Court at the Sterling Hotel

Entering the hotel, guests are escorted by ghouls to the ballroom, and greeted by Olivette before making their way inside.

Most ancillae can tell by a Court's decor what to expect. Lavish or austere, riddled with symbolism or blatant displays, every Court said something. This Court had minimal amenities; chairs, a long table at the front, and dimmed lights for the Shadows. On another table to the side of the room, a large TV and empty VCR sat.

Regina goes to court in her more "acceptable" dress. A dress from her mortal days, replete with 19th century Italian motiffs and displays. Additionally, she had a metal pin of a rose encircled with a thorned wreath. She had decided against wearing the swords, this was court after all, and she was here tonight as an Invictus, not a Knight. That would come later.


(Regina is not wearing the purple cloak seen in this picture)

Arnold Culler arrives wearing a pinstripe suit, fedora, and a wilted white flower stuck in his lapel. Strapped to his back is a huge ax, obfuscated to remain out of sight - in case his duties as Sheriff would be required tonight.

He greets Olivette, as pleasantly as a big gross thing like him can, and enters the ballroom to wait and see what Sacramento's Kindred consisted of these nights.

Father Benton Black arrives as usual dressed in black; black motorcycle boots and plain black pants and shirt with a white priest's collar at the throat. A brushed steel cross hangs around his neck and his black leather jacket bears a patch on the back displaying the insignia of the Lancea Sanctum in red. He rarely wears the jacket with the patch but tonight is different. He didn't know many kindred in town before the Scourging of the city's population, and those few were mostly Sanctified. Tonight he meant to stand as a beacon to surviving or new come members of the Covenant.

Aimée enters the court in a simple yet chic navy-blue evening gown. She pinned up her hair to give it a more serious look (and to showcase the expensive pieces of jewelry she wore as earrings) and her make-up was subtle yet striking. She even put on her best smile for the evening - the one usually reserved for vernissages and meetings with important people.

This evening could be extremely important for her future in this city, so she already started to look the other kindred over; she kept an open stance, though, for she didn't want to either isolate herself or burst in a existing conversation. She always thought that most of the time it's smart to let the other party make the first move.

Priscus O-Yama, BP2

O-Yama arrives in a simple black slacks and black long-sleeve shirt. He knew this was going to be a solemn night, ad so dressed for the occassion. He didn't wear his blades this knight. He made his way to Mrs. Brady, but held his tongue for the time being, only giving her a nod.

Dr. Ith Lazarus arrives at court wearing black suit pants, and a button up dress shirt along with a lab coat which were both slightly less wrinkled than the ones he was typically seen in -- this was court after all. Tonight he carried a solid black leather briefcase with him which contained the sum of his research conducted last night; he was sure the Prince and his immediate underlings would be eager to learn what he had discovered. Through his mask Lazarus visually scanned the room looking for anyone he had been recently acquainted with, and even old faces that may have been lucky enough to survive.

It is not yet time to talk. Lazarus thought to himself. That time will come soon enough.

The doctor took a seat closer to the front than he usually took at social gatherings. His briefcase was held in his grasp sitting on his lap.


Taylor McCoy arrives slightly late to the Prince's court by at least fifteen minutes. There were several other kindred here and Taylor was a bit surprised to see so many after thinking the other night that there were hardly any, if any at all, left in Sacramento. The young man/girl was dressed in a perfectly tailored silk suit that offered absolutely no hint as to if it were a man's or woman's suit; it was obviously custom made. Taylor had spent extra time bathing eariler for the perfect hair to show off this evening, and now it hung flawlessly downward draping slightly onto the suit jacket's shoulders. With the utmost confidence, Taylor walked deeper into the court looking around and observing all the collected faces.

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Regina gives a bow to the Seneschal, mentalling willing her beast to quiet down. This is not the time or place to act foolish, and Invictus do not act foolish.
"Good evening Madam Nidra." she nods her head at the lower ranked woman. "Not quite as...austere as I had expected it to be. Very businesslike."

