[Nexus] Inside 54

[Beans]

[Streets]
Seiner leans into her arm, smiling. I-I... yeah, but it sounds really sort of ominous... I... actually wondered if maybe you could come with me, just to, um, back me up? She blushes a bit at being called pretty. As for the name... I know "Seiner" is my human name, but Fangires have different names and somehow I just know my true name is something... that I don't know.

[Recaiden]

[Streets]

"'Come find out or else', but I'm sure it's not meant to sound that way. Sure, I'll come along. Keep you safe." She heads along smiling, staying close. "It's not any less your name for you having a different one."

[Beans]

[Streets]
Seiner puts her arm around 99 as well, grinning.
Aw, Nines, you're the best! Thanks so much!
She brings up the map app on her phone to make sure they go the right way. Can't get lost on their way to ominousness!

[Recaiden]

[Streets to Ominous Rec Center]

99 smiles a bit more. If she had enough blood flowing, she would blush at that. "Of course; you're welcome to my help." 99 watches the phone with almost as much interest as Seiner gets. She really should keep up with the constantly shifting technology level of the Nexus.

[Beans]

[Streets > Rec Center]
Eventually the adorable vamps arrive at the Rec Center, by which I mean the empty concrete shell of the Rec Center. It's pretty creepy, even with the sunlight streaming through the broken windows and putting a decent bit of light into the place. Directly ahead is where the pool used to be, now just a big tiled pit lit by big empty windows with bits of broken glass left in them. In the shadows by the bleachers, a shape suggesting a person moves a little.
Eeehhh... well... that looks like it's them.

[Recaiden]

[Rec Center]

"Not the nicest place to meet," 99 shakes her head as she watches the human-shaped figure. She slides her parasol closed and steps forward, to lead the walk to them ahead of Seiner, trying to hold her hand and bring her along if she's too hesitant.

[Beans]

[Rec Center]
The person steps out of the shadows and walks down the shallow-end stairs into the pit of the pool, a man in his 30s with the northwest-Asian features of perhaps Siberian descent, his hair tousled and black and his chin scarred. Dressed in a dark denim jacket and motorcycle-rider pants, he beckons them in, doing the same Fangire face-and-eye pattern with a nod to Seiner.

The clumsy girl steps forward to go down the deep-end ladder carefully, every sound echoing eerily in this shell of a building.
So... you're the guy?

The man nods, then looks to 99, his face impassive to match his voice.
"That's me... who's the other one? Friend of yours?"

[Recaiden]

[Rec Center]

99 hops down to sit at the edge of the pool a bit ahead of the ladder. "Exactly. Help her find the way to who she is, and all."
"I'm 99. And you know her, at least, know of her." The echoing room kind of distorts the questioning tone at the end.

[Beans]

[Rec Center]
Seiner stands in the pool, sticking by 99. S-so... who are you, I mean?

The man shrugs, the pattern flowing up his face again, but now it covers all of it and his body fades from human to... something insectoid, patterned all over with pieces of color bordered in black.
"Fangire of the Stag Beetle, Round Zero: The Trump Card of Fate." He chuckles flatly. "If you think my true name sounds like bad poetry, get used to it---that's how we all are... okay, now you change."

Seiner looks at 99, biting her lip, unsure about this.

[Lord Magtok]

Hokey Little Diner

Miyuu gives a small nod. "Yeah. It sounds a bit risky, but I figure if they've survived this long perhaps they know what they're doing." She admits with a shrug as she sips her coffee. "

"Yes," Mariya concedes. It was a silly concern to begin with, one without any real basis in reality, but Mariya had to bring up something. Change is scary, and not always a good thing. "We go back and find some other place if they are...how do you say? Bad people? Not evil gang men bad, but bad like cold tea or stale pancakes?" Mariya's terrified she's going to have a completely miserable first day there, and then she'll get talked into staying by Miyuu, who will somehow love the place. Then she'd be stuck spending months or even years hating their fellow tenants more than anything in the world, but sticking with it all for the sake of the samurai princess.

[Reinholdt]

[Bast's Animal Shelter]

"Um, how about the second then the first?" Arel suggests. Looks like there's plenty to talk about.

