2020-06-19 Bad Hoodoo-Noir Part One
Bad Hoodoo-Noir Part One
Participants: Nevaeh Mariana Jason
Storyteller: Ripley
Location: 77th Police Precinct, Southland
Date and Time: June 19th, 2020 16:00
Summary: Gaian Kinfolk discover where in the Precinct Building the badness is.
Mood Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btDQdCEcrLU
The 77th Street Precinct is located just over the 110 that separates Skid Row, the Fashion District and South LA from the Inland Empire region. This freeway is typically the demarcation point between Spiral territory and Gaian territory. Depending on how gnosistic(word?) a Kinfolk might be, they may have had their own visit from a trenchcoat wearing spirit of Justice. Other kinfolk would've been recruited person to person to go and visit the precinct.
The Precinct itself has a roundabout in front for drop offs as well as a parking lot. Its a two-story building with an underground level accessible via internal stairways from the lobby. A Bone Gnawer Theurge of some repute had given each kinfolk that was part of this scouting mission a talen that he murmured about being a 'bad hoodoo finder'. It vibrates in the presence of Wyrm stench like an N64 rumblepak and it buzzes at the proximity of Banes across the gauntlet like a restaurant letting people know a party's table is ready. It had been twitching off and on throughout the journey through the city until it gains a low steady buzz in the pocket of whoever might be carrying it once arriving near the precinct.
The black Mercedes Coupe rolls down the dark streets with Jason in the driver's seat, taking his time and minding the speed limit as he watches the talen dangle from his rear view mirror in front of him. The Shadow Lord kin has the radio turned off, listening to the sounds of the city around him as he stares out the windows of his dark tinted glass. He'll turn this way and that as the talen vibrates, trying to triangulate as best as he can. He has an earpiece as well, so that he can tap it and call Mariana or Neveah if necessary to link up and share information.
Nevaeh parks her truck a couple blocks down, not wanting to bother with parking around the station. Talen tucked safely in her pocket she walks in with the folded piece of paper containing a vin number she pulled off one of her random junkers. She heads in, stopping at the front to look for directions towards a detective that handles auto theft, intent on having it run as a possible stolen vehicle. She takes her time walking the hallway, stopping from time to time to pretend to read her paper, or look at a picture as she walks.
In many other neighborhoods, Mariana's beat up toyota might be the worst care on the block, but in the paid parking lot just across the street from the precinct? Can blend in just fine. Once parked, she double checks to make sure the talen's wrapped up securely and stuffed in her blazer pocket and her phone in hand, she heads straight for the reception desk and take a place in line. gar off
The ride all the way to the Precinct and parking in place at least verifies that /this/ place has a tint of Wyrm like the ketchup based amalgamation baked atop a meatloaf. Crossing the threshold into the lobby sets the talen to wobbling a touch higher against hand or interior pocket.
Nevaeh gets directed downstairs towards Evidence/Vice/Mail Room to find a detective or patrolman willing to run the VIN through the stolen vehicles database.
Mariana's wait in the reception line takes a few minutes, during which time she can continue to feel the unchanged hum of underlying Wyrm-taint against her until she gets nearly to the reception desk and the desk Sergeant is scowling across at a rather unassuming older woman. "If ya want to fix, your fix-it ticket, you're gonna need to go *upstairs*" A point towards signs above stairs in a manner altogether too hostile for giving directions, "To traffic. Alright? Alright." Then Mariana can be left ALL ALONE with grumpy police officer who's proximity sets the thing to buzz-buzz-buzz.
Jason's parking spot leaves him amid the public visiting the precinct and he will get the increased buzz of taint as soon as he enters the building.
Once the Mercedes parks, Jason slips the talen into his hoodie pocket and climbs out. He locks the door and heads inside the building slowly, giving a casual glance around curiously as he takes his time. No need to rush of course. As he moves on, he heads into the lobby, then looks around as he keeps a hand on his talen to feel the vibrations through it. In his free hand, he taps along his phone's glass.
