[Simon Zahradnik] It was a few days since their last little meeting. The cash they uncovered had been left with Gwen though Simon took the numbers with him. Tonight he went out to find Gwen again, he didn't know entirely why but it seemed like it would be fun to drag the cub out. Besides no one should ever operate alone. Once he had a little back up they piled into his car.
Inside the old Hatchback Gwen would discover a huge collection of various tools piled in the back of the hatchback, most of which is covered up and assorted into little layers that are easy to get at. This was his work station... It might work a little better if he had a van but garou don't usually make much money.
"How's school been?"He asks as they drive. Simon had been dressed for the cold as usual though with the heat blaring enough to keep the temperature comfortable a couple of those layers had been peeled off."You are still doing that school thing right? I mean nothing wrong with it... I just found it hard to concentrate on all that shit after..."He trails off and laughs a little."One minute you're a happy, if pissed off teen kid, the next minute you're a giant fucking ball of pissed off looking for something to kill. So it's pretty cool if you're planning to keep that shit up I mean."He says this with a nod of his head and a little smile. He was making small talk... In his own way this was kinda like training. She wasn't his tribe but there was still a communal responsibility in his mind. Garou fought and died together so somewhere all of them had a responsibility to one another so long as the nation existed.
[Gwen Sullivan] Simon would find Gwen hovering around the outskirts of Last Watch's territory. She didn't like imposing by treading their lands all the time, didn't like to take up space within the walls of their church unless she was invited exclusively. Showing up on their doorstep felt like taking advantage of charity, and if she was to prove her strength she had to fend for herself rather than feed on the scraps given to her by others.
..yet she didn't like to stray too far. They were the closest thing to family she counted toward herself right now.
Simon would roll up on her walking the sidewalk, tell her to hop in because he had a job for them, and she would stare at him for a second, thoughtful, but oblige without much hesitation and get in the passenger seat of his car. It was hot in the hatchback, so the faded black winter jacket she wore was peeled off and folded up in her lap, leaving her in a bright yellow long-sleeved tee with a large smiley face on the chest and stomach, along with a pair of jeans tucked into her black winter boots. Her hair was drawn back into a ponytail at the nape of her neck, leaving licks of that faded out brown to frame the sides of her face.
He makes small talk, focusing on school as a topic, and Gwen was leaned forward with her ice cold hands on the vents, warming up and regaining feeling while they conversed. "I graduated early, finished a semester early. Diploma, not G.E.D." Because that, for some reason, was important to her. "I don't think college is a plausible option, I don't think I could be in a work environment where people have to be near me anymore. ...But it didn't feel right not to finish something I've been working on for twelve years, you know?"
There's a beat, and she leans back to press her vent-heated palms onto her cheeks and nose, warming them as well. "Where are we going?"
[Simon Zahradnik] He nods his head in response to her answer."It's supposed to be good for you. I mean knowledge and shit... I really gave the military a lot of thought. Somewhere I might fit in, but even then there's too much at risk. Still seemed like something I could do easily enough."He shrugs his shoulders and laughs to himself."Either way good job for you... I mean a high school education is better than most of us got."He adds with a nod before settling back in his chair.
"I figured we'd follow up on a few leads as it were. Ask around, maybe break a few kneecaps."He says with a shrug of his shoulders."One of ours died, and while we might have taken care of the ones who did it... That doesn't say anything about the rest of them. The other day they attacked the Church. Damn near killed me... So somewhere you gotta stop playing the game of hide and seek. The longer we sit here waiting, the more they are gonna keep hitting us right?"he asks with a curious little smile.
"Not if we hit back first. And I'm not talking about the brave heroic sacrifice shit. I am talking about finding out where they live and where they sleep... And attacking them where they feel safest. That's how you win a war. That's how you win this kinda war anyway. When you're fighting monsters you have to think like a monster."
[Gwen Sullivan] "Hmm."
It's how Gwen answers a lot of the things she hears. It's an audible signal to the fact that she understood what was said and was now mulling it over, interpreting it, deciding on if it had opportunity for improvement or any flaws that needed to be ironed out. Questionable bits would be pinpointed, brought to the forefront, and spoken of baldly, openly, so that she understood why they were chosen and whether they were suitably strong points or not. If not? Then change would be suggested.
One day it wouldn't be suggestions, it would be enforcements.
Not today, though.
"I understand the need for recon, but I was led to believe that was what a Ragabash was good for?" She's rubbing her hands together in front of the vent again, leaning over her own lap and the jacket folded into it. "I mean, I suppose an Ahroun should be good at judging weak points in battle... but to sleuth? To track? Aren't these the points that the No Moon is strongest at?"
[Simon Zahradnik] The question was a legitimate one and he couldn't help but bring a smile to his face."By that logic though then all the Full Moon would ever be used for was to fight. My place is to make war, and war is best fought on every level... If that means I have to gather some intel on my own then that's what I gotta do?"Blunt, simple and straight forward and yet something he has apparently given some thought to in the past."You're the law giver among our kind, but when the time comes to fight we're all soldiers... We each fight in a different way. While a Ragabash might be sneaky that's not really his place in our society. The New Moon's place in our society is to teach us... He calls us out when we are behaving stupid or brash. He helps to teach us new ways and open our eyes to what we're not seeing... He also tests us and pushes us to become greater. At least that's what I understand... The fact he is sneaky doesn't mean we are stepping outside our auspices. This is war, and when it comes to the war we're all in. If only the Ahrouns were involved in the fighting then Nights Reprieve woulda never died. It woulda been me or some others Full Moon. Maybe it should have but it was not. When the shit hit the fan he did his job... And he died..."
"He died because we Full Moons weren't doing our jobs."He then nods his head."I'm not gonna let that happen again."He finally says, though this wasn't so much an emotional speech so much as a personal responsibility kind of thing."I'm not saying his death was my Fault. I am saying if we had destroyed the hive... He would probably still be here though."
[Gwen Sullivan] Gwen shakes her head and leans back, letting herself get comfortable in the passenger seat of the car. She sits like she is amongst a person she has known for years, a brother perhaps, rather than someone she needs to impress with anything beyond the strength of her mind and her willingness to learn right now. How she appeared, physically, and how she behaved beyond respect and honor, didn't matter so much. She sat slumped comfortably, legs stretched out so the knees touched the glove compartment, spread open in a way less than feminine but certainly at ease.
Her hands folded over her stomach, flat with teenage athleticism but not yet knotted with war-muscle. She looked out the passenger window while they drove, watched the scenery both through that and the windshield. Kept tabs on where they were going, where they'd wind up. Streets, landmarks, and the like.
"All we are is War, when it boils down to it. Perhaps not once upon a time, before War was as widespread as it is now. Perhaps it was Containment once, but no longer. If you place it that way, all any of us are used for is, in one manner or another, the Fight." She takes a second there, thinking over her own train of thought, fine tuning it, before continuing. "...I just don't think it's too smart to look in places too dangerous without the right kind of back-up in place, or the right kind of skill set."
