Encounterlogs
Ediths Odd Encounter Sr Ritsuka 250402
In the captivating gothic setting of the Howl at the Moon bar, a diverse group assembles to address the aftermath of a devastating event in the city of Haven. Takeshi, a young and brash Yakuza member, Ruprecht, a macabre figure suggesting the disposal of evidence through desecration, William, a rational and organizing force, and Edith, a commanding presence orchestrating the group's efforts, converge to brainstorm solutions for the damage caused by what is inferred to be a magical earthquake. Their discussion covers the logistical handling of human, material, and supernatural debris. The plan involves utilizing Takeshi's Yakuza influence to mobilize construction crews, William's connections to manage supernatural aspects, and Ruprecht's sinister approach to handling the dead, with Edith tying these threads together to orchestrate a comprehensive cleanup.
The operation unfolds with a mix of mundane and supernatural efforts as the group seeks to maintain the facade of normalcy for the city's residents. Under the guise of a normal earthquake's aftermath, they mobilize resources to tackle the physical rubble and the remnants of magic, including a troubling growth of black camellias and a shard of the Other threatening to bloom dangerously in Haven. Takeshi leads the construction effort, ensuring the workers' safety against potential monsters lurking in the disturbed sewers. Meanwhile, Ruprecht deals with the disposal of bodies too cumbersome to identify, blending in as just another laborer among the meth heads enlisted for clean-up. Throughout the operation, the group maintains a keen awareness of the image they project to both the supernatural communities and the city's unsuspecting citizens, crafting a narrative to explain the chaos as a combination of a natural disaster and societal issues. The tale concludes with Ruprecht suggesting a cover story for the media, downplaying the magical catastrophe as a spree robbery fueled by food stamp shortages, encapsulating their endeavor to restore normalcy while navigating the complexities of their hidden world.
(William's odd encounter(SRRitsuka):SRRitsuka)
[Wed Mar 26 2025]
In Howl at the Moon - The Den
Enveloped in the aura of a Gothic cathedral, the expansive chamber at the heart of the masquerade is a realm of dark mystique and grandeur. Its towering, domed roof stretches skyward, while the subdued, golden lighting casts haunting shadows, creating an atmosphere of opulent seclusion. The room's foundations are laid with black marble, veined with serpentine streaks of emerald green, bordered by mahogany walls. One wall, however, breaks this dark harmony with a mesmerizing mosaica spellbinding midnight forest, alive with mythical, vividly colored creatures, offering a startling contrast to the room's somber tones.
In this dream-like sanctum, the traditional bar bustle is replaced by a spectral service. A smiling, unobtrusive server seems to appear and vanish at will, fulfilling whispered desires and preserving the guests' privacy. By the entrance, a full-length mirror stands guard, framed by the sinuous curves of a flowery painting. This reflective gateway offers a moment of introspection, beckoning guests to gaze upon their masked reflections before they delve deeper into the night's enigmatic allure.
It is dawn, about 28F(-2C) degrees, and there are a few dark grey clouds in the sky.
Seeming not entirely pleased to be here, Takeshi stomps his way into the room. Though he's 5'6 and wearing sneakers so the stops weren't quite as intimidating as he might have hoped. "City can't take of issue it's self?!" Takeshi barks in a loud, snippish voice "Need us to take care of issue?!" Takeshi shakes his head with a loud 'TSK' "Our time more important than this, we big time, we Yakuza, we important people"
"Got it, got it" William says with a nod or two before glancing at Takeshi arriving and nodding his head in greeting, and then doing the same for Ruprecht "We have already decided, whatever happens with the clean-up, the flowers are all ending in the Tsubaki... It'll lighten up the place"
"Of course, this is why you are here, Mister Dobbs." Edith nods to Ruprecht. "I am going to use your efforts here in order to induct you into my Shadows."
Takeshi looks over at Ruprecht as he enters in, the teenager grinning wide as he slaps a heavy hand onto the man's back "HEY! IT MY NEW FRIEND!" Takeshi greets the man overly energetically "Obachan not too mean to you, right?" Takeshi asks with a grin that somehow didn't seem smug despite the circumstance, simply friendly "Good to see you still on two feet"
Ruprecht cracks his hands together with steepled fingers, sickening pops ringing through the echo. "So, why aren't we using this thing for disposal, first? Anything to fill the hole before concrete?" Clearly, he's suggesting the desecration of evidence.
Corpses.
"Is that so?" He quirks to Edith, bleeding gums open to eyes as he grins reeeaall bright. "I told her, I told her she was wrong, to name me Intern so soon," He clearly doesn't mean Edith. Someone else. Someone less qualified. A little pride shines through his decaying body and spirit.
"I was walking within minutes, my..." That acrid lisp sets in. "Newfound fellow." not friend, quite, but a respectful acknowledgement. "Not nearly mean enough, I'd argue. She has time. Nothing but time."
"Then again. The end is coming."
Having gathered Ruprecht, William and Takeshi in the den of the Howl at the moon bar; The hidden supernatural room, the scene finds our questionable heroes beginning a council of war to identify the problem and begin working to resolve it. "You." Edith adds to Takeshi. "You are fortunate. I already took my revenge against Muse. Kidnapping one of our minions is countered and all is balanced. I would appreciate you doing so to people I care exactly zero for in future."
Ruprecht directs that sentiment to someone, brow going high.
Ruprecht directs that sentiment to Takeshi, brow going high.
Mirror mirror on the wall- Actually this got nothing to do with mirrors, beyond the fact that some have been shattered. It is a morning in Haven, and just the perfect and right time to actually look an examine the situation. Between societies, it seems everyone was affected in some fashion, even Takeshi carries his own wounds from it all, from the debris and the absence of people fixing much if anything.
That is what the reality actually proved to be, the companies responsible can't focus their effort on any singular issue, and then try all at once, but with the wounded, and some of the dead, there is not enough people to try and get all done all at once. There is several venues that the group could reach out to, resources to rely on to put into the repairing effort, as where the flowers once grown, and roots smashed it all, there now was little of them left, beyond some flowers that still bring the occasional person... to a gate to fall onto their knees... and worship.
