new orleans ♔ so everybody just follow me cuz we need a little controversy

[starfucker]

♬ Rock and Roll Lifestyle - Cake

WHO || Martha, Des, Finnick, Kat, Dumage [closed]
WHAT || The Knights check out NOVA Records to try and find out more information about co-owner Chad Becksworth and his connection to the Brotherhood of the Enlightenment/Jade/the Talisman
WHERE || NOVA Records HQ, New Orleans, LA
WHEN || Tuesday, May 1st, 2012; daytime
HOW || Actionspam

[ The offices of NOVA Records seem to be a hoppin' place.  Fancy dressed execs and stylish people who look important and wear hoity sunglasses stream in and out of the glass doors, and no one seems to pay the group any particular mind when they walk into the large, spacious white lobby.  A large square pool dominates this side of the room, the NOVA label emblazoned on the tiles below the water.   A side staircase leads to an upper balcony, but most traffic seems to be to and from the elevator banks on the right side of the room, and into the hallways back behind the large black front desk.  

At the desk sits a redheaded secretary, with perfectly curled long hair and too-red lipstick.   A security guard stands against the wall behind her, staring straight ahead, a gun visible on his hip.  ] 

Comments

[nothingsodivine]

Don't be so dramatic. It's pop stardom. No one will even care about you in a month. [God, Finnick. Way to be a bitch.

He side-eyes Kat.] Should I really be alone with you?

[aproperdoctor]

[Martha just sort of raises an eyebrow at...everything.] I'll bet you five quid his office is magically booby-trapped.

[God this mission is like the continuing adventures of Martha's uselessness.]

[shootfirst]

[ Kat fixes Des with a frightening smile. ] Why? You scared of me? [ She hits the open doors button on the next floor down ] Booby traps, I can handle. And he'll bounce back, or something.

[ She flounces out into the hall. ]

[aproperdoctor]

[Useless or not, Martha's going with Kat.] Yeah, that was sort of the implication there. Hell if I'm going to underestimate you.

[postergirl]

You lot have fun. [ She twines herself around Finnick's arm and presses herself to his side in the elevator. They'll be allll alone >:) ]

[nothingsodivine]

[Des blinks at Martha... yeah, he's a dick and forgot she was there. Go team. He shakes it off and turns back to glare at Kat.] Oh, I can't wait to see an expert at work.

[65]

Good luck. [He bades them farewell with a half-wave and looks down at Dumage on his side. ... welp, it can't be any worse than Burt.]

[shootfirst]

Must be a change from what you see in the mirror. [ she just throws that over her shoulder, heading down the long hallway. There are no doors to the left, just like above, but instead of one desk out here leading into any office, there are three doors. The first she glances into via a little glass window inset there - anyone else who looks in would just seem a conference room with a large round boring table that doesn't have a cool ass dragon statue in it.

The second door she stops at triumphantly, since it says "OFFICES OF CHAD BECKSWORTH" on the door. She pulls it open boldly and waltzes inside.

There's no receptionist here at the desk at all - in fact, it looks as if whoever worked the desk hasn't been there in awhile. The door to Chad's actual office stands firmly closed (and locked). ]

[nothingsodivine]

Please do try to pull this crap off better than what I just did in there. I dare you. [Poor Martha. This is pretty much a preview of What's Yet To Come in the adventures of... this.

He walks into Chad's office and whistles.]

Looks like Chad really is in Fiji.

[shootfirst]

[ with a mighty roll of her eyes, she heads over to the locked interior door, and gives des a sickeningly sweet smile, rapping on it with a knuckle. ]

Open sesame.

[ to a canny observer (wis check 14 or more), there's a tiny charge in the air at her words, as if there were a noise being made just outside one's frequency, and then the door simply creaks open of its own accord invitingly. looking quite smug, she waltzes straight in, though she holds up her hand for them to not follow her quite yet.

a few steps inside, without even hitting the light switch, she closes her eyes, and spreads her palms out in front of her. ]

Aura Dectum.

