Grey Blood (IC)

[Fouredged Sword]

The funeral was a slow boring slog. The family was in mourning, but you can tell that every eye in the room was on you. The family knew that your reactions would define the family for the next generation. You spent the whole funeral being sized up by family and invited outsiders alike.

Simon was the last Grey born to the previous generation.

The family opinion of him is split. He made a lot of choices that hurt the family business. He chose to focus on the hunt and the supernatural. He got consumed by his personal mission to "keep the family strong", but to Simon, strength was magic. Strength was supernatural.

He was the most powerful member of the blood the family had seen for generations. He could control so much of the world through his will and his blood. He could even grow fangs and claws, and the sense of smell of a wolf.

But his generation started out as six, and then became five to a tragic accident with bikes and a country road, and then a gang war split their attention between maintaining the business and following Simon's "mission".

In a matter of five years, most the Grey died, except for Simon. He ruled the family. He was powerful, yes, but distracted.

You meet him a few times. He was arrogant and cruel. He didn't ever seem to want to have much to do with you, despite the urging of the elders.

And all his power didn't save him in the end. He died alone on a hunt. The funeral is closed casket. The family can't just go around announcing that Simon didn't have a bike wreck, but was ripped limb from limb and had runes burned into his flesh by what looks like a laser.

The funeral is now over. You have instructions to meet Gregory above the Wolf's Den Bar, north of Macon.

He is like a grandfather to you. He was involved in raising you and you have seen him throughout your lives almost as much as you have seen your birth parents. He is the teacher who taught you occult and saw to you learning how to fight, ride, and shoot. He maintains the family books, and watches over the businesses when the grey don't have time or inclination.

You arrive one by one. Gregory said to have a drink and relax after the meeting, and he would arrive after he finished some last business at the funeral.

[Bennosuke]

Carlisle makes his way into the Wolf's Den Bar, and takes a look around. Should have figured I'd be the first one here, he says to himself. Wiping the sweat from the back of his neck he takes in the room, looking for any familiar face before deciding to head to the bar.

He is still dressed in his black suit from the morning service, a lavender handkerchief remains neatly unmolested in his vest pocket.

[greenpotato]

Olivia likewise still dressed in a dark suit makes her way in and sees her brother over by the bar, she walks across the room to him and embraces him warmly before sitting down. "So, playtimes over eh carly?" she says with a weak smile.

[Bennosuke]

Carlisle smiles and squeezes his sister's hand quickly. He roles his eyes and grins in response to her question, "still time for a drink or two. You still drinking Jim beam or can I get you something a little more sophisticated?"

[greenpotato]

"Are they gonna stock the stuff you drink with those wankers in the city?"

[Wahrheit]

The bar's door swung open and none other than Wyatt Grey walked in like he owned the place. Subtlety was not one of his virtues when he didn't want it to be. He'd taken the time to change back into his jeans, sleeveless shirt, and vest; at the funeral, family had been whispering that it was a minor miracle he hadn't torn the sleeves off of his suit. Apparently even Wyatt had more respect for decorum than that, but it extended only as far as the funeral itself.

Granted, the family was also amazed he'd made it to the funeral. He'd only gotten out of his 5-month trip to jail two days before and nobody had seen hide nor hair of him until he showed up in the graveyard wearing a nice black suit. It had clashed terribly with his mohawk and collar.

Wyatt ambled towards the bar, grinning widely, and hugged Olivia tightly. "Hey, little sis! Ya miss me?" He released her and, too quickly to be avoided, caught Carlisle in a similar embrace. "You too, cuz. Lookin' good, but that may just be 'cause my cellmate was one ugly mofo." He was always like this with his cousin, apparently taking great pleasure in teasing his genteel, educated relative.

"So while we're waitin' for the old man, how about some shots? On me."

[Bennosuke]

"Wyatt, you are the darnedest thing. I was going to order a negroni, but I suppose someone needs to put you in your place. ". Carlisle flashes his jack o lantern smile and gets the attention of the bartender. "three shots of bourbon please".

