Still...the sound of dorm washers and dryers did lull her to sleep many nights before Mateo swept her away.
"I can see the appeal," She murmurs, politely awaiting the rest of the tour.
Willis calls in the name and a few moments later the response comes back, confirming you were indeed expected. "Sorry about that. God forbid anyone bother to tell us what's going on. Enjoy your stay." Willis says, stepping aside to let you and Statia in.
"Well, that was an exciting start to our date." Statia says with a smile, grabbing onto your arm.
"Anytime." Bronwyn says with a saccharine smile
As you walk through the building, one of Joey's tenants steps out of his apartment, a caucasian male of average height and build with salt and pepper receding hair and wire framed glasses. "Good evening, Mr. Hart." he says walking by, nodding to the rest of you.
An immortal homebody, Dr. Baker spends a quiet evening updating his notes and trying to arrange a patient to come in tomorrow evening for a session-- and incidentally, a slight feeding.
He also spends time trying to think of any other kindred whom it would be worth contacting. Individuals who's loyalty to the new prince may not be entirely set in stone. This was a dangerous game, but they needed more support if Maxwell's bid was to be successful.
"Alright, let's take a look at one of the apartments. One of the units that I've had prepared for just such an occasion." He leads the others towards a room on the second floor. The door has a metal sheet attached to it with the number '204' imprinted onto it.
Joey opens the door, gesturing for the others to enter. The inside of the apartment is a wood floor with a wide open area that serves as the living and dining room. Off to the side, counters that make an L-shape in the floor plan section off a kitchen that's intentionally crampt to make room in the center. A very short hallway on the other side features two doors, left ajar, showing a bathroom with a decently sized shower and a carpeted bedroom with a closet that's long enough to comfortably lie down in. The door to said closet has a padded reinforcement around the edges to help prevent light from entering.
"The space is around 700 square feet, with a generous living room. At the cost of the kitchen, of course, but I presume that won't be an issue."
He approaches one of the windows, picking up a roll of thick black cloth on the floor. "I've already gone through the effort to pick up blackout curtains to supplement the ones already in place. In case any of them are lost or damaged, there are spares that can be accessed on request."
That's 3 successes if my Intelligence Spec (analytical) applies. However, Dr. Baker has no dots in Politics so by the rules as written he may not be able to make the role at all. Feel free to ignore that though. :P
"I like it," Ollie agrees "No kitchen, that just means Buttons can't get snooty about cold dog food." Clearly this is meant as a joke, though his German Shepherd somehow manages to look bravely resigned to his fate.
While you can think of plenty of Kindred that would see Kevin Jackson deposed, none come to mind that would welcome the return of a Prince that has been gone as long as Maxwell.
The ventrue takes them to an already-opened garage. It's roomy enough, with enough space for your average truck next to a small tool bench and grooves in the wall from which to hang whatever else may be needed. The floor also features a drain in the center, with a thin oil stain spiraling around it. "Garages are optional for an additional fee, and you'll find my rates are quite competitive. Plenty space to hold a vehicle, or as storage for excess stuff." He nudges the drain with his shoe. "The space can be used for personal projects as well, though I must ask that they be done discreetly. Wouldn't want to bother your neighbors, after all."
He fails to resist the urge to give a wink. "So, that covers the main places you'll have access to. I also have informational papers that cover minor things such as trash pickup times and nearby public transit routes. Any questions? I'd be happy to ask."
"Sometimes I think the Vitae made him smarter as well as stronger, but they're a smart breed... and can't blame your mom, GSDs shed like crazy." He pets his buddy, "Most dogs don't like most vamps, but a bit of animalism helps."
As they follow Joey he notes the trees, and yes, the garage. The extra fee makes him mmm but not like it wouldn't be the same any other place. Space is at a premium in Chicago.
"How many other Licks you got staying here if it can be said?" a beat "Or would we be the first?"
I really need to work on my social skills.I'm never invited to parties anymore. Maybe I should have bring someone to drink? Too late now...
"Hey, you lookin' to join up?" the young man getting out of the car asks as he walks toward you (and presumedly the door).
She pulls her phone out and checks her messages, dreading the possibility of facing Mateo anytime in the next, oh...few months, at least, especially after her massive faux pas from earlier in the night.
Edwin grins as he enters the museum with Statia, "Well, let's hope that's the end of the excitement and the rest is merely enriching.
We have plenty of time here to take our time and explore there should be almost no one here but us and the guards, your pick, what do you wish to see first?"
"Other than myself? You would be the first, should you decide you'd like to stay."
"Friends call me K." the young man responds. "I think the boss has stepped out for the night, so you'll have to come back later if you wanting to join up, but I can show you around I guess."
After a pause, she adds: "I need to eat at some point. I may swing by the Haven and then go to Succubus Club if I have time..."
Dr. Baker finishes writing his reports. After a few minutes of indulging Winthrop, his thoughts turn back to the new kindred he met. They were to be his co-conspirators, but in truth he knew little about them. Perhaps he should have attended that meeting with them, despite his lack of interest in a new haven.
