Drew steps in before Kaz, peeling off her coat as she glances around the rec-room. She blinks at Vicki for a disoriented moment before focusing. "They're... suspicious, at the moment. Think they're being careful with me, as a new employee." The kinswoman shrugs, making a beeline for the food.

Kaz wanders in after Drew, plunking down a six pack of beer over in the food area, and then grabbing a chair. She and Dena briefly introduce themselves, then Kaz blinks at Drew. "Suspicious? What, they do high security shit?"

"Not really," Drew murmurs, reaching reflexively for a beer before stopping herself. "They just won't let me near the patients--I'm in the back working with meds, most of the time."

John gives the new arrivals a slightly curious look, before closing the door. "Has everyone met?" he calls into the rec room.

The door's barely closed before there's another knock on it, firm but quick, slightly odd.

John turns his head a little to peer at the monitor, frowns mildly, and then opens the door again. He's obviously considering leaving it open as he stands a little to one side to let the new arrival in. "Food and Tribesmate in the rec room." he grunts.

Vicki nods. "I know everyone here."

Drew gets herself a plateful of food before perching on the edge of the couch. She offers a tiny smile in Dena's direction and bobs her head.

The sound of footsteps can be heard down the sidewalk, soon revealing Jeremy's form as he calls out. "Hey! Hold the door!" Pant Pant, wheeeeeze. Poor kid is no marathon runner.

Dena quirks a grin at Drew. "Evening."

Kaz peers at Drew. "What, you're trained, ain't you?"

Drew nods towards Kaz, munching daintily. "They say they don't need anyone else patrolling the patients. Like I said... suspicious. Only other thing I've gotten a chance t'do is mobility rehab in the children's ward."

Bernie edges in with some difficulty, given that she's got a couple rather large pizza boxes balanced. Probably why her knock sounded odd. She flashes John a quick grin of greeting and a nod of acknowledgement before she spots the food and heads there first, setting her boxes down and claiming one of the beers before looking around for a seat. "Hey," she greets the room at large, with a little wave.

John holds the door open for Jeremy, rolling his eyes a little. "You have a key." he mutters, sourly, as the kin boy approaches.

"Well, that's some progress, 'least." Kaz breaks off to shout, "Bern!" and then goes right back to talking to Drew. "So, what, that's like 3 weeks you been there?"

Jeremy huffs and puffs a bit as he heads inside, giving a brief smile to John. "Thank you tho'." He glances around, then starts making his way to the stairs, wiggling his fingers to everyone slightly.

Matthew knocks on the outside door quietly before so much as attempting to intrude.

Drew nods to Kaz, glancing curiously in Bernie's direction. "Three or four, tops."

The front door's swinging madly... John gives Matthew a quick look up and down, trying to measure him up. "I know you." he states, and waits for elaboration from the man, looking at him curiously.

Matthew looks back at John as he slips into the room. "Matthew Granza," he offers by way of explanation. "I've been in town a while..."

Jeremy walks up the stairs, to the second story of the building.

Bernie grins at her Alpha and picks her way across the room to claim an arm of the chair the Galliard's in, and perch there, leaning against the side of the back. "Mama Kaz," she greets her mischievously in return, and opens her drink.

John looks enlightened, briefly, and closes the door firmly. He eyes it balefully for a minute, as if daring it to be knocked upon. "Kin in the winery. Right." he notes, to the latest arrival, before turning and gesturing to the rec room. "Food and seats." Striding that way himself, he adds a little more loudly, "And don't take too much time, it looks like we're already getting into things."

Matthew nods, quietly heading in the appropriate direction. Argue? Him? Pfah.

Kaz scooches over, giving Bernie the now-traditional dirty look, though it's well leavened with a grin. "So, well, yeah," she says to Drew, "Progress gets made slowly. Wish I knew how Loughlin was doin', with shit..."

