NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: I bet now you're all wishing that the Inquisitors were still around. HAH!

OOC: Nice shot, Roania. :D

OOC: Who wants to volunteer to lead the next lecture.

OOC: Ummmm, Cele, sorry about turning your first lecture into a free fire zone. ;)

OOC: Who wants to volunteer to lead the next lecture.

OOC: Ummmm, Cele, sorry about turning your first lecture into a free fire zone. ;)

OOC: I knew it was goinig to happen, that is part of the reason that I set this RP up. I thought it would give the Vamps and the anti-vamps a place to blow off steam.

OOC: I bet now you're all wishing that the Inquisitors were still around. HAH!

OOC: Nice shot, Roania. :D

OOC: If you're nice, one of them will return to pick up his hat.

OOC: I bet now you're all wishing that the Inquisitors were still around. HAH!

OOC: Nice shot, Roania. :D

OOC: If you're nice, one of them will return to pick up his hat.

OOC: LOL!!! After the recent incident, my men may be more than a little willing to join you in the "shoot first" category.

EDIT: OOC2: Waiting on replies b/f I can continue...

EDIT: OOC3: Going to bed now.

"I prefer not to," Winter said to Javier. Her red eyes shone with amusement, though her smile hardly touched her bloodless lips. "Surprise is often key, and no doubt we have more to play out before this particular drama is complete. Until then, I will watch, while I can."

That was when Riggs' squad made its appearance.

Declare your allegiance? This should be interesting. Let's see what they make of it. "I," she said, raising her voice to be heard (but still speaking with the same calm as ever), "am Winter Akizuki, a Queen of Stars. I am of the family Akizuki of the Great Clans of the Kin of Ravenspire."

Javier winced. So it comes down in their minds to something as simple as science versus the bogeyman. He would have shaken his head, but the soldiers seemed a little too trigger-happy.

To Winter, his deep voice carrying, he said, “Doesn’t that just bite?” a smile. “I don’t believe I got that pamphlet; science superior, the supernatural inferior. Which seminar was handing those out?” To the gathered soldiers he asked with mock seriousness, “Are you then,” a pause, Javier’s predilection for the dramatic showing through, “Scientologists?”

He made no move and yet there was instantly a change in his status; the readouts coming from the soldier’s sensors would be telling them absolutely nothing.
“I may have supernatural origins gentlemen,” he said, “but I certainly make good use of whatever serves me best. Like simple, but effective jamming instruments. Now, we’re more on equal footing. You’ve no aid from your technology. No target locking systems, no AI guidance. Just the reflexes of the human body and, I would hope, a reasonably good aim.” He smiled wide, fangs deliberately unveiled. “There are so many of you, you can’t expect more advantage than that.”

From behind the Soldiers

Siraniel made the transition from Crystal Ring to physical incarnation and stepped into the shadows of a narrow alleyway.
Her senses widened, picked up the presence of the vampire calling himself Javier. Further, opposite her position, the vampire Chrene was making her entrance into the material domain.
Smoothing crimson curls behind her ears, Siraniel pressed at the tiny silver receiver in her ear and sub-vocalised to Sauk.
‘Testing.’

“Receiving you loud and clear,” he replied, his voice coming as a hushed whisper in her ear. Good. The volume of the earpiece would not interfere with whatever she might need to do.
Closing on the soldiers swiftly, she arrived in time to hear the final words of the exchange.
Stepping forward, hands open at her sides in an attempt to appear as unthreatening as possible.
She knew that their sensors would struggle to read anything; like Javier she wore intricate jamming instruments analysing the frequencies attempting to scan her and setting up an effective counter measure.

“Boys, is this going to turn into a pissing contest?” she asked, her musical voice catching them by surprise. Would they divide their attention now, between her and Javier? “It would be a mistake to take this any further. It’s quite clear that you compatriot hasn’t been,” she licked her lips, considered her phrasing decided, “eliminated. He’ll recover. Are we going to make this an international incident?”

Standing nonchalantly across from her, Siraniel could see Chrene; the woman’s black hair bound up in a ponytail. Their eyes met, a slight nod from Chrene; she was ready.

“Your move boys,” she said calmly.

A man arrives at the vampire summit. He is 6'5" and wears a cloak that covers him almost completely from head to toe. His face is not visible, and his hands are gloved.

