Talking About the Weather (RP)

Aug 23, 2024 12:40 pm
Continued from It will rain again tomorrow.

- Benji -

You have swung by Lizabeth's place to collect what she desperately needs. You got the strong impression you were being watched the whole time you were there, but nothing materialised, and you departed unmolested.

Approaching your apartment the watcher is more obvious. It is one of Elliot Parry's people. Elliot is probably not someone you wanted involved in this affair.

• Do you spot them in time to try to avoid them? Do you try? If they are watching your apartment they will be watching your Harbour too.

What do you do?
OOC:
Spotting them in time to take evasive action would be a Keep Your Cool roll with Spirit. Or you can just let them see you and Lizabeth.
Aug 23, 2024 12:43 pm
- Emma -

Elliot is less than pleased. He had hoped for a book 'next week', one that paints him and his kind in a sympathetic and alluring light, something with sparkles if necessary. For an immortal being he does not seem to have much patience, but then he has not let on to you just how young he is, by vampire standards.

Why are you there, in his penthouse apartment above one of the nicer hotels in a neighbourhood littered with nice hotels? What are you trying to get out of him? How do you think it is going?

• Describe the scene and your character.
Aug 23, 2024 2:33 pm
Emma ran a perfectly manicured finger across the rows of books, finally coming to a rest on a rare, finely bound edition of the ‘The House of Fame’. Out of sheer curiosity, she pulled the book out and flipped through the crisp pages. It confirmed what she suspected all along; the book has never been opened, just like any of the others in the Vampire’s library. Elliot didn’t read. The library which spanned an entire room was nothing but a status symbol, a thin veneer of sophistication. He wanted her to include his character in one of her novels, but no doubt, her own book would one day end up on one of these shelves, left to collect dust, never opened nor read.

Vanity.

Just like his library, she, too, was there to stroke the Vampire’s ego.

The book went back to its cleft, and Emma turned to face the Vampire so she can give him her full attention.
"Come on, darling" a playful, teasing smile crossed her face. She closed the distance between the two, stopping within less than an arm’s reach from him "You know I have to get to know you better first. We don’t want your friends to mistake our protagonist for any other dashingly handsome, powerful vampire. I need just enough details so they can recognize you in those pages"

She decided against brushing her hand over the lapel of his jacket. A little bit of banter was fine, but if she provoked him too much, she would find herself dizzy and gasping for air on the living room’s couch. Which is why she dressed casually for their meeting today; a pair of jeans, a buttoned-up blue blouse and a tailored white blazer. Nothing too enticing about her appearance, except the blood coursing through her veins.
OOC:
Emma is here to figure him out.
Aug 23, 2024 3:48 pm
- Emma -

Elliot looks pleased that you are admiring his books, it does not seem to occur to him that those who actually read the things would recognise their fresh and unused state as a bad thing, or maybe he thinks that is a good thing? 'Mint condition', he might call them? Or is he watching to see how you react?

"I think it will be pretty obvious enough. I mean, what more is there to know?" It is possible there isn't much more to Elliot's personality than you have already seen, that is a rather sad state if true, but you have not been able to crack his hidden depths.

Despite your attempt to dress down for the occasion, Elliot's eyes track your every move hungrily. He is hoping for something more, the previous time he fed on you he had to concentrate on your experience, and, while you can assume he has fed on many people since then, he is not the sort to turn down an offer if one is hinted at.

At lease he hasn't sent his lackeys from the room —not that having an audience would bother him, and some of them give you the creeps— so he does not appear to be expecting a repeat of last time.

"What have you been doing since our last...?" Elliot asks, you are pretty sure he means 'why haven't you written the book already', but are you worried that he might be fishing for information about the take-down operation Kenedi and yourself 'ran' on that vampire nest? You have not seen any indication that Elliot has a fetish for children, but you also don't know that he would have any objections to that operation.. or yours. This hidden world is full of strange rules and alliances and power-plays that are hard to predict.

What do you do?
Aug 23, 2024 4:38 pm
Emma didn’t mind having an audience to their meeting, but she did wonder why he felt the need to keep his lackeys in the room. It’s not like they were contributing anything to the conversation, or that they were there to protect his person from a mere mortal. If she had to wager a guess, they were there because they made Elliot feel important. They were his entourage, a group of courtiers circling their medieval king. And it was to make Emma feel small and insignificant in comparison. He could dismiss her at any time and go back to his ‘business’ without losing a second out of his day.

She wasn’t disturbed by their presence, at any rate.

"Unfortunately, I still have a day job. Got to make rent"

It wasn’t a mere excuse, but the real reason she couldn’t dedicate herself fully to her book. One of the reasons, at any rate. She wasn’t Elliot’s biographer. She was trying to tell a story, and she hasn’t found one yet. The Vampire lord wasn’t even such a good character, except maybe as a foil to the real protagonist. She didn’t expect a cold-hearted Vampire to have any meaningful or engaging character arc. Maybe if she did dig a little bit deeper, she could find the real story. Conflict. Drama. Something to sink her teeth into.

