Night of the Jackal-Initial Preparations

[JC Smith]

A shadow moved and JC tensed. He knew the bait hadn’t been set, yet that didn’t stop the imagination from thinking the Jackal had appeared. And it took the form of…

4 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-04-17 23:31:09	JC Smith rolls 7 to Wits+Comp (10 Again)	6, 8, 2, 2, 10, 10, 1, 9, 4	4 successes

“Oh my god. Dir… Clay…,” Shit, he sounded so American right now. “Clay?” The young Gangrel couldn’t help but smile.

He took a step forward on instinct unsullied by the beast. A desire to hug his cousin. To feel and make sure the cowboy was really there. Something Jennifer seemed to feel as well as she moved forward. Yet at the same time, keeping her distance. Making sure… what? That Dirt Nap wasn’t the Jackal?

It hurt to think. JC tried to dismiss it as preposterous. Yet at eh same time… there was something different about Clay. He looked… he looked like how JC imagined himself looking after a long hard day. Tired. Hungry. Predatory.

And it hurt to see that in the man JC admired. Aspired.

“Your back,” it sounded almost like a question. A hope. A desperation. “What are you doing here?”

Again, instinct. JC wished he could take back the questions. Wanted to yell with joy that Dirt Nap had chosen to visit JC’s haven. If Smith could cry, he might have. As it was, he held the blood in place at the ducts. There was after, much more going on tonight. Right now.

“I,” JC worked to collect his thoughts. What had the Prisci just said. It was hard to pay attention with the surprise that had just been sprung. “We’re… You’ve caught us at an odd time,” he was finally able to manage. Danm he wanted to hug him. “We’re going over our plan on catching the Jackal.” He looked between Quinn and Jennifer, not mentioning that right now it seemed the plan was being contested.

“Right now, the plan is to lure it in with prey provided by her,” he nodded to Hazelton “And fed on by her.” This time to Durant. “Using my spot to trap and corner it along with… actual traps.” It was a basic summary. Mostly because they didn’t exactly have a lot of time to explain. Dirt Nap’s appearance was unexpected and unfortunely, that meant not having the time to explain everything.

“I know you just got back but If you’re up for it, we could use the help.” However, good god it was good to have him back.

2 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-04-18 00:09:23	JC Smith rolls 5 to Assist Wits+Stealth (10 Again)	10, 8, 4, 1, 2, 7	2 successes

“There’s not a lot of natural cover but we’ve got time to set things up. Move some grocery carts into place. Create our own cover. And an Airbnb doesn’t guarantee communications. Not if we’re getting it on the fly. Best chance is to have preset up signals. Which we can do here just as well, if not better.

“My spot being a death trap is sort of the point. Use it to trap the thing. Make coming out too much of a risk. We…,” God dammit “We shouldn’t be fighting it inside.” JC wasn’t sure why he was defending so hard. Partly to not look weak. Partly because of pride. JC force himself to step back. Listen to what the others were saying.

He looked between Jennifer and Dirt Nap, making sure they understood what he was talking about.

“I wouldn’t be opposed to relocating,” he conceded “But I am familiar with this spot. I think between us we can hide and changing now would mean addressing new challenges and unknown angles. Above, or below.” For him it was like going to a complete unknown with a randomizer. They good get better but they could also get a lot worse

He took a deep breath. “Exposure is something I’m ready for. I am fully prepared to abandon this spot after tonight.”

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-04-18 00:28:20	JC Smith rolls 2 to Comp+Sub-2 unexpected (10 Again)	3, 8	1 success

Quinn – Jc points out a couple spots (assist) where Quinn could hide with some help

Jennifer – She can tell JC is surprised by Dirt Nap’s appearance but practice and habit quickly replace any expression of vulnerability.

[Dirt Nap]

Dirt Nap can't help but feel some disappointment at the ease with which his prey friends spotted him coming up on them. But is that his feeling, or his blood. Is he something other than his blood? Years of preparing should tell him yes. Time to prove it.


"Can't be late if you weren't actual invited." Dirt Nap says simply to Quinn's snark. He nods slightly to her smile though.


