2021.03.28 Tainted Blood

Tainted Blood
The gang investigates a blood plague in a Chula Vista mobile home park and slaps a Nazi.
IC Date	April 2021
IC Time	11 p.m.
Players	Arizona, Camilla, Deven, Flavien, Jodessa, Karen, Nadira (ST)
Location	Chula Vista
Spheres	Vampire Anarch
Theme Song	[Against Me! - Thrash Unreal]

Chula Vista, California: It's a beautiful, wealthy suburb of the Prospect metropolis known for its large mansions and houses, wonderful scenery and attractions, yacht marinas, and other such wealthy indulgence. But no city is thoroughly as wonderful as the image it tries to project. And the wealthiest places tend to be the worst for the poor swept away into the darkest, out-of-sight holes when they're not actively working for pitiful wages to provide the lavish lifestyles to the well-off. Perhaps the relative deprivation of the poor in Chula Vista is far from the worst in the world, but it certainly exists. And the slums of the beautiful city suffer the same aliments as their cousins elsewhere throughout the country. And over the past few weeks, once such issue has caused symptoms that can no longer be ignored, not even to its hidden population of the unliving.

       A private meeting is held within the Rainbow Rose, in order to brief whomever was reachable and available to help at the time with an emergency that had arisen. A matter of some discretion, lest the Camarilla decide to force their own intervention or the Sabbat tries to take advantage of the moment of weakness. The Baroness' briefing provided all the information yet available: The epidemic of bloodborne diseases in the southwestern reaches of the city, which the media has tied to drug abuse, is a clear threat to their kind on the surface. However, her informants within the police department have provided her with details kept from the public, and far more concerning. While chronic drug users make up the largest group of infected, an unexplainable amount of others in the region with no drug use or excessive sexual habits have also been infected. The patterns of spreading fail to match known charts. And many who have gone in for early treatment have been reported to have signs of severe blood loss or anemia. A growing number of missing persons reports in the area is further evidence of what's almost certainly happening: A group of disease-infected Kindred must have set up within that portion of the city, and are carelessly spreading disease with no concern for the consequences. The police have begin heavily patrolling the area, searching for clues as to what's going on. Even worse, since the local authorities are stumped, the CDC has been called in to investigate. They're expected to arrive in the city in about a week.

       The epicenter of the outbreak has been traced back to a large mobile home park in the slums in a southwestern edge of the city. It's hardly the only spot, but it's what the police suspect to be ground zero: There's known to be a very large junkie population living there which they've been closely watching. This police presence is obviously quite an issue to any investigation of the Anarchs' own. However, Nadira's agent within the department can pull them away on a break at a nearby Wafflehouse. She suspects she can buy the group perhaps thirty minutes to an hour. Thus, Nadira's going to accompany her, opening the window to several hours through subtle use of Disciplines. While Luna will accompany the group, she'll act as rearguard... primarily to keep any mortals from accidentally witnessing anything they shouldn't. After all, this group of plagued Kindred are largely unknown. They may well be Sabbat willing to attack on sight. The only thing known wiht any degree of certainty is that their fangs are diseased, and they seem to have no care about spreading it to whomever's in reach, Masquerade be damned.

       The mission of the group is relatively simple, although likely not easy: They need to investigate the area and track the presumably Kindred source of the disease, and if possible remove it from the city. Whether through diplomacy, threats, or violence is up to the group and the circumstances. Both the Masquerade and the wellbeing of the city have been put in jepordy: These plagued Kindred have already condemned themselves.

       The party eventually arrives around 11 p.m. in front of the place in question: Otay Springs Mobile Estates. As far as anyone knows there's never been a spring in the area, unless the small, poorly-maintained swimming pool in front of the main office counts. Beside the entrance, an unimpressive sign announces the name of the place. A bus stop is almost directly beside it, with another across the street. Almost countless mobile homes make up the complex before the group, mostly shoddy and poorly maintained. The curving road of the complex leads ahead to the office, in view from the entrance. A trio of mobile homes are clustered into an island to the left. Before the office, the road breaks off twice to the left, and twice two the right. The twisting roads hardly mirror each other, however, but each of the side roads is bordered on both sides by mobile homes, before reaching a dead end. Most roads seem to have about seven mobile homes on either side. The road continues past the office, leading at least twice as far into the complex, although the curved road doesn't give line of sight to the rest of it. Despite the slightly late hour, there are still a number of people out and around, although not terribly many. Some come and go, most seeming to use the bus stop instead of private vehicles. A few are milling about their homes. It's not terribly active, although even more sounds of activity can be heard further within.

This was not quite the way she had intended to spend her evening, but nonetheless, Camilla had been present at the briefing... And after hearing the depth of the situation at hand, she rather quickly dismissed any idea that there was something else that she would rather be doing.

She arrives to the trailer park with the others. Dressed in her casual black camisole and distressed blue jeans with a leather longcoat, open, over top. Her walking cane is in her right hand, and her eyes are keenly flitting about the slum.

"...Mierde." She utters, "I haven't been out here for quite some time... What a sty."

       The dark low-riding motorcycle comes to a stop in front of the mobile home park and her foot nudges the kickstand. As the bike comes to rest Arizona removes her equally dark helmet and sits it on the tank in front of her. The padding has only messed her hair up a little and its easily fixed by dragging a few fingers through her hair. Arizona crosses her arms on top of the helmet while leaning forward and looking over her shoulder to the others. Camilla's comment causes her to front slightly. "It isn't their fault. Bullshit capitalist propaganda has them believing its minorities that make them poor instead of the rich fucks that live on their backs with their thousand dollar shoes on their throats."

