I'm good to move on.
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The name doesn't ring a bell for Victoria.
This is going out to all the games I’m part of, whether as a player or as a GM. I won’t be able to participate for some time. My mother is on palliative care for cancer and her condition has rapidly deteriorated over the last three days. I feel that I owe you an explanation for my absence from posting. If you need to find a replacement player or GM, I understand. But for the time being I’m not ready to make any posts.
"...Ms. O'Sullivan has the right of it." Victoria nods in agreement. "If you were to punish every illegal Embrace in New York, I suspect you'd have to put half of the Camarilla's Kindred to the stake as of late. Such measures would be remarkably impractical at best, given our current circumstances." She folds her arms. "We've still yet to fully consolidate our hold over New York--and to do so, every Camarilla Kindred will need to step up and do their part. We didn't win this city away from the Sabbat to have it break underneath the weight of civil disorder." "No, better to make use of a new childe's talents when they're made available to you... even if the circumstances of their arrival are less than ideal." She nods at Paris. "With all due respect, Prince Calebros."
Victoria takes stock of the situation before deciding on an approach.
Victoria finds herself smoothing out her blazer and checking her stockings for imaginary wrinkles while the Spacers wait.
Victoria's unease becomes more and more apparent the longer the Spacers are in Elysium. Even after several decades of unlife, she never truly felt more comfortable among them than among mortals--mortals usually saw her as either the butt of a joke (and there were quite a few times she deliberately cultivated that joke herself) or as someone they needed. A mortal was certain to see her as a person; a Kindred, especially the Prince? Not so much. "Only time I met Calebros was after the whole Battle for New York..." She responds, very unpleasant memories of the whole affair already beginning to worm their way into her psyche.
"I thought there was only one?" "Cling to that thought. It's the saner option." Victoria sighs, very unfortunate memories worming their way to the surface.
"No. It's that there should've been only one." Victoria responds with a wince.
"Highlander? Seriously?" Victoria whispers.
Victoria keeps her head straight and greets various folk with nods. Curiously, she doesn't see Aisling among the crowd.
Sept. 6th, 2022 - Elysium (Madison Square Garden) Victoria blinks in surprise. "Oh, Jericho?" She tilts her head at the man. "I didn't recognize you at first."
Sept. 6th, 2022 - Elysium (Madison Square Garden) Victoria steps out of her car, this time dressed in a jet-black blazer, skirt, stockings and heels with a white blouse beneath. It looks like she's preparing to go to court instead of Elysium, but it's a suitably impressive ensemble regardless. She strides up to Shane. "Evening, Shane." She nods before glancing at the man dressed in an old-fashioned suit and tie.
Victoria's eyes light up as Paris arrives. "Paris! You had me worried for a while there--I thought you weren't going to show!" She smiles and waves her over.
I'd be happy to have you around.
Priam's words cause Victoria to look down at her couch in thought.
"Eh..." Victoria shrugs, looking quite comfortable now. "...legal work and Chantry work's been taking up pretty much all of my time. It felt good to unwind like that."
When Roos makes it back to the Blood Room, she isn't alone--Victoria's on one of the couches as well, straddling some young man, her lips fastened tightly to his neck. The man looks utterly dazed and blissed out as Victoria licks his neck and rises from him. She then sends him on his way with a playful swat on his bottom before turning to Roos. "...you've certainly got a way with people."
Victoria glances over as Priam starts tearing the dance floor a new one with perfectly executed moves. Compared to her aimless, nigh-mindless thrashing about, it was as different as a shark is to a whale. The lawyer takes some small comfort in understanding that so long as everyone is having a good time, no one minds too much if you can't dance. She notices Jericho's 'ride' lingering by the stairs and takes it as a cue to take a break... but not before looking one of her dance companions in the eye (a well-dressed, sweat-drenched young man with deep brown hair), grabbing him by the collar and leading him off the dance floor.
