McCullum gave a bark of laughter as he watched his captains high-tail it out of his office, leaning back in his chair. "Thank you for that, Reid. Maybe they'll have learned their lesson, finally."

A sigh escaped Jonathan, "I doubt that, considering what I've both seen and heard of them." He reared up, placing his hooves on the desk to help him balance. Watching as McCullum tried keeping the pen in his grip. He took notice how the hunter managed to keep it held against the frog of his hoof for various lengths of time, even with the hoof held vertically.

The Ekon reached out his own hoof, focused on the pen as he placed his hoof on top of it, lifting it up with the thought of holding it in his fist. His eyes lit up as the pen lifted off the table with his hoof a few inches, before he lost focus and it dropped back to the table.

"Well," he started, "it seems all we may need is practice before at least getting back to work around here." Reid hummed as he reached back for the pen, but McCullum snatched it away from his hoof.

"Oh no you don't." Geoffrey said, pen in hoof, aimed at Jonathan's face, pointed towards his nose as it wiggled up and down in the hunter's unaware grasp. "You do not get to play with the one good pen I have here, leech." He jabbed the cap at the doctor's nose, "I've seen how chewed up your pens are, Reid, and ye'll not be putting your fangs on mine."

With a snort, he backed up, "Very well, McCullum, I'll leave your pen alone and unchewed." Reid cast a look between the hunter and the pen in his grasp. "Well, I don't think you'll have to worry about what Mr. Babic implied, from the way you have said pen in your grasp right now." He snagged a stray shell casing from the desk as he sat down, "That's one of the very, very few upsides of my condition in that I do not need to worry about dealing with it like this."

Geoffrey opened his mouth to retort, closing it slowly, brow furrowed as he turned to look at the pen in his hoof, only to watch it drop to the desk once he realized what he was looking at. He grumbled as he tried to keep it in his grasp again.

Reid lightly let the casing spin back and forth along the edge of his hoof, like one might juggle a coin or pen, fumbling it here and there only to pick it back up and resume. Jonathan let one of his back hooves tap absentmindedly, focused more on going through the motions, free forehoof brushing through his beard, absently noting the sensation of fingers running through it.

"I think," he started, slowly, brows scrunched in thought, "the less you think about how you're doing it, and more on just letting yourself go through the motions like you normally would, the easier it is." Reid let his mind work through the possible reasons the best he could, though he was still strongly geared towards reason, logic, and science. "The knowledge and instinct is there, there's just…" He twirled his free hoof in a circle. "I almost want to say it's like there's an extra step now that's easier to do if we don't think about it too hard."

"Ha!" Geoffrey exclaimed, "Listen to the good Doctor give a less than scientific explanation for something!" He chuckled as he pulled one of his less used notebooks over, not realizing he was tapping the butt of his pen to the desk in rhythm with other's hoof-taps.

A flick of an ear as it rotated around to better hear the pen tapping, and wasn't that a sensation to get used to. Jonathan tilted his head back, a scowl on his muzzle, "Well, excuse me for still getting used to the fact that monsters and magic are, in fact, real!" He rolled to his hooves, shell casing clutched in one as he reared back on his hindlegs to plant one forehoof on the desk.

"In case you had forgotten, McCullum, I have only been an Ekon, and there-fore aware of the supernatural, for a little under a year!" Reid snarled, lips curled back in annoyance, fangs glinting in the low light of the room.

With a sigh, and a slight dip of his head, the hunter leaned back in his chair. "Put your damned fangs away, Reid." Geoffrey sighed, placing his pen down as he turned in his seat to give the immortal his full attention. "It is easy, to forget, I mean."

That caused Jonathan to lose steam, head tilted in confusion, one ear sticking straight up, the other angled horizontally. He blinked once, twice. "How, how in the world is it easy to forget?"

McCullum ran a hoof down his face, before propping his chin on top of it. It should be illegal for any leech to be even remotely this cute. Though he imagined the same could be said about himself right now.

He grumbled unintelligible for a moment, before refocusing. "I'll be frank, Reid. You are one of, if not the most powerful lee- immortal in the city, if not the country." He waved his free hoof at Jonathan. "If you weren't so… yourself, you'd likely be at the top of Priwen's list."

"That…" He slowly worked his jaw, trying to get his thoughts in order, ears back and eyes wide. "That can't possibly be true," Reid shook his head in disbelief. "Surely you jest, McCullum?"

A slow shake of a head. "I'm not." Geoffrey just stared at the man before him. Watching as he processed what he'd been told.

Reid sucked in an unneeded breath, and slowly lowered his head to the desk and covered his eyes with his hooves and a whimper. "I'd like to wake up now." It was a sad sight, even his wings were drooping.

