2020-06-01 What's Wrong With AC/DC?
What's Wrong With AC/DC?
Participants: Snake, Ashlynn, Liam, Clint, Addison
Location: The Bawn - Fremont Hotel - Memorial Hall
Date and Time: June 1st 2020
Summary: A conversation about things going on lately.
What was once a woman's parlor and reading rooms has been converted into a chapel-like hall. The stucco walls are the color of old parchment, with the top of the wall adorned with an end to end series of alcoves into which an array of statues in a variety of art styles and materials sits to honor the many totems of the sept and its packs. The redwood pillars and beams are etched thickly with glyphs and reflect the light from trays of red-cupped candles to be lit in memorial or ritual.
At the front of the hall is a striking pure white marble altar set before a mural depicting the five phases of the moon and surrounding a Great Basin bristlecone pine that grows from the wall and the cavern stone behind it, and twists to form a living canopy of green above. Legend says it's a clipping given to the sept from Methuselah, believed to be the oldest living plant in California and possibly the world. Iron chandeliers hang down to provide light, their chains lost in the branches.
The remaining walls are laden with an array of hand-sized plaques of steel either marked with a name and glyphs or left unadorned. They're mausoleums, each containing some kind of relic or ashen remains of a sept member gone.
A good night of sleep, a hearty meal and shower, and Ash has made her way down to the inner sanctum of the Fremont Hotel. Standing near the altar and looking towards the grand tree growing from the wall, the Fury seems quiet, thoughtful, eyes skimming the plaques of the fallen.
Snake is kneeling in front of one statue in particular, with an stick of incense burnt almost to its very end in front of him. The one he's in front of is that of Fox, and a few moments after Ashlynn arrives the ember winks out and the last of the ash crumbles away. Snake reaches out to touch the statue's shoulder, then retrieves the end of the stick and rises to his feet.
Ashlynn is standing near the Altar, looking the tree and the plaques near it, reading the names. Snake has just risen from a kneeling position near the statue of the Fox. The motion draws Ash's attention. She gives him a moment more before breaking the silence. "Afternoon." Greeting him simply. "Didn't realize anyone was in here."
Snake is rising from kneeling in front of the niche with Fox's statue in it, and he pockets the dead end of an incense stick in the process. "Hey," he replies to Ashlynn. "That happens a lot when folks are quiet and still." His voice is still the usual rumbling bass, but it's rather quieter than usual, in here.
Liam can be found out easily enough by the smell of his recent joint as he wanders through the hotel and into the antechamber filled with memorials. It's a quiet and reflective place, until there are others. He steps lightly into the room to find Snake and Ashlynn already here. Perhaps the faint whiff of a Sandy? He offers an easy smile for the two here and a little wave, not getting involved just yet unless invited.
"Is Fox a spirit you favor? Or asking for a favor?" Ash asks, curious, then looking towards the movement of another joining. "Liam. Good to see you." she greets, backing up a bit from the altar and making plenty of space for them to talk without feeling crowded or strung out across the resting place of the dead. "I was looking to see if Athena was here."
Snake nods to the arriving Liam. "Boss," he says, then looks to Ashlynn. "Fox was the totem of my old pack," he says. "I take a few moments every month to remember them all, and thank our totem for her efforts." And then he shakes his head. "Haven't seen her. Then again I'm not sure what she looks like."
Liam grunts a bit and lifts a hand to give a lazy salute to the Fury before nodding slowly. "She is, along with the others," he moves by her to show the plaque with a photo from the 80's showing Athena, Mason, and the others giving their best flexes for the camera and generally looking goofy. Clearly the picture was Liam's choice. A smile for Snake as well, "All of the Totems have a place in our fight, it's good to thank them all for what they've given."
"It's good to remember those we've lost. I'm sure the Lunes still whisper their deeds." Ash says gently, moving to the plaque that Liam finds for her, studying the picture. Briefly brushing her fingertips over it, she looks like she has questions, but opts to stay quiet. "How did the Tellurian jaunt go?" she asks, looking between the two.
Snake nods to Liam. "Right," he agrees of thanking the totems, before looking to Ash again at the question. "Didn't learn much," he says. "But there's something about the gas that didn't smell right. I'd never have picked it up if I hadn't spent a long, long time around flammables. We need someone to start digging into their computer and find out who's supplying them with what. And I need to go break their CD player permanently, but that's a matter of professional pride."
This gives cause for another soft grunting from the Sept Leader, "I still tell their stories at the Moots," he tells Ash with a wane smile. A broad shouldered shrug comes and goes, "We found enough for it to be sus, but we couldn't go breaking into the back room without risking the Veil, and Flynn saw something on the other side of the Mirror that spooked him," a nod to Snake for his added details. "What's wrong with AC/DC?" he laughs, knowing he's obtusely missing the point of it being a terrible cover band.
