Deathknell Chronicles IC, Chapter 1: Eyes Open

[Strawberries]

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Gaah, forum ate my post. And then I didn't have time to type it all up again. And then it was late (well, it IS late, but...). Anyway, here it is now. Sorry for the delay.

Amy has never been in a debate team, but she doesn't look particularly cowed. Possibly because she is so angry that she forgets to feel inferior because of Erica's cultured accent and manner of speech.

"The friggin' movie was based on a friggin' real story, even I know that", she hisses. Then, lowering her voice a bit "And what the hell do you mean, 'masquerade breach'? They haven't seen anything."

And don't friggin DARE patronising me. I've had enough of that crap. "Seven witnesses. A friggin CRATE of heroin. It's not even like they have to LIE to the cops, damn it, you'll just have to send them there, and if they want to save their asses from prison it is in their friggin' interest to cooperate. When's a good moment for you, huh?"

[Thundercracker]

Erica

Erica also lowered her voice, so it was little more than a raspy whisper.

"Yeah, and in the 'real story'," Erica replied, making quotes with her fingers, "I can guarantee the cops or FBI or whoever arrested him were following him for years, trying to get enough evidence so they would have a rock-solid case, because that's what they do."

First hand knowledge there...

"That's why it was tax evasion, of all things, because they took too long trying to get evidence on anything else he was doing. In the meantime, I wonder how many people died? They probably didn't put that part in the movie. That leaves aside the fact you're completely ignoring the point that WE," she said, gesturing to all the kindred, "still need him for something..."

"How can you say they haven't seen anything?" Erica asked, "I dunno why I came here. Yeah me either. Hey, now that I think about it, there was this Chinese chick...Yeah, I remember her too!"

If Amy looks Erica in the eye:

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It's visible there, just a flash when she was talking, but definitely there: fear, Erica was afraid of the mob, of Yuri, perhaps.

"So unless you know of some way I can get them to go to the police without knowing they were forced to go there..." she said.

She sighed.

"I say it'd be a masquerade breach, you say it wouldn't, but let's ask her," she whispered, gesturing to Al Rowe,"she's standing right here... if she says it's okay, then I'll put false memories in them, send them to you, tell them to follow your instructions, and you can send them wherever you want."

She leaned closer to Amy.

"But if it doesn't work, then you hold off on whatever it is you have against this Yuri guy until I get things straightened out so we don't need him anymore, and then we take him and all his top guys out at once, together," she whispered, dropping her voice even lower, so that even Amy could barely hear, "no police, no trials, just an all-out beheading of the entire organization. Deal?"

[Dark Seeker]

Rick and Danielle

"Thanks kid... Danielle." In the back of the car, Rick offered the clanless fledgling a hint of a smile.

"Hey, you were very helpful. Without you Joey would have gotten away, and with her our only lead. Hopefully you can convince the Prince of your usefulness. I'll certainly mention to my clan that you proved useful."

[daelrog]

Warehouse

Iris moves over to help removed the bomb off of Faruq, while Al has the thugs put their hands behind their heads, and to lay on the ground, face down.

Iris chatters a bit with Faruq. "See? This is the problem the Camarilla faces every night. No one agrees. Now imagine how it is with the Elders, men and women so old that they might have actually spoken to Hobbes, Locke, maybe even Socrates." The last sounded more like a tease. She looked over to the debaters. "We can send them to the cops too if you want, though yeah, bit of memory jogging is needed first. Just understand what it could mean."

[dancrilis]

Danielle and Rick

"But not too useful" I hope, Desmund was competent and so torn down, Billy wanted to be useful and was mistreated - even if the little slimeball deserved all of it - and laughed at. Over months she to might lose herself to madness and the less that others felt the need to toy with her the more likely it would be she could avoid that.

Getting out at her stop, "thank Rick, if I find out anything I will let you know" pausing for a second she looked at the ghoul - the nature of them was incredibly off-putting, enforced slavery through love that trumped any family - did the man still pretend to any wife or children that they mattered? - snapping out of it "thank you for driving us around and bringing me back here" she nodded to him, he might not have had a choice but he was still a person and deserved some sort of appreciation and respect.

Moving on home she noted who she assumed were the prostitutes and junkies wandering during the last hours of darkness, most likely out of the heads. A certain voice inside her indicated that they were in perfect condition, a voice she ignored - she might one day help these people, help this neighborhood, but only if she lived long enough ... which to be honest seemed unlikely.

