Dec 31 15:35:51 108 PA - Never a Straight Answer

From Chronicles

Dec 31 15:35:51 108 PA.

TRADEWINDS COFFEE SHOP

Fizzlesnoot waddles in from the cold damp afternoon weather. Upon closing the door behind him he stomps and shakes some of the lingering dampness from his body. He pulls a handkerchief from the inside of his jacket and wipes his face down on his way to the counter.

As has become his habit, of late, Jax is again wearing his environmental body armor as he walks through the door shortly after the short D-Bee. He has a number of bags, his backpack, and his Jet Pack all strapped around and to his person, making him look half again larger than he really is. Moving over to a corner table, he claims it by placing his goods on the floor in the corner, getting rid of some of the weight before he gets his meal.

Gabriel is already indoors, enjoying a cup of warm, obviously highly-creamed coffee. Seated to the west with a briefcase tucked between his leg and the large plate windows, he has a newspaper out, reading through the 'Regionals' section. The damp weather is thankfully impacting the window, not his own unarmored body.

Fizzlesnoot waves to both Jaxain and Gabriel, being the perceptive D-bee he is. Those big brown eyes of his don't miss much. Once he has his order of a warm cup of Joe, he makes his way over to where Gabriel sits, "Hiya Mr. Blaze. Mind if I sit down with you for a bit?"

Jaxain looks up when he hears a familiar voice and grimaces, looking at his pile of goods on the floor. Shrugging, he gets his order and makes his way over towards Gabriel's table, taking a seat that is facing his gear so he can keep half an eye on it. "Hey, whats going on?"

"No, please! Not at all, Fizzlesnoot. Take a load off. I've actually been hoping to run into you anyway." Gabriel scoots down low enough in his own chair that he can gently kick out the chair on the opposite side of the table, thus opening up new seating area for a friend. "Jax! Still falling out of the sky?" He attempts a side-kick for another chair sitting at ninety-degrees, basically the 'head' of the tiny table. It doesn't work out so well, but he shrugs and smiles anyway.

Fizzlesnoot offers up a broad friendly smile when Jaxain comes over. "Oh you know, same ole thing, different day. How's everything going with you?" and not to be rude to Gabriel, "Thank you." hanging his damp jacket on the back of the chair to maybe dry some. His hat being set aside on the table when he hops up into it, kerchief wiping the moisture from his patchy sparse head of hair. "I have some drawings for you, not sure they will be helpful." he says to Gabriel before taking his first warming sip of coffee.

Jaxain nods to Gabriel with a smile, "Just finished a flight around the greater part of the farming regions. Beautiful view!" Then he looks at Fizz and grimaces slightly, "I hear that Arcadia again calls for aid... but we can speak of that later. Drawings?" He takes a sip of his drink, raising his eyebrows and letting the other... sentients... speak for a moment.

"Really?" Gabriel says, leaning forward slightly toward the D-Bee. "Did I buy myself anything good?" After a smile across the table, he takes a long pull on his coffee. "Drawings could be very useful. Do they come numbered and signed?" He chuckles at himself a little, and tells Jaxain, "I assume drawings of a problem place in town, yes. Sometimes spreading a little money around is a good way to learn things."

Fizzlesnoot rummages through his big bag lying next to him on the floor, having to get up to rummage through all the stuff inside. Finally pulling out a notepad. "I'm not sure how helpful it will be, but I do have other information I have overheard, but not sure if this is the place to talk of such things." flipping open the pad he hands it to Gabriel. It contains a layout drawing of the main club area and some doors marked with an S. On some of the other pages are schedules of a good portion of the staff. The waitress section has a lot of scribbles in it, seems that changes often. "You can read, right?"

Gabriel grins and says quietly, "I think we can talk here. Just don't lean forward and look like you're trying to be secretive. That's what draws attention. Yes, I can read. Polish and English. Whatcha got there?" The map is pulled across the table and analyzed for a while. "Looks like what I've seen. Just the main floor. These are staff doors?" He pokes an index finger at the areas marked with an 'S.'