He says in a calm but eerie voice:

"Hello, my name is Lord Legnerihes Mantresni. I have come to gain information about the beings you call vampires, and the ones who wish to destroy them."

A man sitting at the front desk will inform him that the price is $500, and that he is welcome to join the summit.

Legnerihes handed over $500 in notes.

"Can you tell me what has happened so far? My arrival was delayed, so I fear I will not understand what is happening."

Riggs watched his sensors cutout. The nanotech restructured to the nature of the jamming, aligned against its fields, and found the path. His visor came back online; his analytical predictors were still down, but the other systems were just fine. "Real cute. I ask a simple question, you attack." Don't target Winter unless she makes agressive moves. She seems rational.

There was motion, a flicker from behind. As one, half the squad spun, dropped into firing position there. Second squad was still back in the city, approaching. Stay back, we may need an exit. Riggs sneered a little. More freaks?

“Boys, is this going to turn into a pissing contest It would be a mistake to take this any further. It’s quite clear that you compatriot hasn’t been,” she licked her lips, considered her phrasing decided, “eliminated. He’ll recover. Are we going to make this an international incident?”

Riggs split his view, conversing with her while still tracking the other two as well. "Ma'am he was here with an injured member of our forces. He made a threatening move, trying to cut our systems. He refused to parlay, instead assaulted us. With this information, it would appear that he was the cause of Sarge's injuries. That's an attack on one of our soldiers, and that already is an international incident. Now, please stand down so we can solve this without vaporizing a chunk of the island." Riggs saw the two tense. "Stand down, I say."

OOC: I don't see how your sensors could come back online...if the jamming instrument is reading the frequency used, why would it only react to one frequency and then stop?
The instrument would adapt and adjust to your sensors, just like your sensors are trying to compensate.


She knew that their sensors would struggle to read anything; like Javier she wore intricate jamming instruments analysing the frequencies attempting to scan her and setting up an effective counter measure.

I would say that pretty much renders the sensors null and void in this confrontation.

Also, this means that your sensors aren't going to be pointing Chrene out to you.

OOC: I don't see how your sensors could come back online...if the jamming instrument is reading the frequency used, why would it only react to one frequency and then stop?
The instrument would adapt and adjust to your sensors, just like your sensors are trying to compensate.


She knew that their sensors would struggle to read anything; like Javier she wore intricate jamming instruments analysing the frequencies attempting to scan her and setting up an effective counter measure.

I would say that pretty much renders the sensors null and void in this confrontation.

Also, this means that your sensors aren't going to be pointing Chrene out to you.
OOC: Um... because you can't tell me what my instruments are doing. That's declaring my damages for me, and illegal under Free Form RP rules. I came to this as a future tech nation, using my tech to compensate for my lack of supernatural powers. For you to instantly declare the "s00per jamming haxorz gunz" that works perfectly is kinda godmoddish. I killed my analytical/predicting matrixes b/c of your jamming, but my sensors remain active (they are nanotech, therefore quantum in scale, ergo faster exponentially then any integrated circuit design). My tech is my "power" in this RP, and I'm not about to allow someone to just wave it away with one bland statement. I didn't complain when you just moved Javier into an attack on my character, didn't let me post reply, and then moved him out of range, nor when you initially jammed me. But to just declare that my equipment arbitrarily doesn't work is over the line.

What started out good is slowly turning into an ubertech wank argument...the only question I have is for TSRN. As an October 2003 nation, how the hell do you already have nano tech?

(OOC: Okay, that would mean that 'anything' affecting your character is a godmode. Which would make us two leaves in tree, each been blown by two very different winds: i.e. two ships passing in the dark. How does one resolve anything?

Besides, if you're going to be 'superduper powerful' I'm gonna be playing mouse to your cat (and not the Disney variety either) and making a quick retreat into the Crystal Ring is against Celeborne's directive.
My point with the jamming instrument was to equal things out; both sides face casualities, both sides have reason enough to resolve this without turning to violence.)

“If I were attacking you,” Javier told Riggs coldly, “you’d know it from the blood pouring out of your veins. From the chill creeping through your body. Is that what you want? Because it certainly seems to me like that is what you’re asking for!”

