View source for Logs:How To Pay Off A Debt

{{ Log
| chars = [[Arnaud]], [[Faith]], [[Five]]
| summary = Faith visits Arnaud and Five with a suggestion on how Arnaud can pay back the favor he owes the vampire for insulting her that one time. They also discuss the wound and its problems.
| gamedate = 2022.11.11
| gamedatename = 
| subtitle = "A giant fire cow."
| categories = Vampire, Changeling, Mortal
| log = +----------------------+ Living Room - Unit 302 - Peachtree Tower +----------------------+

This unit is labeled as a 2-room apartment, which is a cunning lie. Though it has two rooms - a combined living room and kitchen, and a bedroom - both rooms are so small that the wall between the two rooms seem just added in to be able to call it a two-room place. The flooring is old vinyl and scuffed and discolored in a sickening beige color but the walls and ceiling seem to by some miracle have a fairly new coat of white paint. The kitchen has an old but functioning gas stove, a small fridge and a few cupboards, and a fold-up table attached to the wall to save space in the small room. The cupboards are a remnant from the 70s and painted a bright orange, which actually gives this space life and contrast from the white walls.

The bathroom is strangely spacious, with a fullsized bath-tub with accompanying shower. The green tiles are from the seventies, covering the walls, while the floors are black and white chequered tiles.

The only piece of furniture in the main room is an old red velvet couch, covered in blankets of various colors. A few mis-matched rugs try to hide the ugly vinyl floors with little success.

A window overlooks an alley outside, with a blanket hung up to cover the window during the night. A lone cactus sits on the windowsill.
-------------------
 
Arnaud opens the door, a lolipop in his mouth. At home, he's just wearing sweatpants and a tank top, both in black. He waves Faith inside with a grunted greeting, and steps aside to let her pass to close the door behind her. He is, for once, not injured at all, or at least nothing that can be spotted. Blue eyes are as intensely psychopathic as usual, but MAYBE there is a tiny hint of being somewhat happy to see Faith.

The apartment has changed some since last. There's now a new 'room' in here - a bed that has been been built in with planks like a giant box, with doors - homemade. It's painted with flames in red, orange and yellow, and an alabaster dragon is painted on the doors. It's not particularly beautiful, but it's providing privacy for the other resident of this apartment: Five.
 
Five is currently in the background working on a project! Standing near the window, she's working on getting a couple new succulents set up. Of course since she doesn't really know what she's doing, the mortal has been asking him questions as she goes along. Dressed in a simple tank top underneath a zipped down hoodie and leggings, Five looks pretty comfortable in the apartment. Upon seeing Arnaud answer the door for someone, she peers over curiously!
 
There is Faith, looking as weird as ever. The jacket with the hood over her pale features, the sunglasses. Her gaze kept slightly downcast to make her face that much harder to see. The Nosferatu patiently waits after her soft knock, and steps through the threshold after being waved in. And not a moment before. "Good evening, Arnaud." She greets her her calm, polite tones like always. "I hope the evening finds you well?" She gives the apartment a once over with her gaze as always, only lingering on the cardboard 'room' for brief moments. "I hope you are doing well?" For Five, there's also a slight incline of her head when she meets the human's gaze. "Hello, Five."
 
"You gonna give Five a check up?," Arnaud asks, and he points to the couch for Faith to sit on if she wants. With three people in the place, it feels crowded, so he leans up against the kitchen counter with crossed ankles. "I'm doing alright. You?" he asks on routine, because that is what you do. He scratches his belly and finishes the lolipop, crunching the last of it with his teeth. This time it's a yellow lolipop.
 
Perking up hearing Faith's voice, she gives her creepiest friend an excited wave. Five is definitely looking waaaaaay better than when the vampire last saw her. Looking back to the plants, she gives the soil a little pat. Then she steps away, brushing her hands off on her hoodie. "I think I'll be good after another sleep," she tells them both. In an attempt to reassure the pair, Five lifts up her shirt enough to show the mostly healed bruising. Arnaud would have noticed Five ditching the last of the bandaging earlier in the day. There's a nod at the Changeling's question, "How's your evening going?"
 
