St. John Bovinesque Jr.'s Story

"Well, greetings Miss LeBeau," Christopher said. "Now, I'd just like to-"
He was cut off midsentence as the woman tending his wounds began shouting at him. He stepped back, putting a hand to the hilt of his taser. "I must ask you to not do that, ma'am," he said carefully. "Assaulting a police officer is against the law, and it could land you in prison."
He then turned to a girl with patina eyes who chewed out the woman and then turned to him and spilled the beans. Then she gave out a large groan and dropped to her knees.
He started. "Are you alright, ma'am?" he asked, kneeling down.
While that stuff was going on, John slid over to Akshasha and Gabby. "Hey guys," he said, with a casual nod. He turned to Gabrielle. "How ya doing there, Miss Gabrielle?"

Her head was pounding and she wanted everyone to just shut the hell up. Groaning, Gabrielle placed her head down on the table and closed her eyes for a moment, letting the others get whatever they wanted out despite how badly she wished they would just hush up and go back to drinking or whatever they were doing before the fighting started. Eyes slid open at Akshasha’s words and she knew she needed to say what she had been told, but couldn’t find the words lost in her muddled brain. Hell, she was so out of it, she hadn't even realized that the Vampire was different than last time she saw her.

“Damn it…” She just muttered as the Vampire came over to start healing her wounds before hissing at Richardson. The last thing she needed was more fighting, especially with cops being involved. She fought to formulate the words needed to calm the situation down, but the only thing she could think of at that moment was how she really wanted a steak and mountain dew. That definitely wouldn’t help the situation, but it sure did sound tasty. As she was trying to push beyond the food dancing around in her mind, Becca spoke up and basically explained what had happened. Thankful for that, she just nodded in agreement and gave a simple thumbs up before groaning when Becca told Akshasha off. Her head was pounding hardcore and she just leaned over a nearby trashcan, throwing up all over again.

“Just stop…. stop… stop… STOP!” Gabby shouted and forced herself to sit up, glaring at nothing in particular as she peered around at Becca, Akshasha and then Christopher. “You cops have no jurisdiction in this bar, so I suggest you not threaten any of my patrons again. Akshasha, don’t hurt the damn police… they did help out. Becca, get better. Now, ask your questions or get a drink and stop arguing…” She dropped her head back down again, groaning as she fought to keep from upchucking anymore.

“I’ve been better, John… I’ve been better.” Her words were muttered at the bouncer as her mind tried to figure out how he had moved to her without her realizing it.

Christopher frowned, but he pulled over a chair, pulled out a notebook and pencil, and sat down, looking Gabrielle in the eye. "My first question is who those vampires were, what faction they belonged to, and why they attacked this place. You can take your time, as I understand you are tired from a lot of combat."
The other cops sort of lounged around. More than a few eyed Akshasha warily, but did nothing. John sat by Gabrielle the whole time. He felt kind of guilty about letting her get hurt, and Akshasha kept giving him and the cop the evil eye. So he did what he could to comfort her by sitting there and making sure she didn't throw up her entire stomach.

Becca nodded at Christopher as she steadied herself then to Gabby. The damaged arm hung at her side torqued slightly with hard flotsam under her wrist of bones carried into place. Cartilage sealing shut once more as she winced. The bruises developing on her face painted away in small rows to pale skin again.

"Thanks but I'll be okay, Officer, life already went off the deep end weeks ago. I got all my tears out after heart two started to die. Third time's the charm.", Said the coder with eyes looking him over.

Hood pulled back it revealed hovering black strands quilted between strands of her own brown hair. The back of the neck exposed black sandy rivers knotting on and under the skin some intricate black Icovellavna serving as armor. There were a number of bruises in her skin as well but those stains in the pattern faded slowly away.

"Your organs have healed I can disbond myself soon," said a pair of faint yellow glows within her hair though not quite monotone was quite close.

"Water please," she said to the bartender then squinting patina-eyes as far as she could to one corner, "Is my everything going to hurt, Ducky?"

"Yes." Replied the Ductu flatly.

