Breaches Below
| Breaches Below | |
|---|---|
"Ar...thur?" | |
| Players |
A glimpse underneath the city, a peek behind the mask. |
+-------------------------------+ Undercity +--------------------------------+ Westside is best described as what would be left over if someone diverted a sewer tunnel or two but left the rains to take care of the cleaning. Dank, dark, dripping with...things best not investigated too closely. If you have a sense of smell or a stomach prone to being anything less than cast iron it is probably wise to avoid this area with even more enthusiasm than anywhere else. +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Roll: Dexterity +Stealth Result: Success (2) -- (1 3 9 1 8 5) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ The mortal known as Five has been making her way all over town, so is it really more strange that one might stumble across her in the Undercity? Sure, people /may/ have warned her about the area, but that just made it seem all the more intriguing to her. Not wanting to draw attention her way though, the young woman sticks to the shadows and moves about as quietly as she goes as she explores. She's managed to acquire a glowstick, enough to illuminate her immediate area to ensure she sees where she's going. Although she wears her usual oversized clothing, a dark bandana has been wrapped around her lower face to help protect her senses from the nearly overwhelming smell down here. The Undercity is a dark and quiet place, twisting and turning with all sorts of corners, even if it is caked in filth. Perfect for sneaking about the city or having an undisturbed snack, if you manage to avoid any sort of Pure incursion. Or at least, you'd imagine it would be so. An odd groove carves its way through the ground-muck, as if something thin but heavy were dragged through it, and if one were to follow the trail, round a corner and sheathed in the darkness of a tunnel, they'd stumble upon the crumpled form of an unconscious, seemingly white-collar man being hauled by the arm by another man, this one dressed in a clearly second-hand and filthy coat. The vampire grunts as he heaves and tosses the man bodily up against the tunnel wall and, without preamble, grasps shoulder and side of head and bites firmly into his neck. So focused is the vampire in this task that he doesn't seem to notice the slowly approaching light from behind. As soon as she spots the two figures, Five stuffs the glowstick into her pocket and slips just a little further into the darkness. The mortal doesn't flee and run away like a sane, normal person though. Unsure of the situation she's come across, she quietly follows, observing. A concerned expression hiding behind her obscured face. Then comes the bite. Eyes widen as she witnesses a man... ? She really doesn't know, but in the darkness she can't recognize who's there. There's barely a moment of hesitation before she springs into the action, literally leaping out from the shadows before she attempts to drag the vampire off of his victim. +---------------------------+ Arthur rolls 5 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Resolve +Composure Result: Success (2) -- (1 9 10 2 6 1) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ +---------------------------+ Arthur rolls 9 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Strength +Brawl +3 Result: Success (2) -- (5 5 4 1 4 8 7 5 9) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ Blood. Sweet, sweet blood. Arthur's mind is singularly focused, and that one euphoric feeling surges through him - an addict finally getting his next hit. Eyes closed, he bathes in the sensation until Beast and Man are side by side, both hands on the steering wheel. Thus, when all of a sudden, from behind, hands grasp him and yank him from his feast, it's quite easy for the Beast to shove him aside and begin howling with fury inside Arthur's chest. He staggers from the assault and all but begins hissing at his assailant as he begins shaking violently side by side to shove his attacker off. After a moment, Arthur seems to regain some semblance of control as the hissing and growling ceases, but his effort to deseat his attacker is no less violent. "Get yer fuckin' hands off me, or I'll split y'in half!" +----------------------------+ Five rolls 13 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Dexterity +Brawl.Grappling +3 Result: Exceptional Success! (8) -- (5 1 6 3 8 9 8 10 8 10 2 9 4 1 10 1) +------------------------------------------- exceptional success! (public) ----+ What she doesn't have in pure strength, Five makes up for in her perfect display of athleticism and momentum. Slender arms tangle around the large vampire, able