ShockDrop

Going Hollywood

[[Rules! (These will be clean and easy 'cause it's not like AHHHHHH movie madness)

1. No posting order, just post once for one-a mine.

2. Be as timely as you can. I'm not gonna set a hard limit for this one because it's not AHHH movie madness kind, but try to not take too terribly long.

3. I do not anticipate physical risk. It could happen, but that is entirely dependent on y'all. Any other risk/ramifications are on the table.

4. PM flaws/personal triggers/phobias/all the usual because I can barely remember my own, much less anyone else's!

5. First post coming!]]

Going Hollywood

ShockDrop Films' main offices, the trio learn when Serafine sets up the meeting, are not located in Denver proper but in Littleton. The directions that they get the studio offices are nice and easy to follow and take them into the commercial zone of the city, nestled near Littleton Children's Hospital and just down the street from a shopping center.

As they pull up to the building, they see the building sitting back behind a gate in the middle of the parking lot, with a white parking garage on one side and an unrelated office building on the left. The trio have to buzz in from the gate, where a woman's voice ith a vaguely nasal tone asks them their name and their business. Once that is provided the door buzzes and clicks unlocked, granting them access to the courtyard from which the various buildings--business offices, soundstage and a small DVD production building--can be accessed.

The front of the main office building seems an odd fit for the rest of the buildings in here; it's older than the rest and doesn't look like it was originally a commercial building but rather perhaps some old government offices, probably abandoned a good twenty years ago or more. The main entrance is obvious and easy to find and when they walk inside, they are treated to an interior that--compared to the outside--is ultra-modern. It's all glass and cool colors, with some standard (fairly uncomfortable-looking) padded chairs and a large desk behind which a young woman sits in front of the ShockDrop logo. The woman is attractive but certainly not to the point of being a looker; she is the sort that is perfect for a secretary gig in that she is pleasing to look at and charming (at least in the way she looks up and smiles), but not distracting in her comeliness.

That smile is turned on the trio when they walk in. "Welcome to ShockDrop Studios. You have an appointment?"

Jim Thompson

They would both notice the difference in Jim's carriage and demeanor when they transition from inside the car to walking up and inside the building the production company is located at. After a final squeeze of Sid's hand, the other withdrawing from where it's draped on Serafine's shoulder, the warmth melts away. Or it might be more apt to say it solidifies to stone. Cold and uncaring. The kind of look that gets you through years behind bars. The kind of look you learn if you're lucky to survive those years. No smile. No frown. Nothing that could be misconstrued as a show of weakness.

(Read: Emotion.)

Holding the eyes of those they pass. Just long enough to acknowledge them and force them to acknowledge him. Not sitting because it's a prone position. Stalking behind the two women he accompanies because he wouldn't give anyone his back if it isn't in the line from the yard or to get a tray of slop.

And casual about it because to look too cautious might make you look scared. No, he doesn't look scared.

He might be. There are real reasons for the ruse. Real reasons he doesn't want to make either of them look important to him. Because both of them are and that could be used against him and them.

So his legs, encased in crisp jeans, part when he sets his stance in the middle of that office lobby. And his blue short-sleeve shirt buttoned up to his neck strains when he folds his arms over his chest. And his jaw, now dripping with stubble turning quickly into a beard, ripples along his temple when he sets it, his lips a flat line under his bristling mustache and his baby blue eyes no longer so inviting.

[ Manipulation + Subterfuge. Specialty: Criminal Mind. ]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 2, 4, 4, 6, 7) ( success x 2 )

Sid Rhodes

Somewhere between that afternoon drinking alcoholic root beer floats and eating red velvet cake and now, Sid changed her mind about not going with the Cultists to the ShockDrop Studios office in Littleton. She worries, see, is paranoid. And they are hers, her people, both of them, and all she could think of were all the ways that something could go wrong tonight, when they went to set a meeting that should be ordinary in everywhere. She didn't change her mind because she thought she would be particularly useful. Strangers still make her go all quiet and close in on herself, and she's not particularly adept and warping reality with her will (yet). But at least she'll be there, at least she'll be with them, at least she'll know if something goes wrong.

And who knows, perhaps a pair of keen, bespectacled eyes will come in useful.

So, right after work she drove to pick up Jim or go straight to Sera's however it worked out. She climbed into Sera's vehicle. And during the drive she reached out to touch them. Hold a hand, brush an elbow, be comforted by their physical proximity, because soon

they step out of the car and she pulls away. Let's Jim's carriage shift, let's Sera take the lead. Straight from work, she's dressed in a green, low cut t-shirt that cuts a little low (but not as low as it feels) that reads ROSEWOOD TAVERN with a lot of decorative scrollwork in purposely faded white, a brown pleated skirt that falls just above her knees and brown boots that rise up just below her kneecaps. Her hair is twisted into a knot at the nape of her neck, some length left to fall between her shoulder blades. Her glasses are small and cats-eyed. She looks pretty. She looks like someone's assistant.

Because she is. Just not Sera's. Not really.

She walks ahead of Jim and a little behind Sera. She looks a little nervous, because it's rare that Sid doesn't look a little nervous, but she tries not to look like a skittish, timid, terrified animal.

And, as usual, her mind is open to the workings of the world around her.

[because of course: percept (paranoid: because of course) + awareness]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 4, 5, 5, 7, 9) ( success x 2 )

Serafíne

It is daylight, right? That's when you have meetings in offices with people who have official corporate-speak gibberish titles like CFO. Serafíne, quite literally, does not know what those titles mean. Does not really care either and probably has not thought about it as much as you'd prefer that she think about it before they arrive at the offices in Littleton. Pull up outside in that old Jeep she bought way-back-when to drive back and forth to the cabin in the woods where they stashed Leah, which she has kept in the old garage behind Dee's big old house and brings out only occasionally.

