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House Meeting

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  1. #1
    JC Smith's Avatar

    Attribute (Presence)
    (Quiet listener)
    Aspect of the Predator
    Mask of Tranquility
    JC Smith

    Cacophony Whisperer

    1
    PRE

    The cab had dropped JC and Dirt Nap off closer to the main road and the Scholar paid for the cross town fair. The ride had been mostly silent as seemed to tend to be both their natures. Not entirely comfortable but that had more to do with JC trying to process what he'd just learned. The walk continued mostly the same as they moved along the back road toward the overgrown Spanish architecture. The grass growing through the cracks in the pavement muffled their steps. And at the end of the lone driveway, the grand entry.

    Presence (Quiet Listener) 1 / BP1 / Mask of Tranquility


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  3. #2
    Dirt Nap's Avatar

    Presence
    (Watching)
    New Identity Clayton Jordan Carter
    Obfuscate 2 Mask of Tranquility
    Occultation (Vampire)
    Dirt Nap

    1
    OCC
    2
    PRE

    "Slave Durant." Dirt Nap says from the entryway, "That house meeting you called is in the sitting room in twenty minutes. Please meet us there."

    He turns to JC and says, "I will head over there now. You can clean up if you feel the need. When we start, I'll ask you to tell it again, slow and detailed."

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  5. #3
    JC Smith's Avatar

    Attribute (Presence)
    (Quiet listener)
    Aspect of the Predator
    Mask of Tranquility
    JC Smith

    Cacophony Whisperer

    1
    PRE

    JC nodded and headed up to 'his' room.

    It felt a lot bigger as JC pulled his off the jacket and his shirt over his head. As he pulled open the dresser, he couldn't help but think again, there weren't that many clothes. It would be easy to throw them on a sheet and tie it in a bundle. The entry wasn't the best exit but a jump from a second story window wouldn't be that bad. Nothing he couldn't heal with some blood.

    The Gangrel sighed grabbed and put on a white t-shirt. faded and yellow with age but it was clean.

    For several long seconds he continued to stare at the drawer, until finally he scooped up the rest of the clothes. With one hand, he pulled the blankets and comforter off the bed and dumped the armful of fabric on the sheet and tied it into a makeshift satchel.

    If worst came to worst in the house meeting, he'd have an escape kit. And if worst came to worst came to worst... he'd start over. He'd done it before.

    With that done, JC headed back downstairs to the sitting room to meet up with Dirt Nap and Durant.
    Presence (Quiet Listener) 1 / BP1 / Mask of Tranquility


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  7. #4
    Quinn Durant's Avatar

    Quinn Durant
    Obfuscate
    (Mask of Tranquility)
    Striking Looks
    (Enticing)
    Barfly
    (Velvet Rope Jockey)
    Good Breeding
    City Status
    Quinn Durant

    +1
    SL
    2
    PRE

    Quinn had secrets. It was true. Like most Kindred with secrets, the burden could feel like a lot at times. This was no different. What she had seen out in those rolling hills that night she set a trap for the creature played through her mind like a movie. What was even worse though, was her part in it. The weight of blood on her hands was palpable. She just let him die to lure out the thing. She would do so again, with help, and the court would eradicate the threat to the masquerade. It would all be wrapped up neatly in a nice little bow.

    Murderer.
    The words of her sire came back to her now, as they often did. "Human morality doesn't apply to us! It means less than nothing. I am the law among our kind. The judge, the jury, and the executioner!" That was that right? It was what it was. Kindred society functioned on fuedalism. It didn't matter if by its very nature it stripped you of your humanity. That was your issue. Afterall? The Danse would chew you up and spit you back out if you didn't sway to its tune. For dance Quinn must. You had to keep going. Keep trying to carve what you wanted from this existence.

    Dirt Nap's voice pulled her from her reverie, but she didn't reply. There was no need. She just had to get up and go downstairs. Which she did. Quinn was dressed in black, it fit her mood, but also was a casual look she was comfortable with. Her boots made no sound over the floors as she came downstairs and into the sitting room. She sat as close to Dirt Nap as she could, given the seating arrangements.

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  9. #5
    Dirt Nap's Avatar

    Presence
    (Watching)
    New Identity Clayton Jordan Carter
    Obfuscate 2 Mask of Tranquility
    Occultation (Vampire)
    Dirt Nap

    1
    OCC
    2
    PRE

    Dirt Nap nods appreciatively when Quinn Durant appears. "Good. Please have a sit down, Slave Durant. I'd like your opinion and maybe some insight into something strange that happened to our guest, J.C. here." He says, looking at Quinn Durant for a moment, watching her demeanor and movements. "Feel free to ask questions, after he's done."

    Then he turns to J.C.