He glances at the clock. Finding it to be early enough, he decides there will be enough time to return to the church. Perhaps he'll look around for a bit. Or perhaps a golden opportunity will present itself... he had yet to meet the thin blood he had heard so much about, and with the rest of the coterie out, this might be an opportunity to introduce himself to the man and ensure he could make a good impression and determine if he would be a valuable candidate for further study and research.
Hailing an uber, he sets off once again.
After an hour or so, the opportunity presents itself in a secluded sub-gallery within the museum to sneak a kiss. Conveniently enough, the young woman's lips are slightly chapped a perfect cover for the taste of blood.
After the kiss, Statia has an odd look on her face. "I'm so sorry." she begins. "I knew my lips were a little dry, but didn't think they were so dry that they were cracked. I hope I didn't gross you out too much."
After buzzing the door a few minutes later the door opens. On one side stands a young, clean-cut man, dressed perhaps a few decades out of style. Behind him is a pretty young woman of African descent, wearing a trench coat. On the other side is an older, balding gentleman with wire-framed glasses.
"Can I help you?" the young man asks.
"Excellent. I'll have the papers drawn up and drop them by the Scientology building in the next night or so along with the keys." Joey says, obviously proud.
Somewhat less enthused that he was not able make a deal with Calliope, he responds to the Toreador. "Perhaps another time."
With business concluded, Joey offers to drive you back to the temple. Not many Uber drivers would be terribly thrilled to have Buttons along for the ride, regardless if he is the goodest boy or not.
Dr. Baker holds out his hand to the man. He is perhaps seventy, or very close to it. "Good evening. My name is Dr. Matthew Baker. I spoke with some associates earlier this evening about a mutual employment opportunity. They set out to tour a building they were looking to rent, which regrettably cut our business short, but I thought I would see if a tour of this one could be arranged for me. It would seem I'll be working in close association with them in the near future. We share a mutual associate."
Seeing the young woman, he gives her a smile, having been raised right. "Madame."
The young and cute woman- who could quite easily pass for a human in her late twenties if one wasn't too perceptive- gives a warm smile, seemingly overjoyed by her own joke.
Ollie takes up the ride back, as he won't be able to move into tonight.
"" A pleasure, Ms Douglas." Matthew returns her smile. He enjoys those who are polite. "I believe they will be back tonight, so if you stick around you may be able to meet them and discuss the matter with them. It was a tempting offer, but I myself still reside in the home I lived in when I was a much younger man, let us say, and I have no real desire to move. Perhaps nostalgia is a weakness of mine, but I find it keeps me centered."
"If you don't mind me saying so, you have a very healthy skin tone for one of our kind." The good doctor always finds such quirks fascinating.
K steps aside, letting Dr. Baker in and waits in the foyer with you while idle introductions are being made.
Joey, seemingly pleased that he got at least one of you to bite, takes Ollie, Buttons, and Calliope back to the coterie's communal haven. Arriving back at "home", the Toreador and the Gangrel - along with his faithful hound - enter the building and are surprised to see K standing there with a returned Dr. Baker and a woman that neither of Ollie or Calliope recognize.
Tell me, what is your true passion? What is it you wish to pursue with life? Besides visiting museums when no one else is around?"
On the ride back, Calliope is surprised to find herself feeling more and more comfortable around Buttons, although she isn't sure if the level of comfort would extend to any dogs outside of him.
Upon arrival, the Toreador waves goodbye to Joey and accompanies Ollie and Buttons back inside, intent on lounging on the Haven couch a bit while she decides on her plans for the night. When inside, Calliope's perfectly groomed eyebrows disappear into her bangs as she takes in the scene: yet another new person to meet and greet? She glances at her phone, considering texting Edwin, but decides to leave him alone to enjoy his evening instead.
"Dr. Baker! Did you leave something? Is everything alright?" The Toreador's tone is genuine--she figures she should make an effort after the many social missteps she's made this night between bad first impressions and interrupting her Sire's date.
"And a new face?" She turns and smiles widely at Savanna, then makes brief, quizzical eye contact with K, wondering if the Thin-Blood had any insight on Savannah. "Do you, ah, have an interest in Scientology?"
Not yet mad enough for that, sorry.
The dark skinned woman chuckles before graciously smiling to the doctor after his kind words about her complexion
Well thank you, Doctor, you are quite the gentleman. I try to alqays get my beauty sleep, but there is always so much to do before the darkness fades away. Do you need a moment together with your friend to discuss discreetly? I can retreat to another part of the house if you need, as long as I can join the chat later.
"Its a rare enough feature to be worth commenting on." He tells Savanna. "It is endlessly fascinating how we react to the embrace. The misguided would view it as random chance or perhaps divine will, but I suspect there is a genetic component to all of this that if truly understood would allow for desirable traits to be inherited while the downsides of our particular experience could be weeded out." K and Savanna are only spared from the good doctor's further ramblings by the return of the others.
"Oh nothing serious, madame." He responds to Calliope. "I had some free time this evening and wanted to see if any of you had returned. Perhaps we can discuss our mutual interest, or you could introduce me to that thin-blooded friend of yours." Dr. Baker poorly conceals his fascination.