He glanced over at Siraniel.
“I can take care of this myself,” he told her. Golden eyes gazed back at him, unflinching. Beyond that, she gave no sign that she had heard him.
Siraniel seemed almost casually dressed to the naked eye, jeans and a simple red top. But Javier could discern the subtle clues indicating she had not come unarmed.

Turning his attention back to Riggs, Javier murmured, “I don’t take very well to threats.” He studied the soldier. “No more than you do. How would you react, given a change in our circumstances?” He raised his eyebrows, questioning.

Siraniel laughed, a chilling sound combined with an inherent musicality, Wagneresque.
Ignoring Javier she focused on Riggs, the look of a serpent, fixing on its prey.

“Oh you poor feeble men,” eyes flicked to Javier and back. She meant all of them, it was quite clear that the word had not been delivered to the soldiers alone. “You’ve been assaulted? Shall we call law enforcement? Run a battery of tests?” The scorn in her voice was thick; harsh enough to cause some of the soldier’s to flinch instinctively. She smiled. It might have looked innocent enough, had her eyes not been so cold and cruel. “If I casually scratched your cheek, would you run for reinforcements? Declare an international incident?”
Around her, the air seemed charged with anger, a nimbus of psychic energies almost visible. “Are you thinking clearly? Or are you gunning for a fight, regardless?”

In her earpiece, Sauk voice came through as a silken whisper.
“Second squad. Do you want them taken out?”

Shooting a glance at the still unconscious Lennox, Siraniel wondered why she even bothered. Men. Any excuse for a fight.
‘Leave them be. Monitor movements though, I want to know the moment they come close enough to become a threat,’ she sub-vocalised. ‘And Sauk, call in Lilcan.’
She heard his surprised inhalation.

“Confirm that.”

‘Lilcan,’ she repeated. For a moment she considered how much worse this could get. Wondered when the comatose sergeant would be coming round; it would do a hell of a lot to calm his men down. That’s if his head is on his shoulders.

“Do you call pointing a weapon at an unarmed…” she considered the words, glanced at Javier thoughtfully; shrugged. “An unarmed man, a parley? I don’t know where you’ve learnt your manners.” She raised a flame-hued eyebrow. “We don’t have an international incident here. Not yet,” she told Riggs. “Trust me. But if there’s going to be one…it’s going to be because you invoke it.”

What started out good is slowly turning into an ubertech wank argument...the only question I have is for TSRN. As an October 2003 nation, how the hell do you already have nano tech?

OOC: Any nation that possesses FTL would by default have nanotech. Nanotech is already happening in our current world, with the next generation of computers well below nanoscale. By the year 2040, it will be commonplace. If my nation is futuretech (implied FTL) then the postmodern tech of nanotech would be a given. I do not possess nano-construction, no matter how possible it is, just because it removes the laws of resources and breaks the game. Likewise, I do not have intelligent swarms. However, communications and adaptive technologies would be perfectly logical.

OOC2: I'm not objecting to your actions, it's your posting of my reactions (how my sensors were nullified arbitrarily) that annoyed me. How can I compete with someone who can move faster than I can see and can fly and teleport (I see you said it was banned, now) without powers or in my case, technology, of my own?

IC: Riggs snarled his response to the superiority complex he was witnessing, "Gee, our Sargeant is lying on the beach, maybe dead, he's standing over him. We ask what's going on, he threatens us. That reeks of enemy, right there. Maybe if I received a reasonable response instead of these threats, I would be more gently in my debating tactics." He paused as Ellitora sent him a nanocomminique.

I've got psyonic fields, level four, around that woman. The Dark Genesis soldier commented.

Riggs raised his eyebrows behind his visor. "Well... you ask us to be unarmed, but he has already demonstrated extreme physical abilities beyond normal humans, and you yourself are currently maintaining a massive psychic field. For being unarmed, you're pretty well armed yourself. I've seen this before, this trick of coming unarmed. I survived this trick, too, when everyone else died in the ambush. You know why? I broke the LTs orders and brought a gun. When the Shadow betrayed us, I shot back. So, no, I have no reason to trust you outright. And you've done nothing to show your good intentions. Quite the opposite, in fact..." he tipped his helmeted head towards Lennox. "Ellitora, check on Sarge. Find out what happened."

The femal soldier, dressed different than the rest of the squad, in a lighter black armor and with simple gloves on each hand, approached Lennox, knelt by him. She placed her hand on the dome around the fallen man, closed her eyes. Riggs waited.

