Jan 14 17:00:47 109 PA - Daring to Question Jules Verne and Vampire Secrets

From Chronicles

Jan 14 17:00:47 109 PA.

TRADEWINDS COFFEE SHOP

It's getting on to be late in the afternoon, growing dark outside. Bernard sits at one of the tables in the coffee house, a cup of tea and a pastry sitting on the table in front of him, which he sips, or nibbles from occasionally.

The door blows open unnecessarily wide, and Gabriel sneaks in, trying to shut it behind him. Clearly he didn't intend the large portal. Still, his greatcoat makes an also unnecessarily dramatic entrance, blowing behind him the way that it did. Offering a few quiet apologies to those near the door, he pulls back the fur hood from over his head and pulls the ski-mask style headgear off of his face. Some steps carry him toward the counter, where he enters into a quiet conversation with the teenage barista.

Bernard glances up briefly at the new arrival before his attention returns to his tea, taking another little sip from it as he lounges about in his seat, a magazine of some sort is pulled from a pouch on his belt and he starts casually flipping through it.

Apparently completing his transaction and conversation, Gabriel turns from the counter to look at the room. His nodding perhaps indicates, 'know you, know you, don't know you, you're boring, know you...' then he lands on Bernard. Shrugs. He starts to make his way quietly through the crowded shop over toward the man, two mugs and a brownie sitting on top of a large ceramic plate.

Bernard glances up as his table's approached and he offers a slight nod towards Gabriel, "Afternoon." He says in greeting, gesturing casually to one of the empty chairs at the table, "Have a seat if you'd like."

"Thanks," Gabriel grunts slightly as he slides in across from the other man. He sighs, cracks a few major joints, then looks much happier. "Nothing like good ol' fashioned hard work to get the blood pumping."

"To each their own, I suppose." Bernard says with a slight shrug of his shoulders, and he puts the magazine back into his belt pouch once more, "What is it that you do here around town anyway?" he asks curiously.

Gabriel pauses starting a conversation to enjoy some coffee, a mug which is then returned to its plate. "For money? I work odd jobs. During the warmer months, usually construction, gardening, cleaning, that kind of thing. Right now, I'm lucky enough to have a job over at the ProTech factory on Steel Street. It doesn't pay much - but I have almost nothing in the way of bills to cover anyway." He smiles a little, adding, "My investigations are paid from my own pocket, and occasionally, someone will pay me to do a good deed for them. What do you do?"

Bernard laughs, "Well, I've made a fair amount of money doing mercenary work and such. I don't work aside from that." He says with a bit of a laugh, "When I need something I get it, otherwise I see little need to do menial labor, no offense."

"None taken. When you grow up as I did, manual labor is nothing. It's simply life." Gabriel salutes the other man with a mug, and obviously looks at the other man's cuticles. "What kind of mercenary work? Anything someone will pay for?"

"I'll consider anything, yeah, if the pay is right and the job too." Bernard says with a shrug of his shoulders, "I travel quite a bit as well, this place has some potential though so I think I'll stick around for a little bit at least." He says with a grin.

Gabriel sits up for a moment, stretching again, though this time obviously simply because it feels good. "And if I may, what constitutes, 'and the job too?'" Any interest in travel seems to have been tabled for the time being.

"Whether it interests me, how dangerous it is, and things like that." Bernard replies, reaching for his tea and taking a drink from it. "If I can't live to enjoy the pay there's no point in taking the job, yeah?"

The other man at the table only shrugs. "If that's the way you see it, then I guess not. Everyone has their own thing. Particularly these days. So anyway, last night. First you told me that you could walk through walls. Then it turned out that if I wanted to come along, I'd either need to fold myself into a loaf of bread or walk in during broad daylight and hide in the john." Gabriel smirks and shrugs. "What gives?" A fork descends on his brownie, and he cuts off a small piece that is raised to his lips.

Bernard laughs, "You're not a very good listener, are you?" he asks with a grin, "That's fine, it's probably beyond your comprehension anyway." He says, shrugging his shoulders dismissively, taking another drink from his tea, and finishing off his pastry.