Sera isn't driving. It's Sid or Jim behind the wheel because Sera started the day with just enough hashish to get her high and get her mellow and get her charming and get her to the point where the borders between her skin and her mind and the stream-of-life were sliding-bright, porous, real-and-unreal.

"Yeah," that Sera, with the quick edge of her razor-grin as she saunters right up to the receptionist's desk and braces her arms on the counter-height ledge. If there is one.

If not she might well sit her ass on the edge of the secretary's desk. "An appointment or something, though fuck me if I can remember who with. Thought it was going to be Keller but I hear he's gone all incommunicado or whatever. So whoever, yeah."

She is difficult to ignore and hard to forget, Sera, though the sudden onset of fall-fuck-it's-actually-winter means that she has put on a coat. So: miniscule black dress covered in a white floral pattern, a loose cardigan or something in a snakeskin print, beneath a sherpa-lined leather jacket, which is in turn covered with spikes and zippers and finished off by a pin that promises that ROLLER KING IS COMING.

Accessorized by fishnets and peep-toed silver-heeled booties, with spike-covered bracelets and a leather choker and a longer necklance with a rather-large skeleton crystal-eyed skull that falls, wrists stacked with bracelets that disappear beneath the cuffs of the coat. And on and on.

Looks a little high because she is. Smells like cloves and tobacco and maybe just a bit like whiskey, and sandalwood and patchouli. Because that's the way Seras smell.

Serafíne

Perception + Awareness

Dice: 7 d10 TN5 (2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 6 )

Serafíne

Reroll that 10!

Dice: 1 d10 TN5 (1, 10) ( success x 1 ) Re-rolls: 1

Going Hollywood

[[Sera, of course, senses Jim and Sid and their Resonance, but that goes without saying. But she is also incredibly tuned in at the moment, and she is actually able to pick up on something else...residual magic. There is a sense of something...insidious, perhaps, long since gone though. Or not powerful and more recent. There is another Resonance that is a bit stronger...it whirls manically in her brain, explodes like a firework. But it's also faint, more like a cap gun now. And one last one, recent, it's the deatlhly pallor of Jhor.]]

Going Hollywood

The secretary, whose name according to the placard on the dest the way is Melissa, is brisk and polite, even friendly as she looks the trio over. Jim's sullen, jaw-set attitude doesn't phase her; Sera's...shall we say, chemical enhancement odor doesn't cause a single twitch of the eye or wrinkle of the nose and Sid's inherant nervousness and shyness doesn't make her narrow her eyes in suspicion or put her heart out there for the Orphan, for that matter. After all, she's a receptionist at a film studio (albeit one that, before all the news hit, few people had ever heard of); that means she deals with artists. And Sera gives off that attitude, and the others seem like other professionals and hanger-ons, or perhaps security.

"No problem," she says, and you can almost (but not quite) hear an exclamation point at the end in the slight elongation of the No, the quick finish of the problem and the rise and fall of her tone in just those two words. She starts to type away on her computer, the clickety-clack of sharply-manicured fingernails on keys as she speaks.

"Mister Keller is unfortunately not available at the moment, he's taking a bit of a leave of absence. Mister Gilbert and Miss Carole are taking all of his meetings at the moment together, so just let me seeeee heeeere..."

Clickety-clickety-clickety-clack as she keeps her eyes peeled to the screen. Melissa is a good secretary and she is quite efficient at her job; it doesn't take long before she nods.

"Miss Davies, yes?" She looks at Sera and smiles. "Mister Gilbert and Miss Carole will be right with you. If you just have a seat, I'll let them know you're here."

Jim Thompson

Jim still doesn't sit. Instead he lets himself unfurl into the space. Mentally and inwardly rather than outwardly. A moment of mindfulness. Of the colors and decoration, ultra-modern stuffed into a building that definitely wasn't. Of his own breathing, Serafine and Sid's, even of Melissa. The click clack of her keys on the keyboard, paying attention to the way her voice rises and falls at her answer of Serafine's questions.

They're given names of more people that are going to be coming and going from the place and if she hadn't been perturbed at his presence or any of their appearances, she might not notice this. Planting his ass into one of the chairs he takes out a flask and takes a long pull out of it. If he's security there's nothing professional about that, but there's nothing professional about the man he seems to be either way. Another sip, quick as that, and then another pull and he has downed more than half of the hefty aluminum container so that no longer full it sloshes as he slips it back into his back pocket.

Social lubricant. And when he can't have a tab of acid on his tongue or the dulling effects of something rolled and smoked, oh, it will do in a punch. The working of a spirit-lightened will will come later, when it has others to carouse with or try to pluck information from, for now he just repeats the names, "Gilbert and Carole. I guess it is going to be a fuckin' musical," teeth grit and a hiss of whiskey-scented air as he exhales.

"You told me we were workin' with Keller, Essie," like it's a nickname for the woman who brought him here and had been doing most of the talking up until now. "Now I got to meet more suits?"

And rounding on Melissa a moment later, because who knows how many more moments they'll have before the other two show up.

"Leave of absence? Where to and until when? If you don't mind me asking," emphasis on the you don't. Or at least ought not to.

Going Hollywood

Mellissa smiles politely and oh-so-charmingly to Jim, with just a little hint of apology in her tone and her expression. True story: she wanted to be an artist at some point herself. She has a script that she's sent around to all the majors and it got rejected by every one of them, but she is hoping it can find a place here.

Even if it's not their usual stuff. It's a love story. Just...a love story about a Pharoah raised from the dead in 1910 England and a archeologist who slips backward in time. Why wouldn't anyone want to read that?

"I'm sorry, sir, but I honestly haven't been told the answer to that. Mister Gilbert and Miss Carole will know more than me."

Going Hollywood

[[See that. Not read that. I know ze words and what zey mean.]]