The feeling of something ruffling his hair made Jonathan move his hooves away. He looked up, following the scared leg back to Geoffrey. He couldn't help the laugh that bubbled up. "Are…" Reid started incredulously, "Are you petting me?"

Flushing as he pulled his hoof back, folding his forelegs against his chest. "Ya' just looked so damn sad." McCullum made himself look busy grabbing for his pen and notebook, trying to distract himself by practicing writing with hooves. Letting the scratch of the pen fill the air.

Jonathan huffed in quiet amusement at just how ridiculous the whole situation was. He slowly picked the casing back up, rolling it across the top of the desk, one hoof idly tracing a fang. He frowned, stilling the rolling metal. "McCullum, what are we going to do about my…" The Ekon trailed off, thinking how to tactfully say this. "My diet before I'm able or ready to safely leave the base?"

That caused the scratching of the pen to stop. Geoffrey looked up, face quickly pulled in a scowl. "Ye're not biting me or any of my men, Reid." He gave Jonathan a quick poke in the chest with the pen, before flicking it up to point it at his muzzle.

Pushing the pen back out of his face, the Ekon gave the hunter a flat look. "Outside of needing blood while fighting in self-defense, McCullum, I do not feed on humans."

Geoffrey gave a scoff, ready to argue, before stopping himself with a shake. He could see all too clearly by the state of Jonathan's eyes he was telling the truth. He mussed his own hair in exasperation, tapping his pen for a moment before asking. "Alright, how do you normally feed then, and off what?"

"Aside from the occasional immortal that accosts me on my rounds?" Reid asked, an eyebrow arched before he answered in a flat tone, muzzle pulled back in disgust. "Rats mostly."

"..." McCullum stared at Reid blankly for a moment, slowly put down his pen and pushed away the notebook, propping his forelegs on his desk. "Are you telling me, you," he jabbed his hoof at the doctor, "not only were you an Ekon for, what, a month at best at the time we fought? Not just that, but you were also feeding yourself primarily on rat blood?" He asked, not quite believing what he had heard was true. "Am I understanding that right?"

Reid pulled his head back, eyes watching the hunter carefully, hooves placed ready to push off the desk. He gave McCullum a cautious nod. "Yes, that would be correct."

"Alright then." Geoffrey said, pushing himself back and away from the desk, letting himself drop out of his chair as he marched over to his bed. He reached up onto the bed, grabbing at his pillow, dragging it over to the edge of the bed.

Jonathan pushed off the desk, cautiously walking towards the hunter. "McCullum, are you-"

The good doctor was swiftly cut off as Geoffrey buried his face in the pillow and screamed in frustration. This caused Reid to jump in surprise, ears pinned back from the volume to his sensitive hearing, wings flapping wildly, leaving him hanging in the air before he fell to the floor with an undignified thud.

"Ow." The Ekon groaned from the floor, one ear swiveling to the door as footsteps pounded up the stairs again.

The door opened as Vukas and Vinny peaked back in the room, Gertrude coming up behind them, shooing the pair into the room proper as she came up, tray in hand.

Bonner looked around the room, noticing Reid in a heap on the floor near the desk, McCullum sitting by his bed with his face buried in his pillow. "You uh," the captain trailed off, "You two okay up here Boss, Doc?"

"You two get bored and Boss kick you in chest vhile having sex or something?" Babic asked, a glance between the two ponies.

Cries of "Babic/Vuka/Mr. Babic!" echoed in the room as the large Serbian man just shrugged. "Vhat? Is a legitimate question."

Gertrude gave the man a light swat as she bustled past him, carefully clearing the desk as she balanced the tray against her hip. "Really now, Vukasin, there's a time and place." She tutted with weary exasperation, long use to the type of trouble either man could cause.

Hooves slid to cover eyes as Jonathan just groaned on the floor, "Maybe I should just lay outside and let the sun take me, it would be less painful then this, and far less embarrassing."

"The sun won't kill you, Reid." Geoffrey said, picking his head up from the pillow and turning to look at the pile of pony doctor on the floor. "You do know, that, right? It'll hurt like nothing else, and you'll just heal up come nightfall."

"I am aware, McCullum, but it still sounds like the better option right now." Jonathan gave a wave of his hoof, giving the large Serbian captain that caused the embarrassment a flat look from the corner of his eye.

Vincent looked at Reid, then at McCullum, scratching his head. "So, what did cause the boss to scream then?"

That caused Geoffrey to spin around, a hoof pointed in accusation at Jonathan, one eye twitching. "This, this this-" the hunter started indignantly, "fecker had the gall to tell me, on top of only having been a Ekon for maybe a month when we fought, that his diet is mostly rat blood!" He threw his hooves in the air, "I got my arse handed to me by a feckin' half-starved new-born!"

