Court at the Sterling Hotel

Pretty standard rules, thinks Mariel. She hopes to have a chance to talk with the Prince directly, but with so many in attendance, the odds aren't too good. She is anxious to speak with Father Benton Black.

I hope he's on the same page as me...if so, I could REALLY love this place, she muses.

Mariel relaxes slightly. What an ordeal. She turns to Father Benton Black.

Hello, Father, I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to speak with you earlier. I guess it's just you and me representing the Lancea Sanctum, and since you're clearly more experienced than I am, I nominate you to head the church here in Sacramento. She smiles prettily.

Twist watched turned her attention to the kindred taking seats around the table. So many unfamiliar faces. Suddently her eyes narrowed slightly as she spotted Konstantin. She smoothed her features quickly though, and let her gaze slide on. She was sure he was the one she had spotted at the Chapter House. She would have to make sure to keep on eye on that one.

When Asa enetered, she dipped her head at his passing and turned her ear to his words. Knowing what was to come she began to scan the room as he moved to play the news tapes. While she hoped that the Kindred responsible would fess up, she doubted it- rarely did one step forward to be punished even under...Twist's thoughts halted midsentence as an unknown Kindred stepped forward. She managed to keep her surprise to herself though- even when he quietly drank down the 3 glasses. He most definitely was a neonate to so willingly accept such a heavy bloodbond.

And then the introductions came. And no order to them which meant she actually had to listen for her fellow Daeva. What a nuisance- she did so hate this part of Court. Steadily the names and details rolled out. 3 Daeva- that was good. Not a huge showing and she still didn't know how many they had lost, but it would have to do. Vaguely she noted the Invictus. While she was just begining to consider the covenant it didn't hurt to go in knowing who you were joining.

She did note that the looter did not stand. That meant he had already been acknowledged. That made things...interesting.

Her thoughts were broken by the Harpy and then the Prince speaking. A faint smile curved her lips as she was listed as Priscus, a triumphant gleam in her eye, but she did not speak. When the Prince came to her she listened with a neutral face before dipping her head again as he left. Straightening she stepped to the side- further away from the door and waited to see if any of the Daeva would approach her. While she waited, she made sure to keep part of her attention on Konstantin.

As the Prince takes leave, Konstantin walks over to Arnold.

"So, you are Reeve, eh? Good for you." He extends his hand to shake and leans closer to whisper.

"I woke only couple days ago. I was shoved in closet somewhere! What happened? Do you know how I got there? And in the sewers... the others? What of this Bethem?"

*******************************

After the Prince leaves, Circe rises and says "In a few minutes, I would like all of those claiming or seeking association with the Circle of the Crone to meet at this spot." She points to where she was sitting. "I will be back shortly."

She then seeks out the Seneschal.

"Seneschal, Dr. Brady, I would like to speak with you for a moment, if you would be so kind?"

~Arnold~

Arnold takes Konstantin's hand, shaking it. He smiles a bit "And you are alive. Good for you." He nods to him, and then leans in close to hear his words, then answers "It seems someone dragged our torpid bodies from the sewers and into that building. When I awoke I found a note with a number to call. However, my duties as Reeve and my illness upon awakening has kept me from calling. When I call I will let you know."

He leans back, and looking over, locks his eyes on Heathcliff.

~Sean~

Sean slumps back in his chair and groans when the hoity-toity, brunette calls for the impromptu Crone meeting. He had SO MANY better things to do then sit in this musty hotel ballroom. The place looks and smells like death.

Circe nods and smiles. "That is correct, yes. I would like to arrange to speak to the Prince at his earliest convenience. I have some information that I believe is relevant to the investigation into this tragic incident, the destruction of so many Kindred and the harming of many more, and I would like to assist in this investigation, in any way possible." She says this in a polite but firm manner, then smiles. "Beyond that, I would like to arrange a time for you and I to meet and talk, whenever might be convenient for you, but hopefully soon."


*****************

Konstantin nods. "The illness, it plagues me still as well. And I had note also, but call..." he shrugs and shakes his head. "Still I am not comfortable with these 'phones.' But yes, I would like to know when you call."

He looks over at Jayant. "What of Jayant? Was he pulled out with us? And what of the others? Sunshine, and the woman, Bella?"

Twist watched Argent's approach, her smile from earlier returning at his words. She didn't try and hide the once over she gave him, but didn't give any indication of what she thought at the end of it. "It isn't a difficult thing to accomplish- Argent was it?" she replied, her tone pleasant with only faint undertones of double meanings.

As soon as it looked like court was over, well as far as Jack could tell, He made his way over to Taylor. Best to do this one at a time. "G'day. Jack Bennett. Great to see more of the movement has taken interest in Sacramento." He kept his tone as friendly as he could.

