Just a GPSL NPCs (birthrightnpc) wrote in birthrightrpg, @ 2021-01-26 15:40:00 |
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Entry tags: | npc |
Open Season
Who: NPCs Sean, Nina
What: A Deal Between Hunters
When: Present Day
Where: Somewhere in Minnesota
Warnings: Language
At 6’1” tall, with salt-and-pepper hair and a beard, broad white teeth, and the smile of a snake oil salesman, Sean Corrigan looked the part of a brash hunter. He was fifty-eight years old, but he could still snap a bone in half like someone half his age, a quality that he enjoyed demonstrating. He wielded his larger-than-life presence with intention, a physical ‘don’t fuck with me’ that carried into his dealings with other hunters, like it did with the vampires and weres that he’d been killing since he was thirteen.
Sean had a reputation in the network of hunters that spanned the country as someone who got things done, roughly if need be, but efficiently. The people who hunted with him -- a mashup of blood relatives like his son Rob and lifelong friends of the family -- followed his lead, and Sean didn’t question whether it was his place to take it. He saw things that needed doing and he did them his way.
This self-authored construct of right and wrong, unmoored from any external considerations, was what led him to the restaurant parking lot on I-94, on the northwest side of Minneapolis. He settled his weight onto the tailgate of his truck and lit a cigarette. It was below freezing outside. His hands were chapped, the knuckles scabbed over from his last fight.
A twenty-six-year-old hunter named Nina huddled nearby in a leather coat lined with shearling. She waved Sean’s acrid-smelling smoke out of her face. Nina was from a different bloodline. Her family was indigenous to Canada. Most of them still lived in Ontario, but a few had crept south over the years, and they’d known the Corrigans for a long time. When she looked at Sean, it was through a thick curtain of black and pink hair. She was small for a hunter, only reaching his chin, but solidly built and tough. “Okay. We’re outside,” she said as a delivery truck blew past them. “What’s this thing you wanted to talk about?”
Sean rubbed his cheek with his thumb. He looked over his shoulder at the restaurant, making sure they were alone, then thumbed the surface of his phone to pull up a map. “I’ve had my eyes on southern Nevada for a while. A little place called Searchlight, all the way up to Las Vegas.” Sean showed her the part of Clark County that he meant, stretching along Veterans Memorial Highway. “This whole area is full of targets. Vampires, weres, hybrids.” He paused and gave her a chance to catch up. “I called you outside because I’m putting the word out,” he said, keeping his voice low, “To any hunter I know that’s passing through that area. I don’t care if they’re bloodline, volunteers, whoever wants to take a shot. It’s open season.”
Nina chewed on that for a moment, looking at his mobile device. Then she backed off and frowned at him. “It sounds like you’ve already staked it out. Why don’t you do it yourself?” She fit her boots closer together on the pebble-covered ground, trying to make herself small to conserve heat. Her hands flexed in her pockets. Every time she exhaled, a cloud of her breath did battle with his cigarette smoke.
“No. We can’t do it alone.” Sean shook his head. “We’re stretched thin, between Chicago and the east coast. Rob’s not due back for another few weeks. Besides, the number’s too high.” He watched a clump of ash fall from his fingers like snow.
“Okaaay.” Nina thought it was a little questionable, Sean launching a full-scale attack on a town while his very obedient boy was out of state, but it was none of her business. “So,” she shrugged, “If I look up the stats for missing persons, homicides, and cold cases in that part of Nevada, everything’s gonna be higher than it should be, right?” At Sean’s nod, she added, “And this has nothing to do with the fact that your niece lives there?” Everybody knew Rhiannon was out. Whether Sean liked it or not, having a falling out with a family member was a mark on his credibility.
“It’s got a lot to do with it,” Sean said, smiling. “But I’m willing to put some money on it, enough to sweeten the deal. That whole area has power. It’s an open secret that it’s a supernatural hot spot. We can’t afford to let something get a foothold in a place like that. It wouldn’t be good for us.”
If he was right about the power, then Sean had a point. “So what, you want to see who can rack up the most kills?” Nina scowled. When he didn’t correct her, she forged ahead. “I mean, sure. Okay. Vamps, I can see, but weres?” She shook her head in the dark. “That’s a hard sell.” Hunters could be touchy about whether or not therianthropes were on the kill list. Some of them, the ones who were born wearing fur coats three days a month, could be downright domesticated.
“See, I thought you’d say that.” Sean went into the cab of his truck. He rustled through his glove compartment and came out with a piece of paper. “There was a pack of wolves in New Jersey, about two years back. All bitten. They got into it with another group. That did a pretty good job of scrambling them. We rounded up the stragglers, but one of them left town. He’s in Searchlight.” Sean handed Nina a picture with a name written under it. “How’re you going to feel if he starts biting civilians?”
Nina looked at the picture. “So this guy’s a liability. I guess people can use their judgment on anybody else. Every hunter’s got their line. Almost every hunter.” She cut her eyes at Sean, but all he did was laugh. What a fucking psycho. Nina flicked her fingers against the paper. “Anything else?”
Sean dropped his cigarette on the rocks and stubbed it. “If you decide to go, do me a favor. Drop off your first kill at the address on the back.”
Nina flipped the page. “403 Indian Street... Cute.” She tucked the paper in her pants pocket. “Can I let you know tomorrow?”
Sean shrugged, as if one day was no sweat off his back. “Sure. I’ll give you forty-eight hours before I start putting the word out. I’m only giving you a head start because Rhiannon likes you.” He winked and gestured at Nina to follow him back to the restaurant. “Come on. Food’s getting cold.”
[Written by Kate]