Anarch meet-and-greet, Appendix A (Jack/Menachem)

[Detritus]

As she turned onto Bourbon Street, Uma exerted the necessary mental effort to mute her appearance. In this part of town, she normally gave herself a personality boost, but tonight was a night for lying low. She knew better than to bother checking the bars she passed for her quarry, and did her best to quash any misgivings about the source of her confidence. Not that she did it very often, but Anneke had a disconcertingly sure way about herself when it came to this sort of thing. Uma suppressed the urge to claw someone's eyes out.

Sure enough, Uma found Jocelin's new friends, the two normal-looking ones, on the hunt, just where Anneke said to look for them. No need to disturb that, and little worry that they would give her the slip for long. Besides, you could learn a little bit about a Lick by the way he hunted.

It was clear that Jack considered himself a smooth operator, and for all she knew, he was. Uma didn't consider him that much to look at, but the style did seem to suit him. Menachem was a lot more subdued in his manner. Maybe a little out of his element? She wondered whether he had a herd back home.

After they were finished, Uma approached them, and now she did give herself a little extra charm.

"Mind if I join you?" she asked them. Taking a seat without waiting for an answer, she said, "I'm pretty sure we've met somewhere before, but I can't place where."

[SD Anderson]

As she turned onto Bourbon Street, Uma exerted the necessary mental effort to mute her appearance. In this part of town, she normally gave herself a personality boost, but tonight was a night for lying low. She knew better than to bother checking the bars she passed for her quarry, and did her best to quash any misgivings about the source of her confidence. Not that she did it very often, but Anneke had a disconcertingly sure way about herself when it came to this sort of thing. Uma suppressed the urge to claw someone's eyes out.

Sure enough, Uma found Jocelin's new friends, the two normal-looking ones, on the hunt, just where Anneke said to look for them. No need to disturb that, and little worry that they would give her the slip for long. Besides, you could learn a little bit about a Lick by the way he hunted.

It was clear that the PI considered himself a smooth operator, and for all she knew, he was. Uma didn't consider him that much to look at, but the style did seem to suit him. The Jew was a lot more subdued in his manner. Maybe a little out of his element? She wondered whether he had a herd back home.

After they were finished, Uma approached them, and now she did give herself a little extra charm.

"Mind if I join you?" she asked them. Taking a seat without waiting for an answer, she said, "I'm pretty sure we've met somewhere before, but I can't place where."

Silly question, but DO we recall any previous meetings with her?

[Detritus]

Silly question, but DO we recall any previous meetings with her?
She was one of the Anarchs that met with you on the Prince's boat at the start of the main Anarch meet-and-greet thread.

Also, one other OOC note, both Jack and Menachem are now at full pool. The portion of the narrative that deals with the relative smoothness of the hunts reflects how much each PC made their hunting schtick rolls by.

[SD Anderson]

"Oh, hell yes, we've known each other for all of <checks watch> an eighth of a day." Jack says. "What can I do you for... Uma, right?"

[Detritus]

"Oh, hell yes, we've known each other for all of <checks watch> an eighth of a day." Jack says. "What can I do you for... Uma, right?"
"That's right," says Uma. "Come to think of it, I believe we have a mutual acquaintance."

She pauses for a moment before continuing, "I didn't see the game where Joss got benched, but do you really think it's a wise move by the manager to take the bat out of her hands? She's really quite the slugger, and if I understand correctly, your team has a pretty important game coming up on the schedule."

[SD Anderson]

"To be useful with a bat, you have to be up and at the plate. Start using it where you shouldn't, say by running up into the stands and whacking the paying spectators, and you have serious consequences."

"Frankly, she got off lucky."

"Phone." He says pulling out the cell. "If you'll pardon me a second, I'll see what they want." (ooc: he's lying about getting a call.)

"Hello? You're breaking up. Let me move across the street. I call you back."

Jack dials Leo. "I just got a visit from one of the anarchs." He says quiet enough that Uma will need some sort of parabolic hearing or an electronic equivalent. "How... Happenstantial."

<tag Leo>

[Detritus]

Uma waits patiently, and fends off a would-be suitor with disdainful ease once the fellow noticed that nothing much was going on between Menachem and her. She is smiling when Jack returns.

"What you say may be true, but I have to tell you, she never had any problems like that when we were teammates.