"You're looking a sight yourself." He says to Quinn. Like prey. Tasty, delicious prey. But enough of that. He doesn't eat anything but animal blood, and that's not going to change. He just needs to get more of it then before, maybe. And not be alone with Quinn when she's vulnerable. He'd come here first, so he could make sure J.C. was there when he went to the Chapter House to meet up with Quinn. This is fine. Just picks up the pace a bit. All according to plan though.


He listens to her describing the 'mission'. Which is not what he'd have called this, by the looks of it, reacting to the thing with a lot of hoping and not a lot of planning. Still, he wasn't here. He can't point fingers, when he ran out on them, by their view.


He listens too to how Quinn describes her previous situation. It's a little like what he heard while he was gone, from his Sire, but not a lot. He'd generally say he trusts Quinn more than his Sire, but not when it comes to describing herself or her own situation. Nobody can see outside themselves. That's the main danger of going things alone. That's why his Sire keeps dragging him back in. Not for anything his Sire can't do better than him, except to poke holes in his Sire's plans to make them better.


War is what she says she knows. Maybe, but huntin' isn't war. There can be some similarities though. Finding out what your prey will stand and fight to defend, and using that to trap it. If there is anything, which is harder to say when you don't rightly know what your enemy actually is.


You gotta understand the prey better than it does itself to hunt it effective like. That doesn't happen overnight. Failure is just part of the learning. Not quitting is the thing. Amateurs tend to think success comes from bright ideas. Professionals know it comes from refusing to quit after failing over and over.


First things first though. Jennifer needs to know he's really him. Which is a whole 'nother problem, 'cause he isn't, quite.


"Well, Ma'am, I've had a time of it." Dirt Nap says allowing weariness to sound in his voice. "Spending time with company not nearly as good a influence as you are, Ma'am."


He's quiet and still as only the unliving can be for a minute.


"When I visited you, at your place with the blue curtains. We talked about my boss at the time, not our Boss, but the man I served. You said at the time I was kind to defend him, and I said I didn't think of it as defending him; that I try to understand where someone's coming from whether they're a friend or enemy, moreso if they they are the enemy." He relates.


He's interested to see the traps she brought, what they look like, and how they function, and how they can be hidden and why they think the creature would have any inclination to walk into them. But first things first. Proving he's good 'ole Dirt Nap. Clay that is. Always good and mindful, is the Lady Hazelton. Not one to speak freely where there's any chance or doubt of security.


"I can't say as I know anyone by that name, with a farm or otherwise." Dirt Nap says, actually smiling slightly at her canny test. "And I ain't been by any farms since I got here. I went straight to the Boss...getting her permission to consider myself to be a legitimate type resident of her place and under her protection again. She said I should get to catching up on the investigations that was going when I ran out of here."


He shrugged. "I figured to visit here first, and then the House." Dirt Nap says, looking with perhaps some comfort and appreciation at J.C. and then at Quinn with the same but just a little wariness and hunger in there too.


"Calling me, 'Clay' though." Dirt Nap says. "Much appreciated, Ma'am."


"Well. I do have some opinions." Dirt Nap admits when Jennifer Hazelton comes right out and asks him about the suitability of her place in the suburbs. "I don't like to come late to the party though, and start off talking like I know what I missed."


"I do know something about hunting, and trapping in general. I tend to try to learn about the prey, the patterns. If there are none, well now...that's a pattern in itself." He says.


"I would like to know if this thing has a habit of following wherever a certain kind of bait goes, to where you can feel certain of picking out the place for it to come to."


He pauses. "I'd like to test that out first. Pick a place of our choosing. Set the bait. See if it takes it. No trap. Nothing fancy yet. Just learning its habits." He says slowly. "Rushing might seem called for, but it hardly ever gets a faster result than proceeding slow and thoughtful. Patience tends to win out, in my experience."


He looks at Quinn. "You said it seemed to like your place. If it were me, I'd set up some bait there, and let it take it with no trouble atall. Just to see if it will."


"By 'bait' meaning the whole situation it seems to like, not just the feeding but the pattern, you bringing back the food and feeding and such. Just how it likes it, in the normal amount of time you would do it."


Dirt Nap smiles back at J.C. Smith. "Good to see you too. It really is." He says. "I might have some things to conversate over with you later, doc. I got some things going on that...could use a professional opinion, I'd say."


