stage and back to Kevin, looking the part of a man ready for orders. Atfer all, he doubted Brennan had invited him here to be entertained - at least he hoped that wasn't the case.

[Kevin Brennan]

Kevin turned to take Tynan in, to assess the details of him, which he found less than impressive.  There was some faint residual sort of resistance in his stance, perhaps in subtle tightening of the muscles in his jaw as he wore what looked to be a well-practiced poker face.

Kevin twirled the brandy in his glass and said nothing for several long minutes, his eyes steadily on his "guest".

Tynan O'Sullivan had thought he could run the streets, Kevin's streets, and it had finally gotten under Kevin's skin.  He'd sent a message and that message had been clear and now Tynan would work the streets for him and not own them.  He'd do as he was told, or he'd pay a price.

"Have you heard that Judge Gilroy's daughter went missing last week?  Seems that people go missing all the time these days.  A judge's daughter, though.  That's a pretty big target. They have such good security around them, such excellent security."

The story had been all over the newspapers that the 17 year old daughter of the liberal Northern Judge had gone missing last week.

He twirled his brandy in his glass and took a sip. "Sit down," he gestured with his glass to one of the lower seats facing him.

[Tynan OSullivan]

Wonderful. In Tynan's illustrious career as a petty thug for hire, he'd encountered two types of bosses: those who were frank and upfront with their desires, and those that liked the sound of their own voices. Thus far it appeared as if Brennan was the latter. He kept his frustrated disappointment to himself and took the offered seat, careful to avoid tired signs of disrespect. If he was going to be here for a while, taking in a healthy serving of high class hot air, he might as well be comfortable during the gum flapping.

As he settled in, he thought of his own chair at home - the one with the faded green upholstery worn thin on the armrests. The height differential amused him more then anything. He'd let the man have whatever tokens of superiority he needed. Tynan had long come to terms with the new power dynamics of this relationship. The Barber wasn't pleased by any stretch of the imagination, but he'd live - and that was the point.

In the time it took him to settle he'd rolled over the odd bit of information Brennan had offered him several times. It was a peculiar way to begin a meeting, and he had to wonder if Brennan intended for it to lead somewhere, but it wasn't his job to ask questions. He thought momentarily of the daze girl he saw upon entering the room, but didn't glance in her direction.

"I suppose if a great man wants something badly enough, he he'll find a way to get it." Tynan offered in a detached tone, leaning inward slightly.

He hoped that this was where this conversation was heading, and fast: Tynan's wants. The sooner he discovered the man's desires, the sooner he could be on his way.

[Kevin Brennan]

Kevin just watched Tynan through expressionless grey eyes. His gaze roamed to the girl in the corner and with a subtle gesture, he'd signaled one of his burly security guards to bring the girl to him. The man jerked the girl to her feet and she walked on unsteady and trembling legs foward until she was standing in view of both Kevin and Tynan.  Up close, she looked quite young. Her face had been painted but tears had run paths through it and Kevin scowled slightly.

"No real experience, this one," Kevin said blandly. "Pretty though," he added, taking the hem of her very short skirt in between two fingers.  She was glad in a small glittered halter, short black skirt and spiked heels. Her light hair was loose around her shoulders and hung like a curtain around her face.

Kevin signaled the guard to bring her closer.

"What's your name?" he asked, his voice smooth, nearly gentle.

"April," the girl stuttered out after a brief pause. "April Gilroy."

"How did you get so far from home, April Gilroy?"

"I don't know." Her voice seemed far off.

'Well, it doesn't really matter, does it? You're here now and you are the star of our show. If you do really well, if this man here," Kevin pointed to Tynan, "says you gave an excellent performance, then you get to go back home."

Suddenly the lights on the stage flickered on and the body guard dragged the sobbing girl toward the stage as the curtains pulled back revealing a functional bed, a stool and a motion picture camera on a large tripod.