[greenpotato]

"Good to have you back Wyatt, good to have you both back" Olivia says looking the two of them. "I hope you stick around"

[Wahrheit]

"I ain't goin' anywhere," Wyatt shrugged as he picked up one of the shot glasses and downed it. "Hell, I wasn't supposed to go anywhere, an' I wouldn't have if that moron Thomas had done his job like he was supposed to an' warned me about the raid." That friendly grin of his suddenly got a lot toothier, and a lot nastier. "But I made sure he's back on th' straight an' narrow."

He tapped the bar, and in response the bartender slid over a fresh shot. Wyatt was a regular here, which had its perks. He lifted the glass and sniffed it, his smile going back to its usual amicable expression. "Now, cuz, this is a real drink. As opposed to the whatever-the-hell ya said you were gonna get."

[Bennosuke]

Carlisle's grin grows even wider with the jabs from his cousin. He tosses back the shot, and places down the glass, his grin never leaving his face. "Now for that Negroni", he says to the bartender, watching patiently as the bartender mixes the drink.

After receiving and paying for his drink he turns back to his cousins, "So, what's new?". Carlisle takes a slow sip from his Negroni as he begins to listen.

[Jaelesh]

The door of the bar opens and Jonah stoops and ducks to get in through the doorway, still wearing his formal black, though it seems to be straining at the seem just to keep him covered. He strides quickly towards the bar and sits on two stools, nods to the bartender and says in a deep voice "Hey, I'll take a bottle of whiskey and four glasses if you don't mind.".

After receiving his drink, he turns a little towards the others, smiles and nods slightly in turn to each of them "Hey Wyatt, good to see ya again, sorry it had to be under these circumstances though.". Pouring out some whiskey into the glasses, he passes them down to the others and awkwardly holds up his glass. "I know this is an old cliche, but to the last of the former grey... I guess."

[Bennosuke]

Ah, the Greys were quickly trickling in. How many of us had been invited to this thing anyways?

Carlisle greets his giant of a cousin with the affectionate name given to him by Simon, "Hello Runt.". The name was a subtle irony, and he smiled at the still appropriate name as he took another sip of his Negroni "It seems like we will all be Southern Sloppy at the rate the drinks are being ordered", he declines Jonah's offer of whiskey, "I think I'll just sip on this for now".

[Fouredged Sword]

Gregory walks in. He looks tired. His large frame seems to be under a large weight. He is still fit for a man in his sixties, but he looks beat down today. He enters quietly and sees the four of you at the bar. He nods wordlessly and sits down with you. The bartender comes closer to take his order and Gregory waves him off politely.

"How are you holding up?" he asks. "I know Simon was never the friendliest of people, but he was, well, he just was."

[greenpotato]

"Hey, Simons gone and he'll be missed but I'll take the good with the bad. I've lost Simon but I've got these two back and I'm trying to keep positive about what tomorrow will bring" Olivia says indicating towards Wyatt and Carlisle "Well, that's how I feel now, who knows what a few more of these will do" She says throwing back another drink.

[Bennosuke]

Carlisle nods curtly as he listens to Olivia. " I agree," he says with confidence as he pats Gregory on the back. "It is good to be back home. It is good to be with family. Simon was the Alpha, and he was my uncle. He will be missed, but it is time to look towards the future. If we make some positive changes we can really do some good for this family. Gregory, it is good to see you as well".

Carlisle downs the rest of his Negroni, letting the warmth of the Gin spread through his chest, knowing that the burn in his throat will help hide the urge to grin in such an inappropriate time.

[Jaelesh]

Jonah gives a sour grunt and slams back his whiskey before filling the glass again and offering it to Gregory "Well, all things considered, it isn't really all that surprising it happened. Sucks that it did, and how it did, but not much we can do about it now." He takes a quick swig from the bottle before continuing "Well, no point in brooding on it, and I figure the old man wouldn't want us too either. I don't want to seem... Disrespectful, or anything like that, but we need to think about what we are going to do from now on."