"The city cannot take care of itself because this earthquake has been massive... And even if it is just a normal earthquake the whole flowers thing implies magic... And then the sheriff department cuts of the normal means to recover in order to keep some degree of secrecy- And societies should be taking care of it, since the bigger ones haven't done it themselves, we are here to do it ourselves..." William explains to Takeshi calmly with a shake of his head, before pointing out "Edith is almost commanding the Hand, and I'm in a newish cult, you are part of likely what caused this whole issue, so less complaining and more planning, yes?"
Takeshi glances over to Edith with a raised eyebrow "I grabbed first person I find. It not personal." Takeshi tells her quite honestly "If you want people not being grabbed, that need communication ahead of time. I not keep track of every person in Hand" He was being quite snotty it seemed, his nose being turned up. He probably didn't disagree, he was probably just being a teenager about it.
Takeshi looks over as William, as usual the level headed one, attempted to explain the situation to him. "It stupid." Takeshi mumbles under his breath, but none the less, falls in line, looking back to William after a moment "What plan?" Takeshi asks, seeming to assume William was going to be calling the shots.
Takeshi says "Tsubaki have construction workers under command. We can give order if it help us"
"We all bring something to this table." Edith explains to Takeshi. "As Bill suggests, you have connection. You and Kin'Yoko- Hello there, my dear. I trust you are well this morning." Edith speaks to Takeshi, though is addressing Kin'Yoko herself enhabiting the teen. "Bill has illusionists, I have the control of the Hand resources as the President is lacking, and Mister Dobbs is going to be my cleanup man. So let us brainstorm. We have breach threats, issues too large for the societies to independently handle, and aftermath, clean up, disposal of bodies and evidence. Thoughts, ideas, suggestions, if you please." Her piece said, Edith sits back, still cloaked and dressed from a night in New York as she looks between Ruprecht, Takeshi and William.
"Him and his god knew what I was, let not the haiku-man downplay political fact like a modern revisionist, they said so in my very mind. Claimed to be my superiors. Told me to bend to my own Hand. I did not." Ruprecht notes, pleasantly enough, withdrawing a long Pall Mall cigarette. He lips it, but lights not, perhaps expecting to be reprised. "All I need is a garbage truck with a compactor." Comes suggested, like the destruction of what was once living is of no consequence. "You shove the shit down the blender and let it fall into that asshole what's opened in the earth, after it's all done and settled. It'd even be good fertilizer."
Ruprecht says "Perhaps a good mushroom grove to be."
"The Hand has the means to lower the activity of the media, and to silence people that fall out of line with the whole incident... My groups is a mishmash of the House of Odin and faelings from the Other... We have a bit of raw strength for clean up, and a part can assist the Hand with illusions..." William explains to Takeshi first, kind of reiterating what Edith was saying before sighing and crossing his arms, telling the man, and likely the spirit currently inhabitting it "The Tsubaki will likely have to aid with some more of the physical clean up- The flowers, whatever body might be left... If there's still debris anywhere... As I said before, there will be assistance from my own cult for this"
Ruprecht says "Make a wet brick and call it a day, ne? Or are those bodies fodder for the future of science?"
Ruprecht an eyebrow raises to Edith, then, and he lights his smoke up, having not noticed any complaint.
did the wrong window.
Ruprecht takes in a full lung of smoke, compressing all the space he can with tobacco.
"Well, Edith doesn't want them because she can't make anything off them, but it'd be clever to take them to the morgue- Families might ask about their deceased" William opines with a little shrug "So flowers to the Tsubaki, corpses to the clinic... Rubble can go anywhere as long as it's not in town..."
"Let's take all rubble and put in stinky trailer park south of bridge" Takeshi /helpfully/ suggests to the rest of the team
"This is clean up. It doesn't truly matter." Edith shares, leaning forward once more. "The resources for the trucks will be delivered to you, Mister Dobbs. As we have already established, the matter of yesterday was business, not personal." Nodding between William and Takeshi, the latter being ridden by Kin'Yoko, Edith goes on to say, "Bill is quite right about the matter of things, and I would like to give Kin'Yoko her flowers back; A gesture of good will. She went to a lot of effort to create them, and I suspect something to do with the magic of the Hollow Bloom, which our vulpine friend here may need again. A white flag, or noman's land if we will." At William's suggestion, Edith nods. "If the corpses found are human-ish to the clinic. Anything caught goes in Mister Dobb's truck. I know we have a few monsters loitering in the collapsed sewers. Otherwise, a good plan."
"I'm pretty sure any of the three groups can get access to uniforms of the appropiate clean up team- That will help make it look normal and natural to the Unaware on the outside... While arcanists make sure there's no leftover magic ripples, and the more heavy duty people take care of the not so natural corpses Edith has mentioned" William agrees with a couple nods, sighing out before reaching for his phone and sending a couple messages, probably regarding the matter of the discussion, before adding "The important thing is that we cannot just mask everything- The Unaware know an earthquake has happened, we need to make it look like the city is working on cleaning up- Even as the Sheriff department prevents the city from doing so for the magic origin of the issue... Those to be seen, will be normal workers, those unseen, well, that is the important bit in this whole process"
Ruprecht seems to have had his macabre idea, set to rattle at his shitty brick of a phone and make a few casting calls, wordless texts ringing through to all those scummy friends he claims to have sometimes. But the intricacies -- the morgues -- the worried families, it greases right past him. Bureaucracy. He'd claim to hate it, were it not part of his graaand purpose. Blink.
He stares at the table for a time. Puffing away. Thinking deep...
Then chuckles at something, maybe something he heard.