:roll: There gettin uberwank tech so young now...Now I remeber why I ditched my space tech.

:roll: There gettin uberwank tech so young now...Now I remeber why I ditched my space tech.

For God's sake, Imitora, there is nothing "uber" about nanotech. Yes, if I had planet eating swarms or builder swarms or resurrection tech, they would be uberwank, but I'm talking about technologies that are already being developed for THIS CENTURY! How about a reply instead of a cute rolling-eyes response and smug comment? I'm sick of older players claiming anyone younger than them can't have anything they didn't think of at that age. So I return fire: :roll:

OFFICAL RULING ON NANOTECH FOR THIS THREAD :

If it doesn't break any of the rules that have been set forth , it is ok.
This thread is intended to have some uberpowerful stuff going on, and anyone, I repeat anyone can die.

Please keep comments IC !!!! If you want to keep argueing about this,
TAKE IT ELSEWHERE

Thank you.

The Universal Guide to All Things TRSN

History of the Terran Republic (http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=94265&highlight=)
Starships (http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=94198&highlight=)
Starship Weaponry (http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=94238&highlight=)
Infantry Weapons (http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=94229&highlight=)

(OOC Come on people...do this well and have it fair. Nanotech is fine as long as it does not go into great uber lengths etc. I mean I could have avoided that thing with the inquisitors if I simply said,"Silver does not effect him" (well NORMAL silver does not, blessed silver does however, otherwise his silver sword would mess him up.))

(OOC Come on people...do this well and have it fair. Nanotech is fine as long as it does not go into great uber lengths etc. I mean I could have avoided that thing with the inquisitors if I simply said,"Silver does not effect him" (well NORMAL silver does not, blessed silver does however, otherwise his silver sword would mess him up.))

Kain is in a spot of trouble right now...

(OOC: Thanks for the clarification TRSN. It makes more sense to me now.
Gonna make a response to Ravenspire’s post?)


A soldier who disobeyed orders? Siraniel silently cursed her unlucky stars and re-evaluated the situation. Could things get any worse?
Eyes darted between Riggs and Javier. Yes, much worse.

“I think it’s been clearly established that your sergeant isn’t dead,” she sighed. Then watched incredulous as the man ordered a female soldier forward. He hadn’t even asked the vampire that was so threatening to him, to step aside.

Unstable, she labelled Riggs firmly in her mind and sub-vocalised to Sauk.
‘I can’t see things getting pretty out here. Has Lilcan joined you?’

Nervous, voice strained, his reply was relayed through her earpiece.
“He’s here.”

Good.
She had her out.


(OOC: Ravenspire?? You’re lagging behind. Has Winter made her dash for safety?)

Riggs watied. "I want to know..."

The DG Soldier stood after a second. "He's fine. Psychoreactive trigger to a presumed Shadow agent brought about a coma state to prevent contamination."

"There is no contamination?"

"Negative. It was a pre-emptive response."

"But how?"

"He was bitten, emergency systems locked into place."

Riggs let a slow whistly escape his lips. He asked the Vampire coolly, "And why would you do that?" He paused. "I have no desire to end this in fangs and gunfire. But if there is a danger here, we are called to rectify it... why did you attack him?"

OOC: Ravenspire's post? I don't see one in a while... I'll go look.

OOC2: The only one I found was her reply to my query. She was removed from the threat list, and is not actively being aimed at.

OOC: I am removing Lord Legnerihes Mantresni from this RP.

Legnerihes decided against attending the vampire hunters' summit. He needed to find one particular vampire, and congratulate him on becoming The Underground City's new trade ambassador.

(OOC: Nope, she's still around.)

"That seems like a dangerous response to program," Winter said, breaking her silence. Crimson eyes shifted to the female soldier. "In a battle, that would seem to leave him helpless in the face of an immediate attack. What is the utility of such a state, that it would be programmed into a soldier?"

The female soldier answered, her voice quiet but carrying easily in an almost melodic manner. "He might have been contaminated by Shadow. Not knowing what forces were being directed at him, he put himself into stasis. In the War, the Shadow could Turn whole units in seconds. We've trained our soldiers on how to defend themselves against corruption. In effect, his subconcious must have triggered the protection reaction when it didn't know the Vampire's archetype. Now that it does, it will respond more apropreatly in the future. It's better to have a soldier unconconcious beneath an impenetrable shield than turning a upon his unit. The Shadow became very good at Turning people..." she paused. "This is odd..."

