She nods to Finch as he slips off, committing his features into memory. That'll become important soon. But first, her attention darts straight back to Flood. The bloom is off this particular rose as her smile begins to slip away. When Amber saw Kali throw her weight around a little, she was still smiling. She's almost always smiling. Even when she's angry, most of the time she's smiling. Only Flood has been able to wipe that smile off her face, and he's done it more than once. This would be the latest in those endeavors.
"Gadje means 'not of the Rom,' Flood. It's only used as an insult when someone does something to cause an insulting comment. And let's call a spade a spade. When the Rom have exterminated almost a third of the non-Roma in Europe, you can call us whatever you like. Until then, admit it or not, we've got the moral high ground."
She frowns when Amber starts to walk off now, her already-soured mood getting worse. "No, bullshit. If I'm getting looks like my skin should be peeling off, I want to fuckin' know what I did."
Amber[did you say something i am like so far away: percept+alert]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (4, 7, 8, 8) ( success x 3 )
AmberAmber's gait slows and she glances back over her shoulder at the Roma. Her eyes narrow, but she doesn't stop. A step and then she's back at normal speed, continuing away.
Flood"Kali?" He begins. Saying it to get her attention, and then firmer, "Kali," to make sure he has her attention.
"You could take the moral high ground and turn the other cheek. It would be for the best. After your history lesson, I'm sure you can understand the lack of forgiveness refugees have for those who drove them from their homeland. Ground taken comes at a price and when you tell someone to be gone from your territory, that's the result," and it's time for Flood's own glance after his retainer.
"You would be surprised how forgiving she's being, even if her looks could kill. It's admirable. Especially with what she comes from," he continues once he is again focused on the soured Ravnos.
"Don't make me regret going out of my way to prevent a repeat of such exterminations. If we're going to talk with candor, that is," his head tilting, his tone harkening back to the on she'd used when she'd talked about spades and nomenclature.
KaliHer attention snaps back to Flood, but only after the second time. The Ravnos is angry, and that anger comes from Flood. It also comes from the realization that she's lost her temper in front of a dangerous rival, but it's directed at Amber...however unfairly. She opens her mouth as if to say something after he talks about moral high ground, but then bites it back and lets him talk because she realizes that he might not be defending himself. Flood isn't the sort, from what she's known, to get defensive about much. And so she listens.
And when he draws a parallel between her own peoples' diaspora and Amber, Flood can probably see it. Kali has no earthly clue what he's talking about. Or she's an exceptional actor, which is also true. It's just a question of whether she's acting now.
"Flood, what in the name of all that may or may not rise from the dead are you talking about? I didn't tell her to be gone from fucking anywhere. Why would I possibly give a shit where she lives?"
FloodFlood says nothing for a moment. His head does tilt, though, from one side to the other, and when it stops its movement he's looking at her from a different perspective.
"A threat," he finally says, "to the people and things she cares about. That Colfax was your street. Yours, as in not hers, by its very definition, because we do not share, our kind, do we? Not often. And what you pose as, Kali, what you are? You invoked that name and all the destruction it could bring down on all she cares about," he says clearly and with some reverberation in his voice.
"Do you see, now? When your neighborhood drug baron threatens you, you feel less inclined to walk the streets," he finishes.
Though, listen as he says it, Flood has little in the way of expression indicating if he does or does not actually agree with Amber. He is simply stating her case in her absence.
KaliShe remembers the incident well, because it was one of those other rare times that she get a bit of edge to her. And yes, certainly from that short little clip of information, it could be seen as a threat. She shakes her head, mutters something in her native tongue.
"You know what, I really don't feel like I should have to defend myself to anyone in this case. But this is how people die, and I actually don't have anything against her and don't particularly want anyone involved to die, so I'm going to spell it out. I came across Bo and her snarking at each other over something or other. No clue. Bo can get attitude at times. You know that, I'm sure." There's a bit of tension there. She's still sketchy about how comfortable Flood is just floating in around the ghoul.
