(On Hold) Sanguine Night

[McKitty]

((Characters in Scene: Aero, Brody, Calvin, Catherine, Dmitri, Leonardo ))


It's Sunset now over the City. The clocks tick over and the business man drives home to his wife, ready to greet her and the kids before sitting down to dinner. It's Sunset, the adulteress secretary follows her boss's car down to the cheap motel, knowing that she's only going to be left alone when he's through with her. It's Sunset over the city and you're dying all over again.

****

-Open your eyes-

There you go. It's still enough to make your mind seize up when you realize you're not breathing.

-Can you move? Yes. Now.-

Your fingers twitch slowly as life... no, this isn't life returning to your body. With an eerie disjointedness, you sit up. Your surroundings are blurry, dark. It takes a moment of fumbling to stumble over to the light switch. You flip it on, and the room comes into view with a harsh blaze of yellow-gold light that glares down at you from a ratty ceiling lamp.

-You need to feed tonight-

The coils of a dark creature stirs underneath your still heart. It's whispers brushed along your ear in a quiet mimicry of a lover. You turn around and catch sight of the mirror. Nothing stares out at you; the world's already forgotten about you. It forgot about you from the very first night you woke up, cold and shaking, with the sensation that you had lost something precious.

You push shaking hands through your hair, noting that the scar you had gained from trying to bum a quick fix off that drunk in the alley was gone, leaving pristine, cold, dead flesh. Your beast curls around the empty hollow in your soul like a predatory cat waiting for it's next meal to come into view. Hunger scratches down your spine in an incessant reminder that you needed to feed to replenish whatever it was you burned to wake up from the day-slumber.

An ivory and scarlet envelope tucked underneath your door distracts you from your new routine. You open it, reading the elegant cursive that requests your presence down at the Seaside Marina. Your beast cowers inside you, and you know instinctively that the nightly feeding will have to wait.

You have a summons to attend, though you don't understand the why.

****

They say that the marina has the best view of the sunset against the profile of the city skyline. A few nights ago, you would have agreed with them. Now, though, the sun only provides a burning mockery of what you once considered beautiful. The inability to even look at the sun was a constant reminder of the limits of this new ...existence you had awoken into.

The ocean laps at the hull of the Christine, the yacht you had been directed to. The ocean tides ebb underneath the dock you stand on. On the water's surface, the moon's reflection turns the ocean into a mirror of silver light that casts back up along your skin. There's not much noise save for the quiet splashing of water and the sway of the boats.

As you stand there, staring at this elegant yacht that looks to be worth more than your entire life's worth combined. Footsteps echo behind you and then seven people walk up. The beast nestled in the hollow where your soul once was stirs awake at this; you've learned quickly that that was a side-effect of encountering another vampire.

(Brody) You saunter up, slightly disappointed that this means you'll miss Marie's opening number down at P.U.R.E. Still, something in that card convinced you that it would be smart to accept the invitation. Perhaps if you were lucky, you'd catch Marie later.

As the other five approach you, you can feel the beast within you purr with contentment. There was no danger here, not really. Their blood was weak compared to the seductive power and grace of your own.

(Everyone else) Your instincts flutter between the urge to fight, something that the voice on the phone told you was normal during the first encounter with a newcomer. One though, stands out. To your metaphysical senses he screams out that while you might be on top of the food chain, he was still higher than you.

***
((Dice rolls: Everyone besides Brody roll your Mental + Status.

DF: You flee the scene in the presence of a deadlier predator than you.

Failure: You remain still, but your beast is freaked by Brody's presence.

Success: You know he's probably top-dog here, but there's nothing here to fight over, so your beast settles down after the first twinge of panic.

E.Success: Same as success, and you feel a bit more smug at keeping your cool.))

[Alleycat]

Cathy stood a little apart from the group, summing them up. She looked at Brody out of the corner of her eye, he was obviously of some kind of high status, nothing to concern herself with. She felt her beast was calm, this place was safe for now.

