Jen stepped outside of court, closing her eyes for a moment that the night wasn't full of contrasting Beasts demanding her attention. Outside of Elysium, she drew her Cloak [obfuscate 2] around her like a comfortable blanket. She mused about heading home, wondering if she should wait to see if Nao or Ricardo were finishing up their conversations.

Ricardo stepped out of court soon after. It had been a productive evening and he was feeling pretty good. There had been some hiccups, but no reason not to keep his head held high. He was pleased to see that Jen had waited for him. He gave her a friendly smile and wave. "You think that went alright?" he asked.


Jennifer had taken a seat, happily passing the time by texting college friends. She closed the phone at Ricardo's approach. "We have a task!" She beamed happily, glad to see her coterie mate. "We're helping,. And freeing up the older residents for more important work. I think we did very well for ourselves tonight."


Ricardo came over, but didn't take a seat. "I think we should move a little further away form the party zone before speaking freely." He sounded a little cautious.


"Think others will push in on our task?" Her voice is instantly defensive as she stands, glancing around for any Kindred paying too much attention. Her voice has relaxed, sliding down the scale to her normal, feminine voice. Jennifer is a bit perplexed why it always seemed to act up when she needed to talk. Another reason why her sire was f***ing useless.
She spots a street with inviting shadows and starts walking towards it, signaling for Ricardo to come into the quiet dark.

Ricardo smiles and follows. Not only was Jen's voice back to 'normal' but she gave a good cover story.

"We could head home if we want to speak freely. " Jen suggested quietly, glancing back towards Court. She was vigilant against eavesdroppers.

"Your right, we should go to your haven."

Ricardo stats talking about going to something called a sports bar, and watching a game of American football.

Jenn contributes to Ricardo's faux conversation, commenting about how 'violent' the game was, affecting the feelings of one of her college friends. She had no opinion about sports. She unlocks the door to the lobby and quickly leads the way back up to her haven. She pauses at the door, picking up a potted fern and carrying it inside. "I wanted to show you two this last night." She explains, lifting the fern up. "Theres a key buried in the bottom of the soil. I was thinking one of you might want it."



Ricardo makes a mental note of the hidden key. "We should start planning," he says. His mind goes over old team building exercises and realizes they way he bonded with the guys wouldn't necessarily work here.


"My first court was horrible." Jen grimaced. "My sire introduced me as his mistake. It was great. "My sire was an ass, but I knew his moods. The Herald, I don't understand all the smiling. The happiness. Its... nice."

"My first court was in the bottom of a Catholic church. My sire and I got wiped for our sins."

"I actually like the Herald. We bumped into each other at a library and had a nice conversation."


"A catholic church? We keep religion?" Jen said, surprised. "My sire said we were Damned and God doesn't care for the dead." She tilts her head, musing Ricardo's words. "What did you talk about?"

"What did you think Deacon meant? We have our own Church that practices blood magic and torture humans because they believe it is God's will."

"I'm not... I don't think I could torture any one."


"We are wolves among the sheep." Ricardo quoted from the Testament. At least he thought that was how it went.


"I know that we are predators." Jen admitted. "But... I'd like to think we're more than our sire's product line. I mean, if mine shows up, I'd love it if you pretend I'm living in the bottom of a parking lot somewhere."

"If he shows up, I'll help you jump him. If he was half as bad as my sire he deserves to be ash already." Ricardo pauses for a moment. "I told you mine was Sanctified, right?"

"Yes, you mentioned that last night." Jennifer replied.

"My sire hit me with Blood Whips whenever I sinned. Sinning was being nice to humans, talking to them without feeding and not wanting to participate in his bi monthly sacrifices."

"Your sire sounds like an asshat." Jen replies, using the lingo of her computer friends. Jen frowned over her shoulder at Ricardo. "I used to go hang out with the homeless. I learned how to be stealthy with my hands by slipping them stuff...especially when they'd tell me things. You can learn a lot from crafty humans... like how to still pretend to be human and where to hide."

Do you have any questions for me?"

