Re: Plans Change - Natalya

by **purplegeekness** Tue Mar 17, 2009 3:04 am

Natalya walked thorughout the chantry checking his room to see if he was around. She would have thought he would have left a message so she wouldn't worry. Unsurprisingly no such message was found. She placed the basket with the goods on the kitchen table. She tried to shake off the feeling she had leaving Chinatown. It was unmistakeable....and possibly what Dragon wanted to know.

She took her boots off, placing them back in her room, walking barefoot to the living room, she turned on some music. Carmen by Bizet while she waited for his, or in fact for anyone's return.

by **Jedi_Master_007** Tue Mar 17, 2009 2:48 am

You were followed, or at least you thought you were. You couldn't place it, but that eerie feeling didn't go away. It lingered and hugged you like a good pair of underwear. The feeling passed less then a block away from Chinatown which led you to believe it was definitely something in that territory paying especially close attention to...

You.

The rest of the trip back to the Chantry was uneventful. However, you got your first sigh of relief only after you left your car and approached the elevator going up. The old man at the door, the loyal ghoul that Dragon said was even older then him just smiled tipped his hat, and let you in. The next minute seemed like an hour as you anxiously got back... only to find all of the interior lights dimmed out and everyone absent. Huh. The chantry all to yourself...? Odd.

by **purplegeekness** Tue Mar 17, 2009 2:17 am

Natalya walked back to the car, placing the goods in the boot. Her eyes scanned the street as she moved watching for those watching her. She felt she had very little to tell Dragon, she just knew he was going to be disappointed. She had one last look up and down the street, watching the watchers as she stepped into the car.

She took a convuluted route back to the chantry to see if she was followed and shake any tails.

by **Jedi_Master_007** Tue Mar 17, 2009 1:48 am

Your knowledge of the occult wasn't enough to figure out the mystery going on now, but something was acting up in your keenly attuned mind, and this particularly blaring alarm was alerting you to the unnatural behavior of the old man in the tiny room with you. Wisely, you made your exit from the place carrying Dragon's items in a small bag.

And once again you felt that light breeze outside as soon as you left.

by **purplegeekness** Mon Mar 16, 2009 3:22 pm

Natalya smirked "Normally men prefer for me to stay." She had a quick look around the store, wondering if she was missing something. "So we'll settle this up next time I'm here? When do you wish to receive payment?"

OOC:Got one success at DC9 Occult plus perception

by **Jedi_Master_007** Mon Mar 16, 2009 6:59 am

The old man didn't respond right away. It took him a moment, but when he did finally respond to you, his tone was sharp and hasty. "Yes, yes your devil master will pay the next time. Now you must go." It was really weird and something was up...

OOC - I would like a Perception + Occult roll at diff 9.

by **purplegeekness** Sat Mar 14, 2009 1:54 am

Natalya paused for a moment while she considered the mans movements. "Well, it seems as though we are at an impasse. May I leave with the items and return with cash? You know the person I work for. you might not like him. You may think he is the devil, but he will pay for the goods." She watched him carefully seeing the movements. "If you like we can go upstairs and talk about it further over some tea perhaps?" She was curious to see what he had upstairs....it was an odd way to get into his store.

by **Jedi_Master_007** Fri Mar 13, 2009 5:10 pm

The old man looked at you a little funny. "Amewican Espwess." Something seemed off about him now. He wasn't as perky as he was a mere moment or two ago. Now he seemed as though... It was as though he were intentionally brushing you off. This sort of bothered you but then you remembered what Dragon had told you about keeping your eyes open...

by **purplegeekness** Fri Mar 13, 2009 4:59 pm

Natalya laughed loudly. "You are very wise sir. I think sometimes it is indeed foolishness. However, I lead this life now and must be satisfied with it. Once inside it, there is no way out." She had a look around the store, seeing no cash register. "Hmmm.....I assume you do not take debit or credit. Are there alternative means of payment?"

by **Jedi_Master_007** Fri Mar 13, 2009 4:43 pm

"Foolishness." The old man didn't say anything more on the matter. Instead he looked at the list and then the things in the basket one final time. He hit a few buttons on a calculator and then looked up at you with a plain as day smile on his face. "Your total is four fousand, two hunred sixtyfree dollars. One cent."

