Chapter 1 - Introductions Are a Plus

[dmronny]

Re: Chapter 1 - Introductions Are a Plus

As the beast finally relinquishes control of Eve's mind, the full realization of what just happens occurs to her. As well as a horrendous shooting pain from her dislocated arm, which currently hangs at a very odd angle from her shoulder. ((Eve is now up to 10/14 blood points with 1 lethal damage.))

Jameson or what's left of him isn't moving as he lays under Eve on the pavement. The blood is still oozing from his torn throat and starting to spread across the pavement, though not much of it seems to be left. The rest of the alley remains just as deathly silent as it had been throughout Fletch's wait for Eve to show up with a victim.
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As Claire blurts out her theories of what her training may be she feels a calming hand on her shoulder as the Kook reaches out to reassure her. Dr Frieda's angry frown changes to a smirking smile as she thinks about some of the possibilities Claire suggested.

Meanwhile the Prince watches patiently for a moment as Claire calms down a little before he answers her question.

"Training will be one of two things in your case Ms. Winters. Your first choice will be to accept acknowledgment as a probationary member of the sect under the tutelage of a more experienced sect member. Your second choice is to accept a blood bond to the sect to insure your compliance with the masquerade. The two choices are non-negotiable, do you have any further questions before you make a choice?"
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The argument amongst the Torries breaks up abruptly as Alize indignantly leaves with her group. Alexander turns away to talk to some of the others with a rather smug, but exhausted look on his handsome face. Alana dutifully follows Alize out of Elysium, though she seems reluctant to leave Alexander.

Eddies voice answers once again as the argument breaks up, in response to Izzy's question.

"Alright try not freak out when I hand you my card, I ain't exactly Brad Pitt if you catch my drift. Here you go."

As Izzy watches Eddie appears about a foot off to her his hand holing out a business card for her. He's not the ugliest person you've ever seen, but he certainly isn't the best looking either. The worst part about his appearance is that he's disgustingly obese, his rumpled clothes covered in what looks like ink stains. ((Picture Steve Buscemi, except really obese.))
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Ronny reacts to the situation without really thinking, as he rushes up behind the two gang bangers and grabs them both yanking them to the side of the dead-end alley. As he yanks them to the side he looks over at the woman and shouts. "Run"

Without hesitation the woman takes off at full speed from Ronny and the thugs she had been cornered by. Unfortunately for Ronny the thugs have recovered from being yanked to the side and are now advancing on him. One armed with a switchblade the other with nothing but his fists.

 

[Sinfulwolf]

Re: Chapter 1 - Introductions Are a Plus

Claire looked down at her hands. One fucking mistake and now they were taking it all away from her. No more freedom, no more running through the forest at night. She clenched her hands into tight fists, nails digging into her palms harshly.

"Prince... I fucking hate you... I'll take tutelage, but I want my fucking jacket back," she said, head lowered still.

 

[Copper]

Re: Chapter 1 - Introductions Are a Plus

Izzy notices the division and files the argument away for later. Her attention goes back to Eddie, or where he should be, at any rate. Given his comments, she was actually expecting something worse, but then, being on the side of morbidly obese did wig her out a little, but not to the point that she was recoiling from him. She takes a second, obviously more staring at him than the card and then blinks, putting her attention on the bit of paper and reaching out to take it from him. Given the way she's looking at it, it's as if she almost expects the ink to still be wet.

"Haven't got one to give back, but if you're as resourceful as you say, I suppose I won't need one, huh?"

 

[dmronny]

Re: Chapter 1 - Introductions Are a Plus

The Prince gets up from his seat and with his usual smile, answers Claire.

"So join the club they meet every Friday night at Elysium, just remember not to mess up while under probation. Unless you like the sunlight that is."

Now that he has finished with Claire he turns his attention to the young blond who had been standing behind Claire during the meeting.

"Miss St. Clair, since you've decided to take an interest in her well-being I am appointing you as her current custodian. Good luck."

With that the Prince leads Dr. Frieda and his bodyguards out of the room, without bothering to close the door.
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Eddie laughs in his soft nasally voice as he once disappears right in front of Izzy.

"Nope, I should be able to find you, Raven, Jonas, Ronny, Eve, or Claire without too much trouble. Would be kind of an empty boast if I couldn't do otherwise."

She feels raven's grip tense up again as he listens in on the conversation from beside her. Soon she hears heavy footsteps going away from her as Eddie takes his leave of Elysium for the night. Leaving nothing but Izzy, Raven, and a few other kindred who looked to be getting ready to leave for the night.