Sid Rhodes

Jim unfurls into the space. Sid seems to be trying to take up as little as possible. In the time it takes him to get around to planting his ass, she's already sitting, spine straight, hands resting on her knees. Looking around. Tight-lipped and silent. Maybe she's a writer or maybe she's something else. A groupie-friend of Sera's to keep an eye on her, make sure that she doesn't get herself into too much trouble. Something.

The man across from her - because she does not sit close to him, makes it clear she thinks they're separate - pulls out a flask and she pulls a face. Disgusted and disturbed. Wrinkling her nose, Sid looks away.

And looks around. Seems like an ordinary office space, or like it's supposed to be.

"Ah," she starts quietly, leaning forward a little and lifting her chin to look at that receptionist. Pitching her voice a little louder, which puts it riiiiiiight at about conversation level, "Excuse me. What, um. What was this place? Before. The outside's all...different."

Serafíne

"That's me. Bitchin' - " Sera returns. Yes, she said bitchin. Said it with a grin as sure and immediate and incandescant as a signal fire and flashes the secretary a quick, wry peace sign. With her right hand rather than her left, so Melissa is not treated to the sight of Sera's sharkscissors tattoo in all its full glory.

Slides - no, wait, sliiiiiides - off the desk and climbs to her feet and circles the room, wandering in a widening circle that eventually brings her back to the other two, the spiky heels of her peep-toe booties clattering on the industrial flooring.

Parks herself close to Jim and Sid on those uncomfortable chairs and tips her head back against the wall and slides her gaze back to them.

"Shit," to Jim, the quick flare of her mouth, laughing and the flash of her white teeth. "I told you already it was going to be a musical. A fucking punk-rock musical." Lifts her chin to invite Melissa into that portion of the conversation. "Bet you don't have one of those in the works, right? I'm sorry, it's fucking brilliant. You can handle the suits,"

" - bet you haven't seen Keller since - what the fuck - " lifting her chin to Melissa. "That riot-thing. Like fucking the Rite of Spring except with a silly old horror movie. Bet it was fucking Italian. That shit drives me bonkers, too. Fellini and whatnot."

Sera falls silent as Sid inquires about the history of the building, slides her little crossbody clutch around her frame and clicks it open like she wants a goddamned cigarette. Closes it again because you know, no smoking.

Shoots a slicing, sidelong look at Melissa, waits until the secretary is still type-type-typing so efficiently, or perhaps calling back to the big bosses upstairs. Then tells Jim and Sid, both - quietly and lazily -

"Three old perfumes," A lingering look at Sid. Sera does not include Jim precisely in the look; she doesn't have the knack he has of concealing things and avoidance seems the safest course, if he is to maintain that facade. "lingering in the air. Feel 'em? The oldest, powerful, insidious. Faded though, just a tang at the back of the throat. Then another, like a manic bright burst, now just an afterburn. You know how fireworks fade in the sky but you can still see them, etched against the dark?

"The last one, though. It's an October scent. Death-tainted."

Going Hollywood

Melissa smiles at Sid--lots of smiling, this one, but then that's the job--when she asks after the building's history. "The building used to be an administration building for the city years back. They shut it down at the end of the '80s, I believe to consolidate. Or just funding problems, I'm not totally sure on that. It went through several owners after and Mister Gilbert and Mister Keller managed to pick it up at a low price about four years ago."

And in response to Sera's opining about the time of Joshua's leave, she nods. "From what I understand it was a rough experience for him and he's just taking some time off, pursuing some other interests for a couple of months until he returns."

"Excuse me," she says politely as she picks up the phone and hits a few buttons. See, she's a good secretary; she works the phones like a pro. "Mister Keller, Miss Davies and her associates are here to see you..." She listens, then nods. "Of course." The phone is set down and she miles.

"They'll be right here."

Perhaps Sid, Serafine and Jim are concerned they're going to be kept waiting forever. This is the entertainment business after all, and no one can do anything on a proper schedule. It's always good to make someone wait longer; then you project the point that you're in control of the situation and they're the ones who need something from you. If it were otherwise, they'd just leave. Ahh, the joys of assholes in positions of far more power than they deserve.

However, in this case the trio aren't kept waiting long and it's only a few minute before the glass doors open and two people step out. The first is a young man, in his late twenties at the oldest but with that look of professionalism and keen intellect that belies his age. A short-cut, professional haircut and a clean-shaven face don't help the youthful look...but then, that look is often cultivated because in entertainment youth is king. He has a warm, easy smile to his face and charm (though not as much as the incredibly-efficient and probably overqualified Melissa) in the sparkling blue eyes. He has a pure business casual look; a button-down dress shirt of dark blue and slate grey dockers that end in a part of sneakers.

The other person is a woman--older, far more professional-looking and a bit more severe. She's perhaps in her late thirties, dark hair pulled back from her face and equally-dark eyes looking at the three of them discerningly. She looks a bit less comfortable than the man or Melissa at the (affected) brusqueness of Jim and the (completely authentic) stonedness of Sera, and she crosses her suit jacket (charcoal, for the record)-covered arms over her chest as she looks the trio over.

It's the man who speaks up, stepping forward to extend his hand. "Hi, Serafine? I'm Matt Gilbert. This is our legal counsel, Jane Carole." Indicating the woman with a sweep of his hand. She nods slightly to them. "Joshua's indisposed at the moment, we're taking his meetings. If you'd like to come this way, we'll be happy to discuss the business you had with him."

He gestures for the doors, and Jane starts walking in that direction. Matt waits until the three start moving, so he can start walking with them. Melissa picks up the phone as they depart into that modern hallway and the conference room just beyond.

Sid Rhodes

[awarepathy (paranoid!)]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 6, 10) ( success x 2 ) Re-rolls: 1

Jim Thompson

And away they go. Jim hangs back, though, last one through the door and turns to hear what he can catch of whatever Melissa is going to be saying to whoever is on the other end of that telephone. Whatever it may be, it may be something worth listening in on while the other two are caught up with a force of nature like Serafine, and maybe even something to do with the people that just came in to have an appointment with Keller.

