Seattle by Noir! Issue

Harlan is brought to a meeting with Simeon Blade and chastised for not investigating what is going on with Jericho prior to the Gangrel's bout of public frenzy the night before. Blade informs Harlan that Jericho was spotted in the waterfront area that is controlled by Genevieve, and that Harlan better stop chasing ghosts and deal with some real issues (my words, not his). He also hints that Genevieve has a childe, Simone, in Tacoma. He hands over a photo (touched up by an artist to counter the blur), and tells Harlan to use her if he has to. Dark thoughts spin in Harlan's mind as he tucks the picture in his pocket. After this meet, Harlan picks up Lucas prior to the mandatory meeting at the Seattle Art Museum called by Genevieve. Harlan takes Lucas on a quick drive-by sneak and peek at the waterfront where Jericho was spotted, to see if anything jumps out at them. The two spot Genevieve coming out of Big Fish Games and getting into a Tesla Roadster. They give the car a loose tail for a while to get some info (license plate, who's driving), then break off for the SAM, which is probably where Genevieve is headed.

At the meeting, Lucas and Harlan meet Endy (one of the 'Nawlins Carthians) and make pleasantries before he breaks of to talk to Penn Bourbon. We step inside because loitering outside to see who's coming in seems gauche. Harlan and Lucas naturally have to turn over their weapons, and Harlan throws some shade at Lucas for the girly switchbIade he hands over. Inside, Harlan seeks out a blood doll and comes up with a new term, "morning cup of Jolene," to describe taking that little bit of vitae to top off the tanks after waking up in the evening. Laughs are had by all at this turn of phrase, huzzah. Simeon Blade shows up close to the start of the meeting and is overheard by many dressing down The Eye, making sure "We ain't gonna have no surprise guests this time, right?" This is in reference to Mike McDavid, the human "mechanic" that showed up and announced his presence in Seattle at the last meeting. (This is known in literature as "foreshadowing." Pay attention, because Harlan sure didn't.) The meeting gets underway, and Genevieve gives vague warnings about the beast being near at hand recently, and exhorts those assembled to be careful. Furthermore, she lectures the Kindred, reminding us all that there are but a few dozen vampires gathered at this meeting while there are millions of mortals in the city. "We are on top of them all," she reminds us, "but we must still be careful about how we conduct our business." It is not difficult to conclude what the inspiration for this sermon is, and he is sitting out of place, on the floor halfway between the tables of the Invictus and the Sanctified.

Noted by many upon arrival, the gigantic Gangrel was not standing in his usual location, instead sitting on the floor between to loci, as if his usual apolitical stance is being pulled off balance. No one made much of a fuss about it; evidently no one wants to get in Jericho's grill, and one can imagine if he's spent forever not getting in theirs about stupid things, people probably have a tendency to respect that. Though they may keep their comments to themselves, people can't help but notice it, however. Especially when Genevieve starts making him the veiled centerpiece of her speech. She turns to Mike Smith, whom she had previously handed over control of the local media, to see what efforts had been made on his end to help cover up the recent breach of the masquerade. Mike nervously explains that his people threw out a bunch of diversionary stuff on Facebook and hoax videos on YouTube, and spread some news about a film crew shooting some scenes in Seattle. Chaff and flares. This seems to placate Genevieve and serves to reminds us all that when we mess up, extraordinary measures must be taken to cover it up, especially in the days of near omnipresent digital photography. Jericho, the source of this disruption, is not chastised or punished for causing this extra work. Instead, Genevieve understands that he is going through some kind of tribulation, and grants him temporary access to St. Marks church, as it has not officially been granted as territory yet. Harlan asks (on Jakob's behalf) that some kindred have been trying to stake a claim there; is the church off-limits for now, or will co-habitation be permitted? Genevieve responds that anyone seeking to make use of the church grounds should bring it up with Jericho. This is a particularly interesting note because Jericho's current territory was granted to him to spite Rafael Pope ages ago, and now, Pope has been trying to make use of St. Mark's church and Genevieve has cock-blocked him again...with the same kindred as her catspaw. The question is raised as to what becomes of Jericho's current territory in Old Seattle, and Genevieve smoothly explains that it will be placed under the care of a steward until such time as Jericho is ready to take it back. Harlan pipes up again, asking who the steward is, in case kindred have business in that area and wish to follow the proper courtesies. The Prince names Garret Kleiser (another member of the Lancea Sanctum, natch). In response, Pope "whispers" to the person sitting next to him loud enough--likely on purpose--for many to hear "What a fucking joke." No one reacts to Pope's disdain. At some point during Genevieve's magnanimity toward Jericho, he stops sitting and kneels as if in prayer or supplication. He naturally doesn't explain himself, and no one asks. Blade, of course, is not pleased by any of this. Harlan catches Blade's eye for a moment and taps his breast where he had tucked the picture of Simone earlier. Genevieve is meddling with Blade's family. With a gesture, Harlan lets him know that the safeties are off.

In other business, Natasha Preston (one of the emigres from New Orleans), inquires as to the Genevieve's decision regarding the Primogen, and the frequency of meetings. Genevieve announces the official Primogen (as they appear on the wiki), and that meetings will likely occur monthly, or more frequently during times of crisis.