McCullum reached behind himself to pull his pillow back over his face as he slid down to the floor with another muffled scream of frustration.

"Surely, you're blowing this out of proportion, hunter." Reid stated from his place on the ground, confusion on his face. He still wasn't sure he was anywhere near as strong as the leader of Priwen making him out to be.

"Holy… the boss wasn't exaggerating when he called you a terrifying creature Doc." Bonner stared in shock and a slight bit of horror at the Ekon turned pony on the floor.

Vuka gave a slight huff, "Very glad Doktore doesn't like snacking on people now." He eyed Reid with a hint of wariness.

"Boys, please, behave. Dr. Reid has been nothing but kind when left to his own devices." Gertrude stated, making her way over to the Priwen leader still on the floor. "Come now, Geoffrey, please get off the floor and have something to eat." She tutted at the stallion sulking on the floor, pillow still in his grip.

McCullum lifted the pillow enough to glare out from under it, only to catch sight of the 'disappointed mother' that was directed at him. With a sigh, he shoved the pillow back onto his bed, and sat up. "Aye, I'll eat, I'll eat. You can stop with the look." The hunter ambled over to his desk, still in a foul mood.

Satisfied that Geoffrey wasn't sulking for now, she moved over to Jonathan. "As for you, Dr. Reid," Gertrude placed a hand under his head, gently coaxing him to look at her. "Ekon or not, I'll ask you not to mention it, or that you try feeding off any rodents while at Priwen. There's a butcher's in Whitechapel that sells blood for cooking, we can easily get you some while you get yourself sorted."

"I... thank you," Jonathan started, head tilted as contemplated the offer. "That will work, but, um," He sat up, tapping slightly on the floor, chewing on his lip absentmindedly, "May I ask why-"

"Francach." Was the echoing answer from all the Priwen members in the room. Seeing Reid's confusion, McCullum shook his head as he angled in his chair a bit. "Francach is O'Connor's pet rat." He explained as he got into his seat, scooting it closer to the desk.

With a snort of amusement, "Rat has confirmed kill count on leeches." Babic stated. That set Bonner laughing, and got a brief chuckle out of McCullum.

However, McCullum's mood soured as he realized something about his meal. He'd need to try picking up his tableware with his hoof. He hoped he wasn't about to make a mess and a fool of himself.

Reid just put his head in his hooves, a brief muttered, "I have so many questions," before, without thinking, he stood on his hind legs. Dragging his hooves down his face, and began pacing and muttering under his breath.

He flexed his hooves like he wanted to do something with them. "Mr. Babic, Mr. Bonner, could I trouble one of you to get my notebook and pen from my coat? It should still be in the room across from yours." With a hum, and a slight shifting of leathery wings, he added, "It may just be easier to bring the whole coat, I could use one of my serums, honestly."

Leaning over to Vuka, Vincent whispered, "I think the good Doctor has gone into full on research mode." A sharp grin of amusement was his response. "Sure, Doc, we'll go get your coat." The pair gave a wave before quickly stepping out the door. Gertrude gave the transformed pair a soft smile before exiting.

McCullum snorted as he tried to keep his spoon in his grasp so as not to make a mess, and gave himself a smile as he managed to keep it held and even got the spoonful of soup into his muzzle.

He turned to look when he heard the odd pattern of hoof-steps, and noticed Reid was actually walking around on his back legs as if it was normal for an equine to do so. He went slack jawed and just barely managed to catch his spoon before it splashed into his soup. "How, just, Reid!" McCullum barked out loudly, "How the fecking hell are you doing that?"

"Doing what? Jonathan asked, one ear rotated around to listen to Geoffrey while he continued pacing, only half paying attention to the hunter.

Stifling a yell, McCullum held his face in both hooves. "In case you didn't notice, Reid, you're pacing around the room on hind legs." The hunter dragged his hooves down his face before waving one in the doctor's direction. "How did you not notice? That can't be comfortable!"

That caused Jonathan to stop, turning his head to Geoffrey, looking at him in puzzlement. "What?" He quirked a brow, before looking down at himself and noticing he was in fact walking around in a bipedal state, despite his current form being more suited for quadrupedal locomotion. "Huh."

He went to take another step, he wobbled slightly, now that he was focused on it, but was able to continue. "How curious..." He slowly walked a small circuit around the room, testing his gate. "I feel no discomfort, walking like this, but I imagine I would not be a normal subject to test this with."

Geoffrey just picked his spoon up and shove some more soup in his muzzle to cut off the rant he wanted to go on.