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ST:
Through the usual channels, the Watchdogs had put word through to some of the Meninna that they were interested in discussing recent scouting reports, and one of the Far Scouts, a younger Irraka named Juanita Hernandez, had obliged, agreed to meet them on the high rooftop that looked down on the rest of Philadelphia's skyline.
With an invitation to join, no one would stop them or give them any trouble, though making their way up the abandoned buildings that separated the ground level from the rooftop was up to them.
Salome:
Salome arrives at the Devil's playground, approaching the site from one angle in particular. Leather, denim, red scarf and a quiet few steps along the way to keep true to her general approach to things, she looks over her back to try and see who's coming along with her and maybe make sure no one's currently spying on them that isn't supposed to be spying on them.
Blake:
Blake follows behind, dressed casually, with an air of eagerness.
ST:
One of the Hunters with shoulder-length, dark hair that falls stick straight down her back sits on a patio chair, one leg crossed over the other, a placid smile on her face when Salome and Blake come up through the stairwell. "Next time you will have to come up a different way," she buzzes at them. "It's tradition."
She hooks a thumb at herself. "Juanita. You had some questions, right?" She ticks her head to the side, beckons them closer and gestures to a handful of the seats scattered around. Plush furnishings, they are not.
Blake:
Stretching their neck, Blake draws upon their Primal Strength, their Pursuit Unmatched, and proceeds to jump their way up to the meeting point, using random ledges and outcroppings as stepping stones.
Salome:
"I'll make sure to respect that particular tradition, I'll have to train a bit for it though. Tallest thing I'm used to climbing is a gigantic tree in the middle of nowhere in Georgia." Salome smiles at the other woman. "Cagebreaker, or Salome." She responds in Spanish. "And yeah, we heard there were reports on Anshega sightings." her attention is drawn toward her packmate for a moment as they seem to be amusing themself on a much different path to the top than she did.
Blake:
Landing lightly, Blake dusts themselves off. With a short and simple introduction of "Blake.", they wait for Juanita's response.
ST:
"You heard that?" Juanita wonders at Salome, canting her head to the other side. "From who?" She flickers dark eyes in between the pair of them, and exhales a deep breath, leaning forward in her seat and dropping her elbows to rest on her thighs.
Salome:
"I heard it from Blake who heard it at a gathering of our people. I don't know who they heard it from." The question is obvious enough in her posture toward Blake.
Blake:
At being referred to, Blake clarifies, "It's more that we heard that Meninna had been scouting Anshega, nothing concrete about what they've been doing. If you must know who I've heard this from, it's from one Hattie Acker." A beat. "I was hoping if the Hunters had anything that you can share about the scouting without compromising info-sec."
ST:
"Mmm," Juanita buzzes softly, pitching her hands back her head and leaning back into them, reclined in her little patio chair while the world was laid out before them. Her eyes seem to search the skyline as she considers their answer, following its familiar contours and shapes.
"It's true that we have been scouting for them," she replies. "Since the Wounding, since the very next day. It was the first thing we did, was put bodies after them, to follow them while the rest retreated." She looks down at her nails, flicks something out from underneath one of them, then rubs that hand on her jeans.
"They have a few presences that haven't changed. Wilmington, Trenton, Reading. A small number in each. But you know what we can't account for?" She ticks her eyes back over to Salome and Blake. "Where all the motherfuckers from the battle went." Juanita nods her head at this in a stiff punctuation. "There's a handful of them at those posts, yeah, surrounding us, theoretically, but the numbers - way different," she tsks.
Salome:
"What brand of them are missing? Is there a specific one? Predator Kings? Ivory Claws? Fire-touched? Or is it a mixture of everything?" Salome starts pacing slightly, to get her own mind going, to piece together the information she's been given so far. "What kind of bodies do you have after them? Blooded? Spirits? More of the People?"
Blake:
Blake quiets, mind spinning to consider the possibilities, annoyed at the information disparity the Pure have over the Delaware Valley Protectorate.
ST:
"People, mostly; the complicit spirit here and there but that can be dicey work," Juanita acknowledges. "As to what brand, I couldn't say. Of those we can trace, there doesn't seem to be an over- or under-representation, except that the Kings tend to keep outside the cities. Usual for them," she relates. She starts to fuss with a hangnail.
Salome:
"Do you have any idea or theory about the different numbers? Or like a lead on that we could maybe help figure out?" Salome wonders aloud as she continues pacing, approaching the edge of the building to peek around quietly, observing and wondering about others that might be around here.
