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Chapter 2 - The Calm Before the Storm


Re: Chapter 2 - The Calm Before the Storm

River thinks for a second before saying that Jack would work the best, seeing as how most of the others are probably gone before taking off for her apartment. Ronny nods his head and popping the trunk takes the staked one inside while Izzy takes care of bringing Mary along. Raven apparently not feeling up to another run in with Ronny keeps his distance and waits for Izzy so they can head back to their haven. Jack takes the body and Mary off their hands when they bring them in after a brief explanation as to where they came from. Ronny hurries out and hops in his car to head home leaving to their own devices. Everyone safely makes it back to their havens with enough time to finish off what ever needs to get done.

(If you want to pretty that up for your characters go ahead, and also go ahead and give me a quick paragraph about your weekly downtime. You know healing, any changes to feeding, ghouling, that kind of stuff. Oh and everyone has 3 more XP, except Fletch who has 6 since he didn't spend the last time.
 
Re: Chapter 2 - The Calm Before the Storm

Izzy gives Mary a few reassurances about Jack, at any rate, maybe with a dusting of powdered sugar, but not a total sugarcoating. Jack, on the other hand, gets to hear about Mary's conflicting stories and pretty much a rundown on what happened after Ronny's had his turn. She also mentions what Claire said about the biker that they took out, just in case that's going to cause any issue. Before Ronny takes off, Izzy offers him a few of the blood bags they kiefed from the Sabbat, saving some for Raven and herself as well. ((Sorry, Fletch. You went shopping first. Explain that one to the check out girl...)) About the only thing needing done is cornering her Sire about the other maybe Ravnos and his fight with Ronny.

Given, too, that the vest is never going to see the light of day, hidden where it is in their haven, she doesn't feel too worried about tacking the thing up. It's not hugely impressive, but it is a trophy, for the both of them, really.

She'll also swing by Fletch's, or at least try to, to see how he and Bubba are getting along, maybe help him out with the dog, since it's way easier when you can talk to the thing. That, and drool aside, she does like dogs.

((Some of Izzy's actions might be dependent on conversations with Raven, so might have to wait a bit for more. Other than that, not much of a change.))
 
Re: Chapter 2 - The Calm Before the Storm

Fletch buys some ground meat from the 24/7 grocery store and heads home, frying some hamburger patties for Bubba before lying down.

During the week, Fletch continues to work on the Defender, cutting out sheets of metal from scrap cars and starting to weld them into the rear windows of the SUV - after Izzy came by and explained to Bubba not to look into the light. AND not to sleep in his bed. That's still Fletch's domain, damnit.

The burly man keeps on hunting in back alleys and on the outskirts of town. More importantly though, now that he knows a bit more about ghouls, he is going to try and convert one of his mechanics, Chase, to keep some control over his store. A promotion to store manager should tide him over.
 
Re: Chapter 2 - The Calm Before the Storm

That night Claire started a small fire in a pit behind the remains of her house, out of view of the road and her former neighbors. Throwing the sack of heads into the pit she watched it burn, a bucket of dirt sitting beside her.

She watched the fire until the light of dawn began to appear on the horizon. Her skin tingling she tossed the bucket of dirt into the pit, smothering the flames and retreating to her basement once more, where she nestled on her makeshift bed, hidden away.

Through the week she busied herself by simply cleaning her weapons, and hunting joggers and hikers in the woods, trying to stay away from everyone and everything that wasn't a meal. In her isolation she felt herself calmed and relaxed, often spending nights out under the moon basking in its light for the sheer hell of it.

But she always kept a weapon on her, always watching for members of the Outlaws, the Sabbat, or fuck, even the Carmilla. She knew she wasn't exactly on the prince's best of bud's list.
 
Re: Chapter 2 - The Calm Before the Storm

Claire woke from her nightly torpor as the sun dipped behind the horizon, squinting her eyes she cast a look about the basement to find everything exactly as she had left it. Picking up the shotguns they had used the previous night she silently began cleaning them. She had just finished cleaning the second shotgun when she felt the urge to go out for a walk in the forest. Not to hunt as she was still quite sated from the blood of the previous night, more just to be alone under the moonlight where she could relax away from everything else.