Jonah leans back, trying to make sure he doesn't unbalance the stools and flexes his back, giving rise to a series of loud pops, and a tearing noise as one of his sleeves tears at the seems and he begins to swear under his breath "Dammit, I just bought this suit..." before returning to his hunched position at the bar "Anyway, why did you ask us to come here Gregory?"

[Wahrheit]

"Heya, Gramps," Wyatt said to Gregory as he finished his whiskey. "Holdin' up? What, you expect me to be in a weepy wreck or somethin' since Dad's dead? We all knew it was comin' someday." He shrugged. Truly the epitome of a loving son.

[Fouredged Sword]

Gregory looks a little relived, and a little sad at your reactions. He was clearly expecting such, but it doesn't make the hurt of loosing his younger cousin any easier. He nods at you though, a decisive movement that seems to settle his thoughts and frame his feelings. He speaks with more confidence than he walked into the room with.

"Lets go upstairs for a spell. There are some issues that Simon left... unresolved, that need resolving, and some things need explaining now that you are going to be incharge. Take your drinks if you want to, you may need a stiff drink."

He leads you back around the bar and through the storeroom. There is a metal spiral stairway that leads up to the second floor of the building. Up the stair there is a large oak doorway that Gregory unlocks with a heavy iron antique key.

Through the door is what looks like a cross between a club house, and office floor, a meeting room, and the planing room of a conspiracy nut.

The room is dominated by a large heavy oval table made of nearly black wood. It must have been made in this room because there is no other door but the one you came in, and no windows.

The wall across the table from you is covered in maps. Hundreds of pins of many colors dot the map. Some have little paper tags attached.

The left back corner has a desk with a laptop, and a few filling cabinets. The desk is neat and tidy, with everything in place.

The left wall is covered in newspapers and more pins with strings.

The right wall is covered in motorcycle memorabilia. Some of it looks old and valuable.

Gregory waits calmly for each of you to enter and shuts and locks the door behind the last person.

"Please, take a seat. This is a safe place to talk for now. Lets start off with a formal introduction. Welcome members of the Grey. You are now full blooded leaders of the family. What is ours is yours, defend it well. These words have been spoken to each generation from the firsts, who spoke it to the seconds. You are the fourteenth generation of Grey. I will be your aid in leading the family, as I was to the last generation."

[Bennosuke]

Carlisle follows Gregory up the stairs, leaving his empty Negroni glass at the bar. He makes sure to take the seat directly across from Gregory, but waits for his fellow siblings to find a chair and begin sitting, to sit down himself.

During Gregory's face, he is unable to hide the Jack-O-Lantern smile from creeping across his lips. He says nothing and awaits the response of his siblings. Best to hear their responses first, he thinks.

[greenpotato]

Olivia sits at the table "Well, I was expecting this but I didn't think it would be so soon. I mean, we just came from the funeral."

[Fouredged Sword]

Gregory replies to that with sympathy, launching into a long winded lesson about family history like only he can.

"Yes, I know. Unfortunately the house of Grey cannot be without the Grey to lead it. Family tradition allows for no more than one full moon to pass between the death of the final Grey of a generation and the passing of the mantle to the next generation.

It is one of the family rituals that has followed us from before the civil war. Much of our history was lost in the burning of Atlanta and much of the countryside, but the oral history has passed father to son through the Elders of the Grey. In many years, with my eventual passing, you will be aided by my son Johnathan, who will follow in my footsteps. My particular line of the family has done so for generations. We are the bookkeepers of the Canus 'avito'orcinus, 'the Grey eyed sons of the grey'. The meaning of that title itself is lost, but it is supposed to be the spirit tongue.

I know that sounds crazy, but really my job isn't that much. My family passes down the legends and stories, and keeps track of the bloodlines to watch for each generation of Grey. Consider me a second in command. I watch the books, and keep the family money under my eye."

