Match of the Millennium

Description: Shipwrecked at the Clown Motel, Echo is recruited by super rich cultist Gabriel for HAUNTED HAPPENINGS.

[ECHO]
Humans. Only humans could make a motel that is clown-themed. At least this is what Echo is thinking as she stands at a payphone trying to get ahold of one of her contacts, Triple A, or maybe a tow truck. She has a rental car pulled into the parking lot, on the other side of a row of Harley Davidson motorcycles and a few other weedy, older model cars. Apparently there was some motor issue with it, and she didn't pack anything to fly out of there--as she was just in one of her usual black dresses and red pumps.

"What do you mean it will take 6 hours? Oh alright, damnit--" not that any of the bikers or patrons coming and going from the motel's front notice the nearly 6-foot bat lady arguing into a payphone in the parking lot--though the fact she looks more like a human woman to them (if somewhat pale) does however get a few of their attention. It would be a pretty surreal sight if not for the fact Echo had magical disguise auras and shit.

"Ahh well..." Echo hung up the phone and glanced around, the decorum of the place making her feel like she was getting /hives/. Which admittedly was not difficult for human architecture (or taste in wallpaper) to /do/ to her. Humans liked some really tacky things. The fact that so many of them regularly accepted burgers from clowns was another thing she would never truly understand.

[GABRIEL]
"Is that her?" A male voice into a cell phone. He's driving a car, wearing a suit, but not part of a criminal organization or anything exciting like that. He is simply a chauffuer. The car is a black sedan, unmarked, very boring but also fancy looking and it pulls near the payphone with a cloud of dust. For a moment the car does nothing but sit there in relative silence. It's unlikely the locals care about a rando car, but maybe Echo might, whom the car seems most interested in. Eventually the driver gets out and walks to open the back door and out steps a lady in what might be a full dress outfit except for her shoes. It isn't that they're not nice shoes, it is that they're not dress shoes. They're athletic shoes, something that will stay on the foot and you can move around in. Leather, very carefully laced. Then stockings, then pleated black skirt, then suit jacket, white blouse, no tie. She emerges from the car, brushes back her blonde hair and gives a look around that seethes with disapproval. She then starts taking steps toward Echo.

The man who was driving quickly hurries to the trunk, opens it and produces a violin case which he presents to the young lady and she accepts with out a word. The man retreats, having completed his task and waits in the car, the engine running. The young lady stops a respectable distance away from Echo and says, polite, yet cold, "Are you called Echo? I am seeking a contractor."

A small wind blows and rustles her skirt and hair. She ignores it. Some looks, but no one pays her that much mind, perhaps because they cannot recognize the expense of her outfit or the car, but simply that she looks like a business woman in an unusual spot. She meanwhile seems to be ignoring everyone else.

[ECHO]
The wind rustles the long black scalloped skirts of Echo's dress as well, the woman hanging up the phone and turning around just as she is approached by the fashionably dressed lady. Echo's eyes dart down to her shoes, then do a once over up her stockinged legs before settling on her face.

"I am she," she responds, her turn of phrase strange and out of place in modern casual speech. If one were to look at Echo's reflection in the windows of the car Gabriel pulled up in--or even the motel windows nearby--if they were clean enough, that is--one might be able to see why. It wasn't just any normal lady standing there.

"How may I help you? Something tells me you're pretty serious if you had to come all the way out to a place like this just for me," she smiled a little, though remaining serious, looking between Gabriel and her valet. She'd only been out here since it was between where she had last left Ralf and her organization's headquarters.

[GABRIEL]
Another moment of silence allows the wind to further rustle and the lady examines Echo, as if deciding something. It only takes a moment and she maintains her composure before responding, "Indeed, I've been informed that you would be a capable and resourceful assistant in many different fields. Of course one cannot know if you will be suitable without first meeting you and then there is the issue of your fees-" It neither looks nor sounds like Gabriel is overly concerned about those but she continues, "Suffice to say, I decided to come down myself, I do not maintain a large staff at any rate." Pause.

\During this moment she looks around again and seems to frown, her attention returns to Echo and she inquires, "Why are you out at such a disreputable place? Surely you are not a patron of this establishment?" Her words drip with condescension about what this place represents to the lady and the clientelle for that matter. Her nose wrinkles up just a touch.

[ECHO]
"My car broke down, I think the company will be along at some point to retrieve it, I can't fly everywhere, you know, way too strenuous," Echo grinned a little, making a spin on an old joke. "No, I don't work here, though I did know of a sorcerer that liked to turn people into clowns, once. What do they call that? Clownification? I don't know, practitioners of the dark arts don't really judge eachother--but maybe we should," Echo began to grin, as if amused at this train of thought.

