Nine-colored Roses (Princess: The Hopeful) IC

[MReav]

"I guess I have preparations to make." Blazing Striker muttered. "Thank you for keeping yourselves from attacking me. I imagine that it must be very difficult. If you can provide me any more information, like where I can expect to find him, that would be very helpful. And is there anything we should do so you guys can enter into your Torpor without incident?"

Now she had to put down a Vampire Prince with mind control powers. She'd probably go over with Alison and the others what she planned to do, and how best to deal with the Prince.

Though she should probably be getting home soon, given that it was getting dark out.

[Nerd-o-rama]

"He's got a little mausoleum," Carl says. "Can't take a literal dirt nap like we can. Toss that little map over here and I'll scratch it on there for you."

Laramie nods. "We can sleep anywhere, Torpor or not. My vampire old man called it 'being one with the Earth', I call it free room and board."

Willis, still looking incredibly sullen, says, "Well, if we're gonna just bury ourselves, we should do it somewhere they're not gonna pave over." He then eyes Striker carefully, causing Firefox to circle protectively between the two of them on instinct. "We are gonna want full stomachs..."

"Don't be like that, man. Damn sparklewizard blood's no good to us," Laramie says, turning back to Shira. "He has got a point, but the next one'll be the last jogger we send to the blood bank, promise."

[MReav]

Blazing Striker handed over the map they mentioned, but when she got it back, she glared at Willis and Laramie for their desire to eat someone.

"Foxy Lady to Rosebud. Is there any chance we can negotiate with the blood bank to relinquish some of their stock to help our new friends here? I would rather not subject an innocent to a violent attack that sends them to a hospital. Also, know anyplace where they can come back from at some point?"

[Nerd-o-rama]

"They know how to get blood from a blood bank, trust me," Alison replies. "I very specifically remember Rose Heart not messing with their structure for doing that for exactly this reason. Even if these guys were turned since then, their sires would have told them."

"Come back fr--oh, a place they can be buried and not paved over," Mark says. "Outside city limits is probably the best bet, or the outer edge of a park where no one's going to bother with a path or a restroom or something."

[MReav]

"I take it you heard what my associates said?" Blazing Striker asked, "I would rather not have to subject anyone to any sort of pain and suffering."

She really hoped they weren't dependant on super fresh blood, right from someone's veins/arteries. The best she could hope for in that case was some crazy subculture that got off on that sort of thing. At least then it would be consensual.

[Nerd-o-rama]

"Actually, we're only hearing what you're saying..."

A quick explanation has them looking sullen, but admitting defeat.

"Alright, alright," Laramie says, a little petulantly. "We'll go grab a cold one. Honestly, making us go to bed for years on a crappy dinner..."

They look up at the sky. "In fact, we can probably go do that right now. It'll be dark by the time we get out from under the trees anyway, and we can enjoy ourselves one more time."

Carl grunts. "There better be ****ing flying cars by the time we wake up..."

Willis stays silent, and all three of them, unless stopped, split up and head off quickly under the trees. Their blood-bound familiars seem to follow them, melting back up into the leaves.

[MReav]

"Foxy Lady to Rosebud. Should I follow and keep an eye on them? Not sure how well I can stay hidden if that's the case. I'm not too good at sneaking and they've got a lot of little eyes following them." Blazing Striker called in, "Or should I move to deal with the Prince now, or at least stay put until reinforcements get here?"

Making deals with vampires. Oh Ember would love this.

[Nerd-o-rama]

"It's getting dark enough you should head back out of the woods," Alison replies. "There's no guarantee the Prince won't know you're--"

"*krsh*. *kssh*. *krrrrrrsh*. Do you like scary movies?"

"Christin, please get off the line if you're not going to contribute. We've got a teammate in a dangerous situation."

Firefox, after briefly burying his head in his paws, looks up at Striker. "If they're playing around, it means we're safe for now, but we really should leave the trees and wait for backup. It'd be too easy to get ambushed here."