"Are you sure it's not poor management?" she asks. "A good coach knows that to get the most out of his players, he has to put them in situations where they have the best chance to succeed.

"The flip side to that is recognizing when his players might be out of their comfort zone, and to make adjustments accordingly. Were either of those conditions met during Joss's... off night?"

[Parzival]

She was headstrong and allowed herself be baited into a poor position.
This coach took a great burden upon himself in shielding her from the consequences. She owes him, and the Tremere you were baiting, a great deal. Were I you, I would tread carefully to avoid placing your friend in another poor position.

<considers a moment>
It did not seem appropriate to ask this earlier, for rather obvious reasons.
What do you know of other, non-Carmilla organizations operating in the area? So far, I've caught several hints, but little concrete.

[Detritus]

She was headstrong and allowed herself be baited into a poor position.
This coach took a great burden upon himself in shielding her from the consequences. She owes him, and the Tremere you were baiting, a great deal. Were I you, I would tread carefully to avoid placing your friend in another poor position.
Uma raises her hands to about shoulder height and tilts her head slightly in a backing off sort of gesture.

"As I said, I didn't see the game in question. I merely offer a different perspective from which one might interpret the outcome.

"This I will say," she says as she resumes a more relaxed position, "and if you've spent any time at all with Joss, you know it's true -- she is a pretty flighty girl, and it seems she's already decided to change teams once. If she thinks her position has become too untenable, she may decide she likes her old team better after all."

<considers a moment>
It did not seem appropriate to ask this earlier, for rather obvious reasons.
What do you know of other, non-Carmilla organizations operating in the area? So far, I've caught several hints, but little concrete.
"If you're asking about out-of-towners operating locally, I'm afraid I can't tell you anything more than you've already heard.

"If you're asking about locals..." says Uma before trailing off. "Well, to pick up the earlier metaphor, there are... scouting reports that Sammy may have signed a number of players to her team that no one knew about until recently. Maybe they are recently signed, maybe they... spent a long time in the minor leagues before being called up. Home-grown talent, in any case."

[Detritus]

Jack dials Leo. "I just got a visit from one of the anarchs." He says quiet enough that Uma will need some sort of parabolic hearing or an electronic equivalent. "How... Happenstantial."

<tag Leo>
OOC - We'll say this call happened just before Jocelin called Leo. There would not have been much time to do more much than acknowledge the message, given that Leo was expecting Jocelin's call.

[Parzival]

Really? What scouting reports can you give me about these bright young prospects?

[Detritus]

Really? What scouting reports can you give me about these bright young prospects?
"You will understand that I have been on an extended road trip myself, and therefore do not have firsthand experience with home-grown talent in question," replies Uma.

"Perhaps the best way to put it is that Sammy may now have a very deep but inexperienced bench," she says. "She's still the key to the situation; neutralize the coach, and my guess is that the players will not present such a big problem."

Thinking a bit longer, Uma adds, "I think that if you find yourself in a situation where sheer numbers matter, you may find yourselves in serious trouble. If you can maneuver the situation such that you encounter fragments of Sammy's bench without her coaching, things may go better for you."

[SD Anderson]

After making the call, Jack spends a few moments with his back turned to Uma hangs up and puts the phone away, then walks back. "Sorry about that."

[Detritus]

After making the call, Jack spends a few moments with his back turned to Uma hangs up and puts the phone away, then walks back. "Sorry about that."
"No problem," says Uma, before going into her spiel about there possibly being extra Malkavians lurking about.

((OOC -- As it's written, the last two exchanges between Menachem and Uma happened after Jack completed his call and returned to the table))

==============

"Are there any other questions I can answer for you?" asks Uma.

[SD Anderson]

"You will understand that I have been on an extended road trip myself, and therefore do not have firsthand experience with home-grown talent in question," replies Uma.

"Perhaps the best way to put it is that Sammy may now have a very deep but inexperienced bench," she says. "She's still the key to the situation; neutralize the coach, and my guess is that the players will not present such a big problem."

Thinking a bit longer, Uma adds, "I think that if you find yourself in a situation where sheer numbers matter, you may find yourselves in serious trouble. If you can maneuver the situation such that you encounter fragments of Sammy's bench without her coaching, things may go better for you."

"Any chance Sammy might have had exhibition games in France?"