There's another pause, the topic of the Hive, and that she answers with a shake of her head. "Simon, I haven't been at this long, but I'm pretty sure our priority has always been the safety of the Caern, the safety of our People, and finding that goddamn Hive. Wishing and hoping that we'd found it sooner doesn't do anything but make it look like we're not trying hard enough."
[Simon Zahradnik] "That's the point. Our caern is besieged at this moment. We're kept holed up in our little corners while the city itself is overwhelmed. We're fighting an enemy whose abilities, and mindset is a mockery of our own. They think like us, they act like us, they know what we know in their own perverse little way. We're not fighting mad men who occasionally stray into the night cutting peoples heads off... We're fighting an enemy who is intimately aware of how we think. They're not just our enemy. They ARE us..."He says this with a certain sense of seriousness as the car stops."And they are hunting us... They are hunting you. They are hunting me. Maybe not this second but they are out there..."He points around at the dark parts of the surrounding terrain."They are hunting for us, and they are going to drag each of us off into the darkness or worse unless someone stops playing this game with them."
He settles back a little in his chair."You are our voice of reason, and I hear you. I hear what you are saying, but what I am saying is there is reason in my voice. We are hunters, but we're playing the hunted. We can't always ask for the backup we need so one way or another we learn to survive. You might not feel it in your heart but you fuckin' have to. When you doubt yourself you die... Either I'm not gonna walk you straight into hell. I'm not a Fenrir I'm a Shadow Lord. I sneak in through the side door."He laughs as he reaches up to remove his keys and pop the door slowly open. Undoing his safety belt he steps out."Come on."
[Gwen Sullivan] The hatchback rolls to a stop against the curb, and Gwen unbuckles and leans forward so she has enough room to pull her coat back on, zip it back up and tug her red winter cap down over her ears and her red gloves onto her hands. "I getcha," is what she concludes that conversation with. He was a Cliath, she was a Cub. He had experience, and while his jaws flapped more than she cared for on certain nights, in certain situations, he wasn't nearly as stupid as she'd summed him up to be the first time they'd met. If she cleared irritability from the equation and just listened? He made sense a lot of the time.
She steps out of the car and eased it closed, pressing with the heel of her hand to secure the seal rather than slamming it. Loud noises could alert the wrong person, after all. Her hands jam into her pockets and her cool green-gray eyes skim up and down the street, then along building fronts while she got the feel for the setting, the lay of the land.
Simon'd recognize a change in her from the cub he'd met on the dock along with the Fenrir Lupus. Crazy colors had left her hair, the piercings in her face had dropped down to only one-- the crystal stud in the cleft of her upper lip-- and the bold make-up that she once wore was now washed away completely. Perhaps resources had become unavailable to her, perhaps she was growing out of a rebellious youthful stage. Perhaps she'd stopped caring for appearance and leaning more toward utility? That wasn't all, though. Her face wasn't one hundred percent questioning and learning anymore. There was confidence in something there now. Certainty in one's self without being cocky.
She was growing into a Judge just fine.
[Simon Zahradnik] He walks around behind the car and unlocks the hatch. He reaches in to pull out his backpack before pointing at the car."First and foremost you never walk into a situation unprepared." He pauses to lift the blanket covering the tools in the back of his truck and there is a wide assortment of anything from yard tools to simple construction tools. Chemicals, gas canister, in fact one might assume he was some kind of construction worker. However a few of the odds and ends didn't match your average construction worker. Who needs a Brush Hook and a Power Drill? That's a little odd, but one never knows. That was kinda his point."We've got all manner of tools at our disposal and a lot of these I keep just in case. I am a bit of a pack rat."He nods and then looks at her.
"But right now we're not looking for dancers. Not directly... What we're hunting is trails. Not every fucked up thing on the planet involves Black Spiral Dancers but if you follow the trails you'll find all kinds of operations you never knew about. Somewhere along the way the Wyrm is almost always involved. If someone is killing people for money or peddling crack you can bet that somewhere along the way this is benefiting the minions of the Wyrm."He says this as he looks around."I'm not saying this in the physical sense but the overall sense. People will try to describe the Wyrm as this big hulking mass of Dragon or Worm or Snake... But I don't see it that way. I see the worm kinda like the body it's made up of millions of tiny little parts right? Each part it's own thingy but all part of one huge massive thing right? I mean, the Wyrm doesn't have a body it resides in the spirits of everything it infests. They are it's body right? So what I am doing right now is attacking the stragglers and loose ends because they are weak and outliers and through them we can learn more about the power structure at the core."He laughs and shuts the door."At least that's the hope. Either way each resource we deny our enemy is a victory for us. Just as good as a kill. Even if they don't treat it as such at a moot. I'm about efficiency glory is cool but... Not everything in a war."
"
[Gwen Sullivan] Gwen sniffs against the cold, tugs the collar of her winter coat up against her neck, and rounds to the back of the vehicle to look at what all he had stored in the trunk space. He could easily be confused for a construction worker, looking back there. Or a repairman of sorts any sort, anyways. He's grabbing his backpack and explaining why he keeps everything he does to her, and she stands with her hands jammed into her pockets, looking on and listening and nodding to show that she understood what he was saying.
Following was a lecture about the Wyrm and what it was and how and why he attacked stragglers. She made a bit of a face near the end of his drawn-out explanation and shook her head up at him, moving to linger on the curb while he stood at the back of his car still.
"It doesn't make sense to go after and wipe out the stragglers to me." She looks back up the street, like she's still trying to figure out why they stopped where they did. Her looking around didn't stop her talking in that low, even, yet somewhat raspy voice of hers. "I mean, stragglers and the lower ranks are easy to replace. It's like squishing every ant that you see. What you should be doing is following them back to the source without disrupting them, otherwise you'll never find the anthill." There's a pause, her gaze returns to Simon and appears flat, unamused with her own analogy. She felt it strayed too far from her point, so she went back and fixed it.
"Sure, we could catch some low-ranking guy, interrogate him for all he's worth and then get rid of him... but then we'd only have meager information. No one tells the low end of the totem pole everything. And for what little information we got they'd be alerted up the line of the fact that we were on to them because their guy got attacked, went missing... something.
"That's why I think this job's better suited to the Ragabash. They'll follow without disrupting, not call it war but call it... something else. They wouldn't do it to attack or learn how to attack the very person they were watching, but to learn." Her nose wrinkled, and her elbows tucked close to her sides, helping in keeping the warmth pressed inside her jacket. "People won't behave the same and lead us the same places if they think that doing so'll jeopardize what they're working toward."