Fizzlesnoot nods to the question, both of em. The print is in American. "Staff, security, ones I know for sure are staff only. There are a lot of doors as you can see. Some don't seem to be used at all, at least I never saw them being used. Probably just timing I think. Security schedules are there, they were pretty easy to figure out, the dancers too. The waitresses are different, I think it has something to do with the feeding from them. I would think it drains them a bit losing all that blood."

Nodding along with Fizzlesnoot's explanation, Gabriel seems pleased. "Great. Security, what kind was it? Normal folk like you and me, or people like the staff? 'Borgs? Did you see this woman?" He pulls out a piece of newspaper clipping with an image of an attractive woman with long blonde hair.

Fizzlesnoot looks long at the picture and shakes his head after a good look. "Sorry, no. Who is it?"

"A friend," is all that Gabriel says in response to Fizzlesnoot's question. "Thanks for all the work, I appreciate it. Any more details you can give me about the type and behavior of the staff and security? The waitresses, I have a bit of a handle on them."

Fizzlesnoot nods, indicating he has more to say, but takes a sip of coffee first before spitting it out, "Well, I was talking to the owner, Donna. And guess who walks in? That one young woman, Bella. I'm pretty sure you know who I am talking about." taking another quick sip, "Well, seems her and her boyfriend or something had a falling out, something that Donna mentioned only a spell being able to break them up. They were pretty vague, but seems this guy is free of something and coming for them. Bella says he's pissed or something. Oh, and she's one of them too. Just like Donna."

Gabriel's eyebrows perk up. Way up. "Really? Good job. Keep an eye out for this woman, if you find yourself back there." He slides the picture of the woman with the long blonde hair across the table. With some credits politely concealed beneath. "Bella, I do know here. When you say 'just like Donna' do you mean that only.. ah... physically, or.. um.. in life-outlook as well? Metaphorically speaking? Is she *what* she is, or is she *who* she is, after breaking up with her boyfriend? Did *she* seem to get along with Donna?" His coffee is pushed to the side for now, as he clasps his fingers and leans slightly on his elbows.

Fizzlesnoot nods, "Donna offered her help to take care of it. She didn't accept or deny the offer, but did indicate that she would consider the help. Sounding to me, more than likely accepting in the long run. And when I say like her, I mean what they both are. I've seen her drink from a waitress. I can describe how they serve it warm from a little spout in the belly button. She even has a favorite one. I do hope the poor girl made it. Bella was really mad, wanting to let off some steam."

More nodding, a few 'mmm' throat sounds to go along. Gabriel's attention is clearly hanging on Fizzlesnoot's words. "Yes, I've seen her that way. Bella, that is." He finally leans back and extends a hand half-way. "I realize that I'm asking you to guess, but you're a businessman, you must have an eye and a feel for this kind of thing. Do you think that she is one-hundred percent behind Donna, or just seeing the benefits of the business? It's a rather important point. A very important one."

Fizzlesnoot gives a shrug and a sigh after thinking on that point a moment or two. "Honestly, I can't really say for sure at this point. I'm not done, I got permission from the owner to sell the dancers little skimpy outfits to take off. I've sat with Bella a time or two, I'm sure I can figure out her intentions or ambitions regarding the place. Just give me a little more time hanging around. Maybe you can give me some idea of things you want me to look for, that I haven't gotten so far."

After a few moments of thinking, Gabriel says, "I understand. She's a tough girl to read, even for me." Whatever that means. "Any patterns specific to Donna and her ilk. Doors they always use, that kind of thing. Oh, how many staff were there, anyway?" He pauses for a sip of coffee before continuing with, "The two biggest things? Where their business center is. Not the meals themselves, I know a lot of them take place there in the club. But there has to be something big. Second, who's supplying the girls. It used to be the Family, now it's a new one, and I'd like to know who.

Fizzlesnoot motions to the notepad, "The number and basic description of who, if not named, are all in there. Donna is always there, from open to close. I've never been there after locking up so I'm not sure where she comes in or goes out of, cept during business hours. She is the main bartender. I'll see what I can figure out as to where the girls come from."