"I was sure she would be fine." Faith admits, shifting to the couch and setting herself down, glancing from Arnaud to Five and nodding. "Good. I am glad. I am not sure you should keep getting into fights with that werewolf, but." The 'I'm not your mother tone' is clear enough in Faith's voice, and her hands clasp together before her as she returns her gaze to Arnaud. "I am well enough, as always. The nights are quiet and uneventful, which is better than being bad." A nod. "I'm actually here to see if you'd like the opportunity to no longer be in my debt, Arnaud."
 
Arnaud crosses his arms over his chest very slowly and STARES at Five. Werewolf?! those eyes tell her. WEREWOLF?! He has a scowl on his face and almost misses what Faith is saying, clearly agitated. Compared to Faith, who is not Five's mother, he acts like... someone who is not liking what he hears and worries. "...what?" he says and snaps out of it, blinking at Faith. "Alright. What you want me to do?"
 
It's probably apparent to Faith that in Five's retelling of the incident, she maaaaaay have left out some important details. The looks from both of the supernaturals and the tremendous guilt that she's been trying to stave off kind of hits her all at once. Her mouth opens to say something, but closes a second later. Instead she just finds a seat on the couch. Her legs tuck under herself as she makes herself comfy. A brow raises at Faith's potential offer, the mortal looking back and forth between them curiously.
 
Faith leans back, watching Arnaud for a moment and frowning, before giving a slight sigh and shaking her head. "I am sorry. I did not think." She admits to Five simply, and there may be actually something apologetic on the Haunt's expression for just a few moments before she turns her attention back to Arnaud. "Nothing you can't handle, I'm sure. There's a man, a human, who owes me quite a bit of money for my services. He's young and stupid and doesn't know anything, and thinks he can get away with not having to pay me." There's a thin sort of smile from the vampire. "He's not the first to try, and his friends are trying to make it difficult for me to get to him. He needs to be taught a lesson, and I'd like my money -- though the money itself isn't really important. I'd prefer he survived." She shrugs though, not terribly concerned.
 
Arnaud forgets about being anxious about Five, in favor of this amazingly interesting job Faith presents. He stands up straight, a smile growing on his face the more he hears; it's almost like she's offering him a treat, rather than making him pay back a favor. He flexes his (clawed) hands as if already imagining what exactly he will do. Still - he IS a Changeling, and he's learned the hard way to make sure he knows what he agrees to do. "He's not living in a fortress, and has a hundred men with guns, right? Can you give me more details? Not saying I can't do it /anyway/, but I might need some help if it's that sort of trouble."
 
Five mostly remains quiet, observing and listening to their conversation. Those bright green eyes of hers flit back and forth between them from her position on the couch. For a couple moments she watches Arnaud, her brows furrowing as some thought crosses her mind. Glancing back at Faith, her lips purse slightly. "By lesson you mean just roughing him up or something, right?" she questions.
 
Faith leans back, hands at her sides now, going more or less still in that vampire way of hers as she watches Arnaud, studying his reaction with a thin smile. She seems to be pleased. "Not that I am aware of, and of course I can provide you with the details. He was dragged into my clinic by his two friends some months ago for a gunshot wound, they're a bunch of wanna-be gangsters, street thugs that are hoping to join the Royals, but they have the wrong kind of reputation. They probably /do/ have guns." She nods a little, then shrugs, glancing at Five. "That will be Arnaud's decision, if he agrees. I just want them to know they can't escape what they owe me."
 
"I'll do it," Arnaud says and looks pleased as punch. Just the kind of job he is good at. "You know where to find them?" he asks next, cause that would help. He glances at Five and purses his lips, then clears his voice. "Killing them would be counter-productive. It's better they learn to pay their debts and set an example for anyone else - that they can't stiff you on money for your services. I'll do my best to get the money too, or something of worth. If nothing else, guns cost a fair bit," he says and sounds almost cheerful, and definitely excited.
 
