Dec 20 15:35:24 108 PA - Reassembling After an Aborted Raid

From Chronicles

Dec 20 15:35:24 108 PA.

MERCHANT'S PLAZA

'Nother night. Nother time ta play. Or somethin. Bella comes walkin in from the gates. It ain't that late. Later dinner maybe. Early breakfast fer some. Looks like she was maybe out playin inna dirt some. She's still brushin some off her.

Gabriel, for his part seems to have just emerged from the coffee shop and wandered into the busy plaza. Even at this hour, in this part of the year, it's a busy spot. However, through a combination of snow, clothing, knowing how to use the clothing with snow, which clothing to buy in the first place, and how to move... he's doing a good job of standing around being very unnoticeable. Just looking up at the stars. If they could be seen.

Bella ain' lookin up. Get snow fallin in yer eye doin that. She keeps walkin through the plaza. Brushin stuff offa her coat 's she goes. Don' look like she spots standin still good guy Gabe. But he kinda blends in.

Hmm, a Bella. Gabriel remains where the is, doing his slow, waving movements in the snow, just curious to see if she'll run into him. There's probably other stuff on his mind, but at this immediate instant, this is more interesting.

Borin. Stinks. Walks funny. Drunk. Uptight. Cop. Bella sizes up people she's bumpin past. She don' run right inta Gabe. But she gets pretty close 'fore she spots 'im. A li'l blinkin. Li'l grinnin. Way more smirkin. "Heya. Whatcha doin? Just standin out inna cold?"

Gabriel winks slowly at Bella, and a single finger is raised to his lips. There's no audible sound, but its message is obvious. "Shhhhh." He waits. People bump into him, not seeing him. He remains largely camouflaged in the falling snow, looking around. Bella isn't the target of his vision. But now it is. "*BAH!*" he says, suddenly leaping at her, hands raised in mock claws, a funny scary-dad expression on his face.

Bella don' blink this time. She just sorta stares at 'im. Perks up a brow when he does his rawr thing. Stares a li'l more. Then she figgers she oughtta make 'im feel better. So hands come up and wave a li'l. Like she's scared. "Oh shit. He's gonna get me." Back to smirkin. "What the fack was that anyways?"

"You're no fun, Bella. When a friend surprises you, you're supposed to try to kill 'em, remember?" Gabriel sticks his tongue out. "So, coming in from the woods?"

"Really?" Bella pops up th'other one. "Think it'd be more fun if I's holdin yer heart 'r somethin 'stead?" Then she shrugs. "Yep. Was out playin inna trees."

Gabriel nods. "You can try." Then smiles. Does he mean it? That's the fun part about him, you never know if he's joking, serious, or crazy. "Shit's really happened at the Lady. You know the Family's been busted off? I guess Donna's gone a separate route - still gets the girls, after all."

Bella blinks this time. "Huh? Whatcha mean? Dunno nothin bout that. Gotta be somethin new." Li'l hand wave. "Course ain' been goin there so much. Guess maybe I oughtta see whats goin on. Always gonna find girls needin creds inna Dregs though. Dancin's easier 'n turnin tricks." She shrugs.

The man waves his hand. "It's getting bad, real bad. The Family's gettin' pissed off. The Lady's getting more powerful. Unfortunately, we're going to have to move soon, because it just can't get much worse before we - or at least, I - won't be able to stop it without everything getting real bloody." Gabriel nods in the direction of the 'Dregs. "If you can find where the girls are coming from, that'd be good. I have information from elsewhere that it's not just girls needing cash. It's still trafficking, just from a new supplier. Find that, find the psi-cola distributor, find the blood bank... solve one problem, and kill Donna. Think you can look to see who the new hook-up is?"

"Can ask." Bella nods. "Dunno what anybody's gonna say though. Bus'ness 's bus'ness ya know. Weren' thinkin'a Family'd get outta stuff. Gotta been makin 'em some good creds. Course like yer sayin maybe got too big fer 'em."

