Season 1 - Fall

The demon's sudden proximity drew a gasp; its presence was like rolling waves, and its acrid, foetid miasma sat ever heavier in her lungs. With each panicked breath, her chest tightened. She felt the urge to scream rise as her blood crackled with an indescribable otherness.  The feeling abated when her eyes fixed on Ash's blades.  
"Yes....I like this idea."

Thoughts of exsanguination seeped into her mind, bringing with them the certainty that this act would free her of the unbearable weight in her veins.
"Don't you agree?"

Just be patient. Once the score is over, you can find a quiet spot and be rid of this filth.  It should not take more than a few well placed cuts if you act decisively.  

Act decisively. It was one of a litany of aphorisms on the "correct behaviour of the peerage" drilled into her from childhood. Act decisively. Be in control of yourself. Look after your own... Her cousins. She had sworn that she would be worthy of them, and here she was giving up without a fight.

The demon's eerie creaking and malodorous presence had ceased to register with Echo.  She was still reeling from the split second in which it had felt quite reasonable to be planning her own death.

bobarctor1977 wrote:

"I think we could form a most beneficial...business partnership. Don't you agree?"

Rake's mind raced as he tried to process the demon's assertion. It might have ended in a question, but it was certainly rhetorical. If it really wanted to enlist them, there was little they could do. Acquiescing might mean the creature would come to them quickly. His best hope was for it to lose interest. Placate it, get it to leave, and hope for the best. Maybe he could find a way to protect the crew in the meantime.

"That is certainly a possibility," he answered cautiously.

The creature's beady yellow eyes seem to gleam as Rake speaks. It reaches up and tips its hat ever so slightly before speaking again with that gravelly, stilted voice.

"I'll be in touch."

It walks backwards a few paces before turning around and disappearing into the gloom. Inside of a few moments, life seems to return to the city, the streetlamp flutters on again and you can hear the noise of late-night pedestrians talking the next street over.

"Well that's just great. Now we're both tied up with Twice-Dead Tom...up shit creek is where you are now, welcome to the show."

Ghoul makes an exasperated sound, steadying himself against the railing by the canal and hanging his head for several deep breaths, clearly quite distressed by the encounter.

Ash's hands are shaking, the blade in her hand glinting with the reflection of the lamp with the movement. Fuck!Stupid city and their stupid paranormal stuff.

Ghoul's voice breaks thew stupor but does nothing for her nerves. She inhales deeply, coughing two or three times when she lets the air out.

"At least we get the chance to gamble with them another time." She isn't sure if that is a good thing but its the only idea stopping her from throwing up right now, that they are still in the game and can keep with the big gamble that is life.

bobarctor1977 wrote:

"Well that's just great. Now we're both tied up with Twice-Dead Tom...up shit creek is where you are now, welcome to the show."

Rake rounded on Ghoul. "You talk as if telling it to fuck off was an option!" He stomped towards the old whisper, coming to loom over him, and jabbed him in the chest with his index and forefinger. "You tell us everything you know about that fiend. And then, about any other... surprises that could come and bite us in the ass."

moarhair wrote:

Rake rounded on Ghoul. "You talk as if telling it to fuck off was an option!"

Ghoul smiled wryly.

"Well no, not if you put it like that. Pays to be polite in a man in a top-hat, see?"

moarhair wrote:

He stomped towards the old whisper, coming to loom over him, and jabbed him in the chest with his index and forefinger. "You tell us everything you know about that fiend. And then, about any other... surprises that could come and bite us in the ass."

Ghoul holds up his hands sheepishly while leaning against the railing.

"Easy, easy. Sense of humor is the only thing that keeps you sane in this line of work, yous a whisper, thought you'd be on the level with me. My jokes may be bad, but nothing to toss me in the canal for, right?"

NightingaleJ wrote:

"Especially is they could be coming to bite your ass for something you didn't deliver on."

"Ehh, I don't suspect anyone but ole Tom there would be able to track me down so quickly. We're on easy street from here."

He pulls out a beat-up tin of snuff (surely one he traded for at Ironhook), gets a hefty pinch of brownish dust on his hand and snorts it. He shivers slightly and pushes off from the railing to stand up straight.

"That's better. Now, as for Tom." He gestures toward Rake. "As you might've guessed, he's been killed...twice. Used to be a hitman of some sort. Nasty, nasty fellow, so they say. But he took a likin' to the killin'. Too much of a likin'. Started doin' it for sport, get his kicks off like some do at the bar or lotus den. Bluecoats decided they'd had enough, slashed him up and dumped him in the canal. Not a fortnight later, folks are talking about seeing him on the streets again, grinning as always, quite alive and well. Says he made a deal with some demon or...entity so that he may walk again. Except he was even weirder and more reckless than before. Would gut people in back alleys right at noon."

Ghoul clears his throat, glancing down the street again as if expecting the man in question to show up yet again.

"Naturally it was quite embarrassing for the bluecoats that they'd mucked the job up, so they came back to do it proper. Ambushed him and pumped him full of lead. Cut off his head and put it on a stake. Everyone thought that was it, he was done for. A couple months later, his heads disappeared...and two weeks after that, he was on the prowl again. Even worse, the sarge with the blues who ordered the hit on Tom turned up missing that same week. Still never found the poor bastard. Bluecoats - and everyone else with half a brain - they took note. Let him be, steered wide and clear. Tried to hush hush it all."

"So he's been around, picking people off here and there for a couple years now, and the officials mostly try to ignore it. Shows up occasionally asking gangs for weird favors. And just my luck he came to me asking for spirits, well, I knew better than to deny him. I think he feeds on them, gains sustenace from 'em somehow. But I didn't plan on getting nabbed an' sent to Ironhook..."