Flavien rolls up to the mobile home park on his bicycle, looking for all the world like your average bike messenger in an oversized tie-dye t-shirt and short athletic shorts. Casting a weather eye around the area, he secures his bike with three separate chain locks and a U-lock before spotting Camilla and making a move in her direction. He doesn't immediately comment on the surroundings, though - his job takes him, well, everywhere, and it's likely he /has/ been here before, whether it's picking up, dropping off, or both. Instead he does his best to look mundane, even with the preternatural liveliness and awareness of his gaze as he looks around the trailers and detritus scattered about.

A hand lifts to indicate the office. "Want me to go in and ask if they've seen any new faces around lately? In so many words. Obviously."

      After her exit from the meeting last night, Karen went on a drive. Where? Only one person knows, and that's Nadira. When Nadira reached out, Karen rushed back into the city. It's evident by the fact that she's still wearing the same outfit she wore last night; the t-shirt with the logo to the club, her jeans and tennis shoes. Her eyes look slightly tired and her usual demeanor is replaced with that of a listless visage. She didn't say much of anything at the briefing, only speaking when necessary. Though that might actually be par for the course as that's how she is more or less at meetings. She pulls up to the trailer park in the car she left the club in; A 4 door gray 2005 honda civic. There's no music playing from the radio as she'd usually have. The blue glow of the dashboard and the pale glow of the headlights shut off when Karen kills the power and steps out, hitting a button on the door to lock the car as she closes it and slips her keys into her pockets.

        Jodessa rides a skateboard, wearing a black Rolling Stones t-shirt with the classic lips and tongue sticking out, blue jeans and red converse shoes with fresh laces. Blowing a black bubble gum, bubble and popping it on her fangs, her hair is bunched up beneath a LA baseball cap. Jodie has a chihuahua that looks like it used to be a mascot for Taco Bell on a pink leash. The poor thing is shaking and seems to be afraid of the vampire. 

        Sticking her foot out, she playfully attempts to trip Deven on his skateboard. "I need new wheels, bro. These are all gnarly.", kicking up her board and catching the nose. The wheels were black with broken glass and blood splotches. The chihuahua hiding behind Jodie.

       Deven rides his own skateboard with obvious, practiced ease beside Jodessa. He's dressed in a black leather jacket worn over a zippered hoodie and t-shirt with dark jeans and sneakers. His long hair is pulled back into a low man-bun and both hands rest easily in the pockets of his jacket as he rolls along by his companion.

       As they come to the group he kicks up his own board and catches the nose just before Jodessa tries to trip him. Laughing he shakes his head then replies, "Well. After this we should do some shopping. Maybe upgrade to the bug instead of kick-pushing all night." Looking back to the group he gives a wave to those gathered, motioning for Jo to follow as he moves to stand with Arizona. "Is this all of us?"

As Camilla hears Arizona speak, she gives a considerate nod of her head. "Oui. I know it's not their choice... I suppose that was insensitive of me to say." She walks with her cane. Not favoring any particular leg but... If you have a cane, you may as well use it right?

"Yes... I suppose we ought to find people who might know what's going on. We're looking for junkies, I expect... Or perhaps we'll get lucky enough to catch these idiots in the middle of their feeding." She shrugs.

"Who knows, really?"

       The expression on Arizona's face is momentarily confused at Camilla's response, then it seems to soften and she nods with acceptance. The young Brujah's dark brown eyes look over the others gathering and to Flavien she shrugs her shoulders. "Couldn't hurt," she agrees. Then as Deven stops beside her she swings herself off of the motorcycle and unbuttons her jacket. His question has her glancing around again. "Uh.."

Flavien nods. "Office," he confirms, and jogs back over to his bike, retrieving a padded envelope from one of the saddlebags and tucking it under his arm, retrieving his phone from the pocket of his shorts and scuffing the toe of his sneaker against the cracked pavement. "I'm going to go in and see what I can get out of whoever I find in there, if anyone. If it's fuck-all, so be it. But might be something, at least a lead on who we're looking for. Anyone wants to come with me, feel free, but I have an excuse -" he waggles the package - "So you'll need a cover story too. Or some serious intimidation skills."

He gives a sudden grin that's almost startling, considering his face seems to sit in a somewhat melancholy expression neutrally, and then hop-skips into a jog over to the office, rapping on the door and then opening it to peer inside. "Bike messenger," he calls. "Looking to make a delivery."

       Karen walks away from her car after slipping her keys into her pocket and starts to join the group. When she gathers with them, she puts her hands behind her back and grabs her right hand's wrist with her left hand. "Seems like it." She says softly in regards to Deven's question, eyes taking a second to look over the park for any signs of drug users... meth heads and all of that. Yeah, Karen's not very wise when it comes to the street but almost anyone knows a methhead when they see one.
       When Flavien approaches, she gives a nod of her head to him. It's been a while since they've seen each other and she manages a smile. "That's a good idea..." She comments, watching him hurry off to go talk to the trailer park supervisor. Here's hoping he's a drunk like Mr. Lahey. Might be looser with his lips.

       Although it's nearly a full moon out tonight, it is a bit cloudy, and they're still close to somewhat busy roads that it's hard for some to take in very much information from this edge of the complex. Karen, Deven, and Flavien manage to pick up a bit of info about their immediate surroundings: There's a few people sitting or standing around outside on their porches or 'porches' on the near road to the right. The sounds of some people out and talking can be heard from the far road to the right. The near road to the left carries the sound of playing children, and there's the sound of loud music coming from the far road on the left. The back reaches of the complex is too far away to really note anything. At least there's enough exterior lights to reasonable see a lot, although there are also plenty of shadows to hide in. Or for others ot hide in.

       Camilla's use of Auspex gives her a fairly better grasp of her surroundings than others. She can tell make out the figures on the road to their right... A couple of Latina women, a young white man smoking cheap cigarettes on his porch, and an old man in a... tin foil hat? Wait, that's the guy who popped into the back of the news report. He might just be crazy, though, so it might be worth ignoring. She can hear a handful of people conversing on the second road on the right... as well as make out the smell of pot from that direction. The second road on the left not only has loud music, but it sounds to be coming from a house... full of people. It sounds like a party. Outside of her line of sight, it's hard to make out any details about the deeper reaches of the complex, although on the left side of the park a bit of an orange glow does suggest a fire, likely contained within a steel drum. There are several conversations going on across that large area back there, and there's also a foul, distant scent on the wind.