Riccardo had been wondering about this for a while now. "Why do you always have a scarf on?" he asked. As soon as it came out, he felt bad about it. He was too comfortable with them to filter himself that much.

"Um.." Jen immediately checked her scarf, that it was knotted securely and that the vintage pin held the cloth together. "It goes back to my Sire being an ass." Her hands linger on the scarf as she decides what to do. Slowly, her fingers grasp the pin and unfastens it, setting it on her knee. Her hands begin to loosen the knot as she speaks. "When he was deciding if he wanted me, he stalked me. Read my text books, hacked my computer. One night he waited in my apartment until I got home and Embraced me. His deformity was in his mouth.. it marred me." She pulls the scarf free, clutching it in her clenched fists as her neck was laid bare and Ricardo could see her deformity. At first, all you can determine is the gap in the flesh, about the size of a fist. The interior was closed, but a chunk of her neck was missing. The outer edges looked as though a shark had bitten her.

Ricardo looked at Jen's neck in horror. What kind of a mouth would do something like that. He paused for a moment. "All the physical scars my sire gave me healed." He stressed physical. At this point he was ready to tell them the truth.

"Yeah, see, another Nosferatu told me that like three months after I was Embraced." Jen states, irritation coloring her voice. "My sire said he 'didn't see the point' of me healing, since I was his any way. Why shouldn't every one see it?" She lapses into silence, wondering if she *could* heal.

Ricardo gave her a sad and understanding look. "My sire did give me something almost as bad. We all have Beasts. Imagine for a moment if yours was self aware. It could adapt to the tricks and methods you used to restrain it. I don't have to imagine. That's my life." He said life in the most sarcastic way possible.

"It... adapts when you cage it?" Jen stated in surprise and horror. "So its..." She trails off, imagining if that happened to her. The young vampire had been more distracted than usual with so many Beasts of various ages at court. Jen had thought her beast was wily when she caged it, but it had not been self aware.

At that moment, Ricardo was almost sorry he told her. "It doesn't just adapt to me. It also throws its weight around whenever someone tries to cage me. When they try to bend my will or make me love them, it roars for me to kill them and makes it harder for them to control me."

Jen leans against the door, quietly thinking this over for a few minutes. "Thats.. very hard to comprehend. Is that why you didn't want to risk fighting with the Deputy?"

"I was afraid that if I fought him, I would enter a rage and he would have to take drastic measures." The way he said that implied great bodily harm. [COLOR="#800000]""It is my curse to bear, like you neck is yours."[/COLOR] In a very sarcastic tone he finishes quoting "Rejoice for you are damned."

"That sounds Sanctified." Jen guessed. "I apologize for being so enthusiastic about the contesting abilities when we were talking with the Herald. I wanted to see if the others could see me when I was hiding. I can't fight very well, so hiding is where I excel."

"Very good," Ricardo replied. "It is part of their teachings. Although I don't think any of us really feel like rejoicing at this point. Do you have any questions for me?" He asks.

Jen glances to Ricardo. "I'm content right now. I'd like to talk more when Nao feels like joining us. "

Even if Nao wasn't going to join them, they could still talk. "So, what do you think we should do next?" He asked about their new task. "We need to find a way to empress the Herald."

"The Herald is so perplexing to me." She admits freely, sitting comfortably outside the bed room where Nao had sequestered herself. "So genuinely happy. Yet what she suggested was exactly what I was hoping for. We need to see what skills she wants to see and hone them. Maybe practice."

Ricardo thought for a minute. "The Herald is happy, because she able to do as she wills when not running the domain. As long as things go smoothly she has a lot of leeway. We just have to keep things going smoothly." Ricardo didn't free like antagonizing Nao any more than they already had, so he left it at that.

"The Herald wants to join us." She mused quietly. "I admit, that makes me a bit nervous. Impressing a Reeve is one thing, but the Herald is so... is classy the word I'm looking for?" She tilted her head, considering. "I haven't had much experience with Kindred like her."

