07:43 <Quaker> Mercifully, it’s stopped raining. The clouds are still hanging over all, but the sun up above has brightened them to a pleasant cotton white. It’s perfectly pleasant weather for half a dozen children from the Openshaw Community Mosque to visit the Heaton Park Animal Centre, along with three adult chaperones. 07:45 <Quaker> “Thank you so much again, Uncle Amjad,” Wafda is saying. “Normally we’ve got plenty of volunteers, but this week our scheduled people just couldn’t make it. Are you sure you’re alright keeping up with the kids?” 07:47 <Quaker> They’re in the middle of a small dirt road, hemmed in on both sides by a series of animal pens. On the other side of iron railings, pigs and chickens and donkeys and other barnyard animals either doze in piles of straw or come up inquisitively to the children poking their hands through. 07:48 <Quaker> Badawi lifts a little boy off from the railing he’s climbed up on. “Come down from that, sweetheart. You don’t want to scare the little animals before they come up to you.” 07:51 <Quaker> Amjad smoothes his moustache out with his fingers and smiles. “No, beta. It’s perfectly alright. Myself and Miss Agostina can still bring up the rear. I’m not so old I can’t keep the kids from trying to chase after the hens.” 07:52 <Quaker> “Piggies!” Hena sticks her hand through the bars and waves her arm, trying to get their attention. The pigs just grumble and roll over in the dirt. Ali makes grunting sounds of his own. 07:53 <Quaker> Ranaa is hiding behind Badawi’s legs. “What’s that? Is it a goose?” 07:55 <Quaker> “No, dear. It’s a peacock! Look at all the shiny feathers it’s got. It likes to spread them all out so another peacock will fall in love with him. Here, take some seed and toss it in.” Badawi pours some sunflower seeds into the little girl’s hand from a sack that cost two pence. 07:57 <Quaker> Later, as the children and Wafda are looking at a funny llama that’s grasped a railing between its teeth, Amjad and Badawi walk behind and make quiet conversation. In Spanish. 07:58 <Quaker> “So, did Tom Luna call you himself? ‘I’ve got an easy job for you, and you’ll never guess who with?’” 07:59 <Quaker> Amjad shakes his head. “No, no. Tom’s got too much on his hands these days to bother with little old me. He’s come up in the world. Not like I would have turned down a job, though. Semi-retirement is semi-boring, it turns out.” 08:01 <Quaker> Badawi smiles pleasantly. “What a shame that discovery must have been. I remember every time we went somewhere in Bilbao - ‘This is my last week, Miss Badawi. I’m too old for this, Miss Badawi. I’ve got nieces and nephews to think about, Miss Badawi.’” 08:04 <Quaker> “It should have been, and I am, and I do. At least I’m on the same island as them. Same city, get to see the family every day if I want, all that. It’s nice. And now I get to pick how much excitement I want in my life, thank you very much. Happy to never see a damned roadsign in Basque again, thank you very much. Puttering around and maybe helping you out now and then, I can live with that.” 08:05 <Quaker> The kids cheer as a capybara raises itself from its straw bed and lowers itself gently into a tub of water. 08:07 <Quaker> Badawi, as nonchalantly as possible: “How’s Jorge?” 08:08 <Quaker> Amjad answers quickly. “Jorge is in Spain. For the forseeable future.” They pause to look at the capybaras. “We’ll see.” 08:09 <Quaker> “Sorry to hear he didn’t come with you.” 08:11 <Quaker> “Bit of a hard sell, isn’t it? Come to the shit country with shit people and shit weather and shit food? Take all the shit my family will stir when they see you? Give up the prettiest city in the prettiest country in Europe for old Amjad and all that? Bit too much shit for one man to swallow, isn’t it?” 08:12 <Quaker> Badawi: “The food isn’t that bad. And you get used to the rain.” 08:14 <Quaker> “Maybe for your palate, love. Jorge’s a cut above you and me, he’s a proper epicure. Can’t take a man from Seville to Wigan.” 08:14 <Quaker> Badawi: “But Bilbao to Manchester?” 08:16 <Quaker> “Well, they had to put a gun to your head, didn’t they?” 08:16 <Quaker> Badawi: “Alright, then why’re you here?” 08:19 <Quaker> “Why not? Spain was over for me, as soon as they picked you up. Frozen out of every job since then, thank you very much. Basically, the whole team started to split up as soon as we’d heard what had happened. Ali back to Pakistan, even. The rest, here and there. Not much left for me there except Jorge.” 08:21 <Quaker> “Tell you the truth, he was getting bored of me anyway. Silver fox only goes so far, until he realizes that I’m not kidding about my bad back and all my pills. I can’t be out every night, jetting off to Madrid and back.” 08:22 <Quaker> The geese are chasing each other around the yard. “Can’t go back home. Can’t stay in Spain. Family up here.” Amjad runs his fingers back through his neatly parted hair. “Why not?” 08:24 <Quaker> Badawi: “Maybe I should be a little put out. My first thought was you’d come out of faithfulness to me.” 08:25 <Quaker> Amjad laughs. “Fuck off. Good lord, you’re still the same.” 08:28 <Quaker> “I am very glad to see you’re alright, beta. I thought you were out of things for good back there.” He pauses to stop Ranaa from running, and then ties the little girl’s shoe. “Very glad to see you, miss. Very glad.” 08:28 <Quaker> “So, what, you’re working for the same ones who took you out in Spain? Just up here, working on their things instead?” 