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Unless something stops her the next post will be her getting home and going to bed.

[Strawberries]

Warehouse

Still not thinking big enough, Amy thinks to herself... then she catches the glint of fear in Erica's eyes. Miss Perfect Ventrue in the glass palace is afraid of mob? Why? But she can actually understand the sentiment, even if she doesn't share it. Amy's not afraid of Yuri: all emotions that she may feel towards the man are covered by that overwhelming fury. She's not sure why exactly she feels that way, but she's absolutely certain of one thing: I want to hurt him, badly.

"We frame them" She says, matter of fact. "You don't send them to the police, you make them stay right here, and we call the police on them." She wonders briefly if Jim Goldsmith would be the right person for the job. "Then you'll just have to make them do two things: surrender without shooting when they come, and testify against Yuri no matter what." And the deal is incredibly advantageous for them, so it's not like she's forcing them to commit suicide or anything like that. "I can stay hidden here until everything's done and they're packed off, and then I can blow up the distillery, so the friggin' Elders will be off our back, too." Not that she particularly cares what the Elders want... Amy is smart enough to realise that this is probably all just a game for them.

And I'm not going to make any deal with you. She thinks when Erica asks. If I have an occasion to get friggin'Yuri out of the picture, I'll take it. Needing him be damned She doesn't say it out loud, but it should be clear enough from her expression that she's thinking it.

[Worlok]

Faruq

"Thanks, Irie," Faruq commented the removal of his bomb, stretching his limbs theatrically after he had previously played the dreadfully nervous nitro-man and enjoying this newer, more threatening "BADASS!" act of his.

He did not quite understand why any vampire elders would feel the need to talk to a smart-mouthed tiger plushy, of course, but then again, at least Al had taste in newspaper comics. Common ground. He would only have to find out what publications "Lock" and "So-crah-tease" were from, and then... anyway: "Yeah... I can kinda see what ya mean there, Al. But dinnae ye w'ry, that'll settle soon." He wasn't sure why he was so certain of that, and had wisely lowered his voice as he said it, but it changed nothing about the fact that there was no reason not to presume so. "I, for one, would just like to call this man ay mine, cart all the coke off, secure profits here. Gotta have a grip of what exactly we be lookin' at before I hand it to the bosses, see? E'rything else shan't be my worry now." And he would normally have been content to leave it at that and a shrug, for now, as her agreement to let him do with the drugs as he pleased had cleared one of his larger worries about this. "Though if you two get it sorted out in time," and this went out to Amy and Erica, "feel free to tell me which plan we're goin' with, I might be able to help ya bring in the Polly Blue." Beat. "... the police, that is. Now, though, I believe I still need that phone we were talkin' about here, Al, 'n' nobody touch ma coke!" There was no malice in his voice, merely amusement. Did almost-shootouts normally cause giddiness? He'd have to ask Isaac. He was about to call him, anyway...

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And that means he will set about contacting his retainer now. The idea is to let the others sort the Mob-mob out, have Isaac come in with the biggest vehicle he can slap a few spare fake license plates to on short notice and cart off the coke, and then to set about realising the next few steps of his mid-term plans. I will explain the whole thing when the night is over, as Faruq will naturally stick around to see the aftermath unfold before.

[Thundercracker]

Erica

"That doesn't change anything," Erica replied, "I'm still taking a huge risk for this plan, but I don't have time to argue with you any more."

"I'll plant the suggestions and wipe their memories, you figure out with Faruq how you're going to split up the drugs," she said.

"And then we're outta here," she added.

[Strawberries]

Amy

"I can deal with Faruq" Can you, now? a little voice inside her own head mocks her That's new. Biggest thing you had to deal with till now were the suppliers not delivering the bread on time in the morning...

In that case, guess I'll have to learn really fast, won't I? "Go ahead and do that".

[Thundercracker]

Erica

The young woman walked over to the nearest Russian, knelt down, and looked him in the eye.

"Don't do or say anything until I say you can," she said, "stand up and follow me."

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Erica's plan is to have the each russian follow her into the distillery, to where they were before the standoff, she'll then plant two suggestions. First, that they will throw down weapons and surrender when confronted by police. Second, that they must agree to testify against Yuri if they are asked to. She will plant a memory of a story they heard of a guy in new york who went into witness protection and now he's living sweet in arizona, or the fact that goodfellas was a true story to reinforce this suggestion. Then she'll make sure they forget everything that happened at the distillery tonight (except the subconscious suggestions, of course), and make them fall asleep. Let me know what rolls I need to make (how many mesmerizes and forgetful mind checks).