[MReav]

Blazing Striker nods and moves to a private place a bit ways away that she could reasonably sure that was safe, before detransforming, then heading for the more open areas.

Shira also decided that getting in touch with her grandmother would probably be pertinent. Hopefully she won't have to draw that out too much.

"Thanks for being there with me, Inari. I'd have hated to deal with them alone."

[Nerd-o-rama]

The plushie nods. "You'd have hated to deal with them alone? Those guys were a wolf pack. Except bats. Or something."

Night falls completely a few minutes before Shira leaves the park. As she returns to the entrance, she finds the area deserted except for a man on a bench who's apparently decided to call it an early night, since he's already snoring. As they head toward the park entrance, however, both Shira and Inari get the sudden feeling of being watched. Inari, and Shira if she turns to see, both see a grim-looking man in a suit standing Slenderman-style under a copse of trees, looking directly at them. It's distinctly unnerving.

[MReav]

Shira turned to see Slenderman and quickly turned away. She takes out her cellphone but really just uses it as a cover for activating her rose, and she whispers into it.

"Guys, can I get a description of the Prince? Because I've got a creepy, Slenderman-like guy staring at me, and I'm rather worried that something bad is about to happen. I'd run, but I'd be leaving some poor homeless guy alone with him."

[Nerd-o-rama]

"I'll be there in one minute," Alison says, completely back to business. "I don't have a description, but you'll know if he's a vampire pretty quickly. Just avoid eye contact and hang on."

The suited man walks calmly out of the trees with an air of dignity that you don't generally see on random park denizens, and makes a beeline for Shira. As Alison suggested, his movements seem just a little too stiff, his skin just a little too pale. It's not an instant sense of wrong like Darkspawn, but despite having not warped himself directly out of the soil, he simply looks more unnatural than the three in the woods did.

As out of his line of sight as possible, Inari hops down from Shira's backpack, ready to transform when she does. He does his best to make it look like an accidental drop, just in case.

[MReav]

Shira quickly scooped up Inari (keeping her grip loose to allow him to easily escape and transform), and quickly walked away from Slenderman. Given that he was beelining towards her, that seemed to mean that he was not interested in the others in the area, meaning she didn't have to prioritize keeping his attention on her instead of the other park denizens. Good, but now she needs to figure out how to deal with him. She opted to delay, trying to keep him from getting too close while keeping in the general area so Allison can rendezvous with her. However, she fondled her bracelet because she believed that she was going to need it and soon.

[Nerd-o-rama]

"They teaching you sparklers to run away now?"

The cadence of the man's voice is all wrong, sounding even less like a human voice than the other vampires did when they were barely restraining themselves. It doesn't stop it from carrying, even at a speaking volume, clearly across the distance between them.

As she turns to walk away, Shira finds herself blocked by what's clearly a feral dog. Or a dog that, despite looking rather feral, leaps out of the bushes and deliberately cuts off her escape. Inari hops down, instinctively interposing himself between Shira and the less-awesome-than-a-fox predator.

"You have spent too much time in my manse," the strange voice says. "The hounds have your scent..."

The bum on the bench, at least, hasn't moved.

"Look me in the eye once, young one, and I will set you free..."

[MReav]

Well, little point in keeping our identities secret at this point. Shira thinks to herself, Here's hoping this doesn't bite me in the ass.

"HEART'S FORGE TRANSFORMATION!"

The light engulfs Shira, burning away the teenage girl and replacing her with the masked woman that is Blazing Striker, in full battle regalia. She whips out her glaive at the dog and says calmly, "My quarrel is not with you, doggy. Be somewhere else."

Spoiler: OOC

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2 Successes, Initiative 10

[Nerd-o-rama]

Spoiler: OOC

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Four tens on an unused dice line make me sad, so I'm just going to count that line as an Intimidate against the Animalism'd dog.

The dog's instinctive alarm at Shira's sudden transformation breaks the hold of vampiric magic over it long enough that it does running, tail between its legs. Of course, by this point, the vampiric pursuer is almost upon her - within charging range, but also within range that he can see her clearly. His suit is dirty, or rather, dusty, his hair unkempt and slightly singed. He must have also gotten up before the sun was fully set.