[Otto's Manse]

Maybe Samona was expecting more than that, or maybe her player is a bit mentally drained lately. Who knows?

"I'm sure that can be arranged. I assume you'd like us to locate a buyer and then contact you? And before we get too far, I should take a look at the contents of the drive." She's not just going to take him at his word after all.

Bast's Animal Shelter

"Well my employers are a group of devils. I mean they seem reasonable enough so far, but isn't that how they get you?"

"And well... there was a murder at work today."

Otto's Manse

"Yes, pretty much exactly that. And of course. Being information and not wanting to be shut out of my own deal, it is double password protected. The first to give you a glimpse. The second for the buyer when it's sold."

2

[Recaiden]

[Rec Center]
Seiner stands in the pool, sticking by 99. S-so... who are you, I mean?

The man shrugs, the pattern flowing up his face again, but now it covers all of it and his body fades from human to... something insectoid, patterned all over with pieces of color bordered in black.
"Fangire of the Stag Beetle, Round Zero: The Trump Card of Fate." He chuckles flatly. "If you think my true name sounds like bad poetry, get used to it---that's how we all are... okay, now you change."

Seiner looks at 99, biting her lip, unsure about this.

99 smiles to her and nods, waving her forward. "Go on. You wanted to recall your name." Though the kind of true name that includes a subtitle, well, that's no good. "And Round Zero, at least, looks neat. Show me who else you are, Seiner!"

A slight concern shows on her face. That transformation. It seems familiar.

[Beans]

[Rec Center]
Seiner nods, swallows, and transforms. The sound, the look... so familiar?

Seiner's true body is beautiful, slender and much more graceful-looking than her human form; none could imagine her falling over in this body. Her tones fade like her old hair did, blue like the deep sea at the top, coastal-water green at the ends---her hands, her feet, and the many tentacles dangling from the wide structure like a jellyfish'd bell that covers her head, like a wide hat dangling streamers. At her waist, a belted half-skirt hangs on her left hip.

She turns to her friend, and an image of her human face reflects in the many glassy facets of her body. N-Nines... am... is this okay?

Round Zero steps forward, clicking. "... That's... now that is something... never expected to find the Lion's Mane Fangire here. Crimes in the Ocean Undermine the Orphans' Kingdom... and you still have more to learn than your name, I'm afraid. Heard of Checkmate Four?"

Where's that name, Checkmate Four, been heard by 99's ears before? It's on the tip of her brain, most likely...

[Recaiden]

99 hopes down from the edge into the pit, grinning. "Okay? To be beautiful and surefooted and have a name? Crimes in the Ocean Undermine the Orphans' Kingdom. Ah, yes!"

The Checkmate Four. He's not talking about he scholar's mate, no, this is a group. Fangire Types, of which Seiner is one? Did she know these people before she died, or before she found Vann? You know, you're not invincible, . These Checkmate Four with their traditions...think on the triskelions.

[Beans]

[Rec Center]
Seiner shuffles closer to 99, her posture brightening a tiny bit. She looks at Round Zero, shaking her head.

He shrugs. "Checkmate Four, the ruling body of the Fangire race. King, Queen, Bishop... and Rook." He stepped forward, clicking as he moved. "I was one of them a long time ago, the Rook. I was the King's strong right arm until... well, enough about that. See, the thing is, little jellyfish girl, you don't always get chosen by the King to be one of the Four. Sometimes you're just born like that...
Like you."

Seiner stepped back a pace, her back coming against the pool wall.
W-what, I... I'm not...

"You are, I can feel it---and that makes you my ticket back to the top."
He drew a strange sword from his back.

Oh crap.

[Recaiden]

[Rec Center]

That's right. The leaders of the other...the other something. Another strain of vampires, clearly. Is that who I was? Vann would have known, wouldn't she?
"Which piece is-" 99 steps right up, between Seiner and the former Rook, trying to push her over towards the ladder out of the pool.

The other hand draws her sword. It's a strange sword itself; the blade is in two pieces, shaped as a hyperbola. But they stay together just as they should.
"You are making a mistake, Round Zero." Nothing shows how worried she is. She was warned about these people once, and had forgotten it. And can she fight him and keep Seiner safe?