"So, it should probably just be three of them," Five kind of notes to herself. The young woman glances between the two momentarily. For a couple seconds, her gaze lingers on Faith before shifting to focus on Arnaud. "If guns are an issue... I think can... disable them," she offers, her tone maybe strangely quiet.
 
"Finding them has been the struggle, but I believe they operate out of an apartment building over in the west side. I will send you the details of what I've learned." A simple nod from Faith at Arnaud's explanation of why killing them isn't the best solution here. "They probably don't have my money, they owe me around four thousand dollars. But as I said, the money is hardly what's important." The shades turn to settle on Five, the Nosferatu's weird stare lingering there. "You can disable guns?"
 
"Disable the guns? I mean... uh. Alright. I was just thinking I'd knock them out before they have a chance to use them, but I'm listening," Arnaud says, and doesn't at all discard Five's suggestion, nor is he overly protective. It's one thing fighting a werewolf when he isn't there, a totally different situation teaming up with Five in a planned assault. "If they can't pay in money, I got some ideas on how they can pay."
 
Even though Five trusts the both of them immensely, for whatever reason there's some hesitance for her to speak further. Especially at that naturally creepy look given by Faith. Shifting in her seat, she gives them each a brief look before her gaze finds something really interesting to look at. "So..." Another couple beats pass. "After the other night... I was kind of trying to figure out what else could happen." A frown touches her lips before she continues. "So not only can /I/ explode but I guess I can make other things around me..." She makes an explosion gesture with her hands.
 
A distracted nod for Arnaud, Faith seems content to let him plan on how to handle this affair. She's seen enough to have some trust in his skills, after all. Her attention remains largely focused on Five, her head tilting to the side as though this new angle would somehow reveal some extra information about the extraordinary mortal. "Well. That seems rather useful," she says simply, nodding. "I guess there is nothing like a live situation to test yourself in. Though to be clear, I am not asking this of you, Five. If Arnaud wants your help, that is entirely up to him."
 
Arnaud squints at Five, impressed. He gives her a thumbs up. "Remind me not to piss you off," he tells her, quite seriously. He claps his hands together, in a 'deal' sort of gesture, nodding at Faith. "I agree. If I do this successfully, my favor is paid in full. Don't hesitate to call me for these sorts of jobs in the future, by the way. I take cash too, I don't necessarily need to be paid in coins."
 
Even at the mere thought of hurting Arnaud with her powers causes the mortal to squirm a bit uncomfortably. "I'd never," Five says quickly to the Changeling, though something causes her brows to furrow. Still, she keeps herself composed otherwise. There's a curious expression that crosses her features, her gaze shifting to focus on Faith. "You've been here long enough... What sort of things..." She pauses, thinking of a better way to ask her question. "What's a good way to get more coins?"
 
"I will consider the favor paid in full, yes," Faith agrees with Arnaud, giving a slight flicker of a smile there, watching him for a moment. "And of course, I'm becoming aware of your skills. I like to be aware of what people might be capable of." Returning her attention to Five, she considers quietly. "Really, you just need to find people willing to pay coin for services. It is probably harder for a mortal such as yourself, Five. I do things for Prince Enrico regularly enough, I suppose. Find things that people need, and try to provide those things."
 
"Careful with those promises," Arnaud tells Five with a lopsided and surprisingly kind smile. He pays attention to what Faith is saying next, cause he's curious to find the answer too. "I heard talk about some 'wound', and fires or something. What is all that about, can you tell?"
 
Unable to help herself, Five perks up as soon as fire is mentioned. In spite of knowing very well the dangers of fires, she can't help but be drawn toward it. "I heard and read somewhere that there was a bunch of fires underground or something. The Undercity?" she gives a questioning look toward Faith. "Only been down there once. Briefly."
 
"Ah," Faith notes, nodding her head. "I am not entirely sure of this situation either, but I likely have more knowledge than you do. There's a pack of Pure werewolves living in the undercity. About fifteen to twenty of them? These wolves are not part of our Accords, and are ..." Faith frowns, as she searches for the words. "They are very unpleasant, suffice to say. The Accorded wolves and then are sworn ancient enemies or some such thing. You'd have to ask a wolf about the Pure to understand their grudges, maybe. I've heard the term 'fascist wolves' thrown around."

