notes ☩ map ☩ relationships ☩ haven
bite club returns from the rally/elm's club and dean is outside waiting with lexie. says damsel gave him the address. MG uses Obfuscates and spies on him.
MP goes to her room and faust is waiting in her closet. wants her to steal a mirror for him, victorian standing mirror. down in the caves at la jolla. might be defended, might be underwater. "might be a good idea to bring a mortal." two legs of payment: MP can use the mirror if she wants -- it supposedly grants wishes but they don't always turn out right. second payment is a kg of gold straw.
damsel and nines show up. dean runs out, MG follows and de-Obs. 9s says they've been keeping an eye on Naylor's house and he hasn't been there lately; probably got scared after Vannevar died. They'll keep looking for him. Cam is divided currently. "upper management" is coming in. He thinks jessie was killed by an Archon. head removed, torso opened. Doesn't know why she was a target. Cath says she will go with D to look for fetters. 9s says if it's as bad as he thinks, he may have to call in a favor even though he doesn't want to. MG asks about Lucinde, 9s says it's a bit like she's in charge of the secret Cam police.
MP tells group about mirror. Group agrees to go. as MG goes to bed, she forces a Premonition: a sea lion next to a shadowy figure by the water. doesn't seem nice.
--- NEXT NIGHT ---
MG and D break into a scuba shop and steal some water gear. C buys a vespa.
--- NEXT NIGHT ---
bite club heads to la jolla.
K goes into zulo form, MG Obs. We enter the water. C sees a glow coming from a cavern using Sense the Unseen. we enter a small cave room; at the end is the mirror. C sees it's "fetter-ish". It's an occult item. ebony framing, old-style silver. wood isn't rotting in the water. MP pulls the mirror loose. D helps; sees a shadowy figure in the mirror - looks like it's copying him but it's not him; it stops moving and he hears a voice in his head, wants to show him something. D sees bright sunny day on the streets of santa monica in the mirror. someone that looks like him but older, a woman with children. he wants to go there but resists. as we leave the cave we are attacked by sea lions. MG uses Cloud Memory on some and tells C to look for shadowy figure but she sees nothing. we load the mirror into the car and D tries to get in the driver's seat saying we should take it to a chop shop and he wants to look into the mirror. MP tries to kick him out of the car. he frenzies; C and K fight him off and MP and MG drive away with the mirror. C bites him and he terror frenzies and runs. C and K return on the vespa.
MP texts Faust and he comes over before C and K get back. MP asks what happens if she looks in it. He says if you ask for something, they might ask for something in return. It might not be dangerous if you aren't too ambitious. MG sees that he is a little scared of it. MP looks into it. sees a nice lab and rudra, talking to her about an article she wrote. she walks in and talks to herself. mirrorpuri asks what MP wants. MP says she would like to give people the option to release themselves from this fate. says lennon. shadow voice comes back. says look on your bedside table when you go to bed. She tells MG what she saw. F offers MG a look and she declines. He tells MP to offer it to the rest of us and leaves. MG asks what happened and MP says the price would have been her life. MG asks her not to die like all the others.
MP finds bag of gold straw in closet and a business card with an address on her table.
--- NEXT DAY ---
MG feeds at her squat. D hunts. When MG returns home, she tells MP about the shadowy figure from the vision, but MP thinks it's just the figure from inside the mirror.
C goes to scope out the Asylum. Delivery drivers picking up food but no nice cars like last time. Goes to hunt.
MP gets a call from Young Sixy. Wants to meet. MP suggests garden and brings K and MG. He pulls up in a big vintage muscle car. Says info was good for knocking off MP's minor favor. Also says his "pop's mom" (Jennifer) is having a party and we're invited. Says she and Elm aren't in the movement. Says MP and J are likeminded, in a "similar club situation". MP demures to explain. Party is tomorrow night. No friends. Says dress is "like a good club".
D gets on match.com and tries to find wealthy older women. Plans a mortal club "on the move" with lexi to get around covid restrictions. Lexi starts posting on social media and contacting people.
