GURPS: The Wailing 20s

[SleepingOrange]

May 15, 1926, Baltimore. Called Charm City, Mob Town, The City of Firsts; you'll find out soon enough that each of these names fits, each in its own sinister way.

Our story begins on a boat. The sky is clear, the sun is setting, and a certain party is just starting to get into its swing; mostly high-class people, in contrast to the dingy-but-well-scrubbed fishing boat they're on, laughing and talking and listening to the music. Snappily-dressed men and their flapper arm-candy mill about, nibbling expensive canapes and trading stale jokes; most of the action is going on above deck, but there are a few smaller groups that have slipped below for quieter conversation and closer quarters.

At the bow, a lone saxophonist sits: a number of people have gathered around, clearly impressed by the sheer talent on display; even those not at the bow can hear the mournful tones and bright scales floating across the boat over the murmur of chatter. Nearby, the members of a small jazz ensemble some of you may recognize as The Blue Chaps wait for their turn to take the improvised stage.

Nearby, a large, fat man in a very expensive suit is sipping a red drink of some sort and regaling a group of partyers with what appears to be a story about a time he was in Spain; judging from the watchers, it's either a very interesting story, or he's important enough that it doesn't matter.

Lurking near the stern is a young and bespectacled woman, biting her lip and glancing around; she looks thoroughly uncomfortable, her light wrap pulled tight around her shoulders. Not that far from her is a tall man with an intense face who can only be described as looming; a seagull lands next to him, makes a noise that sounds oddly human for a bird, and proceeds to stare.

The skinny host buzzes around, seeing to his guests and coordinating the food and drink and entertainment. He looks frazzled, and is trying to watch everything at once.

A well-dressed and very attractive young woman appears to have drawn a small crowd of admirers. And their wives, too. The sun is nearly below the horizon now, and the saxophonist's set is coming to an end.

[Schazer]

Martin weaves through the partygoers, greeting his guests with a polite smile and tacit conversation before excusing himself and forging on with the business of making a nice, respectable evening run perfectly to plan; directing a caterer to offer that group a platter; motioning wordlessly from saxophonist to jazz group to signal a changeover; and then a brief word in another caterer's ear to offer Mr Smith a drink as he stepped down and being informed that, yes, there were still plenty of food on board, all organised beforehand, no need to restock later, just as Mr Chambers had requested.

Giving the man a word of thanks, Martin retreats behind the relative seclusion of some sort of trawling equipment and gives himself a moment to think about everyone he'd seen on board tonight, a mental rolecall to check he'd left shore with the people necessary, and not a head more or less. Rubbing his eyes tiredly (just organising this whole affair had been a decent day's work; never mind whatever the night was going to bring) the man adjusts his attire and rejoins the crowd. Glancing over toward his guest, Lisa, thoughfully, Martin makes his way over and greets the nervous young woman with his most charming smile.

"I hope you're enjoying yourself, Miss Adams?" Martin takes the utmost care to face her in a manner that invites the imposing stranger to join the conversation, if he wishes.

[Lisawags]

"Oh, um, yes, sir," Lisa replied hastily, glancing at her watch. Nervously rubbing her hands together, she stared at the crowd for a while and then turned her attention back to her boss. "...Nice weather today, yes?"
Why would a greengrocer have so many customers, she thought.

[Lord Paradise]

Catherine leans on the railing of the boat up near the bow and listens to the saxophonist, clapping with the appropriate degree of enthusiasm at the appropriate times. She's not thinking about much.

[Red Herring]

Hjalmar was standing at the wheel, which was located inside a small cabin at the front of the ship. He gave it the slightest turn every now and then to give the vessel an illusion of direction and purpose - at the very least, it made him feel a little better about using his ship as a party boat. He opened a small locket that hung around his neck, a soft chime beginning to fill the air. He gazed into it with a heavy sigh as he nodded his head up and down: a few more kilometers, he thought, and then I'll go ahead and drop the anchor. When that happened he'd have to go outside.

He was delaying it for as long as he possibly could.

