Smith International: David Santos

Overview

Participants

• Ajax
• Tori
• Chance

Summary

Tori and Ajax pull up to Medina's RV office in the middle of the workday, dragging in a half-feral man named David who's been sleeping under bridges and running from ghosts. Inside, middle-aged dispatcher Demaris Portillo nearly drops her receiver when two werewolves and a wild-eyed stranger burst in. Tori awkwardly stammers through an apology, asking if David can wash up, while Ajax fills the room with easy confidence and promises of safety and understanding like a man who's already written the ending to the story.

When Chance arrives amid tobacco smoke and calm authority, he greets David like a friend, pulls up a chair, and coaxes out David's story of why and how he ran from something unspeakable at Gulf Coast Wellness, and Ajax gently pushes David to talk. Between halting breaths and sudden bursts of conviction, David spills everything.

The Employee Assistance Program was supposed to help workers, but something was wrong. At first, David found out his 'signature' was already on medical paperwork he'd never seen and they wanted to transfer his medical case from Bayshore Clinic to Gulf Coast, where the treatments changed people. His coworkers Marcus and Omar came back hollow-eyed, violent, and instinctively wrong. He describes showing up early to an appointment, and stumbling on men in uniforms drugging Marcus and fighting him down as he retaliated with impossible feats. When he saw too much, that's when David ran.

David insists it's all part of a corporate MK-Ultra scheme of mind control through pharmaceuticals, and that Dr. Deshpande at Gulf Coast Wellness is at the center of it all. When the group debates where to hide him, Demaris smiles thinly and prays someone else will volunteer.

Log

(Medina) It's the afternoon. When Tori and Ajax bust in with David here, they're interrupting the business day: a middle-aged Mexican woman wearing a skirt, blazer, and blouse befitting a secretary is stationed at the RV table, which itself is doing duty as a desk and dispatch station wit the phone and a radio. She's the old school sort who simply cannot be seen in public without a full face of makeup, not even to go to HEB, and so naturally, she's dressed to the nines. When the trio enters, she looks up, then she tenses, her eys widening, and she breathes out a "Diosito!" as she gets to her feet. "One moment," she says into the receiver of the phone, and then puts it on hold. Then, she just hangs up on the other side of the line on second thought and shuffles out from the bench seat to figure out just what in TARNATION is a-goin' on in here.

This is Demaris Portillo, Glass Walker kinfolk who has lived on Telephone Road since the fifties, so she may or may not be a familiar face. The most telling part of how she belongs is more subtle: the reaction of hers is of the 'what the fuck' variety, not the frightened one, despite the debut of a Galliard in such an enclosed space.

(Medina) Meanwhile, David is stumbling in with his escorts. He had half-assed nodded off under the safety of the car ride, but now that he's been ushered out, he's very awake, and he's uninjured - at least, in any significant capacity. There are some scrapes and bruises from the way he's been living his life, but they're inconsequential. His eyes are strangling his surroundings like some kind of homeless doomspeaker now that he's being confronted with a new space and it's sort of dawning on him that he's being corraled by multiple people.

(Tori) Tori hasn't really thought about the fact that there would be PEOPLE in here during the day. Because of course there would be, but it never occured to her. "Um." Is about how she opens it when Demaris is staring down a pair of wolves and David.

"Uh." is where Tori goes next in the conversational volley. "Is.. can.. uhhh.." She blinks a moment and then looks to David and then looks to Ajax and then back to Demaris. "Er. Sorry. Can.. he.. clean up somewhere?"

(Ajax) One beefy hand is laid on David's, which might either be comforting or alarming given the circumstances. Ajax emerges from the car-ride having recomposed himself and projecting outward confidence no matter what. "Don't worry, friend - we won't let them get you again, and I'm certain we can figure out how to help you next with this stopover. Everyone believes you about what happened."

"After all, the fellow we're going to talk to in here has said repeatedly that he wants to help, and I know he won't turn you down now, even if it's unannounced!" He laughs. This is in parallel to Tori's solicitation at the desk, so they're doing two jobs kind of at the same time.

(Medina) Medina, thank God for Ajax, is outside in the shop yard somewhere (arguing with Chance, actually, but let's not worry about that). And so it's just Demaris in here, confronted by Tori's yin of 'um, uh' and Ajax's yang of Not To Worry, Friend!

David looks to Ajax, uncertain but placing his trust in this man. His words are comforting, and he wants to belive them after the stress he's been through. "He has?"