"I'm Ollie, this is Buttons" Ollie introduces himself to Savanna but mostly observes.
"Calliope Marchette," The Toreador offers, inclining her head toward the other woman. "Dr. Baker, this is my friend K," She gestures to K with a slight flourish. "K, Dr. Baker. He's along to help us, it seems."
She turns her attention back to Savannah, raising one eyebrow yet again. "You seem to know of us, but I know nothing of you. How can we help you?" The Toreador's demeanor is bordering on pompous, a quirk of hers when her guard is up.
" K?" Dr. Baker's eyes widen, and he turns to the man. "The very one I was looking for. I'm simply delighted to meet you! I don't know if your friends had the opportunity to fill you in, but I'm studying those of your particular blood and I would love if you would answer some questions for me sometime. At your convenience, of course."
Fine, lets talk about me and my reason for coming here. We all share a passion for sucking blood, but that's nearly all we have in common. We all have different knowledges and skills from our lives before the Embrace. I was, and still is, a competent accountant, knowing when and where to invest money. I have been tasked, by one of our Elders, to find a place with specific technologic requirements for a project of his. What I lack is contacts in the town, people who know the town better than I, people that could put me on the right tracks for this task. And probably people with better social skills than mine. It seems to me that I have been alone too far, and you are all working together. So maybe I should join your group, and bring you another pair of eyes to wtach out for troubles, and help you as much as I can.
Everything was said in one shot, as if the words were busting out of Savannah's mouth
"I really don't have any true artistic talent of my own, but I do greatly appreciate art in all of its forms. I guess that's why I ended up an art history major. I guess if I think about it...I'd like to be the curator of one of these museums someday, but that's a tough gig to get."
K takes a step back, a bit leery of the good doctor's enthusiasm. "Y..You were looking for me?"
He continues to enjoy his evening with her until the time to leave makes sense. Once they are soon going to depart he calls Ladislav for a ride. He will have his Ghoul take her home, giving her a passionate kiss before departing, while Edwin hails a cab for himself.
Edwin has the cabbie drive around for a bit as he contemplates what is next, [i]We are not nearly as under the radar as I would like to be... he muses. Finally, directing the cabby to take him back to the communal Haven.
Calliope holds up a hand at the end of Savanna's speech, the torrent of word-vomit crashing over her like a wave. "Let's relocate for a bit of privacy," She says, ushering them all - K included - to the conference room from before.
While they walk, Calliope fires off a brief text to Edwin: Someone new at our doorstep. Don't rush home, enjoy yourself, but if you happen to see this in time, we're in the conference room.
As they settle in, Calliope sits on the edge of the table and considers what Savanna presented in the foyer. "We've had a lot of people dropped into our lap at once these past nights. I'm not complaining, I do enjoy the company of others; however, it is odd. What about our little group attracted you to us?" The Toreador crosses her legs daintily.
Perhaps unconsciously, Dr. Baker takes a step towards K in turn, his eyes alight with excitment.
" Quite so, lad! I confess, originally your existence provided a convenient justification for why I'd be interested in your coterie when I was attempting to ferret out its location and get into contact with you. I am known as a researcher of the kindred condition and all its iterations. But the more I thought of it, the more I realized that you are truly a unique case study-- most thin bloods are mocked and scorned at best, openly hunted down at worst. One being accepted into a coterie is a rare case.
"I do not harbor the prejudices of so many of our kind. Truth be told I find your kind fascinating, and believe that we can learn a lot about ourselves by studying you and how you evolved through interacting with your coterie. How did spending time with them affect your development? Did you gain the abilities of a specific clan of one of your coterie mates you spent much time with? And if so, what does that tell us of how evolution and genetic heritability works for us as a species?" It seems obvious that Dr. Baker is not planning to stop anytime soon in his explanations, and he seems ignorant to the other conversations happening around him.
Ollie had thought Calliope knew Savanna already, but can see why she might feel overwhemed "NEver rains but it pours."
Oh I didn't knew the specifics about your group, about who was in... And I wasn't aware you were SO popular.
She winks at Calliope.
As I said, I was looking for people that could help me in my current task. But I think that being alone might be a dangerous thing. Heard there were vampires roaming the streets at night, can you believe that?
Savannah giggles at her own joke, then continues seriously
The fact is, I'm not aware of the politics in our Dark world, and I need allies. I'm not certain what I can bring to the table, except my knowledge of how money works, as I don't know what you could need from me.I've heard you were looking for a building to rent, maybe I can help you with the deal.
Calliope's eyes flick toward K and Dr. Baker as she, Ollie, Buttons, and Savanna talk, keeping an eye on her Coterie-member in case she needs to intervene.
The Toreador chuckles at Savanna's joke--genuinely.
"Unfortunately, I'm not as plugged into politics either, although that seems to be changing. One of my colleagues may be coming back here tonight, and he is far more plugged into things. As for a building to rent, well...I'm not sure?" She shrugs apologetically. "I'm sure we can figure something out."
"News travels fast" Ollie observes aside, and pets Buttons.