[daelrog]

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That's 21 14 rolls. (After thinking about it, you can combine the two suggestions to implant in them, though it is separate from making them forget).
If you want to go for it, then by all means since I don't think it costs any blood to use.

[JonRG]

Andy

Andrew sucked air through his teeth. Erica was shutting down any protests. Oh well, maybe he could work this to their advantage. Andrew knelt down next to whoever looked to be the boss and muttered, "Oh man, I shoulda expected this. She gets... real antsy about her privacy. I can try to talk her out of doin' anything drastic, but I'll need to go to her with info. Good info. So, tell me what you know about Yuri. What he's got goin' on, where we can find him, everythin'."

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If you need me to roll to figure out the right dude (or anything else), lemme know.

[daelrog]

What everything was took less than a minute for them to answer. Only two of them had even been in the same room as Yuri, and only two others had seen him from afar. There was two steps between this group and Yuri, they had their underboss who worked around the docks, and that man in turn had another boss who worked closely with Yuri.

What the warehouse was, was as it seemed. It was a storehouse for drugs shipments coming in, which were hidden under the guise of petty moonshining outfit not worth the law's attention, which was under the guise of a legitimate warehouse.

A few other names were thrown out, a few locations they knew of, but nothing that tied them to the top.

[dancrilis]

Danielle

Finally getting home all she wanted to do was sleep, but first she needed to do three things.
Grabbing a pen she scrolled down the following, Mercy - Mercedes Monterae, check for disappearances in town and locations focus last month, figure out what to do with Joey, call Amy and make sure she is ok she was on some kine business that Danielle had been lucky to avoid according to Flat Face, provide Rick with info, see about making some money translating or playing stopping for a minute tapping the pen speak to Jack about how to hunt Desmund.

If she was able to get that done tomorrow everything would be well.

Fetching her self a small glass of cows blood her allowed herself to enjoy it, imagining it as wine to take the horror away, she then took a shower and set out her clothes for washing and wearing the next day before deadbloting the door and making sure she had access to a building crawlspace in case of emergency.

Finally she made sure her black curtains were closed in the bedroom tight and crawled into the covers of her bed where the face of the dead man with a gun pointed at her caused her to dry sob as she tried to sleep, the body was as much hers as Flat Face's or Ricks.

Raising in a daze, she scrolled down visit hospital for junkie, revisit Steven's body he deserved some show of respect.

She was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillows.

[Strawberries]

Amy

It seems that Erica has the situation well in hand. Amy takes an unneeded breath and looks around for Faruq, spotting him walking a short distance away.

Right, she thinks, and hurries up behind him. "Hey" she hisses behind him "Wait just a second."

[Worlok]

Faruq

Being surprisingly hissed at from behind turned out to be somewhat less of a scare than he would have expected, even if he had expected it, and while that in and of itself was already somewhat worrying, things were just going way too smoothly for the great Faruq to let anyone hackle him at this point in time. "Sure," he replied, turning around on his heels in glorious nonchalance, flashing Amy a particularly rogueish grin, and then immediately turning again as if to continue walking away; "One. Thanks for the conversation." And while this was mostly just getting in a cheap shot for entertainment's sake, and that much should certainly be obvious, he did put in the effort to not make it sound too overtly dismissive, even going so far as to walk particularly slowly so as to suggest that he was listening.

[Strawberries]

Amy

Amy is decidedly too angry and frustrated to pay any attention to nuances like Faruq having meant the dismissal more in jest than anything. She circles him and blocks his way. Don't you DARE. Don't you dare ignoring me or you will regret it. The thought comes apparently from nowhere, but it feels surprisingly right. And it's put to word before she has even the time to consider what she's doing rationally. "Don't you friggin' dare" she hisses. For a moment, her mask falters, but she manages to get it again under control. Barely. "What the HELL do you think you're doing with that drug?"

[Worlok]

Faruq

It wasn't like he hadn't been expecting her reaction this time around - in fact, if he was utterly honest, part of what that little bout of overt literality had been intended for had been something a lot like that - but if he had still needed any proof of this becoming problematic fast, her constant hissing took care of that. But then, she had basically been on his case in this from the start of their little venture here, and if it was to be about her pretty li'l convictions once again, there was no point to holding back about the fact that he was just not in the mood for more buzz-killing now.