[Beans]

[Rec Center]
Seiner stumbles back and shakily starts up the ladder, fear hampering her.

The Stag Beetle Fangire shakes his head. "I wondered why the jellyfish girl went and brought a damned leech along. Where'd you find her, jelly? She smells like those ones that tried to step on our turf back then, thought I'd killed most of them..."

His jaws snip together a few times. "Come on then, mosquito, hemovore, nosebleed-licker. I feel like you've seen what we glassmouths can do, so you know you're finished, doncha?"

[Recaiden]

[Rec Center]

Just insults. Means nothing if he's killed vampires before. Why, so has she. That's how it all started. Probably, anyway. "To put down insects like you."

On 99's off hand, her nail polish cracks as her fingers lengthen into claws. "Come on then. I've no problem shattering that glass mouth." 99 smirks, and lowers her blade into a fool's guard. Trying to think back. Just what can they do?

[Beans]

[Rec Center]
Seiner kneels at the edge of the pool, shaking in fear and worry.

The Fangire stamps, cracking the tiled floor and possibly upsetting 99's balance; he tries to get in on her left side, lunging with his glossy black blade.
"Tough talk for someone without the right to rule. We Fangires own you, little bloodsucker!" He's fast, strong, but reckless.

[Recaiden]

[Rec Center]

When the shockwave cracks through the floor 99 rises up onto the tips of her feet, but does not fall. "Maybe your King has the right to rule. But not you, Fallen Rook. Lordship must be given or taken."

Fast. Sloppy. Exactly as expected. 99 didn't spend all that time in rooftop swordfights to be taken in by something like that. Turn as he comes in, step forward inside the attack, push the flat of the glossy blade back with an open hand, and flick the parabola sword up at the same time.

[Beans]

[Rec Center]
The sword hits his armor, sparks fly, and he staggers back, but he doesn't seem to have taken that much damage. How very like a beetle to be so well armored.

He snarls, pincers opening, an iridescent ball of energy forming between them. The pincers snap together and shards of light spew forth toward 99.

[Recaiden]

So that's what he's relying on. As soon as the sword hits 99 is jumping back, and as the iridescent light starts to form she hops up by the edge of the pool to grab her umbrella, for a moment holding it and the sword awkwardly, loosely, and then falling back into the pool with it open like a shield before her. Sharp pieces of light bounce off of it like exceptionally jumpy raindrops.

99 lifts the umbrella up, holding her sword out below it, and just looks over the fangire's form for any weak points in his armor. Under the arms, maybe? Side of the neck?

[Beans]

[Rec Center]
The joints, of course, for otherwise he would be ever so stiff. Between his jaws is a good spot as well.
He comes at her again, but this time he tries to feint to the left, then hit her right.

[Recaiden]

[Rec Center]

She pretends to block the attack coming in on the left, and then draws the sword back to block the real attack between the hilt and the blade. Then up goes the umbrella, floating into the air, and across come the claws to grab at his other arm.

[Beans]

[Rec Center]
Sword locked, free arm grabbed, what's a beetley life-drainer to do?
Oh, I know!
As she grabs his arm, he tries to yank her toward him, sharp armored knee coming up at her abdomen as his snapping pincer jaws lunge at her face!

Seiner is most distressed by all this, but too afraid to move.

[Recaiden]

Yanking out of place? Not so successful.

Knee-stabbing, on the other hand (other foot?) is totally successful.
99 grimaces, trying to shut out the pain of being stabbed in the stomach. "Ow. I was going to think about letting you go. You're really not prepared for this."
There's suddenly nothing holding his sword, as the opposing blade is swung over in a short chop at the elbow of his captive arm.

[Beans]

[Rec Center]
A short chop's not enough to lop it off, but... that arm isn't moving any time soon, not above the shoulder. It goes limp as he bellows in pain, swinging his sword at her sword arm's shoulder as he tries again to give her a kiss.
A kiss made out of slicing jaws trying to go all hedge-trimmer on her skull.