After the official announcements, mingling occurs and Harlan turns to Lucas. Even though the cop has a new case demanding his attention, he is loathe to let the old one that distracted him for so long lie fallow. He asks Lucas to see if he can get in contact with Mike or Xavier about whether their efforts to re-inter Elizabeth Master's remains yielded any positive results for their investigation of the Wyrm's nest. The Dragons agree to meet them at the location to take readings. It turns out that whatever we did has caused the "ectoplasmic leakage" that Xavier first picked up on to subside. The readings from his USB geegaw are minimal in the vicinity of the haunted dormitory. On entry, it appears that the Wyrm's nest is gone, or maybe it was never here at all...Mike and Xavier are going to conduct some more readings of this area and possibly the mausoleum where Elizabeth was laid to rest. We promise to contact them later and advise them that if they go to the cemetery, to bring some gangbangers from Renton as blood sacrifices to the pack of Haunts there, and to tell them Jakob sent them. With that, Harlan and Lucas depart.

Harlan asks Lucas if he can broker a meeting with Jacqueline Speirs, as he has close ties with her and she has been in Seattle for a while now and might be able to point him in the right direction when it comes to investigating Jericho (and also because of dirty, dirty player knowledge that when Rumi played Jacqueline in the previous game, she was positively disposed toward the NPC). They meet her in an alley behind REI near El Corazon. Harlan does his best to assure her that he means no ill will toward Jericho, and is trying to prevent him from being used as a tool by any political faction; if Genevieve manages to turn him, it might result in all out "torch-the-fields-and-salt-the-earth" war from Simeon Blade! Since this is a path we'd all like to avoid a stroll down, Harlan is keen on investigating the matter, and Jacqueline is equally keen on helping.

Genevieve is also equally keen on interrupting. Possibly because of his questions during the meeting, Harlan has finally drawn the Prince's attention, and she asks for a favor, "as is customary to those coming to the city, to show their respect," she says. She asks Harlan to locate and bring to her one Mr. Mike McDavid (See? Foreshadowing!) Alive, she says. Now, Harlan knows that Simeon Blade wants the same thing, and may or may not have agents assigned to that task, so Harlan plays coy, trying his hand at deception since she's talking to him over a phone. Harlan replies, "You ask as though I haven't already been looking for him. As you can imagine, others are interested in him, as well, and Mr. McDavid has so far eluded my capture." Harlan does not particularly want to help Genevieve in this, especially since it is a goal also shared by Blade! Genevieve is disappointed in Harlan's incompetence, mentioning that she had such high hopes for him, then she hangs up. Not ominous at all...

After the meeting with Jacqueline, Harlan and Lucas decide to go directly to the source and see if they can meet with Jericho, considering they now know where he will be and they (nominally) have an excuse to meet with him. That excuse will be asking how he feels about them continuing to use the church while he is staying there. And if some other questions get asked while we're there...so much the merrier, right? Before heading to the church, Harlan takes Lucas near his own new haven in West Seattle to pick up a gift for the youngster. He hands over a jan-u-wine authentic, Vietnam-era Ka-Bar fighting knife, which he ensures has tasted Viet Cong blood. Lucas sniffs the blade, and secures the knife and sheath in his boot, genuinely thanking him. Once the kid is properly armed with something someone wouldn't be embarrassed to be stabbed with and the "Awww!" moment is over, the two head to the church. Harlan suggests that Lucas take the lead in any meeting we have with Jericho; Lucas is the one he thanked the other night for pulling him back from frenzy, after all, and Harlan/Bruce feels that he has been dominating the conversations all night and doing too much talking.

The church is locked up this late at night in order to stave off the depredations of rampant hoboism (this night being a blow-out for clever catchphrases and colorful colloquialisms!). We hear choral chanting inside, and a deep bass rumbling vibrates the heavy church doors at Lucas' touch. We decide to hoof it to the back and try and sneak in that way. On our way, we catch a glimpse through a window and see Jericho stripped naked, kneeling before the empty pulpit as he chants and sings. Both Harlan and Lucas have even greater reservations about disturbing him, but they soldier on. Lucas picks the lock at the back that leads down into a basement storage area, and we nose around. There are no obvious signs that Jericho is staying here, but this is his first night here, after all. Nothing seems amiss, so we edge upstairs.

Before Harlan opens the door that leads to the ground floor, Lucas has a flash of insight; Jericho's wasn't in frenzy the other night until Velma--another kindred--encroached on his territory. Until he showed up, he was just howling at the moon, answering the call of a Garou. Lucas grabs onto Harlan's jacket and pulls him back, explaining that this may be a really bad idea. Harlan thanks the kid for his cold feet, claiming that he agrees, and that he'd hoped for a reason to back down. Instead, Lucas finds a scrap of paper downstairs and writes a much less confrontational note for Jericho. Jacqueline had told them that Jericho used to communicate through an old drop-box in Pioneer square, but we don't think we can trust that with a Lancea Sanctum steward in charge there, so we beat a retreat (locking the door on our way out) and slip it conspicuously in the front door for Jericho to find.

Harlan and Lucas debate what to do next. We mull over the notion of staking out the church, but due to the lateness of the hour, conclude that Jericho will likely remain there for the rest of the night. We touch base with Mike and Xavier and find that they are still investigating ley lines or some shit, and that it will take them some more time to reach any conclusions. We also decide not to run to Rafael Pope just yet (Pope-touching, another new term we coined) to see what he thinks (we figured Jakob would be all over that, and didn't want him to lose that Papal feeling...whoa-oh that Papal feeling....) Harlan does give a quick text to Carlos (Blade's ghoul) and tells him that Genevieve asked him to acquire McDavid. When Carlos learns from Harlan that he "declined" her request, he advises Harlan to "Watch your back..."

Great. Just...great. Thus ends an eventful Thursday in Seattle.