The rhythmic pulsing of the dance floor thrums beneath Victoria's feet as Roos leads her out. *thump* *thump* *thump-thump-thump* She had only been out clubbing a few times in her entire existence--while she could appreciate the social atmosphere of someplace like a bar, there was something else about going to a proper nightclub like Null Space... ...something else that normally made her wince and shy away in discomfort. Maybe it's all the music? Not really--as much as I tease Roos about the music here, it's not quite that... Then, as the two of them join the madness of the dance, more and more kine--PEOPLE, DAMMIT!--cluster around them. All of them attractive, young, vibrant men. All of them eying Roos and her like they're the only two things that mattered in life. ...I think I've made a mistake. In the midst of the vortex of thrashing limbs and bodies, Victoria forces the vitae flowing through her body to rise to the surface, bringing a flush of heat to her skin and breath to her lungs. As her blood flares to life, her inhibitions begin to melt away under the beat and the heat.
F&%& it, if I'm going to make a fool of myself, then by God I'm going to be the biggest fool on this dance floor. In defiance of her normal introversion and the Beast alike, Victoria throws herself into the rhythm.
Victoria gets up from her seat and moves to join Roos. "Eh, why not--it's more fun to dance in company, isn't it?"
"Sounds like a good place to start." Victoria nods. "Madison Square Garden's always a nice place." "That being said, who would we even try wrangling favours from?"
"And the music's great, too." Victoria loudly clears her throat in response. She makes a little smile to convey that she's joking. "Using some of that hoodoo magic?" "Sure." The lawyer wrinkles her nose. "I'd love to be able to get specifics, but Aisling hasn't found time in her schedule to teach me the more in-depth divinations."
Victoria tilts her head as Roos comes back with a mortal in tow--one possessed by Jericho, in fact. "I get the feeling we're due for an Elysium meeting before too long, anyway..."
"Sorry, but I don't even know what that means. Another weird American political thing, I assume." Victoria blinks. "Ah. Long story short, it means they're idiots who don't understand how law works. Their arguments never hold up in court--" When Roos looks down into the crowd, Victoria tilts her head. "Who's it now?"
TBF, Victoria knows Law, but her player most assuredly does not. And yes, I'm pretty sure you can get away with making stuff like that up.
"It's kind of you to offer, but not necessary." Victoria waves the mic away. "But to be honest, I don't even keep track of the names of the songs I do like. If I hear something cool, I'll have the DJ shoot it to me. But there's soooo many songs done by soooo many of these guys; it's just not worth the brain cells to remember their names," "...which makes it more enjoyable when you do find one that stands out." The lawyer nods in agreement. "I gave Shane a playlist of some stuff I thought he'd like, and you know what, I think that big hunk actually listened to it." "You do have a way of picking out someone's tastes, I'll give you that." "But what's been going on with you? Any interesting cases or another client in need of saving from the System?" Victoria winces. "Oh, dear God, you have got to hear this one..." She walks over to one of the leather couches and sits down, her expression turning from one of amusement to annoyed recollection. "Couple of weeks ago, I was hired as defence for a drug possession charge. The defendant had a bag of cocaine in his car's glove compartment and he swore up and down that he's never done cocaine before in his life. So, I figure, no big deal, just take it on as another case." "But then, he starts going on about how, by common law, the United States government has--and I quote--" She promptly adopts a hick accent. "--'no jurisdiction over my property or person.'" Her hand slides up to her face. "Yeah. A 'sovereign citizen'."
Victoria looks around the Blood Room as Roos leads her inside, a bemused smirk appearing on her face as she takes in the decor. "...I feel like I'm walking into the starship Enterprise." She chuckles before taking the offered tablet and beginning the registration process. Once the two of them are at the window, Victoria looks down at the gyrating throng, quietly grateful that the music is no longer pounding in her ears. "I have to ask--what's your DJ playing at the moment?"
Victoria returns Roos' air kisses with two of her own. ”Nicely cut, niiice shoes. Always with the dark colors, though," She shrugs in response. "What can I say--I like contrasts that also compliment each other." Victoria's eyes take in Roos' gold mini-dress. "Have you heard from Paris? I hope she can make it. I think she’d really like this DJ,” "I'm afraid I haven't, yet. I called her, but all I got was her voicemail." She sighs before following Roos deeper into Null Space. As they pass by the main dance floor and the music dips into a lull, Victoria's senses flare to stolen life. She can feel the rhythmic pulsing of a man-made beat around her cold heart, threatening to stir it to life once again; the mixing smells of cologne, perfume, body spray, cigarettes and alcohol; the flashing, ever colourful lights; and over it all, the throbbing flow of untapped blood. She notices Roos putting a finger to her earpiece and considers listening in for a moment--but the unspoken threat of the 'music' reaching an ear-rending crescendo puts such thoughts to rest. She nods in acknowledgement as Roos leads her into a quieter section of Null Space--the VIP areas.