Slipping her jacket on she inhaled deeply to get the scent of the earth into her mind before going on her walk. She stopped though as she heard one of the upper floor boards creak sending a cascade of dirt and ash falling through onto her bed. Picking up her shotgun she slipped into the shadows of the basement unsure of what to expect. She waited tensely with the gun ready and listened as whoever it was moved around upstairs in the burnt out shell that used to be her home.

After a few minutes of waiting the creaks stopped as if whoever was upstairs had left or possibly stopped. Focusing for a second so that she could see through the darkness, she quietly made her way to the hidden entrance to the basement. With one quick action she shoved the door open and dived out, landing on her shoulder she deftly rolled up into a shooting stance. Scanning the burnt out timbers of her house quickly and she saw that whoever had been there was gone, though they had apparently left a message. Moving over to the remainder of a wall near the door to the basement she tore the piece of paper of the wall and read the quickly jotted note.

Claire,
Ft. Normandeau. 11 o'clock.
-River
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Izzy woke with a start as Raven touched her shoulder from where he knelt beside the mattress in their haven. A small table lamp barely lit up the small storage room casting strange shadows in the furthest corners. With a nod and a smile Raven said they should get going so that Izzy wouldn't be late for her psychology class. Standing up from his crouched position he leaned against the wall and drew in his sketchbook while Izzy made herself presentable enough for the trip to her dorm.

Once Izzy was ready Raven dismissed the illusory wall that hid them during the day and Izzy putting her arm in his they made their way out and headed across the parking lot towards her room. After the usual patter with the RA they made it up to her room and took turns cleaning themselves up further, taking a look in the mirror she was glad that they healed fast because some of those bruises from the previous night would have been tough to explain. She grabbed her books and forced a sigh out as she thought about her class for the night, Professor Molitor was probably the only person in the world who could put a vampire to sleep with just a lecture.

Heading down stairs they took the main path through the campus passing the occasional group of her fellow students relaxing on the benches. It was a nice night despite the swift wind that was blowing and they both kept their conversation away from the other night. Just before arriving at the building where her class was they passed what Izzy figured was one last student sitting on one of the benches reading a newspaper. At least at first she figured it was a student since she saw pressed khakis and wait a second she thought as she stopped shined combat boots. Izzy turned back to look at who she figured was sitting there as did Raven though he wasn't quite expecting Ronny to be sitting on the bench looking up a them.

Raven stood perfectly still and with a grimace instinctively felt at his stomach as if suddenly remembering the previous night while Ronny stood up and dropped the folded paper back to the bench. Ronny started walking over toward them while rubbing the back of his head as if unsure of what he wanted to say, he stopped about a foot away and looked down at his feet before he forced a laugh out.

"I uh guess the gamble that I might find you both here at the campus paid off after all."
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Fletch stopped the HEMTT in front of the deuce and half and hopped out to help SGT. Tucker hook the vehicle up so they could pull it from the sand. The blast of heat and wind as he stepped from the vehicle almost knocked him over as he lowered his goggles to block the biting sand. Allen waved at Fletch as Jimmy hopped from the driver's seat of the deuce, "It's about time you got here Fletch, was beginning to think me and Jimmy were going to have to walk all the way to Baghdad."

After a few minutes the four mechanics managed to get the two vehicles hooked together and with Jimmy ground-guiding him Fletch was able to pull the deuce and half out without much trouble. Unfortunately after taking a look they found they were going to have to tow it the rest of the way in. The four of them piled into the wrecker and Fletch started on his way after pulling his goggles off and tossed them to the side. For some reason the others all kept their goggles on as they got on their way. It seemed like they were driving forever, in fact Fletch could swear it had been days since he had picked up Allen and Jimmy he looked down at his watch and not a single minute had passed by.

Suddenly he woke up back in the tent as the wind howled outside, his sweaty t-shirt clung to his chest as he looked over to the low table where his team sat playing cards. SGT. Tucker sat with his back to Fletch his cards sitting face down in front of him while puffs of smoke drifted off his burnt body, Allen tossed a chip into the pot with a crooked smile on his mutilated face, while their partner didn't say anything at all as he held his cards up in front of what should have been his head. SGT Tucker's raspy voice spoke up as Fletch stared in horror at his friends. "It's about time you woke up Fletch, it's just not the same playing without our fourth partner. I figured since you're dead like the rest of us now maybe we can get back to the good old times, eh."