Arnold answers Konstantin without taking his eyes off of Heathcliff "I do not believe that Jayant was dragged out with us, but he made it out somehow nonetheless."

"It seems as if Bella and Sunshine were not so fortunate. As for Bethem." Now he turns his gaze back to Konstantin "I don't know. Consider, though, the hunger and rage of a creature so powerful subjected to the same sickness and weakness we felt. I feel as if we would have seen some sign of him. We can only hope that he perished."

Anatoly lumbers into the ballroom, continually cursing himself under his breath. He quickly scans the room and then strides to his priscus. He bows many times as words tumble out of his mouth.

Priscus O-Yama I offer my sincerest apologies for my tardiness. I promise you I am not usually the type to arrive so late, and I promise further that it will not happen again.

Konstantin notices Arnold's gaze, then nods to Arnold. "I will speak of this with him, then." He claps Arnold on the shoulder. "I can see you have thing to do. Keep me in mind if you need help, though, eh? I still have need of job."

He then goes to speak with Jayant.

Being approached, Taylor finds it appropriate to stand and does so. It was nice to see that the other Carthian of the city wasn't socially shy, that would just be a poor trait for the Covenant as a whole. Taylor offers his/her hand to shake accompanied with that flawless smile, "It's a pleasure to meet you; I'm Taylor McCoy. It's great to see I'm not alone in the cause here in Sacramento. And, as you probably heard, there are more of us present as well." As always, the voice offers no clue as to which gender Taylor is, but still reflects the same friendly nature of Jack's. I believe their names were Stephen and Arnold."

Circe thinks for a moment, then nods. "The information I have will take a bit of time to explain, so perhaps it would be best for me to drop by your bookstore tomorrow night, so we might have time to discuss the matter fully and without being overheard. Perhaps 1 am?"

Stephen waits patiently while noticing the antics of others, he was thankful that at least things were organized and disciplined but the entrenched hierarchy feel for it grated on him. As they were all released, so to speak, he simply stated to his fellows, "Hopefully this will be good and painless." Without another word he was up and headed towards Jack and Taylor with a look out for Arnold. As he approached the two he gestured simply to get their attention, "Glad to see the city is not entirely overrun with Invictus." While his tone is neutral he does offer his hand to both.



Hector paid particular attention to the mentions of the city wide sickness and noted those in positions. As Circe made her announcement and left to speak with Erica he simply shook his head and chuckled low before standing up. He was polite and charming to all those who passed him as kindred began moving about to which he made mental notes of as he made his way to Twist and Argent. While his smile is infectious he exhibits a degree of calm that settles about him like a cloak, he looks over Argent first then Twist making eye contact if able with both. "Hello."

Circe nods politely and respectfully without overdoing it. "I will look forward to it as well." She gets the name and location of Erika's shop, takes leave and sits at the table where she'd told the others of the Circle to assemble.

~You got forgotten again.~

Mel frowned, watching all the others pair off or head off with others. Covenants. Silly things, those. He'd never understood their allure, even if his sire told him that one night he might want to consider one.

"They always do. It's the way of it." Mel tilted his head to the side, watching all the dead filter around the other dead. Kindred. Kindred had so many dead following them about all the time and most of them never saw or knew it.

Silly, silly vampires.

Black laughs at Mariel's nomination. "I accept. Seems like just yesterday I was coming to Sacramento to make a name for myself in the local Church. Now looks like I'm leader of a Covenant barely large enough to qualify as a Coterie and all it took was the painful death of every other Sanctified in the city. The Lord works in some damn mysterious ways, doesn't he? If things get much worse around here I might wind up Prince"

Benton has a good laugh at that one. He always knew his life had a purpose laid out by God, but he could never have imagined the path that led him here now.

"So what brought you to our fair city and to our newly fun-sized covenant here?"

Sean springs out of his chair when he sees Circe coming back from her little talk. He walks over to her "Circe, was it? Like 'Circle?' Like 'Circle of the Crone?'"

He grins "I like it. I'm Sean, in case you didn't catch my name earlier."

He gestures to Lori, who waves. "That's Lori."

Sean looks around "Soo.... Are we it?"

jack shook his or her hand in return. It was still surprising to see a Nosferatu that didn't give people the creeps. He guessed that it must be a bloodline thing. "Yes, We should bring everyone else together while we are still here." He said before turning to Stephen.

