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Friday, July 31, 2015

Doris Badenov


Concept: Drag Queen turned Hunter

AKA: Jordan Michaels

Desc: Mid thirties, kind of shy and unassuming. A little overweight and wildly self-conscious about it. Not much of man by the light of day, but once he’s got his hair on, and is zipped up. Well. downright buxom, and weirdly enough super-confident and funny.  Almost as if turning into a sweet bird of paradise throws some internal switch in his head. Blond hair that is thinning a bit, Needs glasses to read, but almost never wears them. While he does have a little bit of a stomach, he’s got good muscle tone nearly everywhere else.  Has that weird thing of eating tiny amounts of food eight times a day. Tans whenever he can.

History: Jordan got lucky. Well, as lucky as a gay kid can ever get. School was a hellish minefield for a gay introvert, and naturally, he suffered as many do. But when it came time to tell his parents, They had already figured it out. the fact that his mother had found his secret stash of make-up and it was larger than his sisters was kind of a clue. They still loved him, although, as they said, they were very sad that he wouldn’t providing them with grandchildren.  Of course, they dumped all THAT pressure onto his sister, which, although she loves him, she kind of resents. It tends to come out about once a month usually in a drunk call around 2AM. Ah well.

Jordan, like many young creative introverts, tried out theater. Don’t kid yourself. There are a LOT of introverts who go into theater. Acting is just one way that painfully shy people have of drawing you into their world, maybe there, they have a little more control.  Some introverts decide that maybe theater is just the best way to develop a fantastic disguise.  In any case, Jordan is a good actor, but he is much more at home as an entertainer. At least there, he can put his hair and make-up skills to use, and he won’t have to “Play Straight” and kiss a lot of women.

At some point along the line, Jordan decided that Drag was for him. he CAN dance, and he’s a pretty good singer too. (His Edith Piaf impersonation is to die for.)  He’s likable. Razor sharp and funny on stage. Shows up on time. Doesn’t drink until the performance is over and rarely, if ever, throws shade. “Doris Badenov” is like his super-hero identity. He feels like she gives him permission to the person he’d truly like to be.

And you know, he probably would have been perfectly happy to grow into a bitter old queen sometime down the road had it not been for the Vampire.
You hear whispers sometimes of that kind of thing going on. Usually, you chalk it up to too much wine or weed-induced paranoia. If you believed ANY of the stories that some have told, you’d think that the tiny tiny strip of gay bars was some kind of prime feeding ground. But Doris didn’t believe in any of that crap.

Then one night, as he was trying to negotiate that little hump of the door frame at the stage entrance with his rolling case, He saw a dude biting another dude on the neck. Normally, that sort of thing would inspire a bit of envy. not fear. Until the bite-y guy leaned back and Jordan got a good look at his face. Got a good look at his eyes.

And the vampire saw him.

Things happened very quickly after that. The bitten guy got shoved aside as the vampire rushed Jordan. But there were a couple of things that worked against the vampire that night. 1) Jordan had been training in Judo since he was eleven. and 2) The 9-inch stiletto heels he was carrying in his other hand made a good impromptu stake.

After the vampire had been dispatched, head sliced off with the blade of a borrowed paper slicer from the office of the club, Jordan went home, cracked open a bottle, called in sick to work, and drank himself to sleep.

He waited for a week. Expecting that the other shoe would drop and some blood-sucker would come after him. The bitten guy seemed to have no memory of the incident when he ran into him again 3 days later.  But then, as he had said. “I’d had a lot to drink.”

Once you know that vampires aren’t weed inspired bullshit, you can’t exactly shut your eyes to the problem anymore. And Jordan’s awareness grew, that the problem was kind of pervasive in his little community.

The one thing,that has maybe kept him alive is that the next time he saw something going wrong and stepped in to try to stop it, he was dressed as Doris, and for some reason, “Doris” was not having it.  Did you know that a lighter and hairspray can be made into an impromptu flamethrower? It’s totally true.  The second vampire did NOT know that shit.

Attitude: “Look Darling. All I'm saying is that we have enough problems with fucking cops and homophobic frat boys, not to mention drama within our own community for ANY one of us to go around unguarded on any given night.  I’m not saying you have to buy a gun or anything like that. Just...Just keep your eyes open. Will you? For me?”