[ several moments pass, before she squinches her eyes together, and then peeks one open, looking disappointed. then she looks back over her shoulder and gestures for them to come in. ]

Magic-free. Maybe I shouldn't be surprised, from a guy who's a professed Shadowhater. [ she snorts, and flicks the lights on, revealing the austere, simple white room that serves as Chad's office. Some records line the wall here as well, but set in rigid order over one case, with little space between them. Most of the furniture is leather, and the desk boasts a lamp and a powered down computer, with a minimum of locked file cabinets. ]

[nothingsodivine]

[Wis check 18. MMMM. SMELL THAT MAGICKY OZONE. Des strolls in and immediately goes to one of the cabinets. Locked. Beautiful.] Okay, Sabrina, why don't you work that mojo on one of these suckers. See what Chad's hiding in here.

[shootfirst]

Glad to see picking locks is beyond your bag of tricks. [ She takes a moment to deliberate over which cabinet drawer to open, before settling for one slightly below the middle. With another quick rap, it springs open, and she shoots him a grin. ]

At least tell me you can read. [ She tosses a file in his direction at random (reflex save [DEX check] 13+ to catch it...) Also make general search checks [INT check] for what info they uncover! ]

[nothingsodivine]

Why use a crowbar when the window's open? [He bares his teeth at her in a cheeky grin. He gets a nat 20 dex check, because he apparently suspects that Kat's gonna throw it at him or maybe Kat's righteous fury has been responsible for Des's impossibly good rolls here lately...

But he got a 10 on his search check, because he sucks at calculus.]

[aproperdoctor]

[Wis roll 11. Martha fails at noticing things, sob. AT LEAST SHE DIDN'T SET ANYTHING ON FIRE WITH HER FAILURE.

You know what Chad needs in his office? A minibar. She is definitely cursing Chad's lack of a minibar right now, because she needs it to cope with Des and Kat. Mostly Des, because she likes Kat.

15 search check! Finally, a roll that isn't horrible. She thinks about booting up the computer, but reckons it's probably password-protected, so she just joins Kat at the filing cabinet, flipping through the files.]

[shootfirst]

[ you both beat kat's 6, since she apparently rapidly losing interest as he shift through a file, making a disgusted face. ]

Who'd have thunk running a major record label would be so boring? [ she drifts away to the computer, not pressing the power button but closing her eyes and laying a hand on it, touching her other index finger to her temple, as if she's communing with the thing. it's very bizarre.

meanwhile, amid the incredibly boring financial documents and memos organized neatly in the file, martha actually finds something worth noting! \o/

there are records neatly kept here of all the artists that chad has signed in the past - a number that was substantially high until january of this year, when it took a sharp turn towards the... nothing. at all. in fact, his management memos towards the artists he already have on board seem to have decreased as well, and most responsibility for them has been artfully delegated to other long term employees of his.

there's evidence of plenty of artists and managers and talent agents who have written to him expressing interest in pursuing a label, but those who he's even bothered to reply to have just gotten polite dismissive form letters. ]

[aproperdoctor]

Huh. [Kat seems to be busy communing with the computer via Vulcan mind-meld or whatever, so Martha turns to Des with her findings, holding out the file.] Looks like Chad hasn't been doing so hot on the business side of things lately. It's like all his interest in things just sort of switched off and his brain went on vacation. To Fiji, or wherever.

[nothingsodivine]

[Des leans over to peer at the file, sticking his tongue in his cheek.] Good one. Only two reasons a guy would do that- woman troubles or he's got 99 other problems and cult might be one.

[He looks up and yells in Kat's direction.]

Hey, Sharpshooter, you done interfacing?

[shootfirst]

[ kat sharply pulls her hand back with a blink, and her eyes seem to refocus from whatever distant place the were a moment ago. she shakes her head slightly. ]

Consider it uploaded. There's some weird stuff in there. It's like... Chad was buying DNA samples. I'll try to get more specifics out of it when we get back, but it's going to take some cracking. And it's given me a splitting headache as is.