A couple of solitary raps sound on the door. The Shadow Lord looks around him furtively. This isn't exactly his neighborhood, after all.

John simply glares at the door for a moment, and then moves over to the monitor next to the door. Not recognizing the man, he hits the intercom and grunts, "What do you want?" Not in the most friendly manner.

Jarred's eyes are expressionless. "Is Kaz in there?"

It doesn't move John much. "Yeah. Got a name, stranger?"

Jarred nods once. "Jarred Aerhardt. This your place?"

John grunts, "Yeah." then adds in a superficially light tone, "Please hold." and moves to the rec room doorway. "Kaz. You know a Jarred Aerhardt?"

Kaz blinks toward the door. "Yeah, yeah, he's cool. Shadow Lord, all that stuff. Figured he might have some good suggestions."

Vicki gets up long enough to help herself to some of the food, before reclaiming her seat.

Bernie's eyes narrow a little, and she leans quietly back into the cushioned rear of the chair, sipping her beer.

From afar, Jarred laughs, imitating the Empreror. "The hate is SWELLING in you now, my young apprentice..."

Pack> Kaz says "Don' be bitin' him /yet/."

John winces instinctively, before moving slowly back to the door and opening it. He looks the Shadow Lord up and down, then gestures towards the lobby exit, and the rec room, with his head. "Food and a few extra chairs in the rec room." he greets, perfunctorily.

Matthew snags something to eat quickly and settles into an appropriate chair.

Pack> Bernie's thought feels uncharacteristically cool, though not hostile. "I'm not. Yet."

Jarred walks briskly past the Glass Walker, eyes already probing the room's interior. He skips the food, instead heading directly for an empty seat. Once seated, he leans back, leveling a short gaze at each of the room's occupants. His eyes register recognition for most, though not all.

Pack> Kaz says "Th' 'yet' part's th' important part."

Dena clears her throat, gently. "Is there anyone who knows the general history the Garou have with the hospital? What they've done, working with it? What they've scouted? I'm rather curious."

John closes the door once more, and begins to move into the rec room. Standing in the doorway, he's got a view of everyone, and clears his throat fairly pointedly. Nodding to Dena, he says firmly, "Someone does, but before we get started, I'd like to know everyone who just entered my home." ...putting just a little emphasis on the last two words. "We don't all know each other, so let's get some introductions done now." He looks pointedly at Jarred.

Jarred smiles politely. "But of course. I must have been momentarily confused by your muted hostility at the door. Clearly, I should have announced my rank, title and breed there on your doorstep where the whole of St. Claire might have heard me. I'm Jarred Aerhardt, called Storm-Singer and occasionally Song-of-Fury, Cliath Galliard, and tribal elder of my tribe at the Hidden Walk." The smile then vanishes.

Pack> Bernie mocks, mentally, "Called many other things, too, but I generally don't admit to them when I'm trying to make myself look big. Grr. Am I impressing you yet?"

John mutters lowly, in a bored tone, "Don't be a smartass. It's counter-productive."

Cheerfully, Kaz adds, "And he's in a mood." She glances around at the room. "I /think/ everyone knows me, yeah?"

Matthew looks up and nods. "Oh yes," he says quietly.

Dena admits to knowing Kaz, since they just introduced each other two minutes ago, but adds, to Jarred, and to several of the Kin, "Hello. I'm Ardenas Kytheras Kostenas, but good lord, call me Dena. Serendipity's Shadow, to the Garou, and a few other names. Black Fury ahroun. New to the area, obviously."

Drew clears her throat quietly and raises her hand, schoolgirl-like. "I'm Drew, for those of you that don't know me. Gnawer Kin, and I work at the hospital." She ducks her head and glances down, uncharacteristically shy.

Vicki looks up. "I'm Vicki. Strider Kin. Worked at the Hospital for just over a year."

Matthew glances around and offers, next, "Matthew Granza. City Farmer-sponsored Walker kin. Botanist-on-call for the Avalon Hills winery north of here."