[Simon Zahradnik] He walks with her, a step or two ahead of her but with her no less. His stance is tall and proud and there is a certainty in his step."That's how it should, and can... And if I can get my way, or my elders will hear my advice that is how it will work. We've got packs... Not just lone wandering individuals but packs in this city who should be out in force."He pauses in his speech giving a breath or a break."But that's not what we have. We lack organization and direction... I assume our elders are looking out for our well being and making all kinds of plans. But without anything remotely resembling communication I have no information on the status of this war or the direction it is going. So... I do what I can where I can."
"War should be fought on multiple levels. Certain information needs to be collected sensitively but other information... Let's put it this way. If people are helping our enemies and benefiting from it then they aren't gonna care. But if someone breaks a dudes legs for having associated with the wrong crowd then he will learn an important lesson. This is a world ruled by strength and fear... If people learn there will be consequences for dealing with our enemies they will be less likely to deal with them right?"He stops where he stands and nods his head.
"You're right though... We should have a Ragabash handling this and if I had a ragabash at my disposal I would damn well make use of my resources. I don't... I just have my teeth and claws and enough balls to make most folks shit their pants. I use what resources I have to fight my battles. To me they are all battles and however it comes out I intend to win them all."It was a conversation they have never had. Well Simon was beung his usual stubborn self but he was at least being polite enough to show that he was listening too. Something in there was important to him, she was a cub and she sat on the bottom. But Simon was just a cub himself about this time last year. Just barely a Cliath when he came here so... Maybe he remembers what it felt like to have no one hear a damn thing you said.
[Gwen Sullivan] "That you really believe your balls make people shit themselves kind of worries me..."
She was a cub, he was a Cliath. She knew her place. She knew that if he told her in the right tone to shut up, she did precisely that. If he told her to get down, she kissed the dirt, and if he told her to run she turned tail and got the fuck out of there (even if that order would conflict with her terribly). He told, she did, because he knew better and he would always have his reasons behind sincere orders barked at her and, well, she just had to follow them first and question them later. That was what the hierarchy was all about.
Being a cub didn't stop her from opening her mouth, though. To be afraid to speak her mind was the most crippling handicap she could give herself. So she spoke, she thought aloud, she questioned because doing so would help her learn better, understand more. A little jostling in the mix didn't hurt morale and alliance-building, however.
"We do have Ragabash, though. We have Roman, I know him for certain and I'm willing to bet he'd be more than happy to help out. I know there's a few more than that, I know there can't only be one. But that's one I can name right off the top of my head."
[Simon] He laughs, oh how does he laugh. He bursts into sudden and uncontrollable laughter at the mention of Roman. His hand clutching his stomach as he falls backwards against a wall. The sound was rather delightful to hear coming out of a full moon, obviously something she had said set the full moon off and he found himself dropping to the floor in laughter. Squirming and stopping for a second."Oh god... Oh god..."He seems as if he might calm before sdenly bursting into another bout of laughter. His hand clutching his side as he struggles to regain control."My side! Oh god..."His laughter continues until he looks as if he has burned out all his energy.
He pauses closes his eyes and smiles."Oh fuck... Roman is a good kid. Bless his sweet little heart that boy is one of those rare shining glimmering examples of what we could be if we put our minds to it. But that boy is so white sometimes even I get a little offended and wanna beat him up for it."He laughs a little and looks up at the sky.
"I don't doubt he'd make a great scout, but if what we need is information then we need someone who can blend in, and fit in with these folks. They don't read civility all that well and simply being white in the first place is a handicap. However if you can back your mouth up and convince them you aren't a cop then you might be surprised how many places you can weasel your way into. But Roman..."He laughs again for a few brief seconds."Roman would get shot the second he walked into some of the buildings out this way."
He then calms a little and shrugs his shoulders."So far as information gathering goes though I don't see it as behavioral."He says with a shrug."What I mean to say is... You are a Half-Moon, but in the course of your life you will make deals with the spirits, you will fight battles, You will do everything every other Auspice does but you will do it under the guidance of Luna."He says with a shrug and a nod of his head."When a proper sept goes to war... It's not just the Ahrouns who meet it is everyone. The Ahrouns will lay out the plan, the Philodoxes and the Ragabashes will pick out the flaws. The theurges will formulate how to bend the spirits to make this plan possible and the Galliards will give suggestions based on the wisdom of the past. Your auspice... All our Auspices perform a function within our society. It's kinda like the PR department in a company... When they go to Work they are in the PR department but at all other times they're a Person who happens to work in the PR department."He says as he pushes up off the floor.
"Our traditional roles determine our function within the nation but they do not define the extent to which we, as individuals in service to the nation, are able to engage in one activity or another."He says with a nod of his head before standing.
"But don't take this to mean we shouldn't have a New Moon. The insight and cunning of a New Moon would make all of this that much prettier. But right now we don't have a New Moon and sometimes we don't so we push on... We make use of our strengths just you and I."He grins a little."And somehow those strengths will get us through."
[Gwen Sullivan] Gwen curls her tongue out of her mouth and taps the piercing in her upper lip with its tip, a strange gesture that plays out while she furrows her brow and thinks on the point that Simon made after laughing loud enough to startle a few pigeons into flight. Her hands remain jammed into her pockets, and after a while she nods in agreement. If anything drew attention in these parts of town, it was a stetson. No matter how good you were at sneaking around, if anyone spotted that you'd be thrown into the spotlight.
"I getcha," she says to answer the lecture he gave about the roles of auspices and how they all contribute and occasionally lapse over one another. She's been in and out of the Umbra, she was learning from Linus about spirits and the way things were on the Other side. She was here with Simon learning the things the Ahrouns know, battle tactics and the like. The only thing that she was uncomfortable with was that it was not a Ragabash showing her how to sneak, but an Ahroun instead.
...but he was right. They didn't have one at this moment, and that's where they were in time-- this exact moment. It was senseless to turn back off a warm trail to find someone to help, they'd just have to work with what they had.
A moment of quiet passes, and Gwen inquires without looking up, eyes still peeled and alert. "Where are we going anyways?"
[Simon] He starts moving again and nods his head."Right..."He says with a nod of his head before pointing in the direction of a small townhouse up ahead."The guy's house we broke into the other night? Crack dealer or some shit... I really didn't give a fuck about ruining his business and since he's been pissing the locals off anyway I saw no reason anyone would mind if I shook his ass down."He says with a laugh."Now he's got the opinion that someone is after him. I dunno who all runs this side of town exactly, but he's gonna be a little spooked that someone is coming after his ass. Hence the backup."He grins a little then shrugs his shoulders.
"He's likely to have a few friends and expecting someone to be coming for him."He says with a nod of his head."So I am gonna keep the pressure on."He says this with a slight glimmer in his eye."It's how I roll... Don't let your enemy sleep soundly. Keep up the pressure... Don't let him feel safe, let him know that wherever he goes and whatever he goes you are coming for his ass and sooner or later you will find him. Don't just chase your enemy... Break his will. Make him so fucking terrified that he'll tell you anything and everything you want him to know."He says with a nod of his head.