Skills: As mentioned, Jordan is skilled in judo and seems to have a knack for improvised weaponry. His hair and make-up skills are such that he actually has the tools and talent to be a true master of disguise. Which is good because so far, those vampires who have taken an interest can’t seem to get an idea of who they are dealing with exactly.  In fact, the word is that there is a GROUP of homosexual men and women who may be fighting back against the vampires. So far, no Hunter group has exactly twigged to what’s going on, and they, were they keen to recruit Doris, would run up against the same problem. You might consider giving Jordan “Unseen Sense (Vampires)” so that he has a slight edge.  One thing that is eventually going to be a problem is the fact that Jordan knows exactly fuck-all about vampires beyond what he’s seen in the movies.  So far, that’s been enough. One night, it’s not going to be.

Gear: Rarely performs anywhere without the rolling case of DOOM, which in addition to carrying all the make-up, toiletries, and wig. Also now houses some vampire staking stakes that he got from a friend who works on the ren-faire circuit. The BIG can of aqua-net with a push-button butane lighter duct taped into place, and a taser disguised as a cell phone, bought from some mail order outfit. Jordan has taken to making sure that Doris’s hair is now done up with some kind of thing that can be used to stab someone if push comes to shove. When Jordan is just being Jordan he is rarely without his smartphone, He’s gotten pretty adept with the camera on that thing and has gotten pretty good at taking surreptitious pictures. Many of them turn up on his Facebook; some reveal vampires and are naturally saved for intelligence gathering purposes. Some have revealed even odder things...Jordan is wondering what kind of fucking rabbit hole he’s fallen down. Which explain the flask he’s taken to carrying everywhere too.

Home: Jordan’s apartment is a source of near-constant stress. He has a one bedroom place in a building that is 20+ years old and not in the nicest neighborhood. The super is a creep and getting him to fix anything is like pulling teeth. That said, Jordan keeps the place clean, and he’s not been sharing it with anyone since Ramon fucked off to work the cruise-line. Anyone coming after him though will have to contend with the fact that it would be nearly impossible to do without being seen, and that the Apartment building’s neighborhood watch is, to put it mildly, hair trigger. As I said, the neighborhood isn’t very nice.

Circle: Jordan doesn’t have a lot of friends. Some people he works with at the insurance agency. a few good friends from college and that’s about it. DORIS, however, is much beloved, at least in her community and Jordan may not necessarily realize how many people do care about him. Who knows, it might the difference between life and death some night. Doris has a dot or two of Fame and Barfly, naturally.

Story Uses:
“Oh no. I’m not going to scratch your eyes out. YOU ARE.”
Naturally, the inability to feed in the rack without consequences of a somewhat fatal nature... is going to be a rude shock.

“Don’t worry Sugar. They won’t see me coming...”
Doris will make an excellent addition to a hunter group who is okay with her uniqueness. Naturally, the more Church-y operations won’t take her in, but some of the others certainly would. Ashwood Abbey would appreciate her for her sheer novelty alone. It would, however, take them a while to begin treating her like a real person...

Connections:
*Knows  Darla Grumman but then who doesn't know Darla. She's a dear. Fixes things. Can't get the scumbag super to do it. So I call Darla. Can't stand that woman of hers, though.
*Met that nice cop Detective Bela Janofski once while he was working on a thing involving a pair of boys I knew who got murdered in the park. He was very polite. Maybe the most polite cop I ever met.
*I went to Elementary school with the Hernandez Sisters and they introduced me to Rachel Schwartz. Occasionally, I do Cabaret gigs at Caligari's. Love those girls.

Saturday, July 25, 2015

Don Francis Xavier Pentangelli

Concept:Mafia Boss (Old School)

Desc: A fringe of white hair atop a head that has seen and done a lot.  The wrinkles are earned and so are the scars. The eyes betray an intelligence that would curdle most souls. While the Don can still get around with just a cane, He’s using the little motorized chair more and more. At home, he gets more done in his Pyjamas than most people manage in a week. When he goes out, though, he is immaculate in his tailored suits. He favors dark purple for ties. He still cuts quite a figure for a man of 68.