Rake's eyes widened as the Ghoul detailed what he knew about Twice-Dead Tom. The name was literal. He'd come back from the dead. Rake flexed his hand, but it had healed. He felt the grief come up, but this time, hope too.

He blinked away the tears welling up in his eyes and cleared his throat. "I see," he said, the harshness gone from his voice. "Well, you better make sure to pay off your debt with the extra time you've been granted."

He turned to Echo and Ash. "Shall we hand off this hot potato before it burns us again?"

Ash takes a goo look at Cadence and Marius, before answering, it will be a long time before they get to sleep peacefully. I don´t like that look in Marius´s eyes, hope he isn't thinking in another ploy to bring back Nyrix.

"Sure" she says. "We might need him though, with that demon on our backs so we better tell the grinders we will be looking for him." She smirks coldly as Ghoul. "For future endevours."

Ash does not like the man that just put her family into the sights of a mand that had been killed 2 times and came back so easily from both.

Even with Rake bearing much of his weight, Ghoul's broken leg made for slow moving.  As the Phantoms eked their way towards the warehouse's side door, Echo struggled to avoid brushing against the walls of crates. She had managed to avoid getting her clothing too dirty thus far, and somehow it felt important to get through this ordeal with them relatively unsoiled.

Their arrival had been noticed but the guard at the door seems unconcerned.  She lights a pipe as they approach, holding the match near her face for a moment before shaking it out and finally gesturing to them to enter with a tilt of her head.

Once inside, there is no one to greet them, even as the door closes behind the crew.  It was starting to feel unceremonious, anticlimactic even, when Hutton strode across the warehouse floor towards them, looking impressed.  And why shouldn't Hutton be impressed?  They had just pulled off one hell of a heist with minimal fuss, demon not withstanding.

"Hutton, Ghoul... Ghoul, Hutton.  We wish you both a fruitful and happy collaboration." She said, ending with an airy laugh.  Ash and Marius could see the laughter did not reach her eyes - she was so done with this day, they all were.  Things had gone relatively smoothly, all things  considered, but it was time to get their coin and get out.

Rake helped Ghoul to a stool so he could sit. He'd been taking great care with him since the man had told them about Twice-Dead Tom. Rake had stopped seeing him as a simple package to be delivered. He was valuable, and the young Whisper was treating him as such. Once their charge was settled, Rake stood up straight and turned to the Grinders' boss.

"Echo, Hutton. Hutton, Echo," he said with an amused tone. More seriously, he added: "Be advised that our new friend holds a debt to a demon. I'd recommend making sure he pays it if you want to maintain a long collaboration."

Hutton gleams at the crew and Ghoul. He holds out a hand to the latter.

"Well-met, Mr. Morris. Or would ye rather I call ye by yer street name?"

He raises on eyebrow slightly at Rake's mention of the demon.

"A demon, ye say?"

Ghoul eyes Hutton warily.

"Jealous, are we?"

Hutton chuckles.

"Well, we'll see about all that later. For now it's good enough that yer here at all, I think we can agree on that. All thanks to our associates here..." Hutton gestures toward the crew.

The mutant nods toward one a rather normal-looking grinder nearby.

"Would you please help our friend to a hot meal and a warm bed?" The grinder leads Ghoul away past some shipping crates to a back room.

Hutton clears his throat and looks to the crew.

"Well-met, Echo. I don't know how ye got mixed up with this unsavory lot, but I trust they wouldn't bring just anyone on a job that dangerous. Now, our deepest thanks for rescuing dear Billy. Sercy?"

Hutton gestures toward Sercy, who until now has been lurking in the shadows.

Sercy brings forth a couple strongboxes one at a time and sets them on a wooden table before you.

"Your payment, of course. I trust ye didn't lead any coppers here?"

"Please, have little more faith. We are professionals."

Ash ignores the boxes, for now, making sure to look both Hutton and Sercy in the eye. It wasn´t good to show how much you were interested in something. Better make them believe this was just another job for them.

Rake nodded in agreement with Ash. "Well, I don't want to take some of the shine from us, but after all of this back-breaking labor, I could do with letting off a bit of steam." He stuck his hands in his pockets and gave Hutton an appraising look. "What do you lot like to do for fun?"

NightingaleJ wrote:

"Please, have little more faith. We are professionals."

Hutton smiles and nods respectfully.

"Right you are."

moarhair wrote:

Rake nodded in agreement with Ash. "Well, I don't want to take some of the shine from us, but after all of this back-breaking labor, I could do with letting off a bit of steam." He stuck his hands in his pockets and gave Hutton an appraising look. "What do you lot like to do for fun?"

Hutton glances at Sercy, who rolls his eyes.

"Most of me boys go on benders with the lotus or bloodneedle, but I'd hardly recommend it."

Hutton laughs.

"Us heads of the game try to stay sober - more than the muscle, anyway."

Hutton moves closer to the party and drops his voice to a low whisper. You can smell the strench of sweat and tobacco smoke on him.

"One last thing, before you go...if you don't want any run-ins with the 'coats, I'd avoid the docks on the 29th."

As Hutton steps back, he points at the party.

"Now that is strictly 'tween us, understand? Mention it outside this room and I'll flay ye alive meself."

" Guess its just us Phantoms then." Says Ash to Marius and Cadence, better for her, otherwise, she wouldn't be able to relax at all.

"Gotcha, 29th dock and flayed alive, I wouldn´t have expected any less from the grinders." She says to Hutton while picking u the boxes then turning to her family. "We know our way out, no need to take us to the exit."

Rake shrugged and followed Ash and Echo towards the door. "Well, if you ever find yourselves around the Broken Anchor and we're there, first round is on me. I wish you all a bell-free night."