"Who told you you could come here?" the vampire rasps. "This is MY domain. MINE!

With an obscure gesture, he locks gazes with Shira, inhuman, blood-red eyes drawing her gaze involuntarily. "Tell me: who sent you and why?"

Spoiler: OOC

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Shira goes first. Assuming she doesn't turn and run, or do something else that makes her not look at the vampire at all, make a Resolve+Inner Light roll requiring two successes against the Prince's red-text suggestion.

[MReav]

Blazing Striker tries to look away, but finds herself drawn to his gaze, so she opts to instead call upon her inner reserves to force back the effects, "I am Blazing Striker, servant of the Light, defender of the innocent, and destroyer of those that would prey on them!"

With that, she charges the vampire, shrieking the battlecry to put this creature down, "Fiery Blade Of Justice!" as her glaive became ablaze.

Spoiler

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4 Successes if I don't have to remove more than 3 dice, 2 Successes if I don't have to remove more than 5 dice.

Sigh, ah well, Vampy's still looking at at least 3 damage before successes, most if not all is fire.

I believe I suffer a slight initiative penalty for invoking Fuoco.

2 Successes Resisting.

[Nerd-o-rama]

As Firefox sweep around to flank the angry vampire, Blazing Striker's burning glaive connects solidly, tearing a gash into the Prince's suit and a flesh wound across his torso. Suprisingly, though he flinches from the fire, he neither goes into a frenzy nor burns horribly to a crisp like one would expect.

"Fire. Smart," he rasps, "Unfortunately for you, my vitae protects me..."

True to his words, the wound heals slightly, although he also grows more gaunt and feral at the same time. He looks more than a bit hungry...

"Rose Heart's stupid bitch of a girlfriend must have sent you. That's the problem with humans. Even when you aren't cursed, you force others to live an afterlife for you," he observes. "Now Fall!"

Spoiler: OOC

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Enemy is at 2 Lethal after Resilience and healing. I'll go ahead and tell you his Defense is 6, but assuming you go after Inari, it'll be at 5.

Looking for two successes on Resolve+Inner Light or take the Prone Tilt.

Turn count: 2

[MReav]

Blazing Striker ignores the comments about Rose Heart and her girlfriend. She never knew the woman, and she was sent on behalf of a detective whose personal history wasn't well known to her.

At the vampire's command, she staggers for a moment, then plants her glaive into the ground, steadies herself and counters with "Rise."

From there, she grasps the glaive firmly, spins it around, and cries "CHERUB'S BLADE!" as she carves off another, bigger piece.

Spoiler: OOC

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Resist his gaze, 3 Successes.

Attack, 3 Successes. Still Invoking Fuoco. 6 Damage.

[Nerd-o-rama]

This time, Shira's blade carves through the vampire's defenses and he gives an animal-like shriek of pain as the flames burn him fully this time - the first attack must have used up the bulk of his defenses. Somehow, he keeps control of himself, but it's a near thing.

"You're...powerful...shouldn't be...not how it ends," the Vampire mutters, half-crazed. His wounds are grievous now, Shira's attack causing third-degree burns across his chest, which don't heal the way the gash of the first attack continues to - if not for vampiric weakness, he wouldn't be in this state, but if not for vampiric resilience, he'd be dying anyway.

"We'll just have to do this the hard way!" he almost screams, lunging at Shira, grabbing at her shoulders, and baring his long fangs toward her throat.

Spoiler: OOC

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The Prince (using up most of his remaining Vitae, admittedly) successfully grabs Shira. On Shira's turn, make a Strength+Brawl check and try to beat 3 successes. On a success, pick a move from p. 199-200 of the GMC rules, on a tie nothing happens, on a failure take 3 Lethal damage from Vampire Bite.