Allen set his cards down and with the same crooked smile spat off to the side, while Jimmy took his turn. "I don't know sarge he ain't exactly dead like us, after all he still gets to carry on a life while we're stuck here playing cards forever. Not to mention it's all his fault that we're stuck here, isn't that right Jim...oh yeah forgot you can't say much can ya."
 
Re: Chapter 2 - The Calm Before the Storm

Staring down at the paper Claire let out a low snarl before tearing the small note to pieces, and letting the ruined shreds flutter to the floor where she ground them into the ashes. For a moment she merely stood where she was, tapping the butt of her shotgun and staring down at the floor.

'No time like the present I suppose,' Claire thought to herself, before double checking that her shotgun was loaded and a shell was in the chamber.

Something about this stunk, and quietly she took off into the night, making her way towards Ft Normandeau. As she got closer she slowed herself, keeping good time but also spending some of her precious precious blood to wrap the shadows around herself, slipping beyond the sight of anyone who should be watching, and making her way in to see if it was actually River who was arranging the meeting.
 
Re: Chapter 2 - The Calm Before the Storm

Fletch stares at Tucker dumbfounded. "You? No no no, you were in that building when they hit it. You were there... you were with..." "With me." Chris. Of course. He was still missing in this little menagerie. His voice came somewhere from the left, and Fletch makes a point out of not looking at him. Still, out of the corner of his eyes he can see his silhouette as it sits down on the place determined for him. "I'll play for Fletch." Alan sneers. "Of course. Wouldn't be the first time, hmm?"

Fletch wakes up and stares at Bubba standing atop him, licking his face. With a growl, he pushes the dog aside and sits up. Fuck... SGT. Tucker. He hasn't thought about the mustache-wearing bastard in a long, long time. Yeah, sure, he died in Baghdad, but it wasn't like Alan, Jimmy or Chris, The four of them were friends, no - brothers. And the Iraqis made sure to change that.