08:50 <Quaker> Badawi is interrupted by Leila pulling on her pants. “Missus, what do llamas eat?” 08:54 <Quaker> She squats down to the little girl’s height. “Oh…grass and wheat and alfalfa, I think. Do you like alfalfa?” Leila shakes her head. “Maybe once you get a bit older, sweetheart. Did you know your tastebuds change as you get older? When I was your age, there were sooooo many foods I thought were *gross*. Yuck!” She sticks out her tongue and makes a face, and Leila giggles. “But now I like them very much! What’s 08:54 <Quaker> your favorite food, Leila?” 08:54 <Quaker> The little girl thinks. “Ice cream.” 08:55 <Quaker> “Ice cream does taste very good. That’s a good choice.” 08:56 <Quaker> Amjad points at the llama. “Did you know that llamas have more than one stomach? You and me and Missus Badawi only have one. But they need a bunch because they’re always eating things like grass. They have to digest it for a long time.” 08:57 <Quaker> Leila is shocked. “How many stomachs do they have?” 08:57 <Quaker> Amjad smoothes his moustache. “Well…cows have four. So llamas probably have four, too. Maybe three.” 08:59 <Quaker> Badawi: “Grass tastes gross, doesn’t it, Leila? Yuck! I’m glad we’re all people and not cows. We get to eat lots of nice things. Maybe on the way back we can stop for some ice cream. How does that sound?” Leila looks amazed. 09:00 <Quaker> “Alright.” Badawi gently pushes the girl along. “Let’s keep up, sweetheart. All the rest of us are looking at the donkeys, go see what the old donkeys are up to.” 09:06 <Quaker> Badawi: “Not quite. I’ve been doing some consulting work for that bunch. The Mysterium pays well. I’m full-time with this latest group for the moment. The ones you met.” 09:06 <Quaker> Amjad: “Who’s backing it? Are you freelancing?” 09:10 <Quaker> Badawi: “Independent, for the moment. Manchester’s full of fantasmas. Willing to pay people outside their little social circles to take care of their problems. You met our…local government liasion. She’s got demon blood, too.” 09:11 <Quaker> “She seemed nice, despite it. Bit of a rich girl accent on her.” 09:14 <Quaker> “She’s the most well-adjusted, believe it or not. Let’s see…we have our American ex-cop forensics specialist. A real prick, but he’s good at his job. Retired from the American federal paranormal crimes police task force. He’s just in it for the money and getting to keep feeling like a professional.” 09:18 <Quaker> “Another American. Took the hard way out of their paranormal special forces. Nice, bit of the American crybaby thing going on. Thrill junkie, but likes to indulge in feeling guilty about it. He’s got to grow up or rein it in or something, it’s getting a bit out of hand lately. Weird around women, too.” 09:19 <Quaker> Amjad looks a bit taken aback. “Driving around American paramilitary types…” 09:21 <Quaker> Badawi: “Don’t get me wrong. They’re both out for good. The first one because they broke up his old organization, the second one because he’s burned for real. And Bob’s not so bad. Top of his field in what he does. Just…basically never stopped going through adolescence. And you know how the Americans are with their operators, the whole arrested development thing. It’s basically child abuse that never stopped. He’s 09:21 <Quaker> getting better. Living with the fairy he rescued, actually. The local fairy king is holding a ball next week, we’re all attending. Networking event.” 09:23 <Quaker> “Then there’s the last one. Just some local muscle. Dumb and mean. Don’t let him give you any trouble. Wouldn’t tell him you’re Muslim. Or gay. Or talk to him at all if you don’t have to.” 09:27 <Quaker> Amjad: “And how much are you paying me to being around?” 09:28 <Quaker> Badawi: “100k per year to start.” 09:29 <Quaker> Amjad: “Then consider me on board, for now.” 09:31 <Quaker> Badawi nods. The two of them catch up with the pack of children and Amjad’s niece as they stare at a cow. 09:34 <Quaker> Badawi: “We’re tracking down two elder vampires at the moment. And then we’ve got some work involving criminal psychics after that. So…” She watches the kids. “Maybe tell Wafda and the elders to keep the children in at night for a few weeks. Prowlers sighted in the neighborhood. And don’t drive around after dark unless you’re with us.” 09:35 <Quaker> Amjad returns her curt nod. “Back to Mexico rules, then. Ah…well.” 09:36 <Quaker> As they leave the animal park, the older man stops her. “Who’s been feeding you all this time?” 09:36 <Quaker> Badawi starts. “Nobody. Myself. Why? I can eat whatever I want, Amjad. I earned this metabolism fair and square.” 09:39 <Quaker> Amjad helps the kids into the van. “Wallah, you are going to poison yourself. We’ll stop by my niece’s on the way back tonight. Her husband Yusuf is an amazing cook. I’m going to gain thirty pounds living here.” 09:40 <Quaker> In Urdu, he turns to his niece. “Wafda, Agostina is going to join us for dinner. Oh, and if it’s not too much trouble we told Leila we might get ice cream on the way back. Agostina’s treat, of course.” 09:41 <Quaker> Wafda is counting heads. “Oh, okay! That’s fine, we’re glad to have her. Ice cream sounds perfect right now, Uncle. Oh — remind me when we get there, Ali has a nut allergy. Absolutely no pistachio for him. Don’t let me forget.” 09:42 <Quaker> Amjad climbs into the driver’s seat. “Of course, beta.” 09:44 <Quaker> As he turns the key in the van’s ignition, he bows his head and whispers the dua. “There is no God but God, and Mohamed is his prophet. God protect me in this vehicle. I leave my fate in your hands.”