Since it seems to be sort of going around the room, now, Bernie takes that as her cue. "Hi, I'm Bernie, and I'm a.... wait, wrong meetin'." She cracks something between a smirk and smile, and goes on, "Bernie Rosenberg, Stomps-Th'-Wyrm-With-Steeltoed-Boots, Raggie Gnawer Cliath, hi."

John looks around, and finishes the introductions off with, "And my name's John. Smith. Walker Ahroun." He leans in the doorway, folding his arms, and carries on, "And I've invited people here to talk about what we can possibly do regarding the blight in the hospital." He lifts a hand to point at Dena. "Dena had a good question, is there anyone with answers? From what I've heard, I think Vicki should give her side first, though."

Quietly, Kaz inserts, "You can call him Walks Thin Ice. Or a buncha other stuff, most of which I don't trot out for just /any/ occasion."

Jarred casts a bemused glance at Kaz's remark.

Drew puts a hand over her mouth and bites her lip.

Whereas John just gets a slightly pained look.

Dena tries to hold onto her patience, and looks to Vicki.

Bernie grins slightly, hiding it with her drink, and awaits the summary.

Vicki shrugs and rubs at one of her arms selfconciously. "Don't know how much I can tell you really. I came to St. Claire because I was offered a job at the Hospital. It was pretty messed up from the beginning. I tended to keep my mouth shut. Especially after one guy started complaining and mysteriously 'quit'. After awhile I started working with Collin and some of the Walkers do do something about the hospital. I did what I could to poke around and attracted some unwanted attention while I was at it. Unfortunatally, I didn't find out anything particularly useful." The woman takes a deep breath. "There is the research wing, but I couldn't get near it. Always had security people around, to make certain that you couldn't get in without authorization. Only Dr. Makray and his underlings were allowed in, from what I could gather. The Doctor was a vampire. I found out by accident, when he killed the woman next too me. I haven't gone near the hospital since."

Jarred nods. "I would think not, with two small children..."

John prompts quietly, "And the police officer, Vicki?"

Drew looks down at her clasped hands as Vicki speaks, frowning faintly. "Research wing," she mutters under her breath, mostly to herself.

Vicki rubs at the back of her neck. "I've been away from the hospital for a long time, wasn't even pregnant when I left." She shrugs. "I made some videos while I was there as well. We tried to make a news story out of it, but it was squished. Never made it to the air and the fired a number of people, but that's about it." She glances up at John. "Yea, while I was still working at the Hospital and police officer that lived in my building began monitoring my place. After the vampire was killed, he disappeared from view. Dante and Joanne went to see what he was up to and found that he was very, very, sick. They preformed something called a Rite of Cleansing and he got better after that. He's still in the building and seems normal enough. I don't think he remember much, though."

John nods quietly, and looks to Drew, pointedly. "Be /very/ careful." he murmurs.

Dena rolls her eyes.

Matthew listens thoughtfully, following along as best he can.

Jarred looks up. "You say some people lost their jobs. Any management, or were they mainly technical positions and administrative?"

Drew runs a hand back through her hair, offering Vicki a wordless smile of gratitude before focusing on the conversation again.

Vicki shrugs. "The leech was management. I'm not certain, honestly. Everyone was pretty well fucked up as far as I could tell. Doped, or something. One of the supervisors did try to tell me something at one point, but 'hung herself' before I had the opportunity to speak with her."

Jarred says "Sounds like the place might be beyond redemption. If it were just a few of the upper level staff, we could take them out, clean as a whistle, then work within the hospital to cleanse it."

John looks at Kaz, now. "Anyone still around who'd remember fighting what was ther-- nevermind. Pointless now. They left the place as it was, thinking they'd finished the job with the leech, I'm guessing." He rumbles lowly, "It /would/ be nice to get an idea of what the place is like, Umbrally, but you only have to look at the realm-side to see that's not a good idea. S'lit up like a beacon."