"We need to know who the new supplier is. I mean, we can't charge in and find out the hard way that whoever the new partner is happens to be a group of dragons and demigods out for cash who'll sneeze at us and erase us from the globe." Gabriel nods his head sagely. "Anything you can get, would be very helpful." He pauses a bit, and says, "So, you know that Sebastien's being controlled by a vampire, right? I think it's Donna, though others have their own questions."

Bella smirks. "Ain' thinkin somethin that big 'n bad's gonna need creds fer nothin. But dunno." The other stuff gets her perked up again. "So ya find out fer sure? Thinkin we were just guessin 'fore. Who else'd it be but her?" She thinks a li'l 'n shrugs. "Guess't can maybe be one'a th'other ones there. Ain' really talked ta none."

"The real bad one? You," Gabriel states bluntly. "Perhaps I'm the fool, but I never thought it. At least, not in the way that he was describing it." He continues to share information that others would be angry with him for sharing. "I'm telling you this, because I want to trust you, and I'm extending this as a branch of my own trust in you. Jaxain and others tell me that you have or at least had some kind of rule over Sebastien. True?" The word falls of quietly, and he waits patiently to see what develops.

"Rule?" Bella snorts. "Boy dunno nothin bout rules. Not't I seen." More shrugs. "Anythin I got 'im doin fer me weren' 'im doin fer me. Was doin 't ta getta piece. Likes gettin 'is sword wet 'r whatever." Now she's grinnin. "Case ya didn' figger 'im out yet."

"So you didn't do anything. Never told him to do anything? Made him do anything? Jax and other folks are full of shit?" Gabriel raises an eyebrow. "Just yes or no, did you tap into his mind. Please."

Bella eyes him some. A li'l hard. But she's back to smirkin. "Course I messed with 'im. A li'l. Said he was a big bad vampire killer first time I seen 'im. Weren' gonna let 'im be huntin me. Course didn' know all I hadda do was pull my skirt up."

Gabriel smiles. "Okay. Okay. I'll take you at your word. Yeah, Seb does like to poke every ink bottle that he can find. Or, if you prefer other words, he fucks everything with a hole." There are multiple ways to express the same idea. "So, anyway. I've been telling Jax and such that it's not you who's the problem, it's Donna. Because the reason that I canceled the raid is that it turned out that Seb managed to spill that he very well might have tried to kill everyone as soon as we invaded. So what do you think? Donna? I mean, it seems obvious to me, but I guess as you're our resident girl, you get the shaft. So to speak." Wink.

Bella snickers. "Seb got way bigger. Oughtta see what's up on 'is wall. So. What I'm thinkin bout Donna?" She stops. Even looks like she's thinkin some. "If she pissed off the Family she's dumb 'r got one up on 'em. Ain' thinkin she's dumb." Bella backs up some. To curious. "Why ya tellin me shit if th'others're thinkin it's me anyways? Figgered ya'd be first one comin after me. Since ya did't coupla times already."

Gabriel waggles a finger. "I came after you one time, and only because I thought you were a feral wolf." He nods his head, hard. "I made you a promise, and I've kept it. I'll not raise a hand against you. But, I'm telling you these things because other people believing something doesn't mean that I have to. I think they're wrong. I think you're getting a bad rap, and I've said as much." He holds out one hand as a gesture. "I'm also coming to you because of that uniqueness, and its ability to get you in places to learn things where none of us could. At least, not safely."

"Ain' all safe fer me neither ya know." Bella points a finger at 'im. "Humans ain'a only heads she can mess with if she wanna." Then she's thinkin s'more and shrugs. "Ya really wanna hear my thinkin on Donna? Be way easier ta just let 'er be."

Intriguing. "Really? How do you figure? It seems as if she just keeps getting more and more powerful. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely." It's probably been a year that Gabriel's been waiting to crack out that ancient gem.

