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Daniel Hawthorne: As another night continued one of the tables in the hotel lounge had been claimed by the young Haunt to work on one of his projects somewhere other than his office. Daniel was dressed neatly in dark jeans and a long-sleeved shirt, both well made if one had an eye for such things, with a dark blue scarf wrapped snugly around his neck to round out the ensemble. His laptop was set up in front of him and a tablet in hand, looking towards the main screen now and again as he worked.
Rena Harlowe: A loud stomping approaches, accompanied by it's creator, a rather pissy looking Rena. She's in her dirty boots, an overlarge shirt with sign language written on it and skinny jeans. "Yo," she says, giving a lazy wave. She flops in a chair, sitting exactly sidewise. "'ve seen you at the Academy, yeah?"
Daniel Hawthorne: Daniel looked up from the screen at the stomping, nodding quietly at the question. "Most likely." He replied, hints of an almost-British accent wrapped around the whispered words. "Daniel Hawthorne, pleasure."
Rena Harlowe: Rena's accent has twinges of Baltimore but is mostly an affected generic American accent with lots of dropped syllables. "Rena Harlowe. Probably a pleasure. I mean, it'd be more of a pleasure anywhere else. This Elysium fucking blows. It's like the 1 percent vomited all over here."
Daniel Hawthorne: Cue an arched eyebrow, followed by an amused smirk. "That's one way to put it...not wrong, admittedly."
Rena Harlowe: "I've been to some rich white bullshit and this is some rich white bullshit. Blech." Rena sticks out her tongue and stretches out her arms. "'Parently in other cities this is all the Elysiums. Can't imagine putting up with rich fucks everywhere."
Daniel Hawthorne: "It was that way in Boston, at the very least. Admittedly I was with the First Estate at the time so that sort of thing was the norm."
Rena Harlowe: "You from Boston?" Rena asks, cocking her head. "God, I'd fucking die if I had to be all fancy like that. I would look good in a suit though. Y'all wore suits, right?"
Daniel Hawthorne: "Mmhmm." He nodded to confirm, pausing to give her a once-over at the suit comment. It was an appraising look rather than leering, almost like he was making the proper measurements in his head. "I did...and you likely would. I've done a few designs on that front in the past."
Xavier Rotterdam: Xavier slips in on silent steps, wearing grey slacks and a black thermal turtle neck with a grey blazer over top, not quite formal, but not entirely casual. His gaze sweeps over the room and he grins a bit upon noticing it's occupied. He strolls over towards the others, hands sliding into his pockets as he takes a few moments to get abreast of the conversation at hand. He doesn't interrupt, just flicks his gaze back and forth between the two.
Rena Harlowe: "Shit, thanks. If I ever have any money, I'd pay you for one. Assuming you actually make 'em," Rena says, looking herself over, "Fuck, I need to get me some new clothes at some point. And a binger duffel bag for 'em." She then looks up and squints at Xavier. "You're Rhea's friend, ain't you?"
Daniel Hawthorne: "I do." Daniel smirked a touch, turning the laptop around to show the dress design he had been working. "My studio's off of Rittenhouse Square."
He looked towards Xavier as he approached, giving a polite nod. "Evening."
Xavier Rotterdam: "Good evening." He says to Daniel, before glancing at Rena. "I have had the pleasure of Rhea's company on an occasion or two. I suppose we are on the path to becoming friends, but I'm still new enough in town I'm not sure if I'd apply the term just yet. It's good to see you again Rena." He smiles at her then looks back to Daniel again. "Xavier Rotterdam, of the Ordo Dracul, recent arrival from Chicago. I've been accepted as a member of the Cheverette family." He glances up at the ceiling for a moment, thinking, then he nods to Daniel. "That ought to cover most of the formalities."
Rena Harlowe: "Woo, we're all dragons," Rena says, half-assedly pumping a fist in the air, "Rena Harlowe, Mekhet, Ordo, Ashtifar, yadda yadda. You two up to any shit tonight? Or are we all just dicking around in a shitty hotel because we're bored out of our minds?"
Daniel Hawthorne: "Daniel Hawthorne, also of the Academy, and member of the Touati family. Good to meet you." He smirked at Rena's final comment, shaking his head. "Came to do a bit of work out the house, primarily."
Xavier Rotterdam: "I don't think I could ever be bored around you, from what I've seen so far Rena." He says, grinning a bit. "Not too bored since there's people here tonight, but if there's something else you'd rather be doing I could be convinced. "
Rena Harlowe: "'s that a compliment or a burn, Prof?" Rena asks with a smirk, "And nah, I feel like y'all are probably not the type to like shit I'm up to. Yet, I'm bored enough to put up with the fucking millionaire boys' club, so what the fuck do I know?"