to pull him free from the mortal he'd been feeding upon. Then she works on restraining him, attempting to disable usage of his arms. Even though she's sturdy enough, she's not in the mood to get the wind knocked out of her two nights in a row. Five is able to pull his arms back behind him as she swings down, feet landing gracefully back on the floor. With the element of surprise greatly on her side, she's making this look easy! She's about to kick in at the back of his knees to bring him down when she hears his yell. There's hesitation. Even though she doesn't let go or even ease up on her grip in the slightest, she freezes as she quietly asks, "Ar...thur?" Confusion clear in her voice. Arthur grits his teeth and gasps in obvious pain as his hands are pinned behind his back. His eyes, still unable to see his assailant behind him, settle on his recently-liberated meal and the blood seeping from his neck, and that seems to kick up his Beast again. With another growl, the fingers of his hands erupt into seemingly razor-sharp claws and he seems about to try to reach Five's arms with them when he hears her voice. His struggling stops almost immediately. A long moment passes. "... Jesus fuckin' Christ-- Five? What th-- What are you doin' down here...?" He seems too stunned to ask her to let him go just yet. Or to realise the true ramifications of her witnessing. +----------------------------+ Five rolls 6 Dice +-----------------------------+ Roll: Resolve +Composure Result: Success (1) -- (3 4 5 6 8 2) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ When the claws suddenly burst from Arthur's hands, Five /barely/ manages to keep her shit together to keep him tangled up. The vampire can hear her gasp in surprise and resolve her grip on him. She's quiet for a few moments, just trying to figure out how to react. Keep fighting? Let him go? He's her friend kinda, but those claws... There's barely time to think in a fight and she's unsure how /he's/ going to further react, so she simply does her best to get some semblance of control over the situation. "I'm... I'm gonna let go and you're not going to attack me. Right?" Her voice is shaky but there's some genuine confidence right underneath the surface. Then, after a slow breath... she lets go. She steps around, putting herself between vampire and the unconscious mortal, brows furrowed and she simply stares at him, so many questions but unsure where to start. Arthur winces as the pressure on his arms is released, but nods slowly, gently lowering his hands to his side and letting Five move around him. His claws are lengthy, and reach down another half foot from his fingertips; as possibly unnerving as they might seem, he doesn't seem to register that they're out, and instead just stares blankly at the woman in front of him. She might notice how, unlike their previous meetings, his skin is as pale as snow; how his chest does not heave with exertion from their brief altercation - he looks well and truly like a corpse now, albeit a well-preserved one, as he's not pushing Vitae around to emulate life. "... I'm... I won't... Fuck, Five, what the -fuck- are you doin' down here? Of all times?" He halts, brain clearly grasping for words. "It's not as bad as it looks, alright? He's alive." He points towards the still unconscious man. "He's fine, alright? I didn't kill 'im." Five takes only a quick glance at the man who is somehow in a more fortunate situation than either of them. It's hard to take her eyes off Arthur and those claws for very long though. Only a fool takes their eyes off of the tiger. Even if she hasn't completely let her guard down, she seems to believe him enough regarding the other mortal. She's no doctor but she could've sworn she saw some movement. "I..." Five pauses, hesitating once more before she gives him any sort of answer. It's clear she's still unsure what to fully make of what happened, what to make of /him/. But, anyone who is traipsing around the Undercity in the middle of the nights isn't without their own secrets. Lips purse slightly before she offers, "I was hoping to find some answers about the fires. They sounded... similar to something I saw." A beat. "Why... what..." Another quick pause. "What were you... doing?" She steals the quickest of glances at the body again. The man responds only with a slow, deliberate blink. His eyes flit from the unconscious mark on the ground, to her, back again. There seems to be a question bubbling up in him, but one he seems to be deliberately trying to avoid if he can help it. He latches onto her reasoning for being in the Undercity instead: "Fires? What fires? The only thing that'd burn down here is the shite. Unless yer lookin' for someone hidin' down here. 