Becca rolled her eyes taking a drink of water, "Then you stay the heck in there."

"Arrest me?" The Drow scoffed incredulously, it had been centuries since she'd even considered traditional imprisonment. Being transported to a densely populated facility of inmates did have an appealing ring to it. Especially considering she was absolutely famished.

"My first question is who those vampires were, what faction they belonged to, and why they attacked this place."

The attack on the Bar had slowed them down enough, if they dallied for much longer they'd be back at square one. Not to mention the Scourge was quickly running out of free-time. In a calm whisper, the Drow turned back to Gabrielle, "In my line of work there is a thing called 'The Masquerade.' It's a fancy word we use to describe the charade we keep up to hide from the public eye, and downplay the existence of my organization. I'll get... punished, should we violate The Masquerade."

Akshasha snorted with indignation. "Are you serious? You're Terran PD and you don't know who the Sabbat are? No wonder they keep getting bolder. They're a terrorist organization. They attacked cause they're terrorists!" Rolling her eyes, she produced a bottle of Blud, uncorking it with her mouth and spitting the cork into the trash. The fire in her eyes died down a bit as she drank the elixir, Vitae returning and her hunger diminishing. It would have to do as a stop-gap for now.

"Here's the thing Lieutenant, Ms. LeBeau and I are kind of on a tight schedule. Every second we waste getting interrogated by the bureaucracy, our trail gets colder and colder. That being said, information about what transpired here is on a need-to-know basis. Tell your superiors it was a tiff between the Sabbat and the Powers that Be, they'll tell you what you NEED to know." Perhaps she was being a bit haughty, but it was the truth.

The Lieutenant frowned, but nodded. "Very well, I shall ask them. I'm surprised I haven't heard of this 'Sabbat' as you call it-"
A female police officer rushed into the room. "Lieutenant Richardson," she said quickly. "There's been another murder on the Main Street. Same cause of death, some sort of giant blade or cleaver."
"Damn!" Christopher swore, clapping a hand to his forehead. "I completely forgot about the murderer on the loose in this place. We'll have to track him down, soon after I-"
"Uhm, actually sir, someone's already done that," the woman said. "He's-"
"Nah, nah, dame, I can introduce myself. Save your breath," came a raspy voice from the front door. Christopher turned to see a man wearing some sort of strange mask that shifted it's facial patterns, a trenchcoat and a bowler hat. He approached the police officer. "My name is Rorschach. Freelance detective and private eye. I've got all sorts of dirt on this guy. I can tell you on the way out."
Christopher nodded his head thoughtfully. "Yes, that will help plenty, Mr. Rorschach. Very well." He turned to Gabrielle and the others. "If I need any more evidence after the briefing on the Sabbat, I'd like to be able to contact you, Miss... Akshasha, was it? You seem to be very knowledgeable in the area. Farewell." And with that, he, the police officers and the private eye all departed the bar.
All was still in Gambit's Bar for one long minute. Then John shifted around in his seat. "Well, what do we do now? Are we gonna try to hunt down the rest of those vampires out there?"

When she told Christopher to ask his questions, she didn’t realize that he would be asking her things that she had no idea about. Staring blankly towards him at his questions, she slowly rubbed her nose, her head still resting against the cool surface of the table. While the bartender was getting Becca some water, he brought a glass over to Gabrielle before moving back to his position behind the bar. She simply poked at it, scooting it towards the edge like cat. He cleared his throat and sort of grunted just as she shoved it over the edge and watched it crash to the ground. Her attention returned towards the cop as the ‘tender came to clean up the mess and she blinked, having absolutely no idea what the question was that he had asked moments before.

“Umm…” Gabby just shrugged a bit and grabbed the trashcan, throwing up yet again. Thankfully or perhaps not thankfully, Akshasha piped up and after whispering something directly to the mutant about fancy dances or something like that, the Drow went back to berating the officer about the Sabbat. Nothing made sense to the teenager and words were making her head hurt worse than it had been previously.

