Requiem 2.0: The troubled times of London's Kindred (IC)

[Khori]

Mizuki moves into the room and off to the side to stay out of the way

[Elderand]

Emily tackles the woman as she was straddling the broken window frame, shards of glass rips lightly at their clothes as they fall to the floor.

[Anyr]

Emily silently cursed as her dress suffered yet more damage. These were the only clothes she had! With movements honed by many a back alley brawl, she pinned the intruder (well, the other intruder) beneath her. Once the struggling abated, she'd take a good look at whoever she'd caught. Who were they?

[Elderand]

The woman that Emily captured look to be about 17, dressed in a conservative grey dress. Her most distinguishing feature are her piercingly ice blue eyes. She struggles a little but is no match for Emily hard gained back alley brawling knowledge.

Spoiler: The woman.

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[Khori]

Mizuki thinks the young girl is so very pretty. She just watches the struggle. Emily seems to have it all under control.

[Belac93]

"I would suggest you stop struggling. You've already ripped your, and my friends clothes." Finn says, resting the tip of his sword of the woman's shoulder. "Whats your name? Don't try to lie. We'll know."

[Anyr]

The first things that struck Emily were those eyes. Amazing. The rest of the face wasn't half bad either. Hopefully there'd be no need to ruin it. She really didn't like destroying beautiful things.

"Look, this doesn't have to end badly. We just want to know who you are, and what you're doing here."

[Raunchel]

Marian strides up the stairs, and into the room. The violence is alien to her, but she doesn't display shock. There only is an amused smile. "They really mean it, you know? These people could really hurt you, so I would try to cooperate with them. Getting hurt is a really, really bad thing. ="

[Elderand]

The young girl goes very still when she feel the tip of Fynn's sword pressing against her shoulder. As she holds on to her, Emily can feel the heat or her blood coursing under her skin gradually increasing as the girl calms down, her heart still beats atempest for everyone to hear.

She shivers a little as the adrenaline wears off and swallow nervously before speaking up.

"My name is Elena. I'm looking for" there is a pause there, as if the girl wasn't entirely sure what word to use "my cousin, Jacob."

There is ice in her voice; a faint trace of Slavic accent that goes perfectly with her icy eyes.

[Anyr]

Emily felt a pang of sympathy. As a rule, she preferred to take out her aggression on worthless scum: Not scared immigrant girls that looked the same age as her. She loosened her grip a little, so that Elena would be more comfortable (albeit not comfortable enough to actually escape).

"Why look for him in this abandoned pub? And why did you try to run? You in some sort of trouble?"

[Khori]

Mizuki covers her mouth with the fan, even though she stands in the back by the door, far away from the window. "Those are good questions, Emily. " Her gaze goes to the woman being held. "How long ago did your cousin go missing? Where did you last see him?"

[Elderand]

"Jacob...he lives here, he came here after he changed he didn't feel the same. He disappeared a week ago. I thought you were the people that took Jacob."

[Khori]

"I assure you I am not the one that took Jacob."She cant speak for anyone else here, but it is unlikely they did either. "What do you mean exactly, After he changed"

[Raunchel]

Marian nods: "We didn't take anyone.", she doesn't really know what to do, but she knows that most people fail to take her seriously, just because of how she looks. So, she doesn't say much.

[Anyr]

Spoiler: OOC

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Emily uses Beast's Hackles (four successes) to ask 'Is Elena planning to defy me?'. If the answer is 'yes', then ignore the rest of this post.

"It sounds as if we don't need to fear one another. I'm going to release you now, all right? Please don't make me regret trusting you."

Emily disentangled herself from Elena, and got back to her feet. Naturally, she'd been only telling half of the truth there. There did indeed seem little reason for the group to be afraid of this lone girl: But she certainly had plenty of reason to fear them. Elena was surrounded by dangerous predators. Emily's new job was to prevent her from realising that. Her face eased itself into an embarrassed, apologetic look.

"I'm sorry about the rough treatment. It was quite a shock, finding you here all of a sudden."

[Elderand]

"It sounds as if we don't need to fear one another. I'm going to release you now, all right? Please don't make me regret trusting you."

Emily disentangled herself from Elena, and got back to her feet. Naturally, she'd been only telling half of the truth there. There did indeed seem little reason for the group to be afraid of this lone girl: But she certainly had plenty of reason to fear them. Elena was surrounded by dangerous predators. Emily's new job was to prevent her from realising that. Her face eased itself into an embarrassed, apologetic look.

"I'm sorry about the rough treatment. It was quite a shock, finding you here all of a sudden."

The young woman gets to her feet, backing away a little from these strange people. Her ice blue eyes darts from one to the next, paying particular attention to Finn and Emily.

"I assure you I am not the one that took Jacob."She cant speak for anyone else here, but it is unlikely they did either. "What do you mean exactly, After he changed"

"Jacob...changed, he wasn't like he was before. He didn't feel the same. He said he had become better than even..." she pauses and shakes her head "it's not important. He changed, decided to live here. I visit a few times but then he disappear."

