A Birth day

Jack chuckled at the actions while Joseph stood smiling " who wouldn't be " he said and chuckled making Jack look at him with a raised eye brow.

"Remus told us got word through some of the other portraits that someone was tinkering with Walburga's portrait and its hid right here" he said Joseph looked at Jack as he watched the hat rack .

"snidely huh" he said trying to touch one of the hooks only for his hand to be smacked away from it ." grumpy much, and who are the foot stools?" he asked without looking at the man who had entered.

"Well, of course, Walburga is here. Someone had to rescue that old bat when the house burned down. I'll go get her, and maybe we can have a word, if she'll stop screaming. She does seem to sort of not be revolted by Orin, though, if worse comes to worse. Walburga doesn't seem to like anyone, really. Cover your ears." He went upstairs and he got Walburga's portrait and brought it back downstairs, with Walburga continuing, as she always did, to scream obscenities at him and telling him he was an old letch that liked to 'handle' fine women like herself.

"Look, you old bat," Michael scowled at her, "If you don't shut it right now, I'll hex your lips off you so that all you can do is grunt at me. And that, certainly, is not a noise that a 'fine woman would be caught dead doing--which, incidently, you are. Dead. Dead, dead, dead..." She started to scream obscenities at her again. "God, what a banshee, that one is," Michael sighed as the kettle started to scream too. Michael headed to the kitchen. "Tea?" he asked Jack and the man with him. 

Orin came through from the garden because he had heard Walburga--again. 

"Hi. I'm Orin," he said to the two strangers in the house. He went to the portrait.  "There, there, my dear Mrs. Black," he said soothingly. It was more than obvious that he was purposely being overdramatic with her simply to get her to stop screaming.

"Walburga," Michael said, when she stopped screaming, "tell them about that weird woman who's been pestering you." He looked at Jack. "I thought she was telling Orin a story, some weird memory she had."

"She's not a proper woman, that one," Walburga said, "Coming into a woman's portrait to try to break into a bunch of other portraits. She's up to no good, I'm sure of it."

Jack and Joseph heard Michael and nodded as they heard the portrait first before seeing it. Joseph took some of the lining of his jacket and stuck it in his ears only to muffle the sound not block it . " phew that's better" he said and saw Orin enter and talk to the woman in the portrait.

Jack looked at Michael " she always that loud?" he asked then was glad when Orin calmed her enough so she could talk about what had her all in a tizzy. Joseph looked around the room seemingly not touching anything but as Jack turned he spoke sharply.

"Put them back" he called and Joseph looked at Jack innocently to him " all of them" he said as Joseph took out several sculptures from his pockets .

"dang it, Mr eagle eyes, every since you found me on the streets you've never let me get a way with one thing, guys got to make money some how." he said leaning back on the table as he heard Walburga spoke. " seems you got a woman problem, and not in a good way." he added leaning slightly forward.

"And the Faberge egg in your sock," Michael told Jack's guest. "Look, you little amateur, that's the one I'd hex all sorts of your body parts off for. You're welcome in my home, but you will take nothing extra with you because if you even try, I will take something of yours on the way out. Believe me. If you want to make money, try getting a damned job and honestly working it."

"What'd she look like?" Orin asked Walburga. 

"Tall, thin, birdy face. Nose like a bird beak. Gives witches a bad name. Ugly clothes. She almost looks like a muggle stereotype of a Halloween witch," Walburga told Orin. "Screechy voice. Thinks she's all that and a bag of crisps. She's revolting. She's new money, and she is absolutely not pureblood at all. No manners. She thinks if she wants something, she's just going to take it. She's not got her brain cells in the right places or something."

"Does she have a name?"

"Don't know. She never said it."

"So where is it she wants to get?"

"I dont know. She just kept saying there has to be a way in here somewhere. In my day we used to say people like that were 'touched.'"

"Oh that one is touched alright," Orin said.

Joseph now looked at the man in front of him something about him was really familiar but he did as he was told and took out the egg from his sock " was just going to borrow them" he said and sighed " and I do have a job and my name is Joseph Tremaine , if your at all interested" he added then listened to the woman again.

Jack looked at Joseph and then to Michael " yeah trying to break him of that habit but hes like a niffler where anything artsy is concerned, from what she's saying it sounds like the woman Angus and you guys are going after" Jack said " nuttier than a fruit cake." he said softly.

" but what is she looking for in the mind of another, knowledge, a combination to a safe or vault at Gringotts?" Joseph asked then he saw the time " don't forget we got to put those games up for Kate, or was it Angus who asked " he shrugged " ether way, they have to get put up."

