(Familiar Stranger) Y'all Come Back Now, Y'Hear?

**West** · Dec 21st, 2011 07:23 AM

Previously...

After agreeing to meet at Neil Coben's Haven, Ariana Donovan, Conner Greyson, Dillon Connery, and Sidor Grigoriev became seperated when it became obvious things were amiss.

Conner Greyson trapped himself inside to provide a distraction for the others to leave, and continues in Conner Shrodinger's Box.

Ariana Donovan and Sidor Grigoriev have joined the crowd of spectators after an explosion in the building put the police on high alert.

Dillon Connery has just ashed their quarry and seeks to rejoin them...

Please Continue.
Any powers activated at the beginning of Home will require re-activating. This is a linked Scene, so Vitae does not refresh.

Dec 22nd, 2011 04:41 AM

Sidor waited, hanging back from the crowd in the shadows. He wasn't going to make it obvious that he was there, or give people too much of an opportunity to scrutinise his face. Even with the fedora, and keeping out of the streetlights, he was aware it wasn't 100% foolproof. No, right now, he wanted to reconnect with the other two members of his group, regroup, and withdraw until they could establish a plan.

The distant, disconnected anger whispered at the back of his mind. Delays. Weakness.

Such things were the Domain of the Beast, raging for dominance and its own way, as much as they were also a part of the Man Within, who craved control of all things. The Beast howled to him, feral and cunning, but mindless. It was a thing of red need, and sickle-like maws that could never be fed. Sidor despised its very presence in his psyche, the punishment of it that blotted against his diamond-hard self-control.

More dangerous was the silken, seductive whisper of the Man Within, who purred that it would be easy to take out that anger. Why not break the mind of an unrelated mortal, why not? Why not take it out on Ariana Donovan, for being assigned for him to protect? Why not take it out on Dillon Connery for his imperfect information, for getting seperated, for not being able to control the situation with the police? Why not take it out on Conner Greyson for assigning this to him? If he could not reach the one who had thwarted their designs here, he could reach them.

Behind the shadows, Sidor's will held back the two opposite and worthless needs, nothing more than an echo of the punishment he rightfully deserved. After all, what better Hell could the Lord have devised for Sidor than being forced to exist, forever, with himself? Not the creature he was now, the one that hung between the two, but the reflection of a man who had had no single good impulse in his heart.

And that Man Within never faded, even as Sidor's own personality had slowly begun to chip away, forcing him to reiterate to himself, as a mantra, the same words.

I am Sidor Rurikovitch Grigoriev. My will is not undone.

"Hopefully Mr. Connery will be here soon," he said quietly to Ariana, his voice flawlessly calm. The shadows kept his face blank, and his stillness hadn't changed. The Nosferatu Bishop's personality was much like a frozen lake. Ice, as strong as iron, held it forever still.

But beneath it, the piranhas waited for the spring thaw.

Dec 22nd, 2011 07:51 PM

Standing with Sidor, Ariana waited. After the incident with Kaiden, she had no patience for the family members who were not loyal or acting with discord. If it were not for Asa, Ricardo or even Chase, her opinion of her family would have remained the same as it was in New York. Why were some of her family less obtuse than the others? It surely could not be older blood versus anew. It was the choices which we made in our Requiem to act as such… unless under some other influence.

What curdled the blood of those two men? Who was to say that it would not happen again? She was slightly angered, mainly at herself, for not taking care of this with Conner before. Yet, she wondered how Coben ended up where Dillon ran off to so quickly after they had been in the building. Her own clansmen acting in this manner was beyond irritating.

Ariana had watched the mortals in front of them. Her eyes looking for anything different than the normal gawking at a disturbance.

Nodding to Sidor’s comment she replied in the same quiet tone. “As well as Mr. Greyson.”

As well as Neil Coben... I myself would love to drive a stake in him right now.

**Dillon Connery** · Dec 23rd, 2011 06:55 AM

Dillon makes his way around, trying to find his way back to the Deputy and Harpy, but staying well clear of the rubberneckers. More specifically, staying well clear of the police officers holding them back. At least two of them, there, had seen his face, and he hadn't seen theirs.

Once he's reasonably sure that he is out of the disaster's line of sight, Dillon tests the headset to see if the call was still transmitting. If not, he could always use his real phone and just text the parties involved. "I see you, sir." Then, figuring that just because he couldn't see Conner didn't mean he wasn't there, adds. "Is the boss still with you two?" With what had went down this evening, he didn't even want to risk using names over a cell-signal.

He shifts the bundle of all that is left of Neil Coben under his arm absently.

Dec 24th, 2011 04:17 AM

Sidor's expression didn't waiver as he heard Dillon's voice in his headset, and his shrouded gaze moved over the area. He didn't turn his head. He stayed perfectly still, as tranquil and calm as a glacier.

"No, he is taking care of something else. You have an explanation to give, I believe?" the Nosferatu said, in a perfectly flat tone of voice. "You might as well come over here and sit down."

Somehow, Sidor managed to make sitting down sound omnious, as if the car possessed some kind of deadly seat cushion that would consume Dillon's legs the moment he relaxed.