The smile never left his lips.

by **purplegeekness** Mon Mar 09, 2009 5:09 pm

Natalya smiled softly "No, I have no idea what's on this list. If my Master wished for me to know what it was he would have written it in English. If I didn't trust him utterly I would have had someone translate it for me before coming here." her voice truned soft and seductive "If there's anything wrong with this shipment I will merely return to correct it. Assuming, of course, that you are a man of honor and discretion." She looked around the shop still curious. She wondered how flammable some of it might be if she was forced to be indiscreet.

She watched him carefully as he prepared the basket. "Some of us serve for reasons other than compulsion, though quite rightly my master could be called the Devil, it's not entirely apt, but close enough. Some serve for ambition, greed, lust, love, power, money. I'm not entirely sure of my own reasons for serving him. It might be combination of all of the above and more.....or it could be very simple. Very simple indeed. What do you think makes me serve?"

by **Jedi_Master_007** Mon Mar 09, 2009 4:51 pm

There wasn't much of a counter to put the paper on, but the old man took the list from your hand. He looked at it and his expression changed to a hard lined frown. He looked up at you again and then turned his back walking the three steps towards a cabinet. "I do not sense a compulsion to serve your master in you. Yet you serve the devil." When he turned he was brandishing a wooden stake, a handful of beads, and then dangling from his pinky finger on a cord he held a small leather pouch.

Thankfully it wasn't an act of hostility. He put all of the items in a basket and then picked out a few more wine bottles before turning back to you. "You have no idea what is on this list. What will you do if your master is displeased with your return?" There was a dark and mischievous look on his lips.

by **purplegeekness** Mon Mar 09, 2009 3:57 am

Natalya reached for the piece of paper that Dragon had written. She unfolded it carefully in front of the man. "I have been instructed to deliver this paper to you and you alone." She placed the paper on a counter stepping to one side so she could see the mans reaction to the paper.

by **Jedi_Master_007** Sat Mar 07, 2009 6:19 pm

The old man looked at you a little funny with a half-smile on his face. He took a few steps around the room and looked at you again. Clearly he was amused with something about you. "Bah. Zere is nossing interessing here." He held out his hand. Approaching the old man and making some sort of contact seemed awkward to you because you didn't know for certain if this guy was even a Cathayan in the first place, much less what to ask him even if he was. You weren't having much luck with his pharmacy either. Besides having no clue what 97% of this stuff was, the old man didn't seem interested in talking about what presumably, was the equivalent of a trade secret. It didn't matter. You were quickly snapped back out of your reverie.

The old man muttered something presumably, in Chinese and it kind of annoyed you that you had no idea what he'd said. The old man waited a second longer and then narrowed his eyes, shaking his head. "You have list?"

by **purplegeekness** Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:15 pm

Natalya waited patiently. The odd man didn't surprise or faze her. She'd seen far stranger things. She'd assumed Dragon had called ahead to make sure the man would trust her. "Take your time, don't rush on my part. Interesting store you have here. Is it traditional Chinese medicine you do here?"

by **Jedi_Master_007** Mon Mar 02, 2009 6:56 pm

Almost a little to your surprise, nobody was watching as you entered. There was no secret knock. It didn't give you a mystical urge to look over your shoulder. The only thing that even made your entrance into this small pharmacy was the slight warm breeze that swept over your legs and then up your body. The small gush of air wafted with you into the place, causing the bell above the door to jingle.

Small was an understatement. Tiny was more then more like it. Tiny was almost an understatement. To your immediate right was a stack of shelves with small little plants on them. Next to them in the corner was a series of shelves loaded with incense. To the incense's immediate left was a small foot long space where, as might be expected, bamboo shoots were growing from a small square box of dirt on the floor. The rest was literally shelves upon shelves of small vials and herbs. Every few feet a new incense or oil was being burned, making this small room smokey and hazy. It cleared the sinuses, left your tongue tasting something sweet, cause your vision to blur, and most interestingly seemed to heighten your perception of sound.