K searches on internet for californias around sevier lake, finds some info that leads him to believe his uncle is indeed there.
MP makes more tea for Holden and spends some time chatting with him. He's now open to the idea of meeting with Faust.
MG forces a Premonition about the party: "you see a nice house on a hill, surrounded by a sky full of stars. There a party platter going around to models in pretty dresses. It has lemonade and avocado toast, but also cheese. It's being carried by a aardvark." She tells the coterie.
D beats on the door and says "shit is going down," MG Obfuscates and K lets him in, C uses Eyes of the Serpent and tells him to Stop. He says Annabelle is in torpor; she was shot in the face during a rally downtown, skid row. Damsel told him to come. MG uses Insight and sees that he's telling the truth. Forces a Prem to see who it was/what happened: "Annabelle is up on some scaffolding, with a small crowd of Brujah/Gangrel types down below. She's saying "fuck the Cam" and all that. Then out of nowhere a bullet from far away. People are looking around, but no one sees the man in a long coat, walking away on foggy cobblestones, hiding behind a bright red phone booth that suddenly appears" identifying features?: "A little black hat and long side burns (brown)" MG tells the coterie and tells D to tell Damsel. Asks MP if he may be magic since the phone booth seemed to appear out of nowhere. She says she'll ask Faust. C knows that there aren't really studios downtown. The dress doesn't seem like LA and the foggy cobblestones and phone booth seem like old school London.
C sends a message to Nines' drop: Bite Club is willing to help, should we move on the Asylum?
K offers D to stay the night in the haven.
MG texts carver with the secure phone: news since downfall? saw a vision of baby b: black hat, brown side burns, long coat. fog and cobblestones, red phone booths? Carver responds he hasn't heard anything new.
--- NEXT NIGHT ---
Sixy tries to send MP a snapchat link but she doesn't have it. He calls and gives us an address and time (11), says don't eat anything without permission.
C takes the vespa; D takes his bike; K, MG, and Purro take the tesla; MP takes her car. Mt Olympus. Man in suit out front, "MP + 4" is on the list. Lots of fancy rides out front. Lots of beautiful people inside. Very well decorated. Girl with champagne at door greets MP - "Kyra". Says Jenn will be out back and wants to talk. C realizes it's a mortal party and gets a clan compulsion to pronounce someone's doom. She tells a guy he's tanning too much and is going to get skin cancer; he says he needs to call his psychic so MG gives him a palm reading. He gives her $50 and offers her coke but wanders away when she says she prefers lemonade.
K looks to schmooze with body modded people. Meets a metal guitarist with tats.
D sits by the bar and meets a 40-something but ends up venting to her instead of flirting.
C and MP go out back to meet Jenn; MG follows when she's done with the palm reading. Pool with lots of people. Sirvard sisters, reality tv stars, are there with a sports guy who is very tall. Jennifer Red, a fairly big actress. Sitting close to James Belgium, from a lot of superhero movies. Divana, pop singer, Terry Richards, comedian boyfriend. C uses Sense the Unseen - nothing.
D tries to schmooze with sports guy. He's europeans and wants to listen to house music instead of what is playing at the party.
C chats with MG to distract her while MP talks to Jenn. James tries to follow but obeys when she says not to. Jenn is from Europe. MP has heard some talk about an actress popping in and out of the LA scene for a while (since 1920s) and assumes it is her. Cam doesn't like her. Her name is actually Karen Anatos. She says RW told her MP was trustworthy. Says she likes to have a good network. Likes to know what people want -- MP says "how to protect myself and those close to me." Brings up "a particularly exclusive club." Jenn is member. Says she'd quite like the Cam being gone.
MP finds Young Sixy and tells him to introduce himself to D. D recognizes he used to play for the Clippers. D tells him about his club idea and Sixy tells him about some ball courts where people meet up.
C meanders, listening for any new agey convos, and drops lines about Lilith to people. Tells them to come by Raven Skull Books to get more involved.
