"Hey, Val. What's going on?"
Alex goes for the blunt conversational pivot. "Nope," Alex says. "Let's not talk about me. I'm old news."
He waves a hand at the surroundings. Looking for an obvious way to grab the reins and move the conversation somewhere else.
"Me and Madison are out people-watching. Dante, are you from around here?"
Alex isn't looking at Dante like lunch, hopefully, but he's not not looking at Dante. That would be weird.
David checks his watch. "I've got a few minutes," he concedes, and allows himself to be taken to the cafeteria. This late, and nothing is actually open. There's a lit case of prewrapped pastries that didn't sell and a coffee machine. He fetches himself a cup, then fills up two more. "How do you take it?"
Echo walks over and takes both cup, "Thank you, black is perfect, David." She takes the cups over to Rook, pausing as she gets to the other woman. A pause and Echo leans in close to Rook, as if Rook was whispering something to her.
"It's all good Blanche," Echo says to Rook, "I'll keep your cup while you go to the ladies." A pause, "I'm almost positive I saw it in the hallway just outside."
She takes both cups and walks to the table near David, "Again, thank you for taking the time to talk to me about Uncle James. I know that you all did everything you could, but my mom was in such a shock when she found out he passed." She holds the cup but doesn't drink, always putting it down in a way that seems perfectly naturally.
"Can you tell me about that night, just so that I can make my mom feel better?"
Val admires the view on display and can’t help but smile at the hair flip. Not many men could pull it off without looking a little ridiculous.
”Hey, Brad. Good to see you.” Her posture, and tone, are both relaxed. Friendly. ”I’d love to catch up with you, but we can do that another time. Don’t want to keep you from her arms for long.” She smiles, right hand gesturing vaguely towards the ocean before she slips it back into the front pocket of her hoodie. ”Been catching waves in either Watsonville or Salinas lately?
Echo walks over and takes both cup, "Thank you, black is perfect, David." She takes the cups over to Rook, pausing as she gets to the other woman. A pause and Echo leans in close to Rook, as if Rook was whispering something to her.
"It's all good Blanche," Echo says to Rook, "I'll keep your cup while you go to the ladies." A pause, "I'm almost positive I saw it in the hallway just outside."
With such a nice convenient excuse, Rook leaves the cafeteria before David can correct them on where the bathroom is. She will go to investigate the ICU, and depending on what she sees in the way of cameras, etc she will try to see if there's a security station that might have recordings of the nights in question. She will be as stealthy as possible.
"It's a first date," Tina says.
"Us too!" exclaims Madison, gripping Alex's upper arm. "That's so funny. Alex talks about you all the time."
"He does? That's sweet. I thought he just liked the tamales."
"Don't they all."
David pauses. Then, "I can't prove this, but I swear, when I came into his room after he coded...I swear he was smiling. If there's anything I can leave you with know that James left this world easily, and I think he was past the pain at the end."
Rook doesn't spot anything else beyond the sense that the barrier between this world and the next is fragile here, the natural result of souls making their exit en masse.
Alex is used to attractive women grabbing his arm. Familiar territory at last.
"Tina runs the best food truck in the city," Alex says, patting Madison's hand where it sits on his arm.
He pauses and looks around. "I'm not good with small talk, but if you want to talk music or politics, we could be here for hours."
Alex smiles a genuine smile. He's not sure about Madison, but he likes talking about music and politics for hours.
Rook tells the nurse that she got turned around looking for the bathroom and thanks them. When she's got a moment to herself (even if it's inside a toilet stall), she checks her phone for the hospitals website, or even just the hospital's yelp reviews for pictures to see where everything is, then sees (by looking around) if the vents are big enough to pass through. . If they are, she's going to try to make her way quietly, though vents, over to where the security office is, so she can see if she can borrow any tapes. If that's not possible, she'll see if she can duck into a supply closet. No one ever notices the cleaning crew.
Valerie looks slightly disappointed, though it's more with herself than with Brad.
"I know there aren't beaches out there, it was a... well, anyway. Okay, so just catching actual waves, then." She nods. "How intense are we talking?"
Dante laughs. "Yeah, they suck, but like, who cares?"
Madison looks like she's about to open her mouth, but changes course right in the middle of things. "Hey, so Alex was just promising to win me a prize," she says, pulling Alex in the direction of one of the carnival games.