After almost two seconds you heard an old Chinese accent greet you and tell you he was coming. It was only after the voice finished did you realize it was coming from above you. When you looked up you saw a trap door, now open. An old man in a long sleeved green shirt looked down at you. He was clearly in his mid 70s and wore glasses. There was even a liver spot on the left side of his forehead. "Ahh yes. I know you coming. I be down one second."

And just like he said, the old man climbed down a rope ladder that he dropped from the trap door above you. The whole thing was perhaps a littler surreal...

by **purplegeekness** Mon Mar 02, 2009 3:40 pm

Natalya looked around before entering the shop. The black man was as suspicious in this place as she was. She noted that many were looking at her. most eyes were neutral. The ones she marked were the ones with a glimmer of interest. Most of those would be the kinds of people she needed to talk to.
She resolved to pick up some language texts in Chinese. It was too useful a language not to learn. She leaned aginst the door, puching it in, she had one last look around to see who was interested in the dor she went into. Her next step took her inside the store. She breathed in the herbs deeply, trying to get a feel for the shop and it's amosphere.

by **Jedi_Master_007** Mon Mar 02, 2009 2:50 pm

Chinatown was a big place that was cramped and crowded, even at this hour of night. You could have easily gotten lost if you weren't so close to the small shop your sire was sending you too. As you got closer you began to notice subtle changes in the air around you. Surely you were being watched, or maybe it was just the excitement of doing something interesting. There were not so subtle changes too. You noticed that the architecture was far more oriental. So were the people. A quick scan revealed only one other person not of Asian decent, and it was a black man in his early to mid 20s. He was talking to a guy on the corner.

As you kept going, you started to see signs that were in English and Chinese. The deeper you got to the interior of the block, the English translations disappeared entirely. Everything was two or three stories tall. Some was four. Everything was even more smushed together. Finally, full of confidence, you found Yeung's. There was a pungent odor of weird medicine and strange herbs seeping from under the door. You heard some sort of earthy oriental music on the other side of the door. The window next to it was illuminated with candlelight. You knew it was candlelight because you could see the big red candle through the cracks in the closed shutters.

What to do...

by **purplegeekness** Mon Mar 02, 2009 1:43 pm

"I stand out wherever I go Dragon. That's part of the reason you embraced me." Natalya winked at Dragon as she put on a matching jacket. "My confidence walking into the place you mentioned while being white and female should be enough to attract the people we wish to attract, without being obvious about it. Discrete and subtle. The way they like it."

She grabbed the keys from the dish beside the door. "Don't wait up" She took the elevator to the garage taking the Honda Accord into the town. She parked over a block away from the location specified by Dragon. She wondered if she should photocopy the letter he sent and have it translated independantly. Sometimes Dragon was too clever in playing these games with his childer. She decided against it. If things went poorly this time, she would copy the letter next time. She walked towards the store with a slow, confident pace. Her eyes darted around her, even though her head did not change position. They would know she was here by now.

by **Jedi_Master_007** Fri Feb 27, 2009 11:54 am

Your sire watched you with something akin to amusement and excitement. It was probably the same sort of feeling a teacher had for a student when the child displayed an interest in classical literature. "Use good judgment, Natalya. Discretion is always the better part of valor when dealing with Cathayans, but having said that..." He tugged on your sleeve as your presented yourself before heading out. "They'll notice you before you notice them, I think. Pretty white girls stick out like a sore thumb in China Town."

