(IC) San Francisco by Night: A Requiem in Fog

[Daishain]

Karl is immediately alert at this, "you felt a kindred's aura? Could they have a daywalker? Hmm."

"I won't lie, two of our most likely suspects here are quite powerful, and dangerous. I find it particularly disturbing that they already seem to have caught on that we're involved. Then again, it might actually be our employers, they have an interest in making certain we don't talk about this with others, though that seems unlikely. Doing as I said last night should help keep both of us safe. Work the Summers case, be boring, only touch the Mobius files when not out in public."

"For now, calm yourself, let me know what you found, and then go get some rest. Sleep in, I'll leave a message with an update for you"

[Bennosuke]

Nova's response came quickly, in a succession of short buzzes. "???", "A favor?", "Fine", "Come by my place tomorrow night", "Wat time?"

In comparison, there is a good 3-4 minute pause before Screech's text comes back. "11PM? Can it be in Elysium???". Several minutes later a separate text came in via Anna's Text Message app. The message from Katie read, "Great. See you tomorrow nite."

************************************************** ************************************************** *******

... It took no more than 15 minutes to find parking in The Tenderloin, a neighborhood of San Francisco described as "Gritty", "Colorful", but which was primarily known as the most dangerous neighborhood in the city. Multi-story apartments were tightly packed in unattractive rectangular shapes like books on a shelf. It was no more than another 10 minutes of walking before Anna found herself standing next to a waif of a man in dark tight jeans and a ratty hoody. He had a nose piercing and dark eye liner, and he swayed drunkenly as he split his attention between texting and smoking a cigarette.

The streets were otherwise empty, and with just a little movement, he could be taken out from under any nearby streetlight.

Spoiler: OOC

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I'll give you the luxury of describing the feeding. Just assume that all goes as planned for Anna. Please explain how many blood points she takes and update it in your Character box in your next post please.

************************************************** ************************************************** **********

Gabe shakes his head affirmatively at Karl's questions. He takes another puff of his cigarette, blowing a dark cloud of smoke into the room. Following Karl's instructions, Gabe nods his head, apparently slightly calmer given his new directives. "Okay, will do", he says, "but if you don't mind I'll wait here till you leave... just in case" . Gabe exits Karl's private room, letting the door close loudly behind him, taking uneven spastic steps.

[Daishain]

Karl grimaces, Gabriel certainly is flustered, and he cannot blame the ghoul under the circumstances. Following him out he asks "What did you find today?"

[Bennosuke]

Following Gabe to the other room, Karl finds his Ghoul standing, but slumped over the back of a chair, his shoulders still trembling slightly. He turns and again takes a long draw on the now cigarette stub, before exhaling two jets of smoke from his nose. The freshness of the air in the room is surprising, making Karl realize just how long Gabe had been waiting for him in his private chamber.

Gabe takes another moment of reflection before responding to Karl's question, "I don't know. Managed to tail the Summers kid for a while. First, his apartment, then back over to the friends' place. He spent a while with the suns, and then in the afternoon Graham and a couple of black kids squeezed into a beater and headed out. Tailed them across town to a vacant in The Mission district. Have the address. Was on point outside the vacant when I noticed the same car drive by a few times, real slow. Gave me the creeps, was maybe an hour or two ago. So I decided to go for a quick spin and come back, make sure I wasn't being paranoid. But the car followed, no matter where I went. So I came back here. Parked the car in our private lot, made sure no one came in, been watching security like a hawk. Nothing so far."

Gabe hands Karl manila folder with the a few photos of the Summers and Sun apartments. A few scribbled notes on a piece of paper, including an address in the Mission, and pictures of a forsaken stone building with high windows, some perhaps smashed by stones, with a chainlink fence around it. If there was such thing as a haunted factory, this was it.

The conversation also reminds Karl to check his burner, the one whose contact was left for Summers and his friends by Karl. The phone has a missed call and a voice message.

