~ Emerald Tower, tour! ~

"Good. There are a few rules, of course." She grinned to the two as the doors whooshed closed and the electronic version of 'The Girl from Ipenema' began to play.

"One: if it ain't yours, don't fuck with it. Two: you can play with the computers all you want, but stay away from the Programmers' decks and the mainframe. Three: don't even think about mushing a cockroach. Four: no visitors past the lobby without clearing it with one of the higher-ups first."

The song faded as the elevator doors whooshed open once more, and Michelle stepped out.

"Unless otherwise stated to the voice-recognition software, the elevator will always bring you to this level, which is where the main offices, and your own offices, are located. Follow me, please. We're walking, and we're walking, and we're walking..."

She'd turned right as she'd stepped out of the elevator, and she led them down a hallway flanked with doors, some of which had name plackards. She took them down to the last left, and led them all the way down another long hallway, pointing at a door that had 'Melissa Anderson, HotT' written on the placard, with another placard underneath that said 'Executive Assistant.'

"This is my mom's office, and she's in charge of pretty much everything. You need something, you fill out an acquisition form and put in her box. You need something dire, you talk to her. But I wouldn't bother her unless you really need to. She has a tendency to shoot first and ask questions later."

Without skipping a beat, she turned left again, leading them to a large set of double doors near Melissa's office. "This is the CEO's office. Don't ever bother coming here...If you do, really don't bother if his secretary isn't at her desk. They're probably screwing in his office, and trust me, that is a sight you do not want to see."

As if this were all commonplace, she continued down the hall, offhandedly pointing at another set of double wood doors. "Here's where all the important meetings take place. We call it the War Room."

Another left turn and down a hallway and they were back to the elevators. This time, she led them to the right (or what would have been the left, if they were stepping out of the elevators) and down a rather short hallway.

"This is the Lounge. It's pretty much where we spend our downtime."

The room was a geek's heaven. To their immediate right, along the wall the door was on, was a bank of high-end computers. The wall across from that was a DVD and video game library. They had nearly every video system ever created sitting on shelves next to that, obviously meant to be played on the projection screen that took up the entirety of the wall between the computers and the library.

How obvious was it? Well, they would have had to be both blind and deaf to miss the Mario Cart Double Dash that was being played on the wall, as well as the yells of the people playing.

"Hey, that was my double box, you ass!" the lanky blond snapped, leaning to the side as if it would help him turn the log cart he had chosen.

"Ah, my friend, but I am in possession of it, and is it not law in America that possession is nine tenths?" The retort came from a japanese man with a very long ponytail set high on his head, wearing jeans and a stylish leather jacket.

"Gawd..." Michelle slapped a hand to her face, rolling her eyes and shaking her head. "Enters...We have new hires, you idiot. This is not the impression you want to give...."

"Hoshit..." The one she'd spoken to hit Pause immediately and moved to stand. His jeans were baggy and he wore a long-sleeved black T-shirt with many 1's and 0's printed on the front, spelling 'Programmer' in binary. He was actually rather attractive, with his hair gathered at the base of his neck into a ponytail that hit him between his shoulder blades. He was kind of hot, in that geek chic sort of way. Strangely, he wore a black leather glove on his left hand. "Uh, hi."

The man he'd been playing with chuckled and moved to stand, dusting himself off. "Perhaps I should return to my own tower, then. Thank you for the rousing game of chase, my jovial friend." He gave a genial nod to the two newbies, and moved to slip past them. "If you will excuse me."

_________________

Official Forum Mom

~Elysium, Basement~
Kane almost wanted to chuckle at how the one person who should not have walked through that door at that exact second managed to find his way out. It almost seemed like fate. The tension in the room grew thicker by the second as the new man shifted his stance. If a challenge was to occur, Kane would not let the outsider step in. Though he would have loved to see his idol victorious in battle against the dead, Kane was secretly glad that one of his side kicks decided to step forward and attempt to diffuse the situation, and if he could not there was always offering his ass to take the beating to keep the peace.

Claire moved closer to Mikey, grasping one of his hands, as the prince of the city moved closer. Her medicine-induced calmness suddenly disappeared as the woman, so obviously out for blood, came a little to close for comfort. Her heart started to race as she became more distressed and headed to the back, which would have been a relief to have the angry woman leave if not for the regrettable appearance of Bjorn. Her grip tightened as the situation exploded. She did not like the situation that was at hand, though in one of her comrades a light appeared at the end of the tunnel. Surely Bjorn could not argue with his logic and risk the whole alliance, could he?