Drew swallows and glances to the six-pack on the table across the room.

Kaz grunts. "I dunno, Elan might know some shit. But he's, like, not around enough to spit at, let alone talk to." She shakes her head. "If we're gonna clear it, though, we gotta at least /look/ Umbral, sometime. That revel that whupped some butt there, it wasn't any kinda investigation, nothin'."

Vicki shifts a little. "From what I was told, some very nasty things were found in the leech's house." The kinswoman frowns for a moment. "Piotr, Collin, and Sepdet. If I remember correctly, they were the ones that scouted his house out originally."

Jarred nods to Kaz. "The revel was a waste, for the most part. We didn't even scratch the surface there."

"Yeah, no shit," agrees Kaz. "But like, the cavalry didn't come til later. I think there'd be time t'do a couple real quick scoutin' things, in certain spots, t'get an idea of shit. If we had th' right talens f'th' job. 'Cause the Realm side's important, but so's th' otherside."

Jarred shrugs at Kaz. "Send in the Ragabash, then. They've been itching for something to do, lately."

John clears his throat. "I had a few rough plans to deal with this, actually, but I need Theurges for it. And a little manpower. Plus a few people on the inside. I've got a few of those, so an evaluation would be handy, too."

Jarred glances to Dena at the word 'manpower' with a slight smirk.

Matthew leans back in his seat and listens.

Drew looks a little lost, but is quick to narrow her eyes at Jarred.

Dena gives Jarred an innocent look. Then, back to John, she says, "What, as in, fighters? What's the general idea?"

John straightens up a little, still leaning against the doorway to the room. "Not simple fighting. We'd get creamed. But brawlers in case people get in trouble, or the unpredictable happens. The general idea is something of a two-pronged attack, but guerilla tactics - much the same as the sewers. Just more subtle. For the realmside, I'd like to get a few Garou on staff - preferably night shift, even maintenance - with the Rite of Cleansing. That's just icing on the cake. The real work, umbrally, largely requires a mass of offensive talens, and fighters to let 'em loose and back out if need be. And most importantly, I want to see if there's any way we can - realmside - investigate that sealed-up wing, and root around after management. Information's still scant, and that's the most important part of any battle plan. Being informed, or failing that, versatile."

Bernie's brows furrows, and she nibbles her bottom lip lightly, considering the problem. A sealed up, highly private research wing. Hmm.

"So what d'you want from me?" Drew levels a look at John from her seat, arching a brow grimly.

Dena sits up in her chair, slightly. "Hm." She doesn't say much more than that, at the moment.

Jarred says "Forgive my crass thought process, but why not just obliterate the hospital with a gas-main explosion, then rebuild a nice shiny new one with all the right people in charge?"

Vicki winces. "There are a lot of people in the hospital."

Matthew says "That's going to be remarkably subtle and easy to explain... especially once the BATF arrive for inspections."

Jarred raises a brow and shrugs a bit. "Acceptable tactical losses, given the circumstances."

John tilts his head at Dena, looking at her consideringly. "A private word, actually." Looking to the others, he frowns mildly. "You can brainstorm well enough amongst yourselves. There's more than enough to think about there, and with your combined knowledge, I'd like to see some possible names for people we can use, and maybe even some dates for investigations." Lowering his tone of voice, John adds darkly to Jarred. "I will see that place burn, Jarred. But /after/ it is clean enough that we don't merely scatter the filth inside to the four corners of the city."

"Why is that a problem? Christ, ain't you people never heard of urban terrorism?" Kaz snorts. "Bet you ten bucks /they/ have."

Dena tilts her head at John. "Hm?" She rises to her feet. "Why?"

Vicki eyes Jarred, even if she fails to speak up.

Matthew rubs at his nose slightly. "All *I* know," he murmurs, "is that it didn't take them long to find your Mr. McVeigh and nail him to the wall. . ." Then he goes quiet.