[ Perception + Alertness... Maybe? ]

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (5, 6, 8, 8) ( success x 3 )

Going Hollywood

[[Cha+Subt: YOU DON'T KNOW ME SID!]]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 5, 7, 8) ( success x 2 )

Going Hollywood

[[Cha+Subt: ME EITHER]]

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 5, 5) ( fail )

Sid Rhodes

[HAH! GOT SOMEONE!]

Serafíne

"Hey!" Sera pops up from whereever she's sprawled and reaches out to take Matt Gilbert's hand. The clutch slides down, hits her hip. Tiny skulls wink from the black leather. The chain is tucked beneath her leather coat though so the bag doesn't slide far. Right hand to right hand, the flash of a quicksilver grin, all running-bright and sparkling (blood-shot) eyes as she looks past him to Jane Carole as the woman is introduced. Sera does not reach out to shake Jane Carole's hand. Just flashes her a peace sign and another grin that might be on the edge of needling.

"Matt, that's fucking awesome but I'm'a tell you the truth," leaning into him a bit as they walk, all faux-conspiracy. "I really wanted to get this in front of Keller. Can't he make a fucking exception? I mean, I need him - " a jerking glance back over her shoulder at Jim as they walk " - to make it work, and he's not happy about all the names involved and - " dropping her voice, tipping a bit drunkenly into him. "Sorry but you lady-friend looks like a fucking buzzkill.

"I mean, like a fucking awesome hall monitor."

Serafíne

Perception + Awareness-as-empathy Mr. Gilbert

Dice: 7 d10 TN5 (1, 1, 1, 2, 5, 5, 5) ( success x 3 )

Going Hollywood

[[Matthew comes off as genial and friendly, but there's a deep, deep level of nervousness underneath. It doesn't seem to be specifically directed at the trio; Sid gets the feeling that his good mood and friendly demeanor is him keeping up appearances while internally he's losing his shit.]]

Jim Thompson

"Let me guess," Jim kicks off when that door finishes swinging shut and he can come on up from behind the group. Throwing them off balance, which may or may not help, but it does reintegrate him into what's playing out. The walking and talking (and stumbling) discussion that Serafine is starting up so easily.

"You've got your lawyers sitting in on every meeting since whatever happened at that movie theater? That's what I liked about Keller. Really knowed," not knew, "how to stir shit up," seeming calloused to any loss of life that might have occurred. "You're a money guy, though? Right? Yeah," like he doesn't need to answer. "I mean, someone with vision, that's what I'm thinking. But you gotta start somewhere," as if to put the brakes on what Serafine has to say and give them a chance.

All before any of them can come up with excuses.

There's a cadence to his words. One that comes with steady breathing and the way that alcohol leeching into his blood stream effects his heart beat. Effects all of him. Trying to crack it all open. Make them more receptive to this all. Make them more forthcoming.

No, not Serafine and Sid. The other two. Though this should help in drawing answers forth.

"But really, if he's retired and ain't gonna be coming back, if he's letting you take the reigns, I think you oughta let us know now. Then we can establish," like he's trying to remember a word, he pauses.

"Rapport. Yeah, rapport. Learned that in a business class they gave us in the pen," nodding.

[ Coincidental Mind 2 effect. Trying to open them up to questioning. Make them more receptive and forthcoming about what is really going on. Double up the effect to allow him to read surface thoughts as well. Definitely going to need to extend to get the successes. ]

Jim Thompson

[ Arete @ difficulty 4. Blowing a WP. ]

Dice: 3 d10 TN4 (1, 2, 6) ( success x 2 ) [WP]

Serafíne

Sera: Mind 2 - joining Jim's affect: 1. Make them more receptive and forthcoming; 2. Reading surface thoughts. Also blowing WP. Difficulty 5 -1 for enthralling resonance.

Dice: 2 d10 TN4 (3, 4) ( success x 2 ) [WP]

Serafíne

(effect. can spell.)

Sid Rhodes

Sid's head snaps up when the duo appear, and she's rising a second later, dark eyes passing over one, then the other as she quietly takes their hands and then, not even pretending to hide it, slides her palm along her skirt.

She's not surprised by what she sees when she meets Matthew's eyes, not from what she learned from Grace. Nor that she can't see past the stonewall demeanor of Jane Carole. Sid's...acquaintances...start working in on Matthew and Sid, brows tightening a little, shoots the legal counsel an apologetic glance. Moves so that she sits a little closer to the woman.

"Sorry," she says, because she's not like them, right? They're loud, drunk, high, obnoxious. Sid is quiet and put together and let's face it, a little sweet. A little more professional. "They can get a little, well," she finishes, lifting her shoulder in a shrug as she reaches into her messenger bag and pulls out a pen and a pad of paper. For notes.

"It, ah," she says, looking from Gilbert to Carole, her eyes lingering there. Building that rapport. "Must be tough. After what happened. Keller gone."

[i am nice, let's be friends: -1WP FOR STRENGTH AND HONOR: charisma+ uh, subterfuge I guess]

Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 4, 4, 6, 10) ( success x 2 )

Going Hollywood

The conference room they walk into is not overly adorned, but there is that kind of hip, modern style to it that you might expect at a conference room from a tech company...except film-related, of course. The walls contain a poster (or rather, what is probably the promo picture from the DVD art; only theatrical releases merit an actual poster) from one of their more successful direct-to-video genre films, The Hangman Returns (a sequel to a low-budget but cult-favorite franchise that ran in the late 1970s and lay dormant until ShockDrop picked it up). The rest of the art is from their old films that they've snapped up rights to over the last few years in business; Italian giallo, existantial Japanese horror, some of the more obscure "video nasties" that were banned in the UK in the '80s. L'Ultimo Giorno is notably not among them.