"What kind of politics?" Dante asks.
Rook finds that the vents are far too small to traverse, even if she was a child. Roll me Strength + Athletics to get up into the false ceiling, and then Dex + Stealth to keep from making an unholy racket.
She chuckles. He's just done a fairly good impression of Alex, too, when he goes off on a rant.
"Yeah, well, it's easy to see the bars of your cage when you put them up yourself so you have something to protest." She hesitates. "Hoping it's nothing, but there's someone out there poaching in Salinas and Watsonville. So, maybe be careful for a bit, til this blows over? The powers that be are, of course, looking for someone to chew out or potentially chew on for it."
"It's not just the music, but also the principle of the--"
Alex allows himself to be pulled off toward the carnival games.
"I'm an old-school punk," Alex says to Dante by way of an answer. And to them both: "Enjoy your date."
Alex turns to Madison as they stroll away. "That was clever," he says quietly. "Or did you actually want me to win a thing? I'm good either way."
Alex takes a moment to focus his attention on Madison. "Still more fun than Ernesto?"
Echo fidgets with the coffee cup for a moment, looking down on at her hands. When she looks back up, "My mom's the... spiritual type... and she was just so worried about him being alone end."
"And guilty," she says with a wince, "that she wasn't there with him."
Echo shrugs, "I just want to help."
Val is certain of one thing: Either Brad is entirely innocent of being this poacher, or he is far more cunning than he lets on.
Rook is not back. Rook is...who knows where Rook is.
Alex smirks, then shrugs.
"I'm game for people watching at the Nite Owl."
Alex continues to people-watch on the way back to Madison's car. No reason to stop. He occasionally looks out toward the dark water, just on the off chance there's a Brad out there.
"Ernesto has an actual lab? Like a mad scientist thing? Huh."
Rook finds that the vents are far too small to traverse, even if she was a child. Roll me Strength + Athletics to get up into the false ceiling, and then Dex + Stealth to keep from making an unholy racket.
Rook is as graceful as a cat
In case there's any question - her phone is on silent, and the vibration is off, but she'll check it as terrain allows and respond via text if anything.
Echo waits until David leaves and his footsteps no longer echo in the quiet hospital, then she tosses the cups. Waits a bit, then slides into the hallway and heads to not the entrance.
Instead she checks for alternate entrances the presumed strange vampire may have used. Like maybe stairs which will have a door to the outside which could have been taped or illicitly opened.
She tries to avoid humans and obvious security.
And keeps an ear out for screams or gunshots, but hopes to hear neither.
Madison parks out front, her tires crunching on the gravel lot. The other cars are a range from high-end to falling apart, and 90% of them sport banana slug stickers. Inside, a tired waitstaff serves tables of college kids working through a night on various substances.
The bell rings as Alex and Madison enter. The register is set over a glass case where the Nite Owl sells their branded merch. T-shirts, postcards, stickers, all with their version of the local cryptid.
"Anywhere you like," says a tired woman in the diner's trademark old-school waitress outfits.
Madison leads Alex past the display of pies, through the interior of the building that somehow manages to look like a Vespa, and to a recently-vacated corner booth, offering a commanding view of both the diner and the road outside.
It's not what you'd call clean up here, and within a few minutes of crawling around, Rook has started to resemble a used bit of dental floss. Still, with the catlike balance conferred by her supernatural powers, she is able to effortlessly traverse the ribs of the ceiling without falling through the brittle false panels.
Rook, though, is confronted with a simple reality: she's navigating blind through a building she's never been in. So it's going to take time to find something relevant and a whole lot of peeking through ceilings. How much time?
Resolve + Investigation
"The Brujah absolutely did get that right," she says it as much to herself as to Brad, and watches him poetry his way back out into the water.
She sits and watches the ocean for a little while longer, occasionally looking to see if he's still out there, but mostly just taking in the night.
She's not sure which situation would make her like him more - that he was a straight shooter and didn't feel the need to b#*#&&#+? Or that he hid a deeper cunning under the perfect surfer's grin and chiseled beach body? Maybe it didn't matter at all. Some art is just pretty to look at.