    "Go on ahead, J.C. feel free to take your time, and give all the details you can, how'd you end up in that particular place and that time; how'd you pick that particular one, any little detail that might not mean anything, but might be a sign on the trail." Dirt Nap says in a soft, slow cadence.

  10. #6
    JC Smith's Avatar

    Attribute (Presence)
    (Quiet listener)
    Aspect of the Predator
    Mask of Tranquility
    JC Smith

    Cacophony Whisperer

    1
    PRE

    "Alright," he looked at Dirt Nap for a moment, not entirely sure why the man wanted Quinn here but trusted him enough to go on "I had recently learned how to harness the aspect of the predator, the basic capability granted to the Gangrel. It serves to replace the fear the part of ourselves that most call the Beast feels towards others of our kind and replace it with anger. For me it made me feel... anxious? No. Excited. Powerful? It's difficult to describe." Not without do so in a way that she might be able to mimic and that had been forbidden.

    "So, I woke up and decided to go hunting at a western bar north of here, The Wrangler. It was still pretty early but I thought there might be some easy prey," it still felt a bit awkward speaking in those terms but that's what they were to him now. Nourishment. "I walked from the house to the bar. It took me maybe... quarter to half an hour to get there. I don't remember running across anyone else. I was feeling confident."

    When I got into the bar, there was a man who seemed to already be slightly drunk and had a couple glasses in front of him the the bar tender hadn't picked up yet. I remember feeling lucky at that. The man seemed young. Attractive. Twenties, maybe? To be honest, I'm bad with ages. Anyway, I waited as he drank a bit more, knowing he would have to gave to the bathroom relatively soon from the rate they were drinking. Or leave to go home and do it there. Either way, that would present a chance to feed."

    JC closed his eyes for a second, trying to picture it. "Once he got up, I got up pretty quickly afterwards. I went into the bathroom and he was at a urinal peeing struggling to get his zipper down. He was wearing... a blue shirt. It was dim. I walked up behind him, whispered a quick proposition in case he was still awake afterwards... and then fed. He pissed himself, slumped over unconscious. I remembering be glad I wouldn't have to get punched in the face for a meal and that he had probably been close to passing out anyway. Still, I remember checking to make sure he was breathing... but not his pulse."

    "Then I left. I spoke to the bartender. A woman, plaid shirt? Let them know someone had passed out in the bathroom."

    "Later I saw a news report about a young man, Richard Harper, found dead in the restroom at the Wrangler. It was only a headline and I haven't had a chance to look up the report but it also mentioned them having trouble after a con as well"
    Presence (Quiet Listener) 1 / BP1 / Mask of Tranquility


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  12. #7
    Quinn Durant's Avatar

    Quinn Durant
    Obfuscate
    (Mask of Tranquility)
    Striking Looks
    (Enticing)
    Barfly
    (Velvet Rope Jockey)
    Good Breeding
    City Status
    Quinn Durant

    +1
    SL
    2
    PRE

    Quinn’s lips twitched with humor slightly as JC seemed to be nervous discussing the Protean discipline in her presence. He doesn’t underestimate your intelligence. Interesting. Though he was certainly overestimating it at the same time. She couldn’t learn Protean from a discussion of his feelings, effect, and benefit. Much more was needed when something wasn’t inherited in the blood already. Which told Quinn it was not likely that JC had ever taught any discipline to anyone before. Kindred or Ghoul.

    Quinn felt her beast stir inside of her. It was quiet, only his voice, its cadence playing through her mind. The longer she stared at him, so focused, the deeper the temptations were to violate him. The beasts lust for violence and running off another predator wasn’t the only temptation there was. She was on the cusp of understanding another level of Auspex. She lusted to hear his voice in her ears and in her mind as well. His inner voice. She wondered if they would sound the same? Different? Only one way to find out lets…. Hells bells get ahold of yourself. Focus. Fantasies are for private time….

    After he finished speaking she was silent for several long minutes that stretched between the three of them. She finally looked over at Dirt Nap a moment before looking back at JC. She knew what she wanted to say, what she should say, and what she imagined Dirt Nap wanted her to say. These three instincts warred in her mind. She finally settled on a midland charted course. Carefully measuring her words. Sticking to the chill of facts.

    “Despite not checking his pulse, you did not kill him JC, nor commit a breach of our Masquerade.” She paused a moment to let that sink in. It deserved some severity, for it was their most important tradition. “Mr. Kowalsic, Nosferatu of the First Estate, a Kindred of quality has brought forth documentation backing the claim that there is something preying upon Kindred victims. Normally we leave our prey alive. It’s better for the masquerade. I too brought forth my own documents on this bottom feeding aberration.”