"Okay," Gabriel says, removing a small set of loose papers from within his inner jacket. A regular wood-and-graphite pencil comes out - appearing to be sharpened by a knife blade, not a proper sharpener - and he starts to copy down all of the information. His penmanship is impeccable, and though he arranges the information differently, it is eventually all copied down, right down to the last scratch of a door in the diagram. "You know what's going on there. I don't suppose you have any questions that you'd be curious about yourself? Maybe something that a nosy guy like me hasn't thought of yet?"

Fizzlesnoot grimaces a bit, "Yeah, I have questions, but I'm not sure I want to know the answers to some of em. I'll catch up with you when I find out more. Um, I kinda have a question for you. If you know what you know who is, why are you bothering with the club? What's your beef with them?"

Gabriel's expression becomes somewhat flatter, as does his tone, though the Kentucky doesn't disappear. "I don't like people who keep slaves. I don't like people who exploit others because they can. I *know* that every time someone grows powerful, they want to become more powerful, which inevitably leads to war. Among many others." He leans forward a little, and his tone softens. "Despite what you may hear about me from some people, I hate war. I don't like fighting. It's a terrible thing taking a man's life; you take everything he has, and everything he's ever gonna have. But I've been doing it for a long time, and I know that some things need to be fought. I think that the undead feeding on the blood of the enslaved living probably falls into that category." He pauses for a short moment before asking - genuinely - "Wouldn't you?"

Fizzlesnoot nods as he listens, "I can agree that slavery is horrible, I can only imagine what that fate would be like. I'm sure that it's not even close to the actual thing. My species is used as slaves by many other species from what my father used to say, but he never really elaborated on it. I think it hit a little close to home for him, probably from before I was born."

"I don't really know the Lady's kind. They're new to me. But the concept is no different - the strong prey on the weak, and the weak need someone to speak for them, or in some cases, to act." Gabriel turns his eyes to the waning afternoon, soon to be night. He and Fizzlesnoot are tucked against a small table on the west side with one of the large plate glass windows, each enjoying their own mug of preferred beverage. "There are always gray areas, which is where the real difficulty comes in. For instance, how something should work in theory, versus how it works in reality."

Ev'rybody's got favorites. Bella too. Course this ain' really the place ta order't up. But she could. Maybe? She comes walkin in anyways. If nothin else there's people here most times. And people're good ta have 'round most times.

Fizzlesnoot chuckles with an understanding nod, "That’s just how life is I guess. Lotta gray out there. Well, good seeing you, gotta get back to work though, can't lollygag around all day."

The sniffle of cold air that blows through when Bella walks inside is enough to get Gabriel's attention. Though slightly unusually he isn't immediately one to throw up a big hand and wave 'hello.' In fact, he finishes writing something on a notepad that eventually is returned to an inner pocket. His eyes turn out to the west where the last glow of sunset barely lingers. His hands wrap around his mug, and he sips slowly, perhaps in thought. Perhaps Alzheimer’s.

Bella goes for the counter. Maybe she's gonna talk at Tiffany. Maybe she's gonna look't alla pretty pictures of drinks. Stop 'n smell the coffee? Maybe just 'cause.

Maybe Tiffany wants to talk. "Hello! Welcome to Tradewinds, how can I help you today?" Her voice has a high, twittering quality to it, and her four arms are already in motion; one at the pastries, three at the various vats of beverages, both prepared and waiting to be mixed. Gabriel remains quiet, for his part. In fact, his back is to the counter. Gotta wonder what old guys think. Maybe not, because he pulls open his news paper back to the 'Regionals' section again.

Fizzlesnoot hops up from his seat and goes to rummaging through his bag, "Oh yeah, before I forget, here ya go." pulling out a can of insect repellant to hand to Gabriel, "From what I've been told its the best on the market, or so the Dogboy said who recommended it to me. Ok, see ya around. Lemme know if you need anything else." picking up his bag and jacket he heads over to the counter where Bella stands, to maybe get another cup of coffee. He offers a warm friendly smile in greeting with a tip of his hat. Not wanting to interrupt her placing her order.

