Recon at Rapture

OOC:
Sorry for the delay on the reply, sheer. Midway through vacation, so my computer time has been slim.

IC:
Russell stares at you without expression, and doesn't bother providing any rebuttal to your "clarifications." You get the impression that your counter-argument has fallen on deaf ears. Or that he came to the conclusion that Suzette required his help much more than he needed to be of assistance, and that he consequently has you over the barrel.

"When we were in the courthouse, you demonstrated a proficiency with the Lordly Words." Russell appears to enjoy that bit of Ventrue euphemism, rolling the phrase around on his tongue like a treasured vintage. "I will trade my time in helping you in this endeavor for your time in providing instruction."

[OOC: No probs, I've had some computer issues the last few days anyway. On the plus side, I have over 1000 gigs of free hard drive space now! ^.^]

Suzette's eyes narrow the tiniest bit as she considers it. Russell's proposal seems weighted in his favor, given that she doesn't expect it to take very long to track down this Rosario. On the other hand, there's really no telling how long it will take to find the man, and it is highly unlikely that he would be willing to go quietly. Some of Suzette's cousins are adept at the art of seducing people into going alone with strangers; Suzette, however, is not.

Suzette begins speaking, ticking off her points on her fingers. "I believe I can arrange that, under three conditions," she says dryly. She ticks off her points on her fingers. "First, for the purposes of our verbal contract, 'endeavor' is defined as locating the man, subduing him as necessary, and transporting him to the, ah, proper authorities if transportation is not provided by them. Second, you are to understand that I have not taught the Words to anyone before and I make no guarantees as to my ability to do so. Particularly to one such as yourself." There, let him worry about what exactly that means, she thinks sneeringly. "Last, if anyone asks, you didn't learn the Words from me."

She leans her chin on her hands, awaiting his response.

"Petty slights do not become you, Suzette,." Russell replied evenly, deliberately dropping the more respectful tone he'd previously used. "Particularly when you're the one seeking assistance." He smiled and waved a hand dismissively, his pleasure with Suzette agreeing overcoming any potential sting from her slight. After the insults hurled by the Sheriff and the Malocusian, an aside like Suzette's was virtually beneath notice. "That aside, I agree to your conditions."

"Now that we've gotten that out of the way, we should probably get started."

"Oh, Russell. I meant that I might have difficulties due to your age. The Words work better on thinner blood," Suzette says cheerily. She had gotten a reaction, and that was good enough for her proud Beast. For now.

"Now that we've gotten that out of the way, we should probably get started."

"Right." She looks around the club from the table, deciding where to start looking. Truth be told, she's a little out of her element; she decides to start with asking the bartender about photographers under the guise of looking to expand her modeling portfolio.

OOC:
I really wanted to find that clip from Star Wars where Han Solo is advising C-3PO on why he should let the wookiee win, and just replace "wookiee" with "Russell," but youtube wasn't accomodating. Darn.

IC:
"Oh, Russell. I meant that I might have difficulties due to your age. The Words work better on thinner blood," He raised an eyebrow, looking across the table at Suzette like she was a small child that had just told a terribly implausible lie about how a cherished vase was broken. She was so terribly young.

"Right."

"I trust that you and your assistant are up to the task of asking around about the photographer. I think I'll head outside to take a look at the crime scene."

OOC:
On the offchance that it becomes relevant, I rolled for Russell's current vitae.
2009-10-23 22:35:07 Russell rolls 1 die to blood pool (no rerolls) 8 (1 success)

[OOC: (*insert wookie gurgle here*)]

"Very well," Suzette says, business-like again. "I shall be out shortly to join you, I imagine."

She gets up and approaches the bartender, mentally putting on her 'casual' cap. She orders a Bahama Mama and pretends to take a sip, turning away from the bar and swaying her hips to the music. After a bit, she turns back. "Hey, so, I'm trying to break into the modeling business, and I heard there was a photographer of some sort here the other night...?"