William points a finger at Takeshi "You probably don't have as much influence within your cult, given you are a man, but... Well, things like these are important... Make sure those involved in commanding these things within the society understand the importance of the matter" Then the finger shifts a little, like he's pointing at something else, despite Takeshi still being at the other end of it "You do want to show yourself valuable to things like her... And to keep the image of your cult- Imagine if after this whole thing the Tsubaki underperform- Would you have every society in town speaking of how a newly formed cult outclassed the Tsubaki? That is no good for marketing... So do make sure everyone is efficient and diligent" He tells Takeshi
The teenager is giving most of his a blank look, picking at his nose with his little finger as they discuss logistics and clean up crews and secrecy and flowers. He's slowly getting more and more glazed look over his face, he looks over his shoulder to eye the long, thin, suspiciously sword shaped cloth package strapped to his back. He looks back to the table with a sad expression as he realizes that his sword would likely remain sheathed today. "So I just give call and ask Tsubaki to tell construction crew to get to work cleaning up?" Takeshi asks William as he's addressed before letting out a 'tsk' "I warrior, not middle manager." Takeshi complains under his breath
"Mister Dobbs, you can handle the base level of public fronting? - To be clear, I do not care overly much about the way it is done, only that we prevent too much issue." Edith's phone is plucked up, a text or three sent; Likely to arcanists and requisition groups who will gather-- Or to who already possess uniforms for the grunt work. "The flowers should be collected by Bill's illusionists. Fae have a greater ability to fight the compulsions. Then we can have Takeshi return them to Kin'Yoko's shrine." To Takeshi, Edith adds, playing into the demon's tastes, "If and when we find hiding things, your sword will be very useful to remove them before Mister Dobbs has them ejected."
"Well, that is at least my advice" William chuckles with a little shrug to Takeshi "Feel free to do as you please, or involve yourself to the extent that you like... Again, I'm just saying this because I've been in a cult like yours in the past as a man, it is important to be regarded and valuable... Whether you know it or not... Take it from someone who got to lead it" He simply smiles, before sending a couple more texts and telling Edith "It is so ironic, the timing of this... A bunch of faelings coming out of the Other, praising a figure related to earthquakes, and then this happens... If the flowers didn't show up, I'd be confused about some sort of obscure messaging"
"I've got like six tweakers trying to shake down for free bags RIGHT NOW!" Ruprecht blurts with a MANIACAL raise of his voice, slamming his phone down hard enough that a hairline fracture splits down the middle of the screen. He butts his cigarette, stubbing it out on his own palm. A frigid silence follows, his eyes shaking a bit. They lift to meet Edith's polite request. "Sure thing, yes ma'am. I suggest I have half the boys make diversion," A hand waves to someone. "And we leave the rest to the discretion of Oriental Muscle. Big Yakuza, right?" He simplifies his words, brutally slowing them down, as if someone might need the help. "Other Big man Yakuza -- keep rabble in line, to move the rubble around?" Just a suggestion. A theory. Surely, true Yakuza bouncers could manage a few meth heads forced into labor for the fix.
"I've got like six tweakers trying to shake down for free bags RIGHT NOW!" Ruprecht blurts with a MANIACAL raise of his voice, slamming his phone down hard enough that a hairline fracture splits down the middle of the screen. He butts his cigarette, stubbing it out on his own palm. A frigid silence follows, his eyes shaking a bit. They lift to meet Edith's polite request. "Sure thing, yes ma'am. I suggest I have half the boys make diversion," A hand waves to Takeshi. "And we leave the rest to the discretion of Oriental Muscle. Big Yakuza, right?" He simplifies his words, brutally slowing them down, as if Takeshi might need the help. "Other Big man Yakuza -- keep rabble in line, to move the rubble around?" Just a suggestion. A theory. Surely, true Yakuza bouncers could manage a few meth heads forced into labor for the fix.
"The timing could not be any better. The question is however, what is our cover story to be?" Edith asks the group of Ruprecht, Takeshi and William. "Supernaturally we can pin this on rogue unaffiliated supernaturals. The New World Order would be an option. Eco terrorism, the Anarchs disrupting society or possibly one of the Sapphire martyr's schemes gone wrong. Mundanely we will need an excuse more fitting-- I suspect gas leak again."
"EBT shortages, and riots in relation to a variety of corner store hold-ups. The meth heads, you see, they sell their stamps for cash, at the markets. But section-8 is having a hard time, with this new Government Overview. You know-- new President..." Sour smiles follow, all cheer, all charm. Shadows, whispers, whatever he can offer. He was raised into this, after all. The Hand. "So they're flooding the streets. Banging up old women for their purses, and pawning them on Fleet Street. The HSD will *never* keep up." Ruprecht croaks, throat froggy from all this... dry talk.
"Offer them free baggies." Edith tells Ruprecht. "Then we can hypnotise them into thinking they were already rewarded."
Takeshi looks over with wide eyes as Ruprecht slams the phone, seeming to ignore the overt insult "Eh? You bribing meth heads into joining construction crew? It dangerous, they ll gunna die" Takeshi tells Ruprecht in a low voice.
"THAT FUCKING FUNNY!!" Takeshi roars with laughter, slapping Ruprecht hard on the back once again, cackling loudly "They gunna cause cave in and fucking kill themselves!" Takeshi continues laughing, barely able to hold it together "I like this guy. He has good ideas." Takeshi remarks to the rest of the group before looking back to Ruprecht "When they get here? I want see them!"
"The mundane will simply believe it's a normal earthquake, those are frequent enough here in the states, we don't need to cover any of that" William shakes his head at Edith, pondering for a moment before saying "And honestly, I do think the whole flower thing is very telling to any society that has seen it- Specially having their own branch here, it is almost clear as water... We can pin it on someone else, but societies will know it's at least related to the Tsubaki... They might suspect the Foretold because of the fae and earthquake coincidence, or because of the trouble they've been causing the last month, but it's not... I don't know, necessary? Believable?"
Ruprecht says "They'll have it when they get there."
Ruprecht says "The reichsmarch had that much right. It makes an effective sociopath work so much harder."
Ruprecht nods to Takeshi. "Mostly out of towners, too. Of no value, and no memory. I quite like Rimbert, but," he waves that hand away, like the man's life is meaningless. "I suggest your boys round them up. You know. Big Yakuza. They're gathered outside container six right now, off Devilwood. Trying to break the lock with a pair of wire pliers to catch the stash. Best that we gather them up before they all ... run off, to their roach-hives."
