[Sodium_noir] Shades of Gray

[Alyson Young]

Two-Tone, Rachel, Shade
Lasombra, Gangrel
Neon City

> "Sounds like the street doesn't have it entirely right!" Shade replied 
> as she led them across a quiet interchange and headed into a ratrun 
> alley. A Short cut Rachel half recognised. "Panic seems to think he's 
> ... erm ... deep waters he said. No, still waters thats it. Still waters 
> run deep. Whatever the hell that means, boy talks a lot of rubbish when 
> he's smoked a few."

That was certainly true enough... it's just that with Panic, nothing 
sounded like rubbish at the time.

Rachel pondered.  Her assessment of Titus probably did sell him short - 
it's always good having your enemies underestimate you anyway, so 
there's a value in letting people think a little less of you. 
Besides... it's not like she could talk about the plans with Santiago. 
That had to stay completely under wraps... Titus was as clear as he 
needed to be about that.

"I've heard that expression too ... not sure what it means.  I do know 
Titus is very old, and he would never have survived this long if he'd 
got no game.  But... well, you know how politicians destroy their 
opponents by badmouthing them, whereas soldiers just kill each other? 
Titus is more of a soldier.  A general maybe, but he'd still rather 
crush his enemies than just make them look bad."

There.  That was honest, at least, without being insulting.

> They come out onto a long straight road that Rachel knows will 
> eventually lead to Neon City. The best repaired road in Downtown. Well 
> lit with palm trees planted in the central reservation. Cars with more 
> money spent on light and body kits than they originally cost to buy 
> drove up and down, peeling off smoke and racing each other between sets 
> of traffic lights. This wasn't Neon city, but there were more than a few 
> bars and late night stores on this road too. Inbetween the second hand 
> car sales lots and Motels.

Rachel starts looking around for spectators ... bound to be a few, 
around here.  She'll skip over streetwalkers, out of a mingling of 
cameraderie and the knowledge that she's a little too close to Chinatown 
for it to be a good idea to feed on potential employees.

Then again, if it weren't for Two-Tone, she'd probably get people asking 
her for a price, which was always her favorite way to hunt.  Oh, well.

As soon as she sees someone who isn't sufficiently visible to the crowd, 
she'll give Shade an elbow and point surreptitiously.

> "Your fellow here don't say much does he?" she jerks her head in the 
> direction of Two-tone walking along behind them. "Which is probably a 
> good thing in a man."

"He's got a number of good qualities," she points out.  "He's reliable, 
keeps his head when things go bad, and goes with the flow when things go 
smooth."  She puts on a show of weighing the pros and cons in her head, 
then adds, "I think I'll keep him."

[I'd like to buy the world a tag, to keep it company]