Difference between revisions of "In the Garden of Hamtramck"

Jim sends a group text(!): "So, with everything going on, my thoughts keep going back to that evil wizard food truck. Miss Jamila and I couldn't find it, but I know Miss Kai was on to something. Can we meet up to track this thing?"

Kai texts back after a couple minutes, either not noticing it's a group text or not mentioning: Evil... wizard... food... are you talking about that burger truck?

Jim replies again to the group "Yes ma'am."

<<DICE>> Jamila rolls wits, difficulty 9
<<DICE>> 0 successes (3 6, Specialty: No, Willpower: No)

Jamila replies: I am in. Let's do this.

Kai texts back the group, starting with an eyeroll emoji: Yeah, ok. Pick me up. Prepare for a lecture on EVIL WIZARDS.

Jim texts "Alright I'm in the truck now. Voice to text. I reckon I'll swing by our usual spot, if I can find it from the ground..."

Jim adds "It's cold here. Did the sun die? Did Shaw do that?"

Jim texts again "I will avenge you mighty Helios."

Jamila texts to the group: This is nothing compared to Minnesota winters. Buy a coat, kid. I'm on campus. I'll meet you somewhere. Kai, where are you?

Kai texts the group: Jim knows. Out east a bit. Kind of a pain in the ass if the truck is out in Dearborn again, but I got no wheels.

Jim is just talking to the phone conversationally. "Driving is so boring y'all. I'll pick up miss Kai from our usual meeting spot and head over to the campus. Which school?"

Jamila texts: Aren't you supposed to know things? Wayne State.

Jim replies "I spy on the bad guys."

Jim will then pull up at the ruined area where kai is known to hang out, and lean out the window. "Miss Kai, Good afternoon."

Kai texts back three fire emojis... right as Jim is pulling up. She gives the truck a good look-over, and the dude in it even mores. "Nice to meet you," she says drily, popping the door open. "/Not/ what I was expecting." She climbs in, though, so they can get underway.

Jim blinks, then laughs out loud. "Oh right. You were expecting me in my black coat. In this weather... yeah." Snickering, he takes off, and talks to the phone in its dock on the dash. "Hey Siri, Reply to Text, We are both on the way now." Then looking over to Kai on the way over at a light, he grins. "I really do forget that most of y'all have no idea what I look like at home." Won't be long before he's pulling up to the place at Wayne State.

Jamila is waiting in the parking lot, dressed in her pantsuit, pea-coat, and now a scarf and some leather gloves. Her satchel is slung over her shoulders. She looks at the truck as it pulls up, her lips turning down as she shakes her head. It's so, so, _Texan_. She opens up the passenger door and offers them both a fingerwave before she slides in next to Kai--assuming, of course, that there's room on the bench to do so. "You should seriously invest in a more eco-friendly ride, Jim."

"You're a bird with a -truck-," Kai says, as they're pulling up. That Jamila is there - well, isn't that a treat. So says the smile that breaks on her face. "I can't believe he even -owns- a ride. Like. Why?" She laughs.

Jim laughs as he make sure they all have room to slide in. "I'm a Texan, ladies. I've had a truck since I turned 16. I had this truck before I could even fly. It's a part of the family. So, where should we go? Any ideas?"

Jamila shrugs and looks at Kai. "We drove around for hours the other day, and couldn't find it. Apparently you had better luck? You said it's usually in Dearborn, so I guess we should head that way to get started."

"Yeah, sure," Kai agrees. "I mean - unless they have a website or something. A schedule. Do you remember?" she asks Jim. "Was there like a -" she vaguely finger-wiggles. "You know. Icon thing. Twitter or something."

<<DICE>> Jim rolls intelligence + investigation, difficulty 6
<<DICE>> 2 successes (2 2 3 4 7 8, Specialty: No, Willpower: No)

Jim grips the wheel, and thinks a moment. Pursing his lips. He then reaches for the phone, and starts tapping at it. "Looks like the truck is in Windsor today. You ladies up for a trip to Canada?"

Jamila looks at Jim and then looks at Kai. "Well, I don't have my passport or birth certificate with me. Do either of you?" Pesky border control.

"I mean," Kai says, and shrugs, "if we're -sneaking- into Canada, whatever, but I don't even -have- a passport. Like. You're lucky I have an ID at all." This is a merry sound in her voice. Like she gives no fucks. "Are they back in Detroit tomorrow? We can just go harass them then. Jamila has a reputation to uphold."

Jim raises a hand. "I've got my passport card, but it sounds like it won't matter. I could smuggle y'all. Or Drive us to Minnesota and go around the border checkpoints. Let me check the site again... says the truck is in London tomorrow, then Kitchener." Apparently that woman ready to write the Prime Minister wasn't alone. "But it also says their headquarters is in HAmtramck."

Jamila's brow furrows. "This doesn't sound like it's a small operation, then, if they're doing business on both sides of the border. That's a lot of legwork to be legal. Seems a bit more than I'd expect for a food truck." She glances at Kai and then Jim. "This certainly bears more investigating. We should head to their offices on this side of the river."

"Yeah," Kai agrees. "Especially if they're across the border slinging burgers. We can find out what they come home to. If it's just the couple dudes I saw in the truck or - you know." A pause. "More."