Looking down at the card she may realize where she's heard the name before, Eddie Griffin of the Daily Globe. One of the trashiest tabloids you could ever read, and he happened to be the editor-in-chief.

 

[Copper]

Re: Chapter 1 - Introductions Are a Plus

She actually looks confused for a moment before putting Jonas together with Fletch. As Raven's grip tightens, so does hers, although it's more as reassurance for him. Glancing down at the card, she lets out a chuckle. "Suppose that fits. Seen it done in stories before. Who's going to believe Bat-Boy is real if it's splashed all over the rag mags?"

Given that things had wound down, she gave Raven a little nudge. "Looks like we've outlasted the party. Got anything in mind or you wanna head out and try to avoid trouble?"

 

[Sinfulwolf]

Re: Chapter 1 - Introductions Are a Plus

Claire watches the prince leave the room, a frown on her face.

"What about my jacket?" she demanded, now looking at the doctor, who she felt an even deeper hatred for now than the Prince, whom she still felt had betrayed her.

 

[Chibichibi]

Re: Chapter 1 - Introductions Are a Plus

Eve bites her lip as a whimper rolls up her throat. "Fletch... I... Can you help me? Can you pop my arm back into place?" She tries to hold perfectly still and sighs. "I'm sorry. I shoulda taken the bartender, He's gay." she tries to say in a light-hearted tone.

 

[Rule 34]

Re: Chapter 1 - Introductions Are a Plus

Fletch snorts at Eve's attempt at humor. Gay or not doesn't really matter to him. The arm however... "I don't know, hon," he murmurs, unaware of the pet name. "Wasn't a combat medic, I don't know shit about this... But I saw somebody do it..." He sighs and scratches his beard, the usual sign of nervousness. "Okay, I guess I can do this, but this is going to hurt. We don't have time to do this slowly."

Fletch grabs the dislocated arm by the biceps and pushes it against her body, puts his other hand on her forearm - and turns it away from her body in one move. This should work. And hurt like a son of a bitch.

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[Chibichibi]

Re: Chapter 1 - Introductions Are a Plus

Eve barely manages to keep her scream under control. "Thanks." She whimpered. "Now how are we going to fix this? Should we close his throat up and leave him, or i could get cleaned up a little and go back inside and cry rape or..." she started babbling, still obviously shaken up.

 

[dmronny]

Re: Chapter 1 - Introductions Are a Plus

Eves shoulder audibly pops back into it's normal position, as Fletch does his best to fix it. Unfortunately his lack of expertise and the quickness with which he performs the action causes even more damage to Eve's shoulder, though the pain doesn't get any more noticeable. (1 lethal, 1 bashing damage now.)

When Fletch looks down at the body he easily sees that the man is already dead.
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The small blond girl nods as the Prince indicates that she is being appointed as Claire's mentor, though the look on her face doesn't exactly look happy at the prospect of it. She moves toward the door after the Prince has left and waves for Claire to follow her.

"I guess the first thing to do is find that jacket of yours. I'm pretty sure I know where it'll be at, plus I should probably go get dressed in street clothes before we leave too."
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Raven relaxes after he realizes that Eddie has left them before answering Izzy's question.

"U-unless you need to do a-anything, I say we just head out and try to avoid t-trouble for the rest of the night. I don't need to do anything myself."
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Ronny backs away slowly as the thugs start slowly advancing at him. The one with the knife moves into position to cut off his escape route as the other comes right at him. Well wasn't that just a brilliant move right there, Ronny thinks to himself. Next time I'll just worry about feeding rather than trying to save an idiot who's in trouble.

The thug without the knife suddenly lunges at Ronny, with several blows from his fists. Most of them miss, but one of them connects pretty solidly with his jaw.

 

[Sinfulwolf]

Re: Chapter 1 - Introductions Are a Plus

Claire gets up from the table, making a small show of pushing her chair away from the table before following her new mentor.

"I'd appreciate it. I really like it... suppose I should get some clothes aside from the jacket as well come to think of it," Claire said following the blonde, not entirely sure what to think of the situation, but happy that she's getting out of the hospital.

 

[Copper]

Re: Chapter 1 - Introductions Are a Plus

"Nothing I can think of. Got all night to do any homework, so I'm not too worried about that, so wanna hit a club or something? Late movie, either in or out?" She has a feeling she knows what his choice will be, but she throws the first option in there. He's getting better with the crowds thing, but usually when it's *just* crowded enough to not test his limits. Best way she knew to keep the two of them out of trouble.