[Detritus]

"Any chance Sammy might have had exhibition games in France?"
"Well, there's a chance in the sense that I wasn't paying any attention to what she was doing while I was out of town, but I'm afraid I don't have any info specifically on such exhibition games, if they really happened. Sorry."

[Detritus]

Right on the heels of the word "Sorry," you hear Uma's cell phone start to buzz. She frowns at a text message she has received for a few moments before speaking again.

"I feel as though perhaps my information has not been 100% satisfactory. Is there anything else," she says while cracking her knuckles, "that I or my friends might be able to help you with?"

[SD Anderson]

"I don't think any of this business is going to be very satisfactory to anyone. Too much of an ugly thing tends to produce results like that and somebody on the other side has a warehouse full of ugly."

"Appreciate the help though. One bit of advice. Keep your eyes open and your head low. Next couple of nights are probably going to be brutal."

[Detritus]

"I don't think any of this business is going to be very satisfactory to anyone. Too much of an ugly thing tends to produce results like that and somebody on the other side has a warehouse full of ugly."

"Appreciate the help though. One bit of advice. Keep your eyes open and your head low. Next couple of nights are probably going to be brutal."
Uma chuckles at this last bit before replying with a wry, "Thanks for the tip."

She starts to gather herself as if to take her leave of you, but before going that far she asks one final question -- "You're sure you have everything in hand?"

[SD Anderson]

Uma chuckles at this last bit before replying with a wry, "Thanks for the tip."

She starts to gather herself as if to take her leave of you, but before going that far she asks one final question -- "You're sure you have everything in hand?"

"The most accurate answer to that is 'possibly'."

"And in the 'answer a question with a question' category, there a 24 hour Walmart around here?"

[Detritus]

Uma gives directions to a Wal-Mart that is pretty close to the French Quarter; I will post a map once Photobucket lets me log in to my account again. After that she wishes you happy hunting and then goes on her way.

EDIT -- Here's where the Wal-Mart is, on Elysian Fields Ave.:

http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t126/tkrenbarger/new_orleans_walmart.jpg

This meeting with Uma is happening somewhere on Bourbon Street, and House of Blues is on Decatur Street, down in that southern corner of the French Quarter.

[SD Anderson]

Jack thanks her and makes a quick stop, buying a dozen insect fogger spray cans. "If her backfield is as inexperienced as Uma thinks, they probably don't handle fire too well. A little saturation and a bit of ignition might do wonders."

[Detritus]

Jack thanks her and makes a quick stop, buying a dozen insect fogger spray cans. "If her backfield is as inexperienced as Uma thinks, they probably don't handle fire too well. A little saturation and a bit of ignition might do wonders."
It's about 15 blocks from where you are to the Wal-Mart. It'll basically take up the remainder of the one hour on the town you were allotting yourself to go there and meet up at the rendezvous point (which I am assuming is the parking garage where Leo is right now).

I'm also assuming Menachem goes with Jack. (?)

[Parzival]

Sure. Why not?

Shop smart, shop S-Mart.

[SD Anderson]

It's about 15 blocks from where you are to the Wal-Mart. It'll basically take up the remainder of the one hour on the town you were allotting yourself to go there and meet up at the rendezvous point (which I am assuming is the parking garage where Leo is right now).

I'm also assuming Menachem goes with Jack. (?)

Quick question: Has Jack gotten the submachinegun yet?

[Detritus]

Quick question: Has Jack gotten the submachinegun yet?
Which SMG is that? When did he ask for it?

EDIT -- This next encounter should not turn violent unless the PCs do something... precipitate, however. Honest. :th_angelsmiley4:

[SD Anderson]

either I've ported to another timeline or...

anyway I could have sworn we were given an opportunity to prepare for the second attempt to meet Samantha and I asked for a smg, and that you had a more or less positive reply to it.

However after plowing through 3 months of your posts and 3 months of mine I can't find it and unless it was a lot longer ago than that, it's not there.

[Detritus]

either I've ported to another timeline or...

anyway I could have sworn we were given an opportunity to prepare for the second attempt to meet Samantha and I asked for a smg, and that you had a more or less positive reply to it.

However after plowing through 3 months of your posts and 3 months of mine I can't find it and unless it was a lot longer ago than that, it's not there.
I seem to remember the same thing, but I'm at work, so I haven't had a chance to do an in-depth search.