"I shall leave this in your hands then, Mister Dobbs, Takeshi." nodding to Ruprecht and Takeshi, Edith then motions to William. "We can handle the arcanists and money flow, though the flowers are identifiable, and we hall not cover that much up. Though with Wim also around, this should be easy enough."
"A lot of fae activity of late... A lot." Edith adds, speaking more to herself.
"A lovely bunch when agreeable, terrifying if not" William opines to Edith
The teenager nods fervently, pulling the suspiciously sword shaped package off of his back, gripping it and resting it on his shoulders "Let's go kick homeless person ass!" Takeshi laughs loudly, stomping off in the way directed by Ruprecht
Ruprecht crackles out of his seat, moving to open the door with another smoke somehow already in a cleft of his split lip. He's idle about it. "I'll be riding on a bicycle," He suggests, his first slip sofar. A weak point of his. "There's a civic down on Main, but it's too out of the way. Come." With that, he departs.
To peddle on a little yellow bike, all the way Down Devilwood. Like an insider might.
"I will direct you," Edith suggests to Ruprecht, "To a man named Donovan Pierce." Sending a text first to the man in question, then to Ruprecht (underworld contact level 3) Edith goes on. "Use him to aid yourself. I will also give you access to a government contact of mine, A Misses Judith Collins. She will requisition your trucks. I shall handle Mister Craig Crow of the news and gather out cover story and lack of media attention."
"I also have a spirit to aid with removing potential hauntings." Edith shares. "Miss Lucy Harker." she shares with William. "The lady from the orphan's cemetery."
Ruprecht stops to hear that, before he makes it away. Listens. Nods. He's made phone calls, breathing heavy on a bike before. Thousands of them. More? "Judy! Yeah, yeah, Judy, listen -- no, you don't know ME, you know -- look, come on, I just need a municipal trash truck. Yes, yes -- tell them Jimmy needs a fucking trash--- AAAAHHH!" Hardly the most professional way to handle it, huh? But he's working down the pavement fast. Assumes nobody is listening to his behavior.
"I'd offer binding and dealing with those... But most are probably simple and weak spirits from the people killed by the debris" William poses, considering before adding "I don't know if it's worth using the blood if I can feed my minion with them- Specially when arcanists can do that same thing"
"So, Mister Dobbs will be arranging homeless and Hand resources to move useless materials from the city." Edith points to Ruprecht. "Bill and I shall handle the supernatural matters. Takeshi will beat up any monsters he finds, but more importantly, get construction from the Tsubame district."
Glancing to the others, Edith asks of William, Takeshi and Ruprecht, "Anything else we must cover?"
Ruprecht is already gone. Long gone.
"I don't think so... Just gotta make a bunch of calls now" William sighs out, slowly standing up from the sofa
Takeshi looks over his shoulder, mid march away, he shakes his head and flashes a grin at Edith, giving her a hearty thumbs up!
RuprechtTakeshi might find me, all sweaty and ghoulish, fervently arguing on the phone with some poor lady about a trash truck and the validity of his completely false identity, framed in the picture of one of the local Five Families. Eventually he casts out some idle threat and hangs up. A garbage truck rolls in, two doors, drop lift. Ten years out of date, and throwing smog from the hood. Whether the tweakers are still in the shipyard? Hard to say. He taps out another call. This time, to Donovan Pierce. He doesn't know what to expect. Still seated on the women's-style couch of the bike.
Takeshi might find me, all sweaty and ghoulish, fervently arguing on the phone with some poor lady about a trash truck and the validity of his completely false identity, framed in the picture of one of the local Five Families. Eventually he casts out some idle threat and hangs up. A garbage truck rolls in, two doors, drop lift. Ten years out of date, and throwing smog from the hood. Whether the tweakers are still in the shipyard? Hard to say. He taps out another call. This time, to Donovan Pierce. Ruprecht doesn't know what to expect. Still seated on the women's-style couch of the bike.
fucked up an Ruprecht, too. sorry guys.
It is a long lone trip along, but it comes to take an hour before everything is put into place. Edith has her contacts provide the necessary support for Ruprecht and his dealings, vehicle for the transports also come along with relative ease with the combined effort of three societies put behind the effort. As it as ever turns up, the workers that were actually working on clearing out the rubble, repairing the sewers and everything else, were more than glad when they saw the incoming help. The homeless are generally weaker, not healthy for dining as one would like, the construction crew hired by the Tsubaki also comes to help, and between those three, and the additional trucking crew that brings the debris out of the city, that manages to clear up, though it may still take a couple of hours of work time - yet that is much less than the expected time of weeks that may have otherwise come.
On the supernatural side, William and Edith put themselves together, the black Camellia are trying to entrance them as much, and they find many of them already laying at the side, at a grove near the gate to the Other. At their center was a singular black tree that was growing, but it would be evident that this was not right, a shard of the Other threatening to bloom here - it had to be cut down for the betterment of Haven, to diminish a threat. It did come with a few, black barked wooden women that defended their precious tree, and their precious new lives, but this was not a matter of mercy. It was a matter of removing a threat, though what remains of the tree would be gathered up by other Tsubaki Operatives, outside of Takeshi's and the control of the local branch. Only a handful of monsters came by for Takeshi to slay, random wanderings, the flowers posed no threat to him strangely.
Is there a desired cover-up word for word for a news article?
Edith will leave that to Bill and Dobbs.
Ruprecht would suggest 'Spree Robbery Overpowers Hart Avenue Area, Locals Blame Food Stamp Shortage' if he were to be asked. But he's busy, so busy... clumping up the trash, the rats. The dismembered parts of the bodies too much effort to identify. He doesn't treat himself as a manager. Just another of the meth heads. This may as well be putting brush trees in a woodchipper. The trash truck yearns for mercy, but keeeeeeps on pressing that block down with a hydraulic hatred.
Takeshi would spend the day attempting to organize the construction crews, and keeping an eye on them as they worked to make sure none of them got eaten by sewer monsters disturbed from their slumber. He'd be sitting on a half broken wall, cleaning his blade by the time the day was drawing to an end and watches Ruprecht, the tsubaki crew, and the meth heads work ...