After a bit of a pause, your sire nodded. He seemed to like the situation as much as you did. "Now just because I said you had the option to go out, that doesn't necessarily mean it's the thing to do. It's up to you though, and it depends on how you're feeling. You may get weirded out, or you may feel like you're the puppet about to bounce out of a jack-in-the-box. My first encounter with a Cathayan was most interesting because I had not known it was one of them at the time."

by **purplegeekness** Wed Feb 18, 2009 3:39 pm

Natalya reached forward taking the note. "Am I to understand that you want me solely to pay attention to the Cathayans around me, or am I to gather information by any means possible on anything I see?" Natalya looked at the clock. If she was to go to the club, she'd need to rush. Midnight was a harsh deadline to find somene interesting to spend time with. She walked to her room, when she returned she'd changed from formal evening dress into a completely different style of clothing. She was wearing tight black trousers, laced up in a diagonal pattern along the outside of her legs and a large white silk shirt with puffy sleeves. The front of the shirt was tied up with black velvert ribbon. A patterned waistcoat offset the shirt perfectly. A pair of comfortable black boots and a wide belt completed the image.
She winked at Dragon. "Not ideal I know, but the sleeves are excellent for concealing items and I might be in a rush when I reach the club. I need to make an impression. I bet you can't even tell where I've hidden the Glock. I'll take the Accord. My car will attract too much attention."

by **Jedi_Master_007** Wed Feb 18, 2009 2:30 pm

Dragon leaned forward while you spoke. He watched you intently. "Alright." He said. "You know I have to warn you anyway, this could get dangerous, and it has potential to put you into serious debt with the clan. However, as a Tremere who was once just like you, I think you should take this risk. Therefore." He smiled like a happy sire.

"This is what you're going to do." Dragon stood up and walked over to his whiskey cabinet and pulled a little red bottle off of the shelf. He cracked it open and took a small sip. It must've tasted good. "First, I want to test your streetwise, and I want you to prove to me just how clever you can be when you know you're collecting information. A recon mission if you will." He took another long drink from his little bottle, smiled happily, corked it back up and then passed the little thing onto you. Then he took a black oil crayon off of a shelf and a piece of white paper. "Go to Yeung Wei Tzou's herbal pharmacy in china town. Give the old man this list."

The linguist in you grew curious when you watched your sire write down several Chinese characters on the paper. It came as natural to him as reading and writing Russian did for you. "This is Cathayan territory. They know me and they know I am sending someone to pick up my spirits. You will be fine, but all the same I want you to be careful and I want you to look, listen, and feel. I want you to see if you can identify any other Cathayans while you are there, or at least give us some idea who you may suspect." Dragon handed the paper to you after putting away the crayon. "You can go to the Lady Black Dragon club if you're feeling hungry or just plain frisky, and it will be ok, as long as you get there and out before midnight."

Dragon smiled. "When you get back, we'll discuss my terms."

by **purplegeekness** Wed Feb 18, 2009 1:58 pm

Natalya smiled moving to a nearby seat. "Very well. I accept your terms. I do expect your assistance on occasions should I need it. To start with, I'd like to see any information you have available on good drivers who are not a part of the team and anyone involved in smuggling. We'll also need financial backing and one or two low level contracts. Not enough to attract attention, but enough for us to get our feet wet and realise what we do need before we expand."

by **Jedi_Master_007** Wed Feb 18, 2009 1:29 pm

Dragon's face scrunched up. Then his brow furrowed while he sprawled out all lazy-like in his chair. After a few more seconds of thought, he nodded and looked forward. "There you go. It's a lot of work, but if you did it and were successful you'd have an accomplishment - a badass one, all of your own." Dragon's lips formed a cocky smirk.

by **purplegeekness** Wed Feb 18, 2009 1:24 pm

"It is that easy, Dragon. They're on the top 9 of the wanted list. We don't really need to do all that much. We cannot mobilise law enforcement against them, save perhaps Federal agencies. So there is only one option. Appeal to their rivals. A shipment gone wrong for NOS will no doubt be easy for them to recover from....but two or three such shipments? Especially if they fall into the hands of their competitors?" Natalya moved towards Dragon "I'd never get close to the inner circle....I'm too noticeable and a Tremere. In this case, the indirect approach might be the best one for all of us. All we need to so is indentify the rival organisation we choose to bolster. Your theoretical elder would probably be ahppy to see teamNOS taken down a peg or two, and even more pleased at the reduction in transport rates he'll receive when they have viable nationwide competitors.

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