Aside from the posters, a large conference table is in the center with eight chairs around it. The walls are panelled; a cheap solution that looks stylish if you do it right (and they did).

Matthew smiles a little when Sera calls Jane a fucking awesome hall monitor and keeps walking with her; he seems a little bit uncomfortable with the woman leaning up against him but not in any sort of repulsed way. In fact, it's the opposite; he gives that impression of being the sort of guy who was smart and straight-laced but isn't used to enjoying his success.

"I wish I could, but Joshua..."

And that is when, right on queue, Jane cuts in to interrupt, walking past them into the room.

"Joshua really needs the time off right now. Things are hectic and we just felt this was a good time after that terrible incident to get some distance for now." She smiles, not entirely warmly. "I'm sure you understand."

While Jane is cutting him off, Matthew looks at Jim, the Effect from the two starting to weave around but not having taken hold yet. "Jane's a full partner, but yeah, while we handle situations right now we felt it was best that, at least for Joshua's clients, we both sit in." He spares a quick glance to Jane, who looks back. There's clearly a bit of tension between them.

"As far as we know, he's coming back," he says in response to that last question from Jim. "He just...needs time. He was very close to that project...L'Ultimo Giorno was a passion of his. He felt that he needed to take some time to himself, you know?"

Jane, for her part, actually relaxes a tiny bit when Sid apologizes for her associates. The smile given to her is a touch warmer than the one given to Jim and Sera. "It's fine." The cadence is still short, but not chilly. "It's...been hectic. But we're handling it all right. Working with the police of course, and we're setting up a small fund for the victims. Anything we can do to weather the storm, you know?"

Jim Thompson

"Yeah, well maybe I'll head over his place, see if a little chemical-induced relaxation therapy knocks him out of it," Jim presses when the suit says he needs time, though he leaves it off with an off-color wink and finds a seat at the table. Sits down and looks like he might even kick up his feet, though he only leans the chair back in an altogether relaxed sort of position. Keeps pushing. Drawing himself out and into the moment at the same time, focusing more on the people they're speaking with than his surroundings. Less on what they're saying than how they're saying it and trying to get at why.

"Maybe that'll give him a little passion for our project," like he's still a bit insulted that Keller isn't there, but staying on point in that he moves along and doesn't seem to be dwelling on it.

"You two keeping in contact with him, at least? Making sure he's not thinking about committing hari-kari," mispronouncing it, or more pronouncing it in an altogether common sort of way. Like he's heard it in films and comedies and that's all he really understands of the euphemism for suicide.

"L'Ulteemo Jorno," again a butchering, this time of the Italian. Then he throws up his hands, after he has thrown the word out to them to see what rise it gets. "Yeah, yeah, I get it, I know the deal, needs to take a break. We don't all got the luxury, though, right? You got a lot of money in this place, I'm sure, and I've put my life into this story. Maybe we'll both be able to get a couple bucks out of it?"

[ Extending. Blowing Quintessence to maintain difficulty. ]

Dice: 3 d10 TN4 (3, 4, 9) ( success x 2 )

Sid Rhodes

Sid looks around and maybe she notes the absence of a L'Ultimo Giorno picture on the walls, and maybe she doesn't. They're not here for that, at least not on the surface.

And don't think she doesn't notice the slight warming of the woman to her side. Sid offers her a slight smile of her own that contains a bit of her own warmth that is, for a moment, wrapped up in a warm glow of happiness threaded through with a touch of something frantice, seeking, desperate.

"I do," she says with sincerity, and she considers that storm. Sid thinks about the things that could go wrong here, right now. She thinks about the monster that came out of that screen, the effect that brought it there. A tiny, tiny shiver of true fear starts at the small of her back and works its way up and up. Sid latches onto it, bends it, uses it to see the threads of Destiny that weave throughout this room. Her eyes slant down and, oh so idly, she touches pen to the inside of her wrist, just below the curve of words inked into her skin. The littlest of little figures appears, circle and sticks for arms and legs. Sid's dark eyes slant a moment to Jane.

Looking up, she glances over at Jim, and she makes that frown again, finding his words distasteful. His demeanor, too. She's here for Sera, of course, and Sera brought that guy. A look shot to Carole, brief, a flash.

"Did he at least go into the mountains?" asks Sid. "The aspens, they're, ah. They're turning. I hear it's. Nice. Relaxing."

[human lie detector: Entropy 1 + Life 1, diff 4 (coincidental) +1 diff (fast casting), dropping a WP because the dice don't like Sid tonight]

Dice: 2 d10 TN5 (6, 8) ( success x 3 ) [WP]

Serafíne

Sera shoots a lilting glance from Matthew to Jane and back again. Let Matthew be mildly uncomfortable with Sera's lack of personal boundaries. She doesn't seem to care. In fact, as Jane slips in and cuts him off, Sera shoots him a direct look, meets his eyes and holds them, steady and draw. He's losing his shit, underneath that glib but mildly uncomfortable exterior. She already traced that in the faint, physical signs. And now -

Jim makes an off-color joke about getting him high to get him over it. Sera tucks herself into Gilbert's space, tucks her arm into his, with that intimate, mildly conspiratorial body language, as if she required an old-fashioned escort around the conference room to pick up the very best chest. But, - that joke has her throwing back her head, a soundless laugh but open-mouthed, that sobers quickly though there's a lingering brightness in her eyes.

"He gets the best shit, let me tell you," Sera assures Gilbert, leaving the lawyer entirely to Sid. "And it's fucking therapeutic, you know? But yeah, you are in touch, right? I mean, I'm sure you're fucking awesome, but Keller could get this done.

"Like, you have to be willing to take risks, and sometimes you have to fucking seize the goddamned moment, and that's what we need right now to get this going. That fucking vision.