She switched to nanocommunitcations. Riggs, he's been channeling some sort of tremendous power. I didn't know Sarge was psychic.

He's not.

I wonder if...

No. They died a long time ago, and no one can use that power.

But if it returned-

Then so would the Shadow's full power.

Riggs shifted nervously, waiting for his answer. He had a sudden urge to return home. Not here, not now. This is the last thing we frickin' need.

“Lost your edge, have you?” Javier asked Riggs. “If you’d asked nicely without shoving a gun in my face, you might have had an answer from the start.” He shrugged. “Then again, maybe not. You were no cool hand Luke, in fact in my opinion soldier, your track record sucks!”

Siraniel cleared her throat, Javier’s eyes flicked her way; glimpsed something in her expression that made him tense.
Riggs seemed distracted.

"I tend not to be nice when my Commander could be dead." he murmurred in response, but there was no anger behind his tone. If Void energies are presenting themselves... perhaps this convention is a little too big a target for them to pass up. Maybe the concentration... he cut off his thoughts. Maybe my dead dog will come back and do shots in the barracks. He still took no chances. "Well, since you are not the Shadow, you are not our enemy. We'll be departing now. Good day." he stated tersely.

"Alvarez, get Sarge. Bring him back to the rendevous with us." He motioned to the squad who began to move out. As they left, Riggs stopped for a second. These people weren't his enemy. Not his friends, but not his enemy. He offered up one cryptic statement as he departed, "If you feel something... a tearing in life, in time, in whatever you can feel inside you, if you feel the chill closing on you like a winter wind, and you see shifting signs and deja vu... run fast and shoot straight, then ask questions."

"And that," said Winter to Javier, "is the reason my people have never missed the supernatural. Well, one of the reasons." She watched with interest, and wry amusement, as the soldiers dragged the 'impenetrable' bubble away. "You realize that both you and they would have gotten further, and with less trouble, had you approached from a less aggressive standpoint?"

“I have anger management issues,” Javier replied, a slight smile creasing the lips. “Sue me.” A thoughtful look crossed over his face. “All that fuss and the vintage wasn’t even that noteworthy. Their sergeant wasn’t a very good year.”

Across from them Chrene did a disappearing act, stepping into the Crystal Ring, into air from the perspective of those watching.
Siraniel sauntered over to Javier and Winter.

“No supernatural?” she shook her head, “How you get your kicks ain’t my concern.”
She turned Javier.
“Almost lost your head hon,” she said. “I’ll be watching you.”
Then followed Chrene’s lead and vanished.

“Care to go some place and get a drink? Strictly non sanguine beverages of course,” Javier asked Winter. “We could toast to fond memories; Sergeant Lennox at death’s door.” There was a brief pause, filled with a laconic smile. “I could regale you with my ideas for a seminar; The Idiots Guide to Vampire Hunting.” Humour was implied, but it would be difficult to tell whether or not Javier was being serious. “Otherwise known as, Why you humans get stuck in our teeth.”

He stuck an academic pose, a long slender finger stroking his lower lip; brow deeply furrowed.

“It’d start with some handy phrases to identify when a foreign vampire is flirting with your jugular; Pardonnez-moi, puis-je boire votre sang? Excuse me, may I drink your blood? Or when you’ve obviously fallen short of expectation; Ou est la banque de sang la plus proche, s'il vous plait? Where is the nearest blood bank, please?” He ended it all with a slight bow and the tip of an imaginary hat. “It could be a hit!”

The foxgirl regarded him with an appraising look. "You're a very unusual man." She smiled, then, the first genuine, open expression she had shown. "I'd like that. And the seminar as well. It certainly sounds as if it would be more educational than this one has proven."

“Unusual,” he mused. Smiled. “I can live with that.”

Gallantly he offered Winter his arm.

“Perhaps we can find an Aleturaldean (also known as the Dominion of the Mendacious Weasel) owned establishment? You can try our national delicacy, fried rabid white weasel on a stick! Which incidentally is also a popular tongue twister.” He winked at her. “It’s customary to wash it down with another national invention, tetanus shots.”
Was the vampire being serious? His demeanour gave absolutely nothing away.