She checks her phone, then makes her way to the Nite Owl. She figures she's done what she set out to do, and it makes more sense to meet up there instead of trying to coordinate with the others and drive all the way out to find them when they're supposed to end up at the same place, anyway.
Val parks out in the lot her tires crunching on the gravel. The other cars are a range from high-end to falling apart, and 90% of them sport banana slug stickers. Inside, a tired waitstaff serves tables of college kids working through a night on various substances.
The bell rings as Val enters. The register is set over a glass case where the Nite Owl sells their branded merch. T-shirts, postcards, stickers, all with their version of the local cryptid.
"Anywhere you like," says a tired woman in the diner's trademark old-school waitress outfits.
Val spots Alex and Madison in a corner booth offering a commanding view of both the diner and the road outside.
She checks to see if any of the odd images that mean someone tried to reach her are lit up.
Val is quick to pick up, and it's likely the call comes when she's in her car. "Hey, Echo. How's it going?"
Val slides into the booth across from the two.
"Long time no see. How's the night treating you?" She makes a little show of glancing at a menu if there's one on the table.
"If I don't call in twenty minutes, I too found something interesting. Cailleach is outside and will be able to track me, although the matron in the front will... tell her it's a comfort to the dying visit or something."
A pause, "Did you find our surfing friend?"
Alex nods to Valerie. "No Brad at the boardwalk," he says. "Nothing really out of place. Otherwise?"
Alex glances over to Madison. "Pleasant. How's yours?"
Alex also picks up a menu and looks down it. Sets it aside.
Val takes this all in before responding. "Sounds like babysitting." She chuckles a little. "If you don't call in 20 minutes, should I head your way? And yes, I did find our friend. He's been minding his P's and Q's and hanging out with some folks down south until last night or so. Think he's too busy enjoying surfing to be causing mischief elsewhere."
"No Brad at the boardwalk because there was a Brad at the beach. He was very Brad, Brad'ing around down in Pismo Beach until last night or so. Nothing out of place for me, either. Nice night to sit at the beach, but aren't they all?"
She puts her phone on the table to keep an eye on it. "Might be getting a call from Echo," she says by way of explaining the potential rudeness.
The waitress, a woman who looks too young to be a) in that uniform and b) up this late, stops by. "What can I get you?"
"Hot chocolate and french fries," Madison says promptly. "Thank you."
Then after 15 minutes but less than 20. Val's phone rings again.
"Something is up. Our friend isn't anywhere around and she'd not leave without telling me. Plus her car is still in the lot."
"I'm going to search more thoroughly." There is a quiet hope for suggestions.
"That sounds like Brad," Alex says. He gestures to Val's phone. "Think they found anything?"
"Y'know, if you ever want to trade granola lady for Ernesto, just let me know. We can work something out."
Alex snorts his laughter at this. He looks up at the waitress. "Plain cheeseburger and a side of pancakes, thanks."
Alex is still chuckling. "I'd take Ernesto over Sonny in a heartbeat, but I don't think I'd swap our E for yours."
"hmmm" A pause. "I may be here for quite a while in case a distraction is needed. Can you remind me how to send a message, Val?"
"Alex showed me and I have to hit one of the small buttons..."
A ridiculously long time later. Like at least 10 minutes:
in bath where secure
Val laughs. "I'll keep that in mind. I do love the beaches in Monterey. But I will say, Echo is a little easier to talk to than Ernesto." And once Madison and Alex order, she looks thoughtful. "Hot chocolate and just one pancake. A little of both of your good ideas." She acknowledges both of her companions as she says it, but finishes her order while looking at the waitress. "Thank you."
She taps her fingers against her phone.
"I think they're finding something, not sure if it's something we all need to be concerned about." She shrugs. "Our newest friend is very... proactive in checking all the nooks and crannies. Might have gotten lost in a nook somewhere. Honestly, sounds more interesting than my chat on the beach."
"Well, maybe she wanted to make a good impression for her first official hangout." Val sighs. "Glad to hear she's safe, and that you didn't need to call in Cailleach for emotional support."
Val sounds affectionately amused as she walks Echo through sending messages from her phone. "I swear, every single phone is different," she finishes. "It's like card readers. I think I mess up every time I use one and the cashiers look at me like I'm an idiot."
Mumbling, "I don't know where the security office is..."
