Jenna Blackwood's Story

It wouldn't take long before Lysaria found what would appear to be her first stop for the night. There was a loud sound shattering glass a short way ahead, and the figure of a muscular bald man sporting a sleeveless jacket to show off his numerous tattoos came flying out through the front of one of the bars along Main Street. The man rolled several feet before coming to a stop, after which he shakily started to pull himself to his feet as blood started to seep from where the smashing glass had slashed him.

Passers-by stopped to stare at the spectacle as a woman with a blonde ponytail stepped from the bar. Dressed in a pair of faded jeans and a black jacket, her thick-heeled boots crunched through the glass as she stormed towards the man, who was raising his hands in a gesture of surrender.

"Jesus Christ lady, I'm sorry alright, lay off!" he gasped.

Jenna glared at the man, "You son of a bitch, you don't get to just say 'sorry' after creeping up on a total stranger and groping their ass. Maybe if you had more than half a brain-cell you'd have some idea of why that isn't on." In an arcing sweep, she brought her leg around and up to deliver a forceful kick to the side of the man's head, flooring him again and rendering him unconscious. "Pussy," she hissed, spitting on him.

Jenna shot Lysaria a glare that could've launched a thousand ships for the fear of it. "There's no need to go around acting like a rapist, either," she retorted, "I don't give a crap about the proportionality of it - he deserved a beating. I don't doubt he's kicked the crap of out people before. I know his type."

The blonde woman folded her arms with a look of disdain. "Trust me, I could've done a lot worse if I'd wanted to. What business of it is yours anyway?"

Jenna rolled her eyes, "People like him don't learn - he'll just pick someone who can't fight back next time." She shrugged, "I wasn't trying to kill him, anyway."

Not that she'd been particularly trying to avoid it, either. But that wasn't the point. The point was, Jenna had a short temper - and most of the time she couldn't let it out. It was therapeutic to beat an asshole half to death once in a while. Because that totally made it okay.

"And in any case, it's still nothing to do with you, little miss vigilante."

Scoffing, Jenna waved a dismissive hand, "And what, have them give him a stern warning and a slap on the wrist? Cops don't give a shit about petty crap like that, hell, half of them probably do it themselves if they think they can get away with it."

She shook her head, "Maybe you have a point, killing him is far more trouble than it's worth, but like I said: that's not what I was going for." She shrugged, "Who knows, I might have gotten creative left to my own devices."

Another shrug, "Whatever, he's out now anyway. Anything else I could do to him would be a lot less fun without watching him squirm about it." Jenna replied. The blonde folded her arms, inwardly wondering why on earth she'd thought it would be a good idea to go to a bloody bar anyway. She wasn't good with people.

"And I'm not some sadistic psycho, you know," Jenna added defensively, "Just because I get satisfaction out of payback doesn't mean I'm a serial killer or some shit."

Jenna smirked grudgingly, raising her hands, "Hey, enjoying an asshole being beaten up is way different to enjoying cutting people's limbs off, or I dunno, torturing them." she protested. Her irritation was subsiding now, but even in a good mood Jenna was a little tightly wound.

"Well, I'll let you know now then that I'm perfectly capable of controlling myself." she said, "Even when I'm pissed off. I work a precise job, I have to have that."

Jenna paused for a moment as she chewed over exactly what she could and couldn't talk about. "I work with a merc group," she said, "Stealth specialist, I also help test a lot of prototypes. Lots of fiddly stuff."

The mercenary shrugged, "Nothing particularly glamorous anyway, but I can deal with taking a target alive, so I can deal with beating an asshole within an inch of his life rather than out of it."

Jenna snorted, "Sure, why not. I don't know why I'm out in the first place, I don't do bars unless it's a bar night with the others from my unit..." Not that she had a unit anymore, mind, but as far as she was concerned her old band were still hers, even if she had been promoted.

"Probably want to head to a different bar though," Jenna glanced at the broken window, "I don't think I'll be popular here."

Jenna shrugged, "Always Gambit's, there's probably at least two more on this damn street. They tend to cluster." The mercenary shook her head, "And it completely was his fault - his weight that broke it, after all."

She chuckled. "Let's just walk till we hit one."

Jenna swung the door of the bar open with one hand, head turned to look over her shoulder at her companion. "So what, are you some sort of superhero or something? Patrolling the streets and waiting for someone to do something illegal?" She rolled her eyes.

"No offence, right - but that strikes me as a little white knightey."

"Nah," Jenna replied, "Too boxed in for my tastes. Get enough of that working." She walked up to the counter and leaned over onto it, ordering herself a drink.

"So where exactly are your stomping grounds, anyway?" she asked, "Somewhere on Terra or further out?"

Jenna grimaced, "Ugh, magic doors. Give me a shuttle any day." she said, shaking her head, "I don't trust magic as far as I can throw it - which incidentally, I can't do."

Casting her eyes around the bar, Jenna raised an eyebrow. "Wow, gay as hell here tonight." she remarked, trying and failing to make a point of not letting her gaze linger on Inari. "Not that I have anything against that... Just, y'know."

Jenna folded her arms, giving Lysaria a sidelong glance, chuckling nervously. "Ahah, yeah... right. Plan B being..?" she asked with an overtone of awkwardness.

Some people just couldn't take a joke.

A flat stare was the response to that joke, as Jenna resisted the urge to smack Lysaria's hand away. Insecure, much? She coughed, nodding her head. "Yeah, obviously." she said, rolling her eyes as though she'd been totally in on it all along.

Jenna folded her arms, "This how you make all your new friends?" she joked.

"Eh," Jenna waved a hand, "That guy's got it under control." she said dismissively, apparently having no fucks to give for the little girl's plight. "And I'm not insecure!" she protested, scowling. "I'm just- I had no context to go on, alright?"