Jarred adds, "Hell, the Oklahoma City Bombing was planned by a bunch of stoned Get of Fenris. People erect a nice little shrine and in a few months, no one's the wiser. Case closed."

John just lifts a finger to beckon, to the Adren. "It's a slightly sensitive matter." he notes, and straightens up, ready to head into the lobby.

The Walker Ahroun merely lets the others squabble.

Dena eyes the room dubiously, then follows after John.

Drew watches the pair leave with a narrow-eyed glance before standing up from her seat on the couch. "Anyone here got a cell phone?"

Jarred pulls one out.

Kaz hands Drew hers, as well.

Bernie pulls one out as well, almost sheepishly.

Jarred shakes his head, chuckling to himself.

Drew blinks, and eventually setlles on taking Kaz's, with a tiny smile. "Thanks, babe," she rasps, before retreating to a back corner of the rec-room and punching in a few numbers.

Jarred looks over to Kaz, incredulously. "Babe?"

Kaz just grins at him. "We're close."

Jarred gives a mock-conspiratorial nod. "Ah."

Bernie's phone disappears back somewhere around the level of her pockets, without comment, and she returns to sipping and thinking silently. Not too useful for group brainstorming, alas.

Matthew finishes off his drink and looks around with a slightly bewildered expression.

Drew ducks her head, murmuring lowly into the cell phone. She ignores the others in the rec room for now, pacing back and forth slowly along the far wall.

Matthew says "Is this the bit where I go home, or...?"

Kaz blinks. "Awright. Yeah. Matthew, whatcha doin' here, anyways? You wanna volunteer?"

Drew snaps the phone shut with a sigh, pacing back to Kaz and handing it over. "I gotta go," she murmurs to nobody in particular. Her gaze is distracted as she gathers up her coat.

Matthew shrugs. "I'm not sure there's much I *can* volunteer for. I'd stick out like a sore thumb in the hospital. I can... pass messages, and I can do first aid, and I can keep large stacks of paper with all kinds of information on them in neatly organised piles. And I can provide alcohol to future meetings."

Kaz gives Drew a worried look. "Everythin' ok?" She nods to Matthew. "Yeah, ok, those work. An' you can brainstorm with us, too."

Matthew mms, and nods.

"I'm fine," the kinswoman mutters, almost curtly. She shrugs into her coat and moves for the door.

Kaz says, "Uh-huh," in a vaguely worried tone of voice, and adds, "See ya."

Vicki frowns, as she watches Drew head out the door. "Take care, okay."

Drew looks apologetic as she glances over her shoulder at Kaz. "Call me, okay? I want the run-down on what else happened tonight." She gives Vicki a nod, and then walks out into the lobby.

Dena remains talking to John, quietly. Kaz, eventually, nudges Bernie, says, "I gotta go patrol, hey? Might be back if I can." She grabs a sandwich or two for later and starts wandering out.

Matthew glances at his watch. "I should probably head home... You have my phone number, right? Anyone who needs it?"

Kaz stops, and says, "Oh, dude, you got mine, right? 'Cause you're doin' stuff for the Watch, yeah?"

Matthew says "I think so, yes."

Bernie nods, and pushes to her feet as well, tossing the now empty can away as she passes a handy trashcan. "I'll come with, 's lookin' like this's pretty much windin' down, for now. Plus, I'm pretty sure t'nights onea mine anyhow, innit?" She reviews a mental calendar, and shrugs.

Kaz almost crosses her eyes, thinking. "Uh. Yeah. You're doin' it after me. So we can just do stuff t'gether. Yeah, so Matthew, thanks. An' Vicki, call me up sometime, I gots news for you, I think."

Vicki nods. "Alright," she answers quietly.

"Rock." Kaz snags another mini-sandwich, and heads out.

Matthew nods, waves, and slips out himself.