Daniel Hawthorne: "Sounds like a compliment." He smiled as he turned his laptop back around, saving the design he had been working on before closing the lid to be properly socialable. "What sort of stuff are you thinking, out of curiosity?"
Xavier Rotterdam: "it was intended more as a compliment than a burn, certainly, though with little judgement one way or the other. I'm also curious what sort of shit you're up to." He says, with a nod to Daniel.
Rena Harlowe: "Petty theft, emotional repression, drugs, beating the shit out of people, learnin' how to be an Axe, reading comics and playing Magic," Rena lists off, counting on her fingers. "My life ain't exactly for the faint of heart. Lot of action. Badassery. I'm kinda the best."
Daniel Hawthorne: "Sounds like you keep yourself busy." He nodded, still smiling a touch. "You'd have me for the last one, admittedly, but I sold most of my cards a while back."
Xavier Rotterdam: "I'm curious about the drugs. Do you look for specifics of just find foilks who look altered and see what you get?" There's no judgement in Xavier's voice, he's legit curious how it works.
Rena Harlowe: "I give people free drugs in exchange for lettin' me feed on them. Simple, you know? It's no Vitae, but you know." Rena scratches at her arm, hard but absent mindedly, right on her tattoo of barbed wire. "Fuck. 'm hungry."
Daniel Hawthorne: The Vitae mention dulled the Haunt's mirth, sitting back in his chair as he nodded quietly. "Whatever works, I suppose."
Xavier Rotterdam: "Well it all sounds interesting, do you carry cards and comics with you?" He grins a bit and finds himself a seat within conversational distance of the others.
Rena Harlowe: Rena unzips her duffel bag, revealing a tightly packed wad of clothes, a ziplock bag with some empty vials, a bent trade paperback and a battered, duct taped deck box. "Yeah, if I don't keep 'em with me, they'll get taken," she says, like its the most obvious thing in the world.
Daniel Hawthorne: Anothe small nod from the Haunt. "Take it you move around a lot?" There was no judgement in his tone, merely curiosity.
Xavier Rotterdam: "If you'd like to teach me I'll play magic with you, or we can just continue chatting and getting to know each other a bit better. Are there many of the axe in the city? I've not yet been brought up to speed on covenant affairs, it seems I'm always in mixed company, unfortunately."
Rena Harlowe: "Think it's just Might Guy. And hopefully me soon. Need him to get me in on that. Properly swear oaths and shit." Rena shrugs. "'Nd yeah, I never stay in the same place twice in a row. Don't want to wear out my welcome, y'know? Might be getting to sleep on the boat when we get it though." She digs in, pulls out her deck box and opens it up. "I hope you two are cool with learnin' together, I only got my deck and a spare one for teachin'."
Daniel Hawthorne: "Fair enough." He nodded quietly, making an 'after you' motion. "I know how to play, so I'll just watch."
Xavier Rotterdam: Xavier rubs his hands together with a grin. "Well then, welcome Rena, as experienced as you are kicking ass I'm certain you'll be a great addition."
Rena Harlowe: "Hell yeah, I'm great at fighting. I can kick the ass of like 99% of us. Maybe not Guy, but probably the rest of y'all. If you wanna spar some time so I can show you the ropes, I'm always down, but for now?" Rena dramatically gestures at the two decks. Lemme just kick your ass at nerdfights™️. Since Danny-Boy knows the rules, he can help you out."
Daniel Hawthorne: He let out a tired sigh at the nickname, although the smirk on his face softened the apparent annoyance. "Only my sister calls me that, you know. Happy to help, though."
Xavier Rotterdam: “I don’t consider myself a warrior by any stretch of the imagination. I’m certain you could beat me in a fight”. He offers to arena, before getting up to sit next to Daniel. “Should I look at the cards?”
Rena Harlowe: "Yeah, yeah, look through your cards. I'll explain to you how shit works," Rena says, proceeding to explain to them the basic rules of magic, which her player doesn't know well enough to teach properly. The deck they have is a green/black deck based around using the graveyard. If Daniel is familiar enough with magic, he'll notice that all the cards are common and the deck is more than a little janky.
Daniel Hawthorne: Daniel offered a few pointers as well as the rules were gone over, his head tilting a bit as he looked over some of the potential card combinations. "Interesting build."
Xavier Rotterdam: “Oh good. I do love interesting. You even gave me some vampires!” He says with a grin at Rena. “I hope they fight more like you than me. So what’s up with this boat, anyways?”
Rena Harlowe: "If you like this game, you can make yourself a cool vampire deck. There's some cool vamps in this game who don't sit around being dipshits in a 5 star hotel that tried to escort me out when I came in," Rena says, self depriciatingly. "My deck is a lot of goblins, so it's built around being fast and beatin' the shit outta people. You know, like me."