(( Result for Mental + Status: 2 success ))

[Lau]

Calvin head thought nothing of it but his guts were going wild, something off something wrong, and something he should be afraid of, it was all he could think about and that scared him more than anything else, he stayed his ground keeping his eyes locked on this 'big bad' but not taking a single step forward. "Who the hell are you?!" he sounded more nervous than his usual self adding to his fear and frustration.

******************
(OOC: Diceroll Failure:( )

[BlackRosePhantom]

Run damnit, run you freaking idiot or you'll die!

Those words raced through Leo's head, but he couldn't manage to move. He told himself that he this person could easily kill him and he needed to get out fast, but deep inside him he felt that if he took his eyes off this man, he'd be lunch meat.

Shit! Why can't I move! I've already died once, I don't need to die again!

All Leo could do was stare around him at the others, and at the stronger one in particular, and wait to see what his fate would become.

((0 successes - a failure))

[Xavious]

"Quaint...", Dmitri muttered as he surveyed his surroundings. He took special notice to a particular individual among those around him. A sense of fear washed over him as the beast within stirred, but only for a moment. Confident that there was no danger at the moment he allowed himself to relax. Wary of his surroundings, but confident nonetheless.

*******
(Mental + Status) = 3 Successes.

[PositiveZero]

Brody lit a new cigarette as he looked at the new group from the corner of his eyes. Turning to face the group after Calvin’s outburst, Brody regarded the punk coolly as he took a long drag from his cigarette. “I’m nothing to growl at just yet Spike. And I don’t see you in a position to be demanding much of anything.” Brody snapped his lighter shut as a trail of smoke spilled from his smile.

[McKitty]

Andrew

Something bad happened here.

The square spiral of concrete steps bottoms out in a cold pit of spent cigarette butts, beer bottles and flattened paper cups. You are at the bottom of the stairs, laying on a concrete slab. It smells like mold and ash and piss down here. On the other side of this dead-end stairwell a corpse sits up, with his back to the wall. His skin is dry and taut, stretched over his face, split and rotten at the cheeks, at the brows, at the chin. His eyes are empty slits. The front of his green army coat is soaked, almost black, with blood and ash that have run out from his torn throat.

Between the mummy-like corpse and you, the concrete floor is sticky with blood. A toppled public ashtray has spread crunchy sand into the gunk. Where the ashes fall out of the corpse’s clothes, it all makes a gritty, nasty paste. Even from here you can see, snagging the split limp lip of the corpse, a pair of yellow fangs. That body was a vampire.

Dried lines of thick, ashy paste run down from your mouth. Gooey lines of dried blood stretch from lip to lip. Your hands are crusted with blood and flaky ash. The killer is clear. But who’s the corpse?


(Ryan)

The throbbing music emitting from the club P.U.R.E mimics your old heartbeat. The club is one of the few off-the-Rack nightclubs that a vampire could find a morsel in the darkness.

Currently, that vampire was you.

The Beast didn't care if you weren't the best crowd-pleaser; hell, you didn't need to be. You were born of the shadows and the secrets of death and that only helped to fuel your outsider's stance away from the pressing crowd of the human herd.

"I'll just be a moment, let me make this call to my mom, ok?" A voice startles you. A girl, barely looking a day over twenty walks past you and ahead of you. She's looking over her shoulder, past you --are you even there?--- to a concerned-looking guy.

Your senses zero in on the pulse of life at her throat. That dark beast inside growls hungrily.

The girl ducks inside the mouth of an alleyway.

****
(( These are dice-rolls that you can roll in your post. I won't give the results, though, until I do the storytelling posts again:

Andrew can make a Mental + Awareness roll to investigate. He can also just roll his Mental to see if he recalls anything.

Ryan, if he wants to stalk the girl without using the Mekhet power, can roll a Dexterity + Stealth roll. If Ryan does use the power to follow her, then the Stealth is an automatic success and so is the feed attempt, if you chose that.))