However, for the purposes of this upcoming little meeting, I don't think it matters either way whether Jack has an SMG on him or not. I'm curious, though, did he take it with him onto Bourbon Street? If so, how was he hiding it?

[SD Anderson]

Assuming he has it, it's currently in the car. One thing he probably should do is buy a larger sized trenchcoat to hide the damned thing on his person when they meet with Samantha. Or Samantha/Heather as he suspects.

[Detritus]

Assuming he has it, it's currently in the car. One thing he probably should do is buy a larger sized trenchcoat to hide the damned thing on his person when they meet with Samantha. Or Samantha/Heather as he suspects.
SMG in the car is fine.

A bit of research reveals that IRL Wal-Mart does not sell men's full-length trenchcoats, but in this crazy world that we call Gothic-Punk, I'll rule that Jack has his choice of classic beige or Gothic-Punk black trenchcoats.

[Detritus]

OK, back to in-character mode...

Jack finds his insect fogger and trenchcoat, and when he and Menachem head to the checkout row, you both see Uma waiting beyond the registers with another woman a couple inches taller than her that neither of you has seen before.

Uma gives a "come here" flick of her head once the goods are paid for.

((Assuming that you do indeed approach them...))

She introduces the stranger as Bianca.

"She's got a proposal for you," says Uma. "Best to lay it out some place where the wrong people can't overhear. One of her friends is in the parking lot. Shall we?"

[SD Anderson]

(ooc: minor detail I overlooked. He also buys one of those extended reach barbecue lighter things. Assuming he can beat the will check, he can provide that ignition source the whole operation centers around.)

IC:
"Sounds reasonable. Lead on." Jack quite reasonably goes for maximum DR on his Fortitude. (ooc: this is becaue vampire Private Detectives are nearly as paranoid as players of vampire private detectives... :cool: )

[Detritus]

(ooc: minor detail I overlooked. He also buys one of those extended reach barbecue lighter things. Assuming he can beat the will check, he can provide that ignition source the whole operation centers around.)
Yeah, no problem with adding on a long lighter.

IC:
"Sounds reasonable. Lead on." Jack quite reasonably goes for maximum DR on his Fortitude. (ooc: this is becaue vampire Private Detectives are nearly as paranoid as players of vampire private detectives... :cool: )
OK, so I take it this is the DR 10 for 1 hour option, which will cost either 5 Blood Pool, 10 Fatigue, or any combination thereof using the 1 Blood Pool = 2 Fatigue exchange rate.

[SD Anderson]

Yeah, no problem with adding on a long lighter.


OK, so I take it this is the DR 10 for 1 hour option, which will cost either 5 Blood Pool, 10 Fatigue, or any combination thereof using the 1 Blood Pool = 2 Fatigue exchange rate.

Yep six fatigue 2 blood.

[Detritus]

Bianca leads everyone towards a motorcycle with someone seated on it somewhere in the middle of the largely deserted parking lot. It's obvious even from a distance at night that the rider is large. As you draw closer to the bike (which is not running, incidentally) it's obvious that it's been stripped down to the bare essentials. Bianca introduces the bike's owner as Crusher, and when he stands he towers over everyone else by at least a head.

"I guess this is really an offer that should be made to your friend Leo, but you'll do for now," says Bianca. "He asked once already, actually, but he didn't have anything I wanted last night. Sounds like he does now, though."

Flicking her head sideways, she says, "Crusher here is pretty handy in a tight spot, when things look like they're getting rough. He's brought a couple of friends with him, too. Not giants, but they can take care of themselves very well. Take care of most of them that cross their paths, too.

"Based on last night's request, I gather you might be in need of a little muscle when you go to visit Sammy. Crusher and his friends, and me and mine who have just returned, could see our way to helping you out. All I need is for Jocelin's sentence to be reduced enough to get her sword back in her hands. Is this something we can swing?"

[SD Anderson]

Bianca leads everyone towards a motorcycle with someone seated on it somewhere in the middle of the largely deserted parking lot. It's obvious even from a distance at night that the rider is large. As you draw closer to the bike (which is not running, incidentally) it's obvious that it's been stripped down to the bare essentials. Bianca introduces the bike's owner as Crusher, and when he stands he towers over everyone else by at least a head.

"I guess this is really an offer that should be made to your friend Leo, but you'll do for now," says Bianca. "He asked once already, actually, but he didn't have anything I wanted last night. Sounds like he does now, though."

