Bright Lights, Bloody Nights, Big City: Vampire Game Thread

[Josh]

"Nobody. But what kind of fucking game is Chicken Boy anyway?" He was learning to speak Jason's language. "Listen, there are bigger, better targets out there. You and me, we can play for real shit here, and that means going after fuckers that have been alive for a hundred, two hundred, more years than that. They got real power, and they're fucking hard as hell to bring down. They make Chicken Boy and Cargo look like the fucking gnats they are. That's who the fucking enemy is. Like the guys pulling Cargo's strings. And to get these fuckers, we gotta be patient."

[frigidmagi]

Jason cocked his head. Wright was telling him to hold back? Well he got this far somehow right, and damn if the idea of big game wasn't tempting.

"You got an idea then?" He asked leaning forward.

[Bratty]

As she kicks the item, she notices the envelope on the stand, torn open. She goes to the stand and picks up the envelope, noting there is no letter inside. No money for that matter either. "WRIGHT!!" She screams in her room. "You evil BASTARD!"

[Josh]

"You gotta play a long game with these bastards. You gotta figure out just who is on their strings. You gotta cut their support away, weaken them, then move in and take them down. Do I got a plan? Not just yet. But I got an idea. And we can take that and turn it into a plan. You and me, we got it all covered- I can play the talk games and kick ass when I need to, and you can take down anybody what gets in our way, and nobody's the wiser. So we pick our target, we clean his fucking clock, and then, we take him down. What do you think of that?"

[frigidmagi]

"Alright. It's not like I'm busy. You gonna keep in control?" Jason asked. It was a blunt question, but then what had dancing around the point ever done?

[Bratty]

Her first instinct is to call him on it, confront him on it. Find the letter if she has to jump down his throat to procure it. She is FUMING with anger, seeing red.

As soon as she reaches the door, she stops, takes a deep breath, and another, and another. And then the tears begin to roll down. What the hell is wrong with her? What is happening to her? She begins to cry softly, as she sinks to her knees with the envelope in hand, cradling it to her chest.

[Josh]

"Jason, it's in the blood. And it's in me. Same shit that lets me pull this shit off, the fire, it's what keeps me on the edge, keeps me sharp. I gotta ride that line. But I can do what we gotta do."

[Cynical Cat]

Helen puts her hand gently on Cassie's shoulder. "I told you, they own us and do what they want," she said softly. "Lord knows that there's worse things than being locked up for three days."

[frigidmagi]

"Jason, it's in the blood. And it's in me. Same shit that lets me pull this shit off, the fire, it's what keeps me on the edge, keeps me sharp. I gotta ride that line. But I can do what we gotta do."

"I guess we see what we see then." He didn't know if he bought Wrights explaination. But now wasn't really the time to be fucking about with that. Just keep an eye on him and keep his head on straight so they can play the big game. Yeah. Sure.

[Bratty]

"DONT you fucking TOUCH me you puppet!" she warns, using language which has always made her blush in the past. "You stay away from me. All you care about is your own fucking neck! You don't know NOTHING about sacrifice, so you stay AWAY from me!"

She pushes Helen out of her room, and closes the door, moving the stand which held the envelope to hold the door closed.

No one gets in tonight. Not nobody. Not nohow.

[Cynical Cat]

Helen shook her head. It was a hard, hard world. She should know. Serves her right for trying to be kind. It had never gotten her anywhere good and no one had ever shown her any mercy, not even her folks.

[Josh]

He nodded enthusiastically, radiating confidence. He knew they could pull this off. Hell, hadn't they just dealt with the O'Bannion problem? Didn't he have Chicken Boy all wigged out and ready to handle his Cargo problem?

(That he'd had no intention of aiming Chicken Boy that way was irrelevant and didn't even cross his mind.)

"It'll be great. Best fucking thing ever, I'm tellin' ya."

[Josh]

He made his farewells with Jason, while his mind put together the equation.

First hunt for Jason would be Johnny, who was a dangerous little gnat that could totally tilt all their plans. It was fitting that the caitiff fixed his own mess there.

He'd half-sold a line of shit there. He was perfectly happy with the way things were last week, running his little club, making his dough, playing with his little mice.