~Emerald Tower, The curb outside~
With a sigh and a 'PFUMP' pepper dropped to the curb outside the emerald tower. She had tried so hard to start off the night in the company of others and failed miserably. The only things left around was the random bug that she picked up off the street. While at first the creature may have been distressed by the stranger picking it up, she did her best to calm the little bugger, and gently stroked its shell.
" Looks like it's just you and me Antonio" she told the bug she held in her hand.

~ Elysium - Eclipse basement ~

Bjorn was a hairsbreadth away from doing something very dangerous when the quick-witted Ryuji stepped forward, mouthing off to him. His rage-filled eyes alighted on the breakable little Japanese man, and he roared back to him.

"Challenges mean nothing against dead things, you fool. She is not Garou, nor is she my leader. She is nothing but--"

He was cut off as DuBois' red-nailed hand shot up to grab his chin, jerking his head down to stare at her face.

"You may stop insulting me, now."

The anger melted out of Bjorn's face as he looked down at the small woman who'd had the strength to change his position, if only a little. The negative emotion was washed away, replaced with a look of awe, and a slight blush rose to his cheeks.

"I...I'm so very sorry, ma'am...I didn't mean to insult you...I was just angry, that's all.." It was odd to see the breath catch in the large man's throat as her grip relaxed, fingers almost affectionate as she slid her hand away, back down.

"You are forgiven...this time. See that it does not happen again." He nodded dumbly as she smiled up at him, and then pressed himself up against the wall to let her pass as she waved her hand at him.

Once she'd rustled down the hall past him and was out of sight before he let out the breath he'd been holding. "Golly," he whispered to himself before he realized that there were people watching. Immediately, he cleared his throat, pulling a glower back down over his features, keeping his head high as he stormed his way out.



Arietta would spy a kindred spirit underneath the table set beneath the painting that held a cracked mirror. A young teenager sat under the table in a pair of pink bunny flannel pajamas, her red hair pulled into messy pigtails. Her knees were pulled up to her chest, and she raised a finger to her lips, as if requesting the other child vampire not tell anyone of her presence.

Saro let out a relieved breath and closed his cell phone before reaching into his jacket to produce two more very slim phones. His smart wing-tip shoes clicked on the marble floor as he walked to Arietta and Victor, offering them the devices.

"Please forgive the Prince. She has been under quite a bit of stress lately, and the words from her...from Dakkon...seem to have upset her even more. I beg you not to worry, though, for you are safe in our city, no matter the reason the Justicar sent you. If you will give me a moment, I will procure the keys to your new apartments."

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Official Forum Mom

~ Gwenna Morridain's School for the Gifted, Grand Entranceway ~

The troll stiffened at the rude remarks, but the princess merely smiled.

"Your grievances are taken into account Sir Maximus, but you are not the only person here. Please do not assume yourself so great that your own desires eclipse those of the people around you."

She raised a hand to calm her bodyguard, inclining her head to the nocker. "I would be more mindful of what you say to those who hold higher title than you. Not all of us are as forgiving as I am, and my mother would most definitely throw you in the dungeon for such language. I do not ask you to change your nature, but as a knight of the Realm, surely you do know how to use proper etiquette?"

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Official Forum Mom

~ Elysium - Eclipse basement ~

His posture relaxed at Arietta's words, but he still kept his eyes on the intruder. Victor's concern over the escalation of the situation was promptly extinguished by the Prince's sudden manhandling of him. She was after all, still a vampire; he had not tested the limits of physical strength his new form was capable of, so he had already decided not to be too surprised to see another bloodsucker perform an audacious coup of beyond-human strength.

Sheepishly leaving the room, the air in the room was still infected with a feeling of peril, but without its main vector it quickly dispersed. Victor briefly shut his eyes. Air escaped his dead lungs in a slow, quiet sigh.
"That's a relief," the bodyguard murmured to his partner.

Saro handed Victor and Arietta cellphones. The bespectacled young man eyed the phone; he already had one of similar make, but he was familiar with using different phones to avoid detection while on operations. The man assured Victor that they had reached a sanctuary within Tarrytown, but he was skeptical of Saro's statements considering a fight was only barely aborted moments before, right in front of him.

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FUKKATSU

~Elysium, Basement~
All color drained from the big brute's face. It was his turn to be shocked. His idol reduced to a babbling fool by one touch. What a disgrace for such a great warrior as Bjorn to be brought down by a woman. His face slowly contorted to show his confusion and anger at this new development. It couldn’t have been just a touch that brought Bjorn to his knees. These things, can they really be trusted, What other powers do they hold, can we be sure we are safe around them, I must protect Claire at all costs. He looked up at his sister with a worried gaze. His mind was almost an open book for any who truly cared to look.