History: Born and raised in America. Came up in a rough neighborhood. His father worked in a junkyard and his mother took in neighbor’s washing to have enough money to send Francis and his brothers and sisters to Catholic school. There comes a point in a young man’s life where he looks around and decides he wants more.  The question is, will he work for it, like a chump...Or will he take it from someone else?
   To give Francis his due, He worked for a few summers at his dad’s junkyard to save up money to go to school. But then the war came along, and so did the draft.  Francis went overseas and what he saw and did there, well. let’s just say that when he came home, he had a different attitude about the sanctity of life, and a few new skills related to the formation of that attitude. (To this day, The don never goes anywhere without a straight razor on his person.)
Francis had grown up around goombahs all his life. Knew them. Went to pre-school with some of them, so when he came home, he reached out to a number of those guys, and after a little talk went into La Famiglia and never looked back.
Francis is smart. Moreover, Francis is JUST paranoid enough to be ultra-careful, but not so paranoid that he isn’t functional. As I say, Francis has seen some stuff.  You don’t generally get to be the head of a mafia organization without some supernatural prick pulling the strings behind the scenes. But Francis managed it. He probably wouldn’t have if he were still in Jersey. Or New York, or Chicago.
   He does this by insulating himself well. He’s also learned a thing or two about counter-intelligence. Most supernatural critters can’t get within 600 yards of him.  Well, that’s not true entirely.  But the ones who would be able to get near him are not usually the ones that you have to worry about. It’s the ones with the powers to affect the mind and the heart, that scare Francis.  And he keeps a close eye on those guys that are part of his inner circle for signs that someone might have gotten next to them. And while he’s not exactly pleased about it, He’s made certain strategic alliances with the Vermillion House to provide himself some supernatural insurance.  Mind you, those people are still degenerate freaks, but they do understand a thing or two about influence peddling.

Attitude: “This is all well and good. But the question remains...What to do about the future?  La Cosa Nostra is waning in power and influence. There’s a whole generation of dumb fucking kids who think they’re going to take over when the time comes but don’t know shit about the world. Don’t know shit about business. and DON’T FUCKING KNOW SHIT about how to comport themselves. Dominic is only about half as smart as he thinks he is.
Joseph is far too hot-headed. Leo’s a faygeleh. The only one of his offspring who takes after him at all is Angelica, and I don’t care how smart she is, no gangster is ever going to take orders from a girl.  Not to mention, most of his guys, they’re mostly in their 40’s and 50’s. They’re all like a bunch of old cats anymore.  Not lean and hungry like they used to be.  You know who’s hungry anymore?  Those Vietnamese gangs. Those triad boys.  The Russian guys who seemingly are without fucking number...or any sense at all. THOSE guys are hungry.  How can I hand off power and responsibility to some Kettel One swilling, duck-face-selfie-taking shmuck who thinks he knows some stuff because he’s seen “The Godfather.”

And those supernatural people...THEY don’t ever seem to get old...do they?”

Skills: Back in the day, Francis was pretty handy with a knife. Still is. But he’s old now, and slow. Should that CHANGE for any reason, like say...Becoming a vampire or stumbling on a blood-bathing ritual, or some other means of mystical rejuvenation. Well. some of those combat skills are going to get dusted off. As it is, the only things that still get a regular work out are his persuasive skills and his tactical thinking. He’ll have high socials and a damn high number of dots in ALL of the social skills. (yeah. even Animal Ken, He loves his dogs.)  He has decent dots in academics with some specializations in Tactics, and business. Most of this is reading he’d done on his own.  He never did get to go to college.

Gear: Beyond the aforementioned straight razor, The Don never carries a weapon on his person. He is rarely without his little flip phone. although one of his people usually has a smartphone at the ready, just in case. He has a little Filofax notebook and a zebra 750 fine point. The notebook is in Italian and is in some kind of homebrew code.  Even so, Don Pentangelli rarely puts anything in it that is actually incriminating. The Zebra is made entirely of steel and could probably kill a guy if you cared enough. The don is also never without at least one roll of Butter Rum Life Savers. He also tends to carry an iPod full of opera music. (“Sue me. I know it’s a cliche, but I visited La Scala back in the old country and they made a believer out of me. What can I say?”)

