(Spiders) Call to Arms

[Benji]

Brother Rat's face is pinched in concern but he shakes his head. "I don't know enough to know if this is bad or just weird. Let's check the back way." He jerks his head in the direction of the gate to the back of the house, then heads in that direction to do several things at once.

First, keep as close a mental eye on the one human pattern he could sense in the building in the hopes that he could triangulate a better idea where it was at as he moved. Second, to see if there were any dogs in the back that would notice if they went back there, with the assumption that if they had to break in it would be less noticeable if they did it from the back yard. And third, to see if there were any signs of life to be seen through the side window. He was fairly confident that the three Councilors could handle their way into a building.

[Campanella]

Campanella followed the Thyrsus' lead.

Closing his eyes, he murmured: "Back that way, I can feel three human minds, the minds of lower animals. A lot of... insect minds?" He opened his eyes. "Have you felt something similar?"

Three human minds. His head swivels back to the house, eyes narrowing. "Three minds. Three of our friends at the front. You think the house is still empty?"

His jaws were clamping together but so far, his tell-tale pulse of stress was not evident.

[DrDog]

A young man opens the door, he has a slim build, and a thick head of black hair and tanned skin. He looks slightly upset.
"Yes? Can I help you?" He asks, looking at the group with some suspicion. Then his eyes look over at Brother Rat walking to the side, and the number of people in his yard. He puts a hand out of sight behind the door, reaching for something.

[Star]

"HIIIIIII!"

The Angel waved. Seriously, bro. You got yelled at and waved at. Quit looking at the man in the bushes. Someone probably should have told Faye to push up and pull down.

"I'm Jack, and this is my sister Madison, and that's Paul. They were engaged but now they're just friends. Roommates. Anyway? We're your neighbors. We were, like, soooooo sorry to hear about your loss. Man. Right here." A fist bumped his heart. "We feel for you."

"Anyway, we were wondering if, like, you needed anything? When the service was going to be? Like, anything, if you needed some help with groceries, hey, can we come in? I'm, like, sooooo thirsty."

Now, Faye. Now would be a great time to push up.

  3 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2016-10-05 20:34:28		Star rolls 8 to Manipulation + Persuasion (10 Again)		8, 7, 10, 5, 8, 6, 1, 2, 1		3 successes

[Aurora]

Oh great, he noticed the people snooping in the yard, and this kid is now really suspicious.

Thankfully, Star is loud and in his face about him paying attention to them, not the others.

Whoa…what? Engaged? Where he comes up with his material is beyond her, but least he has something.

A hand is raised as the other pushes the sunglasses up on her head. Blue eyes find his and look sympathic,

“Really sorry about your loss. She was a sweet lady, always fun to talk with. And yeah, we’d love to help in anyway can.” she then places her hand over her heart, well, perhaps with extra pressure. Hey...maybe he notices she's a chick, it was always worth a try.

"And I'd love a glass of water as well. It's been a little humid today, and I'd love to learn more about her." the hand then fans in front of her chest.

4 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2016-10-06 14:44:00		Faye rolls 6 to Manip+Pers+SL (10 Again)		10, 10, 9, 6, 8, 5, 4, 6		4 successes

[Truce]

Truce blushes slightly and his eyes glance downward in embarrassment at the suggestion that him and Faye... Why couldn't they have just been roommates without the romantic intrigue? Maybe more detail might be interpreted as more honest, despite the opposite being true.

Faye's response replaces his embarrassment with that of surprise. How could she have confused Jose with the old spider-worshiping woman? That's what the briefing had been for, after all. He nudges her gently in the side with his elbow. "He, she means he. She's just being polite. We didn't really know Jose too well, but he was always walking the neighborhood so it was a shock to hear about his passing."

Truce hates to stretch the truth too far. He's never been very good at it. His assumption comes from the fact that the old woman was able to lure Jose in from her 'solicitors welcome' sign. It's possible he had been a door-to-door salesman himself, so walking the neighborhood regularly seems to fit.

Is this the man from the photo in Jose's wallet?

[Benji]

Oops.

Brother Rat puts on his best 'I thought I heard a dog!' look and breathes out a spell. To the Awakened, his nimbus flashes and a spell crawls up the man's leg before sinking into his brain meat... if there isn't a spider inside that's eaten it.

  Chemical imbalance 3 successes before target's stamina

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2016-10-06 15:58:50		Brother Rat rolls 7 to Chemical Imbalance (Life 3 + Gno 1 + ExAff 3) (10 Again)		8, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 5, 7		3 successes

[DrDog]

The man seems overwhelemd by Star's full onslaught of verbal misdirection. And then confusion turns to annoyance at Faye, before Truce speaks up. You see life drain out of him when Truce mentions the name Jose, and then the man staggers, blinking rapidly. "I'm sorry, what? Yes, its hot out, come in." He blinks and holds his eyes closed. "Thank you for coming. Jose meant a lot to me." He smiles, a bit pained, he goes to the kitchen, and you hear water running from a tap.
looking around inside you see several couches just as Truce left them. The place has been cleaned a little, no more dust, but it seems like many people have been here. "It was just so sudden." He says returning back with several glasses of water on a bright orange tray with yellow streaks. He takes one for himself and sits down. "I'm sorry, i'm not feeling very well."