A smile slid across the girls face. Her hand released the grip on her companions arm to cover her mouth and stifle the giggle she felt coming. It was not her intention to piss the big scary Get off tonight. As soon as he was out of ear shot, Claire curled up to man that held her and erupted into a fit of giggles.
" Oh my, How the mighty do fall to a woman's touch!" Claire could not control her giggling, which was part medicine, and part relief. The situation had been diffused with out any need for serious actions by any one.
" I guess it's true" she smiled looking up at Mikey, " you really can tame the bear with honey." Another fit of giggles over came the girl. She lay her head on his chest she looked at her brother. The look on his face was slightly worrisome but with the triumph of clearing the air Claire didn’t care much to think about it in depth.

~ Elysium - Eclipse basement ~

The young girl tilted her head slightly in curiosity at the child under the table. She had requested that Arietta stay silent about the matter. With a moment of brief hesitation, Arietta glanced back to the situation with DuBois and turned her eyes swiftly back to the girl in the bunny pajamas hiding under the table. Well, she seemed harmless enough. Hopefully this didn't bite her in the butt later. While the others were still focused on the Prince and the large Nordic man, Arietta narrowed her brows and nodded to the girl under the table. Your secret's safe with me!

The tense situation was swiftly brought under control; she noted Victor's sigh. Even her hardened bodyguard had felt tense. Arietta's eyes twinkled somewhat; the way DuBois handled things suddenly made the young, impressionable girl's opinion of the Prince more admirable. She almost made the mistake of thinking of wanting to be like her when she grew older, but then remembered that she was incapable of aging. With that thought, the sparkling expression of admiration turned into a sullen pout.

It quickly turned into a polite smile, however, as a member of DuBois's entourage handed Victor and herself means to communicate and a mention of living quarters. Arietta could not help but panic slightly at Saro's mention of apartments. Plural. With an "s" at the end. Her round eyes widened somewhat for a moment, but she regained her composure quickly enough. "Sorry to be a bother, but just one apartment will do." She suddenly felt the need to explain herself, losing her confidence somewhat after remembering the display shown by DuBois. If she could take down a guy that large with just a few words, these people who kept company with her were definitely nothing to scoff at, either. Still, this was important; if things got dangerous, even if this place was supposed to be safe for her, just having Victor around would make her feel a little more secure. "T-That is...Victor's my servant and bodyguard, so he'll be staying with me," she said as firmly as she could, though she stuttered a bit in the delivery from a hint of childish nervousness.

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-- Sketch Blog -- My Art Thread -- DeviantArt --

-An Average Hotel-

For the money-saving, yet dignified gentlemen, An Average Hotel.

Ruscoe Hinman unloaded his luggage. A single suitcase. He carried most of the things he needed with him anyways, the only stuff of his that really needed packing were the change of clothes and a laptop. For keeping in touch with the world.

Not often Ruscoe stepped out of his comfort zone, fought through New York traffic, zipped down highways to finally pull up to a place like Tarrytown. But the rewards that were being dangled in front of him and his partner were good enough for Ruscoe to move to China for a year or two.

Driving a few miles down south was little in comparison. They had to get cracking on the case, while the leads were still hot, but first things first, they had to unpack. And probably take a breather after that kind of long roadtrip.

Ruscoe turned to his partner, Frederick Marshall, a marriage of convenience, and said quite plainly, "I call shitter, first."

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Elysium. A gathering of Camarilla in a designated no fire zone, usually called for some kind of important meeting. Such a meeting was never attended by anyone outside of the sect unless they were assaulting the Camarilla, but in this case Vivi was attending in hopes of being removed from the prince's 'kill on sight' list. She sighed as she approached the building, staring at the two men standing outside the door.

Vivi held the violin case in her hand tighter as she moved closer, "Evening gentlemen," the Fiend said, looking between the men on either side of the door. One of them gave her a nod, and she returned it with a smile before stepping through the threshold. "No turning back now," she said quietly as she made her way towards the sound of voices. She let out a sigh before descending the stairs into the basement, holding the instrument case in her gloved hands tightly.

A wary glance was sent towards a rather large, to Vivi at least, blond haired man as she stepped down before the entrance of the basement. A feeling of anxiety washed over her as she slowly looked into the room, no doubt that at least one person would be able to identify her clan quickly, if not immediately. She stopped at the threshold before the doorway, <Here we go,> she thought to herself before stepping down into the basement with the other kindred, expecting to get more than just one hateful look.