Meanwhile, Demaris just kinda', ... points back to the closed door to the bathroom. "Oh, in here." Her heels click against laminate tile, and she opens the small bathroom door, before shuffling back towards the larger, kitchenette space to make way. "Javier let you in here, ...right?" she asks, eyes flitting between the both of them. "But yes, go ahead," she says to David, who, unless stopped, will go and take a moment to wash up.

(Tori) "I promise, we didn't just break in." Tori nods to Demaris with a shy little smile as she encourages David to go and get himself cleaned up. That first handwash with running water after living rough.. oh there is nothing like it at all. Glorious.

She isn't about to go /in/ the bathroom with the guy, she sort of loiters. Awkwardly. The space is small for this much rage. "Um. Hi. I.. think we've.." She pauses and then shakes her head. "I've seen you at stuff now and then. Like.. Jupiter? Have you stopped by there?"

(Ajax) For his part, Ajax didn't have a problem imposing and never considered his presence as an imposition, in fact. So, when he folds his arms as David goes to wash up, confident that he won't make a break for it or otherwise make things more difficult (based on nothing), it's with an easy, uncomprehending smile that he flanks Tori as she talks to Demaris on both of their behalfs. He didn't need to line jump to get his word in on this one, she was asking questions and making nice like he would in the same sort of measure. Easy!

(Medina) Demaris's tension turns into the relief of someone who really, really is thankful to not have to deal with whatever shitfit Medina'd otherwise have. She lets out a breath, and the bathroom door closes as David disappears behind it. There's the sounds of him shuffling around and the running water and the citrusy scent of the gojo cleaner.

"My girlfriends and I like to go there," Demaris tells Tori with a quick little smile. She looks Ajax over, eyes briefly lingering on the horn at his belt, then looking to the two. "I... Understand that this must be an exception, no?" She asks of the situation. "I'm not sure how much Javier has told you but this place /is/ a public business, he got very testy last time a few wolves just showed up."

But ultimately, Demaris doesn't ask too many questions. She briefly excuses herself to follow up on that phone call and reschedule it, invites the two to help themselves to the fridge. In time, David emerges, and Chance doubtlessly has had time to arrive. David's still wearing the same clothes that desperately need washing, but at least he feels a little more clean, and a little more relieved.

"How did you find out about me?" David asks, his question a cautious one that he must've been ruminating on in the past few moments he was cleaning up. "You know about the operations?" (Chance)

Chance pushes the RV door open with his shoulder, leather pack slung crosswise, and the smell of pipe tobacco trailing in with him from outside. He pauses just long enough to glance over the space and then lets the door swing shut behind him. A crooked grin flickers toward Demaris before his gaze sweeps over Ajax and Tori, then lands on David as he emerges.

"Looks better already," he says, warm but steady, his amber eyes catching David's. He sets the pack down by the table and drops into a chair with one boot hooked over the other knee. "We heard whispers. Family putting out flyers, neighbors talking. Then we saw the white van boys sniffing around, and that told us all we needed to know. We weren't about to let them drag you back."

He taps two fingers against the tabletop for emphasis, his grin fading a bit. "Yeah, we know a little about the operations. Not everything, not yet. That's why we found you. You tell us what you've seen, what you know. Then we figure out how to make sure they don't get to do it again."

(Tori) "I'm really sorry about inturrupting. It was kinda.. well.. we will try not to inturrupt too badly." Tori assures Demaris with another of her shy smiles. "I know we're a disruption.. we're uh..kinda a lot. Sorry."

She turns her head as Chance strolls in and takes up plenty more room, mostly metaphysically. She lets him and Ajax take on the conversation with David, and explaing The Plan, such as it might be.

(Ajax) "Well - and we found and helped Omar Vasquez. A lot of what he went through helped us find you!" Ajax appends.

(Medina) Demaris decides to stay out of the way, and yet, not ...really. The nosy lady is a fly on the wall, and she finds a corner near the sleeper loft to stand in, her manicured hands clasped in front of her, her gaze off in a corner under the auspices of 'don't mind me'. Now and then she considers the door, but this is an episode she wants to watch. When Chance comes in, she notes him with a once-over, but stays out of the way.

Mention of Omar lights recognition in David's eyes, and his eyes widen slightly. "Jesus, is he okay?" He runs a hand through his damp hair, then sits heavily across from Chance. His eyes jump from one face to the next. "I was wondering what happened to him. He stopped showing up to work right before... before everything went to shit."