He could've gone on that way forever.

That he might've grown bored of it in a year, a decade, or a century never crossed his mind.

He wasn't overly ambitious, he was hedonistic. But on the other hand...

On the other hand, while fucking with kine was fun, he could see just how fun it would be to cut away the support from one of these arrogant bastards and drag him down. They moved around so complacently, so fucking sure if the security of their positions, guaranteed by age and tradition.

Even a hard-ass motherfucker who woke up without anything to cover him would be scared.

That would be the best. Even better than a dozen little innocent cows like Mary.

It was getting him to thinking on bigger things, though. They had a long time, the world wasn't going to be ending any time soon, and hell, they weren't going to be having any big wars anymore, not after the last one showed the world just how bad big wars were.

So a guy with a bit of ambitions, a bit of charm, and a good soldier like Jason could go places.

Places like... being a Prince, for example.

But if he ever took the job, no way in hell he'd be some pussy dancing on Primogen strings. Fuck no, he'd clean house and make the clans put in his people. If he was Prince, nobody would ever cross his ass.

[Bratty]

POSTED THE NEXT DAY CONTEXT:

She awoke with a splitting headache and that queasy feeling she had in her stomach. No time to sit and ponder though, she has a lot to do. It is day time. He...they...are sleeping.

She tosses off the covers and looks at the mess she made. My god, she has never been one for fits of rage. Nor one for the strength to move anything, let alone pick it up and throw it. Oh, she is still weak by comparison, rest assured. She is still a mortal. But for her? This was a nightmare as she is watching herself quickly becomming some state and person she doesn't even know.

She tried to recall how she felt so angry. She knows the whys, but how. It just baffles her.

No time to think about it now, however. She looked at the clock. 3:30. Jeez, could you sleep any longer Cassie? She only has a couple of hours to get things done. First thing's first.

She moves the dresser from her door, seeing as it was kept in tact, Wright had better things to do for once then pulling wings off flies. She puts the envelope under her mattress for the time she will be out. She throws on a robe, and heads down to the bar. She will greet anyone she sees pleasantly. Although she knows she is a mess, and her eyes are sunken in and face washed pale, she does her best. She appears tired and worn is all. Any mortal who has dealt with Wright for more than the quickie power play he displayed on her last night would understand the signs. They would see more than the smiling pretty face suffering from a hangover.

She asks around for a box of matches and a cigerette. When it is procured, she will smile in naughty innocent fashion to whoever gave her both and puts a finger to her lips. "Shhhhhh" She will say. "Don't tell no one. I'm tryin' to quit."

With that down, she will go back to her room, to "smoke her cigerette". Once inside, she will light the cigerette and let it burn for a few minutes. Smoke indeed. Those things'll kill ya. Besides, in her heart, she is still a good girl. The big dreams though? All but shattered. She just wants to go home now. As the cigerette is burning, she takes the remainder of the matchbook that she got and retrieves the envelope from the mattress.

Wright, while incredibly intelligent and brutal, lacks long sight, from what she has seen. For example, with her. He could have had anything he wanted from her. She blushes when she thinks to admit anything, but it is true. With his charm and a little bit of time, she would have willingly given up her virtue to him. She does not need to be threatened to perform. And the only thing she needs to keep her content and willing to do anything he says is a little bit of money for her Mama. If things happened, he could just play to her nature to be dismissed like a child instead of leaving her to wonder. And the whole blood issue, well, she blushes again to think of ways that could have been handled to tell her enough to keep her from feeling such desperation as she feels now. Instead, he breaks her body, seduces her in a corner, and tells her nothing. He can have his stupid war. She wants out.

With envelope in hand, she takes it to the bathroom where she lights a match underneath it, and watches it burn to a crisp in the sink. Yes, Wright's lack of long sight is what she is counting on to save her Mama. The address is on the envelope. She seriously doubts he would have thought, even with the desire to harm her, to write it down anywhere else. And that, she will check on in a moment. No matter what else happens, her Mama is to be safe. There, the envelope has been burned, and she will no more mention her Mama while she is here. If it is brought up to her, she will play it off and allow it to drift into the backdrop. Much like her presence here. She has a new strategy for survival. That is, if her temper does not get in the way. Or...she blinks as she recalls what Helen was saying about the blood. Well, that is to try and be avoided at all costs. But even if she is lost, she will not let her family die with her.