Rena lowers her voice, making sure there aren't any prying ears before saying, "we're working on getting a Nest set up on a boat with a ghost on it. And gettin' the thing that makes coils easier."
Daniel Hawthorne: "Played blue and white myself for the most part." He nodded quietly, hearing the lowered voice without issue; his own was low enough, admittedly, so no need to 'correct' for that. "Has there been a time set for handling the current resident, on that note?"
Xavier Rotterdam: "I am completely in the dark." He says to the pair of them. "How big is this thing, this boat? Is it like a paddleboat or something?" He looks through his cards a bit and then shrugs, setting down the deck in front of him. "Fast and ruthless, I see." He grins at Rena. "Do you think people's decks say something about them?"
Rena Harlowe: "It's like restaurant boat sized. Since it's a restaurant boat and all." Rena shrugs. "Don't know when it's happenin'. Waiting on Guy and Ironheart to give me the go ahead and then I'll be there and be punchin' a ghost in the jaw if it looks at me funny." She pauses for a second. "Do either of you sign? It'd be a lot easier to be sneaky if I just-" she switches to sign language, told you about haunted boat shit out in the open without worrying about volume.
Switching back to English, she says, "I mean, I think my deck says that I tried to play blue control once and green ramp once and they both bored the shit out of me. I need to always be going, you know?"
Daniel Hawthorne: Daniel looked pleasantly surprised as Rena broke out with the ASL, his own hands moving smoothly. "Good to know I'm not the only one in the court who knows it." He nodded to her spoken comment, smirking a touch. "I like the control decks, personally. They take a little work to get going, but when they do it's usually worth it."
Xavier Rotterdam: "I don't sign, but I'd be happy to learn." He nod to the pair. "Especially if it's used commonly. What sort of deck is this? Does it have a term like control or ramp or is it less thematic?"
Rena Harlowe: "Ah, hell yeah, Dirty Dan!" Rena signs back. "Okay, first sign language lesson, Professor. This means 'Hi! Nice to meet you!' Memorize this," She says, signing "Please kick me in the junk".
"The deck is called Dredge. It's what people call using shit in your graveyard. It's too slow for me but I got it gifted to me so I kept it."
Daniel Hawthorne: Daniel gave Rena a 'really?' look, shaking his head with a smirk. "I would recommend against using that as a greeting..."
Xavier Rotterdam: He does. Memorize it, and signs it right back at Rena. He looks at Daniel and grins. "Maybe it'll be my special greeting just for her."
Rena Harlowe: "I would love nothing more," Rena says, putting on a beatific face of innocence, "And I think it's a perfectly fine greeting. Maybe its a difference between ASL and British Sign Language or somethin'?"
Daniel Hawthorne: "I'm not British, so it's not that." He chuckled, giving Xavier a nod. "Up to you if you do. Someone may take you up on it, though."
Xavier Rotterdam: "Well, then I suppose I'll have an adventure." He grins at Daniel. "So, besides the boat, what else of interest is happening in the city?"
Rena Harlowe: "Really, Dan the Man? Coulda fooled me, with your accent. Sound like you should be tellin' me about the rules of cricket," Rena says, smirking. She lets out a performative sigh and says, "yeah, no, there's some bullshit going on right now. I'm part of a group investigating spirit monsters kidnapping people because I can punch ghosts. Most of the group aren't vamps though and they haven't gotten back to me in a hot minute. And, uh, the mermaid bullshit. Also apparently there's a lunatic priest probably kidnapping neophytes. And it fucking turns out both fairies and wizards are fucking real? Oh plus Guy-Sensei is off guarding some top secret VIP so he hasn't had time to teach me shit."
Daniel Hawthorne: "A lot of the Brahmin families in Boston still have the old accent. Was a lot more pronounced...before." A brief flicker of irritation crossed his features but passed soon enough, with the Haunt sitting back in his seat as Rena spoke. His eyebrows went up along the way, looking quite curious indeed by the end. "Well then...I knew about the Nereids and the threats to neonates, but not the rest."
Xavier Rotterdam: "Interesting." He says, rubbing his chin. "Is there anything you are interested in learning besides kicking ass? While that is not my forte I do have quite a bit of academic knowledge I could impart." He offers to Rena. "Have you met fairies or wizards? Are they of any particular interest to us in one way or the other?"
Rena Harlowe: "Brai- er, someone told me that the fairies are horrible kidnapping monsters but the people who escape them, they call 'em Changelings, are normal folks, living amongst us. I think they have powers too. I never met 'em far as I'm aware. I met a wizard though. She's a bit of a cold fish but she fixed my phone and seems to really want to help people. She's also looking into the idea of curing us. Which, y'know, might be nice," Rena explains, getting more and more animated, even at one point signing along to give her hands something to do. This is not her strong suit, but she thinks she has a grasp on this much at least. "And, nah. I want to learn shit, but I'll do it on my own. Don't want to owe you anything."