"Tremaine, huh? My name is Michael Tremaine," Michael said. "No relation, I'm sure. Look, I used to grift too, but believe me, it isn't worth the price you end up paying in the long run. Give it up and stick with the decent thing. I have what I have because I did the decent thing and stopped grifting. Try it."

"It does sound like her," Michael replied to Jack. "I think she means exactly what Walburga said. She's looking for a way in. She's trying hard to get to Angus for some reason. She hasn't been able to take him on directly and win. He's been protected by Minos and by our protection charms and by Iya and anything else we have. So, I think she's recognized that he's a new seer, so she sees that as a core weakness in him that she can exploit to get to him, but because every route she's taken has been blocked, she's hoping she can find some entry point by infiltrating every portrait that any of us have, looking for him. And, so far, she hasn't found him. So she's getting truly pissed off."

Joseph looked at him and was shocked at his name " oh, the cat burglar, heard about you, expert in your field, supposedly retired." he said and chuckled " and I, thanks to Jack here, haven't done that in a long while" he said " jack can tell you that" he added then crossed his arms over his chest.

Jack listened to Michael and ignored Joseph for the moment " yeah , shes getting really pissed at not being able to get to our boy" he said " Iya's precautions are working for the moment." he looked to Michael and sighed.

" this woman really needs a chill pill" Joseph said twirling a badge in his hand back and forth over his fingers as he waited " hey snidely do they always get this in depth?" he asked and saw the coat rack raise his hooks in a 'i don't know' motion and chuckled as he then sat cross legged on the floor to pet the foot stools.

"I am retired," Michael said, not wanting to discuss with this new boy, "Then you have a good teacher," Michael said. "You could certainly have a far worse mentor than Jack, that's for certain. Stay with him. Which woman are you talking about? Walburga here or the woman that Walburga saw in her paintings? Truth be told, they probably both need to chill. People like the woman in her painting tend to do that sort of bullcrap for money or power or both. We'll do our best to protect Angus and his family from her."

"Is that old tin full of some sort of moldy old tea that Kate is sending me for some odd reason?" Michael asked Jack. Orin brought mugs of tea for Jack, for Joseph, Michael and himself. It was one of Robert's teas. This one was chocolate, peanut butter and graham crackers--a s'more flavored tea. 

"I do like this one," Orin said. "I might have to see if he'll make a batch of it for me for my next place. It's lovely."

"His s'more flavor," Michael smiled. "Its a nice tea to have at night sitting around a campfire, for obvious reasons."

Joseph chuckled and nodded " yep and he got me into California program then brought me here" he said then listened as he spoke to Jack who nodded and handed over the box.

" I agree, both need to take a heavy chill pill" Jack said " mine chocolate, warming and sweet" he said Joseph looked at both men talk about tea and shook his head .

"I have not had the pleasure of the teas in the work house" he said " standard black tea is all we get, no milk and one sugar." he admitted " oh and vanilla fudge, now that something I could eat all day, my mom said I get that from my dad , not that she talked about him..ever" he looked at Jack again " so those games?" he asked Jack who sighed.

"okay we'll get to it" Jack said and looked to Michael " sometimes I wonder whose the mentor and whose the student" Jack chuckled " but hes a good guy and has some good traits."

"Well, I'm sure you'll do fine, then, Joseph," Michael said.

Michael opened the tin that Jack had brought and found Kate had made small dog treats in a wide array of colors.  

"Otto, Faline, treat?" he asked, and the dogs came running to him. A moment later six teeny weeny dollhouse footstool puppies came wobbling in, wanting some as well. They clearly were very, very young. "Wait," Michael said. "We have seven, and I see six. Who's missing?" He began doing a headcount. "We have Slipstitch, Zipper, Hook, Snap, Zigzag, Button...Wait. Where's Thimble? Otto, where's Thimble? Snidely, find Thimble." Snidely dashed off, and a moment later, a teesy weensy pale pink footstool came in, and she seemed to be having to work harder to get to where the rest of the puppies were just because she was so much smaller.

"Ah, there she is," Michael smiled. "Sorry, Jack. They're just a couple weeks old, and I worry about Thimble because she's the runt of the litter. She's so tiny that it's easy for her to get stuck behind things and under things or to get stepped on by a certain majordomo."  He looked deliberately at Snidely. Then Michael gave one treat to each of the puppies, and they seemed to love them. "Well, you can tell Kate that her treats are a smash. They love them."