[Godbot]

Ted gives a slow, stiff nod of acknowledgement before turning away from Lisa, Martin and especially the seagull, to rest his hand on the railing and face the sea breeze.

After a long moment, he clenches his fingers around the railing, and glares out of the corner of his eye at the seagull, whose incessant stare is making the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. He clears his throat impatiently and turns to face the ocean again, hoping it will please just go away if he ignores it.

[whoosh!]

Samantha stepped up the music a notch one last time as Mr Chambers signalled her finish, counting the seconds as the composition spiralled inevitably towards its grandiose end. This strange little boat party was by far one of the grandest and most enjoyable sets she'd worked in a long time. The ship itself wasn't as impressive as she'd been hoping, but the people who'd alighted upon it had the undeniable sheen and glamour of the upper classes. The crowd was a joy in itself to watch.

The last notes of her set quickly faded into the darkening sky, upon which note Sam turned her eyes upwards to be rewarded with a faint scattering of the first stars of the night: perfectly timed. She absent-mindedly smiled and tipped her hat to the guests who had gathered to hear her play, returned her saxophone to its worn leather case and left the bow without any real sense of direction. Samantha paused between the islands of conversation created by the clumps of people enjoying them, perhaps a little more uneasy than she would ever admit. This place was too busy for what she wanted to do. A little peace and quiet alone with the stars was all she needed, but the sound of talking (and soon the noise of the jazz band) permeated the river air almost completely. She tightened her grip on the precious saxophone case and began to wander stern-ward in the hope that Fate would smile on her.

[Schazer]

"Hmm, should be quite a fine evening, yes." Martin smiles at her, his polite smile becoming imperceptibly warmer as he admires the disreputable-looking bird that had graced the railing beside them. It was only for the briefest of moments, though, before he's rallied to his usual businesslike demeanour by a round of applause as Samantha left the stage. The pair watch the crowd, the host looking thoughtful. Martin turns to Lisa again. "You enjoyed Miss Smith's set, Lisa?"

[Lisawags]

Lisa eyed the stage and replied with a small smile, "Yes, she was excellent!" Then, she mumbled, "I could never hope to become as good as her." She leaned on the railing and glanced at the bird on the railing briefly before scanning the crowd. "My," she spoke up, "what a crowd."

[Godbot]

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I appreciate you two playing along and trying to find something odd about the bird, but don't force it. You'll start to understand Ted's reaction in the next few posts, and as the story goes on.

Edit: Oh, wait. We have an OOC thread.

[Schazer]

"Yess..." Martin replies with a sharp exhalation, his eyes scanning the deck, wary for a few particular individuals. Conceding Lisa was here at his insistence, and Martin could see quite clearly she was out of her element at an event like this one, he gestures for her to follow as he makes his way to Samantha, clapping slowly but sincerely.

"That was quite an excellent performance, Ms Smith - again, my immeasurable thanks that you could perform for us tonight. I confess, being an uncouth type of man who fails to follow popular music, I could only go on recommendation... but you certainly didn't disappoint!"

Pausing in his gushing, Martin motions for Lisa to come a little closer.

"Ah, this is Miss Lisa Adams; she's currently doing some signwriting for my store." Martin grins, a proper little toothy smile that smacks of a man looking to start a little trouble. "She was rather taken by your skill up there tonight, but I doubt she's the only one." Nudging Lisa forward as he slipped out of the conversation, Martin added, "so sorry, I'm needed downstairs... I'm sure you two lovely ladies'll get along?"

Relatively confident that Lisa was one less thing on his already well-distributed mind now, Martin made his way belowdecks...

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I have no idea what you're talking about. Martin just likes birds.

[Red Herring]

The captain finally grunted as he pulled up a lever on the ship's controls, dropping the anchor and letting the ship come to a lurching, modest halt. Bored out of his mind, the man grabbed a bottle of fresh akvavit from the small storehouse he kept in the cabin and popped off the top, sipping from it as he walked out of the room and onto the main deck.

[whoosh!]