Bubba scratches at the door and whines. "Yeah, sure. First you come in here and wake me up and then you don't know how to get out. You're a moron, you know that?" His tone was a lot less harsh than his words would make you believe. "That's not even the right door. This is the closet. Christ, you've been here a week," Fletch grumbles as he gets up. "I figured you'd find the kitchen alone by now."
~~~
The two of them head out of the apartment building and head down the road towards his shop. Fletch was itching to put in that wall between the front seats and the back.
 
Re: Chapter 2 - The Calm Before the Storm

Seeing the look on her sire's face as she abruptly wakes, Izzy lets a smile come to her lips as something of a reassurance to him. "Morning," she murmurs, taking in a bit of pleasure at hearing him chuckle at that.

Given what a gorgeous night it was, she was silently lamenting having to spend it in class, especially one that she would rather do without. Necessary evil, she reminded herself. If she actually did want to try and get her degree, this was the first of many required courses. The thought of having Molitor all the while she was here, though, made her cringe.

Seeing Ronny here makes her, well, not suspicious, but at the very least curious as to why he was seeking them out. Still, as he got closer, she brought a hand up to lay it against Raven's arm, feeling him tense some as the other vampire approached. If he were up to something, though, his body language certainly wasn't giving it away.

She made it a point to glance at her watch. They still had time before class, but it would at least make a good excuse to get them away, if the need arose. "Did you need something, Ronny? Doesn't seem like you to come out all this way just to talk."
 
Re: Chapter 2 - The Calm Before the Storm

The stiff wind blew across the open field that surrounded the reconstructed palisade of the old fort. From her vantage point in some trees near the canoe launch Claire could easily see the entire area. The area seemed empty of people until she noticed a lantern flash on towards her right. From what she could see it appeared a family was enjoying a night of camping in the nice weather. Towards the other side of the palisade she can barely see a small gravel parking lot with two vehicles parked in it, a minivan and a smaller car of some sort.
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Ronny looked up into Izzy's eyes for a second before quickly turning away to look at Raven.

"I er well actually yeah I did just come here to talk, but if you're in a hurry to get to class or whatever I don't want to keep you."

Raven relaxes significantly as Izzy's hand goes to rest back on his arm and he gets an almost smug look on his face as he looks back at Ronny. Izzy mentions that they are heading to class but they have a little time if it's really that important.

Ronny apparently catches the hint and rubs his face for a second as if searching for the right words. He stops for a second and gets an annoyed look on his face as his hand brushes over a spot that he missed while shaving before dropping his hand and continuing on.

"I really just wanted to apologize for last night...not just the punch but my uh comments at elysium too. I kind of have a tendency to do and say things without thinking them all the way through. So I'm sorry if anything bothered the two of you."
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Fletch's trip through the night to his garage goes by quickly even with the higher amount of traffic caused by the nice weather. The light is still on the office and looking in the window he can see Chase finishing up what looks like some paperwork with the guy who's been helping them out with the towing while Fletch's truck is still unaccounted for. Bubba just follows around sniffing and drooling as usual, though he does growl pretty menacingly at anyone who happens to get to close to Fletch.

As Fletch opens up the door and enters the office, Chase hands over the paperwork to the tow driver, who nods his head in Fletch's direction as he makes his exit. Chase stands up from the desk and nods to Fletch before saying.

"Hey boss nice night, eh. Just finished with the last of the paperwork for the day so I'll be out of you're hair in a minute or two. You got a couple messages on the desk there when you get the chance."
 
Re: Chapter 2 - The Calm Before the Storm

"Down boy," Fletch tells Bubba as he closes the door behind him. "Actually, I wanted to talk to you for a moment. You know that situation with my cousin?" Some sob story about a once distant cousin falling sick and needing Fletch to take care of her daughter. His excuse for now. Let's see how long it'll hold up. "It's, uh, she's not doing well. I'll have to do that for a few more years if bad comes to worse, y'see. And the garage needs somebody to take the reigns. You know how Bob is, he always needs somebody to kick him." Fletch gives the man a moment to let the meaning sink in and heads over to his desk, checking on the messages.
 
Re: Chapter 2 - The Calm Before the Storm

Claire frowned, and kept herself wrapped in darkness, moving into the fort proper, trying to stay away from the camping family. She still wasn't sure if that note had actually been from River, or if it was some attempt to lure her out to more easily kill her from some of the enemies she's made since being embraced.

If the potential assassins were Camarilla she wouldn't need to hide herself due to the proximity of the family. But neither would Cammy killers lure her out where some kine were camping for the night.

She walked softly, crouching and moving slowly, eyes swinging through the camp, occasionally glancing back at the family, shotgun tight in her hands. If River was here, where was she hiding?
 
Re: Chapter 2 - The Calm Before the Storm

"We all do that now and again. It's just that some of us do it with more frequency." She manages to huff a sigh, the one habit she hasn't actively been trying to break, it seems. "Personally, so long as you weren't serious, I'm fine with it." She pauses for a second. "Well, if you were, I'm flattered, but don't get your hopes up," she adds with a bit of a smirk. She, at least, seems to have let it go.

Outside of her hand on her sire's arm, though, she's making no effort to encourage him to accept the apology or pacify him more than the initial contact served to. He was the one Ronny socked in the gut, so that's his apology to accept, deny, or demand compensation for as far as she's concerned.

((Leaving Raven up to you and I'd like to see the two men's responses before Izzy remarks further, given she wants to ask Ronny about his outburst but I don't want to get ahead if the boys start sniping at one another.))
 
Re: Chapter 2 - The Calm Before the Storm

The family seems to be settling down for the night seeing as the lantern and the noise both die down. Claire still doesn't see anything that makes her think River is around when the smaller car's lights blink on and off twice as if signaling someone.