MG returns to palm guy and forces Premonition about someone from his past: beautiful girl, early 2000s clothes, janelle written on handbag, thin, blonde, makeup, early 20s. He gets super nervous. C pops up and says we ought to do a seance. He says "yes, do anything, just make her go away." Gave him my burner number and he ran into the bathroom and hid.
K continues search for family info.
MG and C take the bus to Raven Skull Books. Raven says she's been talking to 3 people who may be interested in the gorup. She gives MG a discount and MG reads her future in exchange for some books on palmistry and psychics and a crystal ball. MG feeds from her. Premonition: You see a black bird landing on the shoulder of a nude woman with no face. They're in a big beautiful garden. Outside the garden is a car circling. MG goes to feed and Raven tells C about the prospects: Dante, wants to film ghosts. Weird accountant girl interested in the occult. Tara, supernatural vlogger. C says they'll have a Bastille Day celebration next week in the garden.
D heads out to feed, then comes back to research real estate near colleges. Looking to start a business charging rent to app developers. Starts posting recruiting ads.
MP feeds and sets up meeting with Faust and Holden. F & MP go to H's dorm room. F asks what H has been studying and they talk about time. H comes back later and asks her about what happens when people die: ghosts, hell, etc.
MG gets a text from Gary Golden on the warren phone, "we need to meet. just you." Calls in his boon. Wants information on Therese; thinks she's not actually dead. MG has Premonition: You see fancy boats. "Bottles of wine. A beach... all around. a sad little house." Cobweb power: "You see little spider webs surround your crystal ball. They light up and you see Therese on an island, still, underneath a shack. Not that far. Her head is very blurry." Gary says the minor boon is paid.
MG immediately calls X and tells him everything. He doesn't know what to do but says that he's recently learned how to break into the mall. MG tells the coterie sans MP. C and K search the internet for nearby islands with shacks and boats.
MG meets X at the bus stop and C tries to find out info on Nova.
D rents a boat for the next night. MG and X break into the mall and MG steals a psychic-looking outfit and an LED belt for D.
--- NEXT NIGHT ---
Coterie goes to hunt. K is seen eating a dog but uses Cloud Memory. MG fails in her hunt so MP offers her her own vitae.
Inside the shack: someone left in a hurry. MG has a delusion of mushrooms watching her in the middle of the floor. She digs at the floor and hears them screaming. C sees a trapdoor - we open it. A person-sized hole but it's empty.
C investigates - a commotion. Dust on floor looks like something dragged out. MG closes herself in the trapdoor and provokes a Premonition. Another messy crit.
MG's vision:
The sun. the sun is out. i saw it. i was therese. i think. i wasn't dressed like therese. hair/skirt different. it was by the ferris wheel, and the pier. there was a boy but then there wasn't a boy because he was dead and i tried to see but then i got staked. it was... on a boat then. there were multiple people. i think... i think chou was there? and they took me off the boat and put me in the hole and covered me in dirt but i could hear them talking, up above me. it was weeks. then in the middle of the day they came and got me and i got burned on my hand and they put me on the boat again but this time i didn't know any of the voices. then i was in a dark room and the man and the woman argued and the woman didn't want to let me go but the man did but the woman said it was too dangerous right now and then i was me again
dean: chou wants to bring things back to the way it was in the 90s.
K suggests asking Chou. MP says no, D says yes.
C suggests Chou kidnapped Jeanette instead of Therese, but MG says that must mean that Therese is pretending to be Jeanette since C met her at the Asylum after X said that they kidnapped Therese.
C investigates: something has been taken out of the hole. someone was here recently. trees look disturbed like a helicopter landed maybe. D suggests looking for flight logs.
--- AIRPORT ---
small runway. private travel only. hangar/office combo. mechanic type is there (william). C yells at him that someone in a helicopter flew low over her yard and killed her trees. demands to see logs. tells her to go to office. C makes another scene in the office. D comes in and says he's with the FAA and they've had a lot of complaints; demands logs for last 3 days. Says heli came in at 9.30 am today but didn't fly out. Gave D the logs. MG tells her to Forget and we return to the boat.