"And so I stepped in and get this...this girl, who I literally knew nothing about other than she'd gotten pissed when I offered to buy her a beer the night before, got an honest, up front apology from me. Full-blown. No Sorry, but bullshit but an I didn't mean to upset you, I apologize, can we start over mea culpa. And she spit it back in my face along with an insinuation about my and Bo's relationship. So yes, I pointed out who I was to try and get her to back off a bit so I could start over again and try to get through to her and she stalked off angrily. Girl didn't even run. She didn't look scared or threatened, she looked fucking angry, or I would have corrected the insinuation right then and there. What do you think I'm supposed to do, just let any random person on the street talk shit without a little bit of 'hey, have some respect?'"
She legitimately looks incredulous here. "I quite literally handled that in the most humane way I think it could possibly be handled, and now your girl is throwing darts at a picture of my head? Seriously, tell me what to do to make it up and I'll do it. Twice. My shit is on enough razor's edges without having to deal with this kind of thing."
NobodyNobody is an unseen presence tonight. He might be a ghost, Nobody in particular's ghost, just a ghost, less than a ghost because a ghost's presence isn't just unseen: it's heard - it's felt. Nobody hears Nobody and nobody feels Nobody's shadow, falling across their shadow like an ill-omen or a curse. This Nobody's name isn't important right now either. Jack's just a name-tag, just a calling, just a quest. Jack of Nobodies. He's not even one of them: gentlemanly Jack, about the business of skulking, of pressing that Knack he learned, of slipping into it just right and then even the dark kingdom can't see him though he's still tucked inside it like a letter in an envelope even the darkness doesn't think he's there to name and it's a good trick and he's always glad he learned it because there's something about being Unseen.
Helps when one is shadowing a woman. The woman Nobody is shadowing has a name and she does not know that she is being shadowed. How is it she would know? She left that building, over there, an office building, and walked two blocks to a coffee shop, where she met with a man and had an argument. When she went to the restroom, the man she argued with snuck her phone out've her bag, read some of the messages, and mouthed a number to himself. When she returned, the phone was in her purse again. When the man left, the woman smiled.
Nobody saw.
Nobody sees a lot of things. Nobody, shadowing this woman, he sees a scrab of Abyss wearing a man's face and erroding a man's heart and he sees a Gypsy trick in leather (one presumes in leather; otherwise, Nobody sees something he's not sure he understands at all), and Nobody --
well who cares what Nobody does? He's Nobody, after all.
But for those who demand to be told, to know: Nobody abandons Ms. Faulkner and instead drifts over, Nothing At All, to hear what Those Two are discussing.
[ooc: and - uh. if one's Auspex is 4 or higher, roll to spy a spy!]
FloodFlood listens. His attention is upon Kali and her words, weighing each and every one with an air of unequivocal impartiality, as she tells her side of the story. All the way up until her offer to to whatever is necessary to fix the problem, to repay any perceived transgression twofold, and at this one of his eyebrows even goes up before he shakes his head.
"I don't think that will be necessary," beginning with the raising of one of his hands, as if to stop her down that path.
Never mind the way a moment later his eyes narrow a bit, turning from wide and receptive clovers of green to shards of sharp jade chips trying to excise meaning from that revelation. From her shit, as she puts it, sitting upon a razor's edge.
"And if you ever find yourself in a time of need, I hope you'd consider me as a more than a court of last resort," as if to let her know he took that as more than a simple statement of incredulity over what Flood was accusing her of. Stress had brought it out. And he acknowledges it.
"I probably would've handled it all in a much less humane way, and I'm of a mind to thank you for your part in whatever transpired. If it hadn't she might not have wandered into my own shadow," he continues. Again he sounds genuine. Because, in the situation Kali had described, he would've been much less forgiving.
"I will speak to her. I will let her know you do not mean her harm. I will let her know she's welcome to go where she pleases," finishing up his reaction as an arbitrator.
KaliKali, of course, is entirely incognizant of the preternaturally-hidden creature that slips their way through the streets. She probably wouldn't notice him even if she did have the vampiric gifts to do so, as frustrated as her expression is. But she doesn't so it's a moot point, and instead she focuses on the Lasombra's cooled tone, his conciliatory words.
She's not calmed thoroughly by him, this Ravnos. She has never trusted his clan or sect and while she works with him when she absolutely has to, she doesn't trust him. There's a blood poison hidden in every honeyed word, a dagger up the sleeve of every handshake. This is the tightrope that they walk, these two. But the words make sense and Kali does relax some. Whether he'll do what he claims or not, he's making a show of it and she'll have to figure out the truth later. What's important is that it's given her temper a chance to chill out and she takes that opportunity.
