Alphas

Who: Doc and Grayson
Where: Babylon
When: early evening

While he'd been doing his best to keep a calm disposition about things, Doc was wearing thin. It had been riling him on a personal scale all day now, the fact that Grayson had hit Kayos blindly with accusations of being demonic, and he'd meant it when he said he was going to speak to the lycanthrope about it. Sure, he understood why none of it had gone well. Grayson was defensive of Jocelyn and wary of the unknown, but Doc refused to think it all would've had to go so badly.

Striding into Babylon with a vaguely grim look he usually reserved for meeting with Eris, Doc glanced towards the bar in search of Grayson. But even as he looked he was chanting to himself, reminding himself to be even-handed, to give leeway. It wasn't Grayson's fault, really. He didn't have any way to know how protective Doc would feel, or just how badly accusations of being a demon might strike Kayos. All he'd known was that there was something unknown. Give him a chance, Doc told himself as he moved for the bar.

Those people who said ignorance was bliss really had no idea. Right at that moment, finishing up with his work behind the bar, ignorant was exactly the right word to describe Grayson as Doc came into the bar with those intentions in his mind. The lycanthrope scented the other man before he could reach the bar, true to form, and lifted his head from what he'd been doing, finishing up wiping his hands off on the cloth nearby before moving over towards Doc. While he didn't have a concrete idea as to what was going to happen, Doc hardly looked happy, which meant one of two things: either something had gone wrong and they were needed, or Kayos had shared the story of her and Grayson's meeting.

Grayson was going to go with the latter.

Tossing the cloth over to where it belonged and letting out a breath, he briefly checked he'd finished up and then headed over towards Doc, the wolf in him already uncomfortable, pacing, aware that something was going to happen and not at all pleased about it.

"I got time for a drink?" Doc asked in greeting, "Or did you feel like grabbing some fresh air and letting me fill it with smoke?" He smirked faintly, hoping to keep from projecting too much tension over all of this. He liked Grayson, he genuinely did, and for all of his past experience in leadership? Doc never enjoyed being grim. He just had to be. Still, he was harboring a private hope that this wouldn't get hostile, that the two of them could be frank and move forward.

Grayson had been an Alpha in his time, had had to lay down the law with his pack and enforce it verbally or physically, sometimes violently when things had gone too far. He knew all about being grim and hadn't particularly enjoyed that part himself. "Actually, I'm done for the day. I could use a cigarette myself." It might seem ridiculous to some that a lycanthrope would smoke when their senses were enhanced and the smell and everything else about cigarettes would be that much more intense, but Grayson had never found them too offensive.

"C'mon then," he instructed Grayson without a second glance around, neatly turning on one heel to head back out the same way he'd come in. Doc pushed through the doors that led away from Babylon, drawing in a deep breath of the cool air and basking in it. He looked Grayson's way with an appreciative smile, figuring the shifter likely appreciated how removed Marquette was from urban centers for a lot of the same reasons Doc did. Digging out his cigarette pack, Doc tapped two forth and offered one Grayson's way, lighting up and drawing deep off his smoke. "So," he murmured casually around escaping wisps of smoke, "Where'd you get the idea that she might be a demon, exactly?"

Taking on a follower role after spending so much of his life in one of leadership still had the wolf inside of Grayson bristling, but thankfully with someone like Doc it was easier than with most. Doc had the energy of a leader, and that placated the wolf just enough to keep it from growling or opening displaying its displeasure. Accepting the cigarette from Doc and fishing his own lighter from his pocket, Grayson didn't show any surprise at the question that came forth from the other man. "I'm still learning who can do what. It was a question, not an accusation. Now I know better than to actually ask people that."

"But what made you think 'demon'?" Doc pressed, leaning up against the wall of Babylon, "It's not something most people, special or otherwise, automatically assume." If they could get beyond these barriers built of both mens' pride, Doc knew they'd work smashingly together. And some part of him figured, in that moment, that Grayson might respond better to direct questioning than to gentle prods from the man who he was supposedly working for. "I know she and Jocelyn had a shitty first encounter, did that play a role? Jocelyn's told me that you two get along well... was she blowing off some steam, maybe? Venting her doubts, something like that?"