Samantha whirled around to greet Lisa, smiling politely as they were introduced. Within moments Mr Chambers had melted away, leaving the two of them alone in the midst of a crowd that seemed to belong to some other untouchable world.

“Lisa Adams, was it? Pleased to meet you. I don't believe I've met a signwriter before.” A brief flicker of confusion crossed her face. “Er, pardon me, but what exactly do you do in your capacity as a signwriter? As I said, I've never actually met one before, but I think I'd be right in thinking that's it's infinitely more complex than just… writing… on a sign.”
Distracted and a little embarrassed by this puzzle, Sam's gaze wandered over the water. Fortunately, a moment later she remembered her manners and snapped her attention back to Miss Adams.

“Ah, I beg your pardon. It's an old tradition of mine to stargaze after a performance, and I'm a little at a loss as to where I could possibly find some privacy with the sky still within eyesight,” she said somewhat apologetically, her eyes flitting continually from Lisa's face to her surroundings.

“Say, is it just me or has this boat stopped?”

[SleepingOrange]

The seagull hops a little closer to Ted, pecks at his knuckle once, and audibly whispers "Watch out." before taking off and rapidly disappearing from sight.

---

As the captain heads up to the deck, he hears the distinct strains of conversation coming from a couple of his small, belowdeck rooms; they're quickly muffled by the sounds of a jazz band getting into full swing as he opens the door to the deck.

---

As Martin heads to go belowdeck, the door opens in front of him, revealing the ship's captain holding a bottle of clear liquid.

---

As Catherine admires the band, not thinking much, she finds a hand slipped around her waist and an attractive-but-uncomfortable-close face swim into her vision. "Hey, dollface. Don't think I've seen you around, and I'm pretty sure I'd remember a chassis like that."

[Lord Paradise]

Catherine whirls to face the man and places two fingers on his collar.

"Darling, if not having seen a body before were a suitable basis for conversation, there'd be no more wars and our throats would all be sore. I'm Catherine, and unless you say something right now that convinces me otherwise, I'm going to walk over that way and you can go right on back to your life of not seeing me as you have apparently endured all these long years."

She flutters her eyelashes twice and scratches at the man's shirt, pretending to have found a speck of dirt or perhaps some errant cocaine.

[Red Herring]

The captain tipped his skippers' hat to the man with a big, slanted grin. "Just a little something for the boredom, yah?" said the Swede, in a fairly thick accent. "How is my sweet Freyja treating you? Not a yacht, but you all seem to be having a good time, yah?"

[Schazer]

Martin's eyes flickered from bottle to the party still proceeding outside, before nodding curtly. "Quite serviceable, thank you. That..." the man motioned toward the akvavit pointedly with a slender finger, "I'd prefer you keep out of sight. Your fine boat and all, captain, I understand," Martin hastily added, "I'm just not looking for trouble. Quite enough on my plate this evening without it, captain."

The host awkwardly maneuvered around Hjalmar to make his way below. Martin was a busy, busy man, and he had little patience to chat to foreigners when he had work to do.

[Lisawags]

Eyeballing her surrounding, Lisa answered blankly, "Yes, I believe the ship has come to a halt." After a brief pause, she returned her gaze to Samantha and replied cheerfully, happy that they are going to talk about a subject she is familiar with, "As the name implies, I simply paint and usually install signs. Although I must admit, painting is not my best media."

She turned her sight back to the crowd and spotted a lady being harassed by a seedy man. Subsequently watching her retaliation, Ms. Adams returned her attention to Samantha. "My... apologies," she said guiltily with her head slightly tilted downwards.

After restoring her head to her original position, she inquired, "Your occupation seems quite interesting. Please, do tell."

[Red Herring]

Hjalmar muttered a few unfavorable words under his breath as the man rushed past him. He stroked at his small beard as he glanced behind him, his eyes following Martin as he went down below. Waving a hand in disgust, he took a few steps out onto the boat and looked out into the water. Begrudgingly, he tossed the bottle off the ship. "My damn ship, /my damn ship/, taking orders on my own damn ship!" he spat. "That is the last time I let someone rent her out like some kind of two-dollar wh- no, no, it's not a problem. Calm down."