[Bennosuke]

Carlisle leans back in his chair, enjoying the comfort of the fine leather seat as he listens. When he is ready to speak, he leans forward and steeples his hands out in front of him, his shoulders resting on the table. "So, where do we begin?"

[Wahrheit]

Wyatt followed Gregory to the meeting room, bringing his whiskey with him. While he flipped a chair around to sit on it backwards, using its pack as an armrest, he stayed quiet and listened as the elder spoke.

"So we get groupies? Works for me." Wyatt smirked and took a sip. "At least that's one thing Dad got right, makin' sure we don't just get dumped into this s*** without a clue what to do." His eyes flicked over the maps and notes, obviously starting to take in information and think of ways it could be used to his advantage.

[Jaelesh]

Jonah takes the bottle of whiskey with him as he squeezes through the stairway and door to get into the office. When he enters, he skirts around the table to get a good look at the maps and notes, before moving on to look at the newspaper clippings.

Listening to the others, he wonders to himself Will this really be OK, we have little to no experience at this... before speaking up in a rumbling voice "I think our first order of business should be, well, the business. We need to make sure things don't start to fall apart, as well as to show that the family is still strong enough to hold our own. If we don't, we might have to worry about rival dealers and gangs trying to horn in on our turf if we give any signs of weakness. Most other concerns should be secondary til we make a good foundation for our reign."

He sighs and looks apologetically towards Gregory "I am sorry if this seems like I am disregarding any family traditions, or putting family history and lore as a lesser concern, but I figure we should try to make our positions secure before we move on to more... Esoteric fields."

Taking another swig from the bottle, Jonah looks at the others with a questioning glance "Anybody object to that or have any ideas they wanna chime in?"

[greenpotato]

Olivia lowers her voice and says to the others "I'm going to bring something up okay? What about how Simon died? It seems a little suspicious and I think we should have a look at the circumstances to make sure none of our rivals were involved, sort of building on what Jonah here is saying, we should seem strong and I think if something was fishy about his murder then retaliating shows strength"

[Fouredged Sword]

Gregory sits heavily in one of the chairs around the table. He falls back into the chair exhausted.

"I am glad to hear that you want to focus on the business side of the family. Honestly, we need work and I cannot do much of what needs to be done. My leg doesn't work well anymore, and that means I can't supervise the things that need supervision.

The Southern Sons are burning our fields and pushing their MJ all along the south side of the corridor, the Docker's union won't move product until they get assurances from the new leaders after Simon blew them off, the inner city gangs (who normally are a major market) are all shooting each other, and to top it all off, an internal audit is working it's way though the local PD, so our contacts in blue are all keeping their heads down and we still don't know what the audit is looking for.

Honestly, the family is falling apart. I am worried that unless we shore up, we are looking at parts of the bloodline breaking off and working alone. I have no idea what that is going to do when the next generation starts getting born and we can't find the next set of grey.

It's not so much a question of where we start, it's a question of what we can try to save, and what parts of our business we rebuild later from a much weaker position.

As for Simon's death, it was definitely spiritual. Something he was hunting ripped him apart, bare handed as far as we can tell. As far as we know, we are the only players who deal in that kind of thing. Simon played the hunting game close to his chest. I don't think anyone knows anything more than that."

[Bennosuke]

"Well, I can try to make contact with the Docker's Union and shore things up, that's probably something a law degree and a silver tongue can take care of. I can also hop on the gang problem. Probably the fighting means they will be in the market for arms and ammo, if you know what I mean, and I know a couple guys who know a couple Road Dogs." Carlisle smiles to himself. "The Southern Sons may be a bit more of a problem for Wyatt and Jonah. What are our options in terms of dealing with them?"

[Fouredged Sword]

"The Dockers will want more than just pretty words at this point. I think they want to size up the new leadership on their own terms. Sending in one person is an excuse for them to claim insult and push for better terms on any deal, and even in a deal, they are likely to want more than just cash. We have some stores of stuff coming in, but they are the surest way to get more of anything, and they know it.