        Jodie shrugs, "I like my rust bug.", carrying the skateboard in her right hand. "Besides there's a method to my madness.", giving a wave to the grouping of vampires. Dragging along the scared chihuahua behind her with each happy and bouncy step. "Nice bike.", more appreciative and focused on the fellow anarchs then being ambushed or looking out for suspicious things like others might be doing. Jodie listens to the others. 

        Jodessa then pats Deven for his attention, "Ja, me and Deven just lost our dog. He ran into the mobile homes area. We'll ask the office manager if we can go get him.", picking up the chihuahua. "Be a dear and drop it softly over the fence, when no one is looking."

With the assault of the senses that comes with paying close attention in the city, Camilla briefly shakes her head... She focuses up, casting a wary glance around as she samples the scents and sounds around them. Eventually, her sapphie eyes find the man in the tinfoil hat...

"I think that I'll go and talk to that man, oui?" She says to the others, gesturing towards mister tin foil.

"I regularly deal with my fucking sister- so I should hopefully be able to understand what he yammers about... But he was on the news coverage of all of this. There's alot going on... Too much to narrow down just now." She waits for a moment, but, invariably makes the executive decision to approach tinfoil man all by her lonesome. Once there, she pauses for a moment...

"You look as though you've got some worry of parasites burrowing into your brain, m'sieur... Do tell. Why are you wearing that lovely shield upon your head?"

       When Flavien arrives at the office, he gets no response from within. The lights are out and the door is locked. A sign on the door reveals the office hours as 9 a.m. through 7 p.m. When he listens carefully, he's quite certain that he neither sees nor hears and signs of life, or unlife for that matter within. Looks like nobody's inside. He notices the alarm system, the box placed in plain sight to deter people from breaking in. He also notices subtle evidence that it's not actually hooked up.

       "Never let it be said that stealing a dog wasn't worth the effort." Deven winks to Jodessa as he accepts the scared little dog. The leash is removed and handed back before he moves to as gently as possible get that dog loose over that fence as requested. Making his way back he winks while stashing his skateboard. Nodding to the group he gives a thumbs up, work complete.

       As the others began to fan out Arizona chooses to begin inspecting her motorcycle as though she has been having trouble with it and that was why she stopped. Her head is dipped but her eyes lift and she watches over the top of the seat as Flavien, Deven and Jodessa make their way toward the office. Camilla's movement catches her attention and she lifts her head a bit, eyes tracking the lovely woman with her cane as she makes her way to the man with the tinfoil hat. She was attempting to cover Camilla without actually being caught watching as she stays knelt on the pavement beside her bike as though she were some sort of sentinel.

       Then again, the trailer park supervisor may be a she. A Barb Lahey, and that could be even more trouble. Karen watches some of the people gathered in a distance before her attention turns to the group. There seems to be so much going on at once. Camilla wants to go talk to Mr. Conspiracy, and Karen almost joins her until there's the talk of the dog. The Chihuahua looks so frightened, and it gives her flashbacks to Lulu. She comments, "I think that's a bad idea..." then moves to try and stop Deven, "Just give him to me, and I'll go with Camilla." She wanders over to try and scoop the dog up. If she can, the Chihuahua is actually... a lot calmer in her arms, and the dog actually helps break Karen's sour expression too. "Yeah... Yeah you're all right..." She whispers to the dog, hoping it'll be calm in her arms. "That's right..."

Flavien frowns, jiggling the door handle. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out something, slipping it into the lock, but after a few minutes of trying, he shakes his head and gives up with an annoyed 'tch,' leaving the office with the package leaned up against the door and instead heading in the direction of the raucous party house. His posture is casual and relaxed, hands tucked into his shorts, expression pleasantly dopey, but his eyes are still sharp nonetheless.

       Deven shakes his head as the dog is snatched up and Jo's plan comes to a screeching halt. Left standing to watch as the group splits up, the tattooed man shrugs a bit and looks to Jo then Arizona saying, "I guess that leaves me watching the bikes? Go team."

       The old man, appearing to likely be in his upper 60s but dressing like he's in his 70s, looks nervous as Camilla approaches, although his expression showed signs of being a bit... 'off' beforehand. Her words, however, seem to disarm him... in a manner. Her squints, and looks off to the sides back and forth suspiciously, as if worried that others were listening. And then he leans towards her and nods, tapping at his tin foil hat. "It keeps out the alien worms. They're swimming around in the radio waves, burrowing into people's brains and making them sick. Why, it's even got those poor mechanic boys believing all sorts of trash. I remember them being so sweet when they were little boys. Now, they just go around on their motorcycles, causin' all sorts of trouble. But worst of all..." He looks around suspiciously again, and lowers his voice. "The aliens are workin' with Bigfoot. He's just prowlin' around, doing whatever he wants. They've even stolen a bunch of chupacabras and gotten into their brains." His expression grows rather dour as he frowns and shakes his head. "I've been tryin' t' warn everybody, but nobody listens to ol' Mr. William anymore. You've gotta protect your brain, or they'll burrow right on in. They came from those fancy cellphones the kids are using these days."

       Meanwhile, Flavien can now see that there are several cars crowding the street in front of one of the mobile homes. There are a few drunk people about in front of it, and there's definitely more inside. It's impossible to make out anything said from afar over the sound of music.

       "We might as well go return it.", Jodessa sighs and takes the dog back from Karen. The Tremere carefully clips the leash back on its collar and sets it on the ground. Dropping her skateboard and looking to Deven, "Let Karen watch the bikes. We got to go return Paris Hilton safely.", heading back the way they came. Pushing off slowly so the dog could keep up.