Mel

He tugged at his jacket, wondering for the fifth or so time what sort of pleasure mortals got from dressing so uncomfortably. After all, what 'looked good' was all about perception. Seemed to him that dressing all stuffily and being so 'straight and narrow' was less about looking nice and more about someone trying to shove some ill-contrived sense of propriety down his throat.

Or someone trying to control him, which he considered much, much worse.

....That sounds like some Carthian, which means it's not his opinion, but the memory of someone else his sire has tasted, and subsequently stored the memory inside of him because he had no more use for it.

That thought would likely confuse someone who isn't a Keeper.

Tonight,he was a different Kindred than when he'd met the Prince though. A three-pieced suit in black (without the tie, because he felt confined and choked of life when he wore one) and his hair trimmed neatly. Tonight, he'd not dressed himself, and anyone who knew him would see that.

Not that many Kindred here knew him. In fact, he'd be shocked if any did.

He hoped, however, that he wouldn't get bombarded tonight by The Others. If what he'd heard about what had happened in this city recently were true, it could be a terrible night.

Or at the very least, a distracting one.

~Silly Mel...attending Court in Avalon. It's going to drive you mad.~

He scrunched his nose, waving It away. "Have to go to Court. At least the first one." And for all his seeming propriety, he was still 'odd'.

Then again, he'd been 'odd' since they'd arrived.

Sean comes busting into the hotel, glaring at guests and baring his teeth. He's wearing camouflage cargo shorts and a stained white t-shirt - one of those joke shirts that are meant to look like a tuxedo on the front. He eventually finds his way back to the ballroom where he looks lustily at Olivette before going inside.

Looking around he finds he recognizes only a couple of faces there. There are some powerful blood sucking freaks around here tonight, like the chick with the scarf over her eyes for one. Sean feels the urge to bolt, for just one second. He pops himself in the side of the head a couple of times with a clenched fist and the urge subsides. He saunters through the room, moving up beside Taylor.

"Heya, Tayter Tot. Looks like there's a Prince after all, doesn't it?"

He nods, winks, and waves at Regina when he catches sight of her across the room.

Circe would have preferred to attend this function in her ceremonial robes and carrying the staff which symbolilzed her status within the Circle of the Crone, but the location for this Elysium was a very public one, and though she could have easily hidden those symbols of status from mortal eyes, it would have taken a bothersome amount of effort to keep them from showing up on the hotel security tapes. She knew the likelihood of anyone looking at the tapes of any given evening were very small, but she hadn't yet had any opportunity to gauge this domain's Prince or his attitudes toward such things. Besides that, the fact that such a large percentage of the domain's Kindred had recently been destroyed by some still-unknown force or enemy provided sound reason for greater-than-average attention being given to security matters.

Thus, she dressed in a simple but elegant manner: Black suit jacket, black mid-thigh length skirt, black stockings, black heels and blood red blouse, with the first few buttons undone. In addition to her usual silver moon earrings, she wore a silver necklace with a silver-on-onyx pendant depicting the symbol for the Circle that was most commonly used in these parts. She did wear a single weapon - a knife with an obsidian blade - magically concealed on her person, looped at her belt, but that wasn't the sort of thing likely to draw too much attention even if someone did happen to look at the tapes later. It served a ceremonial as well as a functional purpose, and should this particular prince take issues with weapons being worn at Elysium, it was easily enough turned over to the reeve or holder of whatever equivalent position was recognized in this domain.

Upon arriving, she seated herself and took the time to take the measure of the other Kindred of the Domain. So far as she could determine, her blood was as strong as that of anyone here. Using her Auspex to listen in on conversations, she was able to determine that relatively few of these kindred had been here long.

Dr. Lazarus slowly moved his head to look at Heathcliff in order to acknowledge his presence. His hand tapped the surface of the briefcase. "Progress has been made. I will be showing the Prince what I've discovered this evening."

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Finally, a recognizable face! Taylor sees Sean as he approaches and starts toward him in order to meet halfway. "Heh, yeah I guess it does. Any idea who it is?"

"Some Invictus mucker, if Miss Pia had it right. I guess we'll see, huh? I can't wait." He sounds a good bit less than sincere.