Dec 24th, 2011 09:27 AM

After they were all in the Sedan, Ariana turned from the front passenger seat to the back to speak to the two after they had closed the doors to the vehicle. Even though the car was far enough away, the Lordess’ voice was still cautious and quiet.

“Mr. Connery, it appears that you are unharmed. However, Mr. Grigoriev mentioned you had found Mr. Coben. Did he get away from you? Did something else happen? Given the fact that there was an explosion from the apartment, did you see anything else out of the ordinary?” Her voice hushed as she spoke to the gentlemen in the back seat.

**Dillon Connery** · Dec 24th, 2011 01:07 PM

Dillon settles into the vehicle, frowning slightly at Sidor's dour tone. But he was yet unaware of the trouble the others had run into, so he lets it pass. They were all plainly having a less-than-stellar night. Though, some more than others...

The bundled shoes, pants, cuffs, jewelry, etc, all wrapped into a the blazer and tied together with the sleeves is slipped into the seat between them. Dillon stifles an absurd urge to put the middle seat belt around it. Damn his screwy sense of humor.

"Mister Coben was determined to be unhelpful," the Gangrel begins, taking the headset from his ear and discontinuing the call. "He grabbed me in a hedge down the way as I was circling back around to you. He was... a massacre. Scalped, broken, inches from Final Death and demanding to be ashed."

Dillon's voice is cold, and slightly distempered. "I had to oblige him. He was a breach waiting to happen, and as eager to end it as he was, wanting to happen."

Of course, Dillon had more to tell, but paused to get the reactions out of the way. They could stake him for making such a brutal call later on, and he'd see everyone in hell. But first, he intends to finish his report.

Dec 28th, 2011 05:55 AM

Sidor felt the Beast scream for Dillon's blood. Sudden, raw and crimson, the Nosferatu Priscus was driven to close his eyes fractionally behind the shadows as he crested the wave. His fangs had extended on their own. Sometimes, his features being utterly invisible were as much a blessing as it was a curse.

In his other ear, he felt the soft, insistant whisper of the Man Within. The boy must die. He had single-handedly rended the purpose of the mission pointless. For a moment, every fibre of Sidor's inner psyche wanted to see exactly what Dillon's pretty, boyish face would look like if it was peeled off and inverted.

It was rare that the Beast and the Man Within agreed on anything. The force of this urge almost rendered him blind. Alone in the dark, between the two agreeing and opposite urges, Sidor resolved himself and crushed them both. He was their master, and not the other way around. The echoes of himself were nothing but the memories of a dead man, and the Beast was nothing but a mad monster, determined to remind him that he was being punished for his sins in life.

"Ah, I see. No doubt you possess a rare talent that will allow you to interrogate a heap of ashes. Or perhaps his... rather expensive looking suit?" Sidor said blandly. He kept his voice quiet. "Since of course, you did not forget that our entire purpose here was to interrogate Coben. I, unfortunately, lack such a talent, so I will be most curious to watch you at work. It will be interesting."

Dec 29th, 2011 02:04 AM

Sidor's questions were entirely accurate. Apparently this particular Deputy does not know how to follow orders. Ariana was shocked, considering it appeared that Dillon obeyed the Laws of the Domain. But appearances were deceiving at times. Which she knew all too well.

Still keeping her voice down and in a normal tone. “Have you realized you broke a Law?” By her inflection, she certainly did not mean the laws of a mortal society. “Of course the state that Mr. Coben was in was entirely unsavory, but we could have put him in the trunk and alerted those that needed to be.”

Ariana’s eyebrow lifted slightly asking more questions. “Do you know how he got to that state?” Or did you do it yourself first? Conner will be severely aggravated.

**Dillon Connery** · Dec 29th, 2011 04:48 AM

Dillon doesn't roll his eyes at the Bishop's sarcasm, aware at the hypocrisy of being offended by someone having a sense of humor at a time like this. "I don't possess that particular power, sir, no. But at least one among our kind in Sacramento does*."

Then to Ariana's blue eyes, calm fortitude behind his own, "I made a call to place the First Tradition above all else. I'd rather be foiled one night, and face the sentence passed to me than risk the Masquerade falling to pieces around us all."

The Gangrel's voice is quiet. Regardless of their proximity to the scene nearby, or the fact that the windows are all raised, he won't risk drawing attention to a car full of people chilling near such a disaster. "Coben was cuffed somewhere. They are in that bundle with everything else. The younger-sounding officer I was with earlier stated that they were answering a call from Neil Coben. I'm not sure about the time frame, but I thought their response seemed awfully quick." He pauses to wrack his brain for other pieces to a puzzle he didn't dare try to assemble, yet. "Coben also mentioned something about not trusting 'him', 'her', or me...

"Really, he was quite insistent on his own demise. I'm just glad I found him before the police did." The severity of what a Lord hell-bent on destruction might do with a group of mortal law enforcement is obvious. Unfortunately, Dillon figures that he is rapidly spiraling down the drain labeled 'loose end', but if his Purpose has led him to this point, so be it.

*

(Familiar Stranger) Y'all Come Back Now, Y'Hear?

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