Camilla, in spite of the fact that she is very much internally struggling, looks to be taking what the man is saying to her VERY seriously. Her expression is set in a grim acknowledgment, as she nods.

"I see... I had no idea that it had gotten quite so serious." She looks away from him, deeper into the trailer park...

"You say that the alien worms are swimming around in the radio waves... Oui? Do you think, perhaps, there may be someone in this very trailer park releasing the worms into the air?" Her periphery shifts back to him, and her voice lowers...

"Because I'll be frank with you... I'm here to investigate just that. People are getting very sick, yes? Very, very sick. And I'm here to figure out whether or not there's any... Extraterrestrial involvement. Now, I don't need you to accompany me... But I do need you to tell me all you can about anything strange you've noticed about people who live here. Can you do that for me, confidentially?"

Luna is totally absolutely watching the bikes, while listening distantly and intently to the talk of alien worms. She utters under her breath, near Jodessa, Deven, and Arizona...

"Wowzers... I never knew Millie was a Man in Black..."

The bikes are probably fine.

       As Deven stands near her and the bikes he draws Arizona's attention from watching over Camilla. "Or you could go along with Flavien so he isn't alone, or did Jodie follow him? I've been watching Camilla," she says pretending to tighten a part on her bike. Jodessa taking the dog and skating off answers that question for her and leaves her looking a bit puzzled. "Anyway.. he might just be a harmless dude in a tinfoil hat, and he might not be. Camilla can probably take care of herself but just in case she can't.." Arizona shrugs, then spies Karen making her way toward Camilla. "No.. no," she says to herself under a fake breath. "That might spook him.. you don't surround people like that.. makes them nervous."

Flavien approaches the party house, assuming a disarming grin. "Heyyyy," he says to one of the people out front, giving a friendly wave. "Fuckin'...sick party. How's the vibe?" It's not really a question - loud, the vibe is loud, and the party? Well, the party looks /lit/ as all hell. Flavien ducks inside, immediately picking up a solo cup full of whatever. He peers around the chaos of debauchery to see what he can figure out from the first impressions, gravitating vaguely towards the largest cluster of people inside.

       Finding his own skate board, Deven gives Arizona a wink. "Hey, hit me up and we'll do that boxing thing when you're free. I think this is well in hand. If things change shoot us a message." With that he flips his board down and kick-pushes out to catch up to Jodessa.

       Karen ends up giving the dog back to Jodessa when she says she's gotta return it. There goes the plan she had. The dog was calmer in her hands, too. She blinks, watching Jodessa and Deven leave, and there's a slow shake of her head. Karen can watch the bikes? Yeah... okay... Karen glances to Luna and asks her, "You going to be cool here by yourself?" Her voice soft. She nods towards Arizona, "You're right. Yeah. I was... going to walk around the park with the dog... see what unrulies I could find to come at me. Unsavory types, you know?"

Luna nods.

"Karen, darling, sweet little cinnabon from the mall. I was a primogen, yes? I'm very scary. These bikes aren't goin' nowhere."

      Arizona is.. a bit stunned as she remains knelt on the pavement 'fixing' her bike only vaguely aware of what Luna is saying behind her about Camilla. The stunned expression darkens somewhat and the short, stacked Hispanic girl is visibly glaring at Deven and Jodessa as they skate away with the little dog. "Or, okay, **I'll** go with Flavien.. because apparently it's fucking cool to ditch your comrades in the middle of a mother **fucking** action." For the first time since her arrival in Chula Vista, at least in public, that well known Brujah anger bubbles up in her body language as she stands up and begins walking after Flavien slightly faster than she normally would so that she can catch up. She passes Karen on her way but doesn't seem to respond.

       And so Jodessa and Deven leave, leaving the other four and Luna there to complete their mission alone against an unknown likely Kindred threat. Camilla's conversation seems to be going well, her charisma working upon the poor crazed old man. His eyes narrow as he looks around. "Wait, you're not with... 'them', are you?" he asks suspiciously when she announces her investigation. Apparently it's not a dealbreaker, however, as his insane rambling goes on. "Well, Bigfoot's definitely working with him. Everyone knows he's from the mountains, but he must have been summoned over here somehow... Wait, you're right!" His eyes suddenly open wide. "They have even more help here... And I know someone sick and twisted enough to do it! Wait right here!" He slowly gets up and goes into his home, coming out about a minute later with a number written on a napkin, and a roll of tin foil wrap. He holds out both to Camilla. "This is the house number of those freaky bastards. Now, I've seen them doing all sorts of weird things before, but I never thought they'd stoop to this. Be careful missy... and if you're going over there, you're going to need to protect your brain!" Hence the tin foil, apparently.

       Everyone at the house party seems to know the host, but since most of the guests are black or brown and Flavien's smooth as fuck, he's able to slip right in. Everyone just assumes that he's someone else's cute friend. "Heeey man, what's up?" One guest responds to him. He's pretty easily able to get names and phone numbers, at the very least. And probably a hit, although nothing here seems to be the needle-sort that's likely involved in this. And nobody's pale enough to be obviously Kindred nor looks particularly sick. Still, there's a lot of people here he could probably get some info from. Or a hit of something else, if he can find some privacy. Arizona can see the party as she approaches, and gets some casual looks. Is she going to try to infiltrate herself by pretending to belong, try to talk her way in otherwise, or do something else?

      Arizona stops just shy of actually engaging the crowd at the house party and attempting to talk her own way in. She clears her throat and pulls out her cell phone from her pocket.. a quick text being sent Flavien's way. <Hey. Come back out and get me. I'll watch your back. Play the date card but if you touch my ass I'll break your fingers.> Arizona shoves her phone back into her jacket pocket and does her best to look like she's waiting for someone.