Mariel arrives in a stunning black silk chiffon evening gown. The backless gown has a twisted halter bodice that fully exposes her creamy skin in a provocative line reaching from her throat all the way down to her waist. The waistline is beaded heavily in red and black and cinches her in tightly. The skirt of the dress is pleated in a Grecian style, falling gracefully over the curve of her hips.

Her only jewelry is a beautiful rosary which she has fastened around her neck. At the base of the rosary is a cross with the Lancea Sanctum symbol engraved upon it. The bottom of the cross rests firmly in her cleavage.

Her hair is upswept in an elaborate style, with tendrils of red hair curling down in front of her pixie-like ears. Her shoes are a Manolo Blahnik creation, with extremely high spike heels, done up in babysoft black leather with red leather laced ties.

She enters the room and pauses, looking around at the Kindred community at court. She sees Circe and Heathcliff, but stands aloof, making a silent statement before she enters deeper into the room.

Mariel spots someone with a clerical collar and heads his way.

Lori storms in wearing a used, pink, bride's maid dress. Its puffy skirts drag the ground and are torn and dirty. The lacy sleeves hang off her muscular shoulders and a large, droopy, pink ribbon adorns the breast of the dress. Her hair is a greasy uncared for spiked up mess and she wears bright red lipstick with heavy mascara. When she gets to the ballroom she immediately notices Sean and walks over to him and punches him in the arm, hard. "Hey asshole, what'd I miss?" She scans the others an unsure look on her over-pierced face.

Sean grins at Lori's sudden appearance, punching her back in the shoulder. Then rubbing the spot where she'd hit him. "Hey, bitch. You should have seen it, the Prince came out and he was a fucking unicorn. It was magical."

"Hey Taylor. Meet Lori. Lori, this is Taylor. Remember the Haunt I was telling you about?"

He looks at Taylor and winks "Nothin, bad. Honest."

"I look forward to it." Lazarus replies, but says nothing else. Once Heathcliff walks away the doctor goes back to patiently waiting.

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Taylor laughs at Sean's unicorn-prince joke, briefly entertaining a mental image of some uppity Invictus fucker with a glistening white horn standing erect from his forehead. The whole notion was damn funny and put Taylor in an overall awesome mood. He/she smiled to Lori and extended a perfectly manicured hand outward to shake. "It's a pleasure to meet you. How do you know Sean?"

Regiina nods at Sean, and watches as vampire after vampire keep coming through the door. For a city decimated, the place sure picked up new ones fast. It would up to Clarke to keep things ship shape, and up to her, to keep him and the rest of the lawgivers that way.

"Wha? The Prince fucked a unicorn?" She mutters to Sean. Apparently she didn't get it....She shrugs and takes Taylor's hand, her rough skin and chipped black nail polish a stark contrast to his/hers manicured perfection. "I found him in San Fran awhile back.. Long story." Withdrawing her hand from Taylor she asks, "How'd you get stuck with him?"

Benton notices a stunning woman walking towards him, the rosary around her neck marking her as Sanctified like himself. He greets her as she gets close.

"Well it's a relief to know there's at least one more God-fearing vampire in this city. After the last few nights, I was starting to believe I was in of a covenant of one. I'm Benton Black. So I'm assuming you're a newcomer since I've never met you and you don't look half dead like the rest of the survivors."

Headstrong, seldom far from Gideon's side, enters ten seconds afterwards, only nodding in passing to Olivette in order catch up with his charge. Headstrong wears her weathered tough biker wear that seems barely able to contain her powerful build, a not too covert 'screw subtlety' sign, and takes several steps into the room.

Like Gideon, she scans the room. Unlike Gideon, she was more concerned about threats and had even gone so far as to suppress the most predatory aspects of her Beast.

Most who noticed her flinched slightly, two wildcards, three equals and one who put even Headstrong on edge. So far so good, though, now she could only hope that their Beasts didn't lie too much and they didn't want to start trouble.

After scanning those present Headstrong scanned the inanimates, looking for anything that might imply foul play or could pose a threat. Luckily, the Court was very spartan and she was done quickly. Unless something was hidden under the table or the chairs were easily convertible to stakes, they were good.