[Daishain]

"Well, this may shed some additional light for the Summers case, I took a risk and left a teaser." Karl sets the phone on speaker and plays the recorded message.

[Bennosuke]

The reception in the voice message is poor, with the silence filled in by a muffling white noise. Karl's attuned senses allow him to perceive the sound of breathing that goes on for at least ten seconds before a young male voice speaks up. "I don't know what you want", the voice says, "but stay the hell away!" The message ends with a slur that in Karl's native term would be equivalent to "Schwarza".

Gabe's eyes go wide as he tries but fails to stifle a chuckle.

[Lentrax]

10. And I will need the address, unless you would prefer to meet in Elysium?

[Bennosuke]

"10? Fine.", comes Nova's text, followed by a street address. A second text reads, "No weapons, just you, no tails"

[Daishain]

Karl shrugs, annoyed but unsurprised, "It was a long shot that he'd reveal any hints, but worth trying for I think. This child, if we don't find something specific shortly, I'd be inclined to terrify him into running back to mommy dearest. Would it work? Do you have any particular ideas on method? I don't deal much with the young."

[Thundercracker]

Anna Wu

Yes, 11pm should be fine. Anna replied to screech the lost church.

The rack:

Idiot,” Anna thought, watching the distracted skinny drunk, “He’s lucky it’s just me.

Her predator nature rose to the forefront as she stalked him from across the street. Heartbeat quickening, with anticipation, Anna felt the blood rising to her limbs, her cheeks, warming her skin in a mockery of true life. Timing her move, she crossed the street somewhat wobbly.

“Hey! There you are!” she called, stumbling into the fellow and nudging him into an alley and out of the light.

“I’ve been looking for you all night,” she said, pushing him against a wall, now pressing herself against him, looking into his eyes, now caressing his cheek... she was nowhere near Estella’s abilities with seduction, but with a half-standing drunk guy, it didn’t take much.

The protest died on his lips as surprise turned to confusion and then a stupid grin. Almost too easily, Anna started kissing his neck, and then the real Kiss. Real warmth, warmth of life flooded her mouth, and she drank slowly, savoring the moment. She felt him weaken, knees threatening to give out, and reluctantly pulled away.

“Hey, you’re not mike!” she said.

She left him reeling, still wondering exactly what happened, and she was gone.


Character Box:

Spoiler

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Took 2 bp.
Vitae: 10
Humanity: 5
Willpower: 6/ 6
Health: 8
Beats/Exp: 1/0
Tilts/Conditions: None
Aspirations:
1. Gain safety and security.
1a. Develop a reliable and low-risk source of vitae.
1b. Gain trustworthy help during the day (ghoul, staff, etc).
1c. Create a safe haven for resting during the day
1d. Create a safehouse which can be fled to in times of trouble.
2. End organized crime in the city.
2a. Eliminate Kindred reliance on organized crime in the city
2a(i). Discover the various Kindred needs which are filled by organized crime in the city and devise alternative methods by which they can be met.
2a(ii). Identify Kindred who need to be swayed in order to implement said alternative methods, and sway them
2b. Identify members of organized crime in the city
2c. Identify allies (among both Kine and Kindred) who share the same goal
3. Meta: I want my character to suffer a loss of some kind, be forced to deal with the repercussions (physical, emotional), and emerge stronger (but potentially not unscathed) after some kind of resolution.
3. (alternate) Ensure the safety of younger cousin Katie

[Bennosuke]

Gabe shrugs and says, "It would probably work. The kid doesn't seem nearly as hard core as he pretends to be." The ghoul stubs the cigarette out into a black plastic ashtray that had been unused in several years and was previously immaculate. He sighs then says, "I'm not sure of a best method. The kid already seems to be somewhat religious; I may need a bit of time to figure out an angle."