Russell gave the entirety of the alley a cursory look before beginning to examine individual parts in greater depth. With the scene having already been searched or tampered with by Lady Rollston's men and the police, his odds of finding anything significant probably weren't good. He still had to make the effort though, to hold up his end of the arrangement with Suzette. A small grin tugged at the corner of his mouth at the thought of that particular bargain.

The nearby dumpster would seem to be the center of all the activity. The holes in it were probably from the pistols that Rollston's men had used to try and disguise the cause of death for the corpse. He wondered if the cops had paid any attention to their being less blood than should be present for multiple gunshot wounds. He peered at the large dent in the side of the dumpster, wondering if that damage was old, or a result of a scuffle amidst the foiled feeding.

Suzette just remembers something - the guy, despite being referred to as 'the photographer' on multiple occasions, actually just had a cell-phone camera and thus probably wasn't an actual photographer. It's just as well, since the barkeep is ignoring her anyway. She meanders away with her prop drink, and he can just forget about any tips from her tonight.

Speaking of cell phones, hers buzzes. It's Sergio, for only about the ninth time tonight. This time, he wants to know if it's okay if he steps into the men's for a bit. Suzette rolls her eyes and types out an affirmative. She also informs him to ask around after a Rosario.

That done, she decides to take her own advice and also ask around.

[OOC: I'd probably need to roll something for that. Dunno when I'll be on again - as I told Sokhar, I'm getting over a bad bout of flu. Yay for semi-lucid periods letting me post. Anyway, for speed's sake, my sheet's under a spoiler tag in Suzette's character description thread if something needs rolled. Cheers, guys.]

((ST apology: of course, as soon as I was ready to post, the site went down... sorry about that -christiaen))

Suzette

The club seems to be packed and mostly standing room only. After sliding the Bahama Mama at you, he’s off to satisfy some other alcoholic’s need for a fix and probably just didn’t hear your question.

But before you’re off, swinging your hips like a Cougar, you see a stack of promotional cards on the bar.

((ST: I’m going to assume you take one considering it’s been such a long pause since the last ST post…))

This is what you see:



It seems Rosario has been a very busy guy, taking his self branding quite seriously. In fact, now that you have the card in your hand, you look around the club and realize there are cards everywhere. Stacked on the tables, near the restrooms, on the bar, near the entrance, and littered on the floors. There really is no way you could have avoided finding these things, even if you tried. Neither could anyone else.



Russell

• Please roll Intelligence + Science to investigate the large hole in the side of the dumpster

• Please roll wits + investigation to see if you notice anything else unusual at the crime scene.

Not learning anything of use from examining the dumpster, he extended his search to the surrounding area in the alley. He frowned, noting the bloodstain on the far wall from the dumpster. Turning in place, he again noted the bullet holes that had penetrated the dumpster, and the stain opposite it. The angles didn't match. If the blood was part of the coverup, it would be along the bullets' trajectory. The blood had to be from the aborted feeding. He renewed his search of the alley with the bloodstained wall as his centerpoint instead. The body was gone, and presumably any evidence related to the shooting would have been taken away by the police. But there was a wide array of detritus left in the alley, and it was possible that something might have been left behind by the frenzying kindred. Something that could offer him a clue to the vampire's identity, that might have been overlooked by the police.

Spoiler:

Russell: Please roll wits + investigation

You scour every inch carefully, noting the alley is positively a trash heap filled with ticket stubs, wrist bands from shows, discarded police tape, bottles, cans, fast food refuge and more. You even find discarded needles with bent tips and shallow pools of blood condensed at the tips.

Kicking the crap around gingerly with the tip of your shoe, you do manage to find several of these:



in good enough shape to still make the information out, though they are wet and soggy from the day's rain.

Finally, with one more gentle nudge with your toe, you uncover a bullet. Yes, a bullet. Very near the dumpster. Detroit's finest must have missed it during their investigation.