"Good evening to you all," Vivi said, her accent thick. She placed the violin case by the doorway and gave an elegant bow to the room. The Fiend kept calm as she looked about, ready for a myriad of aggressive questions and an explanation, "I am Viviana Ardeliu, but Vivi will do. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

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-An Average Hotel-

Tarrytown New York, about as well a dump for an escaped mental patient to turn up in as any other. Lady went missing months ago, and was spotted recently in town. Money was no object for the lady’s husband either. This was going to be some damn easy money if all goes well. Chances are though, things weren’t going to go well. No reason it should with only an anonymous tip and an entire city to search. “You can have it,” Marshal returned with a slight chuckle, lobbing his own suitcase onto the bed Ruscoe didn’t take. “Don’t need it right now, but crack a window or something when you’re done. I don’t want to have to smell you when I’m stinkin’ up the joint myself.” He chuckled a bit more and set to unpacking his own things. “Say, you want the tailor shop or should I take it? Cover more ground if one of us asks around the other local spots.”

~Emerald Tower~

The elevator was far more spacious than she thought it would be, but thats not what had impressed her. In the elevator there was nay a button to be found. Before she could even ask how they were gonna get to their floor the elevator began accelerating upwards. Michelle began listing off several of the rules of the company.

It would be an understatement to stay that Racheal's face visibly fell at the first two rule. Not being able to check the mainframe out was a major blown to her. Letting out a sigh of disappoint she let the last two rules roll over her head. Not that it mattered. She really didn't have to many friends and cockroaches didn't bother her at all.

The rest of the tour proceeded fairly seamlessly she had doubts that she'd actually needed to know all of it, but filed the information in the some what useless info part of her brain.

Then she found herself in the lounge. The had an actual Library and the computers that Lined the wall were Blackbirds. It was in the simplest terms heaven. She could resist the urge of messing with the Mainfraim for a while if these were the some of the things she could look forward to. The game on the screen didn't interest her much. She had already absorbed all the info from the game, the probability of getting any item and the how to always win. It held minimum interest to her. Instead she found her self reading 01010000 01110010 01101111 01100111 01110010 01100001 01101101 01101101 01100101 01110010 of the shirt of one of the two guys playing Mario Kart.

"Programmer." She stated simply. Recognizing the characters meaning rather quickly.

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The Dinobots can combine! What they combine to is death!

http://tfwiki.net/w2/images2/d/d2/The_B ... 2_full.jpg

-Emerald Tower tour with Racheal and Michelle-

Vince couldn’t help but blink and raise an eyebrow as the elevator door shut in front of the trio, cuing what had to be the single catchiest song he’d ever heard. Unfortunately he wasn’t able to enjoy it as Michelle started to list all of the rules to both him and Racheal. They all sounded sensible to him, though the rule about not killing cockroaches caused him to flinch slightly. Bringing the can of insect repellent he was wearing on the inside of his jacket may have been a bad idea. Apart from that, none of the other rules sounded like they’d cause any real problems for Vince, he preferred to spend time with the few acquaintances he had in either public places or their homes when they felt like inviting him over.

The rest of the tour was fairly standard stuff up until they got up to the CEOs office. Vince tensed and hesitated for a brief second before his curiosity got the better of him. :Wait…are they human, or…?” Vince looked at Michelle with a mixed expression of surprise and morbid curiosity, his meaning was unmistakable. Glasswalkers might have tolerated metis Garou far better than most of the other tribes, but to see someone so casually write off the… “deed” being done in their freaking base of operations…

Of course, it was possible that either the CEO or his secretary were just humans who were kept ignorant of some of the more blatant purposes of the Emerald Tower, but it seemed like a pretty big security threat to let someone who could be so easily captured or killed have access to one of the cards…of course, the same thing could probably have been said about Vince himself, and he knew it.

The second highlight of the tour was when Michelle lead them to the lounge, basically any video game lover’s wet-dream come true. It actually would have been appalling that someone would spend that much money just buying those kinds of things if it wasn’t for the fact that Glasswalkers were filthy stinking rich almost by definition.

The two gamers, one of which was apparently a Japanese garou from another tower, quickly stood up as soon as Michelle called attention to Vince and Rachael. Apparently Michelle wasn’t nearly as business-like and calm as he’d pegged her to be at first, which was actually a pretty big relief for him. “Enters” turned out to be a surprisingly attractive looking guy…in a bookish sort of way. It probably had something to do with being a Garou, fighting for your life and the life of the entire planet tended to stop people from looking like a complete geek even if they spent twelve hours a day playing World of Warcraft and eating hot pockets.