Gabe seems a bit more relaxed now. He reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out the hardrive. "Here", he says while handing Karl the drive back in its plastic bag, "went through everything like you asked. May have missed a few things but... well Mobius reached out to his family. Looks like he was planning on going home." Gabe shakes his head and continues, "I copied the emails and sent them to you as an attached word document. That's not too much computer jargon for you is it?" Gabe flashes his master a mischievous smile.

*************************************

Screech's text came back in the affirmative, and Anna had all her dates for the night.

[Lentrax]

Very well. I will see you tomorrow.

Estella bids Anna a good night, and returns home to relax. Before turning in for the day, Estella sends Gabrielle a message wishing her a good day.

[Thundercracker]

Anna Wu

Anna headed home, and realized she had some time before sunrise. She did a quick google search of mental insitutions nearby, trying to determine if any or all were claimed domains.

Spoiler

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okay, dates for tomorrow do we don’t screw this up. 1st thing: buy mirror (with Estella)
8pm, meet Katie at the hospital, make sure she’s okay.
10pm, Estella meets with nova (Anna will make this if she can).
11pm, Anna meets with screech at the lost church.
3am, meet up with Miho (don’t get eaten) at tommy’s Joynt.

Did I get all that right?

Edit: the next evening, Anna awoke and hacked her messages. If there is nothing pressing, she heads west into the city, chasing the last vestiges of purple dusk from the sky in her search for the perfect mirror for Miho.

[Bennosuke]

Estella wakes to the sensation of eyes watching her, like two balls of fire. There is a moment where she can swear she smells the cloying aroma of smoke, forcing her to wake faster than she would like. Blood pushes its way into her tissues, not by the force of a beating heart, but by the alien power that compels the Vitae to move on its own accord.

Her room is of course empty. Though the lights are off, Estella is able to see well enough in her room. No malevolent figure, no eyes of fire, just a cellphone with a few missed texts and a voice message, all from Gabrielle.

The text and voice messages are all the same message, 'I miss you, I need you, when can I see you'.

****************************************

Before Anna's slumber, she begins a quick internet search. The hunt for an unclaimed psychiatric unit was bold. There was a Psych floor at UCSF, but feeding in the hospital was prohibited by The Ordo Dracul, who had claimed it as a Wyrm's Nest.

The San Francisco VA had a similar floor, and a cross check of the "Hunting Map" that was part of The Pulse App, showed that the entire hospital was unclaimed. This did not mean that other Kindred did not feed at the VA, but that no one had been granted the territory as personal grounds by The Prince. However, like with UCSF, this was an inpatient Psych floor, not a long term Psychiatric facility.

Otherwise, all that came up was a myriad of Nursing Homes, some which housed Psychiatric patients.

Spoiler: OOC

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Yes, it looks like you have the night's schedule accurate. For more information differentiating a Psych unit from a Psych facility, Anna will need a Int + Medicine roll. I'm holding off on moving on to the mirror hunt, till I know if Estella is Joining Anna. If the two are working together, we can probably resolve the search with a collaborative roll

[Lentrax]

Estella awakens with a start. She rises, pulling her bedding around around her to cover herself with.

Had it still been beating, her heart would be racing. The feeling of being watched plays over her emotions, and the vampire rises from her bed and goes through her home, looking for anything unusual.

After she has done so, she will send a message to Anna, asking where she should meet her. And then, feeling very unsafe in her own haven, she sends a message to Gabrielle, asking her to join Estella.

[Bennosuke]

Gabrielle's response is unsurprisingly quick. She is SO GLAD to hear from Estella and will be anywhere, just say where and when.

[Daishain]

Karl raises an irritated eyebrow at the ghoul, he's not that bad surely.

Nevermind, there's a job to do. Taking the drive, he fishes around for the tablet he's using for this case, along with a small surveillance camera, he might need it. As he does so he asks, "I'm going to check out that factory, if it seems to be a regular meeting place I'll bug it. Is there anything else I should know first?"