He sighed heavily as he collected himself from his rant, gazing out into the empty sea with a deep frown. As he turned around, his eyes immediately drew themselves to a gorgeous woman, and more prominently a man who looked like the kind of guy that he and his men would beat the crap out of.

He would try to push himself through the crowd and make his way towards the pair, obviously upset.

[whoosh!]

Samantha took another opportunity to peer around in search of an answer to the boat's spontaneous motionlessness.

"It appears you are correct about the ship. A shame. I was rather enjoying it's movement. But yes. Painting and installing signs. I'm sorry; spending so much time doing these gigs makes me forget that there are actually normal people with normal jobs out there,“ Sam shook her head with a small smile, but it quickly dropped away. “I sincerely apologise, but I must cut this conversation short. I'll be back in a few minutes.”

Sam turned as if to walk away, but at the last moment she paused and tilted her head back towards Lisa. She couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable at her swift abandonment of the slightly awkward sign writer.

“Though… if it bothers you, I suppose I wouldn't mind some company with my stargazing. It's entirely up to you, of course.”

[Lisawags]

Lisa nodded, and accepted the offer, maybe a little too graciously. Although she was shy, she would rather be with someone, even a stranger, than be alone in a crowd. The timid lady walked toward Samantha with a warm smile and her hands clasped together. "Please, lead the way," Lisa said happily albeit nervously and murmured a thank you.

[SleepingOrange]

"Alright, Mrs. Grundy, I'm on the trolley." Catherine's new friends removes his hand from her wait and takes a couple steps back. "I've always liked bearcats anyway. Name's Giles Earlie, and I'm the best thing to happen to you tonight."

---

Hjamar arrives just as Giles releases the woman, but still takes strong offense to both "bearcat" and the expression on the young man's face.

---

Martin heads below; there's a short hallway with three doors to the sides and an open end that leads to the wheelhouse. The unmistakable sounds of covert conversation are coming from two of the doors, but the third is quiet.

---

Lisa and Sam head to the stern, a pocket of quiet and emptiness with a lovely view of the skyline of Baltimore and an even better one of the canopy of emerging stars above. There's no-one here save for one man glaring across the water.

---

As Ted watches the bird leave, he hears footsteps approaching; he's rejoined by the girl from earlier, who now seems to have a musician in tow.

[Schazer]

Martin discretely listens at each door, only long enough to establish who the inhabitants are at each door.

[Lord Paradise]

Catherine pauses dramatically for a few seconds, then breaks into a smirk.

"Well, Mr. Earlie," she says, "I'm afraid you may be too late. I've met several men this evening already and only about three-fourths of them were old enough to have fought against Spain.

"Say, do you happen to know the time? I'm getting a bit tired of seawater and champagne. I wouldn't mind getting the city under my feet again before too long."

[whoosh!]

With only a quick glance at the man sharing the bow with them, Samantha leaned over the side of the boat and inhaled the crisp night air. The stars were shining in their usual way in their usual place, but for all her years of staring at them Sam was hilariously inept at naming or locating them. She might be able to locate Orion on a good night, but that was the extent of it. She was just happy to see them again. Kinda like a security blanket. Yup, the stars are out and another day has passed with music and talk, same as always. It ain't ever gonna change, and that's exactly how she likes it.

After a few more seconds of peace had passed, she spoke again to Lisa in a lowered voice to keep the sanctity of the moment. She kept her eyes fixed on the stars.

“So, what's your deal? I mean, does the honourable Mr Chambers normally invite his contractors to his parties? No offense, but I find that difficult to believe. Judging from the cash these guests are flaunting, he's no small fry.”

She adjusted her grip on the side of the boat, then changed her mind and put the cumbersome saxophone case down the floor. She loved the little guy and all, but he weighed about a tonne when you were just hauling him around everywhere.

“I'm not trying to insinuate anything, I'm just curious.”