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Chase stops and blinks his eyes for a second unsure if Fletch is saying what he thinks he's saying. "Well shit! I mean yeah I would be glad to help ya out boss. I mean I already know how to run the place for the most part and anything I don't know I'm sure I'll pick up eventually.
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Raven actually looks dumbfounded that Ronny said he was sorry and doesn't immediately move from the way he is standing. The smug look from a second ago stays as he responds. "I'll gladly accept the apology but only if you accept my own. I did deserve the slug to the stomach after all."

Ronny nods and says, "Well I wasn't serious at the time but that doesn't mean there's nothing wrong with you or anything, I just wasn't being serious is all. Of course I accept it Raven. So anything else on either of your minds before I get lost?"
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Eve wakes up in her haven and thinks about the previous night wondering what the others ended up doing. If she hadn't known better she would swear the rest of her clan mates were trying to prevent her from being around the others like they were lepers or something. Still she did manage to learn who just about every kindred in the city was.

Making her way over to the phone to check her messages she took a look at the sunset that was forming on her wall. Almost as perfect as a real one though it would have to do even if it wasn't. The only message on her machine seemed a little strange since it wasn't someone she recognized but seeing as how the message came in at noon it was probably a ghoul.

"Miss Vosmus please be sure to meet Master Monroe at Fort Normandeau at 11 oclock."
 
Re: Chapter 2 - The Calm Before the Storm

Clutching her weapon tighter, Claire slid through the shadows, not daring to show herself until she saw who was in the car. She crept up, staying away from the headlights, trying to look in through the side windows; see who was driving, and if there was anyone else in the vehicle.

This felt wrong.
 
Re: Chapter 2 - The Calm Before the Storm

Izzy seems a bit relieved that the machismo is dying down between the two men, at least for the time being. Her hand slides around behind Raven, giving him a rub on the back before settling around his waist.

"Guess I just wanted to make sure you were all right, Ronny. I mean, you seemed well enough after the fight but you, ah," she pauses, seeming to want to word this delicately, he can see it. "Your little, um, outburst? In Elysium? I mean, it broke the tension off of us, but, well..." He was sort of raving like a nut, but she doesn't exactly say that. She's more tactful than that.
 
Re: Chapter 2 - The Calm Before the Storm

Fletch nods, glad that Chase caught on. He keeps on looking through the notes on his desk - he's not that good at lying. "Good. Great, thanks. Of course, you'll have more responsibility, but hell, you've been long overdue for a raise anyway." Business was running okay, but it'd pick up again as soon as he'd get his fucking tow truck back.

And now for the next step. "By the way, somebody got me a ticket for some vampire flick." He digs into his pocket and produces a movie ticket for this week. "You know I'm not a movie goer and don't care for this supernatural stuff. You want it?"
 
Re: Chapter 2 - The Calm Before the Storm

"Master Monroe?" she murmured, mind still fuzzed from sleep, "Oh right. Mr. Alexander. I really wish I'd been able to go last night. I'll ask Fletch about it the next time I see him." She dressed in something nice, but not fancy, and hit the road. She'd be a bit early, but at the very least she could find some... fast food... before time to meet up with her boss.
 
Re: Chapter 2 - The Calm Before the Storm

Claire is easily able to make her way over to the parking lot without walking through the bright headlights of the car as they blink on and off. She gets to the parking just as the lights blink off for the last time. Making her way off to the side of the car she looks inside to find no one inside the vehicle. Though she does notice that the breeze picks up even more as she stares towards the car.
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Most of the messages are just the typical business messages he gets every day. One however really makes him wonder a message from Vincent saying he would be stopping by to discuss something a matter of mutual interest.

Chase's eyes light up as he takes the ticket from Fletch. "Yeah sure boss, always been a fan of the monster movies myself. At least as long as it's not like that Twilight stuff, almost drove me nuts having to sit through that with my girlfriend. So you going to be needing anything else tonight then boss or can I head home for now."
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"Oh right, the part where I flipped my lid and told everyone to stop staring at me like a crazy guy. Well that was just more of me not really thinking before speaking er yelling very loudly." Ronny says shrugging his shoulders before adding.

"From what I've heard about some of the others like me, I wasn't even all that bad. I don't usually mind people looking at me but er well with all I've been through this month, I was probably just at that point."
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Eve makes her way to the highway in her little car, stopping and opening the hood as if she's having engine trouble. Thankfully it doesn't take long before a knight in shining armor shows up to rescue her. After her fast food and one very dazed but happy looking knight in shining armor drives away she hops back in her car and heads towards the park where the fort is located.
 
Re: Chapter 2 - The Calm Before the Storm

Eve grinned and whistled a little as she drove onward. It really was a great night. Good music, good breeze, beautiful sky, cute food... the only thing she really missed was sunlight, but she suspected as she grew older that might change and she could revel in the life, beautiful art and people like so many of her older clanmates seemed to. She took it slow to the fort, not wanting to be too early and just enjoying the gorgeous night that was alive all around her.
 
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Re: Chapter 2 - The Calm Before the Storm

Seeing no one in the car Claire immediately began to back off, making sure to place each foot carefully so as to make as little noise as possible, her finger stroking the side of the trigger.

She felt a twinge of excitement, wondering if right now she was hunter or hunted. Her eyes flicked all around her, looking for anything suspicious.

Her attention was grabbed the faint sound of an approaching vehicle. She listened to it, wondering if it was just a passer-by, or someone else coming to this strange little party.
 
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