"She is indeed classy. However, that might make the bar for what we have to do as enforcers lower. A Reeve compares us to his deputies and others he has served with. Someone without that experience might be easier to impress."

"Easier to impress with our lack of martial prowess, but she'll have her own criteria. Perhaps our communications skills? Our ability to adapt for different situations? All I've got so far is to show up in sensible shoes." A pause. "Another thing that interests me is the chance to work with the Deputy and Reeve. I hadn't thought we'd be deemed competent enough to meet with them yet. " She frowns. " I don't know anything about these men. We should probably try and find out about them, what qualities they are impressed by."

"I spoke with the Deputy, albeit briefly. From what I can tell, he is one of those Kindred that takes both etiquette and martial prowess into account." Ricardo thought back to how the Deputy had corrected him in court. He was defiantly one who liked when things were said and done in the correct way.

He continues "But I have never met the Reeve."

"Crap." Jen muttered. "I can learn etiquette, but I don't have much martial prowess. I gather information... and hide." She tilts her head. "But I had an idea for gathering information on patrols. We could make hides in areas of high traffic and place devices to monitor the traffic. When I'm there, I could set up a web cam that could connect to the Reeve or interested parties. When I'm not there, we could set up cameras or recorders."

"I thought you said you could scare away mortals. That has to be worth something." Ricardo rhetorically prodded her. Things would go better if she was feeling better about herself. "So, you want us to set up cameras everywhere? That seems a little costly." By costly he meant impractical, but didn't want to comment negatively on her specialty.

"Yeah, its worth something if some Mortal tries something. I'm not sure what I could have done if that blue haired bitch attacked us." Jen stood up from the floor in a fluid motion, moving to the kitchen table that served as her work space. She opened her laptop and turned it on. "It would be expensive if we get a lot of them. You were kind enough to show me the communal areas. But if we identify entrance points are from the communal area to other areas of the city and mark the traffic of whose going where. We'll have to be vigilant in going over the information afterwards to determine which are Kindred. It could be a way to identify people feeding illegally and maybe prevent breaches."

"We'd need permission, of course. If we don't get permission to record, we could watch from high hides and determine whose going where. Other parties might be interested in that."

"One of the issues with out kind is that we can't tell strength by looking." He spared a thought for Jillian. "She could have been strong, or she could have been very weak. We never know." He went back to thinking about the cameras. "What good would it do if there were just smudges moving in or out?" He didn't really like the idea of having cameras everywhere. He did like how devious her planning was, though. "So, if not the Herald and the Reeve, who are you going to be recording for?"

"True." Jen agreed. "But if she messed with you, we would have gotten involved. She probably couldn't handle all three of us."
Her fingers began tapping out a crescendo on the keyboard as soon as the browser loaded, searching out a map that she saved. She then brought up photoshop and began highlighting the communal area.

"We can count the smudges and decide when a high traffic time is or if any one is moving on a fixed schedule. I've noticed ancillae lapse into that problem. Once we identify key times, we can personally be there to identify citizens. Or poachers."
She was personally hoping to find some low poacher to turn over and make the coterie look efficient.
"Oh... personal interest?" She glanced at Ricardo. "We're passionate corpses. Someone always wants to know what somebody else is up to. They could pay for information and hopefully not in cash tender."

That caused a small smile to come to Ricardo's dead face. "If you could figure something like that out, I would be impressed. Who knows, maybe the elders wold be as well." He also liked the description of their kind. "You haven't seen La Calavera Catrina have you? They are sculptures or drawings of skeletons that act like normal people." Then in a more hushed tone, "Just like we do."

"It would require set up. We have to check out the area, decide if we should be in cardboard boxes muttering to invisible cats or self absorbed college students 'typing essays'. Cameras aren't necessary, but it would free us up. We can't be in high hides every hour of the night."
She tilted her head, considering Ricardo's question. "No, I never was into art when I was alive. They do sound fascinating, however." The young Nosferatu nods. "I have to say, we're doing okay so far."

"Did you see how the masked lady's question was received at Court?" She glanced to Ricardo. "I don't think all of that annoyance was for bothering the Prince. Keeping an eye on the Carthians movements could be something to keep us busy."