"Might you have someplace we could talk more in private? Such things have a way of unnerving folks, from my understanding," she made eye contact with Gabriel's valet and nodded to him, as if silently ordering him to get the door of the car for her, (she was, rather, she was familiar with these sorts of things already) and stepping forward.

"At least before I get gum or cotton candy stuck to these pumps, they're Italian," she made a motion for Gabriel to follow.

[GABRIEL]
Sigh. A breath, a have, it's subtle, but clearly Gabriel isn't pleased. She wanted to stay here, she wanted to purge it. Leaving would feel like letting something go unfinished. Of course the world was full of dens of villainy, but most of them she doesn't have to look at, to stand in. Still she came here for a reason.

The driver does open the door, hopping to and looking a little surprised. He stands aside to let Echo enter then moves to Gabriel's side to take her violin case, but she waves him off. She shuffles into the vehicle behind Echo, setting the case on the seat as well like it were a passenger.

The interior of the vehicle is very nice, leather seats, spotlessly clean and with a divider keeping the driver from interacting with or seeing the passenger. The door is closed as soon as Gabriel gets inside.

"My name is Gabriel Kai," she tells Echo after getting into the vehicle, "I appreciate your time." Delivered in a flat voice. Then after a painful delay she admits, "I do not believe there is a word for that except perhaps generic transfiguration. The notion sounds appalling though, this sorcerer sounds abysmal." She folds her hands on her lap and the car does not move. Apparently the driver is waiting for direction. The car has a phone.

[ECHO]
"Thank you dear," Echo strode by and entered the vehicle, looking for a moment like a celebrity getting into a limo after the academy awards than well, what she was. Which was far from it. Though she was also no stranger to theatrics.

"They were," Echo waves a hand over herself, the illusion of normalcy dispelled, as the bat lady crossed her legs and sat back against the interior seats, her wings briefly rustling under her. One might ask how the heck can Echo fit into a car with wings, well--how did half of the Capcom ladies do similarly with the kinds of hips they had? The answer was: very carefully.

"Alright now, onto more pleasant subjects--what do you need? Old boyfriend died? Pet died? want to see them again? Just to speak for a visit or something more... permanent? would require the original body if you want them to look the same, I warn," she sat back, perhaps seeing if there was any drinks to be had.

[GABRIEL]
The moment Echo starts talking, Gabriel stays silent. She listens for a bit and then when Echo is done speaking she simply shakes her head. "I am wondering after the extent of your abilities and how far they might be pushed. I am not interested in anyone for personal reasons, but I do have certain goals I would like accomplished." She pauses to wet her lips and then presses on.

"What sorts of things do you need to do your work? Are you able to search for spectres, or rather bring them fourth and release them..?" She seems to be thinking as she speaks, "What I need, is to destroy a certain corrupt social order and to do so I will need something powerful enough to cause damage."

She turns to face Echo, "You see, I thought perhaps there might be some resources you might have access to, tacticians, or even just destructive benevolence I could set free." She tilts her head back, "Let me know when I'm somewhere near the sort of work you specalize in and how you might be able to assist."

[ECHO]
"You're interested in ghosts? they typically have certain... moors that bind them to a place or object, depending on what it is, as for what can be done with them, well, that's a different sort of question," Echo reached up and brushed a hand through her black hair, fixing it back behind one of her elongated, ribbed ears.

"I don't tend to mix my other jobs with work I do on an individual basis, better for the both of us, understand? Howeva~" she waved her hand a little. "If you want something or some place... fixed up, I suppose that's negotiable, depending on what it is, I like to know what I'm getting into, love the shoes, by the way," Echo grinned, looking down at Gabriel's expensive athletic sneakers. Echo herself wore a pair of patent leather red pumps herself, nothing /too/ fancy.

[GABRIEL]
A small shift of her chin. She takes compliments like it is expected, nothing worthy of a thank you or even acknowledgement. She presses her lips together and listens and then replies, dryly, "So, if I had an object to bind, can you provide such a thing as a service? A spectre could be bound to a location, perhaps locations. Are they very dangerous?" She taps her fingers on her knees and then says, "I have many locations in mind and will probably expand the work if it is at all successful."

A moment and she sucks a breath in, she seems to be considering a little just how weird Echo looks. Things have been so confusing since Dark Stalkers became a thing and then there were other places weirdness could come in from. Gabriel wasn't sure what to make of this, she looks like she's not sure what to make of Echo, but as of now she doesn't comment. Perhaps it is her upbringing, but still, composure slipping. She needs a quick distraction.