What had made him think demon? Well, truthfully, he and Jocelyn had both jumped to the same conclusion, but Grayson wasn't in this game to point the finger at someone else, so instead of outing with the whole truth he simply shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "It just came to mind. It was angel or demon and for some reason I went with demon. I didn't mean anything by it, which I made sure to tell her after her... negative reaction." Which was a polite way of saying she'd more or less thrown a tantrum. Again, he wasn't making any accusations or making waves. "I didn't even think she might be a willworker." His lighter found its way back into his pocket as he took his first deep drag, the first chance he'd had to have a cigarette in several hours. "Jocelyn and I had a conversation about Kayos, sure, but I wouldn't exactly call it blowing off steam. Kayos kind of came out of left field." Doc had to give them that.

"Only in the sense that I didn't have a chance to tell either of you about her," Doc corrected, shaking his head, "We were in town maybe twenty minutes before Jocelyn stopped by." Which, he knew, had been a large part of the problem. A little bit of warning would've gone a long way towards avoiding the mess they were all stuck with now, but at least Grayson didn't seem too mired in it. "Now in comparison, both you and Jocelyn were signed on with me for days before you met. So yeah, it bothered me that she took one look and started making some... less than kind remarks my way. I've known Kayos since you, her, and Jocelyn were all children. I've watched her grow up faster than I'd have liked her to, but that's this life. The way I'm guessing she reacted at you? It wasn't so much because of what you asked her, more what she was hoping for."

She'd said she could, at least, and Doc was perpetually willing to give everyone but himself the benefit of the doubt. "And I don't blame you for not guessing what she was," he continued, "We're more rare with every day and ten times harder to pin down outside of our own ranks." Which was a little show of faith on Doc's part, an admission of who and what he was. And he meant the bit about rarity; willworkers were dying out, their powers emerging less and less all the time. He didn't think himself cynical for knowing there'd be a day when there was only reality, and no one to nurture it. "I don't mean to sound too harsh about Jocelyn, Grayson," Doc added, shaking his head, "I know you've got her back, and that means the world to me. But this job, when it hits? It won't leave an inch of room for misgivings. We stick together, or we fall... along with everything else."

With what they were discussing, the cigarette in his hand no longer held much interest to Grayson, and honestly, it hadn't held much to begin with. Now it just hung in his hand, more or less forgotten, as he kept his gaze on Doc's face and listened to him talk, absorbing the information handed to him and turning it over in his mind as best he could, working out the angles. "You don't have to educate me about sticking together," he said calmly, surprisingly without a hint of aggression. His eyes turned off to the side, as though tracing a miniscule sound that had already faded into nothing. "I'm a wolf, remember? We're pack animals, and we know all about sticking together until the end." Blue eyes turned back to Doc, and despite himself Grayson felt something in the back of his throat, lodged awkwardly. The final moments of what had once been a powerful pack flashed unbidden in his mind before he swallowed and blinked them away, drawing in a breath, moving quickly on, "Kayos said she would avoid the safe house but I told her not to. As far as I'm concerned, if you trust her then she belongs here." Hopefully Jocelyn could see that before it was too late.

That hadn't ever been an aspect that was lost on Doc. He'd worked with shifters before, and while there were exceptions? They preferred their own kind, their own company. And Grayson was looking for someone who'd cost him plenty. Only an amateur would miss the connections between the lines of thought. "The safe house, I could care less about," Doc told him honestly, "It's a central meeting place for the lot of us, that's all. Now Kayos? You? Jocelyn? More of a real concern." He wasn't going to reveal her secrets, but there was an itch inside that begged him to try and convey just how badly Grayson's reaction had stung. "She wouldn't say so, but you remind her of someone we knew. Aside from me, she doesn't have anyone else. So... I'm not ordering you or anything? But you can't do much better for friends, if you've ever got the free time."