"Because it's not like some cheesy-ass biopic. It's like Dr. Horrible meets Grease and gets trapped in a what-the-fuck-do-you-call-it in sci-fi movies? DNA all mixed up. That one where the guy turns into something else - like fucking Kafka but on the screen -

"And you seem great and all - " let other people takes seats. Sera releases Gilbert's arm at last and swings herself up to sit on the table. Lifts her eyes past Gilbert to Carole and Sid, then drops them back down. " - but I don't know. You look a little shaky around the edges. Like you're not sure you can fill his shoes."

(Annnnd, extending too. + Quint to keep difficulty low, don't blow it sera!)

Dice: 2 d10 TN4 (6, 6) ( success x 2 )

Going Hollywood

The Effect woven together from the conjoined efforts of the two Ecstatics spreads over both ShockDrop executives and settle in their brains; the Lakashim beats as Jim's efforts addle them and opens their minds up while Sera's slips right into that opening and spreads her enthralling Passion, making them open to the trio and--more importantly--their questions. Matthew moves to take a seat and, for the moment, Sera has his complete attention which allows Jim's questions to slip past his guard.

As for Jane...she just relaxes. It's like a weight is taken off her...these three, they're okay to open up to. You have to let loose to someone, right? What do they know, and what harm can they really do, after all?

"We..." Jane looks at Matthew, and then back at Jim. "We don't know where he is, to be honest. While we were doing damage control, he called us from his car. He said that he had to get out of the city, get away from here for now, but that he'd be close and that he'd be back." She snorts a little then. "He basically made a mess, and left us to clean it up."

And in her mind, Sera and Jim both sense it. She's being truthful but there's more to it than that. Her surface thoughts flot up like petals going over a waterfall and plunged into the water, then rising back to the surface. Fucking idiot. 'I've got the film, everything's fine. I'm taking it somewhere safe.' All it is with him is that movie. I bet he probably sabotaged the screening for noteriety, the little psycho. It wouldn't surprise me.

Matthew, for his part, scowls at the last sentence from Jane, but it's brief because--well, there's a Sera on the table in front of him, so captivating. They don't need ecstasy to get him high and distracted, and thus susceptible to their questions; they are Ecstasy. "It's not like that," he explains. "I've known Joshua for years. He's an ass sometimes, but he's just...he's very passionate about these movies. This company was his idea, I was the money guy." Like Jim said. "I am. And Jane's a good lawyer because she's the voice of reason. It's just that...this film, he's always been obsessed with. And so when he got the ability to get his hands on it he jumped, and then it wasn't a good time for him to be here."

Matthew's thoughts run, at the moment, to the Serafine-minded variety. They're shockingly non-shocking, because he really doesn't have any experience in that arena. It's almost sweet. Underneath that, though, is that panic and that worry. He doesn't know where Joshua is, and they're very close friends. He is barely holding it together and Jane's suspicions are only making it worse because he's SURE he didn't do any of this on purpose. (Yes, they've had that conversation already.)

Jane looks at Sid when she asks about where he might have gone. "He has a cabin up there, yeah. Listen, if you really need to deal with him, whatever. Talent is all his thing, I'm lost at this part of it anyway until contracts come into play. You can feel free to go up there. I'll get you the address. We don't know that he's there, but...it's probable."

Jim Thompson

"And we didn't hear it from you," Jim says, and he's practically continuing Jane's sentence in the most reassuring way he can say it to the two of them. "Fuck if he'd even remember what he did or didn't tell us the last time we were talking shop," leaning in.

It's almost conspiratorial. That hardness is loosening up, shoulders moving more while he talks and they begin to enter the ebb and flow. Rock becomes water and gets stirred and shaken with color. With emotion. With openness. Like it had been waiting there in a vessel to be opened at any moment. There the whole time. "And maybe a few eggs got broke, but you both know this is going to leave ShockDrop a place in film history. A place we're hoping our story can be the next chapter of," leaning back.

"Good lawyers. Wish I had one of those back in the day," he ventures to Jane next, but he moves back along to Matthew.

"Any clue where he heard about the film? Who he got it from? Yeah, he said it dropped off the map for a while, but where'd it end up... Popping back up? I mean, we want to know who we oughta be working with as much as who we shouldn't be, you know? And it sounds like they got some bad mojo. Kind you can't scrub off," sounding a bit superstitious for it. Like it's a curse he doesn't want following him or to follow...

"One of the reasons I was a little put off coming in here and talking to new people. But maybe new's good." He's a fast talker. A bit of a hustler the way he hurries those words out, tagging emotion to the back and forth to build familiarity. Agreeing just enough to jump to the next point, like it wasn't even his idea to go there.

Sid Rhodes

Effects drop and flow like a pile of warm blankets around the pair, so soft and comfortable and comforting. They make them relax, trust, open up. Sid makes sure that they're being honest. She doesn't have the abilities Jim and Sera have to tap into someone's mind and sift through the top layer of thoughts, so she does the next best thing she can.

"Why was it so important to him?" she asks, relaxing herself. Not because she's affected by Sera and Jim's Working, but because they're there and they're working and she feels better because of that. The question is posed to Matthew, her pen now poised over her little pad of paper on which she's scribbled a few notes already. But he's the friend, the chummy one, he's known Keller for ages. "Do you know?" Like she's just curious, confused that anyone would be so obsessed with a movie, let alone an obscure horror one.

Jim picks up the line of questioning and runs away with it, though, so she returns to Jane, who is offering her an address. Sid smiles a little.

"That would be helpful, thanks. Can we get his cell number, too? He called you from the road?" but it's less a question and more a gentle chide, how could he? "While you were still cleaning up?" Even gives a slight shake of her head, eyes drooping closed, Unbelievable.