[Lentrax]

I have an errand to run for a friend, and then we will have a little time to ourselves. Name a place.

[Bennosuke]

In response to Karl's question, the Ghoul's expression becomes a little concerned. "Based on the pattern of events" Gabe says in a rather measured voice, "Graham and his friends are going to the warehouse at night. I'd be careful with the investigation. It's likely he went there a few nights ago, and they went last night. I'd guess the kid is appearing so burned out, because he is staying at that factory all night long. They were there for a while before I got spooked."

Gabe's face softens for a moment and he says, "Just be careful. Worst comes to worst, we can always confirm that he is going nearly every night, then tell his mother and be done with the case." The Ghouls tone seems to imply an anxiety that Karl has rarely seen, and Gabe has never been this crass in his desire to leave a case so unexplored.

************************************************** *****************************

Gabrielle's text response comes in a series of short bursts, "There is a bar by my apartment.", "The Night Owl", "Can we meet there at say 9?" "Then see where the night goes..."

Estella is somewhat familiar with The Night Owl, it was a fairly upscale bar/lounge where wealthier twenty somethings would go for a night cap or some live jazz. There was one potential problem. It was owned by Nicholas D'Agostino, the Invictus Primogen and sole threat to Prince Gorman's throne! Estella would have to be very careful about being recognized if she showed her face there. However, Gabrielle's invitation would be hard to turn down without insulting the poor Kine.

[Lentrax]

Great. Now I have to take politics into account... I'll just have to be careful...

Sounds good, my dear. I will meet you there.

Now to meet other Anna.

[Daishain]

"Unless I have seriously misinterpreted, they're interested in us for the other matter, not the Summers kid. Push this case, and they have reason to back off, or at least have no reason to do anything other than watch, and get increasingly bored while doing so. But yes, I fully intend to be careful"

Karl gathers his things and departs, hoping that Gabriel's resolve isn't faltering. He gets in his car and makes for the warehouse, parking some distance away and moving in on foot.

[Thundercracker]

Anna Wu

Anna looked at her watch. The store assistant was less than helpful but they’d run out of time and she wasn’t nearly satisfied with the selection of mirrors. She sighed and settled on the one which seemed least unsuitable. It was still better than showing up empty handed.

“I’ve got something to take care of,” she said to Estella, “ping you when I’m done.” She waves to the other Kindred as they parted ways.

Anna drove to the hospital, gunning the engine in frustration. She texted Katie while stopped at a red light. on my way, where are you?

[Bennosuke]

The two Kindred were left with a rather plain looking mirror. Though the surface of the glass was well polished, the silver rim and handle were tarnished and mottled with specks of rust. It was an unimpressive thing, but it was better than the only other alternative they found, a child's mirror made of green plastic, and shaped like a cartoon frog with the mirror in its mouth.

When Anna zipped away in her car, leaving Estella a few blocks from her apartment (you could never be too careful), the it was only 7:30 and the Daeva still had plenty of time before her planned meeting with Gabrielle.

Spoiler: OOC: @ Lentrax

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Please let me know if there is anything you want to have Estella do with this down time, otherwise we will fast forward to 9 PM.

************************************************** ******************************************

It was still relatively early when Karl took off from his office towards the Mission District. He was almost to the warehouse when he realized that there was possibly a car tailing him. Perhaps he was being paranoid, but after recent events, it was probably better to remain cautious. It was a a black Lincoln Continental sedan. The car wasn't on his ass, but it wasn't staying too far back either, almost as if the driver wanted Karl to know he was being tailed.

************************************************** *******************************************

Anna was driving as aggressive as she could through the evening traffic, weaving between lanes, and pushing it through yellow lights as they came up down Lombard. Then there was the hunt for parking. Thankfully, as an Ordo member, Anna had access to the Physicians lot, but it was the time of night when many of the Hospitals staff were pouring out from work and were anxiously trying to make their ways home. Fighting the egress of cars, Anna would be cutting it close to 8pm.