((Everyone at the yacht, I'll be giving Shining Wolf a chance to post. If he doesn't by tonight, I'll do a quick flavor-writing for his character and move on. Since there's a lot of people, I don't want the game to get bogged down for one portion.))

((And yes, both groups are currently separate right now.))

[Draconic]

The sight and smells around him almost sickened Andrew. He wanted to get out of there and get the filth off of him immediately, yet there was something burning inside of him. There was an almost animal hunger that longed for the crimson coating the floor. Even greater than this alien hunger was the very familiar burning desire that had driven him his entire life. Who was it he had killed, who was it that had now cast him into the world his brother lived in with their death. The desire spread through him as wiped the mess on his face off with his sleeve. He ignored the blood and ash as he went over to the fallen soldier. Who was this soldier and how did he kill him. Why was this vampire wearing an army uniform. The best place to start looking was the corpse itself. He managed to find the dog tags on the soldier. The name brought back memories-he had known this person. A tickle at the back of his mind broke his train of though for a second. It felt like David, but there was nobody here but the corpse and himself.
***
2 epic successes 4 successes-investigate
3 successes-recall
1 success- David's presence (I rolled awareness figuring that was probably the stat for that)

[Shining Wolf]

He shifted uncomfortibly, not speaking or looking at Brodey, he then noticed his shirt was sticking to him because of he was sweating, and he put his hands in his pockets in an attempt to hide that they were shaking slightly. He hated himself for being so stiff with fear.

~~~~~

((I rolled a 6 6 and 4, which equals a regular fail right?))

[Lau]

(OOC:hope it's okay for me to respond to Brody's insult, add a lil depth to the situation if not McKitty can delete it)

"Grr," he mocked despite the unnatural stirring in his gut he still managed to spout a few trademarked comments bound to cause him trouble "as smooth and cool as you are I'm sure you can humour such a request, and before we all get on the creepy over-priced yahct care to leave each of your names and numbers after the beep?" He moved to scratch his eye with his middle finger aimed for mr.cool who was still eyeing him, still running chills down his spine.

[McKitty]

(No, I don't mind y'all talking to eachother or planning or having conversations. What I am, as the storyteller, is the background scenery and actors to your story. I am also the embodiment of fate, you can't be sure that you'll make that shot, that deal, that kill.

I apologize for the wait, adding in the extra players is making me have to quickly rewrite a bit of the storyline.)

[PositiveZero]

Brody glowered in Calvin’s direction. “You keep barking Spike,” Brody turned his back on Calvin, dismissing the idea with a wave of his hand. It wasn’t that Brody was against giving his name, he however saw no reason in it, nor did he like that the suggestion was put forth by an obnoxious loudmouth who demanded everyone shame without giving his own.

[Xavious]

"Come now," Dmitri spoke up in attempt to quell the hostility, "Lets keep a modicum of civility, shall we? After all, are we not his guests?" he ended while shooting a glare at Calvin. While not wanting to play favorites, Dmitri remembered quite well the importance of this meeting going smoothly.

[BlackRosePhantom]

((OOC: I rolled my social to see if I should speak up since I was instilled with fear, and got 1 success))

"I don't feel like giving my name, sorry," Leo said arrogantly to less threatening punkish vampire near him. His heart was still racing from the presence of the stronger vampire, but he felt he stood more of a chance with the other if things came to a fight. He was still a lot on edge, though he tried to stay calm to obey the voice on the phone.

[McKitty]

(Apologies for the wait. I'll try not to stretch it out so long again

...and I had this done at Midnight. As soon as I hit "Post reply" my internet crashed. These things are cursed!")

Scene: Yacht

"You should listen to your betters." A smooth, cultured voice calls from the top deck of the yacht. The group glances up catches sight of a sharply-dressed man. Whatever power Brody oozed was childlike in comparison to the aura this man gave off. "Dmitri, so good to finally see you."

The man gestures for the group to board the yacht. "It's clear that most of you are young. This is a good turn of events. The young do not have a mind cluttered with the cobwebs of age and paranoia."