He extends his hand to J.C., ready to clasp and shake and show too that there's no weapon or claws on his hands.


"I am back. For a while this time, as far as I can know." He says, sounding tired.


He chuckles and looks at J.C., Quinn, and finishes looking at Jennifer Hazelton.


"I aim to help however I can. You all will have to bring me up to speed on things. Let me know if you have an idea for what I can do, or what I should know to help plan, if you want any help like that. For starters, are we calling it 'Jackal' for any particular reason? Last I heard were were saying it was 'cat like', though the hunting pattern does seem more like a Jackal. Cat's aren't much for feeding of another predator's cold kill. They like to do their own killing and eat fresh meat." He says in a reasonable tone.


"Off hand, I expect it will take more than one try to trap this thing, and trying it here while it might not be the perfect set up, might be worth trying, for learning from. And besides, it don't sound to me like we know enough about how it thinks to say for sure it won't work here. If we want to try sooner rather than later, it might as well be here, I suppose."

[Quinn Durant]

Quinn listened to the measured response of the Lady Notary. She couldn't help but smile a bit, and she frankly wondered if the fanboi would even notice the criticism? Wait...fanboi? Where is THAT coming from? Something in the way J.C had greeted Dirt Nap made her spidey sense tingle. Usually that sense was that her subconscious processed something quicker than her conscious. Shocker. Quinn called on her blood then and there. She needed to know the answer. He was just a little to happy to see Dirt Nap. She had been okay with J.C because despite the Deja vu she felt with Dirt Nap which definitely made his words weigh heavily on her, she did like J.C on his own merits. It was different than what she felt towards Dirt Nap, but it made her like him. Like she wanted to help look out for him.


Her mind opened to see the unseen and she turned that power on J.C for the first time. Not her greatest weapon, no, but the softer one. She read his Aura like an art history major read a pretty painting. The Mentor/student relationship was far to important to Quinn to leave anything to fuzzy interpretation. She wanted hard answers and she wanted them right now because if anything got in the way even slightly to jeopardize her tie to her mentor it would be hard to swallow. She had gone through the first rung of fucking hell to get here. To have a real mentor and by motherfucking God she would scorch the earth if it was fucked up this time. Quinn's arms moved behind her back and her forefinger and thumb met as they circled her wrist. She chuckled a little out loud to indicate to her Ladyship that she appreciated the humor and when she saw what she needed in J.C's aura, she noted the grin. She also noted the way she tried to salve J.C's ego about making a mistake in offering this location, but in doing so J.C seemed to completely ignore what her Ladyship pointed out.

4 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-04-20 00:52:28	Quinn Durant rolls 9 to Aura Reading- Intelligence 3 + Empathy 2 + Auspex 4 – subject’s Composure (10 Again)	8, 8, 8, 4, 6, 7, 5, 1, 8	4 successes

Despite the rudeness of J.C literally ignoring what she said and looking to Jennifer and Dirt Nap to 'overrule' one of the people supposedly running this investigation, Quinn remained engaged, seeing the deeper shades of the situation. She listened intently to J.C explain his position, but he failed to even acknowledge the main objection both Jennifer and Quinn had. It dawned on Quinn that perhaps it hadn't occurred to J.C that this thing could be a Kindred. Most Kindred believed the only way to be embraced was the usual way. Quinn knew better. The Mehket were known as the clan of Wisdom for a reason. There was all sorts of fucked up shit out there. Just because it didn't seem to be a Grizzly doesn't mean it wasn't a Grizzly. If it was an OG Grizzly, who the fuck knew what kind of crazy shit it could do? If you don't KNOW you don't assume. Quinn did not lob back to J.C just yet.


Quinn held off following the powerful direction of her Ladyship, she listened to Dirt Nap as well first. A slow smile began to spread, and her eyes lit up a little. It was Quinn's AHA, Face! Despite her deep seated fears and mixed emotions churning painfully within the Mehket different things Dirt Nap said set off a chain reaction in her head like a pin ball machine. She waited until her silence was conspicuous before speaking. Sometimes the best way to be heard is to be silent for enough time for people to shut up naturally.