She thankfully did not have to draw breath when moving quickly, otherwise Anna would have been panting by the time she made it past security, up to the Heme/Onc floor and to Celestine's room. Henry and Katie were both standing over the bed in a well lit and relatively bright hospital room, where Celestine lay. Anna's aunt was much frailer then when last she had seen her. Though she had not lost any of her hair, Celestine had gone fully grey now. Her arms had almost no meat on them, and the hospital gown was barely filled by her skeletal frame. Henry too had grown much older then when Anna had last seen him, and Katie was almost an adult. Had that much time passed, or had circumstances aged Anna's family?

The three looked up at Anna, but said nothing as she stood observing from the door frame.

[Daishain]

"Hmph, this is not promising."

Karl drives out to a relatively safe spot near the warehouse as planned, then gets out and simply walks back towards his tail. Not aggressively, but not hiding the fact that the trailing car is his interest either.

In the event he actually gets to said car without them driving off or doing something else, he crosses his arms and says, "If you have a message for me, I suggest making it clear, there are all too many people who'd want to warn me off of something to guess at who sent you."

[Bennosuke]

Karl parks his car several blocks from the warehouse, and is in the process of locking it up when the black Continental pulls up, it's wheels screeching with the exertion of the sudden deceleration. The tinted passenger side window rolls down, first to reveal the gaping muzzle of a single barrel shotgun; sawed off from Karl's estimation, but then to reveal the ugly mug of a chubby man whose mother may have been part swine. The faint smell of Vitae that Karl's attuned senses pick up inform him that the man is a Ghoul. He grins at Karl with a lewd toothy smile. Behind the pig-man, partly silhouetted in shadow is The Sheriff of San Francisco, a Vampire known to most as Schultz. He is a sallow faced Jew, with a rat like nose, protuberant cheek bones, a greasy mustache, and long curly locks of brown hair. The Sheriff glares at Karl coldly, and to the German's dismay, Karl can see that Schultz is in one of his favored industrial jumpsuits, an article he only wears if there is a risk of getting dirty.

The Ghoul blurts in a rather high pitched voice, "Don't ya move. Keep your hands up." He is clearly enjoying having a Kindred at the wrong end of his gun. "Don't worry, we just want to talk with you", the Ghoul says as he cracks the door of the car open. Schultz continues to stare death at Karl, watching from the driver's seat. The back windows remain up, and due to their heavy tint, Karl cannot tell if there is reinforcement in the back of the sedan.

Spoiler: OOC: @Daishin

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I will give you the option to resist if you so choose before moving things along.

[Daishain]

Karl says dismissively, "Put that gun down meat, you won't be needing it today."

Ignoring the ghoul he crosses his arms and looks to Shultz, "What can I do for you sheriff? If the Summers brat I'm looking into tonight is Invictus business somehow, a phone call would've sufficed to warn me off. You should know me by now, I don't deliberately cross the higher ups, ever."

Spoiler: OOC

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In spite of apparently dismissing the shotgun, Karl is quite aware of it. If the ghoul appears to attempt firing the weapon, Karl will spend a point on Celerity, rapidly shifting out of the line of fire.

[Thundercracker]

Anna Wu

Anna took a a single bold step into the room and then paused in the no-man’s land between the door and the bed.

“Hello uncle, auntie,” she said in Chinese.

“Hi Katie.”

[Lentrax]

Estella proceeds with caution to the Night Owl. She arrives early, but hesitates before going inside. The rift, after all is well known, and appearances are everything. But, this is where Gabrielle wanted to go, and Estella has plans on keeping the girl.

Spoiler: OOC

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Aside from belonging to Nicolas, what else would Estella know about the Night Owl?

[Bennosuke]

Schultz raises his right hand, now holding a pistol to point at Karl. There is an extended panic filled moment, where Karl is sure he is about to be shot; truly just a nuisance to his health, but one with dreadful implication for what was to come.