"The shoes are functional," she replies and then waves a hand toward the hotel, "I thought I might use this place as an oppertunity for some light exercise and do a good deed or two." She means murder people.

[ECHO]
"Clearly someone with your kind of finances could afford dress shoes, must mean you mean much more business than me," Echo grinned, nodding. She then seemed to perk up at Gabriel's rather direction question of binding.

"You want a... haunting? that can be arranged," Echo shifted closer to Gabriel, grinning now. "Some kind of... companion, I take it, eh? Want an erotic furlong partner that can never leave?" her grin widened, as if she was intensely amused by requests like these--or what she thought it was.

"As for danger... mmm, as dangerous as you want to be, but caveat emptor on anything more playful than the usual, I can't be held responsible for unwanted consequences," she shook her head, closing her eyes. "I can remove them for an additional fee, if desired," she looked around briefly. "Here?" she said in a small voice, looking at once a little weirded out, "WELL, whatever turns the crank, as they always say!"

[GABRIEL]
And Echo takes that entirely wrong, there is a slight frown but Gabriel shakes her head then inquires, "Just a moment, how is that possible? An Erotic partner implies these things are capable of physical touch." She wets her lips then shakes her head, "This place is not worthy of my time, it will be just a little warm up for myself. No need for your services."

"I have not decided entirely where to begin, but I may have a sport ot two soon. Perhaps a location that is particularly useful in the forces of status quo." She seems very thoughtful before turning to Echo again.

"Consequences and removal are not material. I will have no need to concern myself with either, I will need to know your costs and if you are available for retainer, that is after a demonstration that you can accomplish what I need."

[ECHO]
"Depends on the strength of the manifestation, those naturally cost extra," Echo replied dryly, clinically. It was then Echo brought her eyes from the seat in front of her to Gabriel, raising a brow. "Not worth your time? And just what kind fo a warm up are you thinking of, dear?" Echo leaned closer again, her curiosity piqued.

"As for retainer, why yes, I can give you my private number," she reached down, flicking a small printed card from her belt. The belt was another story altogether of course--while to human eyes outside it might have seemed to just serve to hang a small purse from, along with a few odds and ends--with the illusion gone the macabre objects strung from it were far from normal. The leather purse was actually more of a gunny sack of some animal pelt, along with the skull of a small animal with more than the usual number of eyes, though it vaguely resembled that of a squirrel or rodent of some kind--though a few times larger.

"You want to cause some trouble, I think, yes?"

[GABRIEL]
"I wish for to cleanse this land and this place is a most deprived pit," She seems to be addressing the outside with a flick of her fingers. She looks at the card and then decides to show Echo a little something. She brings the violin case to her lap and opens it. There isn't a violin inside. Though there isn't a gun as the cliche mobster movie, instead there is a long shard of glass.

"I was intending to play a little song on this." The edge is razor sharp in the way glass would be. It looks like a sword, except the handle is the same as the rest, just a piece of a long shard of glass. It would no doubt cut someone and the user. This doesn't bother Gabriel at all, or at least it doesn't play on her features.

"Just a warm up." She assures.

[ECHO]
"Well, can't fault you for that, given the state of it," Echo cast a glance out the car's window, before looking back at Gabriel. She peered over at the violin case was it was opened, leaning back from it blinking a bit rapidly, before grinning again. "Oh /yes/, this is going places," Echo nodded. Not anywhere 'good' by normal standards, but definitely places! Gabriel was turning out to be not what she expected at all--but nevertheless surprised pleasantly.

"Well, when do you want me to start preparation? For the... demonstration."

[GABRIEL]
The conversation comes back to business and Gabriel closes the case, having left the glass inside. If she took it out now she would no doubt be bleeding all over the car. Really htere is virtually no way to handle that thing without making a giant mess.

"We need a location that is suitable, I am opened to suggestions if you have any, though any crowded place might work. Of course I expect doing so would lead to opposition." A possibilty that she doesn't seem to mind even in the least.

"If you lack a location then I would probably have to choose.." She pauses a moment then suggets, apparently at random, "Metro city. That place is truly a cesspool."

[ECHO]
"Well, yes," Echo replies affirmatively. "That's... kind of the point of it, well then, I guess we got a date in Metro," Echo snerks and reaches down into her belt pouch for what looks like a long cylinder... black rimmed with gold? Oh wait, it's just lipstick. She uncaps it and pouts her lips as she leisurely reapplies the shade of rouge to her lips, her long white fangs slipping down over them after she smacks her lips into a small mirror, making sure it's applied right.

"Who ya gonna call?~" she looks up to Gabriel again, now showing even more teeth.

Log created on 12:15:54 05/13/2019 by Echo, and last modified on 15:52:03 05/13/2019.