“Hey, nice too meet you, Enters,” Vince said as he moved out of the Japanese man’s way. Rachael simply stared at the blond man’s shirt and said ‘programmer’. “huh? Oh…his shirt…that’s what it says in computer language or whatever, right?” Vince looked between Enters and Rachael with a curious expression. He usually didn’t spend too much time with computers, but it was easy enough to guess what the numbers on the shirt meant after Rachael spelled it out, especially considering how she had been staring at it before she spoke.

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~Gwenna Morridain's School for the Gifted, Grand Entranceway~
If there was anything in the world that made a satyr uncomfortable it was being in uptight places. Fancy places, places that made you feel like you stand out more than you should. It's worst when the place is huge, as if the people who built it wanted you to feel like the small bug you were. But that's not the worst of it. Places that were uptight, big, and empty. It made him want to go back to the nearest bar and bring back a bunch of people with him to the nearest fancy pants building, just to make some noise. An abondened highway had more noise than places like that. Atleast there was the wind, plus a couple birds, some scurrying rats, and maybe a homeless guy. Fancy places, not so much. Atleast if your the only person in there. If there happens to be people in there it's not that bad, but usually these people are either rushing to get to wherever they might be heading or having some sophisticated conversation. If that's the case it's all just empty noise anyways.

Poppy's first impression of Gwenna Morridain's School for the Gifted, was that of an fancy place. It was the Grand Entranceway that did it for him, heck the word "Grand" in front of "Entranceway"? It was enough to make him turn around and forget about the entire thing. The college was probably another one of those places that expected you to behave like a "model citizen". If being a model citizen required etiquette and intelligence, he wanted none of it.

'Just gotta give the place a chance. It can be worse...it can be Catholic.' Poppy shuddered at the thought, having bad memories with Catholics. The satyr looked at the guy beside him. He was probably new as well. The fellow seemed like a nice guy, despite the fact his clothing was really extravagant compared to his own. Poppy looked at his own clothing, which was ragged, dull, and above all outdated. He was wearing his favorite frock, with all those useful pockets to hide rum in. It was old and tattered though, and was a dull shade of brown. Under it he was wearing a blue, striped classic collar shirt with navy blue jeans that was ripped in some places and hasn't seen a washing machine in months. A mental image of them both standing side by side filled his mind. They were completely different people, he realized. He probably wouldn't even be able to get the guy to drink even fine fine wine. Poppy hoped they didn't end up as roommates, he wouldn't be able to stand it if the other guy turned out to be an uptight rich man, or worst....a stoic. Just one look at that look of disdain told him this was gonna be a bland year. Nockers, can't live with those guys.

He wasn't any more hopeful when it came to their guide. A sidhe by the looks of it, wearing a chainmail dress of all things. No doubt high up in the social later, from one of those fancy houses. She even had a troll for a bodyguard! Poppy avoided looking at either of them in the eyes, well off folks had this intimidating stare you know. No bright eyed innocence here. She did have a pretty face though, but she was no nymph. Poppy gave a visible wince when the nocker responded to her introduction. Definately a guy you wouldn't want to invite to a party. He began to wonder if the guy even knew the defintion of "fun". Poppy shoke his head, "Eh...someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed." The satyr looked at the sidhe and shrugged, "Etiquette? ...That won't do anythin'". He put an arm around the nocker, not caring weither the fellow student liked it or not, "You'll see. A couple beers here an' there...he'll be singin' an' dancin' like there's no tommorow." He gave the nocker a wink, patting him on the back. It would seem like this guy had no manners at all, which is true, Poppy wouldn't even give such a thing the light of day. It was apparent he was worst than the nocker when it came to "proper etiquette". "Which reminds me, what time do we need to be in our dorms by?"

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Musicmac: "Sam4Books: Always ready to cheer things up with awesome art. Terms and Conditions apply."

-Werewolves: Sept of the Silver Snow-

Nick arrived at the outskirts of Tarrytown. He took out his wallet signing at the small amount of money he had in the currency pocket. "This is not going to get me far" he said to himself as he place the money back in his pocket. Then he took out the picture of his family and smile remembering his home that he use to live at. "Good times" he whisper to himself. He sat down on the ground trying to rest a little bit from the long trip he took to get here. He closed his weary eyes taking a quick nap while holding on to the picture.

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Fight my little champion (If you dare want to face his club of righteousness)
http://chriscane.mybrute.com

~ Elysium, Eclipse basement ~

Micheal flushed slightly at Claire's innuendo, quietly looking away and clearing his throat.

"Just one apartment, then," Saro nodded, then motioned to the woman playing the piano. "Lillian, if you will accompany our guests to the Apartments, I would be most obliged."