"What the HELL-" he began, not dropping his act of laid-back calm, but figuring that if there was another round of her self-aggrandising morality fetish incoming, he might as well give some back, and thus aping her, tone of voice, facial expression and all, in a particularly vicious fashion (for had there been any hissing noises in the word "hell", the spittle would most certainly have flown), "- do you think I'mma do with that drug? You know thinkin', now, don't ya? Maybe try that for a change 'n' imagine jus' what the HELL someone might want to do with a pile ay free friggin' drugs at like grand-a-gram going rate! 'n' while ye're at it, might as well go ask yerself whether you actually make a better store clerk than a soldier-type, 'cause wi' that kinday question, I'm... huh, jus' not seein'it, I'm afraid." Yet as he was also not in the mood to make this last any longer than it would have to last, he heavy-heartedly decided to not let her chew on that, for fear of any more drawn-out discussions: "But honestly? I'mma have my boys load it up, store it off, 'n' if my plan works, I'll get Erry's vamp daddy offay my friggin' case. Speakin' of, now that ya know, you can take yer non-matt'rin' convictions 'n' beat it, 'cause this guy you're speakin' to has a call to make. So - that's half the battle, as they say. You happy now?"

Some small part of him noted that he really would have enjoyed laying into her some more just there, and that for one coming down from a major victory-high only to get the talk on drugs from someone that had yellowed out of taking any real risks in the endeavor that had let him get his hands on them in the first place, he was still being remarkably collected here: There was more important business at hand, and for what it was worth, he still sounded every bit as jovial as e'er had anyone faking joviality - in voice, if not in terminology. However, reduced weed intake and this "Beast" business made keeping his cool a bit more difficult than it had any right to be. Perhaps a little counter-psych would be in order - for all present, mind - and acting on that impression, he produced and lit himself another pointless cigarette, hand covering the lighter flame and the rest of him subtly getting ready to employ Vampire-Bitch-On-Frenzy-Engagement Protocol One - as he had come to call the lighter-stunt that would almost have let him beat Miss Forrest - should the need arise.

He had all the fear in the world to evoke and work with, that much he had learned with the Russian gun-dropper. And knowing that, it really felt good to be a Ventrue Assamite.

[JonRG]

Andy

"Well, you've been a great help. I'll talk to her, but you guys should be in the clear." Andrew winked and wandered back towards the others. His gaze drifted across Al, but the last thing he needed was another kick in the teeth. Instead, Andrew made his way over to where Iris stood. "So, is every night this exciting, or am I just lucky?" He grinned at her, then scratched behind his ear. "Sorry about earlier, by the way. I didn't wanna start a fight, but your boss skulkin' behind us really freaked me out, yanno? Thought she was one of the Russians for a second, and that the jig was up." Andrew chuckled lightly. "Well, I had fun. Hopefully, we can do this again some time. Will the two of you keep, uh, testing us after tonight, or should I give you my number if I want to keep in touch?"

[Strawberries]

Amy

Yeah? And what in hell makes you think that I'll let you do it? Amy takes another step forward, effectively getting in Faruq's face. She retracts slightly when the flame flickers, but plain anger pretty much overrides self-preservation instincts. "I'm trying to get soddin' Yuri in prison, and if you think you can move out here with all the friggin' evidence, you've got ANOTHER THING COMING." That had been definitely a bit worse than shouting to suppliers for a missed delivery, something Amy remembers having done only once or twice in her whole career, but she has no intention to move. I'm doing this, I'm getting that bastard in prison, and it won't be an idiot stoner to ruin it.

[Worlok]

