Prompt: 19. Fragmented truths.

Rating: K+

Fandom: World of Darkness

Characters: William, Brian, Jim (in that order)

Word Count: 1205

Warnings: N/A

Author's Note: I wrote this as an exercise to help myself grasp character voices. I've always had a problem with it, with every one of my characters sounding exactly the same despite different personalities and upbringings. It was when I had Brian, someone who's never received any formal education, use the phrase, 'extenuating circumstances' that I realised I needed serious practice in this area. So, I'm having all three characters having to explain to a new member of the League what the rules are, and see the different ways they'd go about doing it. This will probably be very repetitive, because the basic information they're required to give is the same. But yeah, this is just a writing exercise and not quite a story.

I'd appreciate any constructive criticism, as this is an area I'm struggling in.

Sit down.

If you've talked to Joanna, and I know you have, she'd have told you no one plays a fixed role in the League. That's bullshit. You can try to do everything, but sooner or later, you're gonna find yourself stuck in one role, because Joanna is a bitch, but she's an efficient bitch. And if she had me explaining the rule to you, she either hates your guts or you're gonna be stuck doing what I'm doing, reconnaissance.

How long have you been in the trade?

Just a year? What the hell is she thinking!?

Well, you probably know you have to do your research before you start hunting down a monster—if you didn't know that, you wouldn't be sitting here. But most of the time, just what you glean from newspapers and forums and wherever else isn't enough to go on. It's mostly just enough to hint that something supernatural might be going down.

Most of the time, you have to go to the actual scenes and break into houses and go rifle through documents just to have a vague idea of what you're up against. And that's what I do.

Jim's gonna talk to you all about how important sitting on your ass and surfing the 'net is important. And that's bullshit too.

Every time you go on a mission, I can guarantee you that you're gonna be wading in blind. And even if you have a vague idea, you'll still never know the one piece of information you need to know. I'm the one that goes in and actually brings back useful information back.

And my advice? Go and suck Joanna's dick and see if she won't switch you to doing something else.

Because you're not gonna survive.

Because I'm not gonna have some kid tagalong.

If the monsters don't get you, I will.

Um…hey. You…you wanna sit down?

Yeah, here, let me clear away the newspapers. Sorry, Amaya's been researching this morning. You want any drinks? I'm pretty sure there're snacks in the fridge…wait, let me check.

Oh. Okay. Are you sure? Okay…er…

I'm really sorry. I- I have no idea how to do this. Joanna usually handles the new recruits…um…

So uh, you've talked to her already, right? Oh, good! What did she tell you?

Yeah, she's…kinda right. I mean, we really don't, like, make you do anything. But most of the time, you…you specialise in something, if you know what I mean? Like William can do things with the darkness, and he can basically hide himself from anything, so he gets sent to scout things out and stuff. And I can't do much except…physically fight.

Er…usually, I don't get sent out until, like, after all the investigation is done. But, really, my job's sort of…unfairly simple compared to other people. Jim and Amaya have to comb through newspapers going back a century for days on end, and most of the time, it's all irrelevant. And Joanna and Rufa have to talk to…all kind of creepy people and call in favours, and just…you know, talk them into helping out. And god knows, William gets shoved into all sorts of places without even basic information.

Usually, by the time I come in, we already know most things we need to know, or we have all the favours we need. So, I just walk in and punch the…thingie and I'm done.

Um…Amaya does this a bit too—she's got an amazing amount of magic. Me Myself, she's a sort of butler to Joanna, does it quite a bit too…and sometimes, William gets sent along, if his powers are what we need.

So…you, you have any questions?

Yeah, that's a karaoke machine. You can basically use it whenever you want, but William might get angry at you if you do. We have karaoke night about once a week, though, usually on Friday. And we've got a few game consoles too, and a couple of games. Rufa usually brings in more on gaming nights. Yeah, we play around a lot here.

Oh, you can eat whatever you want. Joanna keeps the kitchen stocked, and if you want something made, you just ask Me Myself nicely, and she's usually happy to do it.

Um…we've went up against all kinds of things, vampires, wyrm spawn, ghosts, Prometheans, demons...anything that's going around killing people, or just hurting them, we try to take care of. I…don't think we really have anything we focus on in particular…

That's it? Well, if you get confused, just…just come and talk to me. I'm not sure what I can do…but I'll try. And er…have fun, I guess.

Oh, hello. Have a sit. You're the new recruit, right? What's your name?

I'm Jim. Jim Cooper. And seeing as Joanna got me to introduce things, I assume she wants you to mostly take care of finding new cases.

Well, yes, we don't have fixed roles. If you want to, you can absolutely go with Brian to fight monsters all you want. But there's usually something you're particularly good at, and as a fairly small organisation going up against big things, we want to use our resources as efficiently as possible.

What kind of contacts or allies do you have?

Ah, that explains why you're here.

I used to work for newspapers and magazines, so I've got a few friends in the journalism world. I can usually get into archives or information yet to be publicised. And Amaya has a very good eye for detail and patterns and is a very well-organised researcher for someone her age.

Basically, we keep an eye on news papers, internet forums, some underground magazines, and basically look for clues that might indicate something supernatural in nature. Once we've found it, we try to get as much information as possible, calling in favours and so on.

Unfortunately, we rarely get anything concrete, particularly when the supernatural is in the picture. Most kinds of monsters have some way of blurring memories and hiding themselves…and sometimes, the human mind is often literally hard-wired to hand-wave things. And while this isn't quite a physically dangerous job (except when people suspect you're digging in too deep and go after you), you have to deal with some…rather unpleasant people.

Joanna usually takes care of negotiations of any kind, but you still find yourself having to persuade someone to your side, or end up owing them favours.

Well, don't worry about that for now. I'm sure Joanna won't put you in anything dangerous so soon, so take your time and get used to things. We've got a few entertainment facilities here, like the karaoke machine (it's pretty much brand new), the TV (and DVD Player too), and internet access, so you can bring your computer. And we've got a kitchen. Joanna keeps it stocked with food and drinks, and Me Myself doesn't mind making things for you if you ask nicely. We've got other bits and pieces, like a few books here and there.

I think that's basically all. The people here are really nice, so feel free to approach anyone if you have a problem. And don't worry, there's no need to be nervous. They're all a friendly bunch. I promise you.