Camilla's lips twitch up at the corner as the man mentions 'them.' She can't help the little bit of sadistic glee that she gets from the momentary paranoia she caused him. When he retturns from his trailer with the napkin? She takes it and slips it into her pocket.

"Thank you for your direction, m'sieur... I'll do my best to make sure that we put an end to the alien worm situation, alright?" She does take a moment after speaking to look at him alittle more intently... Gazing at his aura, in an attempt to discern whether or not there's anything genuinely 'off' about the man. While she does, she asks...

"Are there any other points of interest you may be able to give me? Or is this all you know about the trailer park at the moment?"

       Luna's response actually gets a half smile, a smirk, from Karen and she nods her blonde head. She turns her attention to Arizona, frowning once more and immediately starting to walk at her side with her. "I don't... I don't know what's up with that, either." She keeps her gaze on the trailer they're approaching now, trying not to linger too long on the people gathered so she doesn't get stopped and put in a conversation she doesn't want to be in.
       When Arizona stops to text, Karen just stops in her tracks and glances to her. She doesn't look at what she's texting, that would be rude. Everything's happening at once and now she's... looking about with a confused expression.

Flavien picks up a lit joint from someone along the way and then his phone buzzes. Pulling it out with a curious look, he sucks his teeth and then heads back to the door, where Arizona's being held up by the er, makeshift security. "Hey, she's with me," he says, beckoning Arizona inside. "C'mon, shortstack." He murmurs something to her quietly, bending down to be able to reach her ear, and then pulls the joint out of his mouth and offers it to her casually as he heads back inside.

Picking a particularly lovely set of ladies who are all giggling and doing that sort of drunken or high phone-picture-sharing thing that girls sometimes do sitting half on a couch and half on the floor. Flavien settles among them. "You have to be Filipina," he says to one of the girls, looking her up and down and grinning. "The hair, the mouth, the swag. Am I wrong? I have never seen a girl so beautiful who wasn't Filipina. But Ari's gonna kill me for talking to you like that." He waves a hand to Arizona. "Come on, babygirl, don't bogart the joint, share. Everybody here is still talking and that means nobody is even close to high enough." Stretching his arms over the back of the sofa, he continues. "So y'all from around here? I heard there's a new guy around who has some really wild shit. Like, make you see the inside of your own brain, it's that good, kind of shit. Any of you know what I'm talking about?"

      Arizona was about to say something to Karen when she realizes that Karen had followed but she hears Flavien calling over to her. She looks over her shoulder as he beckons her inside and offers the joint, her eyes shutting to avoid the red smolder of embers. She straightens her back somewhat as she takes the joint and just holds it at her side. Arizona's head tips for Karen to follow if she wants. The short Brujah does her best to look flattered by Flavien's pet comments to her but not being a social butterfly her face probably looks like someone trying to keep it together when a particularly raunchy scent has hit your nose. "Oh, yeah, sure baby," she says through a tight lipped smile. "You know me. So forgetful." Arizona hands him the joint without looking at it as she settles on the couch. Her attention starts to drift around the party, looking for anyone who might stand out.

Luna seems to have decided to lay on one of the bikes, with a smart phone out.

Probably playing bloons or something. Totally vigilant though.

      Karen seems to be getting to things at just the right moment. When Flavien ushers Arizona inside, Karen takes the silent offer from Arizona to follow. It's not like they're just gonna let Arizona in and keep Karen out, right? Who's gonna deny a harmless cute lil' 4'11" munchkin like her anyway? When she enters, she casts a glance about, then listens to Flavien while he does his macking as she stands next to Arizona. When Arizona goes to try and hand Flavien the joint back, Karen asks... probably to the surprise of some. "Can I get a hit off of that?" If let, she's going to take the joint gently between her fingers and have two puffs. Puff puff pass, yeah? If not, she'll just stand there idly with her hands at her sides. Either way, she listens intently to Flavien's conversation, seeing where a lead might come from it.

       The house number on Camilla's note places it on the second righthand road, right next to the office and roughly opposite the road that the party is on. Unfortunately, the Ventrue can't tell anything about the man's aura... Perhaps there actually was some merit to his tin foil hat after all? Either way, he nods at her reassurance. "Just be careful. That ol' Bigfoot's got quite the appetite. I tried to tell 'em to hide their kids and their wives, but nobody listens." He actually points roughly in the direction of the party when asked about anything else of interest in the park. "Them kids over there keep doin' this. I told 'em it was the devil's music, but they don't listen either. If you don't get them to turn that 'hip-hop' nonsense down, we're gonna have even more troubles here soon. Those nice, troubled mechanic boys tried to talk to them about it once, but I told ye', they ain't right anymore and someone got stabbed. Damn aliens and hip-hop ruining our youth."

       Elsewhere, Flavien continues to become the life of the party, pulling Arizona into the middle of it and blending her in by osmosis. "Damn, boy. You good," the Filipina woman replies to Flavien. "I'm Aniya. Sup?" The woman next to her rolls her eyes and says, "You better not let Carlos see you talkin' to another dude like that, girl. You know how he get." The second woman proceeds to give Flavien eyes and says, "I'm Carli, her cuter sister. We live down the way, a couple roads back. The place with the daisies. You wanna call and hang sometime?" Aniya and her engage in silent warfare between glances, before Aniya tries to one up her by answering the question. "Well, Carlos says he knows a guy who's bringing some crazy good shit up from Guatemala. They dudes sellin' it are Colombian and kinda pricks if they don't know you though. But if you want some, maybe I could help you out?"

Camilla nods, pointing towards him with the roll of tinfoil wrap... There's no way in the nine hells that she's ever going to be caught wearing tinfoil on her head, but at the very least she does a decent enough job of showing her appreciation... "You said those nice troubled mechanic boys aren't right anymore, oui? Can you point me in their direction?" She slips the tinfoil into the internal pockets of her longcoat... Totally for safekeeping among her other top secret implements of 'the man.' She's mildly frustrated that she wasn't able to glean his aura, but, it WAS the first time she's done it!