Marian nods: "We didn't take anyone.", she doesn't really know what to do, but she knows that most people fail to take her seriously, just because of how she looks. So, she doesn't say much.

"If you didn't take him, why are you here?"

[Khori]

Even though the question was not directed at her, Mizuki decides to answer anyway, "We too were looking for missing individuals, our searches lead us here."

[Belac93]

"I'm assuming the person who hired us wanted us to find your brother."

[Anyr]

'Become better', hmm? Emily knew just what that felt like. From the sounds of it, Jacob had been the lucky recipient of an Embrace. His cousin, meanwhile, remained tragically mortal. What a shame that he hadn't shared his wondrous gift with her.

"Your cousin isn't the only person who's gone missing. We're looking for clues to help track them down. Is there anything useful you can tell us?"

[Elderand]

"You will help find Jacob?" She asks, voice full of hope. "Last time I saw him he said he was in trouble. Owed money to someone very important. Said it was for food." She looks puzzled at this. "I didn't understand, Jacob wasn't so poor he couldn't afford food."

She takes a step forward to grab Emily's hand, the closest person to her, to plead with her. "Will you help me find Jacob?" she says, looking at them all. Even as she speaks a short lived pained expression crosses her visage and the scent of blood permeate the air. A small red spot, flaring bright as sunlight to the vampire senses, appear on the leg of her dress where a piece of glass tore at her skin.

[Anyr]

As Elena reached out, Emily hastily summoned the blush of life. Warmth and vitality were persuaded to fill her undead form. Thanks to that, she could take the other girl's hand with confidence. She drew close, so that Elena could feel every breath and heartbeat. An unspoken narrative was being woven here: "I'm human. I'm just like you. There's nothing to fear. Trust me."

Her spoken words reinforced that impression.

"Yes, we will. We'll follow the trail, and find what happened to him. But to do that, we need to know everything. You said that Jacob was in debt to someone important. Who were they?"

She had her suspicions, of course. One particular name came immediately to mind. Meanwhile on the edge of consciousneess, her Beast was salivating over the blood on Elena's dress: But even the siren call of Vitae was nothing compared to the promise of secrets.

[Elderand]

She shook her head. "It make no sense, Jacob owes money for food but he goes to..." she struggles for a moment. "brothel. But Jacob would never go to such places for women. It's forbidden by family."

[Khori]

We will do our best to try to find him. Perhaps, we should go to the brothel to ask on about him...

[Belac93]

"Yes but are you sure we want to take..." He gestures rather vaguely at Marian, "to that place?"

[Raunchel]

Marian stands a little back, hearing about a so-called brothel. The word is new to her, but apparently you can go there for women? She truly doesn't understand what it means. And then, the suggestion that she shouldn't go there? Why? "What is a brothel?", she asks, in complete innocence.

[Anyr]

Emily's suspicions proved all too accurate. Jason had indeed been entangled with the Countess. Not that Emily cared, of course. If some random sap got himself too deep in debt, then that was his problem. To her, this disappearance was just a clue to be examined. Was there any connection to the other incidents occurring around the city? Or was it just a random neophyte being ground up in the wheels of Kindred politics? How should she approach thi-

"What is a brothel?"

...And just like that, Emily's train of thought hit a boulder on the track. She hesitated for a good five seconds before attempting a reply. For once, her fumbling, hesitant manner was not a disguise.

"It's a place where people can go to buy...affections. Y-you know how adults find it fun to kiss and embrace and do other...physical...things with each other? Well, some people do that for money. People pay to get intimate with them. Anyway, a brothel is a place where people like that gather. I...don't think you'd find it all respectable, ma'am."

[Raunchel]

Marian looks at Emily, obviously surprised by the explanation. But she knows that something is kept hidden from her, and that simply isn't fair. She is big, bigger than she looks at least! Much bigger even. "If you will pardon my language, but that does sound a bit silly."

And then she understood. While still alive, she had this aunt, and whenever she visited, she would hug and kiss Marian. For some reason, grown-ups liked to do that sort of thing. But, if they didn't have any young relatives to do that to, they would need to go somewhere else. "But that indeed seems like the kind of place I would find most unpleasant. Perhaps I should wait here for you?"

[Elderand]

The young girl looked at the group with mounting disquiet as they debated wether or not to bring a child to a brothel and even more so when the child wondered if she should stay behind.

"You can't leave small child alone! It isn't safe."

[Anyr]

Emily was quick to placate Elena's worries.

"Oh no, we'd never leave her alone! Someone would of course stay behind with her. You and Mizuki, perhaps?"

Either way, the ones staying behind definitely wouldn't include Emily. She shuddered to think what disasters the scouting party might cause without her there to guide them.

[Belac93]

If she only knew how safe it would be. Finn thinks.
"Well, if you stay here with her, I'm sure you would be safe enough. Do you have a form of defense?"