Book 1: A New Day

"We all go someday man, gotta enjoy life while you can," Patrick says with an easy laugh. "But the hell with all that. Look at you, man! This is a good look for you. What prompted the 180? Heather finally give you the time of day?"

He laughs again, and while he's honestly not mad that Joe got his life together... he is curious. Patrick isn't the type to force anyone to do much of anything. His crew just provides a service for those who want it -- he isn't going to get upset if people change their minds. That's life.

It's just odd that it seemingly happened to so many people all at once.

Odd... Heather was the barista he was always trying to holler at. Always figured she'd have been the reason he cleaned up. Hell, Joe wasn't even looking for a job last time we talked. Shit is sus.

Patrick looks over the business card thoroughly, then goes looking for another regular. Time to see if there are any patterns.

Normally Patrick would have been happy to see a real business in town. No one invests in areas like theirs... they're dead end towns with dead end jobs and no one ever goes anywhere. Kids' biggest dreams are to move away after highschool -- and most never do. Hell, it's why the business worked. Broken people with broken dreams, just trying to forget.

A real employer should make Patrick optimistic... so why is there a knot in the pit of his gut?

"Assistant site supervisor..." Patrick reads aloud, taking a moment to process the information.

Joe's a decent guy, he just had given up... but considering the shape he was in? What company would hire him on as a supervisor? This place is either full of absolute saints willing to take a chance on the people who need it most... or something's going on. And since people are generally shit... I don't buy a company full of saints.

Pocketing the card, Patrick keeps moving to find any more former clients.

Diana was exhausted. The failure to get anymore information from the Blizz energy stake out had clearly affected the theurge, especially with the effort sopent to get in an out of the umbra. While mos would spend the next few days leading up to the moot recuperating she spent them pushing herself training, resulting in an uncharaistacally quiet Diana at the moot, though she tried to keep her trednes hidden raising a li in a snarl at the other packs quips, though she till tries to exchange plesantries with their new ack member.

There was a small bit of resntment, that they got to go help another garou and all their own pack had achieved was ome fancy sword for their Alha with little well done for it. The though that Misha preached to them about not following the older Garou 'attemots to drag them into a war' while she then happily use them to get herself a new weapon when they themselev got nothing out of it was not lost on the theurge. She bit her lip and told herself that at least it was now out of vampire hands, even if they hadn't known it was in them at the time.

At the end of the moot she waves the others on to go home, saying she;ll make her own way back, eentually, before approaching Mama Teetee. Patrick had told her to try and embrace being a theurge, and with her recent failure she neede to prove her ue to the others. She needed to learn how to perform rites.

'I... A few to be honest. Not all at once of course but..well I wasn;t taught much in the way of a Theurge before coming here. I am... a little lost when it cmes to it.' The last bit is muttered quietely as she looks away.

'The Questing Stone, I have recently learned of something where being able to track may be ueful and um.. Talisman..might be useful.' She goes red at he mentions it. It was awakward eniugh wuth some of the other ack members without the being naked.

'I am happy to pay, or do, whatever it is you ak. These, and other rite will be of service to my pack, I will do what I need to better serve them.'

Misha stepped outside like so many times before to smoke. The past month had been quiet, just like Misha liked it. Her life had been a rollercoaster of shit up until this point with the whole Garou first change and indoctrination planting the flag on shit peak. A month of just doing her own thing was bliss, even if she constantly wanted to punch something because she had a wolf problem now. She had done her best to channel it into something productive. She prowled the streets for some cash and used it to upgrade her corner of the warehouse. It was almost homely now, with a hammock, radio and some blankets. She had also found a fridge and microwave for all to use. Most interestingly, she had befriended a local stray cat that now came by daily to beg for food and pets.

She put the cig in her mouth and lit it with a zippo she had nicked from some wannabe cowboy. Taking a deep drag she wandered around the building when she noticed the new sign in the distance. She squinted to read it, hardly interested, until she saw what it was about.
"Mother fucker..."

She headed back inside to gather whoever was around.
"Oi! Guys! remember that weird vampire blood drink? It's here now! There's a sign next to the freeway."

"I think we've found our next destination," Paul says. "But you run around naked if needed, OK?"

There is a look of surprise. She'd been expecting something more monetary or at least hard.

Manual labour and tasks. She definitely wasn't going to tel the ithers about this. Or her Uncle. She could hear it now about how demanding it would be for a member of their family to sweep floors... But if that was the price to learn more...

'Very well. I can manage that. Let me let the pack know I will be gone for a while. Thank you.

She asked Running Fish to pass on the message to the others that she would be gone for a while, training. She didn't give too many details. With the point of few of 'adults bad' being pushed amig the pack she didn't want to get into any arguments, or Running Fish get yelled at in her stead.

----
She'd been trying to ignore the dreams, to focus on her tasks and learning. She'd always managed in the past, but these ones they were different than normal. While that in itself was a welcome break, it was odd.. And the repeated cries for help when she didn't know how to help, or even if any of it was real was wearing her down.

She had wanted to deal with it herself. If she told someone else they'd probably think she was crazy. But if there was any substance to the dreams the fact it was due to her auspices wasn't a big leap.. So the person most likely to take her seriously was anither Theurge.

So near the end of her time with older mystic, she finds a time to approach her.

'Mama Teetee.. If you were to have strange dreams, would you take notice of them? I.. It may sound silly but... Well I've always had nightmares, but those are from something in the past. I've learned to deal with them. They' ve changed though recently. The same one again and again. '

If the Theurge seems interested she will describe the dreams in detail.

Diana clearly looks hesitant at the idea of asking the others for help. What was she going to say 'I'm having bad dreams, come into the umbra to help a spirit, despite most of you hating stuff to do with wolves'? She lets out a sigh, but then manages a smile 'Thank you. I will endeavour to help this spirit.'

-----

The rest of the time spent working off the rites she tries to think on what to do, as well as on the journey back, not even noticing the billboards. Upon entering the warehouse she looks confused at everyone seeming to be talking.

'..Is everything alright? Have I missed something?'

"Remember that weird blood drink shit we were so puzzled by when we knocked over the cop shop?" Patrick asks in response to Diana. Without waiting for an answer, he follows up with, "Because they're heeeeeere!" He immitates that scene from Poltergeist as he tosses Joe's business card on the table in the common area of the warehouse they squat in as a den of sorts.

"Turns out, I know the assistant site supervisor. It gets better... he was a steady customer. Dropped off for a few months, but when I ran into dude he looked like a mill. Teeth are fixed, lookes like he was never a customer. It's hella sus. You don't 180 that fast. Cleaned up over night."

"Too bad we never saw anyone with the stuff in the small town we visited," Paul says. "It'd be interesting to see what other people who drank it looked like. The guy you saw sounds like someone who was a living advertisement. Here, drink this and look like a million bucks!"

Paul acts out the commercial for the others but really tries to emphasize his sarcasm. "It's got to be a front for something weird. And weird bad. Not weird good."