Serafíne

"I think that might be best. The address would be fucking great," a flash of her smile cast over her shoulder at Jane. It is not precisely steady or reassuring, though it is perahps incisive. The woman's superficial thoughts run like water across the surface of her mind; or rather like oil-on-water. A sheen of memory, tinged with contempt, resentment. Sera breathes out sharply as they bubble up, then glance back at Matthew.

Sensory fucking overload. The magic and resonance and work drifting in the air. The two strangers. The lingering skin of that Jhor-taint at the back of her throat.

"I bet you guys have been swarmed with folks looking for him. I mean, not just the media you know. Like you said, he is the talent guy. You sent anyone else up there looking for him yet?"

Otherwise, though, Sera's pretty quiet. Leaning forward be close to Matthew without invading his space quiet so thoroughly. Letting her attention drop back every so slowly, into the threads of her high. The memory of that resonance in the back of her throat and her mind.

Jim Thompson

[ Perception + Awareness ]

Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 3, 4, 4, 4) ( fail )

Jim Thompson

[ WP ]

Dice: 7 d10 TN8 (1, 1, 1, 3, 8, 8, 8) ( success x 3 )

Going Hollywood

The trio's honeyed word (made as slick as they are sweet thanks to the judicious application of Mind) coat the bitterness in the taste of the two film studio executives' mouths, wash it away. They're relaxed now, at ease. This is okay...the three aren't freaking out and they're not pulling a potential project. They're curious about what happened and they want some gossip, so why not give them some? Matthew knows the bills need to be paid and Jane knows it too; they're the business end that ShockDrop probably would have floundered without.

And thus Jane relaxes with Jim and Sid, and Sera practically owns Matthew at this point. A little magic, nudged in just the right way. This is the Traditions at work, when they do it right.

Jane shakes her head when Jim asks about where the film came from. "No, we don't. He was very secretive about it...he didn't want us to know anything." She snorts a little bit at that; her surface memories of the massive amounts of tension that caused, arguments between them with Matthew playing peacekeeper, roll up to the top of her consciousness. "I knew he got it in Italy somewhere. He said that he had some kind of source who'd gained direct access, but that's all he would say. He said it was better if we didn't know, whatever the fuck that meant."

And she smiles a little when he assures her that he's looking at their little business venture positively. That's comforting...maybe they won't get buried by the lawsuits that are already starting to come in.

"It was just...a passion to him," Matthew says to Sid with a shrug (to Sera). "It's horror legend, you know? He knew about it for years and wanted it. Joshua...he's one of those guys who always wants to be the one who's seen the thing you haven't seen, and done the one thing you haven't. And The Last Day...well, to a horror fan that's the ultimate. It's like finding a copy of that Jerry Lewis Nazi clown film. It's the stuff of legend."

Jane nods when the address is asked for. "Yeah, here." And with that she's walking over to the side table, grabbing a pen to write it down.

"No, no one's been to see him," Matthew says to Sera. "He's my friend. I'm not throwing him to the wolves, whatever some people want." They don't even have to see the way Jane's hands clench around the pen to know who he means; they've sensed it."

Going Hollywood

As Sera focuses on that Jhor, that sensation that's been lingering in the back of her mind and the roof of her mouth...she feels herself start to drift. And in a moment, she's there in the hallway of ShockDrop Studios alone, where they had just walked through. It's dark, and cold, like the heat's been cut off. And as she stands there, she sees someone walk into the studios.

It's Joshua. He fits the description and the picture in the newspaper. He's walking along, but he's dragging something. She can't tell what; there's a cloud of shadow that starts to coalesce around him. It seems...heavy, whatever it is he's dragging along. The film cannister is in one hand.

Joshua walks by Sera, and in the moment he draws close, she gets a feeling like a liquified corpse has just been poured down the back of her shirt. She looks in Joshua's face and she knows, instinctively that whatever it is...it's not Joshua. It's a Joshua mask, and she swears that she sees something cold and slithering behind those eyes...which blink and then blink again like a nictating membrane.

Jim is so keyed into Sera that, while he isn't there in the hallway with her, he feels all of this, and when the the not-Joshua blinks and blinks, he feels something pass from it through Sera, not touching her and directly into him. He feels cold, pallid like a corpse though his body hasn't changed temperature or color. Sera feels it pass to him as well, though it doesn't touch him. For now, he's suffused with Jhor, though it is already starting to fade.

[[Jim has Jhor resonance of 1 for the next day.]]

Going Hollywood

And then they're right back in this office with Sid and the two, as if nothing had happened.

Jim Thompson

It comes and it tries to supplant himself and that is enough. Even as it fades he's trying to shake it off as if it can, somehow, anyhow, expedite the process. Outwardly he goes silent and only nods, forefinger and thumb on his chin like he's listening to what they're saying, but he's not, and it shows a second later when he stands up from the table.

He has to. He has to move from that spot, like he want to get away from whatever's lingering there, but it just comes along with him like an odor clenched to his clothes (being) and form (self).

He seems unsettled. No longer just erratic, but unsure of himself or this place, and he's thankful that his work on Jane and Matthew is done, because whilst that will continues to get drips and drabs of his attention - for the sake of his two companions - he's turning inward.

Sits back down. Gets quiet. Tries to find his focus and push back. Realizes pushing might not be the answer. Instead he tries to find his center and contend with it more directly.