Flicking her head sideways, she says, "Crusher here is pretty handy in a tight spot, when things look like they're getting rough. He's brought a couple of friends with him, too. Not giants, but they can take care of themselves very well. Take care of most of them that cross their paths, too.

"Based on last night's request, I gather you might be in need of a little muscle when you go to visit Sammy. Crusher and his friends, and me and mine who have just returned, could see our way to helping you out. All I need is for Jocelin's sentence to be reduced enough to get her sword back in her hands. Is this something we can swing?"

"I can put in a word for her." Jack says. "But I can't judge how much - or how little - influence that word will have. You'll have to understand that Jocelin committed suicide by execution when she confronted this "Heather". Blew the Masquerade big time."

"Any other time, any other place, she'd be destroyed already. Her 'Sentence' is all the backtwisting and pretzeling Leo and Prince Johnson could come up with some way to keep her still among the existing because we will need her if I'm right about Drake. Right now, this is as far as they can go to cut her some slack."

"My guess is, if we succeed in our mission enough folks in REALLY HIGH places will be happy and Jocelin's indiscretion will be forgotten. I suspect she might get an invite to go out and see the world for a few years from the Prince, but she's a big girl and I don't think it'll be too inconvenient for her."

"Of course the downside is if we don't accomplish the mission, I suspect the Elders will come into town to make Katrina look like a love tap. I see it as they'll divide the Kindred here into two categories. Those who failed to prevent something bad from happening and those who can't prove they're innocnet of being part of the plot. IF any Kindred are allowed to live they'll definitely be under new management."

"If you still want in instead of deciding now would be a wonderful time to go look at the St. Louis Arch, you're welcome to do so."

[Detritus]

Bianca frowns as she considers her reply, and a trace of irritation remains on her faces when she speaks.

"No one is asking for Jocelin to be completely forgiven for her indiscretions here, and believe me, I do understand how serious they are. She fucked up big time, and I don't think anyone would argue with that. But if you need her as much as you claim to, it strikes me as foolish to leave her unequipped to handle the problems that she's best at handling."

Bianca opens her mouth again, seemingly ready to launch into a tirade, when Crusher places a massive hand on her shoulder. "No need to get too worked up about this, sweet cheeks," he says in a deep yet surprisingly soft-spoken voice.

"I believe what Bianca was about to say is that as for the remainder of your speech, it is not that different from the usual circumstances for the Anarchs. If we're being asked for concrete help now in exchange for unspecified future considerations, that's not going to cut it. The Anarchs may well become scapegoats if the situation gets out of hand, but that's nothing new, either. I'm pretty sure we'd only be second in that line this time around, and I have a good guess as to who would be first. I suggest being persuasive when you put in your word for the girl."

[SD Anderson]

Bianca frowns as she considers her reply, and a trace of irritation remains on her faces when she speaks.

"No one is asking for Jocelin to be completely forgiven for her indiscretions here, and believe me, I do understand how serious they are. She fucked up big time, and I don't think anyone would argue with that. But if you need her as much as you claim to, it strikes me as foolish to leave her unequipped to handle the problems that she's best at handling."

Bianca opens her mouth again, seemingly ready to launch into a tirade, when Crusher places a massive hand on her shoulder. "No need to get too worked up about this, sweet cheeks," he says in a deep yet surprisingly soft-spoken voice.

"I believe what Bianca was about to say is that as for the remainder of your speech, it is not that different from the usual circumstances for the Anarchs. If we're being asked for concrete help now in exchange for unspecified future considerations, that's not going to cut it. The Anarchs may well become scapegoats if the situation gets out of hand, but that's nothing new, either. I'm pretty sure we'd only be second in that line this time around, and I have a good guess as to who would be first. I suggest being persuasive when you put in your word for the girl."

Jack shakes his head. "Not scapegoats. Not this time. This will be a full purging. They won't go after anyone they can't trust, they will go after EVERY single person who can't prove to their loyalty to the Elders' satisfaction. 'Thou shalt save nothing alive that breatheth.' as the Good Book says."

"Tell me. What do you think is going on?"

[Detritus]

"THEY DON'T CARE!" screams Uma before anyone else can respond.

"Uma!" is all Bianca gets out before Uma rounds on her.