She spared a thought to Mr. Price, who had seemed pleasant. She conceded that she had no personal malice towards the Carthians. Their movements were of their own choice and free to be shared if they happened in front of her.

Her plan was indeed impressive. He chuckled a little at her play on words about the Carthians. "The Masked Rambler' certainly made an effort to embarrass herself. She should have quite while she was just a little behind." After another moment of consideration, Ricardo continues, "I'll go along with your plan, but we need to get someone's approval first. That could be the Herald, the Reeve, the Deputy or a Regent; but we need someone up top to say it's okay."

"I could try and get ahold of the Herald before our meet tomorrow." Jen suggested. "That way we know how to prepare."

"That's a really great idea," Ricardo responded. He also wondered, how much can we do in one night? "I would take any advice she gave to heart."

"As would I." The brunette admitted. "The Herald definitely seemed to think sparring wasn't necessary, thankfully." Jen paused. "But we should have some summary of our talents if we are asked, shouldn't we?" Perhaps her inexperience showed here, but she had never been a part of an official patrol before.

"I'm pretty good at pounding people, and not bad at convincing them either. Plus, a Succubus or Lord would have a hard time getting me to do what they wanted." That wasn't completely true. There was a certain Succubus and a couple of Lords who would just have to ask. However, those Lords were in positions of power.

"I'm not good at pounding people." She replied ruefully. "Its good that you are convincing; that could be all we need."

"If it's just us, you can be bad cop and I can be good cop." He said in an almost joking way.

She grinned. "We could totally pull that off." She her thoughts drifted back to Nao. "But it'd be nice if we were together."
"Uh.. about me... I mostly did computing and spying for my Sire. As I said, I'm good at melting into the shadows. I also like to practice slight of hand when I slip thank yous to the homeless for the sustenance I occasionally take from their veins. I'm not great at it, but I sometimes use the Blood to hide my acts from mortals. "

"I wholeheartedly agree," the Mexican said also thinking about their other coterie mate. He then moved on to talking about her powers. "That could be quite convenient for patrol." He mused. "What should we do about our ... shortcomings? Could you make excuses for me if I had to move away not to kill something?"

"I sure can," She says agreeably. "I do my best convincing online in blogs, but I can make up something suitable." She pauses. "We need something suitable. If you don't mind, we can do what the Herald seemed to assume- you're our Elder, Nao and I. You could be training us not to rely on you so much."
And if I suck, well, I expect that." She looks to Nao's door. "I'm really curious about Nao. Something about her just seems..like she's hiding what she can do because she's shy."

"I'm hurt," Ricardo joked, "I'm not even a hundred yet." He was close, less than another decade and he would be. However, he had been alive for more than half of that time. He hoped that Nao would be able to function on patrol. "Maybe she could use blood magic to see who we need to jump on patrol or something."

Jen flashed a grin. "I'm a freaking baby compared to you, Ricardo." She jabbed, joking. "Maybe." She conceded, about Nao's use of blood magic. "I'm not sure if she's comfortable doing that in front of us. Something... something tells me we shouldn't tell others about it. She seems very protective of it." She cocks her head."And she's Mekhet. I've always been a little envious of how intuitive Mekhet are."

Ricardo knew that it was rude to ask a lady her age. She had said that she stayed with her sire about a decade. That would probably make her around 30. He'd let it go, just to be polite. Her blood would thicken eventually. "I grew up a little fast for our kind," he said referring to how potent his blood had become. Moving back to Nao, he plotted, "I wasn't saying in front of us. I was saying that she could do it on her own before we left so that she could have a heads up." He scoffed a little at her Mekhet envy, but didn't say anything.

"Yeah, that'd be neat." She replied about Nao. "I wonder what she can accomplish with that blood magic."

"Blood magic is evil." Ricardo rants. "Those who had it used it to abuse Kindred and Kine alike. They lorded their knowledge or rituals over others and wouldn't teach them anything until their pupils had either abased themselves or committed horrible acts."