This is the man in the photograph.

[Star]

"Aw, man, thanks. 'Preciate that."

He followed. Maybe even too close. Hopefully? Close enough the others could mouth words or wave hands signs at each other. Get. Started.

"Sorry about Madison, yo. She's got that thing, I can't remember the name, but you know that thing? That was on YouTube about how people can't recognize faces? Except, like, she gets men and women mixed up. That's why grandma makes me live with her, to keep her out of trouble. Sometimes? I think that's why she and Paul didn't work out, you know, she kept forgetting he was a guy." If you claim you're an Eskimo, ride a polar bear. In this case, it's Overly Interested neighbor, and that means being Overly Interested in everyone. "I mean, don't get me wrong, she knows guys are guys just ask James Holland who knocked her up in High School. Well, okay, maybe that's why grandma likes me to keep an eye on her, too. She always said, 'At least she's pretty'."

Everyone's got a job here. Some people's job is to be a distraction. Get the shovel out. Time to work. So everyone else can work.

Wait till Jack gets going! Now, where was Jack?

"That was when we lived in Paris. Not, like, Paris-France but Paris-Texas. But I always wanted to go to Paris-France, you know? I mean, how many people could say they'd been to two Parises? Or is that Parii? Parix? I get confused with plurals. I went to the French Film Festival, back in June. Or was that July? You know, the one at the Crest. But I don't think that counts for, like, going to Paris. No one spoke French, which was really weird, right? I mean, is it really a French film if everyone's reading the subtitles? Well, except Paul. He speaks a little French from culinary school. We tried to get him to go on Iron Chef but he said that was different. What do you think? I mean, cooking is just cooking, right? We always used to joke that he must have cooked something special the night he proposed to Maddy. You know what I'm sayin', right? Roofie special. Not that Paul isn't a great guy, just, you know."

And, you know? Thank goodness for the water. The pause is just long enough for him to take a swallow and wet his mouth.

"Man, is this tap water? It's so clear? Home filtration system? Our water is, like, brown. Not brown all the time, you just have to turn it on and let it run for a few seconds. Maybe it's rusty pipes, I'm not sure. When was this place built? Maybe you have brass or copper pipes. Pretty sure ours are that galvanized silver stuff. I forget what kind of metal silver is, like, is that steel? Or iron? Can't remember. Just know the pipes that look like pennies are supposed to be better. We called a guy about changing some out, pipes, but holy cow. Seven grand, man. And that's not even including fixing everything. Because, you know, they have to break all of your walls open and stuff to get to the pipes. So, like, that's just to bust up your place and replace the pipes. Then you have to get all into the wall repairs and painting and stuff. And, I don't know about you, but every time I've seen a wall fixed there's always, like, this area. You know what I mean? That doesn't match. Texture, that's the word. This area where the texture is different. So then you either have to do the whole wall or have this spot that you know is there so you're always staring at because it's there. Do you do that? When you know something is messed up? Just, boom, zero in on the messed up part."

Another swallow. Stay with Jack. Eyes on Jack.

"We have a spot like that. On the wall? When Maddy told Paul she was breaking off the engagement. Talk about surprised. Not that, you know, she wasn't gonna marry him. I mean, we kinda all figured that. Well, everyone but Paul. I guess he didn't figure that out. But, wow. Maybe I'm just a bad judge of character but I didn't expect him to be upset enough to throw stuff. But, yeah, that's how we got the spot on the wall. I was pretty upset. Not about the wall, even though that texture spot still bugs me but because Mittens didn't make it. Who throws a cat when they're mad? I've heard of kicking dogs, but throwing cats? So, I totally dig it man. Your loss. It's not easy when someday someone is there and in your life and then, boom, they get thrown into a wall and are gone. Not that, you know, Jose got thrown into a wall, just that he's gone now. Like you said, sudden. Man. One day they're showing you their butt and dropping off dead lizards and the next..."

Sitting across, he leaned forward.

"You okay? You don't look so hot. Is it depression? That's understandable. Paul's actually a therapist, that's what he decided to do after culinary school. You taking anything? Zoloft, Prozac, Celaxa? Luvox? Or Paxil. They're all okay even if Paxil makes me a little gassy but I'm not really into SSRIs. I'm more of an SNRI person. You know, Pristiq, Effexor. Besides, aren't the name sooooo much cooler? Am I right? But, yeah, don't worry. I'm not on Paxil right now so ha-ha we're all safe."

"...So how long did you know Jose?"

[DrDog]

make a presence+ persuasion (fast talking) or performance (distraction)