The girl was beginning to panic and Kevin had her dragged back down in front of him. He grabbed her face and got her to look him in his eyes. "You'll ruin the show," he hissed, then he murmured some strange words from an old language the others would not have known. It took him less than a few moments before the girl's body seemed to ease and her eyes lost the panic.

"I want you to give us a good show now, April. Go to those men on the stage and do as they ask."

Kevin settled back in his chair. The girl walked slowly up the stairs to the stage where two men, stripped to the waist approached her and lead her to the filming area. A camera man signaled the start and the girl was forced to her knees before the first man.

The "show" was clearly visible to both Kevin and Tynan.

More body guards as well as a few of Kevin's other employees stood in various parts of the room watching the attack on the girl unfold. A waitor offered Tynan a glass of brandy.

Kevin looked at Tynan and finally spoke. "You get to decide the fate or our little starlet," he said softly. "I like to keep men around me who can make hard decisons.  When the men up there are done, you'll tell her her fate."

If you decide to leave, then you will decide that she dies after the big show tonight. This would then qualify only as her dress reherasal.  We liked to get her full value after all the trouble we took to take her in the first place."

He smiled a little over his brandy and glanced back at the stage as one man moved off the girl and the next took his place.

"What you decide will tell me a lot about who you are, Tynan O'Sullivan.

[Tynan OSullivan]

The Barber was none too thrilled to have his suspicions about the girl's identity confirmed. Tynan only obeyed the laws with which he agreed, and he had little respect for those who enforced them, but that did not mean he was game for watching their teenage daughters tortured for entertainment purposes. Kidnapping. Assault. Rape. The charges tallied up in his mind to a short stay at Hackballs ending in a long execution. When Brennan promised the girl her freedom Tynan had to wonder whether he was a bold faced liar or whether the man was so sure of himself he knew the law could not touch him - even for the most severe crimes. Maybe Brennan intended on tampering with her memory, and that's why the camera was there - though the device could have just been to create a keepsake record or blackmail or both. Maybe he'd kill the girl and then the moving picture to hr family. Feck if he knew. He didn't relish crawling into this twisted bastard's mind.     

The battle between Tynan's baser instincts and his self preservation drive had begun. His hands were itching against the arm rests of his chair. He wanted to swipe the brandy from the tray with a fierce backhand and send its contents shattering and spilling onto the floor. His other fingers yearned for his strait blade. He wanted to see that satisfying glint of metal sink deep into Kevin's throat and send the lifeblood spilling out to pool with his fecking brandy on the floor.

His jaw set, and he eased back in his seat, shaking his head slightly at the waiter offering the brandy. He had resigned himself to what would come of this encounter, and took inner solace into where he would go and what he would do after this meeting despite its outcome. The only thing he suspected he had a say in was whether of not he walked out of the warehouse with a pulse. He didn't believe for a second that the fate of the girl was truly in his hands. This was just some fecked up game to Brennan. He loathed the well to do and their fecking games. 

When the "show" was though, and the girl lead back for his "verdict". Tynan drew a long pensive breath, and leaned forward in his seat.

"Send her home." He said finally. "Tamper with what little memory she'll have of this, and tell the judge he now works for you - unless he wants the world and his daughter to find out about her big screen debut." He suggested dryly.

A judge was a hell of an asset to have in your pocket - at least in Tynan's world. The fact that the girl would walk away from this with no recollection of the trauma, well that was mere coincidence.   

[Kevin Brennan]

"She knows what happen to her," Kevin said, standing and taking the arm of  girl whose clothes hung off her now. He turned her to face Tynan more directly. "Kneel and look our guest in the eye,' he directed her, and she did. She was kneeling before Tynan, and while the casual observer might miss it, behind her blank stare was raw, caged fear.

"She just complied with my will. I hate screaming. It's very distracting." Kevin sat back down,leaving the partly naked girl before Tynan.  "I could order her to do you as well, right now, and she'd obey because she has no other choice. She knows what she is doing but is powerless to stop. Magic can be that strong.  Magic has that potential.  But if it's diluted by all these redcaps coming into Magical Ireland, possibility dries up. We as a people are lost."