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A few minutes later Arn was escorted to the ballroom and entered into idle conversation with Olivette. Arn wore clothes that should have been recognizable as high-end designer fashion but they seemed to have gone unwashed for some time... and his shoes were a joke. Arn was off his game and people could see that plainly enough.

But mandatory was mandatory. He'd mingle and get the lay of the land. There might even be talk of what happened to the Kindred previously inhabiting Sacramento and it never hurt to know of such things. And so Arn walked through the ballroom, getting a feel for the Kindred there.

Stephen enters some time after his fellow Coterie mates, wearing a loose long black sleeve shirt that adds another layer of concealment to his already obfuscated weapons and armaments, complimenting blue jeans and boots. By the time he stops next to Headstrong and Gideon he's already taken in everyone and everything, he looks at the other two for a moment and then settles in to wait for any reactions.

Fortunately the wait is short, he smiles at the thought of a Prince in this devastated city and wondered how that occurred as he complied with the demand, no need to start a fight first thing. By all appearances he'd only seem a bit bulkier for those of keen perception. Without looking to the other two Stephen moves to the table where there's room for three making it obvious the three coterie mates are taking positions next to one another.

"Him? Heh, I stumbled across him shortly after coming to the city. He's a great guy, funny as hell."

Hearing Erika holler out for all the guests to sit, Taylor does just that. He/she walks toward the table and takes a seat, gesturing for Sean and Lori to take a seat nearby.

Jack managed to locate the Hotel and make his way to court. His appearance didn't look much better than the night he woke up. He still wore that same battered baseball cap down and his collar up just to hide most of his face. He left his things in the hotel room for now. He was going to have to pick them up after tonight.

He managed to get in just as Erika was banging her gavel down on the table. I always though the term court wasn't meant to be taken so literally. He though as he quickly found a seat and waited for things to start. His beast was going crazy, but he kept it down as much as possible. No point in comming if your going to run out the door again if your a coward.

Circe nodded at the order, and with a moment's focus she ended the two Obfuscate effects active on her person, letting the obsidian blade at her side come into plain view and also revealing the strength of her blood. Once again she looked around the room as others did the same, and she was pleased to notice that the strength of her blood still matched that of anyone present. Unsurprisingly, the veiled woman with the gavel seemed to have the strongest blood of any who had arrived by then, equalling the strength of her own.

((ST Note: Blood Potency 4))

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Konstantin found his way into the room just as it appeared things were getting started. He wasn't as hungry now as he'd been when he had awakened a few nights earlier, but he had to take a few moments to push down the Beast in the presence of so many Kindred. Although he wore somewhat nicer clothes than when he'd last been among his kind - thanks to the fools who had acosted him the previous night, mistaking him for some transient hobo - he was still dressed much less well than most here, and his long hair and thick beard were still tangled and untidy. Truth be told, he didn't really care. He knew that appearance was much less important than character and skill, and he was confident of how he measured up in those areas. Saying nothing, he took a seat next to male vampire dressed in black and the white collar of a priest.

Twist stepped inside the door to the room and paused to get her bearings. Black jeans hugged her from ankle to waist. A black tube top was partially hidden by a man's green button up shirt, tucked in but left unbuttoned. Her hair was pulled away from her face and into a ponytail. Green glass earrings matching her necklace hung from her ears. Black flats and green bracelet completed the clothing side of her outfit.

From her hip hung a sheath that looked to be carrying a medium sized knife. It was in plain sight and she moved easily with it's weight. Of course she had more hidden about her, but that was nearly a given.

The press of kindred wasn't large- but it had a large number of kindred with beasts to rival and surpass her own. Not that she thought her own strength was that terrifying, she could still recall Freddrick's presence when he had revealed himself. What was also worrisome was the lack of familiar faces.

The crowd began to shift though- making their way to the tables. As they parted she saw Erika standing at the front of the room, or at least it looked like Erika with a bandana over her eyes. Her eyebrow raised slightly but she didn't move forward to approach. Instead she gave a brief nodd of greeting before stepping just to the side of the door. She remained there, her posture at ease and a neutral look on her face.