"You tell me whereabouts they are, and I'll leave you be for the rest of the night. Mmm?"

"Ayyy, Aniya, Carli," Flavien points to himself. "Zhang. This is my girl Ari and her girl." He waves indistinctly to Arizona and Karen, grinning with all the substantial charm he possesses. "Hell yes I'd love to come and hang sometime. You know how much I love adobo? We can get some Szechuan spice in there and really cook it up. Throw a /real/ party, show these pretenders what it's all about."

He sits up a little at the mention of the Colombians. "These guys new in town? I heard this is some new stuff. And I know those Colombians got strong shit. Aniya.../mahal ko/...take me to your leader."

       "Oh yeah, sure," Arizona says to Karen, shifting to hand the joint off to her instead without paying too much attention. When Flavien introduces Karen as 'her girl' she's quicker to play into that. Her feet pull up onto the couch as she shifts into a squat and eases herself onto the couch arm to be closer to Karen without actually touching her. Her feet plant in the cushions near Flavien as he brokers the deal with the two hopped up mortals. Arizona crosses her arms on her thighs and glances over to Karen. "See? I told you the boy could hook us up," she says.

       Karen, when she's introduced, gives a polite little wave and a smile to the other ladies. Karen stands now by the couch arm, next to Arizona. She decides to take one more puff of the joint. She must not've gotten a good hit at first. She forces herself to exhale, which shouldn't be too hard for her with the blush, and her mouth is open with the smoke coiling out of it when Arizona says that, causing herself to smile immediately soon afterwards and giggles, eyes on Arizona's and her head nodding. "Yeeeep! Yep!" She offers the joint now to Arizona, or anyone else who might want it. "This is good stuff. Wonder if it's kush."

       "Ooooh... Ever since they grew up, they've been gettin' troubled," The crazed old man tells Camilla. "The aliens worms are only the last of it. They live too close to all that hip-hop, and it's made them have thoughts touched by the devil. Now, I don't blame them for hating it, but they go a little bit too far. But they really were such sweet boys growing up. I'm sure they'd be happy to help a sweet young thing like you put an end to all these evils going on," the old man tells Camilla, before pointing towards the northwest. "Take the road to the left right after the office. They live in the houses down on the end, with all those pretty motobikes in front of them."

       Both Aniya and Carli look between Arizona and Karen after Flavien introduces them, before the latter says with obvious interest, "Damn, boy. You wild, aren't ya?" Aniya sends a few texts back and forth on her phone, before looking up and nodding at Flavien. "Alright, he's open for business tonight. His names Lucas, and he's kinda a huge prick... But don't worry about it, he's all business and shit. And nah, he's been around awhile, but he had to get a new supplier awhile ago. The Mexicans got fucked up by some Irish assholes." Unless any more questions or asked or any of the trio at the party want to hang around longer, the two Filipina sisters get ready to lead them to the northern next of the complex to meet some Colombian drug dealers.

Camilla dips her head respectfully, and turns to begin to leave with a grateful wave over her shoulders.

"I'm hardly a sweet young thing, m'sieur. But I'm sure they'd be more than willing to be rid of the worms! Au revoir. And you stay safe, alright?" She makes her way away from the crazy tinfoil man... Casting a glance around to see if she can spot where the others had gone. She expects that they're all out handling their own bits of the investigation- and that's perfectly well and good.

So she makes her way, first, to the house of the mechanic boys that the man had mentioned... Whether or not anything he had given her actually has merit or holds water is completely up for debate, but any lead is a good lead when you have nothing to go on. At the very least, the boys would likely be able to tell her about the sick people more plainly than he could.

Assuming they really are 'just' nice troubled mechanic boys. She takes out her phone, shooting a text to Karen.

'Checking another house. Everyone alright? Foilman gave me two places to check. Possibly bullshit.'

Flavien's responding grin to Carli says he's wilder than she knows. "Irish, you said? Any of those Irish fuckers live around here? White man is always keeping us down." With a wink to Arizona and Karen. It's true, but like, present company excluded and shit. He follows after the two girls, looking like just another twenty-something partygoer in the night.

       When the joint is offered back to her Arizona shakes her head and nods in Flavien's direction. "I'm good. Don't want to spoil myself for the new shit," she says, trying to play the part. As the girls get up and Flavien begins to follow behind Arizona slips off the couch and begins to follow, but watching Karen to make sure they don't get separated by the sea of intoxicated humanity moving around them.

       Karen smiles bright at idea from Arizona, nodding her head, "Oh, def! That's actually a good idea." She passes the joint off towards Flavien now.
       The ojousama laugh of Karin Kanzuki from Street Fighter V emits from Karen's phone in her pocket. Possibly drowned out from the music at the party, but Karen can feel it as well against her leg. She slips her hand into her jeans and plucks her phone from them to look over the text message. She smiles and starts texting back: Yes. @ party. Everything's cool. *sends location through the app* We r here.
       Karen looks up to see the others are starting to leave now. "Oh shit." She utters, glad that Arizona stuck around to make sure she's coming. Karen hurries along now, deciding to text Camilla now that they're on the move.

      To reach the part of the complex where people described as 'nice mechanic boys' by an old man in a tin foil hat, Camilla walks down the central road of the complex, past the road leading to the party house, and then past the office. The next road to the left leads her down several houses, but the final stretch of the road around the last three mobile homes on either side of it are... a bit different. There are signs posted at the entrance of the area with warnings to 'Stay the fuck away'. Another sign nearby says 'Whites only'. Which isn't even the worst thing in the area. There are about a dozen bikes parked around the area. Refurbished old WWII bikes, apparently well maintained and polished. German WWII bikes. As she gets closer, she can definitely straight up see Nazi flags in windows. It's pretty obvious what the old man meant by 'troubled', although now Camilla can see that was a bit more than a massive understatement. There's some furniture about, some of it partially obstructing the road but leaving plenty of room for motorcycles to get through. It's mostly lawn furniture, but there's also a couch.