"Why don’t you tell me about your greatest triumphs? Something to impress our readers with?"

She took out her notepad from her purse, and her biro, giving Elliot a short soft nod of her head for him to go ahead. He WAS a vain vampire, wasn’t he? It shouldn’t be too difficult to get him talking about himself.
OOC:
let me know when 'figure someone out' triggers. Or do I need to roll 'mislead' for throwing him off his line of questioning?
Aug 24, 2024 12:39 am
It’s a short drive from Lizabeth’s place to Benji’s apartment. Lizabeth is in the passenger seat of Jacob’s car and Benji is in the middle of the back seat with Hermes and a box of Lizabeth’s things, trying to keep as far away from the windows as possible. The sunlight is very weak thanks to the thick grey clouds covering the sky and the windows block some of the light too, but the daylight is still prickly and uncomfortable.

As they round the corner onto Benji’s street, Benji abruptly yelps and tries to duck out of sight — a stunt that is made significantly more challenging by the fact that he is holding an 80 kg tortoise in his lap. He frantically reaches into the front seat to try to pull Lizabeth down out of sight too. "Quick! Get down!"

One of Elliot’s underlings, Theodore Crane — or Teddy, as he is usually called— is lurking by the entrance to Benji’s apartment building. He is a towering, heavyset man who looks like he might be in his mid-thirties, but almost certainly isn’t. He is wearing a dark grey suit and holding a large black umbrella to protect himself from the rain and the daylight. He doesn’t look happy to be out in this weather, or this late into the day.

From the floor of the back seat, Benji anxiously asks Jacob, "Do you think he saw us? Find somewhere to park around the corner, please. I have to deal with this."
OOC:
Can I also roll Put a Name to a Face for Teddy? I mean, obviously Benji knows him, but to establish if there are any debts in either direction (and to mark Night!)

Rolls

Keep Your Cool (+Spirit) - (2d6-1)

(56) - 1 = 10

Aug 24, 2024 10:28 am
- Emma -

"'Triumphs'? I like that." Elliot says, nodding at your characterisation of himself. He looks around at the opulent penthouse, and the underlings scattered around, ready to do his every bidding, and at yourself, putting yourself at his mercy and coming to him for enlightenment, and is pleased.

"I dragged myself up from the gutter to this." He says, though you can't picture Elliot ever having been 'in the gutter'. "In ... only a few decades?" There is a slight hesitation in his words as he is clearly trying to count how long it has been and struggling to come to an exact number. Apparently he considers 'a few decades' impressive for what he is describing. "I am not one of those old moss-backs..." He snickers and his toadies join him in laughing, though some of the older ones look a little nervous about insulting the ancient ones (you can't know this, yet, but might notice the uneasiness). "... who have been at it for centuries but still live in the sewers, underground."

You have probably noticed that vampires eschew the sunlight. Have you made a connection with the recent lack of sunlight and how that might benefit them? If so, do you address this?

What do you do?
Aug 24, 2024 11:32 am
"That is very impressive" she feigned admiration at his accomplishment. There are mortal men that managed to accumulate greater wealth, in a shorter time period, without the benefits of vampiric powers. She wasn't awed, but that didn't meant she wasn't respectful. He was clearly exceedingly dangerous - not because of his vast wealth and influence, but because of his swollen ego. The way he talked about those other vampires, all the focus on his achievements and the laughing chorus of his toadies, - it all suggested that he was the sort of man (or vampire) that wouldn't tolerate a slight to his person. An insult, even a suspected one, could be met with extreme violence. His ego was as fragile as it was big. A dangerous combination, and Emma reminded herself once again that she had to tread very very carefully around such men.

She lifted her eyes from her notebook and smiled warmly at him, before asking her follow-up questions. The topic that most intrigued her were those 'ancient ones' he mentioned, the ones centuries old. Those were possibly even more dangerous than Elliot, because they had no reason or desire to associate with humans. Still, they intrigued her greatly. If she could somehow arrange a meeting with one of them, at a safe location...

It was something she would have to ponder some other night. She had to keep her focus on the Vampire standing in front of her. Talk about him, and him alone. She figured he wouldn't be happy if she steered the conversation to any other topic other than himself.
"- and there are older vampires living above ground too, who never managed to accumulate such power. Am I right?" she paid him a compliment, before segueing to her real question: "How does it work? Do they come to you asking for favors? Do they have to ask for your permission to stay in London? In England?" she knew next to nothing about Vampire society, and how they organize themselves. Any tidbit of information could prove to be very interesting.
OOC:
it will be too soon for Emma to connect the recent lack of sunlight to anything other than a spell of bad weather. But I like this direction ;)
Aug 24, 2024 11:53 am
- Emma -

"Well, I don't really care about the rest of England." Elliot says, dismissing your question about how it works. "I mean, what does it matter what happens in... Bellingham." He says, says 'casually' dropping the name of your home town. Is that coincidence or has he been researching you as well?