For Edith's part, things are set into motion, though Edith is not to be found after the fact. A Shadow works from the shadows, of course, and to be seen is to be invalidating that fact. Working with William front facing on behalf of the Foretold Winter, however, matters are handled as reconstruction is handled.
The operation unfolds with a mix of mundane and supernatural efforts as the group seeks to maintain the facade of normalcy for the city's residents. Under the guise of a normal earthquake's aftermath, they mobilize resources to tackle the physical rubble and the remnants of magic, including a troubling growth of black camellias and a shard of the Other threatening to bloom dangerously in Haven. Takeshi leads the construction effort, ensuring the workers' safety against potential monsters lurking in the disturbed sewers. Meanwhile, Ruprecht deals with the disposal of bodies too cumbersome to identify, blending in as just another laborer among the meth heads enlisted for clean-up. Throughout the operation, the group maintains a keen awareness of the image they project to both the supernatural communities and the city's unsuspecting citizens, crafting a narrative to explain the chaos as a combination of a natural disaster and societal issues. The tale concludes with Ruprecht suggesting a cover story for the media, downplaying the magical catastrophe as a spree robbery fueled by food stamp shortages, encapsulating their endeavor to restore normalcy while navigating the complexities of their hidden world.
(William's odd encounter(SRRitsuka):SRRitsuka)
[Wed Mar 26 2025]
In Howl at the Moon - The Den
Enveloped in the aura of a Gothic cathedral, the expansive chamber at the heart of the masquerade is a realm of dark mystique and grandeur. Its towering, domed roof stretches skyward, while the subdued, golden lighting casts haunting shadows, creating an atmosphere of opulent seclusion. The room's foundations are laid with black marble, veined with serpentine streaks of emerald green, bordered by mahogany walls. One wall, however, breaks this dark harmony with a mesmerizing mosaica spellbinding midnight forest, alive with mythical, vividly colored creatures, offering a startling contrast to the room's somber tones.
In this dream-like sanctum, the traditional bar bustle is replaced by a spectral service. A smiling, unobtrusive server seems to appear and vanish at will, fulfilling whispered desires and preserving the guests' privacy. By the entrance, a full-length mirror stands guard, framed by the sinuous curves of a flowery painting. This reflective gateway offers a moment of introspection, beckoning guests to gaze upon their masked reflections before they delve deeper into the night's enigmatic allure.
It is dawn, about 28F(-2C) degrees, and there are a few dark grey clouds in the sky.
Seeming not entirely pleased to be here, Takeshi stomps his way into the room. Though he's 5'6 and wearing sneakers so the stops weren't quite as intimidating as he might have hoped. "City can't take of issue it's self?!" Takeshi barks in a loud, snippish voice "Need us to take care of issue?!" Takeshi shakes his head with a loud 'TSK' "Our time more important than this, we big time, we Yakuza, we important people"
"Got it, got it" William says with a nod or two before glancing at Takeshi arriving and nodding his head in greeting, and then doing the same for Ruprecht "We have already decided, whatever happens with the clean-up, the flowers are all ending in the Tsubaki... It'll lighten up the place"
"Of course, this is why you are here, Mister Dobbs." Edith nods to Ruprecht. "I am going to use your efforts here in order to induct you into my Shadows."
Takeshi looks over at Ruprecht as he enters in, the teenager grinning wide as he slaps a heavy hand onto the man's back "HEY! IT MY NEW FRIEND!" Takeshi greets the man overly energetically "Obachan not too mean to you, right?" Takeshi asks with a grin that somehow didn't seem smug despite the circumstance, simply friendly "Good to see you still on two feet"
Ruprecht cracks his hands together with steepled fingers, sickening pops ringing through the echo. "So, why aren't we using this thing for disposal, first? Anything to fill the hole before concrete?" Clearly, he's suggesting the desecration of evidence.
Corpses.
"Is that so?" He quirks to Edith, bleeding gums open to eyes as he grins reeeaall bright. "I told her, I told her she was wrong, to name me Intern so soon," He clearly doesn't mean Edith. Someone else. Someone less qualified. A little pride shines through his decaying body and spirit.
"I was walking within minutes, my..." That acrid lisp sets in. "Newfound fellow." not friend, quite, but a respectful acknowledgement. "Not nearly mean enough, I'd argue. She has time. Nothing but time."
"Then again. The end is coming."
Having gathered Ruprecht, William and Takeshi in the den of the Howl at the moon bar; The hidden supernatural room, the scene finds our questionable heroes beginning a council of war to identify the problem and begin working to resolve it. "You." Edith adds to Takeshi. "You are fortunate. I already took my revenge against Muse. Kidnapping one of our minions is countered and all is balanced. I would appreciate you doing so to people I care exactly zero for in future."
Ruprecht directs that sentiment to someone, brow going high.
Ruprecht directs that sentiment to Takeshi, brow going high.
Mirror mirror on the wall- Actually this got nothing to do with mirrors, beyond the fact that some have been shattered. It is a morning in Haven, and just the perfect and right time to actually look an examine the situation. Between societies, it seems everyone was affected in some fashion, even Takeshi carries his own wounds from it all, from the debris and the absence of people fixing much if anything.
That is what the reality actually proved to be, the companies responsible can't focus their effort on any singular issue, and then try all at once, but with the wounded, and some of the dead, there is not enough people to try and get all done all at once. There is several venues that the group could reach out to, resources to rely on to put into the repairing effort, as where the flowers once grown, and roots smashed it all, there now was little of them left, beyond some flowers that still bring the occasional person... to a gate to fall onto their knees... and worship.
"The city cannot take care of itself because this earthquake has been massive... And even if it is just a normal earthquake the whole flowers thing implies magic... And then the sheriff department cuts of the normal means to recover in order to keep some degree of secrecy- And societies should be taking care of it, since the bigger ones haven't done it themselves, we are here to do it ourselves..." William explains to Takeshi calmly with a shake of his head, before pointing out "Edith is almost commanding the Hand, and I'm in a newish cult, you are part of likely what caused this whole issue, so less complaining and more planning, yes?"