"I don't show mercy in war. I don't show it and I don't ask for it... Ever. If you are smart you know never to be my enemy."He says with a nod of his head."This boy will be my lesson."He says with a little grin as he walks across the street alongside her.
The glimmer in his eye still showing as if he anticipated conflict while approaching the porch of the townhouse. He stepped up to the stairs then knocked three times.
[Gwen Sullivan] Gwen didn't seem to be much of a talker unless she was exclusively invited to be so. When someone else was talking, especially when there were things to be learned by the words, she tended to press her lips together, still her tongue to the back of her teeth, and listen. This is precisely what she was doing now while Simon was explaining to her how to wear enemies down psychologically as well as physically. Keep them on their toes, wear them down, tire them out. It makes them easier to bring down in the end.
Yet, while she didn't speak up to interject, her face said enough to express her thoughts. First she was interested, mildly so. Listening to understand the situation, hearing the answer to her question. Then her face faded to something more drab, a bit thoughtful. He advises that she never become his enemy and she scoffs some. She had no reason to believe that day would ever come.
When he strolls up to the porch of the townhouse and advances upon the door, though, she stops at the foot of the steps up onto the porch. Her hands are in her black jacket pockets, her eyes on Simon's back, bog-colored eyes wide as he knocks on the door. "Simon!" She hissed his name, like she was going to try to warn him not to knock a minute too late.
How the hell were you supposed to sneak up on somebody if you were going to knock their damn door down??
[Simon] He gives a little smile before reaching out to push her off to the side a little."Never stand in front of a doorway if you can avoid it. All kinds of nasty shit."He says with a little grin on his face implying this was all a part of his plan. He started to whistle to himself for a second or two and he knocked again. He waited until someone finally opened the door just a crack and peeked through.
"Who's there?"The voice asks not immediately seeing anyone until Simon leans in and peeks at the crack."It's me again just came by to see..."He gets shut up by the slamming of the door and a sudden clambering as someone begins racing as quickly as they can away from the front door.
He then leans back and smiles back at her."That was rude..."He says before shrugging his shoulders and hopping off the porch."Come on, my guess is he's gonna grab himself a gun and some cash and run out the back... We'll track his ass down from there if he can beat us out that way."He says with a smile.
"The fun thing about people when they are scared for their lives. Is they are stupid... Fear is a tool, use it to your advantage. Make your enemies fear you and you've already won."He was certainly looking confident at the moment in his little lecture. Then again any chance to teach Shadow lord ethics was a good thing in his mind.
Soon enough he was headed around to the back of the house.
[Gwen Sullivan] Simon gives Gwen a bit of a shove, and she hops a few steps to the side to move with the momentum. She doesn't glare at him, doesn't appear offended by the shove out of the way of gunfire (even though he stood right there in the same spot to keep knocking on the door anyways). She just watched him, brow furrowed, and snapped her attention to the door when it opened that little bit and a demand of 'who's there' was voiced out. Whoever was inside got a look at Simon, heard his voice, and slammed the door shut and pounded feet back into the house as fast as possible.
Simon grinned, explained his thought process to her casually, and made his way around the house with the kind of easy, confident stride that suggested he was having a jolly old time and did this as frequently and lazily as old people did bingo night on Wednesdays.
Gwen appeared to be nothing if not incredulous. Maybe a little bit bewildered. Possibly a smidge horrified. Her jaw went slightly slack, her eyes remained wide and she stared after him as he stepped down off the porch and started around the house. There's a moment where she hangs behind, and this is followed up by a heavy sigh and she shrugs off the thick black coat that she was wearing and folds it over an arm as she follows after.
She didn't doubt that she would have to shift for one reason or another once they reached the back of that house, and she couldn't afford to ruin another coat that way.
"You're certifiable," she advises the backs of his broad shoulders as they crunch through snow and make their way around the house.
[Simon] He laughs a little."We'll we're not dealing with anything too serious so why not enjoy ourselves a little? Ever been shot? Most of the time it does little more than piss you the fuck off..."He shrugs his shoulders."And nothing scares these folks more than a dude who gets shot and looks like it didn't fuckin' bother him."He says with a smile before stepping into the back yard. He gives a little grin as the man goes running straight across the yard. Several boards had been pulled aside in the back to allow him to simply hop into the other back yard.
The man bolts into the back door of the house across the way just as Simon is ducking through the hole in the gate and stepping through on the other side."Honestly I don't think this guy knows much... But this is more about getting somewhere. If you want respect out here people need to fear you. They need to understand that you are the top dog... And if they cross you they will go down. It's not always about sneaking around. Sometimes you need to be in their face right?"He asks her with a little grin as he reaches out to take her coat."Either way I wouldn't worry too much... The worst this guy will do is piss his pants at you and scream a little."
[Gwen Sullivan] "Mmhmm."
There was that noise again, and this time it sounded more skeptical than thoughtful. She was beginning to like this less and less as the night went on. Simon stepped through the hole in the gate and Gwen followed after, shivering a little bit and keeping her jacket held close to her stomach as they walked. Her boots crunched through the snow easily enough, there was a reason she wore them constantly--comfortable, insulated, practical. Her eyes jump to the man as he bowls out of the back door into the backyard.
Gwen's sighing, looking inconvenienced. It's disrespectful, but she's growing tired of dancing around the topic. She wanted to understand exactly why they were there and what they were looking for from this man. She hated going into situations half-assed, and that was exactly what she was doing now. Simon? Maybe not, he knew what he was doing. She was just along for the ride, half-informed and irritable because of it.
"So we scare him, he shoots us, and we scare him some more. What am I trying to learn from him?"
[Simon] [Quick couple rolls beofre I post]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6) Re-rolls: 1
[Simon] [Hmm cool!]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Simon] [And one more!]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 8, 8, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Simon] It was almost amusing the way Simon led her right onto the back porch, oblivious to what might be happening within the house. The thought of older movies where the villain and then the hero go racing through the middle of someone's home brings a smile to his face."The guy has connections... From what I understand he moved in to someone else's neighborhood and set up shop. The locals tried to send a message but a few wound up dead... Strangled to death or some shit. Didn't sound too typical to me so I figured why not? Worst case scenario we beat the shit out of a few crazy crack dealers... Everyone..."
*Crash*
The sound of wood splintering and buckling under immense weight is foreshadowed by the sudden emergence of a massive hammerlike fist splintering the door outward and crashing straight into Simon's fat startled face. The impact was bone shattering and should have shattered Simon's jaw... But he was quick and did this enough that he somehow managed to avoid catastrophic injury to his skull, but the impact still threw him off the porch and sent him rolling backwards a couple times, landing with his face in the slush and spitting it out."Fuckin... Ow!"Was all he had time to spit out.