Bella nods. "Yeah. Maybe. Maybe she's already way more 'n 'nuff ta fack us all up. Always said I ain' so big on startin shit. Figgered she was gonna get all uppity 'n start 'er own. She ain' really." Bella waves a hand down thattaways. "Sides. Last one't tried somethin didn' end up so great 'member?"

Gabriel furrows his brow, listening. "Start her own what?" Then, "Hey, if it hadn't been for having to take care of the Sebastien problem, we'd be sitting and sipping mai tais right now."

"Start shit." Bella smirks. "Alla ones I knew did it alla time. S'what got 'em dead dead. Figgered I was smarter. Weren figgerin anybody else'd be smart too." Then she shrugs. "Seb's always good't fackin shit up. Now we got way more shit ta worry bout."

"Oh, oh. I understand," Gabriel says, nodding as he really does understand. "On one hand, I suppose that's a strategy. Kind of a 'let God sort 'em out' view. I just can't stand by and wait for her to implode, taking umpteen lives with her. I'm going to have to get my hands dirty and solve this one before it gets worse. I'd like to think that I could still count on you to help though, Bella? If nothing else, you're one of the rare people around who could help me subdue Sebastien and toss him into a hole while we finish things."

Bella rolls her eyes. "Worryin way too much boutta wrong guy. Coulda just told 'em a buncha shit. Made 'im think we was goin sometime diff'rent. He ain' nothin nexta ev'rybody else she's got." She points her finger again. Pokes Gabe with it. "Know ya like bein all hero 'n shit. Brave's close ta stupid. Lotsa dead heroes all over. Don' wanna see ya get dead already."

Gabriel rolls his eyes back. "I just want to toss him into a hole for a while. Donna doesn't get to know anything more that way. He can't sneak, or see, or hear what's planned. I don't think that Donna'd be gullible enough even for what counter-intelligence I could feed her, do you?" He waits for a moment to allow for an answer, then says, "Believe me, I don't want to die either. That's why I called off the thing at the last moment. It would have worked, if it hadn't been for a cyber-knight being dumb enough to get taken over by *two* vampires." Wink. Wink. Wink.

Bella laughs at that. "Yeah. Betcha he's done all kindsa dreamin bout gettin two takin 'im atta same time." She takes a bit ta get down ta just smirkin. "Don' work like that though. Not fer messin with heads anyways. Course maybe not havin so much brain's what's helpin us out?"

"I don't know how Monique puts up with him. They're an item, right? But he's off chasing ass?" Gabriel shakes his head, very disapproving. "Anyway. If we tossed him in a hole, he couldn't help Donna out, right? I mean, the best that he could do would be... not show up when she called him? I just need someone to get his attention enough for me to stun him, slap him in some cuffs and keep him somewhere. I'm sure that Monique and her teddy bear'd be happy to watch him. If she really loves him, she'd do it for him, not just us. Whaddya say? I'll start poking around the 'Dregs tomorrow to see about the new supplier - would be good if you could too."

"Dunno." Bella gives a li'l shrug on Monique. Then she's noddin about the rest. "Sure. Can start pokin 'round. Can get Seb all distracted fer ya too." Wink. Wink. "Pretty good't that."

Gabriel smiles. "Yeah, just put on that little leather skirt you picked out and wiggle a little. He's not classy enough for the pretty dress." Then he sighs quietly and looks up into increasingly worse weather. "I've got a hike to get home, and Mother Nature's being an iron-clad bitch. I thought that last year was a fluke." He aims an index finger at Bella. "Missouri winters were never this harsh. But please, poke around and don't let Sebastien poke you - metaphorically speaking." Grin. "We'll get together with what we know, take care of Sebastien, and get the band back together." He starts to walk north, patting Bella's shoulder. "Stay out of trouble tonight, Bella. Or at least don't cause any. I'll see you later."