"Huh." Bella thinks some. Or looks like she's thinkin. Then looks a li'l more. "Gimme the cheap stuff." She ain't big on coffee. Not gonna waste lotsa creds on it if she hates it.

Gabriel accepts the bug repellent, the expression on his face perhaps wondering if his morning and evening bathing routines have stopped working. "Actually, I have a thing for bugs already, Fizzlesnoot. But thanks, I'll be sure to keep it in my back pocket." He continues to eye it oddly - before sliding it into his back pocket. "Just remember what I already asked, my friend. Stay safe, and good luck with the clothes." Up at the counter, Tiffany rapidly pours out a mug of black coffee, just about as basic as you can get without being tap water. "Five credits, please!" She slides the 'TIPS' jar marginally closer to the cash register.

Bella hands over ten. Still cheaper 'n lotsa other drinks. 'N the chits look lots like the 5s too. Then she picks up her coffee 'n turns ta look 'round. Maybe it's cause Gabe's talkin but she lines up on him 'n starts walkin. "Hiya. Y'ever go anywheres sides here?" Been runnin inta him lots at this place.

Gabriel turns his head, smiling. "Of course! I also like to hang out at Harry's for the walker-races, spend time at the newspaper trying to get time to yell at the man who runs the 'Opinion' section, and in the rest of my spare time, I put on a suit with blue tights and yellow tighty underpants, toss on a cape, and fight crime." He sticks out his tongue. "I do more before you wake up than most people do before breakfast. Or something like that." He clearly and obviously misquotes the quote.

"Uh huh." Bella's smirkin. "Hope ya do somethin 'fore I wake up. Like ta sleep late." She sips at her coffee a li'l. "Whatcha doin?"

Gabriel motions to Fizzlesnoot, who has just departed. "Oh, just two guys swapping stories. Nice little fellow. Hideously ugly, but nice. Easy to pay off." He motions to the empty chair where the D-Bee's rear had been seated only minutes before. "Make yourself comfortable. I have a question."

Bella smirks a li'l more. "Was selling stakes 'n crosses first time I seen 'im. Hadda buy some." She takes up his invitin. Plops her butt down. Pops brows up. "Sure. What's up?"

Jaxain comes back from the restroom, where he was 'freshening up' after eating some questionable meat at stall in the dregs. Sure, everyone else who ate there that night died or required a stomach pump, but Jax doesn't know that. Still looking a little green around the gills, he comes over to the table and gives a halfhearted wave. "Yo." And sits down, in between the old man and the dead woman.

Gabriel first addresses Bella, a necessary question. "My little network tells me that our cyber-knight friend is free of influence. Maybe free from everyone due to a certain spell that I'm unaware of. Do you know, is it true? He's free again, his own man with his own decisions?" As Jaxain flies in to land in a seat, he asks, "Wow. I have too many dirty jokes to say in front of a lady." Smirk. At both the lady part and the joke part.

"Lucky him." Bella's still smirkin. Just got more snort to it now. "Course now he ain't got no excuses fer bein a big ass." Then she shrugs. "Dunno if it's true. Why ya askin me?" Oh! And there's Jax! "Heya."

Jaxain groans only slightly at the comment, and at his own troubles, as he does his best to give Bella a smile, locking eyes on Gabriel for a moment before he speaks. "Hey, how's it going?" He looks back at the counter. "I'mma see if I can get some milk."

"I'm asking you because you were a special friend. Bumpin' uglies. Doin' the nasty. Horizontal mambo. Beast with two backs. Fucking, essentially is the point that I'm getting at. Figured that you didn't do anything to him to screw with his mind to be cruel, just to keep him from trying to hurt you. But if people're saying that he's free now - did you break it, or did someone else swoop in and bust up your special relationship?" Gabriel's eyebrow rises. "Someone steal your boyfriend?" Jaxain's comment gets an odd look. Genuinely confused. "Um. Okay. Milk?"