Regina takes a seat as well, as close to the center as she can manage.

Mariel looks apologetically at the priest, as the proceedings are already getting ready to start. We''ll talk after, she whispers, as she takes a seat next to him. Mariel is amazed at the wide variety of Kindred at court, and is frankly disappointed that she can't use her skills in majesty to impress the Prince, whenever he or she should arrive.

Mel just found a random seat at the table, blue eyes flickering around at everyone. Memorizing. Not bothering to pay much attention to those he was seated near.

A gathering this large of Kindred would likely attract things, which would mean he'd be less than coherent for a good portion of the meeting, but he was going to try and look as attentive as possible, and be as coherent as possible.

Flipping one of his coins through his fingers, he looked down at it before flipping five more times to get the correct number.

~Who do I offer my services to...?~

Honestly? Who would appreciate them the most? Keepers were highly prized as advisers, but who would know that enough to appreciate it?

Who indeed...?

Hectors entrance would likely have been unnoticed if not for the various reactions of the beasts in the room and then again as Jayant enter just after him. Stopping right after entering he obviously masters the beast as he looks around at all present, his eyes not resting on anyone more than a second, even those he recognizes. His clothing is a black monk's outfit of obvious quality and durability rather than show, upon the arms are silver embroidery of an alternate version to the familiar Circle of the Crone symbol.

Without continuing forward Hector looks to his side at Jayant to note his reaction and/or intention.

Arnold drops his disciplines, allowing his Beast to be revealed as well as unveiling the giant axe strapped to his broad back. He seems as if he's waiting for everyone else to be seated before he takes a chair.

Lonnie enters Court, and his Beast forgets it's place and tries to trade places with Lonnie. It takes less than a moment to establish his dominance though. With only a smidgen of effort, Lonnie visualizes himself sealing the gimp suit he forces his Beast to wear and then there is no more problem.

He checks the fit of his gloves before he sits in a chair and looks back for Argent.

Dr. Ith Lazarus ceases to conceal his beast. To any of those sitting in his immediate area, they would all too soon become aware of one of his many Nosferatu flaws; the strong smell of bad-tasting medicine was beginning to accumulate in the air around him. The doctor could care less though, to him all that mattered was what knowledge he had gathered.

Konstantin notices both Jayant and Arnold. He nods to each, glad to see they survived but confused as to what had happened. "I will have to talk to them later," he thinks. "Find out what happened in the sewers, and how I came to be left where I was."


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Circe notes Hector's entrance, specifically noting his outfit and style of decoration. This one matched the description given her by one of her underlings, who had known Hector years before he'd come to serve Circe. She decided to watch this one, and was curious also about his companion.

Sean elbows Lori, gesturing to the woman with the scarf and gavel. "The hot chick with the blindfold and the clamor-hammer wants us to sit down and let go of our powers. Come on."

He releases his Protean abilities to mask his beast in ferocity with a smirk and a shrug, then pulls a chair out and sits himself down.



Arnold seems delighted to see Jayant. He reaches out and grasps Jayant firmly by the wrist, a gesture of camaraderie. He smiles.

"Jayant. It is good to see you alive. I had known that Konstantin was living, at least at the time of my re-awakening, but I had truly thought you had been lost. Have you had the opportunity to recover since you woke up?"

Good to know that I'm not the only survivor. Jack thought as he spotted O-Yama from across the room. Some of the others he still wasn't sure about. And is that one over there a bloke or not? I reall can't tell He hated being confused. He shook his head and returned his attention back to the front. There would be time to find out who all these new ones were.

Lori elbows Sean back then struggles with the puffy skirts of her strange dress as she takes a seat near Sean and Taylor at the table. She seems uncomfortable siting at the table surrounded by other Kindred, some with greater powers than her own, but she was new to the city and had to make an appearance. Trying to look unconcerned she takes out some lipstick and gently traces her lips with it before hiding it back in the breast of her dress under its ridiculous bow. When seated she also drops her Protean abilities revealing her beast to those at the court.