 

[Rule 34]

Re: Chapter 1 - Introductions Are a Plus

A heavy sigh wrangles its way out of Fletch's beard somehow. He kneels himself down and closes the guy's eyes, more out of habit than out of respect. "This guy's a goner. Not a big loss, but..." His expression changes to a frown as he starts rifling through the guy's clothes. "Didn't he mention a delivery or a package or something? Maybe we can still turn this around." He looks up at her. "You got a knife on you? We gotta hide the bite wounds."

 

[Chibichibi]

Re: Chapter 1 - Introductions Are a Plus

"Yeah, he did..." she steed down at the man, concetrating on healing her wounds. "He has a gun too..." then the enormity of what almost happened hit her. "Oh god. He... oh god, he was really going to rape me, Fletch... I, oh god!" She stepped forward a little and said in a very quiet little girl voice, "Hug?"

 

[Rule 34]

Re: Chapter 1 - Introductions Are a Plus

Fletch waves her off initially from his kneeling position. "Rape you, please. You're a kindred now, you would've torn him a new..." He looks up at her and realizes she doesn't see this as rational as he does. He immediately gets up and pulls the tiny model against his barrel-shaped body. "Hey now, it'll be alright," he says, awkwardly reaching up to pet her hair. "He won't hurt anybody any more. You got him. You got him good." Please don't start crying. Please don't start crying.

 

[Chibichibi]

Re: Chapter 1 - Introductions Are a Plus

She sniffled a little as she snuggled into his hug. "Yeah... I got him...oh god! I killed someone! The Prince! How are we going to explain this?" She looked up at him and gave a small weak smile. "Thank you..."

 

[Rule 34]

Re: Chapter 1 - Introductions Are a Plus

Fletch hums deep in his chest as he thinks about the Prince. Eve may even feel it. "That guy tried to rape you, I don't think Ken is going to get his fabulous panties in a bunch. Besides," he turns his head and looks at Jameson's corpse. "Maybe we should drive a few blocks and just put the corpse in a dumpster. Local thug with a slit throat - nobody's going to ask too many questions."

 

[Chibichibi]

Re: Chapter 1 - Introductions Are a Plus

She buried her face back in his chest and shook her head. "Mobster. From Boston." His presence was very calming for her.

 

[dmronny]

Re: Chapter 1 - Introductions Are a Plus

Searching through the dead man's pockets, Fletch doesn't find anything like a knife. All the dead man has is a Beretta m9 in a shoulder holster, a small box that clinks when you shake it, and the dead man's wallet. In the wallet you find a couple of dollars, the man's driver's license identifying him as Jameson Milliner of Medford, Massachusetts, and several credit cards.

As Eve concentrates on her wounds she feels the muscles and bones in her shoulder knit back together almost as if by magic. The agonizing pain disappears as if her body is brand new. Even the bruise on her arm from when Ronny had shoved her out of the way earlier that night disappears.

As she relaxes in Fletch's arms she realizes that this is probably the most human she has felt since her embrace a few weeks ago. Though she also realizes that it probably won't last and that she has to be more careful about hunting when she's hungry from now on.
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Leading Claire down the hallway back the way Claire had come in, near the entrance area they found a laundry room. Opening the door the blond girl pointed to Claire's clothes and jacket sitting by one of the washers with a smile and said.

"Is that your stuff, if it is just get dressed and then wait here till I get back from changing. It won't take me much more than a minute."

With that the blond girl turned around and quickly ran back the other way and disappeared around a corner.
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Raven gets up from his seat and with a roguish smile, gently pulls Izzy to her feet as well. Pulling her close he wraps his arms around her and leads her out of the court house. Once outside he continues to lead her along towards one of the nearby parks.

"L-let's just go for a walk so we can be alone for a while. There's a park not to far from here where we can sit and watch the stars."
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Ronny tries to back away as he feels the blow on his chin, tripping and falling over backwards onto the garbage strewn alley. Ronny could probably easily handle the thugs, but it's taking everything he can muster to fight back the hungry beast that's feels as though it's trying to claw it's way through his very soul.

The unarmed thug presses his advantage and begins raining kicks into Ronnie's side as he stands over him. The thug with the knife just stands off to the side laughing as his partner kicks at Ronny.

"Save a little for me Joey, he gonna regret messing with us before the night's over. That's for sure."

 

[Rule 34]

Re: Chapter 1 - Introductions Are a Plus

Fletch growls quietly in the direction of the corpse. "A mobster then. Same difference. We'll dump him in the river," he decides. "Put some stones in his pocket and let the wildlife take care of it." Yeah, that actually sounds good. "We're still gonna have to cut him up a bit though."

He looks over Eve's shoulder at the box he found. "Whatever that is, it's going into the river with him."