June 20, 2013
Dr. Swift was not exactly what one would call a bar hopper, or a club goer, or really any such moniker associated with large amounts of people, alcohol, and noise. Nevertheless, he had somehow found himself not only planning on a long bar crawl from after dark until before dawn, but actually responsible for planning and organizing it. Stranger things may have happened, but if so he wasn't sure he'd ever heard of them.
It was the Summer Solstice. Like all Solstices and Equinoxes it was a time of importance to the Crone. In his studies, Dr. Swift had discovered that traditionally the Solstice was celebrated by the Circle by throwing a sort of bacchanal. They would gather all the Circle together and as many of the herd as they could. Then alcohol, loud music, proximity and sheer heat would follow in celebration of the night. As it turned out, while the Summer Solstice was a day of much celebration for the Kine, the Kindred found the shortest night of the year to be a bit off-putting. Yet, the night also has significance. Significance of lust, of battle, of ecstatic revelation. So the Circle would host the party. The young would participate and remember what it was to be mortal. The old would watch. Carefully. For this night, it was said, when the blood was up and the boasting began, Prophecy could be heard.
Dr. Swift had wanted to host such a party, but unfortunately the recent turbulence of the Circle had combined forces with the shorter nights, and it simply wasn't going to happen. So, in its place, he had decided rather last minute to find the spirit of the Solstice, even if they could not invite it in. Invitations had gone out to the two other Acolytes of his Circle with the comment to bring anyone else they thought might be interested in the Circle or even simply would enjoy the night.
The Novo Lounge, as far as Dr. Swift could tell in any rate, wasn't really much of anything when it came to the sort of thing they were going to seek tonight. It was a dance club, true. And the setting was at least attempting to be classy. A full bar and an easy cover made certain that the crowd showed up early and stayed. But still, it didn't really hold a candle to the places he wanted to visit later tonight along J Street. They would head there later, when the night was full and the crowd at its most lurid and prone to outburst, perhaps midnight or so. But Novo Lounge did have precisely one thing going for it that the other clubs did not. It was not in the Rack. The invitation directed everyone to meet here between 9 and 9:30pm, as soon after the 8:30 sunset as they could manage. Here they would begin at a lower energy level, perhaps some would hunt and feed, and then the night would begin.