"We all want the same thing here. We are all stressed, and extremely concerned, but I feel assumptions are being made that are dangerously short sighted, so we need to correct that tonight. I propose, that tonight...we set everything up and hold back a capture attempt or a direct assault until we properly identify if the critter is a cat jackal, or a Grizzly, because if its a Grizzly or God help us all....an OG Grizzly...and it darts in that hole." She pointed into the narrow entrance to the haven. "It can cut us down one by one as we go in there and no-one can help the person who goes in." She swallowed hard and shook her head. "That's what I meant by its a deathtrap. A deathtrap for US if this thing is not as simple as it appears and use this location for THAT." She paused a long moment.


"If it is a catjackal, we got this right here right now, its all systems go. If it is an Grizzly, we use my haven and trick it out to take on an Grizzly properly." She looked between three. "Is this a reasonable idea? Safety needs to be priority."

Sorry this took me so long.

[Jennifer Hazelton]

The responses checked out. It was Dirt Nap, and not someone using the power of the Blood masquerading as him.
"Welcome back. You better not make this a regular thing." Jennifer replied to Dirt Nap. "I was unsure what this thing has, so I wanted to verify." She explained her initial hostility to Dirt Nap, giving him a light, friendly touch on his arm. Dark brown eyes survey JC for a long moment. She kept her face smooth, and worked to keep her thoughts to herself.

JC offers a simplified version of the plan and Jennifer takes a few steps back from Dirt Nap and JC. Turning her head to side to side as she scanned behind the two Kindred, searching for any surveilance. From the homeless or the creature itself, she kept alert.
"I don't have an Air BNB. I have a house." She replied calmly to JC.

"We don't know if it is following a certain kind of bait. Or if its just following the people going out for a bite to eat." She listens to Dirt Nap's opinions. She remains still, her skin Blushed with life, but not taking care to nod slightly when listening as she tends to do in social situations. Jennifer is focusing and considering, not devoting a great deal of time to show she is actively listening. If someone is not listening to allies in an investigation, they are fools.
"I have brought the two traps -" She indicates the bag. "- and propose we set one up here in case it comes to nose around J's place as it did to Q's place. We can bring the other to another place."

She didn't say she could get more traps before tomorrow, that was something she was going to attempt.
She watches Quinn closely as she speaks, noting her concerns. The Nosferatu then listens for counter arguments or agreements. She prepared to listen, and memorize the points made.

[JC Smith]

JC’s brow creased slightly when Dirt Nap brought up needing a professional opinion but still smiled and clasped the extended hand, giving a reassuring squeeze. It didn’t sound like the cowboy wanted to go into things here. And honestly, that was probably for the best. So, for now, he simply nodded in acknowledgement.

Quinn

JC’s aura is a little tougher to read than most. At first, it seems nothing but a grey. It was everywhere, anxiously covering all his emotions with the color of low clouds. However, the Mehket had enough experience to pierce the overcast aura. Bright sky blue and sunset pink broke through and shifted across JC as he shook Dirt Nap’s hand and a molted pattern formed for a moment. There were other colors as well, but she couldn’t make them out before the clasp broke, the power faded, and the clouds closed again.

He needed to focus on what was happening right now. And he had to agree with Quinn. They were stressed and concerned, and he had to keep that under control and not attack her for continuing to question him.

Flex, relax. Acknowledge the feelings and set them aside for now. There was protest. There always was with the Beast. But they couldn’t be at each other’s throats when the Jackal was still out there.

“Sorry, about the Air bnb thing,” he conceded to Jennifer. He could have explained it was a misunderstanding. The beast told him she was misunderstanding on purpose and should be punished. Again, not right now. Put aside and move past for now.

Or that he had never suggested going in wasn’t a death trap and that they ought to be attacking it from the entrance when it tried to come out. Reflex, relax. No, he had mentioned being closer to the entrance to save the member of the herd.

Flex, relax. Let the Rage have an outlet through purposeful movement of blood. Don’t let it push him into defending a position with deadly force. Especially a conversational one.

“Alright. So, this is what I’m understanding,” he said falling back on his therapist training to try and clarify things.