       There's a bit of a scene going on as the Ventrue approaches. There's blonde man with several extra pounds, but also quite a bit of visible muscle dressed in biker leathers with several rather 'questionable' patches that match the neo-Nazi aesthetic surrounding this place. He's also got several visible tattoos equally as problematic. He's sitting on the couch and arguing with a pretty woman with ombre hair, dressed in denim shorts and a yellow flannel shirt tied instead of buttoned to expose her midsection. She's almost attractive enough for Camilla to feed on, if not for apparent lack of dental care as a child and a few crooked features. The reason for which is hinted at as a hand smacks her face. She falls quiet, understandable, as she holds her face, looking away. There were a few other skinhead bikers around, apparently hanging out with beers until said argument, but are now exiting the situation and leaving it to resolve itself. It gives the impression this happens a lot. Camilla hasn't been noticed yet and has plenty of opportunity to simply leave and go elsewhere, if she wishes. After all, she's pretty certain neo-Nazis aren't going to help her, and probably wouldn't want their help even if they would. Then again, she might want to approach for other reasons.

       Meanwhile, the other three are now heading down the street towards the back of the complex to meet with Colombian drug dealers, led by a pair of Filipina sisters. "Nah, I don't think so," Carli replies to Flavien. "I mean, I think there's a few Irish dudes around, but I'm pretty sure they're just some dudes and chicks, you know?" Aniya quips, "Half of them are junkies over in their little hole. But nah, the ones over here are just users on the nasty shit." The trio do see Camilla heading down the side road as they pass. They can't make out what's going on and what's all down the end of the road from where they are, but they can see Camilla heading towards it. And they will see however she reacts to it.

The house that Camilla approaches causes her expression to VERY visibly fall into something akin to disgust. She grips the head of her cane alittle more tightly- but in spite of her better judgment? She doesn't choose to turn and leave. This likely isn't the right house... But after seeing that?

She's making her way towards them.

She walks without urgency. With the sort of casual 'belonging' that comes with dominance. She pauses about 5 feet ahead of them. Not a word, or a single gesture other than the faint twitching of her lips as she does her absolute best to prevent herself from launching into a violent retributive fury. But once she pauses? She finally speaks.

"What a wonderful look this is. Striking a woman in broad moonlight- while people are out for walks to clear their heads." She tilts her head, her eyes dangerously keen.

"To be expected of a pig, I suppose." Her sapphire eyes flit towards the woman, and soften just slightly...

"Are you hurt, dear? That looked as painful as it was un-fucking-necessary."

"Hold up a sec," Flavien says, pausing by the alleyway and glancing down with Auspex-enhanced vision to see exactly what Camilla is doing. "Hey!" He calls, with the air of someone who doesn't have any idea who she is, but is willing to step in if he sees something amiss. "Lady, you got this?" Yes. A guy and four short girls, two of which definitely do /not/ seem like they want to get involved. Do you got this, lady?

      When Flavien draws attention to Camilla.. Arizona turns to look her way. There is a split second where she looks herself. Moderately okay with what's happening and prepared to follow Flavien into the Colombian lion's den to backup the other two vampires with her. But.. her dark brown eyes zero in on a certain flag. And a certain man's style. And a woman on the ground. Anyone watching Arizona can plainly see her shoulders square and her posture become rigid, her jaw tenses and the tendons in her neck flex like tautly drawn cords.
       Was that a faint growl in her throat? One swallowed down? There is a moment that bloodlust begins to cloud her eyes but she grinds her teeth and it recedes. Barely. She does however begin stalking that direction. Barely restrained from beating someone's ass and actively cracking her knuckles.

       "Hey!" Flavien calls out, which causes Karen to instinctively turn her head to wherever Flavien is shouting to. That's when she spots Camilla and sees what's going on. There's a woman that's just been hurt, and a piece of shit of a human being standing over the woman. The symbols of hate over him and the flag on the trailer cause Karen to narrow her eyes. The beast calls out to her. It wants her to rip out the man's eyes in front of everyone. Come on, Karen. You can do that, can't you? You have the... tools equipped to do it. It doesn't want her to slate it on the man's blood... the Ventrue have more refined tastes, especially not trash like that.
       One thing her Martial Arts training provided her, however, is not just the tools to defend herself... but the mental calm to focus. One who is angry cannot act precisely. Like a surgeon with a scalpel, you have to be able to focus. You can't have shaky hands. It makes you less precise. She knows in her mind and she knows in her heart, flying off the handle will be no good, and she's able to quell the beast... for now.
       Another thing her tools provided her is not just the ability to remain calm, and to defend herself..... but to come to the aid of others who can't defend themselves. Someone who knows her might ask her 'what good is that Kung-Fu jive if you can't even use it?' Well tonight... it looks like she might have to. Her eyes fall on Arizona, and Karen herself stands at the ready. She rolls her shoulders and then tilts her head left and right repeatedly as if trying to crack her neck before she starts to approach the group.

      The young blonde woman continues to look in the opposite direction, slightly hunched over as she holds her face in pain while trying to retain some semblance of composure. The biker looks to Camilla as she approaches, looking initially confused by a random beautiful dark-haired white woman approaching him. It's not until her insult that he actually seems to realize why she's there. He doesn't take it terribly well, looking rather pissed. But perhaps reacting a bit less harshly than if she wasn't a beautiful white woman.

       "I don't know who the fuck you think you are, lady. But you need to mind your own fuckin' business. She's fuckin' fine." He reaches over and grabs the blonde woman's shoulder, pulling her close with him arm possessively around her and inappropriately grasping at her like an abusive lover. She straightens up as she's forced to, looking at Camilla with her head turned downwards to try to conceal the fresh bruise and tears. "I-I'm fine..." she forces out, barely a whisper. "You hear that?" the biker says belligerantly towards Camilla. "Now fuck off. What me an' my sister talk about's none ah yer fuckin' business." He doesn't seem to have noticed that two more women are approaching.