The twenty-something woman nodded, swinging her legs around the piano bench and padding, barefoot, over to them, offering her hand to the girl. "Lillian Maer. It's a pleasure to meet you."


Saro sighed softly and immediately turned to greet the newcomer. "I am terribly sorry, but the Prince is currently indispoded. I trust that you know all the laws of the Masquerade, and are ready to abide by them?"


Angel, the honey-blonde haired woman who stood to Shadows' side glanced up at her lover, frowning softly. "Sweetie...I should probably check upstairs. If Bjorn was here, then they're probably having a meeting..."


~ Emerald Tower, Lounge ~

Hopefully the dirty look that Vince had received in response to his question about the CEO and his secretary wouldn't tarnish his impression of Michelle.

Now, though, Enters gave the two of them a goofy grin, offering his right, ungloved, hand. "Yeah, that's me. Enters-the-Password, Head Programmer and all around Monkeywrencher for the Emerald Tower. Technically, I'm your superior, but I don't really go by all that."

His eyes flicked to Rachael's face, and he tilted his head at her. "You're obviously going to be working pretty closely with the Programming Department. When Mikey gets back, we can all sit down and have a pow-wow over some Jolt."

His genial demeanor dimmed somewhat as he looked at Vince. "And you...You've got some big shoes to fill, kid. My sister was the head of SpecOps, until those bastards killed her..."



~Gwenna Morridain's School for the Gifted, up to the dorms ~

The princess chuckled and turned to stride up the steps, leading them inside, her loyal Troll guard following her closely, though not blocking her view of them on the occassions that she glanced back.

If either of them were perceptive, they might notice that the woman's feet and clothes made absolutely no sound as she walked.

"We operate on trust here. As long as you do not miss your classes, we trust you to know what is best. If you have concerns, you can go to any of the staff here. We only ask that you do not disturb the dragons and that you do not destroy any of the school's property."

She led them into the castle, down a hallway, and into and up a winding spiral stone staircase for what seemed like forever.

Finally, she led them through a door on a landing that looked exactly like a number of landings and doors that they'd already passed.

"You two will actually be rooming across the hall from each other." She motioned to the two doors in the middle of the hallway that stood open, a short chunky woman with a genial face bustling from a cart in the hallway into one of the rooms, carrying a stack of linens.

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Official Forum Mom

-An Average Hotel-

"Give me a sec."

Ruscoe disappeared into the hotel bathroom and returned five minutes later.

"Sorry, but I always end up holding it in for the longest time on roadtrips." Ruscoe said, wiping his just-washed hands on the back of his shirt. "As for our strategy on finding these two girls... well, let's start with... uh..." He took the girl's name and picture out of his pocket and glanced at it, "Elise Mayfield..." He said mechanically, quickly putting away the photo, "Cause with the other girl, whatever-her-name... well, we really don't got much to go on at the moment."

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~Elysium, Basement~
Kane's mind raced a million miles a minute with the questions he had but could not ask. Who could really be trusted here? Shadows and Ryuiji had proven themselves to him. At this moment every newcomer was a new possibility of harm. His head was swimming and the urge rushed over him to flee the unsafe area.
" We got to get out of here," he leaned over and whispered to Mikey and Claire. The sense of urgency was thick on his words. He watched everyone, even the two he had grown to trust. At this moment no one dead was to be trusted.

Claire lifted her head to see the newcomer. There were so many newcomers to become acquainted with, even if she was not at her best she should make an attempt. She was pulling away form Mikey to go introduce herself when her brother leaned in and whispered to them. Something about the way he said it, worried Claire. Kane was not the type to be in such a state. She looked up at Mikey slightly worried.
" Maybe we should go down the street," she whispered to the companion who held her. She was worried about her brother and the look on her face showed that. It wouldn’t be long until his stress transferred to her.

-An Average Hotel-

By the time Ruscoe emerged from the bathroom Marshal, having stowed the bulk of his things, had commandeered the desk to poor over a map of the city. “You shouldn’t hold it for so long. I think you’re startin’ to shit your brains out your ass.” Marshal chuckled again. “Lucy,” He reminded him. “Lucy Camridge is her name, but you’re right,” Marshall looked up from the map turned towards his partner and leaned back on the chair. “lead’s thinner than wet tissue paper. Could be in anywhere in the whole damn tri-state area for all we know.” He rolled his eyes and shook his head before sliding a notepad off the desk, and flipping through it. “Anyway as I was saying, Mayfield was last spotted at some hoity toity tailor shop on Main Street.” He stopped for a moment, thinking. On second thought, splitting up was a bad idea. At least not until their main lead dried up or split off in two directions. Marshal stood up, shoving the notepad and a pen into his coat pocket. “Come on, we should get going before the place closes.” He waved his partner to follow and headed for the door.