“I feel like you’d like to change this to an observational mission." he addressed Durant "Set the bait, see what comes. Then, and only if it doesn’t seem like too big of a threat, possibly attack. Which, I feel, given the difficulties with communications, wouldn’t be your first choice since we couldn’t compare notes beforehand. Plus, we can’t be sure about judging by appearances. And so, I feel, given all that, you’d like this to become reconnaissance. Would you say that’s accurate?” He left out for now that it would mean letting it continue to roam free, it would kill the bait probably, and loss him his haven’s secrecy for what might be nothing.

“I feel like you’d prefer to relocate to your spot,” he nods to Jennifer, given her dismissal of an Air BnB “And I am assuming you have an idea of how you could set up a trap there, while protecting our date. It feels to me like your primary focus is still trap and capture, rather than getting more information. However, you’d first like to try here before we use your spot. Is that accurate?” His tone was actually fairly neutral when he brought up the fact that she probably didn’t want to use her haven.

"Clay, I feel you'd like an observational mission as well but that some of that might be that you just got back."

“Concerns with the original plan feel to me to be: We don’t know enough about the threat to trap it. That if we manage to trap it, we won’t be able to get it out of the trap without going in ourselves to surround and subdue it. Or that it will escape without being subdued before our leader can pass judgement. That if we manage to trap it, it will break out and attack us and surrounding it at the entrance won’t be enough. That without cover it will sense the trap before hand. Or that without adequate communications the trap will fail. Did I miss any?” he looks to each of them in turn.

“So,” flex, relax “from my view, we’ve got some choices to make. Stick with the original plan, make some last minute changes, or delay.”

“Yes,” he nodded to Quinn and Dirt Nap “We don’t know enough. That’s why we sent a team to check if they could find stuff out. Hopefully they’ll check in soon.” He didn’t want to bring up the coroner’s office specifically in case someone was eavesdropping. Then again, if that were the case, they likely had bigger problems “Now, to my thinking, is the risk posed by not knowing outweigh the risk of waiting to find out. In my opinion, no. We came here to trap it, even before knowing what the other team might find.” The risk of Masquerade breach, to the domain, and to mortals was too great. Discounting bait. "However, if this is to become a fact finding mission, I feel like we need to do something more than observe. We've already seen what the Jackal does. We'd need to somehow provoke it into revealing more." Which still entailed some sort of confrontation to JC but maybe that was the beast's influence.

“Which, to me, says that the main issue is not knowledge, or I feel you would have brought it up earlier and included it as part of her initial assessment when you got here,” it was harder hearing to not lay blame, keep things to ‘I statements’ “but location. I’m sorry, I should have explained the layout better.” That burden lay squarely on his shoulders, and so he had to apologize for it. “I’ve tried to point out some advantages or assuage reservations, but I feel there are still deep concerns. The only thing new is with Clay here we could probably fit two people in there using his owl-like wisdom. But, that still leaves cover, crowding, and the camp.” Hey look, alliteration. He wished he could take more enjoyment from the serendipity “That means either moving spots, or improving what we’ve got here.”

He looked between the three Kindred before settling on Hazelton “Moving we can do. H, would you be willing to describe what your house is like?” Rather not start up this same argument again upon arrival. “Building up would need permission and time, which would bring it’s own risks.” Breach, deaths, ect.

JC desperately wanted to sigh and pinch his nose. Expressing his thoughts was exhausting when fighting against the beast's constant desire to fight with more than words. He felt like he was definitely missing stuff and that it would only exacerbate feelings that he had. This used to be so much easier but the Gangrel mind exacted its price.

"So, firstly is the story I'm telling myself about how you feel correct?" he asked evenly, trying to recap "Secondly, am I understanding your concerns? And finally what plan do you think we should proceed with."

"I," he stated "am still in favor of setting an ambush and trapping it tonight. Either here or at H's house." He could have gone again at length on contingencies but didn't want to put people on the defensive. He'd stated his opinion and was willing to be persuaded otherwise.

[Dirt Nap]

Dirt Nap notices Quinn noticing J.C. and decides to ride on by that little...whatever that is and take no notice.


He notes her chuckle, guessing it had to do with what Lady Hazelton had to say, though he couldn't say for sure.