Made a little opening post for Roos.
A small, deep blue four-door pulls over to the side of the curb in front of New York's hottest new nightclub, the pulsing beat of some techno-focused music audible and tangible even this far from its doors. The driver flinches for a moment as the beat reaches her ears and swells. With but an effort of will, the noises dull to a more tolerable volume. "...sometimes, it's not worth using Auspex." Victoria sighs before looking in her car's mirror. She wasn't normally fond of make-up, but tonight was a little different--she had gone with just enough to accentuate the curves of her eyes and cheeks, along with a light sheen of black gloss upon her lips. They complimented her deep blue open-back dress and heels nicely. She gives her hair one more once-over. She nodded. Ponytail's still holding together. Not a hair out of place. Good. Right. No sense keeping her waiting. Victoria steps out of her car, taking her dark grey shoulder purse from the backseat. With a good push from her hand, the car door is slammed shut and moments later locked with a push of a button. As her keys disappear into her purse, she approaches the nightclub's doors...
I'd be down for it.
I can do sketch RP as well. Incidentally, GM, should I roll for my starting blood pool now?
Updated the Relationship Map. Tidied it up a bit and added potential relationship arrows between Victoria, Paris & Shane.
Relationship Map area has been expanded. Should provide everyone with more room to add connections.
I've put your connections up on the Map.
Added goals to Victoria's profile.
Incidentally, am I the only one whose character has an Appearance higher than 3?
Regarding my GM-granted dot of Contacts: --This contact represents one Maya Washington, a government worker in charge of overseeing the creation and updating of passports, birth certificates and other forms of personal identification. With a phone call (and maybe a favour or two), Mrs. Washington can pull up the records on someone Victoria needs information on. Victoria originally met Mrs. Washington through her husband Kevin, whom she represented in a wrongful termination lawsuit after he returned from deployment in Iraq.
Relationship Map has been updated with avatar images. I've set permissions for the Map so that anyone may edit it.
Alright--I've put the beginnings of a Relationship Map up. I've included a link to it in my profile header. Hopefully, there's enough space for everyone to include their Allies/Contacts/Mentors/Retainers.
Alrighty--I'll see about setting up a Relationship Map.
Would anyone object to me putting together a Relationship Map for our coterie?
Victoria was embraced in the 80s and has been in the city for a long time. She was in the city for the battle for New York. On the one hand, Clan Tremere is kind of insular, but Aisling specifically is the kind of Tremere who reaches out to other clans (she's a possible Prince candidate for a reason) and the clan did a lot of thaumaturgical support for the battle- was she involved in the fight against the Sabbat? If so, how much and/or how? I'd say Victoria participated in the Battle for New York, but not to the same degree as her sire; I'd say that at the time she knew just enough Thaumaturgy to deplete the vitae reserves of any shovelheads Aisling directed her towards, so she was mainly serving in a support role (provoking hunger frenzies among enemy troops to compel them to diablerize each other). Considering her Soft-Heartedness, it was... a profoundly unpleasant experience for her. But it did give her some genuine insight into the psychological toll war takes on someone.
Neat! -I'm also thinking about a dot of Contacts or Influence just because she's been in the city for 40 years- she probably knows a lot of people, especially lawyers, judges, and other wealthy, influential types like that. I think Victoria would be well-known enough by now to be entrenched in New York's legal landscape (if that's the most appropriate term). Either option works for me.
Any news on when we're planning to start, GM?
Well, once I get Thaumaturgy 4, I won't need a gun. :)
If she knows anything about real estate laws, Shane might have gone to her. Victoria's had quite a lot of time to become familiar with all sorts of legal fields thanks to her Embrace, so she'd be a jack-of-all-trades in that regard--real estate, tax law, contract law, criminal cases, etc.
I imagine Victoria would be a regular attendee at Elysium, if only so she can put out feelers for any Kindred in need of legal representation. Null Space sounds like a good enough place for her to feed; the music isn't always to her tastes (she's a child of Sixties & Seventies classic rock), but she's discovering there's a couple of modern bands she doesn't entirely hate.
Is there an equivalent of gaydar* for vampires? Well, there's Auspex...
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