Sanctified Meeting

[Dean]

Anton had spent the evening preparing Moore House a small, two-story building planted next to a graveyard. While sturdy, the place was in clear state of disrepair, with cracked masonry and paint missing. Rows of headstones line the walk to the entrance, the grounds immaculately maintained. Anton had walked the grounds of Moore House and picked through its tattered innards, in search of anything which might aid the covenant.

He'd prepared a table for whatever remained of the Lancea et Sanctum and waited for the congregation, dressed in a sombre suit in a slate-grey colour.

[Matt]

The taxi pulled up outside the Moore house. Katrina quickly paid the cab driver and got out, she waited for a few moments for the Taxi to drive off before heading into the Church.

Dress

The large front door closed with the usual thud. The sound of her heels clacking could be heard echoing off the walls as she walked into the middle of the lobby. "Hello?" She called out.

[Dean]

Anton Flores emerged from a dim corridor. The Haunt felt aggression well up from inside him, but quashed it with a measure of concentration, rationalising the presence of another. When he saw Katrina's attire he wondered what she'd been expecting.

"Buenos noches," he greeted, his tone level. "I don't believe we've met each other. Anton Flores. I was Staley's Deacon."

[Katrina Scherbotsky]

Katrina smiled "I have seen you at court. I would have introduced myself sooner if I had known you were sanctified. I am Katrina Mikhailovna Scherbotsky. It is a pleasure to meet you."

[Dean]

Anton nodded, his manner restrained.

"I can echo that sentiment. I've felt the weight of our Purpose shouldered alone. A true test."

Anton gestured towards the unlit corridor he'd appeared from.

"I'd anticipated another, but we have plenty to discuss. I'm inclined to proceed. Should Brother Grigoriev arrive, we can bring him up to speed, yes?"

[Matt]

"Yes. Plenty to discuss." she said as she started to head down the corridor and into the set up meeting room.

Katrina took a seat and smiled at Anton. At least there were more sanctified than she was led to believe. She continued to smile, waiting for Anton to start.

[Dean]

Anton takes a seat. The ciphered tapestry of his skin is visible on the backs of his hands when he lays them flat onto the table.

"Staley was a cousin to me, Sister Scherbotsky, and his absence is felt. But to to ignore our shortcomings, Staley's, our own... well, that'd be us welching on our mandate."

The Haunt's voice wavers between blunt proclamations and hushed suggestions.

"The lack of services. How the Sanctified came to be kept apart, I don't presume to know; his method of control, perhaps, or something more benevolent, a means towards making our paths more personal?"

Anton's tone becomes more forgiving.

"I have no care for the motive, only the outcome. It's an outcome I believe to have been an intolerable burden on our role in these wicked nights, so resilient to our works."

The Haunt places a marked hand onto a little leather book, speaking softly.

"We're few in Sacramento - a trickle - but I feel I need to bring the Sanctified together. Our former Bishop provided this place to us, and I intend to use it for regular services: a place to inspire and fortify us in our mandate, where us who walk as Grandeur can talk openly on our inherited Purpose and all it entails. Tell me, Sister, what is it you want out of Damnation?"

[Katrina Scherbotsky]

Katrina smiles, her voice remaining polite. "It is not what I want out of Damnation. It is what god wants from my damnation. He has given me, us, a mandate and I will continue to obey that mandate to the best of my abilitys. God has led me to this city and I trust that it is all part of his divine plan. It is simply a matter of waiting for opportunity to knock."

She pauses and thinks for a few seconds.

"Tell me Brother, in Bishop Staleys absence have you appointed yourself Bishop, acting as a Bishop by proxy or are you acting in a capacity as Deacon?"

[Dean]

"I speak in my capacity as Deacon, though I intend to become Bishop to this city" Anton answers, blunt.

"Our part of His plan is distant and buried... there are so many ways desire can interfere in our role. We can become trapped by selfish, greedy desires. If you are truly free from want unrelated to the Purpose, I commend and envy you. But we can drown out everything about ourselves in big, pretty noise about how what devoted wolves we are - and therein lies spiritual decay. So I'm a believer in discovering what it is the Damned want and how the Purpose can meet those wants."

[Katrina Scherbotsky]

Katrina continues smiling. "Well I hope that you some day get given the chance to rise to Bishop." Katrina said as if it was in the distant future.

"I do not mean to Railroad your meeting, but what are we going to do about this Bishop problem. We have no Bishop and no one among us that can take the position."