"Yeah, the covenant wasn't exactly being represented well before the sickness started killing off most of the Kindred. Most either left for other cities or met final death from so psychopath that was running around. Hell, for the past month there was only me and another that made up the entire covenant"

Konstantin gladly clasps Jayant's hand and wrist, and smiles at his greeting. "Is good to see you, Jayant. Arnold and I were taken out of sewers, we do not know by who... perhaps those others who were with us, the group with the wizard who threw the fire?" He shrugs. "Were you taken out too? And what of Bella and Sunshine... and this devil, Bethem? Do you know what happened?"


********************

Though not impressed by Sean's apparent lack of classical education, Circe is glad to have some others of the Circle present. "Circe as in Homer's Odyssey," she corrects him, though smiling. "But of the Circle, yes."

She gestures for Sean and Lori to both sit. "It is good to meet you both. There is at least one other of us," she says, gesturing to Hector. "Rresumably he will grace us with his presence shortly. There may be others as well. That one, of the Primogen," she says, gesturing to Jayant, "arrived with him, so perhaps he is also one of us. As to others... there are many here that claim no covenant affiliation. Effort should be put into getting to know them, and finding who among them might be fit to serve the Crone."

Looking carefully at Lori and Sean, she says "So, are you both members of the Chorus, or have you achieved Acolyte status and been initiated into the mysteries of Cruac?"

Twist turned to Hector and returned his easy smile, despite the slight rumble of her beast.

*Male daeva-- oh how that will be nice. The last one was Gabriel and it was such a shame to loose him* she thought taking in the two before her.

"Hello Hector. Welcome to the city. Have you already met Argent?" She made a vague motion with her hands, opening up the chance for the two males to interact.

The rules were pretty standard, indeed and Aimée was really close to be bored to death - until the eight rule was announced. This could dramatically complicate the plan to gain some influence, but on the other hand it made the thing so much more enjoyable.

The rest of the Court went over way to slow for her liking, but when it finally was she got up and moved up to the woman the Prince pointed out as the Daeva Priscus and the other guys...Hector and... did the other one actually tell them his name? If so she couldn't remember. He probably wasn't important, anyway; but then, the woman - Twist - sure was. A shadow of envy covered her mind for a moment, but she ignored it - too soon to think about such lofty heights.
"Good evening." she said, her french accent subtle but noticeable.

Stephen shook Arnoud’s hand while replying to Jacks statement, “Well then beyond finding out who’s going to be the face, is there a place that’s set up for a meeting hall, also, any of you looking to work on any particular experiment?” By his tone and manner he’s looking to resolve things quickly rather than not but is by no means pushy.



Hector nods to Argent as well while he replies to Twists question, “I have not, as I’ve been a bit busy tending to others.” Noting Argents look over his shoulder he turns slightly as Aimee joins the band of Daeva and looks to her with a nod and his ever present smile. Turning back to Twist as though to ask a question, nothing comes, rather his eyes simply hold inquiry with all the rest seen within them.

"Too you as well." Twist replied with a greeting smile to Aimée. Dangerous was the first thought that came to Twist's mind when she took in the woman's form- despite everyone standing to announce themselves, it had been difficult to truly look when she stood next to the door and away from the table. But when her beast didn't provoke a response in her own, Twist decided it was her looks- and what looks they were. Thoughts of her last night with Elle flashed through her mind but she couldn't tell if Aimée would play as well with her. She had a feeling not.

But Argent...he looked like he would and enjoy it.

"I have found that some err slightly just to try again," she said with a low laugh. "Should any of you need to reach me, my phone number is ###-####. I also own the Ballo Della Notte Theater. I am known by Myah Torsione there so I would prefer you do not go around asking for Twist. Kalos is also a good name to ask for and he will be able to assist you as best he can."

She turned her gaze to Hector. "Tending to others?"

Aimée raised an eyebrow as Argent pronounced his name - in her oppinion he was trying too hard, but she wouldn't let him know her honest oppinion. "Oh, how interesting, are you French, too?" Oh course he wasn't, but a bit of smalltalk didn't hurt, either.
She gave Hector a quick smile, but rather to return his greet, than out of sincere pleasure to meet him; her smile got a bit warmer as she turned to Twist. She wasn't a suck-up, she just felt that the women in front of her was more competent than the two men, something that spurred her respect as well as her jealousy. Aimée tried to commit the information Twist gave them to memory and nodded.

FreshCK wrote:
"So what brought you to our fair city and to our newly fun-sized covenant here?"

Bishop of San Fran lost contact with the church here. They sent me to investigate, said Mariel, her thoughts swirling.

Or did they just want me out of the way? Was I expendable?

I've been thinking, Father, maybe the one punished here tonight could help us in the church if that's allowed. I stopped by the building a few days ago and it's...a mess, she said, thinking of all the bodies and ash.