"You know that saying you're grateful I happened to send her your way doesn't help, right?" She says it with an edge, but it's a blunted edge. She's still tensed, but there is some humor intended there. "All right. That'll do it, I guess. Jesus, maybe next time I will just start waving the gun around.
"So then I guess you've been busy snatching up some new friends?" She waves off in the direction that Finch and Amber variously went. The little half-smile returns. She's back to normal now. "They seem nice."
Flood"You can't ever have too many friends, can you?" And with that Flood throws a wink her way, and when that eye opens back up so does the other, just like spring time blooming clovers.
Flood glances over his shoulder and through those front windowpanes of the gallery, floor to ceiling and showing off not only the crowd, but glimpses of the art they're appreciating between sips of wine and conversation.
"I don't think I'll be sticking around much longer. It was a pleasure to see you, even under the circumstances," and Flood looks ready to go, rounding a bit, beginning to break off like a ship listlessly drifting from the dock before raising its sails and heading off into the night.
KaliShe chuckles at that last bit and shakes her head. "You cannot, at that." There's a little sigh that follows forth, for effect only of course. Or kine instincts that never fully slipped away. It's a sound of the last exasperation expelling from her body, leaving her back at her natural emotional equilibrium.
"Yeah, good to see you too. Come by the club sometime, we'll play catch up or do something less dangerous than day-to-day life, like a napalm Slip N' Slide. Don't have too much fun out there." She lets the Lasombra go on his way and pauses a moment to light up a new cigarette off the cherry of the old one before she prepares to make her way elsewhere.
Kine. They do make the undeads' lives more interesting, don't they?
Nobody[MASK MASK BABY.]
Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 4, 6, 6, 8, 8, 10) ( success x 5 )
NobodyFlood goes his way, and Nobody shadows him for a short while: the shortest. He finds a corner, he does, eddies there, and then Nobody puts on a Mask, a Face, a Thing For People To See, to say, Hey, Look, Somebody, that's not Nobody at all.
This face belongs to Harald called Jacky because he's lucky; because he hit the jackpot. Kali has not seen this Jack yet: gawky, geeksome, pigeon-chested, glaucoma in one eye, weak chin, big ol' adam's apple from which a hair sprouts, werewolf eyebrows they're so thick and nearly don't get the plural. He's nothing much to look at, that hair curling at the bottoms, but it's not quite charming, because this guy is ugly.
This guy who is approaching Kali on the street not long after Flood went his way, who could it be? His voice is different too, though his words're always honey, aren't they, always know how to slip down, or could, but he cuts right to the chase,
"Hello, ah, Kali. It's me, Jacky."
KaliShe's playing it cool, but there's still an edge to the Ravnos and she is walking in a direction by the time Jack catches up to her. She hears a voice say her name and she snaps her attention around, body whirling. It isn't hostile, just a bit...sharp for the usually relaxed Ravnos. There is that moment that the Nosferatu must be used to by now, where she doesn't make the connection before...
"Oh." She blinks, and suddenly she's got a warm smile on again. She gives him a once over and nods. "Nice suit. Very Big Bang Theory meets...I don't even know. It's like Sheldon if he had an allergic reaction to everything all at once. I like it."
A drag of cigarette smoke is exhaled high into the air. "So real talk. Fortuitous meeting just after I ran into Flood and his burgeoning street gang of ruffians, or did you happen to stop by and catch a gander?"
Nobody"Who is Sheldon?" The 'Big Bang Theory' reference doesn't roll right of Jack's back. No; he puts it down to science! And Kali telling him that This Mask looks like a science nerd. The connection is just-met, almost-made; good job, show-creators, on naming your show. "But, ah, I will thank you," see, even the cadence of his speech is a little different. Not quite deliberate, but This Face is somebody who is confident of what he says (not that Jack is ever un-confident), but in an academic fashion: won't stop talking but will place-hold with an ah, never an uh. He smiles at her, and on This Face, the smile gives Jack an air of surprise, like he's not used to smiling. It carves lines around his eyes and down his cheeks, crinkles him up. He's in his mid-twenties, maybe, maybe thirties: it's one of those Hard To Tell faces. "It's my Face for lurking around books."