[ Intelligence + Meditation. Specialty: Transcendental. Mental floss and scrubbing commencing soon. ]

Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (5, 6, 6, 7, 7, 7, 8, 9) ( success x 7 )

Jim Thompson

[ Arete. Coincidental Prime 2 Mind 1 effect. Difficulty of 5 - 1 for taking his time and -1 for Stoic resonance because hopefully that stuff will roll off of him when he finds his center. If the resonance doesn't count he's spending Quintessence. And a WP (down to 5). ]

Dice: 3 d10 TN3 (3, 3, 5) ( success x 4 ) [WP]

Sid Rhodes

[per+aware: what is Jhor]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 5 ) Re-rolls: 1

Sid Rhodes

[WP]

Dice: 6 d10 TN7 (3, 5, 7, 8, 10, 10) ( success x 4 )

Serafíne

ACTUALLY ALSO WP FOR SERA FOR REASONS OTHER THAN THAT. (get it together)

Dice: 6 d10 TN7 (1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 7) ( success x 2 )

Serafíne

"My songwriting partner's like that, man," pulled briefly out of the thoughtless background into which she was allowing herself to drift. Alpha Hipster, she means. The woven threads that bind together and peel apart, become particles and waves and everything and you breathe them in like starfall and out like water and - but see, rousing, the flash of her dark eyes all silvered in the fluorescent light, the reflective surfaces. Swings out one of her faux-long-legs, touching Matthew on the thigh with the toe of her leather bootie and if the gesture feels affectionate. Well, it rather is. " - except with obscure post-punk bands and their old vinyl."

Thus far, that's only led them to some weird old flea markets and the related bins of old records tucked away in old milk crates.

Then she's back in focus, tongue against the roof of her mouth, tracing the way that feeling opens in the back of her throat and letting it drift beneath her skin and she's breathing in and breathing out, remembering how it works and forgetting the rest of them, pulling threads in the tapestry in to her so she can just start to ravel them out again when -

- her breath stops. Her blood chills. Her heart stops beating and Sera's staring up past the crown of Matthew's head, eyes open and unseeing, turning to follow the movement of someone not in the room. The truth is that it is a staccato beat of a moment that drags itself open in the back of her mind and has her breathing again, audibly and all at once. Shivering too, this long, resonant shudder that plays itself open up and down her spine.

Her hand comes up to her mouth and her eyes dart to Jim and there's no hiding Sera feeling what she's feeling when she's feeling it. The stark and resonant chill of fear; the sick slide of something else, turning over in the pit of her stomach, which she cannot quite name. A sharpening edge of worry with a glance at Jim.

Which she pulls back when he gives that fucking gesture, dropping her gaze to Matthew. Doesn't know whether to vomit or cry.

So: she does neither.

Slips from the edge of the table and onto her feet. Bends over to kiss Matthew on the temple. Tenderly, really, cupping the crown of his head as she does so.

"Don't worry about it. You've been a great friend to him. You guys are going to be okay. Okay? Give me your number so I can check up on you."

Serafíne

Charisma + Expression

Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 8, 10, 10) ( success x 3 )

Serafíne

Rerolling 10s!

Dice: 2 d10 TN5 (1, 3) ( fail )

Sid Rhodes

No one's been to see him, so there's actually a possibility he's still up there, holed out in his bunker, clutching his precious oh so tight, that Josh Keller. Sid makes another note, then looks up, watching as Jane goes over to write down that address.

That's when it happens, whatever it is. It swoops down on Jim like a shadow, dark and terrible, that "scent" Sera said she noticed. Makes him rise and push away from that dark space at the table. More a musk than a perfume, dark and, well. Sid knows death, has a different relationship with it than most people. Jim's seen the scars, he's heard the story.

A touch of death sweeps through Jim and Sid can't help it, her body tenses for a moment when she feels it, her grip on her own pen going a little tighter. It passes, though, that tension, because it's gone. It brushed him and Jim flung it off him, wiped it away in a matter of moments like he might wipe sweat from his brow. Sid's shoulders relax, just a little.

And then hopefully Jane has a slip of paper for her, something to distract her from the sight of her loved ones in distress or concentration, so she can try to pull back over herself that quietness that comes so easily and that detachment that does not.

"Thanks," she says, and she closes her notebook before anyone has a chance to see what Sid's written there - not that they could understand it at a glance. And then she's rising, sliding that paper with an address and hopefully at least one phone number as well, slips it between the pages of her notebook and drops that all into her bag again before she pushes herself upward. And she pauses. Looks over at Jane, and she offers her hand, genuinely this time, so it has more warmth than what radiates from those digits and that palm naturally. And if she takes it, Sid holds her hand a moment, not to shake, just to hold. "It'll be okay."

Going Hollywood

Everything seems fine and the executives are being soothed and then it's not fine. Suddenly Sera is staring breathlessly at nothing and Jim feels like death and everything's horribly wrong for a moment...but it's just a moment. Still, Jane and Matthew notice and they tense as the two artists (at least they can blame it on them being the artsy ones and the high ones) have freak out moments. Even Sid tenses, almost flips but she's made of stronger stuff than that; she's proven it over the last month.

And then it's fine again. Jim relaxes focuses inward and Sera kisses Matthew on the temple and tells him in soothing tones that everything will be okay, because it will.

Except she knows it won't.

But it will be for them, those in this room. Hopefully. And that's enough for him to believe, because Serafine is hope at the moment and Matthew needs some hope. Even Jane, skeptical and older and more cynical Jane, is more relaxed now.

"Yeah, sure," says Matthew, and he gives Sera a phone number. "That's my personal line here at the office; it forwards to my cell when I'm out.

And Jane takes the offered hand from Sid. She's more put off than Matthew but she started off that way anyway, and she's made of stronger stuff too. "Yeah, here's hoping," she says with a sigh. "Best of luck on finding him. I honestly hope everything's okay. He's a jackass but a good guy underneath. He's just..."

She shrugs, as if not knowing how to say it. Her mind knows, though. and Jim and Sera here it.

A vaguely sociopathic misogynist dick. Hey, we can't all be honest with our words.

Serafíne

"You guys," Sera says, "have been awesome. Seriously. You've been so fucking helpful. We've gotten everything we need. Time to track down Keller." Straightening, she gives him a thoughtless little caress, sliding her fingers through his hair before finally letting him go.

"I'll call you soon, okay?" Then, with a brief, haunted glance toward Jim, then Sid, "- let's go."

And so they do.