The figure on the opposite side towered over Gwen, it was hard to make out details but it was massive in size and shape and pushed past the door with a deep and wicked laugh as it lunged straight at the only other person left standing on the porch!
[Gwen Sullivan] Gwen stepped up onto the back porch, looking after the guy that had run off across the yard at they went, frowning contemplatively and tossing her jacket to the side, peeling off her hat and gloves and tossing them away as well. She kicked out of her boots and mused her thoughts to Simon quietly as he wrapped up his 'worst case scenario' mentioning. "I don't suppose--..."
Crrr-nch! The door explodes outwards and a fist slams right into Simon's head. Simon, thankfully, is able to roll with the punch and dampen the amount of damage done. Literally, though, he rolled, right off the back porch and onto the ground. Something massive, shadowed, and indeterminately wicked was pushing its way past the door, laughing with a sound that she felt in her bones more than she heard in her ears and sizing her up. Her nose wrinkled and lips pulled back from teeth with a signal of aggression that came more naturally after spending much time with a wolf-born out in the trees, wearing a pelt rather than human skin. She whipped the yellow tee off that she'd been wearing and flung that to the side as well, salvaging as much of her clothing as she could before The Change was necessary. There wasn't enough time for the pants, but she'd just have to do.
The creature lunged, Gwen exploded into a show of tawny fur highlighted with surprisingly soft tones of white, manifesting in Crinos as a creature of great size and stature, built stocky and sturdy. She met the lunge as a wall of muscle and flashing teeth.
Reluctant as she had been to be dragged into the backyard without a history of what went on there, when it came down to it and she was faced with Battle, she met it head on and didn't look back.
[Gwen Sullivan] [Init + 6]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 5
[Simon] [Simon! +8!]
[Simon]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 1
[Simon] [Mr. Bighands! +5]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 4
[Simon] [Declare in reverse
Gwen: 11
Simon: 9
Mr. Bighands: 9]
[Simon] [Mr Bighands:
1a: Ahaha Beat Gwen!
1R: Ahaha Beat Gwen!
2R: Ahaha Beat Gwen!]
[Simon] [Simon:
1a: Get up, and brush off, smile just a little."Damn that guys big!"]
[Gwen Sullivan] [1a. Bite
1b. Bite [WP]
1R. BITE]
[Gwen Sullivan] [Bite 1: Dex + Brawl, -2 split]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 5, 8, 10 (Success x 3 at target 5)
[Gwen Sullivan] [Damage: Str 6 + 1 Bite + 2 Suxx (A)]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 2, 4, 6, 7, 7, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Simon] [Soak!]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 5, 6, 7, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Gwen Sullivan] [Bite 2: Dex + Brawl, -3 split]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 5, 8 (Success x 3 at target 5) [WP]
[Gwen Sullivan] [Damage: Str 6 + 1 Bite + 2 Suxx (A)]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Simon] [Not again! Stop biting me bitch!]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 3, 6, 7, 7, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Simon] [Beat gwen!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 3, 6, 7, 7, 7 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Simon] [Dmg! Punch... But he is so strong it is Lethal!]
Dice Rolled:[ 11 d10 ] 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[Gwen Sullivan] [Soak]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 3, 4, 4, 9, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Gwen Sullivan] [Rage Bite: Dex + Brawl, -2 damage penalty]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 5, 6, 9 (Success x 3 at target 5)
[Gwen Sullivan] [Damage]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 2, 3, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[Simon] [Soak!]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 4, 5 (Botch x 1 at target 6)
[Simon] [R1 Fuckin Owwww! I punch back!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 5, 5, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6) Re-rolls: 2
[Simon] [Dmg]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 2, 4, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 7 at target 6)
[Simon]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 5, 7, 7, 7 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Simon] [Dmg]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 4, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Gwen Sullivan] [Soak]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 3, 4, 4, 6, 6 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Simon] [Simon... When gwen falls Insta shift to crinos -1 rage]
[Dude: I get one more punch!(On Simon)]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Simon] [Dmg!]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 2, 3, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[Simon] [Simon Soak]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Gwen Sullivan] [Heal Lethal]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10 (Success x 2 at target 8)
[Simon] [Simon +9]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 10
[Gwen Sullivan] [Init + 6]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 5
[Simon] [Mr. Bighands +4]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 3
[Simon] [Simon:19
Gwen: 11
Mr. Bighands: 7
Declair in reverse!]
[Simon] [1a: Punch Simon!
R1: Punch Simon!
R2: Punch Simon!]
[Gwen Sullivan] [Spend WP to ignore wound penalties
1a. Bite!
1b. Bite!]
[Simon] [1a: Claw that bitch!
R1: Claw Again!]
[Simon] [Claw!]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 4, 4, 4, 6, 7, 7, 7, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 7 at target 6) Re-rolls: 1
[Simon] [15!]
Dice Rolled:[ 15 d10 ] 2, 2, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 6, 6, 9, 10, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 7 at target 6)
[Simon] [Woohoo I'ma die! Soak!]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 2, 5, 6, 8 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Simon] [Raaaaaaaaage!]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 1, 4, 6, 7 (Botch x 2 at target 8)
[Simon] [x.x]
[Simon] Simon rose to his feet brushing off and showing a brilliant little smile as the massive figure came tearing it's way from inside the building. His eyes were alight with wonder as if someone had left him presents under the Christmas tree. Yet he did not move... He, instead turned hios attention on Gwen. The girl has to learn to fight sooner or later right? Sink or swim... There was no better time than the present.
Gwen was quick to lash out and in a blur of motion she tore into the man thing. Clothing and flesh alike were shredded and blood was oozing onto the floor when his massive uppercut drove straight into the Hispo's nose, instantly shattering the bridge of her nose and crushing much of that powerful muzzle. Had she been a normal wolf she would have died right there. Still Simon knew when the cub had enough and the second she fell he lept into the fray. Falling on the thing with all the grace and skill of a beast who did this for a living. In fact if there was anything in this world that SImon could honestly say he did like a pro... It was kill and he displayed this with startling ease.
By the time Gwen was up and ready to fight again Simon was back in his birth form standing over the massive hulking corpse laughing a little to himself."Double knockout..."He mutters."I never thought I would live to see the day."If she saw or heard him it really didn't matter. His role in this little battle was minimal at best, why take all the glory when you can let the cub have a little herself?"Got the job done though."He laughs and kneels down."Come on we gotta find sneaky."Her says bolting into the house without so much as a couple seconds to rest.
