You're having a clandestine meeting ... Where?

[dragonyphoenix]

Okay, I've got a Watcher. Quentin's nephew. Probably about a decade younger than Giles. He wants information that's proprietary to the Council and is also something he's not supposed to be getting into. Men of the Taylor family have worked for Cecil's family, on Council business, for generations. Jeremy Taylor is working directly for the Council and has access to the information Cecil wants.

So, Cecil is going to ask him for the data, but Cecil, being an idiot, is going to have them meet someplace that 1) screams "I'm trying to be clandestine" and 2) is someplace he generally would't be seen since he considers Jeremy to be a social inferior. Oh, and it should be in or near London since I'm guesstimating that's where Council HQ is located.

Any ideas? Thanks!

Comments

[baudown.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I'm gonna say on a houseboat on the canal behind St. Pancras Station (but in all honesty, this is probably because I'm obsessed with London's canals).

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

Canals are cool. I could see that if Cecil left where they met up to Jeremy. Thanks!

[gillo]

PK, overlooking Quentin's unconvincing accent (perhaps he's half Canadian?) Let's assume Cecil is British. (It's a*very* old fashioned name, BTW. He was probably bullied at school about it.)

Big tourist attractions would be a good bet. The London Eye has the potential for embarrassment, as once in those capsules you are stuck there for half an hour. Or Madame Tussaud's. No true Londoner goes there, and upmarket people would consider it a bit naff. Or by the penguin enclosure in London Zoo? (No, not for an all-penguin AU.;-) )

Normally I'd link these, but my Nexus isn't good at such things. Easily Googlable, though. Londoners in general don't do the big tourist sites, of course. They live and work there, and the fact that it's a world touristy site is just a nuisance. Any of the big museums could work too, though locals do go there more.

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

It's a*very* old fashioned name, BTW. I'm totally up for a more modern name. Any suggestions?

We've been named these names for a dozen centuries.

[protoneoromanic.livejournal.com]

I love Cecile. It's very Watchery, like Rupert. Clearly one is doomed by fate with the name as well as the destiny. I'm thinking ostentatiously seedy pub for the meeting.

Re: We've been named these names for a dozen centuries.

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

*giggle* I think it should have been a running joke on the show that Watcher's have awkward names. ;-)

My thoughts were also running toward seedy pub.

Re: We've been named these names for a dozen centuries.

[gillo]

You'd need to do a lot of research to avoid a jarring note - no table service in pubs, for example. Also, very few of them left in central London - you'd have to go to one of the "rough" areas in the East End or other inner-city places. Also, they tend to be noisy - you can't hear yourself think. Which might offer comic potential.

Somehwere painfully touristy like the statue of Eros at Piccadilly Circus?

Re: We've been named these names for a dozen centuries.

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

Piccadilly Circus does look good but I also like the London Eye, possibly because I regret not getting there when I visited England but also for the whole trapped there for a good while suggestion. ;-)

Re: We've been named these names for a dozen centuries.

[gillo]

The British do excruciating embarrassment like almost no other country. You can even hire a private capsule for the half-hour ride! (Or a Honeymoon special if you want real inappropriateness!)

Re: We've been named these names for a dozen centuries.

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

Oh great, now I'm thinking I won't be able to write excruciating embarrassment well enough.

The Honeymoon special would be terribly inappropriate unless the glass was see out only! Possibly inappropriate even then. ;-)

Re: We've been named these names for a dozen centuries.

[gillo]

If it were the only private capsule available? Or C was so clueless he didn't realise that's what he'd booked? I think it's only a private capsule with an added bottle of bubbly.

Re: We've been named these names for a dozen centuries.

[protoneoromanic.livejournal.com]

I like South Hall. Full of Asian people in weird clothes. Cecil trying much too hard to be culturally sensitive and failing miserably could be funny.

Re: We've been named these names for a dozen centuries.

[gillo]

I'm so used to Asian people in all permutations of clothes that I can't see them as weird at all. I'd say Brick Lane would work better than Southall, though London is so multicultural and multiethnic that I doubt if any mere clothing would seem odd. Presumably Cecil has been to London before.

Re: We've been named these names for a dozen centuries.

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

Yeah, he works for the Council so he's usually based in London.

Re: We've been named these names for a dozen centuries.

[protoneoromanic.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you are clearly way more familiar with London than I am. I've spent probably a total of three weeks there over a five year period which was now more than ten years ago. That was just one memory that struck me of a place in London where Cecil might be out of place.

Re: We've been named these names for a dozen centuries.

[gillo]

Yes, both my daughters live and work there. It's an hour and a half there by train, so I do get there fairly frequently.

I was thinking that Cecil might be funnier in a very public place, trying to be shifty!

Re: We've been named these names for a dozen centuries.

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

I was thinking that Cecil might be funnier in a very public place, trying to be shifty! Actually that does sound like it'd be very funny. Thanks!

Re: We've been named these names for a dozen centuries.

[gillo]

If it's his first attempt to be clandestine he might wear a trilby (fedora) and a trenchcoat - spy uniform!

Re: We've been named these names for a dozen centuries.

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

Like Buffy in that one episode?

Re: We've been named these names for a dozen centuries.

[protoneoromanic.livejournal.com]

Yes, that can be hilarious.

Re: We've been named these names for a dozen centuries.

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

Interesting idea but I want to focus on the tension between him and Jeremy. I think my touch with this wouldn't be subtle enough; it'd take away from where I want the focus.

[gillo]

It depends what you want. A slightly old-fashioned, pretentious name fits with Rupert, Quentin and Wesley - but he would have been bullied about it. Perhaps he tried for a cool-sounding nickname which didn't quite work out? (Cess? Sill?)

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

*laughs* I do like the nickname idea. He could try to get Jeremy to use it and have Jeremy refuse. That could be amusing and enlightening as to their relationship.

Thanks, excellent idea.

[protoneoromanic.livejournal.com]

He could have a middle name all his non council friends use but his family and other council types refuse.

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

I like the middle name idea. I could work with that. Thanks.

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

Being American, I didn't realize the accent was unconvincing. ;-)

Penguins! Why didn't I think of penguins? I could make them all penguins! *huge grin*

Thanks.

[gillo]

He's better than some, but not really British.

Penguins are always cool!