Home: While there is a very nice home in Florida which the family visits at the worst of the winter weather. The Don’s compound sits on a hill with a narrow road going up to the house itself. Some have found, to their shock and amazement that trying to beard the lion in his den is a bad bad mistake and he’s got enough ammo and supplies to wait out an extended siege. He’s even gone in for hidden rooms, an escape door built into the back of a grandfather clock. hidden passageways and architectural gingerbread designed to hide weapons, or even occasionally a sniper.

Circle: But none of that makes Don Pentangelli a dangerous man. The man has a truly dizzying amount of influence.  It works like this. He’s got his capos.  Each of those guys is a retainer. A retainer with a crew of their own.  and each guy on that crews kicks up power, money, and influence to the man at the top.  So the Don has his hands effectively into anything his boys can get him into. Not to mention the Don’s own personal power. There are many people, Entertainers, Judges, legislators who PERSONALLY owe Don Pentangelli.  Some owe the entirety of their success to him and others merely owe him for specific things he’s done for them.  Not to mention that resources 5 and a small army of people who are willing to commit violence on your behalf tends to get things done.  The Don’s reach is long and pervasive. Certainly not as long as the Vermillion House, but since he’s willing to trade favors with them...
Additionally, it should be noted that he’s been giving money and arms to a few hunter cells. Occasionally, some supernatural becomes a pain in the ass and needs to be removed. A simple request and a packet of information on the target and the problem gets handled.  The Don has always been careful to make certain that the information in the packet is as accurate as possible, He’s always clear as to what is KNOWN and what’s just speculation.  and he ends each report with the admonition that nothing in the report is false, but not all of it may prove to be true. Some hunter groups pay attention to that admonition. Others...Well. Not so much.

I should take a moment and talk about the various rackets that the Don’s family is involved in:
*Loan Sharking/Juicing
*Sports book
*high-end Bordellos
*Informal betting clubs (Which is a nice way of saying floating poker games.)
*Stock manipulation and the occasional bust-out scheme  (A bust out scheme is where the mob gets control of a business and then runs up huge bills buying equipment which goes right out the back door to be re-sold until the original owner is finally told, to simply declare bankruptcy.)
*The Family still has the occasional hand in murder for hire, but still won’t deal with drugs due to the Don’s distaste.

Story Uses:
*”This man will not listen to reason.”
While Don Pentangelli is not unwilling to deal with supernaturals, he usually does so at a remove. Over the phone, through intermediaries, on one memorable occasion, via carrier pigeon.  So it’s not impossible to get connected and possibly get him to do things for you...for a price.

*”You have an interesting little set-up here. But I’m afraid you’ve made a slight mistake. Easily fixed my friend. You need to let me wet my beak.”
If you move into some criminal activity, especially something in the Don’s territory or in his bailiwick, You might get visited and certain considerations will have to discussed.  Unless you have a way to keep the Don out of your business, you may end up having to kick up to the old man.

*” Bring me the fuckers head.”
Francis is not one to lose his temper very often. But on those occasions when it does happen, he will attack on every front at once, Michael Corleone style. No place will be truly safe.  Not only will he comes after you with his soldiers, not only will he send the hunters and move his considerable influence to get at you, but he’ll call in his markers with other supernaturals. Better start clenching.

Connections:

*Russell Schwartz of Caligari's is a friend from the old neighborhood. Occasionally he stops into the club and he and the old man shoot the shit. The rest of the people in the club love it because the mob guys tip great. if something bad were to happen to Russell...It might be a bad thing for the perp involved. Just saying.
*While they've never actually met, the Don has Dr. Ronnette Franklin in his Rolodex. A few of his boys have needed impromptu patching.
* The Don occasionally enjoys taking in an evening watching the fights that Big Dan Tarleton runs. He's talked with him about the possibility of taking his organization to the next level.
*If he ever gets wind of Bryson Import/Export he'll want to wet his beak. This won't go well for them.
*The family taxes have been handled for years by Victoria North of Holmes, Gillis, Baker, Savage, North and Dean    

Monday, July 20, 2015

Clarinda Hale

Concept: Professor of Linguistics

Desc: Lately she’s got big old Samsonite bags under her pretty blue eyes but that doesn’t make them any less arresting.  She’s in her early thirties and lean as a rake. Practically lives on yogurt, granola, and Turkish blend coffee. Runs every other day. high Slavic cheekbones paired with an expressive mouth and olive complexion. Her hair is naturally curly, but she often irons it so she can tie it back. Great smile even if she doesn’t seem to do it a lot these days. On the tall side. Healthy, if stretched a little thin.