It's clear that while he trusts them at face value, he's still cautious, seeming to still be making an internal decision. "You said you know about the operations. How much do you know? Because if you helped Omar, then you probably saw what that stuff does to people." (Chance)

Chance slides his hand into his jacket pocket, drawing out a battered leather pouch. He thumbs it open, the scent of sweet tobacco rising as he pinches some loose leaf into the salmon-carved bowl of his pipe. Ajax's mention of Omar earns him a steady nod while tapping the bowl with one finger before glancing over at Tori. He gives her a crooked smile and a tiny shake of the head, a wordless *wasn't trying to trample over your words*.

A match scratches to life against the sole of his boot, flare reflected in his eyes as he cups it over the bowl. A few quick puffs pull the ember down into the tobacco, smoke curling up in thin ribbons before he lets the match burn to his fingertips and drops it in the ashtray. Pipe clenched in his teeth, his words come around the stem with a faint chuckle. "Sorry, Tori. Ajax. Didn't mean to steamroll in like that. Just, sometimes my words don't wait their turn." Settling back he nods to show he'll listen a bit more before chiming back in and gives David a wink. "Maybe you tell us what you know David?"

(Tori) "I like your words better anyhow." Tori notes to Chance with a twist of a fuller smile and a half chuckle. She looks back to David and ums softly. "Omar had.. kinda a rough time, I'm not surprised he stopped going to work."

Tori uhs softly. "Aren't we like.. totally and utterly in the way? I suppose it's the best place to talk but.. uh.." She looks to Demaris and her expression turns apologetic. "I'm sorry."

(Ajax) "But -- he's fine now, we got him sorted," Ajax adds at the end, just to answer David's question just a little more completely.

(Medina) "Ay mija, don't worry about it." Demaris assures Tori with a smile. "It sounds important." A pause, and she admits, "And I'm very curious. Wasn't Omar that young boy who got swept up in some group? I saw something in the news."

David, apparently, hasn't come across that information. He looks to Demaris with open concern, then his eyes snap to Tori, then Ajax. When Ajax assures him he's fine now, there's still questions on his face about what happened.

"Well," he says haltingly, "I don't know how much of this you're going to believe. But they're making monsters, I mean it. We have an EAP, but it's a lie. Maybe the first couple of times you go for treatment, it's legit, but ...But I started having to go in for um,..." He seems unwilling to admit just what his ailment was: "Well, I had to go in to Bayshore. I think what they do is they just keep you healthy enough to keep coming in to work and handling the stuff I shouldn't be breathing in. But I thought I was getting help. Meds, consultations... And then they said that my case was looking complex so I should go to Gulf Coast, and that's where the monsters are made. I showed up early..." He falls quiet as a memory awakens that he'd rather bury.

(Tori) "You'd be amazed at what we're willing to believe these days." Tori murmurs quietly and nods a little to Demaris. It is both totally curiosity worthy and important. And not exactly ideal conversation for standing around outside.

Tori leans in to Ajax a moment to ask softly. "What's an EAP?" She shakes her head after barely a moment, clealry it doens't entirely matter. "They are basically complete jerks." She comments to David. "And that .. sounds about right, all things considered. They probably are being that level of jerk." She sighs softly. "I'm sorry for whatever you saw. It was probably pretty awful."

(Ajax) "I assume it must be something good, or valuable, in the corporate world. To them, and to the government, acronyms are like little holy incantations that save time and accrue a religious significance that legitimizes the institution by their invocation, a little like lighting a prayer candle or saying a catechism," Ajax explains brightly to Tori, waggling his hand around a little bit. "Once you say it enough times to someone, you're allowed to sacrifice them and their livelihoods to the greater good of the company or government."

(Chance) Chance listens without interrupting, pipe stem rocking between his teeth as David struggles through the memory. Smoke curls from his lips in a thin stream, his amber eyes steady on the man across from him. When the silence stretches a bit too long, he shifts forward, tapping the bowl gently against the ashtray. "Go on. We're listening." He glances sideways at Tori, softening with a little nod before looking to Ajax and then back to David. "You don't have to dress it up for us. Whatever you saw... however bad... It's part of the truth. And the truth's the only thing that helps us fight back against this thing."

(Medina) "Employee Assistance Program," David answers, clinging to the momentary distraction. "You know, like, you need to go to the doctor, the company has a system to care about you. They set up where you go, they pay for it. You do it if you got something wrong with you or you got problems at home." The momentary distraction helps him push past whatever had upset him into silence, and then he's willing to pick up where he left off again. It does make for a jumbled, out-of-order story, but then again, he'd just been plucked from an overpass in the first place and was screeching in Spanish like a goddamn goat earlier so, you know. It happens.