--- BOAT ---
Heli is privately owned by Dwight Johnson. C finds he's a producer with Universal mostly. Finds picture. Phone number is in logs. Main residence in Malibu but he had an event at a hotel on the island. C calls hotel posing as FAA agent Muldrecks. Katie crawls up her arm and whispers that he must be dealt with. Says DJ is there but we have to come in for more info.
--- HOTEL ---
C and D go in and talk to front desk. Muldrecks and Skulson. MG hangs behind listening. James comes out with probably manager. C and D run the game on them. Manager looks up guest but says he needs a warrant. MG uses Share the Senses; room 405, 11 am early check in. Scheduled for 2 days. MG hears Katie's voice talking to C: "that asshole did it, we have to get him!" MG heads to elevators and coughs to gain attention. D writes down their names and schedules and says they'll be subpeonaed. We meet on 2nd floor; MG shares info. K says in MG's head, "we'll eat him." Pam watches front door. In the elevator MG responds to K and C realizes what's happening. Says they'll talk later and MG is a little scared.
--- ROOM 405 ---
MG listens at door. Sounds like he's "wrestling" with two younger men. D cop knocks on the door, MG hears DJ say to hide in the bathroom. DJ opens door; C uses Eyes of the Serpent to hypno him. D goes in towards the bathroom. C interrogates. He doesn't remember going to shack. Heli is at airport now. He picked up his friends (bathroom guys). Went straight to airport. MG uses Insight -- doesn't seem to know what we're talking about. C asks Agent Donaldson (K) to give the room a sweep. No Jeanette/Therese. Voices weren't in MG's vision. K Clouds their Memories. We knock again and C gives a story about someone trying to plant a bomb on his heli and trying to activate it through his phone. Agent Drummond (K) goes through his phone and takes pictures. Before we leave, C asks him why he didn't give Katie some role a while ago -- he says they gave it to J Redd because she was hot. Kas snorts their cocaine. MG hears happy Katie and evil Katie arguing in C's head and C attacks him. MG tries to tackle him to save him but hits the wall. C drinks from him but doesn't kill him. C stops and MG runs into the elevator ahead of everyone else. Finds Pam arguing about masks and libtards; Clouds Memories and takes P away as the others catch up.
--- OUTSIDE ---
MG tells C "he didn't do anything." C says maybe she will teach MG some things to stop her if it happens again. MG asks why she can hear inside C's head; MP asks "wtf" and C explains about her shadow.
--- AIRPORT ---
MP breaks into the heli. Finds nothing but some scripts. MP breaks into the second heli. MG tries to manipulate William into feeding from him but fails; goes to the office instead. Fails again and Frenzies. MG runs out of the office and finds D; tells him that she's going to freak out. C offers her her own blood, says "we'll talk later," and enters the office. MG tries to stop her when she realizes what's happening but it's too late and C kills her. MG distracts William while C cleans up the scene and makes it look like she hit her head. Afterwards MG checks the second heli; doesn't smell like the box from the shack or even look like it could fit it.
--- HAVEN ---
We return with a few minutes to spare before sunrise. C stays up an hour late and tries to piece evidence together. Found out there was a heli there that didn't check in.
--- NEXT NIGHT ---
C is staring into her mirror, periodically screaming. MG knocks and K-hand opens. C is crying about how her body is wrong. MG gives her lemonade; it tastes like ash but she pretends to like it. C says she'll give MG one of her fetters and teach her how to control ghosts. Tells MG to destroy the whistle or Katie, her conduit, if she has to be stopped. MG agrees, if it's necessary. MG takes C to Kas and he temporarily tattoos her hand with the TB symbol. Watching the tattoo, MG has a flash of inspiration and checks the paperwork -- reads about the heli: sounds like a military one that I heard about on Fox, NH90. seems like someone told them not to tell anyone and then left.