[MReav]

Blazing Striker was surprised at the sudden ferocity of the vampire's attack, so much so that he managed to overpower her even before she could call upon the magic. The only thing that kept her from panicking was her longstanding practice in mental discipline. But it was hard given his sudden surge in strength and the fangs coming ever closer to her neck.

She braced herself for the horrible injuries she was about to receive when his teeth got caught on her Regalia. It wasn't anything he couldn't power through in this state, but the brief moment of respite gave her just enough breathing room to enact a plan.

Suddenly, her Regalia glowed and became heated and more resilient as she called upon the blessings of the Queen of Swords to protect her. She might receive a bruise from the attack, but that's something she'll be able to live with.

Spoiler: OOC

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2 Successes, so he overpowers me.
Spending 1 Wisp to Invoke Fuoco to my Barrier Jacket. Armour is at 3 (my defence and speed at at -1 for the next turn, but not getting my throat ripped out is an acceptable trade).

[Nerd-o-rama]

The vampire, now no longer caring if he's crazed or not, succeeds in overpowering Shira, but finds himself stymied (and frenzied further) by the magic of the Queen of Swords protecting her. He latches on, lamprey-like, hoping his will outlasts her Wisps. Firefox, meanwhile, senses the enemy's desperation and focuses on trying to rip out something important with his teeth while the vampire is focused on Shira. When he receives a boot to the face for his efforts, he remembers something.

"Striker! Um, crazy idea, but didn't the other guys say something about your blood?"

Spoiler: OOC

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Same deal this round: contested Str+Brawl roll, take 3-Armor damage if you fail, pick a grapple maneuver if you succeed.

I promise we're not just going to end up in a loop of this.

[MReav]

"That'll be plan B!" Blazing Striker yelled at the prospect of letting the vampire bite her.

Instead, she mustered her will, and proceeded to head bash the vampire in the face so hard he got knocked back (and given the damage he had already received, possibly caving in his face) and she quickly followed up with a powerful strike from her flaming glaive.

"LIGHTBRINGER'S WRATH!"

Her grandmother probably wouldn't like that fact that she and her friends had been secretly watching Game of Thrones. What? It's got dragons and people doing it.

Goddammit, William was right. She was a nerd.

Spoiler: hOOoly Crap...

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7 successes (Exceptional success!), so based on the rules, I get to choose 2 manoeuvres, which are going to be Damage (7 Bashing) and Break Free.

I then follow up with 4 Successes, 5 if he's got any penalties. If so, that's another Exceptional Success, and probably one where I end up chopping him in two. Again, invoking Fuoco. 7 damage, at least 8 if he's taking those penalties.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Spoiler: OOC

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Madoka H. Kaname those rolls.

This monster, once a man, had never faced someone in battle who could outright overpower him. There were stronger vampires - much stronger - but on those, his eyes and careful manipulation and maneuvering had done the trick. There were the previous generation of Hopeful, but against them, viticismo and strategic surrender had kept him alive. Against Blazing Striker's willpower and magic, in a one on one fight, he may have won if he'd been more fortunate.

As it is, however, Shira headbutts him straight into unconsciousness, and then with a graceful, powerful followup that is almost one smooth motion, catches his dessicated body on fire with the power of her invocation and watches it flash-burn into ash almost instantly. After the attack, all that's left of the vampire is drifting dust and a tattered, scorched, twenty-years-out-of-fashion suit.

Firefox sits down and gapes. "Uh, never mind, you got it..."

[MReav]

"Foxy Lady to Rosebud. Prince charming has been neutralized."

Blazing Striker sighs and moves to a more private spot to detransform. That effort was rather taxing on her. Still, she was able to sigh a breath of relief. She also goes to check on Firefox/Inari, given how she felt the Prince's shift in weight and her companion's sudden change in position.

"So, got any ideas on what we should tell Bubbie about why we're out so late? Maybe Miss Tellings can give us an excuse. Research on those affected by gang violence?"

Shira thinks back on her battle.

"Inari... did I not use a single meteoro... meteolo... rocks in space/sky term when fighting him?"

She deliberately avoids any mention of the "let the vampire eat her" plan.