[UncleWolf]

Outside Rubble Zone

When the pair look over the wall, they'll find quite a sight. It seems that the smell of death is coming from a woman chained into a seated position between two pillars. One is black iron, and the other is plaster. The woman herself appears human with deathly pale skin and fair blond hair. She's clothed in sky blue and white robes. The robe in front of her stomach has been torn open, exposing a II carved into her abdomen. If the two look closely at her, they'll find her neck has been slit open, but the blood doesn't touch most of her clothing, instead only staining the bottom of her robes and forming a pool around her in an oddly smooth puddle. Behind her, on the wall are a series of pomegranates that have been sliced in half and hung up by nails.

On the woman's lap, beneath the carving in her stomach, is an old scroll, pressed into her hands and kept there. Finally, the last object already added to the scene, is a golden crescent moon laying at her feet in the pool of blood.

Of course, that's the last object that's been added. The actual final object, an oddly shaped crown, is being held by the murderer as it's placed on the dead woman's head.

The murderer is wearing a blood red dress, offset by her own deathly pale skin, and has silky brunette hair reaching down to the small of her back. She's barefoot but doesn't seem bothered by it at all despite the risk of broken glass and sharp rocks.

She doesn't seem to notice them for now so she doesn't turn around, but once the crown is placed, she reaches behind her victim to carve another II into the brick with a nail. Finally, unless she's stopped, she pulls a single card from a purse and lays it on her victim's lap.

Once she does, she'll turn and look directly towards Elias and Hekta with a wry smile, revealing a pair of fangs and yellow eyes before walking away without a single word.

Hokey Little Diner

Miyuu smiles gently, understanding Mariya's concerns. "We'll stay there for one day. A full 24 hours. Unless both of us are impressed or willing to stay, we'll leave. I promise." She says cheerfully. Even though she sounded casual about it, Mariya will know that Miyuu never makes a promise lightly. After all, her honor was now at stake.

[Slii Arhem]

[Inside Docks]

"Yeah I guess, but when the heck am I ever gonna see a mew again. Mew, Ken." Becca says. He just doesn't get it, does he. She shakes her head.

"Anyway." She pushes the thought of the legendary pokemon away. "You look really cold." She looks at his shirtless chest again and pauses awkwardly. Staring. Why is she staring? The girl quickly looks upward. "Um, maybe we should go find a Pokemon Center or something?" She suggests.

Inside Docks

"If we're lucky, somewhere between never and never." And that sums up Ken's thoughts on when is the right time to mess with legendary pokemon.

"Yeah, I mean none of my pokemon are really that hurt, but maybe they'll have some dry towels and a bathroom I can use. And after that, I think we should have a match. Just a friendly one, but you seem pretty capable, and I'd like to see what your partners can do." The look on Ken's face isn't exactly friendly. It seems like he has something to prove here.

The mask pilfering went smoothly especially as there were no such structural enhancement enchantments on the pedestals. As such, there would be a replica mask floating around in the glass containment in short order. As for the manipulations of the stone, it was indeed slow work but equally successful although as she was near it, Merideth may pick up that there seemed to be motion not terribly far away from the door. Or at least within ten or so meters.

As for the next case, this one seemed to be much more ornate with flanged edge of brass and rays from the crown. If Merideth knew about such things, it would seem to be designed much more like a helmet than a typical mask although it seemed to at least be as functional as it was ornamental. Too bad it was mostly brass, though, and not the strongest of materials. It seemed to have some small enchantment on it, though.. It likely wouldn't be immediately evident to the Elemental as to what it was unless she was well versed in these kinds of things.

Temple Heist

Though Merideth is quite familiar by necessity with all the magical methods she could find to bind and summon elementals, I rather doubt this enchantment is of that sort, so she's likely unable to determine its purpose and uncaring of it in any case. She'll simply attempt to replicate the mask's structure and swap it out so she can add it to her collection of masking floating about in her form.

She does have a quick thought before moving on to the next though, and sends out a larger and louder than normal vibration through the air, trying to determine if there are any other entrances or exits into this room that she should seal off as well.

[Recaiden]

[Rec Center]

Oh no! That's probably going to damage her hat!

Oh and also her head. 99 falls to the ground to avoid them, leaving the hat to get hedge-trimmed, and rolls away before going to spring back up.
"But now, I don't think that's an option."

The proper vampire raises the sword up behind her head and gets ready to dodge another spray of light-crystals.