Takeshi glances over to Edith with a raised eyebrow "I grabbed first person I find. It not personal." Takeshi tells her quite honestly "If you want people not being grabbed, that need communication ahead of time. I not keep track of every person in Hand" He was being quite snotty it seemed, his nose being turned up. He probably didn't disagree, he was probably just being a teenager about it.
Takeshi looks over as William, as usual the level headed one, attempted to explain the situation to him. "It stupid." Takeshi mumbles under his breath, but none the less, falls in line, looking back to William after a moment "What plan?" Takeshi asks, seeming to assume William was going to be calling the shots.
Takeshi says "Tsubaki have construction workers under command. We can give order if it help us"
"We all bring something to this table." Edith explains to Takeshi. "As Bill suggests, you have connection. You and Kin'Yoko- Hello there, my dear. I trust you are well this morning." Edith speaks to Takeshi, though is addressing Kin'Yoko herself enhabiting the teen. "Bill has illusionists, I have the control of the Hand resources as the President is lacking, and Mister Dobbs is going to be my cleanup man. So let us brainstorm. We have breach threats, issues too large for the societies to independently handle, and aftermath, clean up, disposal of bodies and evidence. Thoughts, ideas, suggestions, if you please." Her piece said, Edith sits back, still cloaked and dressed from a night in New York as she looks between Ruprecht, Takeshi and William.
"Him and his god knew what I was, let not the haiku-man downplay political fact like a modern revisionist, they said so in my very mind. Claimed to be my superiors. Told me to bend to my own Hand. I did not." Ruprecht notes, pleasantly enough, withdrawing a long Pall Mall cigarette. He lips it, but lights not, perhaps expecting to be reprised. "All I need is a garbage truck with a compactor." Comes suggested, like the destruction of what was once living is of no consequence. "You shove the shit down the blender and let it fall into that asshole what's opened in the earth, after it's all done and settled. It'd even be good fertilizer."
Ruprecht says "Perhaps a good mushroom grove to be."
"The Hand has the means to lower the activity of the media, and to silence people that fall out of line with the whole incident... My groups is a mishmash of the House of Odin and faelings from the Other... We have a bit of raw strength for clean up, and a part can assist the Hand with illusions..." William explains to Takeshi first, kind of reiterating what Edith was saying before sighing and crossing his arms, telling the man, and likely the spirit currently inhabitting it "The Tsubaki will likely have to aid with some more of the physical clean up- The flowers, whatever body might be left... If there's still debris anywhere... As I said before, there will be assistance from my own cult for this"
Ruprecht says "Make a wet brick and call it a day, ne? Or are those bodies fodder for the future of science?"
Ruprecht an eyebrow raises to Edith, then, and he lights his smoke up, having not noticed any complaint.
did the wrong window.
Ruprecht takes in a full lung of smoke, compressing all the space he can with tobacco.
"Well, Edith doesn't want them because she can't make anything off them, but it'd be clever to take them to the morgue- Families might ask about their deceased" William opines with a little shrug "So flowers to the Tsubaki, corpses to the clinic... Rubble can go anywhere as long as it's not in town..."
"Let's take all rubble and put in stinky trailer park south of bridge" Takeshi /helpfully/ suggests to the rest of the team
"This is clean up. It doesn't truly matter." Edith shares, leaning forward once more. "The resources for the trucks will be delivered to you, Mister Dobbs. As we have already established, the matter of yesterday was business, not personal." Nodding between William and Takeshi, the latter being ridden by Kin'Yoko, Edith goes on to say, "Bill is quite right about the matter of things, and I would like to give Kin'Yoko her flowers back; A gesture of good will. She went to a lot of effort to create them, and I suspect something to do with the magic of the Hollow Bloom, which our vulpine friend here may need again. A white flag, or noman's land if we will." At William's suggestion, Edith nods. "If the corpses found are human-ish to the clinic. Anything caught goes in Mister Dobb's truck. I know we have a few monsters loitering in the collapsed sewers. Otherwise, a good plan."
"I'm pretty sure any of the three groups can get access to uniforms of the appropiate clean up team- That will help make it look normal and natural to the Unaware on the outside... While arcanists make sure there's no leftover magic ripples, and the more heavy duty people take care of the not so natural corpses Edith has mentioned" William agrees with a couple nods, sighing out before reaching for his phone and sending a couple messages, probably regarding the matter of the discussion, before adding "The important thing is that we cannot just mask everything- The Unaware know an earthquake has happened, we need to make it look like the city is working on cleaning up- Even as the Sheriff department prevents the city from doing so for the magic origin of the issue... Those to be seen, will be normal workers, those unseen, well, that is the important bit in this whole process"
Ruprecht seems to have had his macabre idea, set to rattle at his shitty brick of a phone and make a few casting calls, wordless texts ringing through to all those scummy friends he claims to have sometimes. But the intricacies -- the morgues -- the worried families, it greases right past him. Bureaucracy. He'd claim to hate it, were it not part of his graaand purpose. Blink.
He stares at the table for a time. Puffing away. Thinking deep...
Then chuckles at something, maybe something he heard.
