Who needs a Sire anyways.

Allen nodded, it was fair for Saaleha to play her cards close to the vest. Even though they’d become friendly with each other rather quickly (something he had a feeling was mostly helped along with her fascination with Elias’ specific brand of weirdness), there was always a reason for distrust in more serious matters. It wasn’t something he took personally, it was just being smart with all the freaks of nature in the shadows, freaks that didn’t have to worry about mundane things like home addresses, next-of-kins, and arrest warrants. It did make him feel a little more confident that she wouldn’t just go and blab all her secret knowhow about him and his packmate. He set the thoroughly-licked mug in the sink.

“It doesn’t have to be too specific really. Just if someone’s got some big plans that might cause huge issues far as like…human casualties, or anything that might piss off spirits or ghosts or whatever. And I don’t mean like…humans have to be dying or anything, like it could just be something that affects the overall feeling of safety, ecological, cultural, or financial what have yous in the area. People tryin’ to summon demons or other assorted bullshit that’s preferably kept where it belongs. Human rights violations. Freak accidents or murders that someone’s covering up. Someone digging up a burial mound to lay out a new parking lot or condos, or bulldozing a local forest or neighborhood. Shit like that. It’s more difficult to find that sort of crap out about local vamps or other spooks than digging around in public records or newspapers about Joe Moneybags’ ‘charity’ when he’s got an election coming up or he did someone dirty.” He looked at Elias, motioning towards the door.

“Shoes on, we’re headin’ out.” As his packmate shifted back to human form and wrangled his laces, Allen took the opportunity to pull his own boots on, hip leaning against the counter for balance.

“I mean, Eli might find something out tonight, but I wouldn’t get your hopes up. Spirits are flaky fucks that don’t exactly like us in the best of circumstances. Shit’s vague as it is, so honestly I’m just throwin’ nets where I can so me and Eli have a grasp of what’s going on, and find out if we need backup to stop it or just deal with the aftermath. So uh…no pressure if you don’t find anything.”

“Honestly this town has a high accumulation of...All sorts of nasty things that go bump in the night. I mean luckily we don’t have anything like the fata padurii around here...” There was a pause, her eyes squinted, she was pretty sure there were no fata padurii “But there is a rather high count of kindred and other things, luckily I do have ties to the knowledge keepers and can easily seek out such info myself but...”

Saaleha seemed to be deep in thought now as she fastened her backpack on, slipped out of her slippers, and into some boots, all while still keeping on her paw print socks and Halloween outfit.

“It may take me some time to really get down into the thick of it, cross some red tape and the whole nine yards but I can get you what you need. That I have confidence in, though for the more spicy stuff you may have to pay me in favours...That seems to be the usual currency around here, by the way, freebie, people here looooove favours”

Allen frowned as Elias made an annoyed growling noise behind him, his tongue too short to reach the bottom of the mug, and a moment later, a wolf was licking frantically at the mug, nudging it around on the tabletop with each swipe.

“I mean, probably. Just seemed like you knew somethin’ about ‘em. I only know one…kind of vampire around here I could ask but uh…” He rubbed the back of his neck as the sound of the mug scooting around in the background distracted him a little.

“Just curious if you knew somethin’. Eli’s…things don’t really get into specifics and it’s often symbolic with riddles and shit. He just knows something big is happening here sometime soon, but not exactly what. Just narrowing down the list of suspects, basically.” Allen jumped when the clatter of the mug tipping over startled him, turning around with a sigh to pick up the mug and take it away.

“I’m cuttin’ you off, Fluffy.” he grumbled. Elias licked his chops, still soaked with a bit of cocoa.

“I’m...Very sneaky” Saaleha teased, a little joke meant only for herself. “So one could say that I know a lot of things about a lot of things, but surely never as much as I’d like.”

She gave a small shrug as she leaned back on one foot while the other crossed around the ankle. A little pose for fun before she held a somewhat lax smile.

“But if you’re looking for something certain, asking something specific here, then it’s best to just ask straight forth. I’m uh, really bad at guessing what people want sometimes”

She was playing as if she held more knowledge then what she had, as she felt it was better to have people overestimate her than anything. Think that she was some kind of asset, maybe even keep her around.

After a moment she stood with both feet planted on the ground, eyes lowering as she tried to remember everything odd in the past month.

Allen glanced back at Elias, getting a stare and a small shrug in response before the wolf returned to licking his mug.

“We came down here because a lot of spirits are gathering here for some reason. That and Elias kinda…sees things sometimes.” But now he had questions of his own. Kindred. That wasn’t a normal human term for ‘weird stuff’.

Just how many supernatural freaks of nature was Saal making friends with?

“You uh…seem a bit familiar with kindred…anything big happen with ‘em recently?” Knowing how early Elias had caught a potential problem would be of help. If there was still time to call in the other Forsaken and split before the packs could pick up their trail, it would be better off for all involved. Both for himself and Elias, and for any unfortunate humans or what have you at risk. Two Uratha versus an unknowable, powerful force capable of upsetting whatever the hell set off Elias’ weird dreams wasn’t exactly a matchup he’d bet on.

Looking up meteorological and geographical stuff only took you so far. If vampires were involved, having a sneak peek into their inane squabbling could be of use.

Assuming they had anything to do with it. Given their usual antics, it was a long shot.

Those vibrant blue eyes shifted from Allen to Elias, the wheels in her head turning faster as more and more assumptions were crafted. Elias was different than Allen, meaning that there was a chance that Elias himself was special.

Interesting.

Oh, the list was surely too long on who Saaleha was attempting to befriend. Kindred, werewolves, mages and even other Imbued Hunters. Heck, she even believed she saw a zombie once.

That little setback aside, Brielle pulled up the bus schedule to triple-check she had it right. This needed to go well; she couldn’t really afford to upset what seemed like a rather affluent and powerful lick. Saaleha was friendly, but that could also be a cover for less sincere motives.

While she did that, checking periodically the ghoul was in tow, Brielle settled into a familiar pattern of small talk. “This is your first time in Seattle, right? Or first time in a long time?”

“Yeppers!” Saaleha’s voice chimed a little behind Brielle, the young woman following in tow while minding a comfortable personal space distance. “To be honest, I’ve only been this far west at all in the states for about a year or so. Mostly grew up in Indiana, so this is certainly a big change”

Saaleha laughed a little as she spoke before putting on a fake pout, “It’s a shame, these big cities won't let me take my bestest boi in as a pet”

Oh, here it came. Saaleha was pulling out her phone, a big smile playing across her face before she lifted up her phone for Bri to see her most bestest boi, a Rhode island red rooster in a little sweater.

Elias started licking what he could reach inside of his mug, determined to get every last bit of sweetness out of it as his packmate got up from the couch. Now that damage control was handled and Saaleha’s carpet was left unstained, the alpha felt compelled to help her out in whatever ways he could.

“Never did try cocoa with candy canes, so I s’pose there’s a first time for everything.” Allen didn’t catch the brief disconnect, but the pair of silver eyes in the living room did, mouth smeared with melted marshmallow.

“Usually this ritual’s pretty short, but with the weird shit that brought us here, it might be longer. Or shorter. I never really know with spirit shit, there’s a reason Eli handles that shit instead of me.” Elias started a little at the mention of his name, but when it seemed he wasn’t asked for directly, he went back to licking every inch of mug his tongue could reach clean.