(PRP) Of Snails and Baboons (4LG,2LB)

[Brownlee]

Light peaks from the open door of the old stone church: squat, decrepit, a single floor.

Inside, woods creeks underfoot, echoes through the small Sanctuary. Though aged and empty, it seems well cared for--clean though weathered with use; organized if not ornate.

There's a pair, there in the back, huddled in conference on a wooden pew, too distracted in conversation to have noticed you. One of them, you may recognize as Thomas Galilei, the attendant Priest of the Lancea Sanctum. If not, the collar is enough to give him away.

The other, you almost certainly do not. He must be the one who'd come forward, brought news to the Priest of the troubles at the Zoo. Vernon Lepke is the word on his name--Verne.

The clothes on the latter man seemed defined by their disrepair: colored by the dirt, worn threadbare by thrift and activity. There's a sort of strained positivity written on his face, if not a little confusion too.

As you draw closer you can hear their conversation--light-hearted, friendly . . . concerned.

Verne: So maybe you heard this one already, Father T--How many of them animals did Noah bring on the ark?

Thomas: Two of every kind.

Verne: Wrong! (He claps his hands.) Moses didn't bring no animals on the ark.

Thomas: You said, "Noah."

Verne: No, I didn't.

Thomas: You did.

Verne: I did?

Thomas: You did.

Verne: Oh? How do you suppose all them animals got there, anyhow?

Thomas: What do you mean?

Verne: I mean, I get that alligators wasn't in no hurry. And fish, they wasn't worried about no flood . . .

Thomas: Well, presumably, the birds flew, and the rest walked, crawled, or hopped--whatever they needed to do to stay alive.

Verne: Well, what about the snails? I mean, they still around. Must of got there somehow.

Thomas: By great perseverance, I imagine . . . You see yourself as a snail in all this?

Verne: (laughs) Sometimes. Though I would prolly hitch a ride on a hippo, or something.

Thomas: You calling me a hippo?

Verne: C'mon, Father T. Quit messing. You more like one of those calm angry things that tries to make nice--a baboon or something.

Thomas: A baboon?

Verne: (coughs) And God, he killed all the rest of them animals?

Thomas: People too.

Verne: But still . . . the animals?

[RockBane]

Blake is rather curious about this particular conversation. Particularly as Verne seems rather fixated upon the animals. It wouldn't surprise him much if among those animals there may be a few ghouled ones, likely ghouled by Thomas himself.

His Beast bellows a challenge as he approaches the pair in a slow and deliberate manner, not wanting to startle either of the two. Given his Beast is reacting, it's more then likely that Thomas' own is as well in any case. There not point in trying to hide his presence.

[Cabochard]

Rina entered the church silently, as was her custom. She lurked at the entrance for a moment, simply watching the other Kindred present. Her Beast roared its anger at the weaker one, resolving itself to growling at the others. She struggled not to follow it, to take her blade and end their Requiem here. But it would look bad. If she lost control here and gave them the Final Death, she would lose Galilei as an informant. As much as the man wasn't useful in a fight, he was useful in other ways. Especially with the small size of the Sanctum in Sacramento.

So, instead the woman leashed her Beast and approached behind the others, concentrating to push her Vitae into every inch of her flesh. It gave color to her cheeks once more, her heart starting up its invisible drumming in her chest, her lungs filling en emptying as if she had any need for them. She shot a silent glare at the others for forgetting to do the only thing that would preserve the Masquerade. If the Kine in their presence noticed, she would have to kill him. And then drag the others to the Prince in chains.

-1 Vitae for the Blush of Life

[SoraLow]

Richard nudged the door of the church open and peaked in briefly before making his entrance. He had heard of a priest that was apparently looking for assistance with dealing with recent incidents at a zoo. He didn't know exactly what all the commotion was about but what he did know was that for the last week or so he continually heard both Kindred and Kine alike gossiping and speculating as to what exactly was going on. He decided to seize this opportunity to prove his value to the domain that he now called home and to possibly cultivate requiem with a larger pool of Kindred.

After taking the first step inside and seeing just how many beast had gathered there before him he once again had to fight the urge to turn directly around and make an exit. It infuriated him how often this was happening now that he had chosen to live among his own kind. Though they all seemed to put on the mask of civility, Richard knew that just as his inner beast was cringing in fear, theirs would no doubt turn on him at the first sign of weakness. Taking a deep, unnecessary breath, Richard allowed the bloods caress to encapsulate his body, pumping life through his skin and veins, forcing a heart beat, and turning his corpse like body into the peak of manly form. For now he would hang back, listen, give the other's beast a chance to detect him. The last thing he wanted to do was sneak up on a lions den unannounced.

-1 Vitae to activate Blush of Life

[Brownlee]

Thomas rises, averts his eyes a moment, overly focused on undoing the top button of his suit jacket. From the way his hand trembles and the way his jaw sets, it's plain to see he's wrestling with your common curse. After a moment, he returns his eyes and inclines his head.

"Good evening to you all." He scans the faces of the four who'd come to answer his call, Mrs. Yui being the only of them he'd had the pleasure of meeting before. "I am Father Thomas Galilei. Welcome to my church." He approaches a short distance down the main aisle so they don't have to shout, bidding Verne to do the same. "Thank you all for coming."

Verne follows reluctantly, listens as the newly arrived strangers introduce themselves, exchange handshakes and pleasantries.

OOC: So that we don't get caught up for a day or more on introductions, go ahead and write what your character did and said upon meeting everyone else at the front end of your post before responding to the relevant business that follows.