~ Sept of the Silver Snow, Bawn ~

Nick had barely fallen asleep when his nap was interrupted by the rustling of feathers and his own clothing. He would wake to a large black bird (a raven, if he knew how to identify them) pecking through his clothes, pulling change out of his money pocket.



~ Elysium, Eclipse Basement ~

"To the Tower?" Micheal asked, then immediately nodded, sliding his arm back around Claire's waist. "Good idea. C'mon."

He moved to lead the girl and her younger brother out of the vampires' stronghold, giving a little nod to Shadows and Angel as they quietly made their way out. He gave a sheepish smile to the two guards, but said nothing until they were well out of earshot, walking to the tall silver tower that was only next door.

"Phew...That was certainly interesting, to say the least."



~ Felix's Clothier's, main street, halfway between the Rose Apts and the Theatre of Dreams ~

The high-priced tailor stood, limp-wristed, as he regarded the dress on the dummy. It was a custom job for that pleasant little ray of sunshine that was always coming in, built exactly to her measurements. She hadn't requested it; rather, it was a 'frequent customer' perk that he sometimes gave to those who inspired him.

The garment was a victorian-style ballgown with a corseted bodice and a full skirt of silk Dupioni and Georgette of many hues, gathered up just so so that the dress was reminiscent of a rainbow-colored rose. Rhinestones twinkled here and there, studding the dress all over, and there were silk flowers at the bustline and the bustle, fitting the dress into the floral theme quite nicely.

"Mmm, yes. Perfect! She'll adooore it!"

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Official Forum Mom

-A train to tarrytown-

"How are you little boy" a man dressed in black with no face said
"Ummm im fine" the little boy said.
"thats good little boy very..." the man grinned
suddenly a man completely silver grasped the boy and held a knife pointing towards his[boy] eye.
"whats wrong you want to let us kill you now"
the boy was so scared he couldnt speak.
the man dressed in black laughed and they both removed their masks
"Mom...Dad...why"the little boy said as
they laughed and cut out his eyes.


"woah!" kreed shouted as he woke. he held where his eyes should be.

"it was just a bad dream" he said while relaxing himself.

He wiped the sweat off his body and a voice tells him to get off the train.

he decides to check out the cathedral in the town.


-Our Lady of Sacred Heart Cathedral, Entrance [/color]-

Kreed stood infront of the cathedral and entered into it. He heard some noise coming from a nearby room and he went to check it out.


-Our Lady of Sacred Heart, kitchen-

As he stepped into the kitchen he noticed the two in the kitchen talking and as the girl left he asked the priest.

"what happened to her?"

He then entered the room and sat down.

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"I am a devilishly talented butler"

~ Emerald Tower - Outside~
Kane's uneasiness started to dissipate as they moved away from the dead's safe haven. He took a deep breath and looked around it was to his dismay that one was still around. He looked at the little redheaded girl as she played with something on her hands. The big silver haired male growled ferociously at the girl and started her way.

Just when Pepper thought no one would ever come along, the two silver-spun pups from the snow came trouncing up with the scary lady's son. She smiled at them as they walked closer, 'till the boy started to growl. It wasn’t that Pepper couldn’t do anything about this--oh there were many things she could do--but more that she didn’t want to deal with it. The girl stood up from her seat, put the bug on her shoulder, and started to skip off in the direction of the Bamboo Tower.

"Every time we've met her she's been in that mood," Claire said speaking of the red-clad Prince. She was grateful to Mikey for being so understanding and started to relax as they walked to the tower. The elder sister frowned at the boy's reaction to one as harmless as the town kook. Since he was only being protective, and had not made a move to harm the strange girl, she let him be.

"Um, when we get inside can I have a word with you? Maybe we can drop Kane off in the lounge to play games with someone in there," she leaned in and whispered to her companion.

~On the way to the Bamboo Tower~

Pepper sighed as she kept walking. She had lost her traveling companion a few yards into the journey home. They had been walking down the street when a car came flying up behind her, with a quick jump out of the way she had managed to avoid being hit, but her companion flew off her shoulder and straight into the path of the mechanical beast. After a few words were said at the site of his untimely demise, Pepper started home again, swearing that nothing would keep her from building a shrine to Antonio Vasquez Rapido, her little insect friend.