Gesturing, she continues on, "They're worshipping a spirit of fire, which I've seen with my own eyes. It is a monstrous creature, about twenty feet tall, lording over that pack like some sort of god. It radiates spiritual anger, and makes people like me, and the wolves ... it makes it a bit harder to keep our anger under control, I've heard. I don't know how to fight a spirit. The wound has something to do with the spirit world. I don't really know how that all works, sorry. Spirits are not my area of expertise. I know it's got the wolves very worked up, that these Pure have access to this spiritual energy and wound. There is actually a bounty on killing Pure, Prince Enrico will pay 5 coins per Pure hide you can provide, but going up against an angry werewolf in a life or death situation doesn't seem quite worth it to me."
 
Arnaud listens with rapt attention, his eyebrows going up several times as he learns something new. He doesn't know about Pure, and he scratches his neck as she talks about spirits - he knows vaguely what those ARE, but he also has no experience with them. The mention of the five coins has him tilting his head and speculate however. He's mad enough to try that - but not mad enough to do so unprepared, and not knowing more. "Interesting," he muses, as if all of this is entertainment value to him - it's not like he actually cares about the chaos these Pure wreaks on the Undercity. He has no reason to, yet. "So the Pure are werewolves, but worse. Got it."
 
Five's entire attention is focused on Faith as she elaborates on the more than a few things. At the mention of the giant spirit, her eyes go WIDE. A couple moments pass where she lets her mind attempt to imagine the fiery being. The mortal shoots Faith an appreciative look for the information given, offering a faint smile her way. "If you hear of any other offers like that, let me know," she requests, obviously interested in collecting more coins. Her attention easily drifts back toward Arnaud, brows furrowing for a moment. Then she glances between them briefly before offering, "Maybe my werewolf friend could enlighten us more. If he was willing."

Watching their expressions, Faith supplies, "The spirit looks like a minotaur. A proper, classical minotaur. Something to do with the emotional resonance of O'leary's Cow, an old legend about a cow that caused the great Chicago fires back in the 1870s. I've only fought one spirit before, and it was intangible ephemera. I couldn't touch it or hurt it. There's been talk of some dangerous experiments to try and learn this spirit's ban." She gives a bit of a huff. "I asked the local wolves about getting some silver weapons to fight the Pure with, but most of them looked like they'd rather snap my head off than help vampires arm themselves with silver. I get it, but I also think it is a little ridiculous."
 
"A giant fire cow." Arnaud presents this with dead-pan dark humor. "I'm not impressed. I know a fire /godess/," he says and eyebrow-waggles at Five in an attempt at being charming. It might be, if he wasn't also grinning like a maniac and having eyes that shine like a fanatic. He snorts amusedly about the silver weapons, crossing his arms over his chest. "Just find a good smith and have some made, you don't need to ask the local werewolves for approval, do you?"
 
Hearing Arnaud, Five can't help but smile back at him. Although she doesn't appear as manic as the Changeling, she does take to hear his words and her mood seems to brighten. Letting her legs unfurl, she stretches her legs out for a moment before moving to her feet. "Is it hard to get silver?" she wonders with a raised brow, some idea forming in her head. There's a glance toward Faith, some question to be asked but deciding to save it for later. "Either of you know of someone that could make stuff with silver? Hal gave me some knuckles to practice with. Bet some silver ones would work great."
 
"I might be able to help. Silver isn't that hard to get, it has to be pretty pure silver to be effective, apparently." Faith notes quietly, inclining her head. "I have money enough to just buy it, though that does attract attention. You could apparently just get a magnet and search pawn shops for silver jewelry that can be repurposed. If it's magnetic, it isn't silver." There's a shrug for Arnaud. "Of course I don't need their permission or approval. That is not the point."
 
"Shame it's not gold," Arnaud murmurs mostly to himself, and then looks wistfully into thin air. He snaps out of it by slapping his own cheek, hard. "We can break into a jewelry store, or some rich people's houses," he suggests shamelessly. "Uh... what was the point again?"
 