Now to the question. He puts his hands in the pockets of his trousers (not as clean as usual, it would seem; patch-work). "I did not see a burgeoning street gang of ruffians, no. Only you and only the Scrap of Darkness with a Face, so I came to investigate."
"What was the trouble? Specifically," and his eyebrows quiver. "Since it seems to be specific." Then: a frown.
Flood and a gang of street ruffians? Is his pack around? He must have a pack. Jack sort've gives the street another look. A close Look.
KaliJack is thinking Pack, and Kali has had that same thought herself. She knows how the Sabbat operate, a little too well for her tastes. She knows and has certainly wondered about Flood and whoever might be packed with him. In this case though, the red hair bounces around her jacket-covered shoulders as she shakes her head.
"Not these ones. Some guy he'd seemingly not met before, named Finch. Clear sword though. They didn't bother to be remotely quiet about it in front of me, which was interesting. And a new chick in his life apparently, who has a serious girl boner for the idea of putting my head on a pike because she thinks I kicked her off of Colfax when all I did was say Be nice." She snorts and shakes her head. "She seemed be breathing still, so a Renfield, I guess?"
She looks over her shoulder again, the direction Flood had gone. It was a very different way than Kali did. There's a narrowing of her eyes at the nothing that is there, and then looks back at Jack with a smile.
"You...haven't yet visited my strip club. At least, not that I know of, anyway. Why is that? You only hang out at clubs run by the other side?" She's teasing, really.
NobodyHe laughs. The laugh becomes a grin, and This Face has a surprisingly sweet grin. There is none of the perpetual bewildered astonishment of the smile. As if whoever used this Face originally smiled when he wasn't sure what was happening, a reflex, but when he grinned, that was the moment. So: He laughs, Jack, and then he grins. "I never thought that I would hear it: an open invitation to spy on my favourite Deceiver's new place of business," he says, 'favourite,' soberly, as if he means it, "as I do on the Religious Cubs?"
He can tease, too. Jack. All Jacks can; it's one of their Knacks. They're tricksters, Jacks, after all: even this one, who grows more sober after the laughter, the grin, after that all.
"Do they ever bother to be quiet about it? The Swords. They don't seem to enjoy the quiet much. I do not understand them, Kali. I wish that I did."
"And as unfortunate as the, ah, 'chick's', reaction seems to have been, I am glad you chose kindness."
Kali"Oh don't get me wrong, so am I." She's disgruntled about it, but that's not why. She's surprisingly human for a blood-drinking drug dealer approaching triple digits, and it's something she plans to maintain as long as possible. "Just...jando pele, man." She smirks despite (or perhaps because of) her irritation. "Fuckin' kine, you know?"
She shakes her head in regard to the mention of the Sword's loudness, getting a little more thoughtful now. She speaks a little slower, more measured. "I dunno though. I mean, there's one thing about rattling the sabers and all that. But they're smart. And there's always someone ready to ambush, you know? It's too easy to take them at face value.
"And of course you can spy on my place of business." She grins over at him. It's a casual look, or would be if she wasn't purposefully overdoing it with the innocent oh don't mind you spying at all what do I have to hide act. "I'm glad to know I'm your favorite Deceiver. Do you really know any others besides me though? I mean, Baja but other than that..."
NobodyThey're on the street. But Jack is a quiet Jack. A Jack of parts. He knows how to manipulate a voice if he knows anything at all in the world: to manipulate the voice to be pleasing to others, whether in song or conversation. He knows how to pitch his voice low enough that only the rats might hear and there are no rats here. The rats: they're not so good with conversation, anyway. They're better at reenactments and mime.
This happens after she mentions Baja. Deliberate cadence: "That business last year that has quieted down somewhat. The business of the stone. Have you noticed that of the two kindred also interested it is the Gangrel and the Malkavian who have disappeared without a trace? Interesting, is it not?"
There are no chances in Jack's world; there is ony fate and destiny and human spirit's ability to shape those things.
But no chances. (Luck, luck's entirely different.)
KaliShe frowns when he brings up the missing Mercy and Cat. Mercy is the one who bothers her; she seems to have made a decision on what happened there a long time ago. It's naught more then speculation, but educated speculation. It all made sense to her.