"Gulf Coast is where they took Marcus and Omar. They worked the shift right before mine, they look so... Like someone turned the lights off behind their eyes, there's no soul there. There's something /wrong/. Omar didn't used to be such a pendejo, but now he's like, everything he wants to do is just violent, and then one time I grabbed him and it /hurt/," he says, gesturing outward with one hand to gain purchase on an imaginary arm. "And it didn't even make him flinch, whatever it was that was burning his clothes..."

Catching himeslf rambling, he shuts up. Then when Tori gently says she's sorry for whatever he saw, it has the effect of putting him back on track. "I said I didn't want to go see Dr. Deshpande," he says, his accent nearly muddling the clarity of his words, but not entirely. "And then the nurse was all suprised, because she said I had already sign the paperwork. I didn't sign nothing! But they said, maybe I just was too stress out to remember. So I go. I showed up way early to my appointment, since I had to get a ride. My tio drops me off at like, five AM? And I saw these guys fucking /fighting/ Marcus, and Marcus, he does like this--" David gestures raking his hand across an imaginary face, "And it's like, the guy starts screaming, one of the guy trying to put him down, he got him in the face. I thought oh shit, and then I saw them shoot him up with something and put him in a fucking car, man, and then they /saw me/. So I just ran, that was it!"

(Tori) "Ah.. okay that makes sense." Tori nods to Ajax at his explination. Which doens't really, but it's enough buzz words to seem reasonable in some sort of way. Good enough for her at least.

"I.. have never been to a doctor." Tori muses a moment and then focuses back on David's story after that digression. She scoots just a wee bit closer to Chance as she listens to David's story. There's no surprise on her face, its as if she's not only fully aware of the burning that Omar was doing, and the violence and the RAGE. She's well familiar with the rage.

"Good for you for running." Tori nods to David. "You were smart to get out of there. And you probably didn't sign anything. They probably faked it to make you do it, I'm really proud of you for running. You did well."

(Ajax) "So they're gathering people to do malicious medical malpractice on at Gulf Coast..." Ajax murmurs, squinting his eyes and rubbing his chin with his hand as he thinks a little more about it. One probably didn't want to see the little hamster running on the wheel behind his eyes for how depressing it would be to see a precious creature like that killing itself in vain.

(Chance)

Chance shifts a little closer to Tori as David's words spill out, the pipe stem bobbing gently between his teeth. He listens without reacting, only giving the occasional grunt of acknowledgment as the story winds its way through. When David finally cuts himself off, the nuwisha exhales smoke slowly through his nose, nodding once.

He tips his chin at Ajax, then back to David, shoulders rolling loose under the leather jacket. "Sounds like Marcus and Omar are too far gone, you though..." He gestures with two fingers, pipe still in hand. "You ran and got info out to people that can help, that means we've got a shot at stopping this from happening again." A little shrug, as though it's just the plain math of it with the others. "You did well, remember that." He glances between Tori and Ajax. "Maybe we let David relax, wash up, get food in him. We can take the rest outside, figure next steps while letting him relax."

(Ajax) "Hold on, why would they stop chasing him now? Our work to protect David hasn't ended here," Ajax protests quickly.

(Tori) "Omar is.. kinda confused but alright." Tori explains to Chance with a touch of her hand to his arm. "We uh.. had a little cleansing chat with him. It was.. enlightening, I think. He felt a lot better by the end of it all. Although if they picked him up again.." She glances to Ajax, clearly uncertain on that point.

"But yes." Tori agrees as she gets back to the point at hand. "Some food, some rest.. both of those are important."

(Medina) "You're right, I didn't!" David looks to Tori with urgency, grateful to have his perception validated. One can only imagine, it's exactly what he needs to hear.

When Ajax pulls a thoughtful Mister Horse and presumably finaly decides that no sir, he doesn't like it, David jumps onto his contribution with abrupt conviction. "Both of them! Both of them, I think! Because I got the meds at Bayshore! I think!" And then he realizes he needs to rewind, so he does: "After I ran, I didn't go back. To anywhere. Because if my family knows about it what happens to them? So you know, of course, I stopped taking the pills they gave me because I was afraid if I went home they'd get me. Hijole, man. I was sick for days, sweating, shaking, couldn't sleep, but once that stuff was out of my system I started thinking upright again, you know? Remember things better they tried to make me forget. So they're both in on it! For sure, man, this is some MK-Ultra shit!" He announces his conclusions with conviction, lifting his head to look at each of them in rapidfire succession. "Government mind control experiments, but with corporations doing it instead!"

His eyes dart between Ajax and Chance, talk of food and rest. "Do I stay here?" When he asks that, Demaris makes a reluctant face and shakes her head with some worried urgency, silently asking the room to find elsewhere to stash him, if at all possible.

