Flowers and Canvases.
Drake didn't get his Peanut Buster.
It seems Sloane has some strong opinions about it all. She spoke about how she had zero confidence in Auri as a leader, the Coven's goals, and whatnot. Personally... Drake was done playing cult, and he had zero interest in the Sycamore Tree Coven past defeating Father Wolf even
if they aligned with his goals. That ship has, unfortunately, sailed.
"Heh, I don't think a bunch of kids singing under a tree had that much legitimacy either."That was the first thing that Drake said. He leaned a bit over the table, his hands together, fingers interlocked. He watched as Sloane handed out her cards, but he didn't take one. He dwelled over Sloane's words about Auri, and while she was friendly, Drake knew better than to trust her unquestioningly. At the same time, this partnership (which is what Drake called it for now) won't work if they don't trust each other just a
little. Then Sloane dropped the golden question at them all...
“Maybe I’m out of line. Maybe I'm missing something obvious. I’m curious what you all think. Do any of you even have a desire to actually rejoin a Coven, let alone a Coven exclusively controlled by Auri? Are you interested in protecting this city? Are you just here for revenge?”
Before he could speak, however, Drake
finally got his peanut buster. The parfait was slid across the table and landed right in front of him, and he looked up to see Jack.
”Consider it a peace offering, for ambushing you earlier,”
"Hmph, thanks."Kali and Luca shared their opinions, and DraKe was somewhat inclined to agree with Luca... at the same time, what Kali said made a lot of sense. Kali said what Drake was thinking when he said...
"Or anyone else really. Nobody here's fit to take charge of everyone in this situation, so I'm not even going to bother suggesting anything like that."
That hit the nail on the head. Sadly, there wasn't anyone better in this situation. If Drake took charge, people like Tayla would be on his neck. While Drake's philosophies aligned with hers, Sloane was bent on alienating everyone in the Coven. There was no way that the Coven would follow behind
Britney, especially given Stormy's reaction to seeing her after ten years. He'd place some stock in Simone being the only reasonable choice, but Drake doubted she would even
want to be the leader! The others were not leadership material.
Well, it was time for Drake to air out his thoughts.
"Honestly, I think that the Coven should have disbanded after the Stygian Snake was defeated... afterward, it was nothing but a shitshow," Drake started.
I don't have anything against Auri or her leadership... right now, that is. But, no matter who calls themselves the leader, things aren't going to be any better or worse. It's still chaotic as it was when we were fighting the Stygian Snake. Just look at that meeting!" Drake laughed, then shrugged.
"But, I'm all for giving people chances... you all are being a bit too hard on the gal before she even had a chance to prove herself!" Drake dramatically waved his hand up into the air.
"Have you considered bringing some of this stuff to Auri? All know she's a reasonable gal... I doubt she'll flip out over this like Daisy or Ashley used to do.""So I'd say we should at least set up a line of communication with each other. None of us here trusts everyone, but I can imagine we can all at least figure out one or two people who we trust enough to have our backs. Having a chain where one person checks up on the next in a loop like this during a daily designated time will at least minimize some of the risk of getting caught out alone for whoever this father wolf figure is to pick us off. Alternatively making small groups that can wander around together might also be fine though it will interfere with any of your daily lives if you choose that route but once again, it's your own lives we're talking about here. The main point is that there's safety in numbers. Father wolf's an unknown quantity. Could be a severely powerful individual or a whole organization and we don't even know what they want aside from all of us dead. I'm not saying we need to organize into a proper coven again but I do heavily recommend we at least try to lay low for a bit and stick together until we have more information on the situation. After all, St. Portwell's already a powder keg waiting to burst. I'd rather not stir the pot and start a war whilst we're in the middle of this mess just because we have a few tenuous leads that might be red-herrings all-together."
Drake shrugged.
"I'm down with this plan, but this reminds me of something I thought about..." Drake rubbed his chin, looked at everything, then raised his head.
"... How do we even know that it's Father Wolf in the first place?"
Veni Vedi Veni - Parking Lot.
Accusations, threats, and insults are being slung left and right.
Alizée claimed that she was jumped by these girls during her own "private investigation" (which warranted suspicion in and of itself). At the same time, the opposing side claimed that Alizée attempted to kidnap their friend out of the strip club. Stormy didn't help by jumping to conclusions based on old wounds (as he loved to), but he was missing the bigger picture. Britney looked to the left and then the right and spoke to Alizée (and sort of Stormy).
"Look, it doesn't matter who did what; it's over. Let's just get out of here before this..."Then Alizée broke, attacking Stormy and the girl with the dreads with her shadow hands - screaming like a maniac!
"... Escalates."Britney's heart rate went up as she watched. Thankfully, Sully managed to get the girl out of the way, and Stormy cast a spell that eliminated the shadow hand. That left Alizée, as Britney needed to calm her down, and she agreed with Stormy. However, Britney knew the perfect way to calm down Alizée.