The mercenary shook her head. "So it's the latter, the bad at catching on one. And I wasn't trying to make friends there!"

Jenna opened her mouth to reply, but no words came out. "I- Grief, woman, you're sending all the wrong signals here and I don't doubt that your enjoying it far too much." she grumbled, finishing her own drink similarly.

The blonde woman slumped onto a barstool with a huff, "My name's Jenna, as it happens."

Jenna gaped, "How much have you had to drink?" she exclaimed, reddening slightly, "You can't just- you can't just go around implying people are sluts in your first conversation with them!"

And that was coming from Jenna - hardly an expert on social niceties. At that moment, however, there was a loud beep from her pocket. She reached in and pulled out a phone, before groaning. "Uhg, sorry. I have to shoot off. Boss needs me."

Jenna rose to her feet, giving Lysaria a searching glance. "Well, it's been ... interesting. Maybe I'll see you around again some time. Peace."

After a few moments Jenna turned and made her way out of the bar, shaking her head to herself over her embarrassment. Maybe being called into work wasn't such a bad thing after all.

Kynala leaned forwards onto her hands, shaking her head slowly. "Let's slow down for a moment. This is all very sudden, and frankly there's a lot of information that I'm missing. I need to know just exactly who I'm dealing with..." she began, eyes scanning the screen. Vankoryth ... Where had she heard that name recently? Wasn't there something about that ... yes, there was. Vankoryth Detente. Vampires.

That explained a lot. But at the same time, it left a lot of questions unanswered.

"Alright, Ms Tauvyr. Let's rewind for a moment. This sort of thing is something that traditionally gets run by my board. Now, I don't doubt my own judgement, but I don't know that I have the time to research enough about your organisation to come to an informed decision. You'd think that receiving money was simple, no? But I have to be careful, you see -- there's such a thing as 'dirty money'. I don't mean to imply anything about you or your organisation, but to be honest, I know very little about either. I hold my company's reputation as one of my utmost priorities." Kynala took a breath, "I've spent more than enough time in business to know that just signing on the dotted line ought to be assumed a bad idea unless proven otherwise."

In the meantime, the elevator sounded outside, signalling the arrival of Jenna. The blonde woman stepped out with an irritated expression, wheeling a trolley of drinks.

Kynala went on, "I would need to run things by my lawyers, etcetera..." The Ri woman was wary about any business deal being proposed by someone who had just waltzed into her office by some vampiric trick. She wanted to know the full story before moving forwards.

As Jenna entered the office, Kynala gestured to the trolley. "Tea? Coffee? Water?" she offered.

Daemala smiled, revealing for the first time her fangs.

"Dirty money, of course, any true entrepreneur would have the same concerns," Her condescending tone was working it's way out, albiet slowly. As she continued to speak, Daemala would pull from the briefcase a professional slip of parchment, labeled The Blood Edict. After handing it off, she would continue.

"You may have heard of our recent efforts to quell the plague on this city that is," a smirk, "Our race. Fortunately, our supporters happen to be of the financially influential type, including the Family Dracul," Daemala then swiveled the laptop, to reveal what appeared to be a wiki profile for the family. After giving her a moment to look it over, and politely refusing a refreshment, Daemala turned the computer back to herself and began typing again.

"Now, this money of course must be put to good use, and I don't mean the buying of flashy cars," Which went out of style faster than her hair color. "The Vankoryth Detente along with the Family Dracul fund, operate, maintain a small community nestled within the Domain of the Detente. It is a community exclusively for creatures like us," Again, the smile as she turned the laptop. This time, the TERRACAST website was pulled up, and a commercial was ready to be played on screen.

Daemala waited patiently for the credentials to be reviewed. She hoped the blood being would find her provided information settling. That was the idea, wasn't it? Improved relations between the mortals and them? Get the mortals out of their hair for once?

Kynala folded her arms, "I would have much preferred it, Ms. Tauvyr, if you had followed the more traditional procedure of making an appointment. I personally have nothing against vampires, so long as they aren't attempting to pull a fast one on me - and I don't doubt that it was your nature which got you in here unopposed and uninvited." The Ri woman said, shaking her head, "I will offer you a compromise. Instead of having you and your proposition thrown out of here unceremoniously for the presumptuous nature of your unauthorised entry, I will allow you to leave with your dignity intact. I will take your proposal, run it by my lawyers and my board and reach a legitimate decision on it post-haste."

She smiled, an expression that made it clear she was putting up with the improper approach of this vampire woman. "Is that acceptable? There are procedures that are followed in my dealings. I have no reason to doubt you, but nor do I have any reason to doubt any of the other parties whose deals I pay my legal team to examine. Your offer will be forwarded to my people, who will talk to either you or your people when we have an answer. I do not doubt that everything will be just fine, and the deal will be processed before the end of the week, provided that things are as you say they are." The CEO went on, nodding her head in a final manner.

Spending time on Terra, it was inevitable that Kynala had seen her fair share of vampires. Insofar as she had observed, many of them were ... unsavoury, considering themselves inherently superior due to their natures. Others were savages. Some still were merely old and wise humans blessed with eternal youth with an unfortunate eating habit -- she would see which of the categories this woman fell into, but she couldn't help but suspect it was the first. Either way, business was business. The vampires were not a threat to Terra, or to her company - this deal would no doubt go through unless Daemala was attempting to sneak something by her.

In the meantime, Jenna stood on the sidelines looking more irritated. She understood that she had been brought up here because Kynala had felt uneasy about her guest, but by the looks of things everything was just going to come to a peaceful resolution. A blasted waste of her time.