Hotel 66(private)

Well, given the circumstances at hand, it was clear enough that’d they wouldn’t get anything worthwhile without forking over more money. Which he would rather not have to do right away. One way or another, they didn’t have anything else to use as a leverage, given that neither of them were in for the criminal life. Not actively in any way at least. Though to be honest, why would something like that even be assumed by default just because one was a visitor here? A murdered who came by could be a complete novice with drugs, and vice versa. Same went for the other types of crimes. Sure, a few dabbled in everything, but the majority was likely only knowledgeable about the things they personally did.

He’d shrug casually, after having given it a bit of thought. “Well, that is indeed a shame. Maybe we’ll check by later though…” It wasn’t worth it at the current moment. They could look themselves first, and besides even if they did get the werewolf to tell them whether he has seen any vampire and where they headed…? Depending on where they went, they might not be able to get to them anyway, and if they were wandering the halls, they’d find them in time even without being told.

As for the drugs…they could still hope to ask directly about what they were after, but that was kind of a last resort, especially if the man knew and wasn’t keen on mentioning it because it could get them in a bit of trouble on spot. It was an option for later were they to find absolutely no other lead though. “Let’s go look around more first, shall we..?”

They were such a sad mismatch. While he didn’t expect the vampire to be swooping in to save the day like a hero, they definitely looked like an odd pair. How many quiet and meek people came around here? Well, maybe those who did so out of necessity, but they wouldn’t be the kind of people to walk around and chit chat with the dealers and the like. He was hoping that nobody would question why the two of them were together. They currently gave a night and day impression with their attitudes, that was for sure.

“Well…if the only ones with open doors are going to be sellers like that, we might not find anything here…” Not without shilling a lot of money at least, and taking quite a risk. “Do you suppose the guy would get mad if we were to ask him about the drug directly…?” Once they got back of course, assuming they did not stumble upon a miraculous clue beforehand, of course.

“Whether he’s normally selling it or not is probably not the point anyway…I don’t think it was any of the ones he listed. If he does own it, it’s probably not something he’s offering to whoever passes by. It’s not like you can really use it for a good reason…” He’d shrug there. Maybe the man had it, maybe he didn’t. “Even if he doesn’t have it, he might know about it at least, which would require conversation rather than putting him to sleep…” Aka, the most tricky thing of them all.

“I’d mostly be worried over him not wanting to assist vampires, and especially given this drug is against them…I could maybe try to bluff a good reason by myself, but with a full vampire in tow, I don’t think he’d take anything I say seriously.” After all, at the end of the day, one would expect him to have to choose who to side with. You can’t be both on the vampire and werewolf side given they were against each other. It was impossible to pretend if he was hanging out with vampires while trying to though. He’d make a laugh out of himself that way. There wasn’t much else he could think of though. Go back by himself and act like he was with the vampire only because he had to and snuck away to talk for real? Yeah right…

“If he doesn’t want to tell us anything, he’s not going to do it just because of a sedative. Unless you carry something like a truth serum on you, I don’t think it makes a difference as to whether he’s awake or not.” Most likely, he’d want to say even less if they tried dirty methods to coerce him. Unless he believed they’d kill him for not cooperating or something and even that was a question, but to do that here? That’d just be dangerous for anyone who doesn’t want any traces or witnesses, and the man probably knew as much.

He’d rub at the bridge of his nose with a huff. “To be fair, it’s questionable either way. The main issue is probably that those who do know about the drug or even have it would be leery of saying anything to a vampire. Which doesn’t exactly rule me out anyway.” Maybe he’d have a slightly better chance, but he wouldn’t have an easy time proving it to people like these. “If we come across someone who can’t tell what we are easily, then it technically shouldn’t matter. I suppose it’s up to you whether you want to risk splitting up or not…..” He had no issue with handling himself, but there was also the fact that if either of them got held up or into trouble, meeting back up might become troublesome. He wasn’t about to get himself killed, however separating could put a dent in their teamwork were something to go wrong.