Faruq

Oh, dammit. This was going to take longer, after all. "Yeeeaaah... no. No deal. Nix is. Niente. Na-friggin'-da. You think I'm gonna let you have all the coke which I had 'em move outta there by meansay my own good idea, as in the damn coke I put my ass on the line for all on my lonesome wi' Greg around, 'n' jus' fork it over to the polly so they might take Yuri in today so he can get outta dat gaol by bribin' the right guy withat same coke tomorrrow, you the one got another thing... Listen, Ames. This is literally a whole new world for allay us. You might like tae think that somewhere, somehow, dudes in uniform have any meanin'ful impact on anythin' other than parkin' tickets, but that's jus' nae how it works 'round here! I tol' ya before, I'll tell ya again, I literally got one ay their bigwigs on my very own(!) personal(!) friggin' payroll(!), 'n' I'm jus' some idiot stoner wha moved in some three years or so ago. Think about it - other than by givin' Yo's dumb Russian ass a sound... 'n' final(!) kickin', you ain't gonna stop him any time this century." He paused, exasperation slowly cutting through the old veneer of calmness and gentility, and while there had been a bunch of embellishment to his statements - for one, he doubted Lincoln was in any way a bigwig of the local force, and for the other, it was not his own personal payroll, after all - Faruq most assuredly hoped that this would maybe drive home how little he thought of that plan of hers. "'n' while, honestly? I widnae hae nae prolly wi' nae mob-killin' round hereaboots -" Dang, brutha, sure gotta cut out the Scots-in' here. "- you strike me as the type who would! So, really, you want this Yuri business sorted, I'mma set ya up wi' my man Charles, 'n' maybe, only maybe, you can make it look like you got jus' about sufficient pull 'round here to make a... permanent removal worth it. Ask whatever passes fer a sire with ya Nossie types, that's one thing Assamites can do, no problem. But seriously? Ya used to be shillin' the folks on night-shift their Snickers bars, I don't think I'm bein' cruel here when I tell ya that maybe organised crime ain't quite yer area ay expertise as o' right now." And had he been able to release a heavy and melodramatic sigh right now without specifically trying to, it would likely have happened, but for the time being, time was running short: "So, 'less ya got any sortay good reason fo' me to jus' leave me spoils ay victory up tae yer completely(!) hopeless(!) plan(!), I'mma call up my bros now 'n' get plan Make sure Faruq can fin'lly unlive in peace out on the road. You care tae see my sideay that equation, do feel free to be my guest fo' tha rest ay tha evenin'. Otherwise - well, far's I know, I tol' ya about beatin' it before!" And taking a first - and, truth be told, strangely satisfying - drag out of his cigarette, he made sure to blow the smoke just past her face, instead of into it, before making to push himself off of his lean-on and get going at long last.

[Thundercracker]

Erica

Erica watched the argument break out and felt a sense of satisfaction rise up, but she quickly, albiet reluctantly, tamped it down.

She walked over to where Faruq and Amy were having it out.

"I want my share," she said.

"I changed my mind, and I want my share, seeing as this whole thing would have fallen apart without me... Without any of us, for that matter," she said, looking about.

"Each of us gets a quarter, that's only fair. Even a quarter, or half," she glanced at Andrew, "is enough evidence to put Yuri away for life."

"And enough for you to do anything," she said, turning to Faruq.

Is he smart enough to realize I'm offering him my share? Is Amy? Well, I guess we'll find out.

[daelrog]

Iris smiled back, though it was more reserved this time. "Oh sometimes. You get a month of non-stop excitement, then it gets dull for a couple years. Trust me, the exciting ones make a long life interesting." She looks over to Al with a look of concern. "Don't know if we'll do this again, probably not. My guess is the Elders will take a more direct role next time." She pulled out a business card. "Here's my number though." The card had an embosses iris on the left side, her name, number, and fax in curvy letters on the right.


Al said nothing, but kept an eye on the argument that was brewing.

[Strawberries]

Warehouse

Amy turns rather abruptly towards Erica, with an expression that says clearly how ready she is to lambast her as well, verbally at the very least, but probably not only that, then she actually stops and thinks about what Erica's saying, and by some miracle old plain level-headed Amy manages to get her temper under control again, barely. What Erica is saying may actually be the best solution to the problem, or at the very least, the only one that doesn't involve coming to blows with Faruq.

"Alright" she answers, taking a calming breath. "Alright, agreed. A quarter each." Apparently, is either that, or being prepared to physically take out the Ventrue...possibly TWO Ventrues, at that. And something tells Amy that she's not earned any points with the powers that be tonight, without needing to get even more enemies.

[Worlok]

Faruq

"A quar... Well, ain't like I di'n't do most ay the dange's part, but I guess 'boot a quarter each sounds..." "Doable"? "Not -too- bad"? "-Kind of- fair"? I'm dust the moment I do -anything- that doesn't immediately benefit one of the *******s that pull her strings, anyway, so there literally is no point arguing. Fun though it is. And even given the fact that once this goes through, I won't have to have no leech grampa riding my ass ever again in this unlife. Really, though - why did she have to intervene -now-, of all possible points in time? I was -this- close to getting Amy here convinced! Whatever mix of emotions marked his expression, it was probably plain as day that not a lot of them were pleasant. All the more since, really now, he had that itch to make his call one of these eons. "... like a reasona'le startin' offer. Tho', ne'ermind tha risk ay soundin' stupid here - what gives tha change ay mind?"