"I'm a good listener. But yes, many things are beyond my comprehension. However, you did specifically say that you could 'I can walk through walls, and conceal heavy weapons in my pants pocket. Among other things.' Then it turned out that Tek was in the bathroom, you were carrying something the size of a backpack..." Gabriel smiles. "You did say these things. If I misunderstood them is another matter."

Bernard nods his head, "You're right on all those things. But you're much bigger then a plasma cannon, aren't you?" he asks, looking you over, "You're the one who assumed you could nip into my pocket for a quick ride."

"True, true. All true," Gabriel admits. "But you could walk through walls and take a look around by yourself? Could you possibly take in some gear with you that *does* fit, and leave it somewhere that a bland person such as myself might be able to recover it - like the toilet? I'd love to get a look behind the secure doors. Even if you could do it for me."

"Well I still could get the both of you in as well, You just didn't care for the time it would have taken." Bernard says with a slight shrug of his shoulders, "And I could possibly do something like that as well, yes." He says with a nod of his head.

Gabriel shrugs one shoulder. "Time is a problem, as I don't know if either one of us has that much air in our suits. I'm also rather hazy on the part where we all walk to the bathroom together but only one of us comes out? Clearly I'm missing something. Perhaps it would be best if you could snoop your own way around, and let Tek and I do what it is that we do."

"Perhaps that would be for the best, yes, from what I've seen and heard." Bernard says, "Though I'll need to give it some consideration, I don't fancy going into a vampire's den without any real information on what to expect inside except for a cleaning crew that would be there for an undisclosed amount of time."

"The cleaning crew leaves at six. There is no one in the club until the vampires enter and the club opens at nine," Gabriel says, the information flowing out easily and quickly. "Beyond that, *if* there is anything inside, it would be behind those doors. Otherwise, it seems to be silence and open space. And no, I'm not trying to ambush them because I assume that the master would send in minions first to clear out the place looking for just that kind of thing." He smiles and gives the table a very light slap. "I just want to know what's behind those doors at the moment."

Bernard nods at that, "Well, can you draw the layout of the club and where these secret rooms are at, I'll give it a look before too long and see what I can see." He says at that, producing a sketch pad, and some colored pens and markers which he places on the table, sliding them across.

The older fellow accepts the pad and writing implements without comment, producing not an engineer's sketch, but a decent, coffeehouse-table effort. Stage here, dance floor here, eating area, bar, a number of booths marked with an 'F' and a few indicators of doors, some of which are directly behind the bar counter, but with largely ring the entire area. Gabriel passes the items back. "As I said, there's nothing special there between six and nine. There's nothing left in the club as far as I know that hasn't been seen other than... as I've repeated to what is likely becoming annoying... what is behind those doors. Could be nothing, could be everything. I'm banking on 'nothing,' actually. But it doesn't hurt to be sure."

"How early does the cleaning crew get in? I'd rather go before dark rather then after dusk." Bernard says, "6 to 9 means active vampires could be in the club." He adds.

Gabriel shakes his head. "No, I *know* that there are no vampires inside the Lady, in these areas that I've drawn, between six and nine. I suspect that none of them are there until after opening. But... I need someone to peek. I'm not sure what the difference is with your timing. You have a three-hour window to play with."

"If I were a vampire sleeping in the day I wouldn't have been in the public areas either." Bernard says with a nod, "But, I'm more concerned with running into one in these hidden areas you want me to look at, and I'd rather do it while it's asleep rather then awake, for numerous reasons."

"Then if I understand correctly, just hit it a six, when the cleaning crew runs out. This time of year, at this latitude, you'll have at least thirty minutes before they could begin to wake up." Gabriel lifts his mug to his lips and sips, waiting. "I think that all of us would rather do the entire thing while they're asleep, but unfortunately that's not an option. However, for this job, for you in particular - it is."

"Well, I'll look into it. We'll be tipping our hand if they have security systems though." Bernard says, "But I'll walk in and have a look around the place none the less."