"Alizée, STOP! Don't you know this is what they want?! They want to fly off the handle because you're proving them right. Don't let them control you and get you out of your energy like this!"However, she heard a group of motorcycles approaching...
... Followed by a gunshot.
Veni Vedi Veni - Parking Lot.
”You know about the Sycamore. I feel like so should remember you, have we met before? I haven’t been in town since things broke down, back in the day.”
Naomi turned towards Stormy, slapping a hand on her hip as she said,
"We have not met before, sir, but we have a mutual friend," She tilted her head towards Sully, "And we're
very familiar with your former Coven sister, Em-"
Naomi barely had time to process things and got shoved to the ground unexpectedly by Sully... she looked up and saw the shadow hands narrowly miss her as she felt a newfound appreciation for their friend. Only for that to get replaced with rage. She bared her teeth as she hopped up to her feet, getting ready to kick Alizée's ass.
"Alright, bitch,
let's-"
"No, no,
no!" Jessica quickly ran before Naomi, putting her back to the girl as she stretched her arms out. Acting as a shield to block the two parties from continuing fighting. "I'm sorry, but we are
leaving."
Naomi narrowed her eyes, putting her teeth away.
"The kid's right; the
Wolfpack's comin'! And the PRA might be on the way, too! I don't know if you guys know about them, but they are two groups that you
don't want to deal with. Later!"
"Jess, where is your truck?"
"At my parent's house, heh, took the bus, sister!"
"Yeah, I don't care if we gotta walk, let's haul as-"
"EGGPLANT!"
Autumn shouted, pointing down the street, when everyone
finally noticed the motorcycle engines in all the chaos. There were several.
And it didn't take a genius to tell what
that meant.
"Aw, fuck me!" Jessica shouted.
"Alright, we
have to go,"
It was too late; the bikers stopped skidding, blocking them.
The PRA Headquarters.
on the very outskirts of St. Portwell,
a massive and official building stands tall. Outside of the building's gates is a sign that says
Global Freight Solutions
, but many would note that people rarely go in or out of the building - with some law enforcement vehicles (including a helicopter) occasionally flying in or out. Many conspiracy theorists have broken in only to mysteriously end up back home as if it were a dream.
That's because it's the PRA headquarters.
Deep within the halls of this PRA building,
a tall, African-American woman with braids (not dreads you racists) sat in an office chair in a dimly lit office room wearing a suit. She had the backrest leaned back and had her feet (sans shoes) on the empty desk. The office room was empty - like literally, there were only the desks and the desk separators. She was typing away on her cell phone.
Someone opened the door, and she turned her head to see a
a well-built African-American man that stood a few inches shorter than her. He leaned against the doorframe and had a shit-eating grin on his face as he said,
"... You know Meifeng will have your throat if she sees you sitting like Agent Phillips,"
Agent Phillips rolled her eyes.
"Meifeng- I mean, Agent Liao is off for the rest of the night and barely cares about what we do here as long as we don't burn down the building, Agent Brown," Agent Phillips answered as she stood straight up.
Agent Brown shrugged.
"Just teasin',"
"We have a problem; Agent Manolo said there's a Paranormal fight outside a strip club of all places, and then it went dark." Agent Phillips said as she walked over to Agent Brown.
"Do we know how many are fighting? What they can do...?" Agent Brown asked.
"I asked, but Agent Manalo went dark," Agent Phillips said.
"Maybe she got a lap dance, heh," Agent Brown chuckled.
"Go get ready, and I'm going to gather the others and tell them to get ready, too."
"Everyone else is in the rec room, I think," Agent Brown said, "But I could probably get over there faster in Phoenix form. You know the normies can't see it."
"Go ahead and make sure that Agent Manalo is okay,"
"Gotcha'," Agent Brown said as he took off, and Agent Phillips went to find her special and trainee Agents. The Recreation Room wasn't that far away; Agent Phillips was just in there, after all. The halls of the PRA building were quiet and dimly lit, as it usually would be full of activity. Agent Phillips found the activity when she approached the rec room and heard the sounds of a TV and the excitable and endearingly childish sounds of Agent Obott and Agent Mayfield, probably playing on the arcade machine. When Agent Phillips turned the corner, she saw Agent Obott and Agent Mayfield playing foosball.
"... I'm getting you back for that game of Mortal Kombat the other day!"
Agent Obott, a short and very feminine guy with very long hair, wearing a tank top that was almost transparent and jeans tucked into some combat boots, was on one side.
"... Hey! That's not fair! I'm slippery!" Agent Mayfield,
a short blonde-haired woman with bright green eyes, and some inhuman, frog-like features - webbed hands, padded toes and fingertips, and a mouth full of teeth, was on the other.
Agent Obott hit the decisive blow and sent the ball careening across the foosball field, landing in Agent Mayfield's goal and he threw his arms in the air, shouting, "Boo-yah!"