ST:
Juanita looks up, glances between the two of them. She tips her head towards Salome. "She the talker, huh?" she asks of Blake, before flicking something away off the tip of her finger - probably the aforementioned hangnail. She glances back to Salome and regards her for a long moment.
"Do I have any theories? Sure. About eighty-six, the most likely being that they're conspiring with something to hide them until they can launch a sudden attack and wipe all of us out."
Salome:
"Honestly I'm usually the least talkative, but I think Blake feels it's more my place to do so given where we are and who we're speaking with." Salome turn around, after looking around the building for a bit. "Could it be something they found at the wound? Or did they have that in the first place and it's why we got beat at Bancroft?"
ST:
Juanita holds her hands out to the side. "You're asking all the same questions we've been asking ourselves," she acknowledges with a small bite of exasperation; it's not for either Salome or Blake, but more for the matter at hand. "But let me tell you two things for sure." She pauses for a moment, and then lets another exhale go.
"First, it's not a good idea to go back to the Wound. I can't say exactly why, but I just... have that sense. Maybe because it's just so tempting to go back. You know when a thing looks too perfect, too obvious? That's how I feel about Bancroft. It makes sense to scout there... so we shouldn't." She scratches at her collarbone absent-mindedly.
"Two, there's something the Elders aren't telling us." She raises her shoulders in an uncertain shrug at that. "I don't know what it is, but you don't need to explain to me when someone is keeping a secret. I can smell it on them."
Blake:
At the mention of secrets kept by Elders, Blake stills, before continuing thinking. A question, "Do we have people around Bancroft, just in case if people have been coming and going?"
ST:
"We keep an eye on it from afar, of course," Juanita acknowledges.
Blake:
Blake nods, query answered.
Salome:
Salome studies Juanita for a moment, tilting her head to the side and narrow her eyes onto her, sending her eyes only to the other side as she empowers them with essence. She runs her fingers over her chin, clearly lost deep in thoughts there as she tries to comprehend what her eyes now tell here. (spirit senses)
ST:
Whatever Salome was looking for traces of, there are none. The other side of the Gauntlet is quiet and calm around the two Meninna and the Suthar Anzuth.
"Anything else I can answer for you two?" Juanita wonders at the pair of them when they go silent.
Blake:
"Nothing I can think of right now, personally." Blake answers, after some thought, looking at Salome.
Salome:
"I don't understand the statement about the wounds you make. If it's obvious, it seems like something we should at least take a look at?" She tilt her head. "Also, who are the elders who are hiding something from us? Do you have any actual numbers to give us in terms of report."
ST:
"To keep track of? Of course. To go back there, like I am hearing some of the Ghost Wolves want to do?" Juanita shakes her head. "I've got a bad feeling about it."
At the second question, Juanita only cants her head to the side and gives Salome a wry smile, raising her shoulders in an unhelpful shrug, the indication of which is obvious: she's already said enough about that, and won't say more.
And to the third, she replies, "There's a pack and change at each of the spots I mentioned to you. A couple are floaters, but the packs pretty much stay in each spot. Most we counted in one place was seven."
Blake:
Remembering Ri's and Sam's plans, Blake asks, "Anything changed about Anshega activity amongst the Herd since Bancroft? We've got plans to disrupt them if we have the opportunity."
Salome:
"Yeah are there any known connection they have with the local herds? Communities they're linked to? Businesses they own?" A tilt of her head. "And seven seems like a really low number for a Pure pack, yeah, from what I remember being told."
ST:
Juanita puzzles over the question for a moment, and shakes her head. "Nothing that really stands out, no. They've never been tremendously integrated with the Herd, going back for some time, though that may change if they're gearing up to make a move on Philadelphia. But as I said, there's only a few. It's like dozens of them... just vanished." She pitches a shoulder up in uncertainty again. "We killed plenty, but not that many. Not dozens."
Blake:
Blake nods, thinking that what Juanita is saying makes sense. "Do we know what pies did they have fingers in, still? It'll make our plans easier if we didn't have to start from scratch to find out what they've control over."
ST:
"They generally stay independent and self-sufficient from the Herd, in terms of societal artifice; the ones that are left, anyway," Juanita allows.
"But like I said, that could change. Or it might be changing. Unless they're dead, there are more unaccounted for than accounted for right now. We just... don't know. They dropped right off the radar. That many new identities in a handful of days," she tugs at her ear in slight agitation as she considers yet another theory for what is likely the umpteenth time. "It seems unlikely."
Blake:
Blake nods again, then muttering to themselves, "It'll be more effort on our end." Turning to Juanita, "Thanks, you've been a great help." They then look over to Salome, waiting to see if she caught anything they forgot.
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