<<DICE>> Jamila rolls perception+alertness, difficulty 6
<<DICE>> 3 successes (3 3 4 7 8 10, Specialty: No, Willpower: No)
<<DICE>> Kai rolls Perception + Alertness, difficulty 6
<<DICE>> 0 successes (1 2 4 5 6, Specialty: No, Willpower: No)

Jim invokes his gift to imitate the sound of a DRAMATIC HORN, after Kai says 'More.' He then snickers, shifts the truck's transmission, and takes off. "Alright, Hey Siri, directions to Hamtramck." Getting a map. "And of course I'm in homid, and in my truck, when we're going to investigate. It's like there's some spirit that's keeping me hamstrung on this truck matter." He then smiles. "Eco friendly truck? Do those exist miss Jamila?" After a while, he'll get to the appointed adress, which is something not much bigger than a rowhouse on a commercial street. On one side is a gas station. On the other, a nail salon. There's no sign in front, but house is painted in the same color scheme as the truck and the website. There are small gardens on the side, as Jamila will notice. Jim parks on the other side of the street, and cuts the engine. "Here we are."

<<DICE>> Jamila rolls perception+primal urge+2, difficulty 6
<<DICE>> 5 successes (2 3 6 7 7 9 10, Specialty: No, Willpower: No)

Jim paged Jamila with 'The back of the house (heh) is very busy with something magical, but not particularly wyrmy.'
Jim paged Jamila with 'I guess it says with enough succs you can tell some clues. You can tell it's... herbal'
Jamila pages: When you say 'back of the house' do you mean 'inside' or 'back yard'?
Jim paged Jamila with 'I mean the back half of the building'
Jim paged Jamila with 'Oh, yes, yes.'

"I said ride, not truck, Jim," she says. "Drive something smaller. Like my Prius." She shakes her head as she slips out the passenger-side door: _Texans_. From across the street she looks at the building, taking a several moments to just inspect it. Her nose wrinkles slightly as she glances back at Kai--stepping aside to let the other woman out of the truck--and frowns. At Kai. But then she's motioning across the street. "There's _something_ going on in the building. I'm sensing something more than natural in the back half of the building. Nothing over _there_ seems to reek of Asura, but there's something." Beat. "Also looks like they probably grow some of their own ingredients."

Kai slips out of the truck, none the wiser; she glances over the building, tipping her head at the garden. "I don't expect they'll have much growing, unless -" she pauses, lifts a shoulder. "But the garden might have markers in it. If I know what all they're growing, I might be able to back into their intentions."

<<DICE>> Kai rolls perception + esoterica, difficulty 6
<<DICE>> 0 successes (1 2 3 3 3 5 6, Specialty: Yes, Willpower: No)

Jim paged Kai with 'Kai is able to READ that the ingredients in the garden are familiar. They're marked with species. She knows enough to know this is freaky doings.'

<<DICE>> Jamila rolls perception+occult, difficulty 6
<<DICE>> 5 successes (6 7 7 8 10, Specialty: No, Willpower: No)

The Baheera nods and then rubs her gloved hands together before adjusting her scarf and satchel strap ever so slightly, then she glances both ways before crossing the street, and just walks across like she owns the place. She heads right along the side of the building toward the gardens and crouches down in a few places to look at the plants. She's careful not to touch, but she does sniff and look for labels. Finally, once she's toward the back of the building, she looks back toward Kai. "They've got a very weird garden here. Lots of exotic species usually used for Doings." Beat. "That's your sort of thing, isn't it? What can you tell?"

Jim sits in the truck. Once they're off, he watches. And ponders going corvid. Then he decides Miss Jamila would hate that, and just turns on the engine instead to start the heater. Not that she'll like that, apparently.

Kai picks over the tags, crouching low next to Jamila. "/Usually/," she mutters. "They're definitely off varietals. I noticed that before." "Old cultivar of basil, pink garlic - but the sum of this doesn't speak to me beyond definitely magic. Which I knew." She speaks at a hush, rising up next to Jamila. "Come on. Let's go listen at the back door."

<<DICE>> Kai rolls Perception + Alertness, difficulty 6
<<DICE>> 2 successes (2 4 5 6 7, Specialty: No, Willpower: No)

Jamila shifts into Sokto!

<<DICE>> Jamila rolls dex+stealth, difficulty 6
<<DICE>> 4 successes (3 4 7 9 9 10, Specialty: No, Willpower: No)
<<DICE>> Kai rolls Perception + Awareness, difficulty 6
<<DICE>> 3 successes (1 4 6 7 8 8, Specialty: No, Willpower: No)
<<DICE>> Jamila rolls perception+alertness-2, difficulty 6
<<DICE>> -1 successes (1 4 4 5, Specialty: No, Willpower: No)
<OOC> Jamila says, "Okay. It should've been vs 4 not -2 dice. So that's 3 successes."

While she's crouching there, between the one building and the other, Jamila takes a moment to focus. Anybody watching closely would see her body bulk up, and anybody who glanced away might notice that she's taller when she stands up than when she crouched down. But her clothes all grows with her--even her coat--so, it's probably just a trick of the eye, right? She sneaks on back to the back door to listen in.

Kai, not playing so much at being sneaky as being harmlessly transgressive (get off my lawn!), heads back as well. Her moment to focus is when she's at the door, with a handful of breaths that seem weirdly sharp, a momentary close of eyes. You know - so that she can -actually- hear. There's a glance at Jamila, Grande version, but her lips just press there; distractions will not.

As the pair does their thing, the only person who knows they're there is Jim. He's watching, and quirks at the shift, but figures Jamila isn't going to do anything too risky to be observed.

Kai notices the samet hing Jamila did, but with a little more detail: Herbal magic is going on inside there, with a definite focus on affecting the minds of the targets. This is a place of magic. Much more so than the truck.

As the pair begins to listen, they will hear activity inside. Mostly machines, but there is a person talking into a phone. Inane chatter.