He's really the only one I've gotten acquainted with at all since I've arrived (not counting that bitch Circe, she thinks), and his sire WAS Lancea Sanctum. If we could offer Heathcliff some assistance now, maybe he could be brought back into the fold, she continues. Could you speak to the Prince's representative? That is, if you think it's an acceptable idea.

She looked down guiltily. It hadn't taken long for her to feel free to do whatever she wanted, without the nuns' constant restrictions. She would have to be more careful.

Regina had just been about to intrude on the clan meeting when Nidra pulled her aside. Oh well, she got twist's relevant information, she'd have to give her hers soon. "Absolutly Madam Nidra. Though I found that his admission, and the Prince's punishment quite fitting."

"You will find that it comes quite naturally I think. You should however, branch out and meet new people. For example, Mister Warden Ith Lazarus might be someone interesting to meet for you."

Father Black nods at the suggestion. "A fine idea. We certainly need every warm body, so to speak, and we should definitely take responsibility for the Childe of one of the Sanctified."

He ruefully adds to himself, and we're the only Covenant small enough to need to take a masquerade violator and blood slave.

"I'll see if the Prince is amenable to letting us handle Heathcliff. Oh, and Mariel, don't hesitate to offer up your suggestions. It's just the two of us here, remember."

I think I'd be a good recruiter, if you can keep me on in that capacity, Mariel says to Father Black.

If it's ok, I think I'll go mingle... maybe with the other Daeva, she adds.

As most everyone has drifted to some sort of gathering or was in movement Stephen noticed one that wasn't, to the others he holds up a hand as he says, "Hang on just a moment please." Without any preamble he walks over to Mel who sits alone. Making sure Mel saw him he said, "Hi. Mel right? I'm Stephen. I know you said you weren't part of any Covenant, but rather than bore you to tears with nothing to do," he indicates the rest of the court crowd, "would you care to join us for a bit and maybe meet some new and interesting people?" A slight pause so Mel could take in what he'd already said before finishing with, "I simply thought to offer as I've had to spend plenty of time alone and wasn't thrilled with it. No strings attached as I hate them with a passion." It didn't take much to realize his blunt manner was actually honest.

********

Hector only seems to be entertained by Aimee's display of focusing in on Twist. He simply watched the flirtation adding in a low knowing chuckle to the part of deliberate erring. In response to Twists follow up he responds with, "I'd suggest you talk with Jayant about it if you're inclined. I am curious if you plan to have any regular meetings or a specific place for such things, perhaps the Ballo Della Notte theater?" After a moment he takes a single casual glance back towards the table which the other members of the Circle of the Crone are, the smile he wears has turned to a more satisfied one for a brief moment before returning to normal.

It took a moment, those ice-blue eyes as dazed--as dazed as they seemingly were--meandered their way to Stephen. It took another moment for the incoherency to bleed from them, leaving someone behind that was wholly himself--or at least seemed to be.

There was a slow blink, and air was taken in through slightly parted lips before he finally spoke.

"Stephen. Means "Crown." And yes. I'm Mel." Fingers flipped the coin again, and he looked at it for a moment. "Everyone seems to know where they've been and where they belong and what they do. Seems to...."

Another blink and a shake of his head. He seems to bit his own tongue--though not painfully--before he speaks again. "Yes. I will join you. If your friends don't mind me listening."

"I am not aware of any meeting hall. Until the other night, before I met Sean, I had thought the city was entirely deserted of other Kindred." Moving over to Mel with Stephen, Taylor smiles at his acceptance to at least mingle with the Carthians. He/she was a bit taken back by Mel's odd demeanor, but still managed to sound pleasant none the less. "I, for one, don't mind you listening. Perhaps you'll hear something interesting enough to prompt you to join us."



Finally, all of the political hubbub was over and the real business could be taken care of. For the first few minutes after the Prince's speech, Lazarus sat observing those around him and idly tapping his fingers on his briefcase. In complete honesty, he wanted to make the briefcase to appear more important than it was -- the actually useful
information concerning the genocide of kindred was inside his head. Right before the doctor goes to stand he hears himself being addressed.

Looking at the lady standing before him, Lazarus stands and offers his hand to shake. "It is a pleasure on my end as well Madam Sabri Nidra. Is there anything I could help you with this evening?" His voice was dry and raspy, as usual.

Stephen was a little surprised to find Taylor having followed him to Mel but chooses not to say anything. He smiles at the antics of Mel, verbal and otherwise yet not in a condescending way. "Excellent." He motions for Mel to follow as he looks to head back over to the Carthian gathering, provided Mel stays with him he walks over while commenting, "Don't worry, if they don't like you they will deal with it as change is all about being uncomfortable. Please feel free to add any insights as Carthians value perspective, least the smart ones do."

Stephen motions that they should join the others and begins to move.