[Gwen Sullivan] It happens in the blink of an eye-- the monster bursts from the home and lunges at the Cub, and the Cub greets it with flashing teeth that are not eager like an Ahroun's, but dutiful like a child of the Law's should be. Her teeth have a chance to tear a considerable hole in the monster's hide, and it answers her with an almost instantaneous fist to the nose, something so heavy and vicious that it collapses her snout into itself and sends her sliding across the back porch of the house, claws digging into wood and tearing up planks, stopping the slide but not because she was thinking about it, rather because her hands were grasping whatever there was for purchase. The pain that slammed through her face, her head, down into her shoulders and through her spine to the tip of her tail, it was awful. It left her dizzy, blood drizzled from what was left of her nose and mouth and most of the rest of it slid down her throat into her belly.
Her face was mending itself and her vision, flashed over black and red both, returned in time to see Simon shaking his head and muttering to himself about double-knockouts. He tells her to come on and find someone, and by that point her nose has pushed itself back out where it's supposed to be. She glares at him, blood in her eyes, and rises to her feet, spitting a good quantity of blood onto the deck before following after him, maintaining her Crinos shape.
By the time she's ducking down and twisting funny to fit her broad shoulders through the doorway (it's like watching a cat fit through a small space when she does that) her face is back to the way it ought to be, none of her teeth are loose (though she knew there was now a tooth in her belly that she'd be throwing back up later) and her nose is working again.
She rumbles something like aggravation with the inconvenience of that momentary blackout, but says nothing more as she whuffs at the air and turns her head to survey the house, hunting for whoever 'sneaky' was.
[Simon] Simon stepped into the building comfortably. His eyes scanning the room ahead of time. He was braced and ready to respond, and react... That was the beautiful thing about their instincts, and what many missed about their urges. Somewhere in the back of everyone's mind was a place where fight or flight aren't just an option they are the rule. Survival was a law all it's own and never was it more apparent than in the Garou. His inner instinct lead him... Not sights and smells necessarily so much as the air, the pressure, whatever breeze might be lurking about, the creaking of the wind in the attic. Somewhere in the back of his mind every warrior ceased to be a man, and what lurked inside there was entirely beast. It did not ask questions, it did not compromise, it did not weigh its options. It acted suddenly and without warning... Somewhere the Garou always knew what he needed to do he just needed to be able to shut out the outside world and listen to the beast within.
Simon's beast was a powerful force in his life and even in his birth form he seemed to rely on senses not necessarily suited to his form. Sniffing at the air, and listening quietly to assess his situation.
Gwen squeezed in behind him and a smile hit his lips."Jesus he fucked your face all the hell up..."He says before walking over to a table with cash and drugs and a couple firearms laid out. Simon examine's the table and smiles just a little."He's still in the house."He says with a nod towards the front door."Which means he's gonna find a room with only one entrance... And he's gonna wait there for us."He says with a little smile as he looks about the room."That's my guess anyway, if I was fleeing like honestly desperately fleeing from someone who I thought was gonna kill my ass that's what I would do. Well I mean if I was a coward and an idiot anyway."
[Gwen Sullivan] [Perception + Alertness]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 3, 3, 6, 7, 9, 9, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 7 at target 6) Re-rolls: 2
[Gwen Sullivan] Simon smiled at her and commented on how fucked up her face had been, and she just grunted. The sound was deep, felt in Simon's ribcage rather than heard. She was an average sized teenager in her birth form, forgettable in most every way possible, but when she assumed Crinos she was a hulking monster, larger than you'd expect, with shoulders broad and masculine and arms bulked up with muscle. She lifted a hand and swiped the blood off her muzzle, dipped her head close to the floor and snorted loudly, blowing a disgusting amount of blood back out of her sinuses and onto the floor so she could smell properly.
He mused about where he thought the person would be staying, and she turned her head this way and that, sniffing, looking, listening.
Her ears pricked, twitched at sounds that she caught. The quiet squeak of a palm against porcelain, rubber on tile, a body settling. She smelled sweat and fear, she was convinced she could hear a heart hammering apart from hers and Simon's, faster than either of theirs should be. Her eyes dropped to the floor, and she moved away from the room they'd walked into in search of a staircase, growling a deep, single word that was difficult for her unfamiliar tongue and vocal cords to make. English was rough without a human mouth.
"Downstairs. Bathroom."
[Simon] He nods his head when Gwen hones in on the sound. You see Simon could kill things rather well, but they all had their talents and abilities and here it was made that much more apparent. He doesn't ask how she knows he doesn't need to his smile shows through as the young woman shows off her own individual talents.
She might actually be okay at this after all. She will need a little more combat experience... But... She certainly seemed to keep a level head about combat, which was great for a half-moon, and quite a set of ears.
Simon was quick to follow her lead. He was also surprisingly quiet. She typically dealt with the Fenrir and so it might be somewhat unusual to find a full moon who exercises caution when dealing with a threat. Simon... Could be all kinds of things and while sometimes he appeared brash and nonsensical others he could be downright reasonable. Right now caution was necessary until their prey had been seized.
He glanced back once at Gwen and crept quietly down the hallway.
It was hard to say which was the restroom, there were four doors in total down the hall and Simon glanced back at her."Which one?"He asked her curiously. Simon was a Full Moon and that meant, to him, there was no sense in dicking around if someone did something better than you fuckin' let them shine!
[Gwen Sullivan] Up the hall, to a narrow staircase that leads downstairs, Gwen leads the way, following senses that seemed to surprise everyone. For such a mundane looking girl who only knew a handful of tricks about fighting and was still learning the intricacies of the Law and how they ought to be interpreted and applied... she had one hell of a snout on her. She could track prey and enemies better than most wolf-born who have been using these senses since they could squeeze their eyes open.
It's a tight fit down that stairway, but Gwen makes it. Simon is quiet, but it's impossible for a creature of Gwen's weight to be on those stairs. They groan ominously as she makes her descent into a hallway lined with doors. Simon looks up at her, asks quietly 'which one?'. She looked down at him, white-lined ears twitching, and then leaned forward with her large hands splayed on the walls to help support her balance as she stretched the great length of her body up the hall, nostrils flaring and sides quivering as she huffed air in and out rapidly to pull in every scent available.
Her head jerked to the left, a claw tapped at thin air toward the second door down.
There.
[Simon] Simon nods his head and gives a little smile. His eyes focus on that door, and he pauses to question how he should do this. It was then that his attention turned back to Gwen, lumbering behemoth in her War form. He looked her over... And by now most of her injuries were likely gone. He whispers in a soft tone."Wait here I'll handle this as quickly and cleanly as possible."He says with a sigh before starting down the hall. He stands beside the doorway and his height increases. He becomes larger, harrier, uglier a form likely familiar to Gwen by now... Something that would allow for more mobility in the tight space alloted to them.