"But London? London is my city." He nods, even though this is a rather large exaggeration, but he is conveniently choosing to ignore the outer boroughs, or anything that is not central London. "Those who want to live in the city need to pay attention when I speak." He revels in this fact, as the head of his own Faction this is largely true, but his territory may not be as undisputed as he makes it out to be.

Now that your attention is on your notebook instead of himself, Elliot seems to be getting bored with the conversation. If he were a decade or two younger he would have been reaching for his phone.

What do you do?
Aug 24, 2024 1:50 pm
"What the...". Not sure what the problem is, Jacob starts to slow down, but then he sees the thug standing near Benji's place and resumes driving at normal speed. Careful not to speed up too much to attract his attention, Jacob turns the corner to park.

"Who's that? You weren't expecting company, were you?" he asks Benji.
Aug 24, 2024 2:23 pm
So Elliot's power extended no further than the city of London, if she could take his word for it. Considering his arrogance, she could safely assume he would exaggerate about the extent of his reach, rather than play it down.

She had the answer to her question. A part of it, at any rate.

His casual mention of her remote hometown brought a smile to her lips, not because she found it amusing, but as a way to subtly push back and assert herself in the face of his challenge. The conversation was growing a little bit stale as it was; she might as well stir up the hornet's nest a little. If she wanted to play it safe, she would have stayed home with David in front of the TV.

"OK" she flipped her small notebook shut and placed it back in her purse. Now her attention was fully on him, locking her blue eyes with his "But can you tell me something about myself that you couldn't find on my bio page at the Independent, or by having your goons shadow me during the day? A real secret??"
She was testing him. Did he have any profound knowledge about her, or was he nothing but a stage magician trying to impress her with cheap tricks? Would he play along, or would he retreat back into his fortress while claiming this game was 'beneath him'? Would he be amused? Angry? Whatever his reaction would be, she would discern something about his nature. Hopefully, she wouldn't pay for that knowledge with blood.

Rolls

'Figure Someone Out' - (2d6)

(42) = 6

Aug 25, 2024 12:20 am
Benji shakes his head. "That was Teddy," he says. "One of Elliot Parry’s people. We definitely don’t want him to see Lizabeth. If Elliot’s not already involved in all this fuss about the thing she found… Well, I think we really ought to try to keep it that way." He frowns, worried. "Teddy’s probably been sent to fetch me. He won’t leave until he does so I suppose I have to go see what Elliot wants…"

Rolls

Put a Face to a Name - Night (Teddy) - (2d6+2)

(21) + 2 = 5

Aug 25, 2024 12:03 pm
- Emma -

Elliot goes quiet. It is hard to describe just how still a vampire can be, living, breathing beings always have tiny movements, even if they are just the pulsing of blood in their veins (something you are suddenly acutely aware of). It takes a few moments for the underlings to realise that you have crossed a line, but Elliot is considering how to respond to your challenge.

What you do in the next seconds may decide if you make it out of here.

What do you do?
Aug 25, 2024 6:21 pm
The tension in the room was palpable, an eerie kind of silence - just like the one before the jump scare in a horror movie. Exactly like it, as a matter of fact. The Vampire went still, and suddenly, he no longer looked like the breathing, living human being he pretended to be, but like a cadaver. Cold and lifeless, bereft of any emotion or compassion. How could she reason with such a creature? What could she offer it in return for her life?

Should she grovel at his feet? Elliot didn't want for sycophants. The group of toadies that surrounded him were sucked dry of their personality, empty husks that followed him around and echoed his every word. Would he kill her if she kowtowed to him, because then she would add nothing he didn't already have to his life? Or maybe the evidence was right in front of her eyes - that being his lackey was the only way to stay alive?

It didn't take her very long to make her decision. Dead and brain-dead were one and the same, so she might as well take a gamble and show a little moxie, than bend over backwards and sacrifice her identity at the altar of his ego voluntarily.

"Come on; I'm here because you wanted to talk with an actual person, remember?" she tossed her wavey hair around her shoulder, lowering her head ever so slightly before hinting with her eyes at their audience "Maybe we should conclude this conversation in private?" she wasn't any safer with his servants around. Less safe, as a matter of fact, because his ego wouldn't allow him to lose face in front of them, even if they were not much more than sock-puppets at this point. That he might construe her words as a salacious invitation was something for future Emma to worry about. She had to diffuse this ticking timebomb first, then figure out how to climb out of the hole she dug for herself.
Aug 25, 2024 6:56 pm
- Emma -

"Ye-es." Elliot says, drawing out the word. "A little privacy. That would be good." So far as you can tell there is no other communication with his lackeys, but they all get up and withdraw from the room, some look at you pityingly, some look at you jealously, depending on how they personally feel about one-on-one time with their boss.