Setting up shipments to the inner city gangs means getting in there and making contacts. The previous family contact has recently been shot, so that whole area is a blank slate right now. If you know somebody, that goes a long way.

The Southern Sons are a nasty bunch. We have a backwoods turf war going on that they currently have the upper hand. We need to get some fields growing somewhere safe, and push out their dealers. Taking out their supply wouldn't hurt, but that will be very dangerous.

Avoiding the police situation keeps us out of the situation, but also means we have to be extra careful to keep our heads down."

[Bennosuke]

"Well, we are all together now, so if they want to meet with the whole family, we'll let them meet with the whole family. Any idea what they want from us? Just more money?

I have some allies in the criminal world, from selling guns up North. It will probably worth some while looking into that.

What do we know about neutral growing ground? What sort of ammo do we have right now with the police?"

[Wahrheit]

"Oh, I'm more'n just pretty words at this point, old man. You should know that." Wyatt smirked and took a sip of his whiskey. "So we show force. Let th' Dockers see the new Greys. Best after we make some examples of Southern Sons. Let's 'em see we f***ing mean business here."

He rested his chin on his fist, his attention obviously starting to wander. "And for the gangs..." He snickered quietly. "They're dogs. We go breathe down their necks 'till they roll over, or we rip our their throats."

[greenpotato]

"So, unless we can get something over them we might have to get physical?"

[Fouredged Sword]

Gregory nods and stands. "I think we should wrap up here for today. It has been a long day for everyone, especially old men like me. Please, feel free to explore this room and when you are done the bartender will give you the key to the guest rooms. He is one of ours, so he can be trusted.

I will make overtures about a meeting with the Dockers. I suspect they will want to meet quickly, so be ready to hear from me sometime tomorrow."

With that Gregory leaves the room, leaving you to your devises.

[Jaelesh]

Jonah stands up as Gregory leaves the room. "I will be back it a little bit" he says in a gruff voice as he squeezes through the door way. When he reaches the bottom floor, he walks over to the bartender, leans in, and speaks in a low voice "First, I would like the key to my room, second, another bottle of whiskey, and third, I need to know if you have a lockup for me to store my bike in. Don't want it getting stolen or trashed by some little punk." and pulls out some cash from his wallet and places it on the bar, to pay for the liquor.

[Fouredged Sword]

The bartender takes the cash and quickly makes change. The bottle is significantly cheaper than you would have expected. While making change he pulls a small key and a large key out of his cash drawer.

"As you wish sir. There is a locked garage around back, and the guest rooms are on the second floor, up the stairs along the side of the building. No direct access from the bar."

[Jaelesh]

Jonah gives a small smile and nods to the bartender "Thanks for your help." he says quickly, and leaves a five on the bar where the bottle was, an obvious tip.

Moving outside, he gets his bike and walks it to the garage, stowing it carefully before retrieving his saddle bags and taking them with him back into the bar, up the stairs, and into the meeting room.

"I'm back. Ya might wanna go store your bikes in the garage, just in case you don't want them stolen or damaged. Key is right here" he says in a slightly amused voice as he sets down his bags and gently places the key on the table before turning to study the clippings and notes on the walls, trying to glean whatever information he can from them.

Without turning to look at the group, he speaks in a deep, rumbling voice "So, what do you all think of the situation so far? How do you all want to proceed first?"

[greenpotato]

"Well I think the plan is to crash here tonight and go to the meeting with the dockers tommorow and sort them out." Olivia says with a yawn "I better go lock my bike up" And she goes and moves her BMW into the garage.

[Wahrheit]

"Nobody's gonna touch my bike. They know what'll happen." Wyatt downed his drink. "I'm all for gettin' some rest, then showin' the dockers why they should f***ing pay attention when the Greys tell them to get the hell in line."