In the silence that follows the formalities, Thomas places a hand on Verne's shoulder, seemingly a signal that the Gangrel should speak.


(Vernon "Verne" Lepke, Blood Potency: 1, Aspect of the Predator)

"Hey, everyone. I'm Verne." He waves weakly, still avoiding eye contact. "I'm with the 'Missing Link' coterie--we stay, using Earth Havens, at the Sacro Zoo. Things are clusterfucked right now."

Wits + Socialize (+2 for Gangrels)

With one success, you've heard that the Missing Link coterie is all-Gangrel and feeds exclusively on animals. They devote themselves to the Animalism and Protean Disciplines, believing Kindred to be the missing links between men and animals. With two or more successes, you've heard that the local chapter is led by Noah Szelmbarski, who is almost non-existent in the social sphere. He'd been a veterinarian before his Embrace, many years ago, and acts as a mentor figure for many of the newly-turned Gangrel wandering Sacramento.

He rubs his hands together, wipes them on the front of his pants, and then buries them deep into his pockets, now bouncing and turning his head from side to side. He coughs, and then pours out like a flood: "We never bothered nobody, so I don't why this happened. Shit, I know less than nothing about anything. Some guys showed up and took our leader. I didn't see nothing; I wasn't there--some animals told me. Now everything's a mess. One of the ghouled animals they got locked up in some science pen at the Zoo, getting lab tests to figure out what's up with it wiling out and bending its cage bars. Another ghoul straight left out in search, gone hunting for them that did this. Meanwhile the other two coterie-folks is talking crazy stuff about what they're going to do. The cops is sniffing. And I don't even know who them guys who took Noah was, what the fuck they want, or if they'll be back. Like I said: clusterfucked. I come straight here, soon as I heard."

Thomas rubs his eyes, clearly overwhelmed with the whole situation: the loose ends, the lack of details in Verne's account. He looks over to would-be investigators and shakes his head, as if to pass the torch, wash his hands of the whole mess. "Verne's ready to answer any of your questions, to go with you on whatever course of action you decide." He checks his watch. "You're welcome to stay here and discuss as long as you like, but I have other business to attend to. Both Verne and Mrs. Yui know how to reach me, should the need arise. God bless." With that, the Priest departs, leaving you with Verne.

Verne's uncomfortable smile is missing teeth. He scratches his head behind his ear and waits.

[RockBane]

"Greetings, I'm Blake Flint." He introduces himself. He nods to each of the others as they introduce themselves, doing his up most to ignore his Beast.

Missing Link coterie, he doesn't know much about it. Not that it matters at this moment as he'll likely get an explanation about it later. So as Verne continues, he does his best to listen.

Well, this is going to be a fun scavenger hunt, won't it? Blake thinks to himself as he looks towards Thomas. "Thank you Father Thomas." He says politely as the Priest departs their company.

"I am curious as to what kind of animal is the one in the lab and the one who left to seek out Noah." He tells Verne, glancing at the others as they speak up with their own questions.

  Big Fat Zero

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-10-26 20:17:41		Blake Flint rolls 3 to Wits + Socialize - Untrained + 2 (10 Again)		1, 9, 3		1 success

[Cabochard]

Rina peers at the little man in front of her, barely restraining her anger. The CDC had what? And they were doing WHAT? She had to almost physically restrain herself from letting her Beast roar out and rip the fool's head off. For the first time in a long while, the little Shadow stepped up, almost looming over the man, her face twisted into a snarl.

  Failure

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-10-26 22:42:08		Rina Yui rolls 3 to identify them. (Wits + Socialize - Untrained) (10 Again)		6, 3, 2		failure

"You idiots let a Kine organization get their grubby little untrained hands on a GHOUL?! Do you have any idea what that could mean?! You have breached the Masquerade! What were you thinking, keeping ghouls were they could get captured by any fool with a mind to?" Rina did not often resort to yelling. In fact, she prided herself on her ability to maintain a calm control of herself, in most situations. But, there were times when the sheer stupidity or potential destructiveness of a person's actions, when their behavior violated the very principle of Order that governed society, that she lost control. Her Beast lay on the very edge of control, roaring at the damn fool who hadn't stopped for a moment to think 'Hey. This might be a bad idea.'

[SoraLow]

Richard took note to side step Rina as he finally entered deeper into the church just in time to hear Thomas and Verne explain the gist of what was going on. By the time they were done Richard was having second thoughts as to rather or not he wanted to get involved at all. What they had on their hands here went beyond just being troublesome they were looking at an all out breach if things took a turn for the worse.

Richard tried to imagine what it would could happen if somehow his name got tied up in all this mess but on the other hand, he thought, being part of the solution could be a way for him to get his name out on the streets and hell there might even be some kinda pay day in it. He pictures the cramped janitors closet in the basement of a motel six which he had been calling a home for the past month and a half. When Verne brought up the 'Missing Link' coterie Richard was sure that this job had some merit. He didn't really pay it much attention when he first heard of them but none the less he remembered. A group of Gangrel that legitimately thought that they were some kind of missing link in the evolution of man kind. "Which makes absolutely no since. We were all human...once. How could we some how be the link in between?"

  Yeah, I've heard of em / 3 suxx

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-10-27 14:58:45		Richard Black rolls 5 to Wits + Socialize (10 Again)		2, 1, 9, 6, 10, 8		3 successes

"First things first, the lab that is running test on the captured animal. Where is it? Before we do anything at all we are gonna need to make sure that they haven't stumbled upon anything they aint got no business knowing." he directed his question at Verne