He notes her slow smile as he is talking. He recognizes that, from the times he was teaching her the Coils and preparing her for Chrysalis, and she was getting what he was trying to communicate, or thought she was. Usually, she was right, he admitted.


Dirt Nap listens to what Quinn has to say, pretty sure all the while it's not the whole part of what's going on in that devious mind of hers....


Dirt Nap nods when she speaks. "I hear you." He says reasonably. "I just got here, so maybe we could talk about what's been done so far. For example, why are you all so sure fired certain it's going to show up here anyway?" He asks.


Dirt Nap looks serious when Lady Hazelton says she is convinced he's himself, and explains why she wondered. Just why she was entertaining the thought that someone would be imitating him is beyond him, but he doesn't bring that up right now.


"I have to admit Ma'am, same as I did to the Boss; I don't have a lot of control over the cause of my leaving all sudden like, two times now. It could happen again. The only thing I can promise, which I gave to the Boss too, was that if I ever don't come back, it's because I can't walk or fly anymore, not ever because I don't have a mind to."


He notes to himself that we don't seem to know exactly how the thing they're hunting conducts itself, like a ferocious predator or like a sneaking, stealthy scavenger.


"So. We got a pretty good idea it knows how to sense one of us, and follow us, I guess." Dirt Nap says thoughtfully.


He is quiet when she talks to J.C.


"Thank you, Ma'am; I would like to see the traps. Maybe not here, out in the open though."


The doc seems stressed. The Aspect of the Predator can mess with you alright, something someone who isn't a gangrel wouldn't likely know about.


"Well now, doc." Dirt Nap says calmly and slowly to the agitated but so far controlled Gangrel. "I don't know more than I do, at least about this plan we are talking about changing and about this thing we are talking about trying to corrall. I'd like to know more before I actually take a position. Like, what's the cost so far? What did we have to do or give up to be thinking it's coming here at all? And what is the bait we're talking about maybe letting go without a fight? And do we have any first hand knowledge of if it's a fighter at all? Or does it only come out when no one's looking? And does it hide real well, or seem to be able to be invisible, or look like other people?" He asks, looking at the others.


"You see...I just got into town...." Dirt Nap says with a small shrug and a tiny chuckle.

[Quinn Durant]

Quinn attended closely to her Ladyship's words. She nodded a bit, interested in the traps herself and nodded with a sense of absolute surety that her use of the traps was the right suggestion.

"I agree with you. I think that will work out nicely in case we cannot proceed tonight, or even if we do in this location and fail and have to re-set again. I will also be happy with your house. My location is in an open Cemetery. One of the oldest, that still has some old Mausoleums. Now it sounds as if your location would be the easiest to control all factors, provided our lordly friend attends to make sure the enchantment of sleeping beauty is bestowed upon your neighbors."

Quinn listened to J.C recap and nodded here and there. Did he like hearing himself talk, or was it just trying to get it all straight in his head? This seemed to be awfully tough on his psyche, but she wondered if it wasn't somewhat because of his strong feelings for Dirt Nap was ratcheting that up to a fever pitch. He must desperately want Dirt Nap's esteem after all.

Quinn's gaze flicked to Dirt Nap, and knew instantly he had no idea. It was both irritating, and confirmed some suspicions she had about him in a way. Though now was not the time to analyze her feelings. She shoved the thoughts away and focused on what Dirt Nap said, listening closely and soaking in his questions and concerns.

To JC she held up a hand. "Not right this second, dahlen. Remember, we still have another team out there trying to get more information from the docs office." She hoped that helped him calm the fuck down. "Hopefully this will confirm some more details we are missing."

To Dirt Nap she smiled ever so slightly, nodding a bit. Ahhhh. Yes. It was good to have him back. She appreciated him so much for those questions. Quinn may have had issues on a personal and political level with Dirt Nap, but when it came to business? They were a well oiled machine. They played off each other's minds and logic flawlessly.

To his first Question which he posed directly to her she answered. "We have been careful to not leave any crumbs at the table so to speak. It has to be hungry by now. I think it will take the bait." She said softly to him.

She answered one of Dirt Nap's questions from his 20 questions at J.C. She really wished he wouldn't do that. J.C was flustered enough. Damn.