“Hurg… so much noise.” Grumbling, Gabrielle closed her eyes as another officer rushed in concerning another murder. Yeah… this place was just so great. Snorting, she upchucked again, her flesh growing pale in the process. While her injuries were being healed by Akshasha, she had lost a lot of blood and had also utilized a plethora of energy that had never been used by her before, at least not for a very long time. She was exhausted and didn’t even want to think about moving, but did want to find her stupid sister. Life was dumb sometimes.

“Bai.” Gabby waved when the police all left, leaving them alone at last. Her eyes slid open just a little at John’s question and she snorted with a slight eye roll. “Dumb Sabbat said… something like even if they all fall, the Sabbat will keep coming for me… and called me a Camarilla sympathizer. He droned on a lot… barely paid attention, but I think he also said that my business is as good as ruined, as if someone hadn’t tried that shit already. Something about the Sabbat and Camarilla will bother me and that a declaration of war has been … declared. Something like that…” Gabby groaned, struggling to sit up as the bartender brought over another glass of water, which she took and started to drink slowly.

Becca turned to Gabby though still breathing fairly hard herself, "We're in pretty bad shape. You gonna be okay?"

The yellow eyes had moved to the top of her hair as Ductu looked at Gabrielle from over Becca's head. While not unfeeling the eyes seemed partly unmoved at wasn't Becca. Concerned for Gabrielle only as Becca was in better shape now. Becca reached out gingerly to Gabby's forearm to comfort though Myrkul's open wellspring pulsed just behind her pale skin.

The police began to leave, investigating a murderer and the vigilante who had apprehended him. Faithy and Akshasha seemed happy to see them go. Akshasha did NOT, however seem happy to see the figure in a three piece suit who walked in as they left. "Ah, I see the our source is as reliable as ever." The figure said as he walked in, a man with sharp features and eyes that seemed to bore into you.

Akshasha's hackles began to raise, a visit from the Prince was never good news. Especially considering there had just been a massive Sabbat raid. The man made his way over to Akshasha, ignoring most of the people in the room entirely. "Ah, Akshasha my dear, word of your deeds travels fast. Remind me to give you a pay-raise in the near future. Glad to see you dealt with the situation accordingly." The man gestured slightly to the still-impaled three Sabbat thrown in a heap in the corner.

"Sure... What brings you out here Lacroix?" The Drow eyed her Prince warily, looking for any tell that might hint at what he was thinking. The man's face was as passive as if carved out of stone, betraying nothing. Lacroix glanced to Gabrielle.

"Ah, Ms. LeBeau, I've been meaning to come pay my respects to you and your family. My condolences for what happened to your sister. It's so hard to see bad things happen to good people. Tis why we should take cares with whom we associate." The Prince inclined his head slightly towards Akshasha, implying something dark. "However I did not take a step away from my busy schedule for pleasantries. Akshasha, dear, there is a pressing matter that requires your attention." Without waiting for an answer or addressing questions, he turned to leave.

"Tch..." Akshasha grit her teeth, annoyed, but unwilling to draw the ire of the entire Camarilla. "I'll be back tomorrow night Gabby." Retrieving her Rebar Kebob of Vampires, the Drow quickly hurried after the enigmatic 'Prince,' leaving the bar, and soon after the building.

As soon as John heard this guy (Akshasha called him "Lacroix") say "condolences for what happened to your sister", he grew cold. Renee. She was the nice woman who'd hired him. The sister of Gabby.
"Renee? What happened to her?!" John cried, but the man ignored him. Then, Akshasha got up and left with Lacroix. "Wait, where are you going?!" But she was already gone.
John just sat there, confused and worried.

Gabby shifted her head a little towards Becca, though she was careful to keep from going too quickly with her motions. The notion of throwing up again definitely wasn’t something she was keen on, but thankfully her bile remained where it belonged, her stomach. Forcing a smile on her face, though it was half-assed at best, the mutant shrugged a little. “Yeah, we’re both a little beat up. I’ll be alright, I think.” Would she truly be alright? Hell, she didn’t know, but at least she wasn’t dead. That in itself was a huge plus in her eyes. “You going to make it?” She questioned softly, finding a comrade in Becca.