Just asking her to have a word in private - partially so as to find out without unwanted attention, partially so as to maybe let loose a good old-fashioned "THE HELL YOU THINK YOU DOING?"-type barrage - would likely not be a good idea. But a quizzical, pleading look surely couldn't hurt.

[Thundercracker]

Erica

Erica looked at Faruq and frowned.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you both really want this," Erica replied, "I mean, think about it, would you want to give everything up to Amy's plan? Or would she give up the plan to give everything to you? Even if the split is 50/50, that still leaves me and Andrew out in the cold, which isn't really fair, so a quarter each, makes sense."

She paused.

"We'll talk more later," she promised, "right now, I need to get back to 'helping' the Russians."

She went back to dominating the men they had expended so much effort to save from certain death. It was taxing work, but if it worked, it might prove to be a feather in all of their caps.

[JonRG]

Andrew

"Thanks. I'll be in touch." Andy dipped a hand into a vest pocket and extracted an old business card. "That's an old studio, but my number's the same." With a small wave, he wandered over to his comrades. "Everything okay?" When someone got him caught up to speed with the cocaine situation, Andrew scratched his head. "That sounds fair. Not sure what I'll do with $375K worth of cocaine, but I'll figure it out." He turned to Amy, who he thought looked a little annoyed, and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, Ames. Don't worry. The drugs without Yuri won't mean much in court. We should focus on his shipments. Put pressure on him 'til he makes a mistake. Guy doesn't fear the cops, though, so..." Andrew glanced over at Faruq and sucked air through his teeth. "We might have to help the competition to take Yuri down, you know? It sucks but..." He shrugged. Words were failing him at the moment.

[Strawberries]

Amy

Amy is really not ready to hear anything about 'helping the competition' to bring Yuri down. She shakes her head, not wanting to yell at yet another person, even if the temptation to do so is quite strong. Right. Excuse me if I don't take your word for it. She thinks.

"A quarter each, and we do with it as we want. I'll be leaving mine here as evidence." she says, in a tone that implies she's not really likely to budge. Besides, 375 thousand dollars is a quantity of money that she has never seen in her lifetime... a bit like when someone wins the lottery and can't wrap his head around suddenly having millions. Leaving the drug where it is isn't that big a sacrifice for her: she is simply incapable of conceiving that much money. "If Erica's done, I'll go make my own phonecall." The latter is said with a glance towards Faruq that is almost a challenge.

[Worlok]

Faruq

Had he been less in control of himself, this would have been the point to really and truly flip. But Faruq was in control. Heaving a fake, but convincing sigh as he folded up and the fight seemed to leave him, he signaled his capitulation: "... Alright. Alright, I know when I've lost one, really. E'ryone a quarter, fine by me." And it wasn't like there weren't certain... means at hand. Yes, yes indeed, there was a way to twist this one around yet. And that way wasn't even a difficult one to go down. "I'll let ya know when I'm done here, then, Ames," he informed the quarrelsome Nosferatu, trodding off with his head hung low towards a corner at which he had spied a street phone booth and stopping only once to look back, the nasty smirk that had blossomed following his miniature epiphany carefully wiped off his countenance: "Jus' so you know, though: Ain't like ya really deserve that cut. Now, le'ssee here..." And thus, he produced a coin - a quarter, coincidentally - and dialed Isaac's number.

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And thus he will try to reach Isaac, let him know that there's a little something he should come pick up, preferably bringing a few of the guys along, declaring "the usual protocol" (meaning a small group of people to lift crates and a van with a fake license) and making sure to add "No word about this to anyone."

He will then pass the phone to Amy and continue waiting around.

[daelrog]

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Issac's van will be coming in about twenty minutes, I'll give people a chance to say if they want to say or do something in the meantime. I'll start sending PMs to set up the next scenes with characters. I think we've talked a lot and are good, Strawberries, I'll send something to other three of you in this scene.

Danielle

One week later...

The trail to Desmund had fallen cold. No doubt the renegade Caitiff would strike again, but until then, neither he, nor his supposed childer, could be found. The Anarchs had also disappeared. It appeared someone, or something, had attacked their place, and though it was most likely they had gotten out all right, they were laying low, and whether Joey was with them or not was uncertain.


Danielle woke up when the light above her turned on. She quickly looked around to see no one around.

Then the light cut off.

Then it came on again.

It didn't seem like a power outage, or that the bulb was dying out. It seemed more deliberate.

As she sat up in bed, the walls began to bleed.