He waits to see if you step aboard or not, still talking. "Normally, orphaned children, such as yourself, have two fates. Either they lose control and are sent to the Underworld before they are found, or they are brought under the tutelage of a patron; which you five have been. The Prince is keen to note if you have the potential to join our society even further, now that you've managed to survive your first few nights."

Scene: Alleyway
(Andrew)

The name-tags trigger familiarity, but as you reflect to the why and the how, it comes in a blurry haze. The red vision of the beast clouds over your mind's eye. The tags flash so close to your eyes as your fangs rip through the clammy flesh to the delicious blood below.

You shake off the memory, looking around the body. You nudge it, and a glimmer of silver catches your eye. It's a tarnished locket caught just underneath his arm. As you move again, part of the dusting along the corpse's finger crumbles, and the finger goes along with it.

If you cannot sense your brother, then ... your stomach clenches. This was your doing.

[Draconic]

Andrew reached for the locket, the hunger to know driving him onward. He nudged the dessicated arm, this time most of the limb crumbling to nothing but ash in the process. He picked the locket up into his hands cradling it like a precious thing as he opened it. This time the memories flooded back into his head driving the beast downward.
***
4 successes-mental

[BlackRosePhantom]

The presence of this new vampire didn't stir anything inside Leo. Leo could still tell he was strong, but the lack of his his mentality going haywire, he felt as if he could trust this one. He stepped forward toward the man. He felt that he needed to test himself. He had been put down before, and deep inside him, an anger grew telling him that this was the path to strength, to overcome the imprisonment of his past.

Leo continued to walk toward the yacht, at first he was slow, but as the emotion rooted, he walked faster and more confidently. This was his opportunity, and he just wasn't going to miss it. He finally came to a stop when he stepped on deck. He stood straight and looked directly at the vampire, though he made sure his expression wasn't disrespectful or show negativity toward the elder.

[Alleycat]

Cathy had waited for someone else to go first. It wasn't that she was afraid of the elder vampire, she just didn't want to be the first up there. As soon as the other man had moved she steped foreward. She walked quickly, purposefully toward the yacht and came to stand behind the other vampire. She would glance at the elders face, look away, glance at it again, and look somewhere else. It seemed almost risky to look at him for too long, but just as dangerous to look away. She settled for staring at his feet, wondering who he was and who would board the yacht next.

[Xavious]

Dmitri gave a nod of respect to the person who addressed him as he nonchalantly walked onto the yacht. "Ah... it seems things are really moving along now." he thought to himself. However, he wasn't quite sure where things were moving along to. The presence of such a powerful vampire was unnerving, but once again he felt no danger for the moment.

[Lau]

Cal saw them all walk up the ramp onto the boat toward this new guy, Cal remarked towards Brody again before moving for the boat "Turn your back again and Spike maybe liable to bite you in the ass."

Cal got on the boat but not much the same way as the others a few long steps into a jump kicking off and light pole before rolling over yacht's side rail and onto his feet on the other side, 'smooth' he thought went better than the last time he tried somthing like that he didn't want to get rusty especially now that he didn't have to worry as much about busting himself up. Moving a little ways to meet the rest of the group he found himself taking a second look at this guy, swearing to have seen him before, probably at one of his parent's banquets but the last one Cal could remember being at was maybe 9-8 years ago.

Cal just hoped he wouldn't be found out as a rich boy, his parents owned more than enough to make that a headache, even being on this high end boat made his skin crawl, but that could've been whatever was lurking around it's corners.

(OOC:mind if I throw the rich kid history in for flavour)

[PositiveZero]

Brody forgot about Calvin momentarily when he felt the new presence. He was interested in what the man and what he had to say, more than he was bothered by the fact that he was no longer the strongest of the group. Turning back to Calvin he raised a curious eyebrow at his threat. “Stay away from my ass.” Brody muttered to himself as he moved onto the boat behind the others.