Daniel Hawthorne: Daniel nodded quietly, pausing at the mention of a 'cure'. "...very interesting."
Xavier Rotterdam: "Oh, you wouldn't owe me anything." He shrugs a shoulder. "But I respect your wishes to learn on your own. How did you learn she was a wizard, did she tell you or did you have to suss it out? I'm not sure I'd be interested in a cure, would the two of you be?"
Rena Harlowe: "I mean she told me to take out my phone and then she fixed it. With magic." Xavier asking his question causes her to go very still and look down at the ground. "I, man, I don't fuckin' know. I feel like I oughtta since there's so much shit to deal with, but also I'm stronger now than I've ever been and if it wasn't for all this horseshit secrecy stuff, I'd beat every fucking sprinter on the planet. But also. I'm dead. That blows."
Daniel Hawthorne: "A cure, no. A way to move past certain...issues, certainly. Then again, that's why I joined the Academy in the first place."
Xavier Rotterdam: He nod a bit. "In some ways I don't find our state terribly limiting, I think it's so ingrained in my identity now...." He trails off and glances at Rena. "Did you get her name? Do you think she'd be willing to talk about it with us?"
Rena Harlowe: "Liezel is her name. I can give you her number. I bet she and her people would love to talk to some proper Ordo nerds instead of my jock ass." Rena sits up in her chair properly. Well mostly properly. She's still sitting with her left leg tucked up in under the other. "Now let's play some Magic the Gathering."
Daniel Hawthorne: "Wouldn't mind getting her number as well." Daniel nodded, turning his attention back to the decks. "Let's."
Xavier Rotterdam: "What do I do first?" He asks Rena with a smile.
As the game progresses, Xavier taps a bunch of monsters to unleash his final attack, glancing at Rena's defenders. "Unless you have something especially nasty in your hand, I believe that does you in."
Rena Harlowe: "Fuck, that was supposed to be a shoe in for me," Rena says, grinning, "That was fucking fun. If you wanna keep that deck, go for it. You're better with it than I'll ever be. Fuck. That ruled." She's bouncing in her seat now, her eyes wide as dinner plates.
Daniel Hawthorne: Daniel smirked as Xavier pulled out the win, having chimed in here and there to offer advice on what cards to play. "Nicely done."
Xavier Rotterdam: "It was fun, and interesting." He says with a smile. I'm not entirely certain this deck fits my style, but I'll keep it for next time and start purchasing my own cards. Are they particularly difficult to find?" He asks, looking between the two of them, eventually his gaze fixes on Daniel. "You may need to rebuild your deck as well, for next time."
Rena Harlowe: "Oh yeah, one of the coolest things about this game is that it works with any number of players. So we could get all three of us in a game if we wanted," Rena says, beaming, "And cards are all over the place. If you want to spend money to support local businesses, I recommend Amalgam Comics. If you want to boost 'em, try target. The format I play is called Pauper because it's only common cards and those are easy to get my hands on, but if you wanted to buy me cards in another format, I could play you in one of those too."
Daniel Hawthorne: "Ah...was wondering why I was all commons." Daniel nodded, smiling a touch. "I can look into getting back into the physical cards; been playing online through the Arena off and on lately."
Xavier Rotterdam: "I suppose since I'm keeping the deck I owe you, so I'll have to buy some cards for you." He nods to her. "I imagine the less common cards are more interesting and open up additional strategies? I'd be curious to see what kind of games we could have if we were less limited."
Rena Harlowe: Rena smiles earnestly and nods at Xavier's comment. "Exactly. You get it. To both parts, I mean. You get how the game works and how shit works." She stands up, puts her deck back in her bag and stretches out. "Fuck, I probably need to get goin'. Thanks for this guys. I fuckin' needed it. Lemme give you my number and Liezel's."
Daniel Hawthorne: "Quite welcome, and agreed. Was good to relax for a bit." Daniel nodded, giving the pair one of his business cards each. "The number on the back is my cell; text works better overall, for obvious reasons."
Xavier Rotterdam: Xavier pulls his phone from his pocket to record said numbers! "it was great to spend some time with you Rena, thank you for teaching me the game and my first sign language lesson." He flashes her the greeting she taught him, definitely amused by whatever it might be.
Rena Harlowe: "I wanted to, believe you me," Rena says at the greeting, barely suppressing a giggle. She passes off the numbers and then sticks her hands in her pockets. "See you later, fuckers!" She calls, walking away. Unlike when she entered where she made a massive racket, her steps here are extremely quiet, barely noticeable if you weren't watching her move.
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