Moving away from the beach he cast one last look at where Sergeant Lennox had collapsed. Began to whistle a melody, Me and My Shadow.
The notes carried, mingled with the sound of the breaking waves.

"Weasel?" Winter smirked, taking Javier's arm. "Sounds fascinating, but I think I'll pass. I'm largely vegetarian, you see." Her delivery was deadpan. "But I'm sure I can find something worth eating nevertheless. Or, failing that, worth drinking. Are you, by the way? Living, that is? Or is that an impolite question to ask?"

“I’m alive in very single way that matters,” Javier replied. “Consider my species as falling well within the limits of any Turing-style test for…life.” After a moments pause he added, “And, you may ask anything at all.” Winked at Winter, vivid green eyes sparkled with unvoiced laughter.

He lead them away from the beach, back to the long dark road that divided sandy shore from the concrete towers; hotel complexes and beachfront condominiums.

“Now, I have a question for you,” he said, brow furrowing. “The non-vegetarian bits…they’re your foxy parts aren’t they?”

Winter laughs at that, a throaty chuckle which almost blends into the sound of the surf. "No... not really. The occasional craving, but those are controllable. No, the non-vegetarian bits are the vampiric parts."

“It must make for an interesting philosophy,” Javier mused, smiled at her laughter. “For the taking of blood, is the taking of life; however you choose to phrase it. However little, however much.”

Reaching the road, he followed it. Ocean on the left, a constant ebb and flow - almost sanguine, almost a pulse; to the right only the cold, breathless creations of man, rising to catch the skies.
A comfortable silence enveloped the two as they made aimless progress, pace sedate.

“I wonder where our hunters lurk,” Javier said, in a sudden speculative frame of mind. “There are cinema’s here I imagine. Perhaps they are taking in a movie? ‘Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter’ do you think? I am certain I saw a poster…somewhere.” He waved his hands; encompassed the beachfront structures, the city behind.

Then turned to Winter.

“Why are we still here? We should go elsewhere…I know of a certain upcoming ball in Aleturald, strictly invitation only. Or perhaps you would like to choose? I hardly find this…” he glanced around, took it all in, “…conducive to unravelling all your myriad secrets.” He winked.
Then, shuddered.
“Besides, considering the nature of the convention we attend, I feel…watched.”

“It must make for an interesting philosophy,” Javier mused, smiled at her laughter. “For the taking of blood, is the taking of life; however you choose to phrase it. However little, however much.”

"Blood is life," she agreed. "But life is not blood. Not only blood, I should say. I have life enough. The trouble comes in sustaining it." She smiled wanly. "Fortunately, mine is an enlightened society, where one may purchase blood if one possesses certain mineral needs."

Reaching the road, he followed it. Ocean on the left, a constant ebb and flow - almost sanguine, almost a pulse; to the right only the cold, breathless creations of man, rising to catch the skies.
A comfortable silence enveloped the two as they made aimless progress, pace sedate.

“I wonder where our hunters lurk,” Javier said, in a sudden speculative frame of mind. “There are cinema’s here I imagine. Perhaps they are taking in a movie? ‘Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter’ do you think? I am certain I saw a poster…somewhere.” He waved his hands; encompassed the beachfront structures, the city behind.

Then turned to Winter.

“Why are we still here? We should go elsewhere…I know of a certain upcoming ball in Aleturald, strictly invitation only. Or perhaps you would like to choose? I hardly find this…” he glanced around, took it all in, “…conducive to unravelling all your myriad secrets.” He winked.
Then, shuddered.
“Besides, considering the nature of the convention we attend, I feel…watched.”

"I would not be surprised, though I think many of the would-be hunters are yet either cowering from the Inquisitors or have run off after Kain. So eager to fight. So much energy expended needlessly. But I suppose it is in the nature of most living beings not to tolerate competition."

Winter looked toward Javier, or perhaps to the darkening sea beyond. "Either way, I suspect nothing more will come of this conference. It's something of a disappointment, really. I'd hoped to learn something of use in my field, and since I don't have any intention of sneaking into Roania to rescue Kain, or any such thing, I can only account this a failure."

A slight shrug, as a breeze began to blow gently in from sea. "Contact will have to serve. Between yourself and the paranoid psychics, at least I've come across something new."