David looks to Chance, and tries to help him refine his target. "I think Bayshore doesn't know what horrible shit is going on at Gulf Coast, you know? They gotta be puppets, without knowing it. Because Bayshore's just, like, you go there for little things, uh, my cousin's sister goes there cause she's going through a divorce and SHE's normal, it's straightened her out. The /fucked/ things happen at Gulf Coast, it's on Sheldon Road. And Doctor Desphande, that's her name, the one they wanted to refer me to."

(Chance)

Chance tips his pipe in a little salute toward David, smoke curling in the cramped space. "Yeah, hermano. You stay here a bit, relax. Wash up, eat, get your feet back under you. You've been running long enough, take a minute that's yours and get use to feeling safe again." His amber eyes hold steady on the man, nodding once, slow, to underline the point.

He rises then, leather creaking as he shoulders his pack again. A hand hooks the RV door open, letting a draft of outside air slip in. Glancing back at Ajax and Tori, he motions them toward the door with a small tilt of his head. His voice drops lower, softer, meant for just them. "We can talk more outside Ajax, give David the space to settle." He shifts his pipe between his fingers, grin flickering as he steps halfway out. "Let him rest while we figure the next move without stressing him out with our conversation."

(Ajax) Ajax is looking like he's starting to make his mind up about what to do...but he's just not quite 'there' yet. He reaches out and puts his hand on David's shoulder -- and on Demaris'. "We'll convince Jeff it'll only be for a little while. We'll get this sorted fast. We just have to figure out what to do, outside," echoing Chance's suggestion that they travel out there to hash it out. He doesn't really seem to be picking up on Demaris's reluctance, or in effect he's just trying to steamroll it anyway.

(Tori) "We won't be long." Tori looks over to Demaris and promises her. "And then we'll all.." her gaze flickers over to include David in that before back to Demaris. "Get out of your hair." She takes a deep breath before heading for the door.

"Do ou have any of the pills left, David?" Tori asks, pausing in her steps as if she just thought of it. "I'm glad your cousin's sister is getting some help and that Bayshore is alright. That's good at least."

(Medina) David stands up like he intends to follow, but then his hands stay on the tabletop. Demaris gives Ajax a stressed smile that communicates her subservience to the Garou, and once he lets her shoulder go she moves to the door to open it for the lot of them, but her face is a quiet 'lord have mercy'.

"You gotta be careful, man," David insists, "they're bigger than us! They put this shit right in front of us, okay? The X-Files, all those movies about government experiments, they're putting it right in front of our noses and telling everyone it's make-believe to fuck with us, make us look crazy! That takes people and connections to laugh at us like that! It's bigger than us!"

As Tori asks if he has any pills left, he pauses, his chest tightening with an answer before he gives it, lips parted in hesitation. Then: "Probably, it's in my kitchen drawer. I live by the Quick Fix off Telephone, you know Skylane? I don't wanna go back there right now, man, but it's those apartments, I'm in unit 30, um, but I got jumped and I don't got my keys no more."

(Medina) Outside, Medina has Molly's van already winched onto the flatbed wrecker. He's spent the time getting it loaded up, secured, and covered in a tarp, and his movements are abrupt and frustrated as he completes the tie-downs to make sure the shit won't budge or reveal a scrap of his cargo once he drives it off elsewhere.

(Tori) Emerging out of the RV, Tori and Chance come down the steps and the former at least is quiet for a moment. At least until the door closes and then she sighs. "Poor David. He has to be so very scared." She reaches over for Chance's hand and then notes. "He can stay at my apartment, it's not like I"m there much, but its going to be unknown and reasonably secure."

(Chance) Chance nods as he takes Tori's hand and shrugs, "We might want to make sure it's someplace we have a lot of protection, if the apartment, we should stay there to watch him and it." Shrugging a little he nods in the direction of Medina and says, "Maybe we see if here is best? Or... Maybe Juniper?" Giving her a wink there is a soft hipcheck and then he's leading the way over as he calls out, "Where did Molly go anyways? Did you scare her off?" Laughing softly he adds, "You good with David hiding out here or should we find him a safe house?"

(Medina) Medina whips around. Every fiber of his aura is distinctly unwelcoming, and he watches Chance with an unkind stare before some scrap of self-awareness makes him break his gaze. He draws in a silent breath and collects himself, more or less, dedicating his attention to the apparent couple. "Don't know, probably home," he answers. When he's asked if David can hide out here, his jaw tenses, teeth setting together. "Does he work? This is a business. There's a bed here, but this place never closes. He'll be in the way."