Grayson might have preferred his own kind, but until that was possible -- was it possible again after what had happened? -- he would settle for what he could get. It might not have been a pack, but pretending it was would at least keep the threads from coming away, keep him from slipping even further than he already had. Weres didn't do so well on their own. Grayson knew that. What Doc told him about reminding Kayos of someone struck him as a little odd, but in the end didn't everyone remind someone of something, someone, a place or a face or a time when things were simpler and better? He wouldn't ask about it, really it was none of his business. Kayos' complexities were her own. "I have no problem with her." Doc already knew that much by this point. "She might have startled people, but she didn't do anything wrong. Now, as far as I'm concerned, she's one of us." One of that weird 'pack', that Grayson was trying to adjust to. Dammit, it was hard after Denver.

"Kayos is never going to doubt that she and I can stand together. She's known that since she was a child. You and Jocelyn? Well, that'll take some convincing." Doc said evenly, giving Grayson a grateful nod. "There's no doubt on my end about either of you. No anger over how things have gone, no worry about what comes next. But for future reference, in case our ranks grow? There's only one demon on this crew, you take your orders from him. And I'm one of the good ones." He stubbed his cigarette, blowing a last exhale and looking Grayson's way. "I hope you'll let me know if there's problems from any of this."

"Fair enough," Grayson responded. Truthfully, even if Kayos had been a demon, he wouldn't have reacted any differently to her in the end. As far as he was concerned, race simply meants abilities, not personality or intentions. Doc was a prime example, in point of fact. He was a demon, or so he said, and he wasn't out to kill them all. "You'll be the first to know," the werewolf assured Doc, finishing off his own cigarette. It had been burning on its own for so long that there wasn't much left to smoke, so he dropped it to the ground after one last drag and crushed it under his heel. "What happens now?" With Jocelyn, he meant. He still felt she'd been justified in her concerns, and he'd feel better knowing that Doc was going to address those concerns in the same way he'd met Grayson's.

Doc looked thoughtful for a minute, considering just what Grayson might mean by the question. "Depends," he said after a moment's thought, "With Jocelyn? She and I talked yesterday, we've got some things to work out still but we're okay. With the lot of us? We keep moving, planning for when the next storm hits. With a little luck we'll iron out any personal differences before that happens, and when trouble comes we'll be ready for it." That really was all they could do, after all. And as for his personal misgivings? Well, they were personal, and he still held a private hope that they'd be relieved in time.

The werewolf nodded his head, accepting what Doc was telling him at face value and having no particular reason to doubt what he was hearing. "All right," he went on to say to give the other man that extra confirmation of what had been laid out between them. "I think I can live with that." The very faintest trace of a smile touched his mouth at one corner. As far as the wolf was concerned, he and Doc had no problems whatsoever. There was no particular tension hanging between them and it still felt the same as it always had. That was good enough for Grayson.

"I'd hope so," Doc told him, grinning more earnestly, "You strike me as the sort who'd take more to bring down." Grayson had it right; there was no tension, no bad blood with them. Doc hadn't ever been given a reason to doubt the werewolf's place in things, and this talk was only a confirmation of that. "I'm glad she's got you as a friend, Grayson," he admitted, "I know I'm not always around as much as I'd like to be, or as much as she'd like. So it's good to know you're there." He stepped away from the wall, hands tucking in his coat pockets as Doc gave a slight nod. "You know how to reach me if you need anything. Otherwise, I'll be in touch."

Those words from Doc earned an actual smile from Grayson, almost an appreciative one; lycanthropes were notoriously tough bastards usually and clearly his employer recognised that fact. When the other man went on that smile had mellowed, faded enough so that it was still visible but tamer. Instead of making a whole new line of conversation out of his friendship with Jocelyn, he simply nodded his head, acknowledging the fact and Doc's approval of it. "In that case, I don't doubt I'll hear from you soon," the werewolf said to Doc, taking his own weight off the wall before making his way back inside Babylon.