    “I have also taken the liberty of going further. I no longer suspect this or the other thing, I know. I didn’t have this when I gave my report in court, but I do now. I need to go to the reeve tonight. I know how to catch it, but I don't know if it's just this one creature, or if there are others. It has to have some way of being alerted to the victim or the predator. One of the two. It tried to stalk me on two legs one night. It also tried to get me to reveal my haven when it attempted as a mouse. When I laid my trap for it, it was a little larger than a common cat. It killed the man I had fed from only about 20 minutes prior. My cover kept me safe from discovery, and I watched it murder my victim. It is supernatural in nature, but it happened so quickly I couldn’t get a decent read on it with Auspex. Judging by the circumstantial bits though, we are dealing with a kindred or something able to mimic our disciplines. Though I would believe the former before the latter.”


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  14. #8
    Dirt Nap's Avatar

    Presence
    (Watching)
    New Identity Clayton Jordan Carter
    Obfuscate 2 Mask of Tranquility
    Occultation (Vampire)
    Dirt Nap

    1
    OCC
    2
    PRE

    Dirt Nap listens, and nods.

    "That does tend to clear some things up." He says slowly, looking appreciatively to Quinn.

    "Who do you mean when you say, 'the Reeve'?"
    He asks.

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  16. #9
    JC Smith's Avatar

    Attribute (Presence)
    (Quiet listener)
    Aspect of the Predator
    Mask of Tranquility
    JC Smith

    Cacophony Whisperer

    1
    PRE

    Quinn seemed… distracted. Or at least, her attention seemed to shift to spaces they normally wouldn’t under normal conversation. However, he’d known enough patients that had a hard time making eye contact. Hell, sometimes that described him. He pondered briefly if she had attention deficit or something similar. All the same she seemed to absorb it all when he was finished, though it took a very long time to do so. Minutes. But JC didn’t rush her and stood quietly.

    When she finally did speak, he couldn’t help but feel a great weight lift from his shoulders. It was everything he wanted to here. He hadn’t caused the man, Harper, to die. There was proof confirming this. Two sources. Yet at the same time two different parts of him protected. First that he didn’t know if she was telling the truth. And second, even if she was, why was this thing killing the people he… he had fed upon. And didn’t that in some way still put the blame on him?

    JC stilled his blood for a few seconds before replying “Why would it… they be doing this? Killing old victims? Searching for havens?” He was still mostly talking to himself. Trying to process his thoughts.

    “Sorry, it’s just… this is a lot to take in.” His mind need time to sort through everything it had heard. Everything it was feeling.
    Presence (Quiet Listener) 1 / BP1 / Mask of Tranquility


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  18. #10
    Quinn Durant's Avatar

    Quinn Durant
    Obfuscate
    (Mask of Tranquility)
    Striking Looks
    (Enticing)
    Barfly
    (Velvet Rope Jockey)
    Good Breeding
    City Status
    Quinn Durant

    +1
    SL
    2
    PRE

    Quinn smiled apologetically at Dirt Nap, addressing her superior before she entertained JC with her own accounts, or any words of comfort could be uttered. Though she measured her words and actions with him carefully. She remembered her last conversation with Dirt Nap about JC.

    “You are right of course, we don’t have one. Our court is quite small by comparison to others I have been through or in for various periods of time.” She paused a moment and thoughtfully pursed her lips a moment. “I guess I can pass along the information to Senechal Hart?” She shrugged slightly. ”I will definitely type up another brief first however, then verbally give the shitty news no one wants to hear. It’s Kindred fucking over other Kindred. I even had a good mind to believe it's another Shadow. It would explain the speed and stealth of this motherfucker, though not as good as he/she thinks they are. Then again, I am not easy to sneak up on. But what I saw out in that field, I’m leaning to Gangrel now.”

    She pulled a little super ball out of her pocket. Just one of those small bounce balls you find in quarter machines in random places. She bounced it a few times, seeming lost in thought a moment. Her mind goes over the events over and over. Like a melody she just can’t shake.

    “I don’t know. I haven’t heard anything about other Kindred being followed or had this thing try to find them later, much less to root out their haven. Just me so far, so I will maybe go out on a limb to say it was awfully interesting. Maybe he wanted to gloat. I say ‘he’ because the sound of the footfalls on the pavement when I was walking from the communal area out towards my haven were quite heavy, indicating a heavier step than a female. I gave no indication that I heard or noticed it at all, even though I saw enough in the alley to know it was skulking around me after the fact. It couldn’t flit away fast enough for me not to notice.”

    Bounce Bounce Bounce

    “Out in that field tonight though, it’s jaws stretched out and elongated over the face of the victim. Nose and mouth, and that’s how it feeds. To the police, it looks like a body dump. No evidence. Not enough blood at the scene to warrant the amount of blood missing from the bodies.” She said softly. “To hunters, it's gonna look like a pattern to come investigate. That is a good motive to do what they are doing. Bringing down human hunters upon the court is a classic prelude to something else. Though they won’t find the body in the field. I made sure of that, it's a drop in the bucket. The bell has already been rung, so to speak.”

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