“Somehow…I doubt that a werewolf wouldn’t know about that. Unless he’s clueless despite being in a business like this, he probably wouldn’t go staring a vampire in the eye for long.” That’d be far too easy, he was sure of that. Maybe if they caught someone who didn’t have any reason to know enough about vampires to be aware of such a trick, but a werewolf? Someone like that was almost guaranteed to know of it, and doubly so given the type of business he was dealing in here. Can never be too careful doing this not so legal type of trading. “Maybe it’d be a more lucky try with someone else though…” At least theoretically.

Either way, he really wasn’t paying a lot of mind to what the vampire was feeling about this. Being capable of it did not mean he had to do it all the time. It could be tricky seeing as he had to kind of focus on people when conversing with them, but that did not mean he had absolutely no control over it. Right now, it wasn’t something he wanted to bother with on top of all the other things, and besides, he was aware that it’d be sort of rude to constantly do that.

“Well, if you’re not with me, then yes they probably would….” Outside of the few who weren’t familiar enough with vampires. That being said, while he could put up appearance illusions, it wouldn’t work were they to be away from each other, so there was that to consider. Though if they kept running into people who could tell what they were simply by scent, then luck wasn’t going to be on their side anyway. He’d shrug. “Anyway, I suppose it technically is safer, assuming we don’t just sabotage each other.” They weren’t exactly in tune when it came to this type of work, apparently. He wasn’t sure how to feel about the fact that the guy suggested to come to this place for investigation, but wasn’t quite acting like he knew what he was doing. If that was the case, maybe they would have been better off not having come around immediately with no preparations. In a way it was amusing, but he also hoped he wouldn’t have to regret telling the vampire about this.

His expression would fall into a mild displeased frown at the mention of hypnotizing people. “….I can, but….” He didn’t really want to. That was one of the things he did not enjoy doing, and it was not his style either. He preferred making people talk in a more natural way, rather than just resorting to basically playing puppeteer. There was no real accomplishment behind that. He’d sigh. “I normally try not to do it, but if I really have to, I suppose I could.” He’d consider it a distasteful choice of action to take with people right away, but he couldn’t say no if the other wanted to. It’d be a little unfair of him to ask the guy to risk more than he was willing to in a situation like this, albeit he would have thought someone working at the school ought to be able to handle that too.

When the subject changed to spreading rumors around the school, he’d raise an eyebrow with a vague shrug. “Why would people be interested in some rumors about you anyway…? That said, is there a reason why it’d be such a problem? It’s not like you’re doing this because you’re actually interested in murder or becoming a drug addict….” He didn’t exactly see the big deal, as long as information didn’t get twisted around, of course. In all seriousness however, he had no real intention of saying anything, unless it became important for some reason. He was never the one to gossip just because he could. When he brought matters up, it was because they were of important enough relevance to whatever was being currently discussed or dealt with. It was rare for him to speak of this type of stuff without any good reason prompting it.

That conversation aside, it would seem they weren’t the only ones hanging around the halls, as there was a roguish looking man leaning against the wall in the direction they were heading to. The guy had been staring at a lit match in his hand, but seemed to have noticed them coming that way, looking towards them with passing interest now. Great…though maybe someone who wasn’t just a business-minded seller would be a better person to talk to…? Who knew. Whoever this guy was, he was an odd one. Dressed like what you’d expect from a homeless pickpocket on the streets, with a few colorful feathers pinned to his hair like a makeshift hat, and playing around with a flame on a match? Perfectly presentable…except not so much?

“Anyway…do we plan to talk to everyone we pass..?”

“I feel like it would have been a lot harder to feign interest in those services…” And a lot harder to go roundabout with questions and try to switch topics to what they wanted instead. Looking interested in trying out drugs was easier than pretending to want to pay for a one night stand of sorts. For a bunch of reasons. Regardless, this guy right here…

Well, at the very least he seemed to be in the mood to converse, based on the wide grin they received after the vampire had addressed him. “Hey there fellas. Haven’t seen you lot ‘round here before. Ya new?” …and it seemed like he was probably a regular enough visitor who paid attention to other customers. Either that, or it was his pick up line for a talk and didn’t mean anything for real. It was hard to tell with these ‘cheery’ seeming, talkative types. It could easy be a façade, which he’d definitely be willing to believe, given the kind of place they were at.

Hm. He’d give the roguish man a side eye. “You could say we don’t come here that often…”