       The two Filipina woman watch as the other two women in their group head towards the conflict down the road. "Oh shit," Aniya calls out towards Karen and Arizona. "Chills out, chicas. You don't wanna fuck with those neo-Nazi assholes. They're armed like motherfuckers."

Camilla listens... Albeit, not at all respectfully. She grimaces as he handles the woman like he does, and rather promltly? She decides that she has had quite enough of it. She steps forward quickly... Perhaps too quickly. And before he has time to breathe a word to the contrary, the back of her hand whistles through the air, aiming to strike him as hard as Vasily Komatski. She feels the dull sensation of contact... And whatever happens to him, she flicks her wrist as though to get rid of the residual pain as she grimaces, pulling her lips back over her teeth.

Normal, teeth.

Only then does she speak. "You must not understand what other people's business IS, then?" The Ventrue venomously retorts, "When a wild fucking feral hog attacks someone in the street, it's the stand-up person's civic duty to /fucking intervene./" Her sapphire eyes flick away, towards the others who arrived.

"Unless he has more hog friends who want to come out and defend his shit? I'm fine loves. Go enjoy your party. This won't take much longer." She then looks to the woman...

"Are you /really/ fine, cheri? You don't have to lie. I saw how hard he hit you... And I want you to know that you do not have to tolerate this. This man-" a loose gesture to the star-seeing nazi, "-does not deserve your company if this is how he chooses to treat you."

"You seen Ari?" Flavien asks, gesturing toward Arizona, who looks like a kettle with the lid about to steam right off. "She's ripped, she can handle it. Don't worry about them, they got it. Seriously. Blondie has martial arts training. Take me to the drugs." The sound of Camilla's profound punch is loud enough to ring in his ears, and he gently ushers both of his new friends away, in the direction they'd come in the first place.

       Arizona is stepping up right as Camilla's hand makes contact with Nazi pig. The expression on her face is barely restrained rage and disgust. Even if she wanted to hide it such a thing wasn't possible. Her Beast has squeezed past its gilded cage and is ready to rip through the tissue paper-thick skin restraining it. As Camilla reassures her there's a little bounce on her heels from the short Brujah as she stands there at Camilla's left. "Pero la verdadera fiesta esta aqui, amiga," Arizona replies, lips thin and her fangs kept hidden just enough by her gums. "I wouldn't want to miss this.. my momma knows how to do a real nice pig roast.." She leans forward slightly.. as if daring someone, somewhere to hit her.

      Camilla's hand impacts the neo-Nazi's face with a loud smack, and maybe a quiet crunch beneath that. He's actually knocked over by the force of the blow, staggering over opposite the ombre-blonde woman. His eyes roll back, and then close as his body goes from very stiff to slackened. He's splayed over on the couch, lights out. One can almost see and hear birds flying around his head, chirping. Were Luna present, she likely would. He's not dead, and it's hard to say that he'll even be out for long, but limp and with blood pouring out his nose the concussed neo-Nazi probably isn't an immediate threat. Fortunately, the other bikers all went inside to let him and his apparent sister 'argue', but it's hard to say how long they have before someone peeks outside and notices what happened. And there's still one witness present fully capable of calling for help. The woman's eyes dart wide open in shock as she sees the man who hit her fall limp beside her beneath the might earth-shaking slap of the slap-master standing before her. Her mouth falls wide agape, a gasp heard from it as she stares for a few seconds at him. And then her eyes turn upon her brother's mysterious dark-haired slap assailant, and quietly utters, "Oh fuck..."

       Meanwhile, Carli shakes her head insistantly at Flavien. "Man, they got machine guns and shit. Yo girl and yo girl's girl gonna get shot." Aniya utters, "Fuck. Well, I'm not going down there. I'm definitely gonna need some of that crazy-good coke tonight."

       Back with Camilla, as Arizona and Karen arrive as backup, the ombre-blonde woman shakes her head at Camilla's words to her. "Y'all need to get out of here quick, before anyone comes out here." She quickly looks back over her shoulder to see if anyone's coming, before looking back at the Ventrue with her teary eyes. "Look, I... I haven't been okay for years, but there's ain't anywhere for me to go. I'm fuckin' broke. I'm a waitress at Wafflehouse, and people here tip shit. My brother and his asshole friends chased away all the friends I had, an' put the last one I moved in with in the fucking hospital. Since... Since Ma died an' I had to move back..." She wraps her arms tightly around herself. "I... I appreciate you trying to help. An... He fuckin' deserves it more than y' know." Her eyes turn upon her brother with perhaps more disdain than expected, a chilled shudder running visibly down her spine. "But it's here 'r the street. So... please get outta here. His friends might kill you if they come out."

Camilla listens to her patiently... And when she's through, the Ventrue lets out a small sigh.

"Listen... I am aware that it feels hopeless. Family, especially, can be a terribly restricting thing. But I suppose that I should tell you... This might just be your lucky night." Her head tilts, as her sapphire eyes flit to the trailer... And to the downed nazi that she had just pimp slapped.

"I am the owner of a nightclub. Rainbow Rose. I also happen to be an affluent woman- with property to spare. You do not know who I am. I do not know who you are. But I am /more/ than willing to take you away from here /tonight/ and put you in a place where he won't be able to get to you again... A house in Eastlake. Anywhere you'd like. Anywhere to get you out of this shit and somewhere you can get back on your feet." There's a small shrug...

"You could even quit your job at Wafflehouse and work at the club. I pay my employees more than twice what you make there."

Her sincerity is... Surprisingly strong. But the urgency in her tone betrays just how quickly that a response needs to be given too.

"I know it's alot... But my name is Camilla. And I've been /exactly/ where you are."