Her gaze turned then towards the hoity-toity three-piece suit wearing monkey as he sauntered through the door. Granted, he wasn’t truly a monkey, but at that point, it was far more amusing to Gabby to think of him that way, especially with how slimy he seemed to her. When it was clear that he knew Akshasha, the teen wondered if this was the elusive Prince she had talked about earlier. Still sipping on the water and only half-listening to the conversation between the Prince formerly known as or rather, still known as Lacroix, Gabrielle focused on how cool the water was and how it tickled down her throat. So focused on anything else but the conversation, it took her a few minutes to realize he had been talking to her.

“Huh? What?” Gabby muttered, forcing her mind to run through what he had said to her. “Yeah, it’s a hard life being related to Renee, so your condolences are welcome.” Shrugging off what he might have meant, especially since her sister had just been in the bar earlier and hired John, she doubted anyone could have taken out her sister this quickly. Frowning when he made it clear he was taking Akshasha away from her, the mutant started to say something, but just nodded at the Drow. “Alright, see you tomorrow evening if I’m not dead.” Waving a hand, she exhaled deeply and glanced over as John reacted quite differently than she had about the comments about her sister.

“John, there’s no way Renee is dead. She’s probably fine, just being a butthole and hiding out somewhere.” Gabby reached over, patting his arm.

John let out his breath in a whoosh. "I'm still worried though. I'm not really sure what's going on anymore, but I just want to help."
He then looked around the room. The tables were overturned and broken, as were many chairs, bottles and other things. The place was deserted except for him, Gabby and Becca.
"Speaking of helping, we'd better get this place back into shape before any more customers come by," John said. He looked around confused before saying, "Do you know where the brooms are?"

Becca looked at John then to the room and tapped her head, "Chatter just picked up. The Jinhai know I'm here."

A deep breath popped and gurgled starting a coughing fit when prince entered as faint dust clouds emerged then about-faced. Something in her didn't like his presence but didn't suffer it well at the moment either.

After he'd left and she found her lungs again she wheezed a reply to Gabby's question, "Wow, that fucker's so slimy I might be allergic. Anyway, Ducky's keeping the pain out so it's like I'm walking on spaghetti legs. The creepy cold feeling that there's something really wrong keeps coming up. Pretty sure my lungs keep filling up then emptying again."

Shrugging Becca looked away as she added, "I think it's more my head not used to that half of my chest isn't really human anymore."

"Steak, medium, please?" She asked the bartender, "I should probably eat something that isn't vampire."

"If you figure your sister Renee is safe for now, Gabby, maybe we should stay for a minute until we look less like cracked colanders." Becca quipped to the ailing girl.

A short time passed, the bar still quite a mess despite John's best efforts, when a man walked in sporting a baseball cap that with the letters 'MAEGA' embroidered into it. He pursed his lips in a low whistle, looking about the place and the carnage that had transpired not long ago. "Looks like ya'll had a bit of a leech problem." He swaggered his way to the bar, taking a seat and demanding, "A flagon of Ale, to wet my whistle," before dropping several gold coins onto the bar counter. "S'only currency I've on me, I'm afeared."

Before he had time to be served, the man caught a familiar scent in the air. He turned to stare at Gabrielle, sizing her up and walking over to her. "Say now..." He inhaled deeply, the scent was unmistakable. "You wouldn't happen to be compatriots with a Drow lady, now would ya chile?" Wild eyes scanned the room carefully, taking every little detail into account. This was her handiwork alright. "Name's Swan, but please... Call me King. Now about the Drow... Pretty lil' thing, black armor and a Greatsword that looks too heavy to possibly swing about. Yet she does so with impossible vigor? Ring any bells?" Swan eyed Gabby, looking over his glasses at her, scrutinizing her face for the slightest tell.