"Bianca, no! This is a fucking waste of time! We're only asking them to fucking do what they should already fucking be doing in exchange for our fucking help! We could fucking triple their numbers but the fucking rules are more important! If these fucking fuckwits want to put their cocksucking boss in harm's way so they can fucking say they went by the fucking book, I say we fucking let them and go on our merry fucking way!"

Now in the full throes of frenzy, Uma turns towards Jack and takes a step or two in his direction, although she does remain out of arm's reach as her meltdown continues.

"Do you fucking think we haven't been fucking threatened with destruction or exile like a zillion fucking times with the top of the fucking food chain the way it fucking is here?!" she yells as her companions watch her with a mixture of wariness and long suffering patience.

"Oh noes, the cocksucking elders don't fucking trust us, whatever the fuck shall we do?!" she says in a prissy falsetto.

"Let me give you a fucking clue, we're the elders' fucking muscle whenever there's any heavy fucking lifting to do! They spend so much fucking time in Elysium that they'd fucking shit themselves in fucking terror if they had to fucking dispose of their fucking goons themselves! Excuse the fuck out of me if I'm not the fucking least bit impressed with the fucking choice of fucking throwing ourselves into a fucking meat grinder on pain of fucking destruction if we fucking refuse!"

"Enough, Uma," says Crusher as he lays a placating hand on Uma's right forearm.

"Lay off, freak show!" says Uma as she wheels and puts all the force she can muster into a left-handed shot to the family jewels. As soon as she connects, she lets out a wordless shriek of agony and falls to her knees.

"Steel codpiece," says Crusher with a knowing nod. Positioning himself behind Uma, Crusher grabs her uninjured hand and then begins to grope Uma in a rather rude fashion until he produces her wallet and jams it in her mouth.

"That wasn't very nice," he says, "and I'd hate to ruin such a pretty face, but I can't let you get any more ideas about unleashing mayhem." As soon as he finishes speaking you hear the faint but distinctive sounds of bones snapping as Crusher tightens his grip on Uma's hand. A muffled howl of pain is trapped in Uma's throat by her makeshift gag.

"Crusher?" says Bianca in a very uncertain voice.

"No worries, Bianca, I think everything is under control," says Crusher. "I guess I could do her feet if she needs any more convincing to remain calm."

"Uh, why don't you wait on that until we finish up here, it might not be necessary," says Bianca.

After taking a moment to compose herself, she says, "I might not have put things quite the way that Uma Swearingen here did, but it's going to be pretty tough to convince anyone to lay themselves on the line if all that there's going to be are thinly veiled threats to do the persuading. I'll see what I can do," she says, although it's obvious she's dubious about her chances of success.

"As to the original question, I never have figured out the exact flavor of mental demon that haunts Sammy. I don't know that it's in her makeup to go working her way up her lineage, though. Are you sure it isn't some sort of power play where Sammy and the Justicar are involved in some intrigue to remove Mr. Johnson from power?"

[SD Anderson]

"You finished?" Jack says. Not asks. "Good."

"There is a difference between a threat and a warning. You haul ass out of this city before it goes down, no matter how bad, you're probably safe, unless the stupid bitch manages to awake Cain. And for all I know that is her plan."

"I already said I'd see about getting her oversized letter opener back. That's pretty much ALL *I* can do kiddies. I get $350 a day plus expenses when and if I have a client. One of whom is the Prince of Dallas, which is what brought me into this. You want me to lie to you and tell you what you want me to say or tell you where things stand?"

"What do you think I can do beyond what I've already committed myself to do?"

<Reply if they have any suggestions of how I'm supposed to put that sword in Jocelin's hands. Unless they do however, AFAIC this part of the conversation is done.>

"I asked you what you know or think you know about what's going down here because if you're going to stick your necks out for this you got a damned right to know what sort of crazy ass shit is about to go down."

"If you don't want to find out, my advice is you get out of town, hijack a school bus full of teenaged blood dolls and hide out in an abandoned salt mine somewhere for a decade or so."

[Parzival]

Jack, stop.
It's very rude to insult or threaten those who have offered you their aid.
I believe that you owe these people an apology. Your outburst has been every bit as emotional as Uma's just was, and a good deal less justified.

Or perhaps there is a reason you're attempting to make this city even *less* safe for members of the hierarchy to visit?
The gossip about you probably isn't true, but I'd hate to have to lend credence to such ugly rumors.

