nick_garou | (no subject)

The day after the jewelry robbery, I went out and rented the U-haul. Then went to work checking out pawn shops for fenced goods. I was in eastern downtown and spotted Mouse on the street talking with a few kids. I tried staying in the car and spying on them, but there was some other guy there that had ramped up their paranoia and a recently parked car with no one getting out seemed to be ramping up the jitters. I got out, pretended not to see the scene across the street, and went into the pawn shop. I handed the jewelry description flyer to the pawn shop owner and told him I'd get back with him in a bit. Then I picked up a glass knick-knack and looked through the wall to watch what was going on outside.

Apparently the guy--a human--was taking pictures of the garou with his cell phone. And since it was public, the garou were pretty powerless to do anything to him right there and then. Pawn shop guy came back and said he didn't have the fenced goods, but would keep an eye out. So I went back to the car, watched the altercation between Mouse and the guy out of the back of my head, and then did a "pull a rabbit out of my hat" trick modified to "pull that guy's cell phone out of his pocket and into the car's ashtray" trick. I drove off and then basically raped the phone for all its information and ran down info on it.

Ouch. Looks like someone hired a private investigator to scope out the scobies. Mouse I thought was smarter than that, but I guess when you're working with a group, you're only as good as your weakest link--and there seems to be some weak links surrounding her. By then the sun was starting to set and there was no way I could rent the U-haul. Postponed it until the next night. Called it a day and crashed at the sanctum.

The next day, I went to work. Afterwards, I went to rent the U-haul I needed to get that feathered serpent out to the cabin for Val to help with. I rented the U-haul and backed it right up against the alley that leads up to Kenward's to seal off the area to pedestrians or potential gawkers. I tossed a sheet over the quetzloatl and its stand, then used the Jedi levitation trick--sort of--to move the quetzlcoatl out of Peter's sanctum and onto the truck. (I actually just lessened gravity's pull on it so that I could lift it on my own. Not so vulgar that way in the event someone saw.) As I was finishing up, I got a call from a semi-new small-time snitch: girl that goes by the name of Riot. She wanted to meet, so I arranged to meet her at Walmart and I wanted to pick up some toilet paper, Cokes, paper plates, etc.

Meeting with Riot was.... odd. She asked about those two kids from the night or two before that I'd run into at the jewelry store robbery. Like "what'd you see?" type questions. Not snitch-like behavior at all that made me suspicious of her. Then she threw some sort of Spirit-Mind magic at me and caught me totally off guard. I think I countered it, but my "holy crap" response coupled with a lame excuse about a bat having nearly flown at us brought on her suspicions as well. But I knew then that she was Garou--just like the other two. That explained her line of inquiry: she was trying to figure out if I' seen anything. After putting the pieces together, I think I effectively was able to dodge her inquiries and she dropped it in short order. She's lucky I figured out what she is, though. Otherwise she'd just seriously implicated herself as having information about those two.

Then she started asking about the guy that'd been harassing Mouse the day before, if I knew him, where he hung out, etc. I'm not sure if someone had mentioned to her that I'd been present, so claimed I had seen him before harassing a hooker (refering to Mouse, as that's how she was attempting to play herself off at the time). She swallowed it and left.

I've got a bad feeling about this Riot garou-person-thing. She completely lacks the ability to be subtle, seems incredibly naive, and wields destructive powers/abilities. That's a dangerous combination for anyone who associates with her in any capacity.

I took the U-haul to the cabin and met up with Val. The place is pretty remote, so we did everything out under the open sky in the dirt driveway instead of taking things into the cabin. We got into a little tiff when I suggested that the garou ought to give me an artifact to hold temporarily as collateral to ensure they didn't kill the quetzlcoatl since they were so balls out about getting it. Val talked me out of it and said I was behaving like an ass. I guess I was, but I'd really like to get a chance to study their items of power. (Speaking of, Riot had one--a butterfly necklace. I'd be lying if I said I didn't think of pulling the same stunt I did on the cell phone on her necklace.)

Anyway, Val turned into a giant monster bird, did a ritual to bind the serpent to her, crossed over to the astral, ditched the creature, and came back. I then performed an extended ritual to unweave the spell that Peter'd placed on the quetzlcoatl. It was slow going--like unravelling a huge knot from a ball of twine. But I eventually broke the spell after about 5-6 hours later--I think that's a significant testiment to Peter's abilities and my own shortcomings. I very nearly wasn't able to break the spell.

Val went back over to the astral and I just laid on the ground to rest, watching as she and the serpent interacted for a bit and then left together. I closed my eyes to rest for just a couple minutes and woke up the next morning, face on the dirt driveway, dappled sun coming through the near-noon sky. I guess I'd overtaxed myself. And, seriously? Ugh. Dirt != mattress. I fired up the jacuzzi and turned myself into a prune getting working out the dirt, cold, and kinks from that dirt nap. I was a couple hours late getting to work and had to put in a couple hours more in the evening--no lunch either. Work sucks.

Val hadn't returned and I had no idea where she was. But I needed to get in touch with Mouse and relay that the guy that she'd caught taking pictures of her was human, a PI, and to hopefully prevent the guy from getting killed. It's pretty clear to me that they might be in danger as well. I called Mouse up and arranged a meeting that evening out on a nature trail down in Wolf Woods National Park. I handed off the phone's SIMM chip and a flash drive with recordings of all the text messages, voice mails, and other remotely stored information that might be useful to her. We cleared up that the guy was human and hired by someone and that he shouldn't be killed--and she agreed. Good. (You'd better believe that I'm watching the obituaries and occasionally passing buy the guy's house from time to time to ensure that they're holding up that end of the bargin.)

All in all, not bad for two days of work. But dear god, I could sleep for a day. In fact, that's what I did Friday as soon as I got home from work.

Note to self: Just to be on the safe side, do a complete sweep for bugs/scrying/etc. that might be invading my privacy at my residences.