History: Clarinda story really starts with her parents Esperanza and Mikhail Ostrokov.  Esperanza and Mikhail met on an operation in Afghanistan. The operation went south, but the partnership did not and over time they would find opportunities to work together in various picaresque places fighting Yankee capitalist oppression. 


Mikhail got selected for a deep cover mission, and while Dzherzhinsky Square had a bride all picked out for him, He didn’t like her...and he was senior enough as a field operative to suggest a replacement.
So. eventually Mike and Rita Hale snuck themselves across the border, made contact with a man who provided necessary ID and funds to get set up, and then they settled into a quiet humdrum suburban existence. Rita was somewhat skilled as a dancer (and also a martial artist) and she eventually opened a school enabling her to make contact with bored upper-class housewives. Mike, was a skilled pilot and was in demand for charter flights.
    Over time, It became clear to them, that while there was SO much wrong with the American way of life, it was, in its own way, seductive. And each time the KGB made contact...There was a bit of clenching, worrying about losing the life they had worked so hard to build together. This got worse when Clarinda came along.
    At first, the idea of a child was just cover. Never mind that Mike and Rita had become perhaps overly fond of one another, but the child was, of course, a way of blending in.
As Clarinda puts it, “I had no way to know just how messed up my childhood was. It wasn’t until I hospitalized a classmate for snapping my bra strap, that I began to understand that I wasn’t really like other kids".
     Clarinda grew up with a pair of spies, gone helicopter parents, watching over her.   Mike and Rita realized that the KGB might use Clarinda as a way of ensuring their compliance and that cost them a good deal of sleep.  As a result, Clarinda is a skilled camper, mountain climber, can hit a target at 100 yards, and live off the land damn near indefinitely.
   Additionally, she grew up in a household where she learned to speak English, Spanish, Russian, and Chinese. and this led to her bewildering facility with languages. She has a real gift and it has only gotten stronger as she’s matured.  She has a flair for dead languages and a near endless understanding of dialects for the living languages she speaks. She’s writing a book on languages and the mental modalities that shape them.

Eventually, the Soviet union collapsed, and their handler died of old age and the call never came really. So, at one point, Mike and Rita came in from the cold. They had help from an old nemesis from back in the old days and eventually settled in as naturalized American citizens.
 
Clarinda’s not a full doctor or anything like that. But she is a full professor at the local university and this is where her current problems start.

Supernatural creatures can be remarkably sneaky and yet also have huge blind spots. A vampire was needing a translation of something in Etruscan and after some searching around online found someone who could do the work.  Naturally, he was pretty careful to erase her memory of their interactions.  But, the translation work itself...No. he didn’t remove that. After all, that would have taken HOURS of time to erase completely.

Now that’s bad enough, but when another vampire or mage friend runs across something in Aramaic that wants deciphering, then the original guy says something like, “Hey go see my girl Clarinda. She’ll fix you right up.”

And of course that asshole tells two friends, and they tell two friends, and so on, and so on...
Now. Clarinda is missing classes that she’s meant to be teaching because she’s tired all the time, and thinks she’s having a nervous breakdown and is having episodes of missing time... All because supernatural creatures can’t be bothered to compare notes about this sort of thing.

Not to mention, some of the things she’s been translating have been giving her nightmares...
Mike and Rita have noticed that something may be wrong, but no one seems able to figure out what.  However, it’s only a matter of time before some shmuck with fangs, fails to do a complete job and the whole thing comes crashing down.