Simon seems to count to three, focusing and closing his eyes, before turning kicking the door in and barging straight into the room. A shot was fired... Followed by a second. One sounded like it might have hit flesh. There was screaming, and the rustling of a shower curtain could be heard followed the the clang of metal against porcelain as the firearm is dropped. A split second later the wall caves a little outward under the pressure of something heavy nearly pushing right through it. A second later the figure of a man is thrown out into the hall where it crashes into a wall and falls to the floor... Panting heavily and covering it's head pleading with such fear in it's voice. The man didn't even appear to be coherent.
Simon was quiet, a wound at his side would heal in a matter of seconds. What mattered most importantly was that they had their prey. And fortunately for everyone... The basement, coupled with the rough neighborhood... Probably meant they didn't exactly need to get the hell out of there to evade the cops.
Simon finally looks back at Gwen with a smile."You ever done an Interrogation?"He asks her curiously.
[Gwen Sullivan] There's a ruckus in the bathroom, lots of throwing around, thumping and such. Gunshots, screams, a wall buckling under heavy weight, and finally a man comes tumbling out into the hallway, bouncing off the wall and crumpling on the floor with his arms over his head, eyes closed tight. He's pleading with words that didn't make coherent sentences, and Gwen slips down into the skin of a wolf-- not Hispo, but wolf. She's confident enough in her ability to handle him without using a lot of bulk, if Simon got him begging for his life that quickly, if he wasn't fighting back any longer.
She was more average in this body, appeared young again with ears that were still just a little too large and limbs that were not yet proportionate with the rest of her body, appearing a bit too long on her frame. Her pelt, tawny and accented white with gray here and there. She licked some more of the blood off her snout with a broad pink tongue and whuffed. Communicating as wolves do, in gestures and growls and yips that people did not understand beyond negative or positive. Simon, however, could make out more than that.
Not fully. But I would love to try.
[Simon] He looked down at the man and nodded his head before reaching over and kicking one of the doors open. This one was danker than the others, darker... Largely a storage room though the heating system and a few other things were found inside."This should work." After saying this Simon is quick to grab the gibbeing mess and haul him into a separate room."See if you can't find a chair and some duct tape will ya?"He asks back at her as he disappears into the room to begin prepping their new friend.
[Gwen Sullivan] He asked her to go in search of some basic household amenities, and Gwen turns about and trots back up the stairs, bottlebrush tail bobbing out of sight as she ascended toward the upper level.
She's back downstairs in four minutes, with precisely what Simon had asked for in tow. She'd found the clothes that she'd torn off her body before the shift and changed into them. She was getting smarter, while she couldn't perform any rites because she didn't know them and the spirits wouldn't listen to a thing she asked of them yet, she still figured ways to help the fact that her clothes couldn't withstand the change.
So her jeans were gone, her underpants and the bra she'd been wearing as well. But she'd lined her heavy jacket with spares, a spare set of underpants and a pair of leggings to serve as pants. This is what she appeared in, a roll of duct tape about her wrist, dragging a chair behind her. She was wearing that long-sleeved yellow tee with the smiley face on the front, no bra underneath, and a pair of immodestly tight leggings to substitute pants. Her heavy boots were back on her feet, her jacket was left somewhere upstairs, and her hair was left to hang about her face and shoulders.
She didn't bother to shut the door behind her, instead leaving it open to allow a bit of light to leak through. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness quickly and sought out Simon and their 'friend' while she set the chair up in the center of the room.
[Simon] Simon saw her entering and he found himself doing a double take. Gwen was young... But so too was Simon so it wasn't unreasonable to think he might take notice. There was a moment of tension after that double take of his, having noticed that she had lost her clothing and was currently... Under dressed for the weather anyway. He chases back any less than moral thoughts quickly enough! This was something he dealt with on a daily basis, not checking out all the women he is surrounded by has become a bit of a personal challenge for the young Full Moon.
"We need to get some clothes dedicated for you so you umm..."He notes her outfit."In the meantime I got some stuff out in the car you can borrow till then."He says with a nod of his head before taking the Chair presented to him. He sets it in the middle of the room and hefts the man into it.
"Alright Asshole we're just gonna ask a few questions... You can make this easy or hard. You give us what we need and you get outta here without anything broken. You fuck around and you might find yourself limping out, you keep fucking and you might walk away missing a few parts."He snatches up the duct tape and begins to wrap it around the man."Are we understood?"This wasn't a professional deal. However, Simon did find himself smiling just a little as he looked back at Gwen.
"You wanna handle the questioning?"He asks her with a little smile. Interrogation was kinda the realm of the Half Moon even if she was just a cub.
[Gwen Sullivan] "Much obliged," Gwen grunts to Simon's mention of dedicating clothes. His eyes linger on her attire, the shirt was just long enough to fall past the cut of her hips, but it didn't do much to hide her tightly-clothed rear end. She was young, still growing into her curves, but what was there was made noticeable by what she'd scrounged to make due. Looking like she was dressed for bed and the intimacy of your own home was better than being completely nude, if you asked Gwen.
As Simon was giving the low-down to the man and taping him into the chair, Gwen was leaning down and dipping her fingers into the side of her large boots, dragging out a pair of pliers. Maybe there was something to be learned from Simon. He'd probably be downright proud to see her swinging the tool in her fingers. In a garage or a toolbox they were easily overlooked, but in a situation like this they become potentially the scariest thing in the room.
He asked if she wanted to handle the questioning, and she raised her eyebrows at him, then grinned a little. Maybe she was enjoying this prospect a little too much? The moon above was halved, after all, perfectly so. It was understandable that she'd be riding the rush of Rage. "What do you want to know?"
[Simon] Gwen was a Half-Moon or rather soon to be, so taking too much notice would only lead to heartache for the young Full Moon. No... Bad enough to eye forbidden fruit but Gwen was a bit beyond forbidden! Surprising as it might seem, though, Simon was fully capable of maintaining a level head despite what others might think of him.
He takes a step or two back to slip into the background allowing Gwen to dominate their victim's view."Where is this shit coming from in the first place. His friend up there wasn't a normal man and he knows it... They're gettin' this shit from somewhere..."He grins just a little."I mean I am sure they're some pretty scary fuckers... But there's worse things out there in the night and so don't be afraid to help him realize this."
The sight of Gwen with Pliers fills Simon with this overwhelming sense of glee. He was giddy, and his eyes full of little hearts. The girl wasn't just scary she was downright fuckin' terrifying! So much promise."We need names and addresses once we've got those he can get the fuck outta town no strings attached. Until then..."He shrugs his shoulders."Do what you gotta do to get him to talk."
[Gwen Sullivan] "Mmm."
It was steadily becoming Gwen's trademark answer. That tuneless little single-note hum that told people she heard and understood what was said, and that was all. She twirled the pliers lazily in her fingers, either unaware of how Simon's eyes were glued to her, skimming down, then up, then landing on the simple garage tools turned torture device. Unaware or pointedly ignoring for now.