William points a finger at Takeshi "You probably don't have as much influence within your cult, given you are a man, but... Well, things like these are important... Make sure those involved in commanding these things within the society understand the importance of the matter" Then the finger shifts a little, like he's pointing at something else, despite Takeshi still being at the other end of it "You do want to show yourself valuable to things like her... And to keep the image of your cult- Imagine if after this whole thing the Tsubaki underperform- Would you have every society in town speaking of how a newly formed cult outclassed the Tsubaki? That is no good for marketing... So do make sure everyone is efficient and diligent" He tells Takeshi
The teenager is giving most of his a blank look, picking at his nose with his little finger as they discuss logistics and clean up crews and secrecy and flowers. He's slowly getting more and more glazed look over his face, he looks over his shoulder to eye the long, thin, suspiciously sword shaped cloth package strapped to his back. He looks back to the table with a sad expression as he realizes that his sword would likely remain sheathed today. "So I just give call and ask Tsubaki to tell construction crew to get to work cleaning up?" Takeshi asks William as he's addressed before letting out a 'tsk' "I warrior, not middle manager." Takeshi complains under his breath
"Mister Dobbs, you can handle the base level of public fronting? - To be clear, I do not care overly much about the way it is done, only that we prevent too much issue." Edith's phone is plucked up, a text or three sent; Likely to arcanists and requisition groups who will gather-- Or to who already possess uniforms for the grunt work. "The flowers should be collected by Bill's illusionists. Fae have a greater ability to fight the compulsions. Then we can have Takeshi return them to Kin'Yoko's shrine." To Takeshi, Edith adds, playing into the demon's tastes, "If and when we find hiding things, your sword will be very useful to remove them before Mister Dobbs has them ejected."
"Well, that is at least my advice" William chuckles with a little shrug to Takeshi "Feel free to do as you please, or involve yourself to the extent that you like... Again, I'm just saying this because I've been in a cult like yours in the past as a man, it is important to be regarded and valuable... Whether you know it or not... Take it from someone who got to lead it" He simply smiles, before sending a couple more texts and telling Edith "It is so ironic, the timing of this... A bunch of faelings coming out of the Other, praising a figure related to earthquakes, and then this happens... If the flowers didn't show up, I'd be confused about some sort of obscure messaging"
"I've got like six tweakers trying to shake down for free bags RIGHT NOW!" Ruprecht blurts with a MANIACAL raise of his voice, slamming his phone down hard enough that a hairline fracture splits down the middle of the screen. He butts his cigarette, stubbing it out on his own palm. A frigid silence follows, his eyes shaking a bit. They lift to meet Edith's polite request. "Sure thing, yes ma'am. I suggest I have half the boys make diversion," A hand waves to someone. "And we leave the rest to the discretion of Oriental Muscle. Big Yakuza, right?" He simplifies his words, brutally slowing them down, as if someone might need the help. "Other Big man Yakuza -- keep rabble in line, to move the rubble around?" Just a suggestion. A theory. Surely, true Yakuza bouncers could manage a few meth heads forced into labor for the fix.
"I've got like six tweakers trying to shake down for free bags RIGHT NOW!" Ruprecht blurts with a MANIACAL raise of his voice, slamming his phone down hard enough that a hairline fracture splits down the middle of the screen. He butts his cigarette, stubbing it out on his own palm. A frigid silence follows, his eyes shaking a bit. They lift to meet Edith's polite request. "Sure thing, yes ma'am. I suggest I have half the boys make diversion," A hand waves to Takeshi. "And we leave the rest to the discretion of Oriental Muscle. Big Yakuza, right?" He simplifies his words, brutally slowing them down, as if Takeshi might need the help. "Other Big man Yakuza -- keep rabble in line, to move the rubble around?" Just a suggestion. A theory. Surely, true Yakuza bouncers could manage a few meth heads forced into labor for the fix.
"The timing could not be any better. The question is however, what is our cover story to be?" Edith asks the group of Ruprecht, Takeshi and William. "Supernaturally we can pin this on rogue unaffiliated supernaturals. The New World Order would be an option. Eco terrorism, the Anarchs disrupting society or possibly one of the Sapphire martyr's schemes gone wrong. Mundanely we will need an excuse more fitting-- I suspect gas leak again."
"EBT shortages, and riots in relation to a variety of corner store hold-ups. The meth heads, you see, they sell their stamps for cash, at the markets. But section-8 is having a hard time, with this new Government Overview. You know-- new President..." Sour smiles follow, all cheer, all charm. Shadows, whispers, whatever he can offer. He was raised into this, after all. The Hand. "So they're flooding the streets. Banging up old women for their purses, and pawning them on Fleet Street. The HSD will *never* keep up." Ruprecht croaks, throat froggy from all this... dry talk.
"Offer them free baggies." Edith tells Ruprecht. "Then we can hypnotise them into thinking they were already rewarded."
Takeshi looks over with wide eyes as Ruprecht slams the phone, seeming to ignore the overt insult "Eh? You bribing meth heads into joining construction crew? It dangerous, they ll gunna die" Takeshi tells Ruprecht in a low voice.
"THAT FUCKING FUNNY!!" Takeshi roars with laughter, slapping Ruprecht hard on the back once again, cackling loudly "They gunna cause cave in and fucking kill themselves!" Takeshi continues laughing, barely able to hold it together "I like this guy. He has good ideas." Takeshi remarks to the rest of the group before looking back to Ruprecht "When they get here? I want see them!"
"The mundane will simply believe it's a normal earthquake, those are frequent enough here in the states, we don't need to cover any of that" William shakes his head at Edith, pondering for a moment before saying "And honestly, I do think the whole flower thing is very telling to any society that has seen it- Specially having their own branch here, it is almost clear as water... We can pin it on someone else, but societies will know it's at least related to the Tsubaki... They might suspect the Foretold because of the fae and earthquake coincidence, or because of the trouble they've been causing the last month, but it's not... I don't know, necessary? Believable?"
Ruprecht says "They'll have it when they get there."
Ruprecht says "The reichsmarch had that much right. It makes an effective sociopath work so much harder."
Ruprecht nods to Takeshi. "Mostly out of towners, too. Of no value, and no memory. I quite like Rimbert, but," he waves that hand away, like the man's life is meaningless. "I suggest your boys round them up. You know. Big Yakuza. They're gathered outside container six right now, off Devilwood. Trying to break the lock with a pair of wire pliers to catch the stash. Best that we gather them up before they all ... run off, to their roach-hives."
"I shall leave this in your hands then, Mister Dobbs, Takeshi." nodding to Ruprecht and Takeshi, Edith then motions to William. "We can handle the arcanists and money flow, though the flowers are identifiable, and we hall not cover that much up. Though with Wim also around, this should be easy enough."
"A lot of fae activity of late... A lot." Edith adds, speaking more to herself.