-Emerald Tower, tour-

Vince simply looked back at Michelle with a semi-hurt “what?” expression even as he mulled over why the hell she would be so upset over what seemed to be a fair question. Did she think he was stupid and incompetent, or had he accidentally hit a nerve? Whatever the reason may have been, there was no way that he was going to get her even more upset by pushing the matter, especially he could just figure out the answer later with some time and a little effort.

It also occurred to him that the catchy music in the elevator was still stuck in his head.

“Wait, what?!” Vince jerked slightly with surprise as soon as Enters turned to him, his tone noticeably less friendly than it had been with Rachael. “If that’s the case, then can I ask who thought I would be a good idea to give a kid like me such big shoes to fill…?” His eye twitched ever so slightly at the word “kid”. Vince was well-aware that he was just a cub in the eyes of the higher-ups of the Glasswalkers, it had been something he really didn’t have any choice but to accept until he could somehow do something impressive enough to change that. However, being to be reminded of it in such a painfully obvious manner was still somewhat irritating, even if the person in question just happened to miss his sister. It was nothing short of a tragedy that she died, but that didn't mean Vince would be able to stand letting Enters take out his emotions all on him. That, and he was genuinely curious to figure out why any sensible Garou would pick him to, unless he was misunderstanding Enters, lead a spec-ops team, albeit one made of only two people? Metis were frowned upon and more or less abused most of the time, but this seemed like a pretty elaborate way to go about trying to make his life a living hell if his heritage was all this was about.

Long story short, things really weren’t looking too good now that it seemed that he’d somehow managed to irritate both of his superiors by asking a question and just standing there respectively.

(sorry for crappy post and also sorry if it gets you or your characters upset, Hana )

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~ Elysium - Eclipse basement ~

Arietta turned her gaze to the newcomer briefly, somewhat surprised by the second sudden intrusion of the night. The woman that had entered was non-threating, at least compared to the large man that was stupefied easily by DuBois. The young girl almost felt disappointed from the lack of conflict, but got a hold of herself; it might be boring, but the more peaceful things were, the better. She was supposed to be safe here, and that's how she wanted it.

She turned her attention back to Saro, who had appointed a kindly looking young lady to be her and her bodyguard's escort. Arietta peered up at her, as if analyzing what sort of person she was, before warily offering her own dainty fingers in return. The young vampire girl felt a twinge of nostalgia looking at this woman, but she couldn't quite place it; the image of one of the more well-liked teachers at the boarding school she had went to up until about a year ago crossed her mind. Arietta's common sense took charge and mentally shook the image from her mind; it was best not to think of her school days if it would only make her upset.

"Arietta Lemuix," she replied to Lillian's greeting, politely adding a slight curtsy to the prior handshake. "It's a pleasure to meet you. This is my bodyguard and servant, Victor. Please excuse him, he doesn't speak much."

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-- Sketch Blog -- My Art Thread -- DeviantArt --

~Elysium~

Vivi bit her lower lip as Saro asked her about the Masquerade. Hundreds of responses ran through her mind in that instant, most of them lies. But being who she was Vivi decided it'd be best to simply speak the truth, after all they'd find out she was a Tzimisce sooner or later. She took at deep breath and looked at Saro, trying to remain and look as calm as possible as she spoke.

"Where I come from the Masquerade isn't exactly high priority," she said, trying to put it as lightly as possible, "But if you were to give me a quick run down I'd be happy to abide by them." She gave Saro a bit of a worried look as she finished speaking. Vivi began tapping her gloved fingers together nervously as she looked to the japanese kindred, hoping nothing terrible would come of this.

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~ Felix's Clothier's, main street, halfway between the Rose Apts and the Theatre of Dreams ~

Ruscoe took a moment to survey the shop from the outside. Not much he could comment on to be honest, exactly what you would expect from a fruity dress shop. Frilly rainbow array of dresses, skirt and shirt combinations, etc., the usual affair, a woman's wet dream.

But Ruscoe wasn't here to indulge in secret fantasies or to gain the favor of some lovely lady. He was here purely for business, as a man of business. Very business-like and what-not. Still, it would be a strange sight for two grown men, both shady-looking in their own particular way to be entering such a girlish store. But a job was a job and Ruscoe couldn't go busting into the place with his gun waving just so that he could seem more manly.

He crushed his cigarette (didn't even realize he had lit and had been smoking one until he started entering) and pushed open the door. A bell above the door jingled.

Ruscoe spotted the tailor immediately, glanced at his partner with an expression of "Let's play nice." before approaching the tailor. He stopped five feet away, a respectful non-intruding distance, but one that called attention nonetheless. Ruscoe waited for the tailor to notice him.

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