"I'm sure there's several ways we could some," Five replies to Arnaud with a playful grin. "Maybe those guys you're going to beat up might have some on them." The mortal gives a small shrug. A pensive expression appears over her features, her brows furrowing and lips pursing gently. Glancing over toward Faith, she considers the vampire before wondering. "How comfortable would /you/ feel fighting along someone that wielded something that could similarly be used against you?" she questions, her tone soft.
 
"Gold?" Faith wonders of Arnaud, clearly not 'getting it'. She actually does startle a moment when he slaps his own cheek, staring at him with an odd expression, one that's still difficult to really get a read on with her entire look. She shakes her head, and decides her sanity is better invested by paying more attention towards Five. She's quiet a moment before noting, "I largely assume that everyone I meet could bring fire at any moment, Five. It happens to be more true for you, but anyone could have a cigarette lighter. All it takes is .. I don't know, a single aerosol can or something. Fire isn't hard to come by. It's much better to be surprised by someone //not// having it than the other way around."
 
Arnaud surreptiously (not so much) looks at his nails (claws). "Hey, for what it's worth, if I make fire, I don't MEAN to. It just happens sometimes, if I'm lucky." He pauses, and holds a finger up, not breathing for a moment as he thinks about it. "Actually - I can learn how to make fire, but I am too busy for that for awhile. Besides, Five got it covered."

Nodding gently at Faith, she seems appreciative for whatever reason. Five lets a light smile linger on her lips, her arms folding loosely over her chest. "I just need to learn to... focus it better." She gives a curious and questioning look toward Faith before noting, "You and Hal always seem so calm."
 
"I'm sure you can." Faith notes to Arnaud, inclining her head just slightly. "Fire is just a fact of reality, at the end of the day. I suppose silver is a much rarer thing to regularly encounter, so the wolves aren't so used to having to deal with it all the time." There's a thin smile for Five. "Thank you. I work hard on self control and self discipline. We are very capable of losing control to our hunger or anger though, I assure you. That is why I always work to keep myself so calm. If my nature gets the better of me -- I don't just harm people, the violence can get very excessive."
 
"The Accords - it's a clever thing. Most of us got much worse shit to worry about, having to also worry about the other supernaturals in the city would just make it worse for everyone," Arnaud says, so it seems he has some genuine respect for the Accords and its idea. "I'd rather owe a favor to a vampire I insult than be torn to pieces by one for doing it."
 
Five smiles a bit as she listens to Arnaud. "It's definitely better to work together than against," she says with a firm nod. Stepping over toward the Changeling, she gives his arm a light squeeze and a looking pleased for some reason. Then she steps over toward one of the cabinets, grabbing something to snack on. Leaning against something nearby, she gives a curious glance to Faith. "Do you like, meditate or something?" she wonders with a raised brow.
 
"I like the Accords. I've lived in another city, and we had no contact with others, really. You'd here about occasional encounters, usually violent. A wolf that decided a hunting vampire was intruding and got killed, then that vampire gets turned to ash by the rest of the pack." Faith shrugs, like it's just the way the world is. "I think the Accords are doomed to fail in the end, because we are incapable of truly trusting one another. But they're a good framework to work together with, and so I will help keep them upheld for as long as they can." For Five, she grins. "No, not really. I have a personal code I try to follow, especially amongst my own people. Professionalism and etiquette, social rules and expectations. It's like muscle memory for social behavior -- when my nature gets the better of me and I feel the urge to do something drastic, I have a reminder that I am more than a mindless monster."

Arnaud might like the idea of the Accords - and he definitely likes Five's reaction, looking all smug and his attention all on her for a lingering and obvious moment after she squeezes his arm - but he just gesture at Faith as she points out the likelihood that it will fail, eventually. "I'm tired, so I'll leave you ladies to chat. I'm going to bed. Faith, I'll stay in touch on the job." He two-finger salutes and then saunters off to the tiny bedroom, waving over his shoulder.
}}