Instead, the Ghoul lowers his shotgun, and quickly frisks Karl, freeing him of any weapons he may have, while chuckling to himself in surprisingly piggy snorts.

The Ghoul nods to Schultz, who smirks and uses his pistol to wave Karl on. "Come now, sit down."

With few options, Karl allows himself to be shoved into the passenger seat, which smells distressingly like bacon. The car door slams behind him, and Wilber squeezes his frame into the passenger side rear, where Karl is sure he is keeping the muzzle of the shotgun pressed to the back of his seat.

Schultz pockets the pistol, shoving the heavy matte black weapon into some pocket of his oversized jumpsuit. The car remains idled, and Schultz rests his right arm on the car's automatic shifter, revealing an all too familiar tattoo design; a series of poorly inked numbers.

It was at that moment that Karl realized he had never been quiet so close to The Sheriff. Schultz grinned at Karl, revealing a broken row of yellow and rotted teeth, that somehow reminded The Mekhet of a shark's jaw. "So", the Sheriff said through his evil smile, "do you have any idea what this is about?"

Mr. Piggy chortled, and it was then that Karl realized there was a second Ghoul in the car with them, this one a thin and slimey man of unacceptably dark complexion, with a head full of tight corn rows and a greasy goatee.

*******************************************

At first no one spoke as Anna entered the room. Katie was the first to move, taking slow but confident steps towards her cousin. Katie's initial movements triggered her father, who moved quicker, beating Katie to a short embrace.

Henry was taller than Anna, and though brief, his hug was tight as a bear trap. Anna could smell the fatigue on the man, like mold on meat. It wasn't something she would have been able to do as a mortal, but those times were far far away. "Thank you for coming", Henry half sobbed. Katie squeezed Anna's hand.

But it was Celestine's voice that stopped the room and made the three turn. "Don't gang up on the poor girl", she said in a voice halted drowned in phlegm. Henry and Katie parted to allow Celestine a clear view of her Niece. "My my, it seems like ages. Come closer dear and tell me, how have you been?"

Spoiler: OOC

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I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, please state if Anna is using Blush of life. If she is, please update your character box appropriately in your next post.

********************************************

A bouncer greeted Estella at the entrance. He was like a body builder, all hard muscle but packed tightly into a cheap black suit. He smelled of coagulated Vitae, and was likely one of Nicholas' Ghouls.

Even before Estella finished walking past the line of people waiting to get in, he was ushering The Daeva through. A few girls whined about the unfair treatment, but Estella was already walking into The Night Owl as their words found her back.

Gabrielle was sitting meekly at a table near the entrance. The lights were cut low, and a band of Jazz performers dressed like it was the "Roaring Twenties", was playing some slow and quiet number on a nearby stage. As always, Gabrielle looked well out of place in her black gossamer silks and dark red leather corset. "You're late" the thin little girl said, though her smile said, "I'm so glad you're here".

Spoiler: OOC

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Estella probably does not know much else about it. Nicholas uses the bar to host meetings, but Estella has never been invited. Due to the schism between Nicholas and Prince Gorman, only those strongly aligned with Nicholas ever set foot in The Night Owl. It is heavily guarded, and is rumored to have one hell of a security system, as well as potentially a few Kindred friendly safe houses in it's basement, but that's all rumor.

[Daishain]

Karl shrugs, "Presumably I have unknowingly gotten close to something someone wants kept secret. I couldn't say for sure what that is however. Nothing I've found of late appears to have a connection to you or Invictus. Like I stated, this is unnecessary."

If Karl's heart beat at all, it would be beating quickly right now. He hates being with thugs like this, men too stupid to use violence responsibly. He hates even more not having a way out. Men like shultz are difficult to even blackmail into submission, not seeming to accept the idea that their fists can't stop information from being distributed.