This "potential" was how Kevin gained followers. He shared his power with few, but those who followed him hoped to open the possibilities of magic for personal gain. Once under Kevin's rule, they became his pawns in a game to garner further powers for himself. He kept the game going by allowing some closer to him while others coveted that and worked harder to claw their way nearer.

People's value shifted for Kevin like any commodity. Women's values were only in their usefulness to men.  Kevin had a growing business in the sex slave trade among other dark groups outside Magical Ireland that was become both lucrative and a way to attain access to magical dark objects from outside Magical Ireland.  His empire was growing and he needed more men.

Kevin eased back with a fresh drink brought to him before he'd put his empty glass on the nearby table.  A brief smile lit his face at Tynan's words and he nodded. "I see you are not as common in your thinking as you are in your appearance.  A judge in our pocket makes life a bit easier all around."

He left the girl there, kneeling before Tynan and a silence fell for a moment. "She wont remember me or this place." He gestured casually around.  "I've assured that. But she will remember you. She can see your face quite clearly and she knows your name."  Kevin paused and smiled.  He took a small bit of parchment from his pocket and tossed it on the table between he and Tynan.

"Her address is there, and a memory erasing spell." The spellwork was complicated, difficult and illegal.  When done incorrectly, permanent damage could happen to the victim. Kevin was curious as to Tynan's ability with magic, but also curious to see how innovative he was when handed complicated work.  Tynan was now assigned to return this girl North.

As Kevin spoke, an older woman appeared and took the girl roughly away.  Moments later the girl was brought back, dressed in ordinary traveling cloths and with the same haunted look in her eyes. She was placed just to the side of Tynan's chair.

"I feel confident you can handle our judge. I'll be in touch after that."

Kevin got up and left, leaving Tynan amongst his body guards and the camera man on stage loading the reel into a tin case.

[Tynan OSullivan]

Finally. Tynan had what he had came for: some feckin orders. Brennan's instructions weren't quite what he had anticipated. Truthfully, he had thought he'd be handed something more challenging, but he didn't let the relief reach his eyes. He simply nodded and when the man got up to leave, he followed suit. He grabbed the parchment from the table in one hand and the girl's arm in another. With her in his grip, he left the room without uttering a word to Kevin's lingering men. He didn't bother asking for the film. He needn't show it to the judge to convince him harm had befallen his daughter, and he was sure the man had tried enough sickly crimes to allow his imagination to his imagination to run wild as to what lurked on within the tin. Deep down, all men had the same darkness in them that Kevin expressed unrestrained. It was only the weak who hadn't in them to fight for their desires.

With April in his grasp, he left the warehouse and went out into cool night air. His carriage rolled up out front and he opened the padded door, signaling for the Avett brothers to get out and join the driver. Inside the carriage that left only himself, the girl and James.

"Who the feck is this?" James asked in a harsh whisper once they had left the warehouse far enough behind.

"Don't ask." Tynan said gruffly, tossing his second in command the parchment. "Think you can handle that?"

The thin baby faced Quartet officer unfurled the parchment and scanned over its contents. "Tough stuff. Illegal. Risky. Sure you don't want to do this?" He asked.

Tynan simply nodded. James was the most gifted among his men when it came to complicated casting. He'd trust him with his own head, but more importantly, he couldn't do it himself. He couldn't look at the girl. Tynan took back the parchment for a moment, tore it in half, and handed the bit with the address to his driver through a long narrow window at the front of the carriage, and returned the spell instructions to his second in command.

"Take your time." He cautioned in his low gravely tone as he eased back into his seat. "We have a long ride ahead of us."

[end]

[Story Managers:]

[Story Manager][Staff][Writer][New Applicant]
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Story Managers: Ryan Avery, Hannah Winter
Staff: Ali Whitehorse, Agnes Croft, Sabrina Mayfield

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