Nevaeh tucks her hands into her pockets as she walks, slipping a hand around her talen as she heads up a floor and makes her way back towards the desks. She meanders where she can, going to the bathroom, getting 'lost' a couple of times as she heads in that general vicinity. She's going to walk around until she annoys someone long enough to get chased off.
Mariana waits patiently, keeping an elbow on that pocket to try and reduce any possible noise from the buzzing bad hoodoo finder while also not miss if there's any sudden surge in activity from it. When it's finally her turn at the desk, she steps up to the grumpy police officer with a smile. "Would one of the community relations officer be in today? I'd been trying to get in touch with one of them since the last C-PAB meeting. About the Jeopardy program they talked about last month...?" If they didn't talk about the youth gang prevention program then, surely they talked about it recently, right?
"I don't keep track, lady." Grumpy Officer continues his grumpy demeanor at Mariana. "If they are, they're going to be down the hall to your left. Don't go right. The Degens in lockup are to the right." Now that she is close enough, she can see a scattered pile of gum wrappers along with a box of nicoret gum. Jason's buzz picks up as soon as he walks in to the steady hum of a wretched hive of scum and villainy. When he comes in, he is beside a bald Hispanic gentleman wearing a bandana about his head who turns to go down the hall that Mariana will be taking to go look for her community relations officer. Downstairs where Nevaeh is has the winding labyrinthe corridors that one may expect of Malfeas. Yet there is still a variable to which hallways and corridors set a thing to buzz or not. Down here though? Individual officers that walk past her may set her bad hoodoo detector to near audible whining vibration are disparate but the ones that DO set it off all have scowls like they're ready to kick puppies.
"Hey, Maria. Glad to catch up with you. Did you ask about the thing?" Jason says as he catches up with her, trotting quicker towards her side. He gives the bald Hispanic man a quick glance, though he doesn't linger. Never stare at a potential gangster. It'd be considered a challenge. He just walks down the hallway, looking to keep Mariana company as he goes. He taps along the glass of his phone, shooting Nev a text: 'With Mari, just left lobby. U okay?'
Nevaeh jumps a little as her phone goes off, not the pocket she was expecting vibration from. She gives a passing, scowling cop a smile, pulling out her phone to type a response. "So far so good I think. But I've got cops down here pinging pretty hard." She slides the phone back into her pocket but doesn't let go of it, keeping it palmed in case she needs to use it again.
"Thank you, Officer..." Mariana attempts to look for the man's name badge to address him by name (and get the name for herself) before she turns towards the hallway that was pointed out. Jason's arrival gets a wave and an even bigger smile. "Heeeeeeey. Glad you could show up! I think the guy we needed to talk to about the volunteering he said was right down this way..." She'll not slow much for Jason to catch up as she walks **with purpose** towards the offices, only slowing when she starts to look for names next to the doors.
"Officer Hicks." The Officer says with a grumble as /another/ piece of gum gets shoved into his gullet to be gnawed upon. Afterwards, its now Mariana, Jason and the potential gangster are walking down the same hallway together. He is even so kind enough to give the pair a quick smile of friendly demeanor. At the T-split of the hallway, the HoodooVoodooDiviningRods in their pockets amp their vibration before calming as they head towards where the Community relations officer might be.
Downstairs, Nevaeh is still awash in occasional rumblies in the tumblies if that was where her hoodoo-detector was. Until she turns down a hallway and lands in front of the Evidence Room door where the thing sets off an audible whine of vibrator like a jet turbine readying for takeoff until poofing into ceasing to work at all. Burnt out.
"Cool. Glad you know where you're going." Jason says as he scuttles up along her side, walking with a quick gait, then goes about in a normal stride. He gives the girl at his side a bit of a gentle shoulder bump as the talens stop their vibrating. "Think we went the wrong way. I saw a sign that says .." He tilts his head in the other direction, giving a glance over his shoulder down the hallway. Seems like they were just about to get hot, then it gets cold.
Nevaeh takes the time to turn and lean up against a wall, sliding her phone back out as she fires off another text. 'Got a bingo. Evidence Room. Mine burned out.' Then turns to actually head where she said she was going, in case anyone was watching her.
