Participants:
| Scene Title | Join PARIAH, See The World |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Helena recruits Jennifer to PARIAH. |
| Date | October 23, 2008 |
A punk rock pub through and through, The Surly Wench is dim, cramped, and incredibly popular. It's a small, rectangular venue with a bar bordering one entire wall. Despite this, ordering a drink on a weekend can be an exercise in line-waiting and rib-elbowing. There are a few small tables ringed with high stools for seating, but these are prime real estate. The majority of the patrons are forced to stand shoulder-to-shoulder on any given night. Almost half of the cramped interior is devoted to a low stage for live music. There's no dance floor. If you feel the need, you'll have to thrash in place.
The punk rock club may be difficult to get into, but the point is, little attention is paid to people over the noise if they're lucky enough to find a table. And since it's still early in the evening, it's not so crowded that it would be impossible to talk. Basically, Helena and Jennifer will be more or less ignored, which is what Helena had in mind. She's got a table in the corner, and is sipping from a brown beer bottle with a red and white label.
The brunette comes into the club, looking around. Technically she's underage, but A) she can pull off the look, and B) It's the Wench…it's not like things are overly rule-abiding here. She comes in, looking around as she tries to find Helena. Eyes scan the club, and she eventually sees the PARIAH woman. She comes over to sit down at the table. "Hey there."
"Hey." Helena replies. She's in her usual outer wear — a too large men's jacket, and done up to fit in a bit at the Wench — doll face makeup that's kept subtle enough that people won't stare in the general public but help her fit in while in here. "Get you a beer?" she offers. "Thanks for coming."
Jennifer pretty much has one style that people have seen her in to date; t-shirt, jeans. Given the temperature, she's added a jacket to it, but her attire is collegiate-student basic. "Sure, love one. And never a problem. Happy to help."
Helena signals the waitress, who comes over and takes Jennifer's order without carding her. Helena's underage too, as it happens. "I'm sort of hoping I could talk to you about your current club. And whether you might be willing to either…split your time between them and us, or if I could lure you in entire over our way. Someone who can do what you can do is entirely too awesome to be cooped up with the fuddy duddies."
Jennifer looks interested. "Mmm…probably." She admits. "I'm not so much into the "hurting people" end of things. But I'm glad to help, so I hope that's not a deal-breaker. The other thing is, I've got someone I was midway through bringing into the Sailing Club." Ferrymen, sailing, haha. "I'd hate to leave them in the cold. Is it possible to bring in someone else as well?"
"I don't know if you've noticed lately," says Helena delicately, "But we've kind of laid back on the hurting people part. Peter's influence. We're prepared to defend ourselves," Boy are they, nowadays, "But we're not going to be instigating violence, if we can help it. I'll be honest, Jenn — you can keep us in supply. Food, equipment, with what you can do, you can keep us going. And with the fact that you're still in school, you could serve as a contact for new recruits, and keep us up on how we're being reacted to."
Jennifer nods. "Yeah, I hadn't seen anything in the newspapers. I figured it was just better to be honest up front with the whole thing. Sure. I'm happy to do that. Makes being a walking Xerox machine a little more useful." A grin as she agrees. "But yeah. I'm in if you'll take me. As for the new recruits…well, I did just offer you one." Another amused look.
"They'd still need to be screened." Helena says. "Tell me about them, yeah?"
Jennifer nods. "She's British. Works for a courier service here in the city. Bike messenger. She's also got an ability. I'd vetted her already for working with the Sailing club. Just hadn't been able to talk to the Great Minds and all. But someone who has a legitimate excuse to get all around the city, and who people are used to seeing make deliveries, that could be handy too."
Helena blinks. British…works as a bike messenger. "Yggy?" she asks in surprise.
Jennifer blinks too. She laughs. "Well, yes. I guess there's not a whole ton of those hanging around. British female bike messengers in New York." She takes a drink of her beer.
"I used to work at Alley Cat." Helena confesses. "I know her in passing, but I had no idea that she's special. She might be best for double duty too."