"Tigerlily is pretty good with computers, and I bet she'd love the chance to put a dent in the bad guys, one way or another." Ash muses, leaning to give Liam's shoulder a light clap with her hand, then a squeeze before she gets back out of his personal bubble. "What's wrong with AC/DC?" she asks, assuming that's what was being played.
Snake opens his waistcoat to reveal that today's shirt is an AC/DC shirt, then strips it off and turns round so that the word 'CREW' can be seen on the back of it. "/That/," he says with some authority, "Weren't AC/DC." The waistcoat goes back on, and he turns to face the other two again. He's standing in front of Fox's niche, chatting with Liam and Ashlynn. "I got in the back room, boss. Nothing of any real consequence."
Liam is happy for the support and gives the big Cliath badass a brilliant smile as he pushes right on past all that feelings stuff and goes back to being his happy go lucky self. "Tigerlily! Yes, that'd be freakin sweet, I'm just hung up on trying to make this Warehouse thing go off without a hitch so I've been kinda distracted, um see if she can get anything whatthefucksitcalled...remotely?" he offers. Then he's cackling a bit and bumping his shoulder against Ash's, "It was one of the worst fuckin cover bands I've personally ever heard," he agrees and then hums at Snake's reveal, "Alright well sounds like there's still junk goin on with the gas, and the Shadow, so it's worth delving into deeper."
Addison steps into the Memorial Hall. His brows lift when he sees the small gathering inside. "Ah-- I'm not intruding, am I?" He checks, looking from Snake to Ash to Liam.
Laughing, Ash bumps Liam back. "Oh no. Nothing worse than bad cover bands when you've heard the real thing." She considers. "Did you, by chance look for wyrm taint in the gas? Though.. city." Ash catches herself and makes a bit of a face. "If Tigerlily can't get the information without going on-site, might be able to get invoices that are thrown away. Where they're getting the fuel from shouldn't be impossible to figure out."
"The Umbra is a mess, but we got two Furmlings and a couple of hoglings squared away last night." Addison pokes his head in and she beckons him over.
Snake eyes Ashlynn. "Yeah, because trying to scent the Wyrm while standing on a huge gas tank, next to a freeway we know is full of Banes, is going to tell us much," he says drily. "I spent nearly twenty years as a pyrotechnician. There was something not quite right about the smell of the gas. I don't know what was wrong - it was subtle - but it was something." He glances over towards the doorway, and offers Addison a nod. "Hey." And then back to the other two, "Be surprised if it's not handled online."
Clint runs into the hall and jinks to the side to crouch down beside one of the statues. He's hiding. Very, very poorly. He stays there, still and silent until he hears voices and looks to see that he's in fact, not alone in the room. He looks at them then back the way he came. Over and over. After a bit he finally talks. "Um...I....am....hiding." He shrugs and stays there, trying to tuck in as best he can. An impossible task.
Liam throws a smile towards Addison, "No, I don't think so, we were just talking about giving our respects and recent missions to boot," he says before grunting, "Yeah, woulda been great if we had someone with Sense the Wyrm, I just've always had someone around with it," he admits a bit chagrinned. "Well we have other resources, too, Kinfolk in places of importance might be able to find some things out," he notes. The Raggie earns his attention next and he greets the other wolf with a fond shoulder bump, "S'goin on, with you, man?" And then there's a Clint. There's a slow blink blink stare of sorts and then he offers the big guy a brilliant smile and goes, "Man, did you hear somethin?" to Ash and Snake as if Clint was perfectly hidden.
Addison nods to Snake in greeting. He immediately scoots to let Clint in, raising an eyebrow at the Metis. He reaches over to scoot a decorative urn in front of Clint. He glances over to Liam. "I'm alright at sniffing out Wyrm. It's a little hard in the city, though. Very easy for me to get overstimulated." He offers, hinting he did indeed have the trick for that. He glances to Ash. "I hope Tigerlily has an escort if she's snooping."
"Snake's got the right of it. I'm so sued to Western Eye, where we're further from all the residual taint and things stand out more." Ashlynn says with a smile for the dry sarcasm of Snake's reply. "It went pretty smooth..." She pauses to look over at Clint and squint a bit, then quickly looks away. "Na, didn't hear a -thing-. Anyway, we had minimal injuries, brought down a Jaggling Furmling, a gaffling one, and a trio of Hoglings. Those are annoying. Pretty good at blowing people around, but the fire was pretty well contained. Everyone made it home on their own feet. So hopefully it bought us some time on that side, in terms of dealing with the bigger problem. I think.. there's still a second gas station to look into, too, isn't there? Plus the warehouse with the nine banes. Looks like there's plenty to worry about. If I can help with any of it, let me know."