Bella laughs. 'Just cause I jumped 'im when I's feelin like it don' make us no special friends. He's Moni's guy. Mostly. Maybe?" More shrugs. "Nobody stole nothin."

Jaxain nods, "Yeah, if she had taken Sebastien and he got free somehow, he would be really mad at her, probably close to out of control. What you heard must be wrong." He grimaces slightly, "Yeah, must be something I ate. Felt sick for the last few hours, but I'll be alright soon." he stands up and heads for the counter, asking for a large mug of milk to help settle his stomach.

Gabriel sighs a bit and asks quietly and quickly, "Bella, you took control of Sebastien's mind, right? Now you don't have that control, right? Just a straight-up yes or no for me, please. Even if you've told me before."

Bella perks a brow at Gabe. "What's this gotta do with me? So I messed with 'is head once. A li'l. Weren' nothin perm'nent." She shrugs s'more at Jax. Not gonna yell at 'im since he walked 'way.

Jaxain returns to the table a moment later, after having chugged half the cup of milk. He looks slightly better already, though there is a very faint sheen of sweat on his forehead. He doesn't say anything for the moment, still slightly out of it, as he sits and sips his drink.

"Then you just let go of his mind because... you felt safer with him?" Gabriel shrugs. "I just want to understand. I mean, you took control so that you'd be safe, then you suddenly put your trust in him? I'd think he'd be pretty pissed... but all I've seen him say to you is something about an agreement. Sure as hell hasn't tried to kill you yet." He scoots back just a tad to give himself a little more legroom. Even short men need to stretch their legs. Particularly when they're over forty. Even looks out the window at the snow and makes thankfully opens his jacket to make himself more comfortable in the blessed warmth of the coffee shop. That done? The old guy pushes his newspaper aside and picks up his coffee to enjoy, just waiting on answers. "If you're stopped up, you could chug some Drano, Jax."

"Didn't leggo a nothin." Bella shakes her head. "Ain't unnerstandin. Just cause I make somebody think somethin once don' make us buddies ferever.""

Gabriel nods quietly. "Mmm-hmm. Well, I guess I'd best get going before the evening traffic hits along the trail. Things that go bump in the night and all." He pushes the newspaper across the table to Bella. "Interesting stuff about the Ivory Lady in there, if you want to read up on it." As he gets to his feet, he smiles to Jax and offers him a nod and a pat on the shoulder. "Catch ya later, man."

Jaxain nods his head, agreeing with Bella, before he shakes it and smirks at Gabe. "*stopped* up isn't the problem." He winks, "But I'll be alright soon. Just had some bad food, I'm guessin."

Bella blinks a li'l. Goes right back ta smirkin. "Leavin already? Nothin else ya wanna know? Ain' runnin way from me is ya?"

Jaxain chugs the rest of his milk and gives Bella a slightly queasy grin, "Yeah, he runs away from little girls all the time." He sighs and looks at the pile of his gear, shaking his head. "I gotta go soon too. I don't think coming here was a great idea." He pats his stomach, pausing a moment to concentrate as he holds down a bit of vomit. "Whee."

As Gabriel is on his way out, he chuckles at Bella, patting his winter gear and greatcoat. "See any armor on me? Gotta get through the minefield before one of those D-Bees from out west decides that I look like chow. I know you said that Donna's onto you, but if you get anything... call, okay? I need to know." He taps his communicator and is then out the door.

"Sure." Bella nods at Gabe. Points at Jax. "Puke thattaway." Ok. Not pointin at Jax. Pointin away from her.

Jaxain grins at Bella, able to hold it in for the time being, as he finishes getting his gear on. He leaves his helmet off, however... As he heads off into the cold. "See you guys soon."

Gabriel just shrugs. "I'll try to catch you tomorrow. I think that I have some plans to take down Donna." He looks around the room and lowers his voice. "But I'm not going to talk about 'em here. Take care, Bella." Then he too is out the door.