Leaning forward on his forearms, Gabriel asks, "What about walking through the other side? From outside to inside without using the door? Can you do that?"

"I intended to, but if they have cameras, or other sensors inside then they'll have a hard time not noticing someone was there." Bernard says at that, "But I'll do what I can to conceal my identity and make it look like something other then a scouting mission."

"I'd appreciate that. Besides, at this point stealth is only a semi-commodity. They *know* that we're coming for them. They even know who some of the players are. They know that we're poking and asking questions. But this master's one sneaky bitch. For reasons that I won't bother to go into, it has been essentially impossible to get any real information about her business architecture if I didn't have... well, I have things." Gabriel smirks. "Anything we can find is fine. Even if they change it." An odd statement to be sure, but the old soldier says it confidently.

Bernard nods, "Well, I won't be too concerned about it then." Bernard says with a nod of his head, "How soon would you like to see this done by? Within the week? two weeks? A few days?"

"Within hours?" Gabriel says with a smile. "As soon as it can be done. The more I have, the faster I have it, the more quickly the problem can be eliminated."

"Well, I'll see about doing it within the next day, or two. That's the soonest I'll be ready." Bernard replies to that, "I have to make some preparations in case I run into some vampires, or worse inside." He says.

Nodding, Gabriel asks, "So what do you do? Just walk through the wall? Blink and get on the other side like a genie? Send your mind out of your body to scan?"

"Walk through the wall, quite literally. Space, Time, Dimensions, they're all relative, and with the right understanding you can make the rules of such things not apply for a time." Bernard explains, "A wall is just a wall because you think it is. This table here for example, I couldn't walk straight through it, but if I take a step to the left, or the right I can go right past it. Same principle really with a wall, or a door, I'm just taking a step in a direction most people can't figure out."

"Hmm. Perhaps one day you can explain to me how the hell I ended up in this shithole!" Gabriel chuckles blandly and returns to his mocha for a few long sips. "I don't suppose you could take me home? My real home."

"How it happened? Freak accident most likely." Bernard says in response, "And you can only go forward, never backwards. You're pretty much stuck, unfortunately." he says with a little shrug of his shoulders.

Gabriel's eyebrow raises. The right-side one, for detail people. "That's not what Jules Verne said. Of course, he went back in time and couldn't change the past, so he just whirred billions of years into the future to the end of the universe." A hand is held out as he shrugs the other side of his body. "Then he had a change of heart about mankind and just zoomed back in the past, to what was technically his present. Are you sure that you're right about this going backwards stuff? Because Verne was usually way ahead of his time." He's kidding of course. Or maybe not.

"Not sure who he is, but he likely was telling a tall tale." Bernard replies, "Or was just watching the past rather then actually taking part in it. That's something that can be done." He says, "I'd like someone to watch the building for me when I go in, to make sure no unexpected guests respond to any alarms that may be set off so I can have enough time to slip out to safety."

"I can do that. Probably bring in a friend, too, and possibly eight more that I have... let's say, 'on retainer' at the moment. You'd be safe, as long as the sun's up." Gabriel finishes off one of his mugs.

"Well I was more concerned about human thralls and the like." Bernard says, "If I have warning I'll be able to go out the back wall and get out easy enough. Like you said it's not an assault, no need for a lot of people hanging around. Just one person with binoculars a bit down the street should be sufficient."

Gabriel shakes his head. "I was only joking about the group. I'll sit outside - but possibly bring a friend to watch my back, while I watch yours. Standing back-to-back, so to speak. As for human trawls, they will not be a problem, one way or another."

Bernard nods, "I'll get ahold of you soon then, once I've gotten the things I'll need to take in with me. It shouldn't take terribly long to gather things up though, I don't think." he adds, finishing off his tea and collecting up the sketchpad and the markers, tucking them away in the tiny belt pouch once again. "I'll speak with you before long, but if you'll excuse me.."

Gabriel nods as the other man rises, reaching out to shake his hand, if he's so inclined. "Thanks for the explanations, Bernard, I'll be seeing you. See if you can't pull up the files on Verne though, okay?" He chuckles, then returns to his drinks.