Snake smiles at Ashlynn's response. His head tilts a little to one side at the rest. "So we're dealing with the warehouse, then? I thought the Glass Walkers had informed us that it was their territory and we weren't invited to the party?" Either he hasn't noticed Clint or he isn't noticing Clint.
Clint stares back to look or his pursuer and glances at the group on occassion. Eventually, he stands up and abandons his hiding to walk over closer. This is more important. "Oh..um...if the source was not found I can go take a look." He forces a smile with a shrug and points at Addison. "Like him, I can sense the wyrm. I can also go almost anywhere in the city and people will leave me alone." He motions towards himself and his dirty everything. "People do not like to talk to us." He rubs at his face with a big yawn.
Liam seems proud of Ash and the retelling of the battle, especially the part about the victory. Addison's worry is given a nod, "We're not sending Kinfolk in by themselves, first thing is checking the remote side, if we can't get anywhere with that, we'll arrange another, closer look." Ash gets another grunt, "There's always plenty to worry about, LA is a grindstone and we're the meat and bones to make the paste," he explains with a slight grimace, "It's why I keep preaching work smarter, not harder." Snake pulls his attention and he chuffs, "That was never the deal, Tao and Bunny are always gonna chest-puff about the stupidest shit. Sometimes just to see what they can get away with in Gideon's name," he explains, "And what do we care that they're pullin Territory while the Deed's in their name, it'll be in our name when we're done or they're in violation of the Litany and they know it. They're bringing warriors and ritualists, so are we, and the Rattos might show up, a great host of Gaia's Boot kickin some wyrmy ass, this is the dream and the life, guys," he waxes a little poetic. Clint's offer of help is noted and he grins at the big guy, "Soon, man, not by yourself though, alright?"
Snake grimaces at Clint's words, then looks to Liam. "No offence, boss, but we need to look into the suppliers of those gas stations. Find out what's coming in, maybe, but definitely where it's coming from. And the best way to do that is by getting into their computers. I got into the back room in that gas station, there was nothing useful there, and I doubt it'll be much different in the other one. So go for the invoices online, find out where it's coming from, and look into /that/ instead. We need to track it up the line." And then a nod. "So it's an everyone-party at the warehouse. Thanks for letting me know that, 'preciate it."
"Maybe we can work on it together, with Liam's approval," Addison says. "I need a bit of a rest after last night, but I'm hoping tomorrow Forged-In-Flame and I can take Den-Digger looking for that spirit offering I mentioned to you." He nods towards Snake. When the station was mentioned again Addison tilts his head. "What was the name of the station again? Or the Brand I, suppose?" He frowns contemplatively. "I was out at Standing Rock during the real heat of the push back against the Pipeline. We had Kinfolk there we needed to support. Saw some... stuff... out there."
Ashlynn huh's. "Is there trouble wit the Glass Walkers?" she asks, curiosity a blessing and a curse. "Just a Cliath, but I agree totally. We get the.... Oh, hey, Clint. where'd you come from?" She teases, nodding to the huge Theurge. "Um... Train of thought... Oh! I think Tigerlily is a good bet." She considers, looking between them, thinking. The rest, it seems, is gone. Scattered. "Who is liable to be running the groundwork on the warehouse?"
"I do everything alone.." Clint starts to object to what he was told but he trails off and nod his head. "Yes, Rhya." He grins at Ashlynn and points towards the statue he was beside. "Maybe someone can drive to that gas station and buy some gas. Get one of those cans. We can check the gas inside safely somewhere away from the rest of the station's taint."
Liam doesn't seem ruffled in the slightest he just nods along at Snake, "Think we're gonna get Tigerlily to look into it, or see if Billie's got the time to do just that, no offense taken - we're on the same page, mon frere," he grins big and nods, "We're gonna hunt through digital trails and Weaver lines, unfortunately, somethin' Pops and His couldn't have predicted not livin up north in San Jo, but here we are dealin with it." A grunt and he nods, "Warehouse thing is an everyone-party, just the Wu's won the bid for host," he shrugs uncaringly and makes a masturbation gesture of disdain, clearly no skin off his nose. "We just gotta abide our fancier brothers' lead, then we get our first real foothold in Skid Row in ...years. Think about that guys, making progress again, that's the real goal. Any swallowing of pride along the way is worth it," the Sept Leader clearly trying to impress the outlook he'd like shared. Addi gets a nod and he considers, "Talk to Flynn first before you go forming teams to venture back. He saw some shit, and if you're going Umbra you're goin with him. Remember dead heroes don't do Gaia any good," and he gives a solemn glance at the plaques on the wall. Wolves in their prime, all. Then he gives a heavy exhale through flapping lips that turns into flatulent noises, "Well shit, Clint. That's fuckin simple as shit, couple Kinfolk can get us a sample without raising any suspicions. Let's get that done in conjunction with our Net Crawlers doin their thing, maybe we get enough info to set wolves to task without blinders on."