Within moments you are alone with the vampire lord, he has not moved, and is waiting to see what you do next. You know he can be seductive, but he is doing nothing to make this sexy, it is hard to tell what he expects of you.

What do you do?
Aug 26, 2024 4:52 am
Emma was relieved to see his minions dismissed. If he was so certain he wanted to kill her, he wouldn't have bothered waiting for them to leave the room, only to call them back immediately after to clean up the mess. But she was not out of the woods quite yet. The Vampire was still standing there without moving, looking at her expectedly. It reminded her of that story she read in her youth. About the clever daughter of a vizier who survived for a thousand and one nights by telling her murderous husband a story each evening, leaving out the ending incomplete so he would have no choice but to keep her alive for another day, if he wanted to know how the tale ends.

She didn’t think she could just sit next to him and read him a bedtime story. But maybe she could find some other way to hold his interest, remind him there is still some value to keeping her alive

"Do you know why I am here?" she turned her head from him to look at the rows of books on his library, of all things, her soft voice growing fainter as she went on telling him something personal about herself. Not a secret, but intimate nonetheless "It’s because I’ve seen how life turns out for most people. That dreary routine. Working for a salary. Doing the same thing over and over and over again, day in and day out. Drag yourself out of bed and slip into the monotony of another workday. The tasks become familiar – almost too familiar. You go to work. Pay your bills. The days blur together into a haze of gray, filled with repetitive chores and fleeing distractions" she paused for a moment, lost in her reverie, before turning to look at him once more.

"And then you find yourself pushing a shopping cart down the aisle of the supermarket when you’re forty, wondering what happened to the little girl who sat under the cover of the bedsheets and flipped through the pages of her books, dreaming of adventure. Of doing something strange, and unknown, " she smiled wistfully at the Vampire "maybe something a little bit risky"

She stopped short of asking him if he knew what she meant, leaving it for him to infer, if he was smart enough, or else leave the subtle metaphor for his own existence hanging at the back of his head; that winning his throne was so much more exciting than sitting on it. And that the woman standing in front of him was an intriguing oddity that broke the mold of his predictable routine, and that it was worth keeping her alive for a little while longer – at least until her novelty wore off.

Rolls

Let it Out - (2d6+1)

(34) + 1 = 8

Aug 26, 2024 7:54 am
"I see. Yes, probably the fewer people that know about Lizabeth and her findings, the better," Jacob agrees. He is aware of Elliot Parry; after all, he is one of the most prominent vampire figures in London. However, the nature of Benji's relationship with him is unclear to Jacob. He has always perceived Benji as a "free soul," seemingly indifferent to the city's supernatural politics.

"Do you want me to accompany you to meet Mr. Parry?" he offers.
Aug 26, 2024 2:20 pm
"If you’d like!" Benji answers Jacob. "He’s not very nice, I’m afraid, but I think he’ll be more civil if you’re there."

He fishes the key to his apartment out of his pocket and gives it to Lizabeth. "Wait here and stay out of sight for a bit. Once Teddy is gone, head up to my apartment and try to get some rest, all right?"

Leaving Lizabeth and Hermes in Jacob’s car (if that’s okay with Jacob), Benji grabs his umbrella and walks back to his apartment building with Jacob. Teddy perks up as they approach, clearly eager to get this errand over with so that he can get out of the rain and go find someone to eat.

"Good morning, Teddy!" Benji greets the other vampire. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
Aug 26, 2024 2:29 pm
- Benji -

"Morning, Benji." Teddy says, politely enough. "Boss wants to see you, I'm afraid. Nowish" He looks like he has been standing here for a while, so the definition of 'now' had better be flexible, but he does not look overly concerned.

What do you do?
Aug 27, 2024 4:06 am
This was no longer merely about leaving his penthouse alive. She didn't step into the Vampire's lair just to leave empty handed. She wanted more. His wealth, his influence, his experience about the supernatural world, and likely even the surge of adrenaline she experienced at the presence of a predator, are the things that drew her to him. She just needed to convince him to share a little.

She was playing a very dangerous game, with potential terrible consequences for more than just herself. But right now, she didn't care. She only saw what she stood to gain from having the vampire lord thirst for more than just her blood. All she needed to do was give the him a little nudge in the right direction. His silence spoke volumes. He WAS listening, which meant she couldn't be far off the mark "Don't tell me you've never felt like that" her voice was smooth and velvety, drawing him in just as much as her tantalizing words "that you didn't wake up some nights and wanted to throw caution to the wind. Do something different, and dammed be the consequences?"
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