Rather she turned those cool, light swamp-colored eyes onto the man duct taped into the chair. She wasn't a trained interrogator, nor was she a seductress. She looked at the man, his pale face drained of blood and flooded instead with terror, and made a thoughtful, slightly resigned sucking noise with her tongue against the roof of her mouth.
"So," she says finally. "We answer the man's questions. You tell us who you've been answering to. I know it's not some run-of-the-mill mafia man because of the guy we just eviscerated upstairs. I know it wasn't him because he was a slobbering sack of meat. Now if we want to be polite, I can go get a notepad and you can make me a new address book with names and contact information for the people we want. I'll unbind your hands, we'll be civil.
"...Or I can break your fingers joint-by-joint, one by one, and progress with every joint up your arms from there."
[Manipulation + Intimidation]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 5, 5, 6, 7 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Simon] The man's terror was already present on his face. He knew that if he said anything and got caught he would be killed. The problem was... He was actively in the hands of his former allies enemies and that meant if he said nothing he would suffer the same fate.
Gwen's attempt to frighten the man might not have worked quite as well as it could due to her outfit and age... But it was enough to get his attention. And the fact she had a man who just took a bullet like it was nothing with her terrified him almost as much as the fact they had killed his friend. He was bound and he was helpless and Gwen wasn't even asking for anything direct.
"I... Get a pen and paper. I will give you some addresses. Then I can leave right? These guys will kill me if they find out what I did. I can leave after right?"He asks in a terrified tone.
Honestly he didn't require much work, which was why Simon picked him. He had been discussing that with Gwen from the beginning. Find yourself a weak link and exploit it... Cause a Black Spiral Dancer or Fomori might be a pain in the ass to interrogate but they've got minnions all over the city who are more than happy to sing! These folks haven't even been confirmed to have any connection to the Hive though there is obvious wyrmtaint in regards to the musclebound corpse in the backyard.
[Gwen Sullivan] The smile that she gave the man in the chair was fuller than any other that Simon had seen on her face yet. It was for show, pointed, put on for the songbird duct taped into the chair. She leaned forward once more, tucked the pliers back into her boot, and without another word turned and walked out of the room, leaving Simon with him for a minute. They can hear her heavy boots take her up the stairs, into the kitchen. They hear drawers open and close, and then she's coming back down to them.
This time she's brought a kitchen knife down with her, something sharp and serrated, functional rather than big and intimidating. She's also got a pad of yellow legal ledger and a pen in her other hand.
The knife is pointed at the man's chest, then tipped from left to right. "You left handed or right handed?"
[Simon] Simon let his eyes follow her a moment or two as she slipped out of the room before smiling just a little and looking back at the man."She's way the hell nicer than I am... I woulda just started ripping out teeth till you talked."He says with a grin."Consider yourself lucky."He says with a grin and a nod of his head.
When Gwen returns the man looks up at her, bad breath, likely unwashed from the last couple days. He was obviously not doing too well after the initial attack by the full moon. In hiding, on the run, afraid someone was coming to get him and now? Well sadly the Coward's death is always a slow and painful one. One that always involved peeking over his shoulder and hiding out ever paranoid that one day your past will finally catch up with you. Though on the bright side... The coward does get to live another day! Afraid or not you only get so many hours in your life before it's gone and some would much rather try to enjoy them all.
"Right."He says sharply, worried about the knife but Gwen seemed agreeable enough not to want to cross. Especially with the other one looming over their shoulder. Simon didn't even appear to be bleeding anymore!
[Gwen Sullivan] The man has the right idea about being compliant with Gwen. She really was his best chance of coming out intact. She hadn't been at the game as long as Simon, she wasn't as jaded or aggressive really. She was more fair, more balanced. Maybe it had something to do with the moons. Maybe it's because her bloodthirst wasn't as prominent as his.
Regardless, he says he's right handed and that's the one hand that she cuts loose with the knife before setting the paper and the pen down in his lap.
She doesn't step back, but rather stays right in front of the man, looking down at him, watching close and careful as though she's anticipating that he's going to rebel, to stab her in the thigh with that pen and try and escape. He wouldn't get far, she has a feeling that he knows that, but it's good to be safe and enforce anyways.
One finger, with only traces of chipped red polish on the nail remaining, taps at the top of the pad of paper, and she addresses in a firm rasp of a voice. "I want at least five. And I want them legitimate. Don't doubt that we could find you even if you fled to Wyoming and took shelter in a cabin on a ranch. Further, don't doubt that we would."
[Simon] Simon was proud. You see the Girl was a Half Moon and sometimes there was a lot of questioning involved in that. But she seemed aware enough that she wasn't making that distinction between Human and Garou law. Many failed to realize the difference. They, were fighting a war, and in war things must be done differently. It was a cold and unforgiving place and Gwen seemed to fit into that world nicely. She would make a good Half Moon one day. That was always a good thing to see.
Their victim is eager to begin writing and to put this whole nightmare behind him.
Simon gives a smile to Gwen."I'm gonna go up and grab some of the cash I saw. You get those numbers and let his ass go... We should dump the drugs down the drain. I don't want that shit getting out."Simon wasn't concerned about drugs, those were rarely a concern, he was more concerned about what could be in the drugs seeing as how the Wyrm tainted tended to fuck with such Chemicals.
The other man looked a little surprised but this was no longer his concern. He continued writing. His only concern left was getting the fuck out of here.
Soon enough they would get the addresses they needed, and the sound of Simon fucking around upstairs was soon enough followed by crashing and breaking of equipment. Once he had the money packaged up... And some firearms he took the time to scatter some gas about the house.
Their victim was left with a mark by the girl but inevitably he was set loose. He scampered out into the street and away from the building as quickly as his feet could carry him. Even wounded he did not care, he needed to get to his mother's house and hopefully he could get enough money to get the hell out of town quickly.
Simon remained behind to make certain things were properly soaked and ready to burn. The building had been the scene of a crime, and was likely involved with drugs. The police would have all manner of suspects but much of the crucial evidence would be destroyed. This kinda shit happened all the time and with all honesty another house burning down in Chicago wasn't even likely to make it to the evening news.
It would be labled as Arson, filed away as gang related... Likely forgotten. No Bodies would be uncovered, nothing to make this particular scene stand out more than anything else. For the most part whatever happened here would remain with the three living souls who were found here this night and no one else would likely give a damn. Save the Insurance Company! But that was hardly the Garou's problem.
Before long the remains of a body were hefted and placed within the back of Simon's car, covered and ready for disposal. And when the cleanup was finally finished Simon handed a bag full of Cash to Gwen and headed for his car."We'll follow up on those in the next few days... Maybe grab a few more."He says with a grin.
"Still you did good so far. I mean no one died right?"he laughs a little as they slip away into the night.
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