Jennifer nods. "Well, again, I didn't have any luck yet with the conversations for getting her into the other group." A slightly frustrated sigh. "I sort of end up as "the kid" over there. I don't get listened too terribly much."
Helena looks sympathetic. "Well, I'm one of the youngest people in the group, so that should tell you something. For us it's about smarts, not age. You've got to be really careful, though. Our group is a lot more hardcore, in some ways. Your other club isn't exactly on the Wanted list, we are."
Jennifer nods. "I understand." She says, and sounds more serious. "I'm in if you'll have me. I'll still help the others if they ask me…but honestly, you'll probably get the lion's share of my time."
Helena echoes the nod, visibly satisfied. "We'll need to get together another time to talk about what you can do. I don't want to strain you. But I'm glad you said yes, in any case. I think you're going to be indispensable, I really do."
Jennifer smiles. "Okay…so…I'm assuming you guys have a place like the Hangar? Someplace I should be at to help out? And do you want me to bring Yggy there when I come, or did you want to talk to her separately…?"
Helena shakes her head vehemently. "We do have a new HQ, but I'm being really careful about releasing its location. We don't know if we can trust her yet. I'll get the info to you for your own purposes, but until we've put Ygraine in on a couple of minor missions to see if she can be trusted, she doesn't get that info yet."
Jennifer nods. "Gotcha." She pauses. "Do I get to know? Or do you need me to shake out first?"
Helena points out with a grin, "Beer going to your head? I told you I'd get you the info. Just not here. This place is good enough for general conversations, but certain specifics have to be kept on a tight band, you know?"
Jennifer blushes a bit. "I don't drink often. And yeah, sorry. I'm kind of a little flustered, too." Not every day you get asked to be the supply chain for wanted criminals. "You wanna go someplace else?"
Helena grins. "Patience, padawan." she counsels. "Tell me about where you go to school. And with Anselm shit a brick if you tell him you're going to be doing work for this particular tea party? He doesn't like us very much at all."
Jennifer replies "Columbia. Same school as Anselm. And…I might not tell him. You're right, I don't think he'd take it so well. And I'm kind of surrogate-daughter for him and his wife."
Helena winces. "Is it going to be a problem?" she asks frankly.
Jennifer hesitates just a moment, then shakes her head. "No. I won't let it be. One way or the other, I'll handle it. You don't have to worry about it."
Helena nods. "Fair enough. If it's any consolation, I do take a lot of advice from Noah and Hana." Names dropped casually won't attract attention the way 'Bennet' and 'Wireless' might.
Jennifer nods. "Honestly, I knew everything I needed to know about trusting you when you guys showed up at the house. They wouldn't have been okay with you guys being there if you couldn't be trusted."
"I don't know about now, with what happened." Helena admits. "Things really went to hell, and if there's some resentment I'd understand."
Jennifer looks confused. "No one's brought me up to speed on any problems. But then, like I said, I don't always get brought in and given as much information as I'd like."
Helena considers a moment. "You heard about what happened to Cam, right?"
Jennifer frowns. "I heard he died. That's about all."
Helena nods. "He died outside your place. We all had to bail unexpectedly, and there was concern that it brought unwanted attention."
Jennifer groans. "Yeah…I can't imagine that the two top dogs would have been thrilled about that. He tends to the paranoid side at the best of times."
"Well, hopefully we'll have kept our noses down long enough for them to be chill about it." She straightens. "You gonna be alright to get home? You're a great gal Jenny, but you're kind of a lightweight." She grins.
Jennifer laughs. "Yeah. I'll just call a cab." She reaches into her pocket and comes up with a 10 dollar bill…and then like a magician doing a trick, opens her other hand to reveal a matching 10 dollar bill. "Cab fare isn't so much an issue." She lays one 10 on the table "For beer and tip."
Helena laughs. "Oh my god, you little crim." Helena seems delighted. "You'll hear from me soon, okay? We'll see about you getting settled in."
Jennifer grins. "Sounds good to me. I'll talk to you soon. And thanks for asking me."
 October 23rd: Alea Iacta Est, Part 2 |
Previously in this storyline… Next in this storyline… |
 October 23rd: Sloth |