"I hadn't thought of Cat. Only talked with her the one time. But Mercy..." She shakes her head. "I don't know that it's connected. It might be, but she vanished too quickly after the attack on the castle. She had a mad-on for the guy with the shotgun...I'm thinking she found him and wasn't as fortunate."
There's even...oh, Kali, is that regret? A faint--very faint, but present--sense of loss? "Still, it's a good point. I've still got the goods. I've been trying to find what I can, but coming up empty. Hoping that I can make some headway soon on it though."
She looks to the Nosferatu, sizing him up. "Don't suppose you've had any luck on that front."
Nobody"I have a 'mad-on' for the guy with the shotgun. If I didn't think he might have changed his face, I would wear it around until I found his allies and follow them back to their den," Jack says, frowning. He is still frowning when he takes two steps to the side and leans against a street lamp, there to provide illumination for those coming out of a certain art gallery, because what is art without a little light. If he sees that regret, and as it is there to see, naturally Nobody'd notice, well; if he sees that regret, there is just a faint and sympathetic smile. The sympathy is not a condolence; it is in sympathy with kind of sympathy, because Jack, too, regrets the Woman-who-was-a-Beast's disappearance and absence. He understood how to talk to Mercy; he found it relaxing.
And besides, she was going to show him her dog, which he has not been able to track down since.
"No," heavy, that. But it lightens just after, because Jack is an optimist, takes on a more pensive (thoughtful [considering]) aspect. "Not as yet, but I haven't heard anything from the cities you'd expect it to move next, if it were moving, so, ah, I suppose that means that it is slumbering. Resting. I may try to observe some of the local Malkavian population and see if there's an angle to be found there. There is an eclipse this next month."
Nobodyooc: er! "There is an eclipse of the moon this next month." even
KaliMuch like Jack understands her regret, she understands his desire to take down the Sabbat Brujah with the shotgun. Her hatred of the sect is deeply personal, and he knows that Jack feels the same way about those who attacked the Castle, if not the entirety of the whole blood-mad organization. So she nods, giving him a return smile in exchange for his sympathetic one. They get each other.
And then he mentions eclipses, and she groans. "Jesus Fuck Me Upside Down With a Candlestick Christ. I knew there was a use for almanacs. The death of print media blows." She grimaces. "So let's see. We have a Lasombra in town and generally up and about, who knows how many Malkavians scattering about, a couple of ancients taking a quick nap and it's about to get even darker than usual? Fucking awesome."
She makes a spitting motion on the ground, then her phone beeps. She swears in a mix of Spanish and Romani under her breath, with an inflection suggesting a What Now?, and checks it.
"Oh bite my gypsy ass." She can use the term. Flood cannot. She looks at the Nosferatu. "I have to go. The life of a drug dealer-slash-strip club owner is never dull. We need to catch up though. Touch bases, figure out what to do about...well, everything. Stop by the club sometime. Lots of rooms to talk there without being listened in on."
NobodyKali's groan doesn't ellicit amusement. Grimness, perhaps - pensive grimness and a thoughtful nod to punctuate what he said. His eyebrows (that werewolf-thick one, Frida Kahlo, eat your heart out) crawl up at her obscenity, but that's pensive too. Lasombra: generally up and about. Malkavians: scattering. Ancients: taking a quick nap. And darkness, descending (or ascendant?). Kali's spitting motion is followed by Jack, saying - " - I think April may be very interesting."
There's a sharp curiousity when she begins to swear after her phone beeps, close attention given, and then a smile. A surprised-looking smile, but that's just This Face. "Isn't that an HBO show?" Jack says, genially. A gentleman. Observe: He tries to make a pop culture reference to. Observe: He seems to be trying it out as someone else might stick a toe in a pool to test the temperature.
"I will come by the club soon." A beat.
"You may even tell you I am there."
Nobodyooc: Er, "I may even tell you I am there."
KaliShe grins at that, even in her mood. "Nah, that's the original, rejected title of Keeping up the Kardashians." A pause there. "They're not Roma, by the way. A bunch of ignorant Americans just think they are because people are stupid."
She nods then when he says he'll come by, and might even reveal himself. "I hope so. Who the hell am I going to give a lap dance to otherwise?" She's kidding, surely. She grins, wiggles her fingers and walks off, dialing into her phone as she does.
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