"A lovely bunch when agreeable, terrifying if not" William opines to Edith
The teenager nods fervently, pulling the suspiciously sword shaped package off of his back, gripping it and resting it on his shoulders "Let's go kick homeless person ass!" Takeshi laughs loudly, stomping off in the way directed by Ruprecht
Ruprecht crackles out of his seat, moving to open the door with another smoke somehow already in a cleft of his split lip. He's idle about it. "I'll be riding on a bicycle," He suggests, his first slip sofar. A weak point of his. "There's a civic down on Main, but it's too out of the way. Come." With that, he departs.
To peddle on a little yellow bike, all the way Down Devilwood. Like an insider might.
"I will direct you," Edith suggests to Ruprecht, "To a man named Donovan Pierce." Sending a text first to the man in question, then to Ruprecht (underworld contact level 3) Edith goes on. "Use him to aid yourself. I will also give you access to a government contact of mine, A Misses Judith Collins. She will requisition your trucks. I shall handle Mister Craig Crow of the news and gather out cover story and lack of media attention."
"I also have a spirit to aid with removing potential hauntings." Edith shares. "Miss Lucy Harker." she shares with William. "The lady from the orphan's cemetery."
Ruprecht stops to hear that, before he makes it away. Listens. Nods. He's made phone calls, breathing heavy on a bike before. Thousands of them. More? "Judy! Yeah, yeah, Judy, listen -- no, you don't know ME, you know -- look, come on, I just need a municipal trash truck. Yes, yes -- tell them Jimmy needs a fucking trash--- AAAAHHH!" Hardly the most professional way to handle it, huh? But he's working down the pavement fast. Assumes nobody is listening to his behavior.
"I'd offer binding and dealing with those... But most are probably simple and weak spirits from the people killed by the debris" William poses, considering before adding "I don't know if it's worth using the blood if I can feed my minion with them- Specially when arcanists can do that same thing"
"So, Mister Dobbs will be arranging homeless and Hand resources to move useless materials from the city." Edith points to Ruprecht. "Bill and I shall handle the supernatural matters. Takeshi will beat up any monsters he finds, but more importantly, get construction from the Tsubame district."
Glancing to the others, Edith asks of William, Takeshi and Ruprecht, "Anything else we must cover?"
Ruprecht is already gone. Long gone.
"I don't think so... Just gotta make a bunch of calls now" William sighs out, slowly standing up from the sofa
Takeshi looks over his shoulder, mid march away, he shakes his head and flashes a grin at Edith, giving her a hearty thumbs up!
RuprechtTakeshi might find me, all sweaty and ghoulish, fervently arguing on the phone with some poor lady about a trash truck and the validity of his completely false identity, framed in the picture of one of the local Five Families. Eventually he casts out some idle threat and hangs up. A garbage truck rolls in, two doors, drop lift. Ten years out of date, and throwing smog from the hood. Whether the tweakers are still in the shipyard? Hard to say. He taps out another call. This time, to Donovan Pierce. He doesn't know what to expect. Still seated on the women's-style couch of the bike.
Takeshi might find me, all sweaty and ghoulish, fervently arguing on the phone with some poor lady about a trash truck and the validity of his completely false identity, framed in the picture of one of the local Five Families. Eventually he casts out some idle threat and hangs up. A garbage truck rolls in, two doors, drop lift. Ten years out of date, and throwing smog from the hood. Whether the tweakers are still in the shipyard? Hard to say. He taps out another call. This time, to Donovan Pierce. Ruprecht doesn't know what to expect. Still seated on the women's-style couch of the bike.
fucked up an Ruprecht, too. sorry guys.
It is a long lone trip along, but it comes to take an hour before everything is put into place. Edith has her contacts provide the necessary support for Ruprecht and his dealings, vehicle for the transports also come along with relative ease with the combined effort of three societies put behind the effort. As it as ever turns up, the workers that were actually working on clearing out the rubble, repairing the sewers and everything else, were more than glad when they saw the incoming help. The homeless are generally weaker, not healthy for dining as one would like, the construction crew hired by the Tsubaki also comes to help, and between those three, and the additional trucking crew that brings the debris out of the city, that manages to clear up, though it may still take a couple of hours of work time - yet that is much less than the expected time of weeks that may have otherwise come.
On the supernatural side, William and Edith put themselves together, the black Camellia are trying to entrance them as much, and they find many of them already laying at the side, at a grove near the gate to the Other. At their center was a singular black tree that was growing, but it would be evident that this was not right, a shard of the Other threatening to bloom here - it had to be cut down for the betterment of Haven, to diminish a threat. It did come with a few, black barked wooden women that defended their precious tree, and their precious new lives, but this was not a matter of mercy. It was a matter of removing a threat, though what remains of the tree would be gathered up by other Tsubaki Operatives, outside of Takeshi's and the control of the local branch. Only a handful of monsters came by for Takeshi to slay, random wanderings, the flowers posed no threat to him strangely.
Is there a desired cover-up word for word for a news article?
Edith will leave that to Bill and Dobbs.
Ruprecht would suggest 'Spree Robbery Overpowers Hart Avenue Area, Locals Blame Food Stamp Shortage' if he were to be asked. But he's busy, so busy... clumping up the trash, the rats. The dismembered parts of the bodies too much effort to identify. He doesn't treat himself as a manager. Just another of the meth heads. This may as well be putting brush trees in a woodchipper. The trash truck yearns for mercy, but keeeeeeps on pressing that block down with a hydraulic hatred.
Takeshi would spend the day attempting to organize the construction crews, and keeping an eye on them as they worked to make sure none of them got eaten by sewer monsters disturbed from their slumber. He'd be sitting on a half broken wall, cleaning his blade by the time the day was drawing to an end and watches Ruprecht, the tsubaki crew, and the meth heads work ...
For Edith's part, things are set into motion, though Edith is not to be found after the fact. A Shadow works from the shadows, of course, and to be seen is to be invalidating that fact. Working with William front facing on behalf of the Foretold Winter, however, matters are handled as reconstruction is handled.