Sounding more than annoyed, "In bath, where's security is enough of a message, right?"
"Guess we have to wait then," Alex says. "All that checking sounds tricky to me. I don't think I could be subtle like that. Imagine me trying to sneak around a ... well, anywhere, really."
Alex leans forward and tosses his hair back. Maybe not the best environment for it, the corner booth of a diner, but he does it as punctuation.
Not too much later, Ernesto and Frannie wander in, and after scanning the diner, head over to the booth and settle in. "Guess you beat me to Brad," Frannie says to Val.
Ernesto glares at the room of college students, most of whom are rowdy after a night of drinking. "We should have done this in a bar. Same level of clientele but at least the lights are lower."
She texts Echo at the start of the 20 minutes, half way through, and then at the end. Just a quick "Going to watch for 20 minutes... still watching... etc."
She also takes a minute to look over the security station itself, and the room - is there a closet for example, conveniently named "security tapes"to get an idea of what it looks like. She was a college student so presumably knows the very basics of how to save something to a disk, and how to print, etc. So in theory if the system is simple, combined with her larceny, perhaps she can just figure it out. If she doesn't think she can - then she snaps a picture (no flash and in silent mode) and texts it to her coterie, asking Alex and Val how might one download saved video using the eraticator 3000, or if it's too complicated to explain, how do you feel about stealthily crawling inside dropped ceilings (super tired so hope this is legible - night!)
The station is a small room. Two people could stand in it without problem, but three is cutting it close. She sees no convenient closet, just some computer doohickies that she doesn't understand.
Make me a Wits + Technology roll to take that photo as you describe.
"Your hair is too glorious for subtlety," Val agrees good naturedly with Alex.
Once the others come in, Val makes a little room for anyone joining on her side of the table. "Indeed I did. He didn't have much to say, and seemed like he'd spent more time around Pismo lately than anywhere else."
When Ernesto complains, Val resists the urge to remind him that he was the one who suggested this place, and instead she says - "We could lower the lights here for you, if you wanted." She pantomimes shooting the light above the table, then blows smoke off the end of the imaginary barrel with a smile.
Sonny saunters in not too long after. People instinctively shy from him, conversations going low as he lumbers past. Occasionally, his gaze will linger on a young woman, snagging especially on the waitress. He squeezes in next to Frannie.
"Pretty boy's not by the wharf," he announces.
"Any idea how to download security video off this thing? No convenient disk storage in sight. If too complicated to explain, I can show someone reasonably stealthy how to get in. Pls advise."
"I'd talk us out of it." Val says with confidence. "Probably."
She watches Sonny walk in, and keeps an eye on his behavior with the waitress. She's not watching him openly and obviously, but... her eye is wandering less to outside their window, now.
"Pretty boy was surfing, I ran into him. I don't think he's our guy for this. Which is a shame, because it would have made things so much easier."
Val checks her phone, and grimaces a little before her expression settles back into a neutral interested look. "I'm responding," she says to Alex, then types something out quickly.
Might be better to discuss our game in person, it's a lot to text. Is this time sensitive?
After receiving Echo's text: Boss, Im not really the getting a man to do things for me type.
Alex watches Val type, then slips his phone out of his pocket.
Alex quickly scrolls through the group text, types something, and addresses the table. "Val suggested they come here to talk about it in person. Whatever it is."
"Damn, the wolf could probably text faster than Echo."
F*ck the Patriarchy followed by a fist emoji.
"Don't be an a~#%~*%," Frannie suggests.
"I gotta be me."
The waitress arrives with the foot. "More of you! Let me get you some menus."
"No need. Water," Ernesto says.
"Yeah, cherry coke for me, cutie," Sonny says, staring at the waitress. She flinches under his attention. He continues to stare as she scurries off to do the rest of her job.
Madison sits up straight, sniffing the cocoa and the mountainous dollop of whipped cream at the top, closing her eyes as though to experience nothing but it.
"You're going to vomit," Ernesto warns.
"If someone who looks like me drinks this and doesn't throw up, now that'll attract more attention." Madison steels herself and takes a sip. She turns green almost instantly. "Oh s#%*," she mutters, and both Frannie and Sonny move to let her out of the booth as she runs to the bathroom to the amusement of several college guys.
"I told her," Ernesto says.