Attitude: “I love the work. Maybe one day I'll get a nice cushy gig at the UN. But honestly, my favorite part is the research into how a language becomes what it is. What causes it to crystallize in the way it does. The only real drag now is that since my parents came in from the cold, I can’t travel anymore without jumping through a dozen damn hoops. I think some yo-yo at Langley suspects I want to defect. *Prolonged Yawn*  Sorry about that."

Skills: Clarinda is a bit of a mixed bag. Dots in Athletics for sure and a few in Survival as well. Quite a few in Academics as you’d imagine. Able to shoot (but not likely to have shooting related FS Merits) and a capable combatant in Capoeira (So is her mom.) This would make her an interesting gal all by itself if it weren’t for the truly mind-shocking number of dots sunk into language skills.  Just assume she’s got a nodding familiarity with any language that your plot requires and you won’t be far off the mark. She could also likely take off or land a plane in a pinch. Clarinda is such a language nerd that she listens to books and podcasts in other languages and occasionally rotates them around onto anything she feels she’s getting rusty on.   She’s on an NSA watchlist because of this, but they HAVE figured out that she’s relatively harmless. Any kindred who figures she'll be easy to erase for knowing too much is going to pull a huge amount of notice from NSA, CIA, and FBI Counterintelligence. Not to mention her pissed off spook parents.

Gear: Never without her little survival cord wristband, which has a tiny compass and a tiny knife inside. She also carries a steel Kubotan on her keyring which she is very capable with. Has a smartphone. It won’t be of any use to you unless you can read Cyrillic.

Home:Clarinda, like most professors, is poor as a church mouse and furnishes her entire apartment in books. When she goes for her doctorate, she likely won’t have to make a single trip to the library. She’s not a hoarder. I mean there ARE flat spaces that aren’t taken up with books, but on the other hand, most of those are in the bathroom and kitchen. She has an aversion to cooking and is hoping to meet a nice student of Culinary Arts who doesn’t mind the occasional camping trip.  She has a box under her bed with 500 bucks in various foreign currencies, an ID proudly proclaiming her to be Leah Silverman, a Glock 9, and a knife made of hardened plastic. There is also a key to the family cabin and a silent whistle which will get the attention of a mountain lion that Mikhail has been making friends with over the years.

Circle: Clarinda dates some. But unless you’re multi-lingual too it can be a real turn-off. She has friends in a number of departments on campus and has even told a few of them a little bit about her past.  Her friends are a little worried that she’s not sleeping well and that the dean of the linguistics department loves her, but not teaching her classes is putting her on thin ice. Clarinda also has a few people she knows through her parents and while she NEVER wants to go into espionage, the stories they tell ARE fascinating, and horrifying, and funny.  Sometimes all at once.

Story Uses:
* “Wow...I didn’t think this dialect actually existed...Where did you find this?”
Ok. it’s fairly obvious that Clarinda is the sort of person you want to bump into when you got pottery shards with squiggles on them or when you got 30-year-old KGB documents up from the bottom of the sea. Would it surprise you to know that she’s got a little cryptography? It wouldn’t?  Good. It means you’ve been paying attention.

*” Madre...I just don’t know what’s wrong with me. Maybe I should see a doctor?”
There’s nothing physically wrong with Clarinda and eventually a decent doctor will tell her so. Sooner or later, someone might suggest a psychiatrist and while Clarinda will be resistant at first, eventually, she’ll go talk to someone she knows in the Psych department.  When that guy/gal uses hypnosis to uncover what’s been happening, it will likely crack the already overburdened wall in her mind and she will remember EVERYTHING.  I pity the poor supernatural creature who tries to put the whammy on her after that.

Connections:

*Got her ID from Clavo Hernandez, of course. They dated some but never gelled well with his friends from the old hood. She was weird about taking the gangsters seriously. She couldn't do it really. She grew up with people who are incredibly dangerous. It has that effect when someone's trying to act all hard.
* Dr. Dennis McMurtry is the old nemesis who helped Mike and Rita come in.  "Uncle Dennis" is across the quad from Clarinda and is usually good for dinner on those rare occasions when Clarinda desperately needs a steak and a baked potato the size of your head. Uncle Dennis has turned into a kind of mentor for Clarinda. Although he refuses to help with her romantic life. That would be...complicated.