[Nerd-o-rama]

"No, I think you were sticking with angel terms that time. That's kinda sky-related, though, right? I'm not sure what to tell your grandmother, either..." Inari says as he shrugs himself back into his portable form.

From the vampire's smoldering remains, there's a buzzing and dinging sound. If Shira investigates, she'll find (other than an empty wallet), a giant cellphone that looks like it's about as old as she is. It probably replaced the Prince's beeper shortly after he went into hiding. There are several new messages, all from Willis.

Spoiler: New Messages (4)

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Willis: Hey. I felt the boss get torched. If you're the sparkle girl, sorry for pointing him at you.

Willis: If not disregard this message I guess.

Willis: Post-hypnotic suggestion, you know?

Willis: Anyway thanks for letting me and the guys go. We won't bother you again.

And at about this time, like the police in an action movie, Alison shows up in full Princess of Clubs Regalia, holding a bow strung and ready for action, Royal Tongue speech ready to go until she sees the pile of ash Blazing Striker is standing next to, at which point her lips purse in intrigued confusion.

"...are you alright?" she asks, rather surprised that that seems to be the case.

[MReav]

"It's not the same." Shira said to Inari.

She then went over to the jacket and trying (though likely failing) to leave as few finger prints as possible, picks it up and checks the messages. Well, hopefully Willis and the others won't be a problem for a good long while.

Then she jerks up at Alison's dynamic entry and almost throws the cell phone at her in reaction, "I'm just a little bruised. Nothing a good night's sleep won't fix." Shira said, "So... um... how are you?"

She wasn't sure how to proceed, so she opted to try and make a situation report, rambling a bit faster than she cared to admit, due to having just ended a sapient being, "We were contacted by a private detective, she may have information on our victims at the park the other day. I was also wondering if you could give me a ride home and maybe an excuse to why I'm out this late..."

[Nerd-o-rama]

"I'm fine," she replies, before collecting herself. "Of course I'll cover for you. One good thing about being an adult doing this is that I can generally do that..."

She stops and considers the rest of Shira's words. "What you did here was a good thing, since they'd gone back on their word and started attacking people again. I'm also amazed you got out of a solo fight with an older vampire unscathed..."

"Ahem."

"A duo fight with an older vampire unscathed," Alison corrects herself. She still looks worried, however. "What was the PI's name?"

[MReav]

Shira's face was struggling between maintaining her usual stoic demeanour and looking distraught. It went down a little when Allison reminded her of the people they were hurting, but it was weighing on her.

"Regina Graye." Shira answered to the question of the PI. "Know her? Slendervamp said that Rose Heart's girlfriend probably sent us. I don't know who he would be talking about, though."

Remembering something the vamp trio said and trying to not think about certain things, she asks, "This is going to be a weird question, but... what exactly does a Noble's blood have on vampires? One of them made an offhand comment, and I am now stuck with a morbid curiosity about what would have happened if I hadn't supercharged my Regalia and just let him bite me."

[Nerd-o-rama]

Alison's face hardens into a scowl, which looks downright out of place in a yellow flower-themed uniform. "I've heard of Regina Graye. She's what other supernatural people call a Hunter. Be careful dealing with her - she's technically on the 'human' side when it comes to things like Darkspawn and Vampires, but she's a manipulative woman who's just as likely to consider us enemies..."

Then she coughs, and actually looks slightly embarrassed. Considering the poise that comes from her Transformed self, she'd probably be downright blushing in her mundane form. "Actually...the Prince here might have been referring to me. That was a long time ago, though, and it's not really relevant."

"Anyway, about the blood," she says, quickly changing the subject, "different supernatural blood has different effects on Vampires when they try to drink it. Being connected to the Light, ours is...painful to them. Maybe even as bad as your Fuoco was. Of course, it still hurts to get your blood removed, but hungry or angry vampires have destroyed themselves trying to drain Nobles before..."

She, probably subconsciously, scratches the side of her own neck at that. There were quite a few Vampires active when she was young and just getting started, after all.