“Ah,” Javier nodded, closed his eyes and breathed in the salty air. “I wonder what you’ll be referring to me as; the Anger Management Poster Child?”

He shook his head, a wry smile on his lips.

“It amuses me. This concept that vampires are sweetness and light, or at the very least as human as the next guy.” He opened his eyes, stepped before Winter. Between the two of them, energy sparked; dark and negative. “But we’re vampires Winter. At best parasites, at worst demonised humans. We’re anti-heroes not angelic beings. Though we appear as alluring as the stars of the heavens.” He sighed, took her hands in his own. “We are also as cold and distant as their silvery light. You fool yourself if you imagine otherwise.”

"I was never human," she reminded Javier gently. "Nor ever dead. All living things kill in order to continue living; I don't have any illusions about that. But I do not imagine that vampires are any worse or any better, by nature, than any other sentient beings. What, after all, is the nature of a police officer?"

*bump*

(OOC: My apologies for the delay Ravenspire. At last, the ball is back in your court...)

"Never human?" Javier raised his eyebrows, glanced at Winter. "My dear, you're as human as any other. Physically you've traits I'll admit that no human possesses. But your mind..." He paused, caught her eyes with his own. Green fire sparked in the depths, irises large and beguiling as though he sought to bewitch Winter. “You’ve all the humanity that counts.”
He reached up, tapped the side of her head gently with a long, slender finger; turning the gesture into a fleeting caress that ran down her cheeks.
“And I quite agree, we’re no worse than some; but we are predators. You, twice over my dear.” He smiled. “And humanity is the prey…one could hardly think of them as more than the next ‘happy meal’. Yet, such a conflicting mass of thoughts are we, this humanity of mind…that we love some among our prey. Become obsessed with them, desire them above all others.”

He laughed. A sound untroubled, rich and deep.
There were no unbreakable morals, no true virtues.

“But you’ve avoided my attempts to whisk you away.” He shook his head, feigning sorrow and disappointment. “I’ll ask again, only once more. Will you leave this place? We’ll find a place that pulses with blood, the heat of it wrapping round us, warm our cold flesh. Find joy in the font of life; tearing it out of another. It is our way, let’s not pretend to be fluffy bunnies. Sometimes…I just want to be evil.”

"Ah, and you were doing so well, too." Winter's expression clouds, her eyes turn toward the sea once more. "No. That is not my way. That is exactly the reason why I fight. There are too many who believe exactly that, and there must be a reckoning. There must be an ethics beyond any of us.

"I would have gone with you elsewhere. But never there."

“Then allow me at least to tempt you,” Javier grinned, let it evolve into a laugh. “You’ve a predator within you, I can feel it…taste it.”
He circled Winter, leaned close to whisper in her ear. “There’s a place where you can indulge your pretence of innocence and where I can indulge my pretence that you are every bit as dark as myself. In fact, I almost think it were fashioned just for you.” He flourished a small, crimsoned card, appearing as though apported.
“I can’t take you through the Crystal Ring, I’ve never seen a vampire other than my kind moving through that place. I doubt you would survive it. Perhaps you have your own transport?”

"Ha." Winter accepted the card, briefly scanning it. "Quite a coincidence. I have heard of similar places, in the past..." She trails off, turning the card over absently in her fingers.

"Yes," she says at last. "I think I will join you. It may take a few hours to fly there, however."

“I will be waiting,” he whispered. And if Winter had chosen to turn at that moment, she’d have seen him disappearing.
As he shifted from the material and into the bitter cold of the Crystal Ring. His flesh blackening, marbled with an oily slick veneer, wings sweeping out and catching the icy breeze that constantly blew through the Ring.
Winter was a grey-coloured jewel, insubstantial as smoke but he hovered there a moment; wind cast against the smoky apparition, ineffectual.
He could have tried to touch her and his coal-black hands would only have passed through her, finding no resistance.
Here he had no need of words, his thoughts a shout or a whisper as he willed; but words that Winter could never hear. I will be waiting, he told her anyway.
Turned in the air, a graceful ballet. The ground here in the Ring was as insubstantial as the shadows of the material world. He would rest here a while, let himself drift and sleep; only a moment as it was all he needed.
Then swift flight to the Ravensfire, before Winter arrived.