Neptune Grand, Saturday Morning, 8:34 AM

[dead_hooker_2]

A little known fact about Trina Echolls is that she is very much a morning person. This is something of a liability in Hollywood. "Morning person" just isn't nearly as good a career move as "night owl," since there aren't a lot of red carpet breakfasts, and no one is at all interested when you're photographed leaving Starbucks with a no fat half-caf extra foam grande sugar-free vanilla latte at 7:30, unless you're still in the clothes you were clubbing in last night.

So Trina doesn't often get to be a morning person, since even the most morningest of morning people has a hard time being bright eyed at 7AM if she went to bed at 4AM.

But last night she went to bed quite early, and this morning she got up at what her brother would likely consider an ungodly hour, and she drove to Neptune, arriving at a slightly later but still ungodly hour.

He should know it's her, when she knocks on the door to his suite. His sister has a quite distinct way of knocking on her little brother's door -- loud, sharp, insistant, and with just the tiniest hint of annoyance that there's even a suggestion she should have to ask to come in at all.

Comments

[obligatoryass]

Logan, on the other hand, has never been a morning person. And the slightly later hour, is, as far as he is concerned, entirely ungodly.

That's why he's not showered, shaved or dressed in real clothes. He did pull on a pair of pajama bottoms, but mostly he's just standing there, looking confused.

"Trina?" He blinks. Yeah, it's really her. "What - why are you here? Is everything OK?"

[dead_hooker_2]

She pushes past him into the room.

"I am here to do you a favor. Go get dressed."

[obligatoryass]

Logan blinks again. "Um. OK. What?" he asks as he walks back into his room.

As soon as the door's shut, he's calling room service. Fried eggs, hash browns and coffee are a necessity when you're hungover. And also? Up at least four hours before the really awful part of the hangover is slept off.

Getting dressed, yeah, but mostly? Calling for sustenance.

[dead_hooker_2]

He'll have to plan to eat fast. His sister has plans for him. Appointments made. Lots and lots to do here.

She waits exactly one minute and 37 seconds, then knocks on the bedroom door.

"You decent?"

[obligatoryass]

"I have pants on," he mutters, knowing she'll come in even if he says he's not decent.

He can eat fast. Puke fast, too, if needed. Right now, he doesn't seem inclined to do that, but one can never be sure.

[dead_hooker_2]

She glances at him. "No that won't do," she says. "You're going to need to shower, shave, and try to look like a responsible adult.

"I'll give you ten minutes, Logan. It's a hopeless cause, anyway, so no point in wasting too much time on it."

Still with the utter lack of explantion as to what the hell she's doing here.

[obligatoryass]

"What, are we meeting with an agent or something?" he mutters, but there's no bite in it. He's too tired to manage that kind of attitude. "Think a brother and sister duo could maybe advance your career?"

Without waiting for an answer, he closes the door and heads to the shower.

A few minutes later, he emerges, clean, shiny and looking slightly less like death, just as the room service arrives. "Breakfast!"

[dead_hooker_2]

"As a matter of fact," she says, as though there wasn't a shower-long interruption in the conversation, "we are meeting with an agent. A real estate agent.

"It is time, little brother, to move out of the hotel."

[obligatoryass]

Logan looks a little wild-eyed at that.

"And go where?" he asks. The panic isn't readily apparent, but there's clearly an undertone.

Putting the breakfast on the table, he offers a fork to Trina. "Want some?"

[dead_hooker_2]

"I've eaten, thanks."

Chad made pancakes. That's probably more information than Logan needs right now, though.

She flings a two-inch thick file-folder onto the table.

"These are rentals. In the area. You're going to pick no fewer than seven, or I'm going to pick fourteen, and we're going to find you a real place to live."

[obligatoryass]

Logan pushes the folder back, then reconsiders.

Seven of his own choosing sounds like more work right now, but 14 of Trina's choosing would certainly take longer. Maybe even until tomorrow.

Seven it is.

He flips through the folder as he downs some coffee.

[dead_hooker_2]

Trina settles back into the couch, and waits for it to occur to Logan that she can't actually make him do any of this.

In five . . . four . . . three . . . two . . .

[obligatoryass]

...One.

Logan, in the midst of looking at a luxury apartment somewhere near Hearst, closes the file folder.

"I don't want to."

[dead_hooker_2]

So damn predictable.

"Yeah, little brother, I know you think you don't want to, but trust me, you do."

[obligatoryass]

"I don't," he says stubbornly. "I like it here."

He digs into his room service meal with relish, thinking he's illustrating his point.

[dead_hooker_2]

Trina narrows her eyes.

"Logan, you want to move. You want to move because you are hemorrhaging money here, and you will run out. You want to move because you want to live in a place where hotel security doesn't let the angry father of your underaged girlfriend in. And you want to move because if you don't, I'm going to start calling you 'Eloise.' In interviews."

[obligatoryass]

Logan is stunned. The barrage was too much for him to be otherwise.

It's the 'Eloise,' though, that turns him sulky.

"Fine," he mutters. "Fine, whatever. You pick."

He sees no reason he should make this easier for her.

[dead_hooker_2]

Trina takes the folder back from him, pulls out the fourteen properties she's already had the real estate agent pick out, smiles sweetly and hands them back to him.

What? You think she didn't see a sulk coming?

"Anita will be here in seventeen minutes. Your first appointment is at 10:00."

They're not planning to actually take him to anywhere near all fourteen. She picked that number mostly for effect.

[obligatoryass]

Yeah, Logan hasn't changed much since he was six, really. At least, not in regard to his sister.

"Can't I just pick one at random?" he asks, in a last-ditch attempt to get out of this. "I mean, I don't really care. A place to live is a place to live."

[dead_hooker_2]

"No, Eloise, you can't.

"Look, you will thank me for this," says Trina, "when you're not flung out of here because the credit card is declined and you wind up sleeping on my couch and living on ramen noodles.

"It's time to grow up, Logan."

Not that Trina was especially grown up at his age. But then, she didn't have to be.

[obligatoryass]

It's that 'Eloise' that pushes him over the edge. That, and the fact that although Trina can't actually force him to do anything, she can be annoying for a very, very long time.

"Fine," Logan says, drawing it out in a way that would be more respectable coming from a 14-year-old girl than a 19-year-old male. "I'll even be nice to Anita. But I'm not happy about it, okay?"

[dead_hooker_2]

"Very mature there, Eloise," she says.

[obligatoryass]

"That's me," Logan says, some of the caffeine finally taking effect. His mood's improving. "A picture of maturity and wisdom."

[dead_hooker_2]

"The very model of," she agrees.

"How's college?"

[obligatoryass]

Logan shrugs. "They haven't kicked me out yet," he says. "That's something."

[dead_hooker_2]

"It's something," she agrees, without saying what.

There's a knock at the door.

"Probably Anita. You should get that. I don't think you're going to have any trouble being nice to her."

Anita is, in a word, stunning.

[obligatoryass]

She's gorgeous, and Logan's not quite awake enough to conceal his surprise at that. Most of it, but not quite all of it.

He introduces himself, and escorts the agent to the table where the folder is. "So, Trina's picked stuff out, I guess?"

[dead_hooker_2]

"Oh, no, Mr. Echolls," she says, with a smile. "I've picked a few places out for you, based on what your sister told me. I think they'll suit you."

Trina stands. "I think that's my cue to leave. Have fun, little brother. Don't get into too much trouble."

[obligatoryass]

Logan beams back at her. "Good to know," he says. "I look forward to seeing them.

He makes a face at Trina when Anita's back is turned. "I'll be fine."

Pause.

"Thanks." It's said quietly, but not insincerely.