"Oh, did I get turned around again?" Mariana spins as Jason shares the text message and points to the other hallway. "So this way?" She'll follow the vibration but point as if asking Jason for confirmation on directions.
Some sort of mild argument is going on down the hallway that Mariana and Jason turn to walk towards. Lock-up. 'Holding'. The chummy gangster is now leaving and the pair's vibratto wyrm-singing talens set themselves off as the gangster walks past them head out of the precinct. Downstairs, Nevaeh is left relatively alone especially without any crazy thing jumping out of her pocket. The junker that she has come to 'check on' inevitably comes up clean in the system for her. Whenever she makes her way back upstairs, it'll be easy for her to note that Lockup is just abovee the Evidence Room in the grand scheme of the building.
"Seems like it." Jason says to Mariana as he nods, tapping away on his phone to Nev. 'Gangster walked by and the thingy went off the chain.' He swings his hand a bit with his phone, giving a practiced twist of his wrist to snap a picture of the gangster with the sound turned off. He does it so effortlessly as he continues to move. 'We are near lockup.'
"What was he doing there thought?" Mariana whispers to Jason and while he's texting, she'll inch closer to peek down hallway she had been told not to go down.
Nevaeh politely thanks the officer for their time and heads back up to the same floor the other two are on, glancing as it vibrates with their location. She pockets it and after turning down the hallway, glances down and purses her lips. When she finally spots the two she walks over, giving them both a nod of her chin. "We're right over the evidence room." the smile she gives them a little tense. "Mine screamed its head off then popped. You guys?"
Once Nev reaches the two of them, Jason leans against a wall, casually glancing down at his phone, then back to them as he taps along the glass to send them both a message. 'That guy walked in with us, not a blip. He walked into the holding area, came back and it started vibrating. Maybe bad drugs passing in a handoff? They could be making bad crack here in the prison.' He places a foot behind him for balance as he gives his talen another squeeze with his free hand.
"I think there's a smoking area out back," Mariana stares just a moment longer at the lock up area before she turns to her cohorts. "A little fresh air." A bit paranoid about discussing inside, she'll wave for the others to follow her. And even outside, she'll keep her voice hushed and an eye out for passerbys. "Don't think it's drugs. Be too blatant for someone to walk in, buy some tainted drugs in the middle of a precinct then walk off. The officer at the front desk had some vibes too. And was going through gum like crazy."
Nevaeh shakes her head lightly, "Don't know, but I think we've got our part of things done for now." She glances towards the holding area then back to the other two kin, turning to walk along with Mariana. She holds her peace until they're outside. "Or whatever is downstairs is radiating taint so badly it's soakin' in while people are here. I mean, I doubt the cops that walked by me where all cokeheads. Unless you guys can think of anything else, we should probably bug out and report what happened, yeah? Might need a cleansing to boot."
As he follows after them, Jason gives a nod of his head as he gives a glance down at the phone in his hands, looking at the picture of the gangster. "That is also true. Either way, yeah, we localized the source. Though this may warrant a trip to peek on the other side. Maybe talk to Flynn about this." He says softly to the pair of them. "He's a roach and our resident expert. He may have some guidance for next steps."
Nevaeh arches an eyebrow, "Rip's the one that gave us the doohickies and sent us in, so I'd say we bring it back to him first?" She shrugs a little bit, "Either way, I think I'm done hanging around the police station for one day." She smirks, lifting her phone to fire off a text to Ripley. 'We're done, bad juju. Need a shower.'
"A cleansing probably wouldn't be a bad idea," Mariana frowns a bit as she takes out her hoodoo finder and holds it near jason, then Nevaeh, then a step away. Definitely some buzzing, going on. Some stronger than others. "For all of us. So, to the junkyard?"
"Sure, you can tell Ripley." Jason slips his talen out as it hums, then watches as Mariana holds it near Neveah. He holds it near himself, then holds it out to Nev. He flips the device around in his hands a few times. "Hm." He says thoughtfully. "Yeah, let's head back." He says as he starts for his parked Mercedes, slipping the device back into his hoodie.