'Bout the only thing this place is good for..." A thought. "It's dangerous down here, Five, especially for a..." Ah, well. No avoiding the question then. Arthur looks down at the man again, lingering on his neck. "Five, please tell me yer a fuckin' ghoul or somethin'. Tell me you're not jus' a mortal and you're jus' tryin' to trick me." His eyes flick back to her, though all predatory glints within have vanished. They only seem... sad? "I can't let a mortal know about this shite." His claws are still out. Those claws aren't going away and she's definitely starting to sense that Damocles sword hanging above her. Those bright green eyes of hers widen, unable to help but take just a small step back from him. Her mind is racing, the mortal definitely not wanting to attempt to fight her way out of the situation. Then, the panicked and confused fog clears a moment to remember something. Quickly her hands to start pat down her body, desperately searching for something. "Um, I'm pretty sure I'm human but uh," she turns her gaze away from Arthur /just/ long enough to look down at where her hands are going. The right pocket is found and she digs something out of it. A coin. /Those/ coins. She holds it out at him, almost like one might a cross to a vampire. "Someone gave me this after a uh, situation. I caused." Arthur's face had gone impassive as Five spoke, like a man numb, or perhaps one desperately trying to numb himself. He stands, shoulders set and clawed hands at his side, but still as a statue, and, he noted through a faint haze, standing between Five and the only exit out of here they both knew about. Who knew where the tunnel in the opposite direction led. So when Five eventually procures her coin, Arthur's gaze latches onto it sharply, like a drowning man reaching for water, and his mind begins furiously attempting to dredge up where he's seen a coin like it before. In her pocket at the bookshop, yes... where else? The Church! The Haven he had stayed at for his first few nights in Chicago. Other Kindred had used them. His shoulders sag, rigidity suddenly released, and his claws seem to retract and suddenly, they're just fingers again. "Christ, Five... if it still worked, I'd've had a heart attack. Where did ya get that? How can you have one o' those an' not know?" He pauses, a new thought occuring to him, and he's back on edge, stance wide. "You a hunter? You killed some other vampires?" +----------------------------+ Five rolls 7 Dice +-----------------------------+ Roll: Wits +Occult Result: Success (3) -- (1 5 5 5 10 9 1 8) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ Blink blink blink. "Kill...?" /Other/ vampires? She glances toward the body again, then back to Arthur, the claws... It all clicks at once. /He's/ a vampire. "No, I... No." Even if she steels herself to accept her own answer, something about her eyes gives away that she really doesn't know. Reaching up, she finally pulls the hood and bandana from her face, easily returning her attention to Arthur. "I don't think it'd be... smart to show you." Something in her tone gives away that might be for /his/ sake. "I got in a rough fight and uh, started a fire." She pauses again, hesitant about saying anything further. "Someone tossed a couple of these my way after helping me out of trouble. Just kind of... said to use it if I got in a similar situation again." +---------------------------+ Arthur rolls 3 Dice +----------------------------+ Roll: Manipulation +Animalism +Animal Ken Result: Success (2) -- (4 9 9) +-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+ Arthur stares at Five for another moment, stance and body language still clearly exhibiting distrust, but he doesn't make any sudden moves or lunges. Instead, his eyes go back to the man on the ground. "Well, good thing they gave 'em to ya. I'd've had to..." He trails off, though he rolls his right shoulder, as if still working out the pain. "You fight good." Eventually, he raises his hands up, eerily similar to his placating gesture when they met back in the bookshop, and takes a step towards the man. "I'm gonna bring this fella back topside. He's unhurt an' he won't remember any of it," he says, assuringly. Assuming she lets him past, he'd grab under the man's armpit and begin hauling him towards the exit, opposite where she stands. He pauses just before he turns around the corner and, without facing her: "Five, if you tell anyone about this, I'll know. And so will people who... aren't as nice as I am, I s'pose is the way t' put it." A pause. "We'll talk about this later, properly." And he trudges on, the man in his grip letting out a little moan as he seems to be beginning to wake up. | |