"I am the only one who has laid actual eyes on the creature Clay. It is extremely stealthy. It likes to feed alone. It approached the snack I left it approximately 18 minutes after I had taken my bit from him and laid him down to entice it. It took about 5 minutes to feed, and quietly slipped away."

"One thing we can sort out completely right now, is communication! Psychic gifts should be experienced before it is tested with stress of an actual situation. We can also explore the tech our friend has brought us in case we get to far separated or something and cannot rely on our gifts reliably."

[Jennifer Hazelton]

Jennifer listens to JC's words, filing them away as she compared the summary to her own belief of what every one here was attempting to accomplish. The Nosferatu watches JC closely as he speaks, giving him her undivided attention.
"Understood. We are all saying a lot. Wires can get crossed." She replies to JC's graceful apology for taking Quinn's Air BnB and applying it to Jennifer's situation. Havens were tricky, and its not like society encouraged one to come out and describe your Haven.

I feel like you’d prefer to relocate to your spot,” he nods to Jennifer, given her dismissal of an Air BnB “And I am assuming you have an idea of how you could set up a trap there, while protecting our date. It feels to me like your primary focus is still trap and capture, rather than getting more information. However, you’d first like to try here before we use your spot. Is that accurate?” His tone was actually fairly neutral when he brought up the fact that she probably didn’t want to use her haven.

"Trapping and capture is an option. I am mostly thinking that you are being followed by an unknown. It already visited Q. If it does return to another's Air BnB, it should have a chance to find itself in hot water.
Although I find myself considering that observing for the creature could be more beneficial.
We don't know much about it.

"I agree with you. I think that will work out nicely in case we cannot proceed tonight, or even if we do in this location and fail and have to re-set again. I will also be happy with your house. My location is in an open Cemetery. One of the oldest, that still has some old Mausoleums. Now it sounds as if your location would be the easiest to control all factors, provided our lordly friend attends to make sure the enchantment of sleeping beauty is bestowed upon your neighbors."

"We have Clay back. Perhaps we move to an observing stance. We can attempt to prevent the big B by keeping the area of our mission clear of mundane people." A nod to Quinn, in approval, for her mention of using the Blood of the Lords.
"We can always observe that cemetery on another mission. Perhaps it is a good feeding ground. Miss M's sighting was in such an area." She resists using exact details.

To his first Question which he posed directly to her she answered. "We have been careful to not leave any crumbs at the table so to speak. It has to be hungry by now. I think it will take the bait." She said softly to him.

We don't even know its metabolism to know if it is starving." A bit of an apologetic glance to Quinn, she did not want to seem critical.
Her snake like voice continued.

"The two of you have some good ideas. Together, you -" She looks between JC and Quinn. "- have done well to organize the citizens. I think its time you get recognition for that, so I will say my peace when the time comes."

I suggest that we practice with these," She passes out the expensive communications devices, top of the line headsets. There are six headsets in her bag, in the event some of the coroner's team would have joined them. "For Maeve?" She suggests, handing the sixth hedset to Quinn.
"These are in case our primary method of communication becomes unavailable. I defer to Q for that." She nods to the fellow Priscus.

"We'll talk more later." She says to Dirt Nap, firmly. She is not angry, and she keeps emotion from her voice. Yet she doesn't want to get into all of the reasons why he left now. Especially with JC acting so interesting. It could muddy the waters.

[JC Smith]

Quinn explained to Dirt Nap why they thought this would work. It followed observation. But then… Dirt Nap knew Quinn’s story and timeline. Or had her second encounter been after he left. It was hard to keep track.

All the same it was good to hear Dirt Nap would always try to return. Though it was concerning that he thought that there might be something willing to prevent it through physical injury. A question for another time.

“So far…,” time ticked by as he thought about costs “We have several lambs dead, the police being involved, a coroner close to breaking through, a danger of enemies discovering our spots, there’s another poacher might be involved.” Not to mention the effort to hide or protect kills, but JC didn’t mention that.

“Not saying letting the bait go without a fight, just… low priority. It would be a date with H’s friends.” JC left it at that.

“No first hand knowledge of combat capability, it tried to avoid being seen but still comes when watchers are hidden. It hides well but is not invisible. And can be look at least humanoid.”