[SD Anderson]

Jack, stop.
It's very rude to insult or threaten those who have offered you their aid.
I believe that you owe these people an apology. Your outburst has been every bit as emotional as Uma's just was, and a good deal less justified.

Or perhaps there is a reason you're attempting to make this city even *less* safe for members of the hierarchy to visit?
The gossip about you probably isn't true, but I'd hate to have to lend credence to such ugly rumors.

"Fine. I apologize." Jack formally bows. "This is Menachem, who will handle your negotaions"

Jack bows again and takes a short walk.

[Parzival]

I'm afraid our position here in New Orleans has remained a bit nebulous. Since you have offered to put yourself at risk on our behalf, I feel an obligation to show you a fuller picture. That way you can at least make an informed decision.

The official story is that we're down here to investigate claims, and smooth the way for the Justicar to visit and adjucate these claims. This even has the benefit of being true, up to a point.
That said, the main reason we were individually selected, is because we're expendible. There is an obvious trap here, and we are the stalking horse sent forward to "detect" the danger. <nods in the direction of the departed Jack> I believe some of our party have only recently realized our situation, and are having some difficulty coming to grips with it.
You are justified in saying that anarchs are often unfairly used by the Carmilla, but know that we use ourselves with at least an equal amount of enthusiasm.
With that in mind, we must tread carefully and be mindful of our constraints. Not even Leo is authorized to start a war.
However, the price that you ask may well be within reach. Leo assumed responcibility for Jocelin and any actions she undertakes. As such, he can return her katana if he feels that the benefits outweigh the risks. But he will be assuming a great amount of personal risk by so doing.

That is the lay of the land from which we must begin negotiations.
If you are still interested, I can contact Leo. I cannot presume to speak on his behalf, for both the fate of the mission and the fate of Jocelin rest upon his shoulders.

[Detritus]

A brief period of silence follows as the import of Menachem's words sinks in. Bianca eyes him with a weighing look, and Crusher purses his lips and gives a few quick nods, clearly impressed. Uma has subsided to merely sullen, and even in that mood you can see the wheels turning behind her eyes. You think you hear something like, "Why didn't he just say that up front," pass her lips.

"You do rightly to remind us that the elders make more than just the Anarchs dance to their tune, Menachem," says Crusher.

Turning to Bianca, he says, "I think this is the best we're going to get."

Bianca shifts her gaze between Crusher and Menachem a few times, at last saying, "It's a start. Hell, more than a start. I appreciate your candor, Menachem, it is very refreshing. Call up your associate, if you please," she says.

[Parzival]

<dials the phone>

[Detritus]

Per PM by Huxley:

I also planned on keeping Jocelin's katana in an easily accessible place, should [things] come to blows, and letting her know that it would be easily accessible.
Menachem may translate this as he sees fit to the Brujah petitioners.

[Parzival]

He promises to make it readily-accessable to her, but intends to keep control of it until such a time as her skills become more of an asset than liability.

[Detritus]

He promises to make it readily-accessable to her, but intends to keep control of it until such a time as her skills become more of an asset than liability.
Bianca and Crusher move off to confer for a moment, while a still-sullen Uma somewhat passively watches the proceedings.

((I.e., the GM punts for the moment until after work tonight. ;) Stay tuned...))

[Detritus]

Crusher returns to Menachem as Bianca goes to Uma.

"It could be kind of a tough sell to the natives," he says. "It'll be up to Bianca to convince them, and to tell you the truth, I think she has issues with the sect's leadership. I brought a couple of traveling buddies with me, I think they'll be easier to convince, seeing as how they aren't as close to the situation. What do you want us to do?"

[Detritus]

OK, I'm just going to rule that the Brujah take their leave and head back to wherever they're gathered after getting word from Leo via Menachem. One of you can get Bianca's cell phone number before they leave.

[SD Anderson]

Jack will put the number into the pnone's memory.

"How many bodies do you think Drake or whomever is behind this crap can bring to the dance?"

[Detritus]

Jack will put the number into the pnone's memory.

"How many bodies do you think Drake or whomever is behind this crap can bring to the dance?"
"Several would be my guess," says Bianca, "whether that's 5 or 8 or 10, I don't know. And that's not counting whatever might be brought in from out of town."