He turned over to Agent Barrett... the most inhuman out of the bunch,
who appeared to be a humanoid mantis with a green exoskeleton, antennae, and two large eyes on the sides of her head. She was wearing grey sweatpants and a hoodie a few sizes too big.
"You want a round, Fiona?" Agent Obott said to Agent Barrett.
"Oh, um," Agent Barrett said, "I'm good."
That was when Agent Phillips took a step forward and shouted.
"Listen up! Everyone get ready, we got a situation on the north-east!"
"Hey, I'm off today," Agent Obott said.
"Well, too bad you're hanging around the building, so that must mean you want something to do."
"Aw."
"Gladly!" Agent Mayfield hopped to her feet. "Can I bring my sniper rifle?!"
"Of course," Agent Phillips said. "Agent Manalo reported a fight at the Veni Vedi Veni club between a bunch of Paranormals."
"What? Did somebody try to get out of paying for a lapdance?" Agent Obott said as he walked over.
"No clue, but Agent Manalo went dark; we have to get there
immediately, and ensure that she is okay... I'd hate to have Regional Commander Liao go on the warpath."
"Again!" Agent Mayfield said in a chipper tone.
Stepping through the door was Agent Brown in full body armor... and next to him was Agent Page,
a short blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman with spiky hair, also wearing armor. Agent Brown threw a thumb over his shoulder.
"... And look who I found, trying to hide!" Agent Brown stated, "She
really wanted to catch up on her Candy Crush on the clock."
"Look," Agent Phillips said, "We need to hurry up and ensure Agent Manalo is alright. You all have ten minutes. Samson, you go ahead since you're way faster."
"Rodger!" Everyone said in unison before Agent Brown ran out of the room.
"... And it's Agent Brown!" He said before Agent Phillips facepalmed.
Everyone got ready, stuffed themselves into two different St. Portwell Police Department vehicles, and rushed to the Veni Vedi Veni strip club.
Hold on, Agent Manalo... Agent Phillips thought to herself as she sped off.
Interactions: Everyone presesnt, but especially Alizée's (
@Estylwen) bitch ass.
Veni Vedi Veni Parking Lot
Many were used to the roar of the Wolfpack's motorcycles... especially those who lived in the northeasternmost part of St. Portwell. Many were smart enough to clear the streets the second they saw them coming - those even
wiser stayed out of that part of St. Portwell, as the Wolfpack weren't the friendliest lot of people. The howl of their motorcycles rapidly approaching the strip club was not noticed as the group in the parking lot were more concerned with each other.
The lead biker hit the pedal and flew ahead of the rest of the Wolfpack - he was the first to appear on the scene with a skid, and he quickly brandished a Glock, aimed it into the air, and let off a shot into the air. It cut loader than the voices - the chatting, the fighting, and the yelling - as the rest of the Wolfpack skid on scene.
The leader of the bunch,
a very tall, imposing, muscular man with blue eyes and spiky blonde hair, got off his bike, tucking his pistol into his jeans... still having it on open display as he walked up. He cupped his hands together and shouted,
"ALRIGHT, LISTEN UP!"
"Fuck, it's Valjean," Jessica whispered, leaning into Pearl.
"Valjean, Elodie, Shayton, Cyril, Maggy, Dean, and Victor.... no Judas or Curs." Amelia quietly stated.
"He musta' sent all his goons," Jess said.
"This could get very ugly," Pearl whispered.
"Judas only sent his cronies."
Valjean, the second in command of the Wolfpack, walked into the chaos and shouted, "No one is going anywhere! The next person to move is going to get cut the fuck down!"
A scramy, tall, blonde-haired woman put a sadistic smile on her face as she pulled out a pistol. Many would be able to notice the track-marks up and down her arms, but few would likely have the street smarts to tell what they are. "Try me, you ugly motherfuckers! I look forward to putting some of you in the dirt!"
"Now, can someone tell me, who the fuck here killed Joe Skinner?! Don't give me any of that "Aw, we didn't do it, believe us" bullshit! Shit ain't happen until you motherfuckers showed up, thrashing the place! So, you guys have one
fucking minute to decide who the fuck killed a member of our pack before we send all of you to your God!"
Valjean then stomped on the ground.
"So, who did it?!"
"We have no clue what the fuck you're talking about!" Naomi shouted.
"Well, you better figure it out now because Daddy Wolf is on his way... and trust me, if he gets here, all of you motherfuckers are dead!"
"Could it have been one of these guys?" Jessica asked.
"No clue, but we need an opening so Amelia can teleport us out of he-"
"Shut the fuck up and stop plotting like we can't hear you!" Valjean shouted at Pearl.
A member of the Wolfpack, an average-height man with dyed red hair, covered in tattoos, and had very shitty dreads... he pointed a
Norse axe at Alizee and said,
"You there, come here. Before we get testy."
Strangely enough, the air temperature started gradually rising, the water in the vicinity started drying up, and sand began sprinkling all over the area.