Enchantment of Sleep Beauty? He’d never heard of such a power. Though that wasn’t that surprising. He could guess what it did well enough.

It annoyed him that they weren’t willing to commit. This had been talked about ahead of time. This was just for final tweaks. And now suddenly Quinn seemed to be getting cold feet because they knew the exact amount of information they had before when they were connecting the dots but now it wasn’t enough.

Flex, relax. Stay calm and don’t attack an ally. She valued his opinion. She wouldn’t have offered to share a position with him otherwise. He needed to do the same. Listen. Hear her concerns. Not to refute but to understand. To not listen to the whispers of the beast telling hi not to trust her.

2 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-04-29 20:40:22	JC Smith rolls 7 to Biggest concern Wits+Empathy (1s Subtract)	10, 7, 5, 9, 1, 10, 7	2 successes

He took the offered earpieces, working to fit it in his ear, glancing at Quinn when Maeve was brought up. He would have expected the other Mehket to be here already. Hopefully she was just stuck in traffic

“Let’s take a luck at the traps,” he agreed.

Flex/relax. Try to recover from all the talking he'd just done.

[Dirt Nap]

Dirt Nap listens watchfully as Quinn lays out a plan to try a trap here, and prepare a back up at Lady Hazelton's. At least that's what he thinks she just said. It was a mite distracting, here hinting at where she sleeps. '...an open cemetery; one of the oldest...with some old mausoleums...' could be enough of a description to suss out just where she is when she's not spending the night at the House. Sounds like the kind of place with no witnesses. Not the kind of place to bring back prey to feed on though. She probably has a feeding spot she likes, too.


Lordly friend and sleeping beauty magic is intriguing too, but sounds like dangled bait. The personal details are more interesting, because she's a primary source and more likely to know exactly the right of what she's said.


Then she takes a quick look at him, like he wouldn't notice, which she knows better than. She looks like she thinks he's missing something anyway though. No telling what. He can't even begin to try to keep up with her devious and round about way of thinking. All he can do is plod on straight ahead as he does. The Coyote goes his way.


The other team gets some mentioning again. He needs to know more about that. Who is on it, and what exactly are they trying to do?


He focuses more directly on Quinn as she talks about his questions. To her and to others, calling him Clay. 'Extremely stealthy. Likes to feed alone. ...approached the bait about twenty minutes after she left, or seemed to.' Now, did it really think she'd left, or did it know she was there, and wait that time to see if it was safe to approach with her watching? No telling. '...took 5 minutes to feed...'


And then she's on about 'psychic gifts'. Meaning us letting her into our thoughts for 'communication'. Seems like if we are on the same page enough, we shouldn't need much talking while we are hiding, and when we are acting open like, we can talk open like too.


And then she brings up extra gadgets, probably from Lady Hazelton, who brung the traps.


Dirt Nap shifts his attention then, his watchful stare to the Lady Hazelton.


She's running it like a meeting in an office, which isn't bad. The thing is, there's no one to call the shots, it seems. Who's hunt is this, anyway?


She talks about another sighting by 'Miss M', which ought to be Mable, seeing as Melanie is dust and ashes, but he can't know for sure that some other M has not arrived while he was gone. Why Mable would feed in an area like a cemetery is a bit of a mystery to him, but he doesn't know much about her feeding habits. It still seems like a more natural setting would suit her. Out in the woods, maybe.


There it is, she says the two of them have done good. Like she's the boss. Someone has to be, to get anything done.


And she hands out the gadgets. He wonders where they came from. If you don't build it yourself, it's hard to know they don't have other little tricks built in like tracking you or putting what you say or what's said around you to someone you don't know about.


Dirt Nap nods and accepts one of the headsets. "I tend to be on the wing or four legs, so this probably won't fit me." He says, preparing the ground for when he ditches the thing.


He nods again when she says they'll talk later. Good enough.


He nods over at J.C. too when he seems to have a good sum up of what's been said, and seems to think too that there's been more than enough talking and not much doing so far tonight. Dirt Nap's nod is the same as the others, but maybe the most sincere in agreement on that point.


"So...are we ready to get to work?" Dirt Nap asks. "We figure out the traps, set 'em, and hide? That sounds like the plan for tonight anyways, if I follow properly?"