“Heh… welcome to Gambit’s. The one place where you never know what’s really going on. The brooms are in the back of the kitchen in the utility closet thingy.” Gabrielle waved with one of her hands towards the general direction, knowing that John would find it eventually. She glanced around the bar and shook her head, trying to ignore the damage while being thankful that they had a basement full of extra furniture to replace what had been broken. She made absolutely no movement towards getting up, making it clear that at least for the moment, she wasn’t budging. Her attention returned towards Becca and she just sighed with a slight nod.

“Yep, that dude was a grade A douchecanoe, that’s for sure. Glad that Ducky’s keeping out the pain.” She yawned a little, her fingers running through her hair to try and shove it out of her face, the strands pissing her off immensely.

“Yeah, best if we just stick around here for a bit. You’re welcome to remain however long you want, Becca.” Grinning just a bit towards Becca, she was glad when the ‘tender brought her a steak, hoping it helped with the vampire taste that had probably lingered.

Hearing the door open, she groaned and glanced over, ignoring his comment about what had obviously happened. Figuring it didn’t deserve a response, Gabby’s eyes scanned the male as the bartender got to work fixing up his drink. After a moment however, she glanced away and rubbed her eyes with another huge yawn. She decided that if he started to even act like he was going to be trouble, she would have John toss him out on his keister. She was not in the mood to have another huge fight, that was for sure. The mutant was slightly irritated to say the least and when he sauntered over towards her and asked about Akshasha, she couldn’t help but wonder if her fate just sucked or something. Deciding it was none of his business if the Drow had been around, the teenager kept her face stoic and picked up the glass of water, sipping on it again.

“If you don’t mind, I am in the middle of an important meeting with this young lady. You’ll have to excuse me, sir.” Turning towards Becca, she just started to talk to her about what a waitress would need to do in Gambit’s, pretending to hire her. Really, she just wanted that guy to piss off although she was curious why he was searching for Akshasha.

Ulrish Paternosta slipped in with the shadows, taking notes. He was in his formal military dress, and for once his hair was slicked into a ponytail. He feared the rumors were true, but had more to investigate.

He approached Ms. Lebeau, standing off to the side until she was available to give him her attention. In the mean time, Ulrich ordered a glass of Blud.

Becca laughed though after a moment winced, "Ha ha ow... Well it's not like I have anywhere to go. After I got shotgunned they closed up my apartment and boxed my stuff. I had Jinhai pop it out of storage and move it to the cottage in Genesis. Nice place... no night life... or night for that matter. It's like just a bit before noon, forever."

"I really need to figure out how to get internet there now," Becca added her eyes looking away for a moment.

Then her steak arrived with a bottle of steak sauce, "Woo! Thanks. The steak sauce isn't for this kind of dead meat though."

Becca then made small talk with Gabby noting she'd need a room to sleep in rather than commute from Genesis every day. A meandering tongue-in-cheek conversation about family benefits for her and the mote swarm. Periodically stopping to cut a piece of steak and carefully edging the bit in on a fork. Once didn't get stolen a few times more eaten normally.

However a mouthless face made of dust poured out of the back of her head and the laced pattern around her shoulders. The yellow-eyes of the Ductu pointing at with two long claw-fingers then gestured at Swan. Ductu looked at the Ulrich fellow standing nearby with a critical eye then slipped back into Becca. Silty dust clouds vanish into her pale skin though faint flat yellow eyes look out the back from Becca's head just underneath her hair.

Becca just looked up with her patina eyes to one corner, "Agh, oh that's a weird feeling. You trying to braid my hair?"

There was an unspoken silence as Ductu mentioned the two around her and Becca commented, "Really? I thought I smelled absinthe but I guess not."

Becca continued the interrupted conversation about waitress uniforms and whether she could use pepper spray for the grabby ones.

John wandered down into the storeroom, humming softly to himself. He looked around at the mostly disorganized boxes of food, alcohol and dinnerware. "What a mess," the minotaur muttered to himself. "This place needs more cleaning than I thought."
He set up trying to find some brooms in this big heap.

In the corner of the store room, half covered in a sheet, stood a golden framed mirror.

John turns and sees the mirror. "Ooh! What's this?" He inspects the mirror, curious as to why it is here.