She extinguishes the cigerette which has burned down to a butt and flushes it down the toilet. Dirty habit, indeed.

And opens the door to go to the office. She begins to "tidy up". And by tidy up, she is indeed cleaning, but she is also searching. Any numbers, any names. She copies them down quickly onto a piece of paper or two, disguising it by her "desire to clean" from anyone who would question her. She knows now they have "pets" everywhere. She is alone. There ain't no one here to help her. No one human, that is. Not even Helen. She is something in between. Something that Cassie ain't completely yet.

Once she has straightened the office, papers all nicely organized alphabetically and her own papers slid inside her robe, she makes her way back to her room. Suppressing the need to gag from hangover, she stuffs the numbers underneath her mattress. She will go over them later. Much later. With this stupid war, there will be plenty of time for that. There will also be time to get a handle on the scene here, making friends and earning tips. He did say she could keep her tips after all. By god, I bet he forgot. So he will keep money from her, she will earn it almost any other way she has to. Will she lose her integrity in the process? Well, hopefully she wont have to make that decision.

With a splitting head, she dowses some more aspirin. She swears she has gone through the bottle since she showed. She pushes the dresser in front of the door again. Tomorrow she will call a locksmith to come and fix her door he smashed in. She sets her little bell alarm to wake her at 11:00 sharp. After all, her performance is at midnight. Can't be late for that.

It's show time.

She lays back down to catch some more sleep and shake the naseau.

[Charon]

Marcus came up behind Wright, in the noise of the party he couldn't hear him coming.

"So you're going to deal with the kine?"

[Josh]

Wright turned, speaking softly so only the other kindred could here.

"We'll see if it holds. We proved that trying to hit me is more trouble than it's worth."

[Charon]

Marcus looked as if he wasn't sure to be disgusted that they were making a deal with kine or pleased that they could move onto bigger things now.

"It'll hold long enough as long as you keep your temper in check. And that's all we'll need until Cargo is taken care of. We'll need elder support in this though. Haakon will probably be interested in hearing that Cargo uses his trainyards to give food to others. He probably won't like what Cargo does as a flesh peddler. We have anyone else?"

[Josh]

"I got some people," he said ambiguously. Like whoever of his clanmates could be lured into cooperating for the moment, but he couldn't discuss his backing from Samson. "The big G is a possibility, I got an in with him. I'll see what his interests are in the area."

[Charon]

Marcus thought for a moment. "Anybody we know is gonna be pissed off by this? I'm guessing the blue bloods and the artists."

[Josh]

He shrugged. "They'll get over it. Sooner or later. Which reminds me, let's go stir some shit up, huh?" He headed for the stairway to go down to the warehouse exit.

[Charon]

Marcus followed after him. "Eventually yeah, but they aren't gonna like their favorite getting offed. And in typical... ventrue fashion, they'll send hordes of cannon fodder at us. You're business might get in trouble too."

[Josh]

He trotted down the stairs. "They aren't the only ones who can tap a horde of cannon fodder. And I can grab their fucking balls, pal. Let's see how they like it when the local Teamsters decide to take a walk, huh?"

[Charon]

Marcus smirked. "They'll hit you just as hard man with the police. But I'll see what I can do to get them off your back. As we've seen if there's one thing I'm good at it's pissing mobsters off." Marcus turned his smirk into a grin. "So where are we heading?"

[Josh]

"Comes to it, we'll hit them, they'll hit us, and we'll see who can stay on their feet longer. We're headed out to the shanties..."

He stopped by the door, noticing the note Chicken Boy had left. He opened it, read it with clenched teeth, then handed it over to the Freak.

"That little cunt. Time to solve this problem once and for all."

[Charon]

Marcus read over the message. "Looks like he's willing to do Cargo in for us. Dumb ass, we don't want credit for killing Cargo." He looked over to his cohort. "He kills Cargo, we just step in and take over for his business. And he'll get lynched. I'm gonna keep this note. We need him alive, for now."