Tremere Business (Johnathon) - Johnathon's Haven

As promised, ten minutes later, she was knocking at his door.

Johnathon had already dressed for the evening when he had emailed her, and answered the door wearing silk pajamas and a smoking jacket. He had a snifter of brandy in one hand, and was smoking a cigar.

"Ah good evening Sheriff, please come in, make yourself at home. Would you care for a drink? From Miss Lowery's cellars."

She looked up at him from the doorway and smiled.

"No, thank you, though. What's going on?"

She stepped inside and took a glance around.

He closed the door behind her, and sat down on an ornate leather couch.

The room was primarily high Victorian with a touch of modern here and there where needful. Still, there were ornate rugs on hardwood floors, elegant bookcases, and fine furniture that typified the early part of the 20th Century. Aside from the couch, there were several plush chairs, and a couple of small tables. Several Tiffany lamps provided accent lighting, while a crystal chandelier lit most of the room.

"Well..." he said taking a sip from his drink. "I was asked to provide as much information on the members of your clan as possible in exchange for a trifling million dollar helicopter that I don't even have the staff to operate. I'm not exactly in the habit of spying on people, let alone Tremere, and I told this person as much; suggested they go to the Nos. She said I should buy the information and then give it to her."

"What makes it most insulting and slightly disturbing is that it was one of your own, Cally the pilot who recently moved here into town. I'm trying to decide if this is some game of mess with the Ventrue, mess with the Anarchs, or just plain stupid. Irregardless, I do not wish to be involved in Tremere power plays."

She sighed and leaned against a nearby wall.

"And how much do you know about the Tremere?"

"Jack and shit, and as they say in the movie, Jack left town. It is a most unusual way for a newcomer to try and get information though, wouldn't you say? Ask the man who has been buried for a century and who lives in the other end of the state to give up information on one's own family. Or are you people testing me to see just how much I do know, and if it is the 'wrong' stuff to know?"

She shook her head.

"I'm not sure. I'll have to ask her. Does she know your history at all?"

"As soon as she proposed the information for helicopter swap I told her the important bits. It was my way of telling her no, without saying as much. She persisted, and I suggested the Nos. When she told me to buy the information, that's when I decided something was unusual."

She frowned.

"I'll look into it. I would suggest not getting yourself into debt with the Nosferatu; they're usually difficult to pay off."

A soft smile crossed his face as he puffed on his cigar. "Yes, it can be. I am always careful in my dealings with them, and pay up front."

"I do appreciate you looking into this. I'm much too young and busy with my own problems to be involved in something that could blow up in my face like this. Speaking of which, what's the truth about the Fallen? Are you genuinely sympathetic to Emily, or is she a danger? I am very carefully sitting on the fence with that one."

She smiled.

"The answer to that is: both. I'm genuinely sympathetic to her. But I'm not dumb enough to piss off a creature than can unweave reality."

"So what then is the correct answer when dealing with her? Up here I have to worry about Archon's deciding they don't like me, while you have the saving grace of at the very least likely being strong to get away with a lot in your land."

He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "You know how bloody weird it is for someone like me to be asking someone like you for advice, and hoping that enough of it is at least honest enough to be useful? I like the girl Emily, and I sympathize with the creature who lives within her, but I've got the sticky issue of both answering to nobody, and also not having enough power to properly flip off the world."

Johnathon looked Griselda in the face, as if searching for something, and knowing she could pretty much show whatever she wanted. "Kindred lie. How much truth am I getting tonight, and how much do you think I'm giving you?"

She shrugged.

"Enough of the truth."

She shrugged again.

"There's no really good way to deal with a Fallen. Just try not to make her angry or upset, for the time being. And for God's sake, don't try to kill her."

He nodded "And can you make bargains with them? How does one avoid that?"

She smirked.

"Just don't make any promises to them. They make one back and boom -- you've made a pact and you're now a thrall."

"Which I would imagine is how they gain their power? Delightful, absolutely delightful. Don't kill them, don't make deals with them, oh they can warp reality, and are all, by definition at least powerful enough to survive having told off the Creator of the Universe. Whee."

Then he laughed

"And Michelle thinks she can own this one."

She laughed quietly.

"Yes, she does. I, however, am not that arrogant. But I'm smart enough to know that, sometimes, it's true that you should keep your friends close and your enemies closer."

"Which makes dealing you that much more dangerous I think." he smiled

"Mostly I wanted to make you aware of what was going on with your clanmate though. I hope I didn't bother you too much tonight"

She laughed and shook her head.

"I'm as harmless as a setting dove." Yeah, right. "And thanks. Really. I'll look into it, see what's going on."

"You are as harmless as I am the norm among my family" he said with a chuckle. "Oh, I took the liberty of preparing some documents on explosives for you to look over if you want"

She seemed to perk up at that.

"Really?"

"You scare me, you know that" he chuckled. "Yeah, I banged out some basics, the first lesson if you will."

She giggled. Actually giggled.

"I'd be upset if I didn't worry you at least a little. But hey, I like reading."

"Wonderful" he said rolling his eyes "Why does a tremere need to know how to blow shit up anyway? Oh, and you know what set this whole thing off with Cally? I went to see if Ganic could build me some sort of two way teleportation system between here and PSL, and I got a tremere who flies areoplanes instead."

She snorted a laugh.

"That explains it."

No really, it did.