Parked Trail

Charlotte's only response to Trask and Larkin was to take a neat step backwards from the ensuring fight - if such a term could be used to describe Trask simply shanking a confused and largely defenseless opponent. Partly to remove herself from any possibly retaliation, and partly to mentally remove herself from any guilt by association. Looking down at the torpored body, her lips pursed in a thin line of distaste.

"Very well." She said. "Suggestions for discretely disposing of the body? My ghoul has access to a van if transportation is required. I can have him here in ten minutes."

Jackson was stunned.

While he was certainly pleased that he didn't have to get his hands dirty, he couldn't help but to be impressed at the efficiency in which Trask dispatched of this wayward Kindred. Unfortunately, he was unsure that their quarry was actually the threat Trask had made him out to be, but it didn't really matter. The situation was handled, for better or for worse, and it was no longer his problem. Having no resources to commit to getting rid of the guy, Jackson simply dropped his cloak of night and examined the scene.

"You know, I think this would make a great portrait, " he mused.

Trask knelt next to the body, putting his hand on the torpid Kindred. "Call your ghoul, bring your van. I will take this one with me. If I stay in Sacramento much longer, I'll draw the attention of the powers that be. Me and our friend here will be taking a trip to Fresno over the next couple of nights, and I'll see if I can't educate him on how our kind should conduct themselves when feeding and when dealing with Kine." Straightening the man out, he said, "Let's get clear of here ASAP."

He looked around. "Charlotte, when you figure out what you got there in those books, let Vorigan know, would you? If this breach went deeper, he'll need to bear it in mind."

Charlotte nodded and pulled out her phone, swiftly punching in the number she had her father had set aside for emergencies. She was quietly surprised by Trask's decision; she had half-expected to haul the other Kindred's poor, sorry ass out of town then stand by as it was burnt, or otherwise sent on to his final death. Still, surprised as she was, Charlotte was hardly going to argue with a plan she agreed with. She just hoped he didn't plan on eloping with her father's fan.

The phone rang once, twice, before her father picked up.

"Dad? Dad, yea, it's me. Sorry to wake you at this hour, but...no - no, I'm okay, I've just run into...not trouble, a situation." She switched the phone to the other ear and began to pace slowly as she spoke. "I need you to go down into the basement and grab the blue rucksack, it'll be hanging on the wall by the door. Then get the van and bring it to..."

Charlotte closed her eyes for a moment and began thinking. Her memory wasn't just sharp, but genuinely eidetic. It wasn't difficult to call up memories of the maps of Sacramento she had studied, and the appropriate street names to help her father get there as quickly as possible. She rattled off a short series of curt directions.

"You got all that? Yea, I know. Great. I'll see you soon. Love you, bye!"

Charlotte hung up and slipped her phone back into her pocket.

"That's that sorted, he'll be here as soon as." She said, her voice returning to its usual clipped, buisnesslike tones. "And yes, I'll bring anything troubling to Vorrigan. The sooner we're sure this is put to rest, the better."

You guys can keep going if you wish

"I guess I'm all done here." Jackson says as he turns his attention back to the other two Kindred. Without dallying any further, Jackson waved goodbye and headed for the door. "Nice meeting you two."

Jackson exits the apartment, and the scene, unless stopped.

Trask eyed Jackson for a moment, then nodded once to him in farewell. "See you around, Jackson."

Then it was him, the corpse and Charlotte. The Mekhet swashbuckler put a cigarette in his mouth, lovingly lit it, and proceeded to take a long, slow drag of it before letting out the smoke slowly into the air as the girl finished up her conversation with her father. "Ghouled your father, eh?" he said, smiling slightly. "Dad'll live forever, just like you."

Part of him thought it was cold. The other, kind.

"The shit I said to him," he said with a nod at the body as he focused his blood to try to make his sword disappear unsuccessfully, "applies equally to you as well. Don't ever let this place make you cold to the Kine. Hunters, too. They'll come; it's guarenteed around here. Try to show them that they're not right. Idiots like this one. Teach them." A second attempt, and the sword and scabbard faded from view.

"You and your Dad bring him to [ADDRESS] in the van. I'll go get my car and meet you there." Trask headed for the door. As he opened the knob, he looked back. "Good luck, kid. You're doin' just fine."

And as he said it, Larkin Trask was gone.

Larkin Trask leaves the scene, and shortly thereafter, leaves Sacramento with the torpid form of Karl - en route to whatever next adventure a swashbuckling pirate Shadow and his reluctant new friend can get up to.

  various rolls

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2012-12-12 17:48:06		Larkin Trask rolls 8 to Obfuscate 3 (Int2+Obf3+Stl3) (10 Again)		8, 2, 7, 8, 1, 8, 4, 5		3 successes
2012-12-12 17:41:42		Larkin Trask rolls 5 to -1 try again (10 Again)		2, 10, 10, 4, 9, 6, 3		3 successes
2012-12-12 17:41:35		Larkin Trask rolls 6 to Wits4+Lar1+Obf3-2 for sword (10 Again)		4, 5, 3, 3, 1, 3		failure

"Exactly. It's an arrangement which has worked out rather well for the both of us."

Charlotte was rather surprised by Trask's parting compliment, but she took it with a smile and a nod. And then he and Jackson were gone, leaving her with the onerous task of hauling the Kindred's body out to her father's van. Charlotte wasn't at all squeamish, but as she hauled the torpid form over to the window, she was unpleasently reminded of how physically weak she was. Pushing the window open, she dragged the body out onto the fire escape, then closed it behind her. Hissing curses under her breath all the while, she managed to sling the other Kindred over her shoulders and struggle down the metal stairs. Charlotte moved as quietly as possible, occasionally having to drop down onto her belly and drag the body behind her to avoid coming into view of the odd window without the curtains drawn. But her efforts paid off, and eventually, she found herself sitting in the allyway with the body propped up next to her.

One perk of the Kindred condition; Charlotte thought, as the van pulled up. I don't have to suffer the indignity of being found panting and out of breath.

From there, things were mercifully simple. Charlotte greeted her father with a quick kiss, then allowed him to dump the body in the back of the van. The rope and handcuffs in the rucksack - a standby in case they had needed to wake Karl up and he woke in a frenzy - went unused. They drove to the address Trask had given them and passed the body over. Charlotte wished the other Mekhet luck, wherever he went and whatever he chose to do, before they left.

And that was that.

"You're very quiet, dear. Are you sure everything's okay?"

"Hmm?" Charlotte pulled away from the window as the van rolled along. The roads were quiet. "Oh, sorry. Yes, I think that's everything. Just thinking."

"You're always thinking."

She couldn't help but laugh a little at that. "There's always something to think about."

In retrospect, perhaps Trask's final compliment hadn't been that strange. They were more alike than Charlotte had first expected; despite the veneer of violence, the man was obviously intellegent and held himself to a strict code of morals, just as she did. The relationship between Kindred and Kine was strange, but both species deserved to survive. The carefull balance that required needed protecting, at times over the lives of one or two individuals who threatened it. She found herself a little disappointed that he had left; there was the feeling she could have learned quite a lot from him, and the wasted opportunity nagged at her.

Still, like he said. I'm doin' just fine. And I've got a lot of studying to do as it is.

She cast a sideways glance at the bag at her side, still crammed with the fruits of Joe's labours and Karl's journal, and smiled.

Charlotte leaves the scene

  

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2012-12-14 18:46:51		Charlotte rolls 6 to sneak (dex3+stealth3) (10 Again)		3, 9, 3, 9, 6, 3		2 successes