(Skeleton Keys) Skin and Bones

[Wolven Pryde]

Kacey manages to snort a short laugh at Emma's declaration of fashion, before remarking dryly, "We'll hit up a rave like this sometime... I'm sure it would be well-received."

Of course, two naked women wouldn't be a far cry from common practice at such an event, either. Many of the attendents might as well be...

But the young Kindred simply seems to be attempting to bolster her own morale and assure others of her confidence, even if the words come out as weakly as the previous ones did. She adds, "It can't hurt worse than getting stabbed at the speed of oozing molasses, can it?", when the other two move to extricate her.

But it does. The internal pressure of her own dead organs hug the thin blade, as though pleading for fresh cuts. They are rewarded with the renewed and unavoidable slicing of flesh as David draws the blade free. Kacey grips Emma's hands on her shoulders tightly, sagging against the Gangrel's bosom with another soft moan of pain. Though not strictly dangerous to her Requiem, the wound is not generally something one looks forward to. And certainly isn't the sort of thing that she has experienced much of in her short existence.

She shoves the viscera and the body away with her feet as soon as they are free of the blade, not letting go of Emma just yet. She might feel silly about it later. But at the moment, she is in no mood to resist the protective, maternal gestures of her new friend. If not for the circumstances, the gore and horror nearby, their bare huddle might have been quite beautiful.

"They'll hose off," she manages bravely, regarding her boots, "and so will I."

Kacey offers Emma a thankful kiss on the cheek for her comfort, but makes to stand. She keeps one hand on the other woman, but cradles the wound with the other, after a careful glance to it. Dead tissue and lack of running blood being what it is, it doesn't look all that bad. Apparently, the young Daeva intends to wait until she has a chance to feed again before healing the damage.

It brings a renewed sense of dread that she doesn't voice. With the death of her herd and friends, she will have to hunt.

"Thank you as well," she says meekly to the two Mekhet. "I'm glad you are both okay. I wish I were as skilled a rescuer as the two of you were."

[Emma French]

Emma hoses off the boots. She then hands Kacey a towel. While Kacey is toweling off Emma walks back across the room to the cabinet and get the promised scrubs. Ema is now feeling very naked, however she does her best not to show any embarrassment choosing instead to exude confidence in her own appearance. At least when she is naked she doesn't have to worry that her fashion sense will be made fun of. "Here." She says to Kacey. She grabs her phone and texts Dillon. After hitting send she looks at Francesco's body for a moment before going over to it. Remembering the letters she found in the boiler room , she searches the pockets and under his shirt.

[Martha Villiers]

Martha sat there and watched the boots and legs at work. Watching naked thigh muscles hard at use.

She studied Emma and Kacey and smiled at anyone who caught her eye. Martha decided to stay silent for a while as the hosing and cleaning was done and then nodded a grateful nod to David as he returned her sword. She struggled to stand, but was determined to clean the blade with the traditional o-shiburi action to both sweep blood from the blade and sheath it in one elegant gesture.

It was a symbolic action than to show off, but it was still cool.

Nodding to David she limped over to see who Kacey was and introduce herself.

"This is most unexpected...good evening to you all." she offers to Emma and Kacey while leaning hard on her cane and croaking her greeting.

[Wolven Pryde]

Kacey accepts the towel, and begins blotting the water off of her body at a steady pace. "Katherine Carnes," she says in response to the Mekhet introducing himself. She isn't looking when she says it, slightly bent over and looking the other way to wring out her hair with the towel. Some of the dye comes out with water that splatters to the tiles, coloring it orange for a brief second.

The name may or may not ring a bell, depending on how avid a fan of local music and entertainment either of the others are. "But just call me K.C. Like 'Kacey'.

"Nice to meet you, David. I'm lucky you were lucky!"

Looking down as she is, at the other petite Kindred's ruined socks and shoes, Kacey is again struck with the identity of the woman. It had to be her. By all reports, she was sweet, considerate and friendly. But what had just happened to her was appalling. The Prince's Voice! Throttled like some common rabble!

"I'm sorry about your shoes," she begins, as though empathizing with the Mekhet on some instinctual level, and feeling quite guilty that her lapse in judgement may have caused all this. No matter how short that lapse was. Her eyes widen with the sudden excited notion on how to begin restoring amends. "Here!"

The towel is cast aside unceremoniously, and two zippers are disengaged with amazing haste. Kacey gently thrusts the boots before her toward the sword-swinging little woman. "Take these! They're good leather, with a treated finish! Seriously, they hosed right off. As good as new. We're about the same shoe size, from the looks of it, and I know you'd like them! It's the least I can do."

She gives the impression that she might become insistent if Martha refuses. They are all she has left, and she's giving them to the Herald* to replace her little Mary Janes. With what might have went down at Raley Field, they might very well be her only remaining Earthly possession.

If Martha hesitates, Kacey adds a knit of her brow, and a "Please?"

*

Obviously, as Kacey didn't attend recent Court, she is operating on outdated rumor of Sacramento's Herald, not Seneschal.

[Emma French]

Emma gets dressed while introductions are being made. She knows she needs to hold it together now for Kacey, for Francesco, and for Martha. If she had known Martha was here she wouldn't have brought a dangerous situation here, but no one was due here tonight according to the schedules. So what were they doing here? She wanted to ask, really wanted to ask but now was not the time. Kacey hadn't put on the scrubs yet. What a Diva, I mean Daeva, Emma thought. But then she couldn't say much since she was just dressing. After she dressed she rejoined the group. "Perhaps we should adjourn to the conference room for some refreshments? I believe we could all use a little rest." And we can fill in Martha as to why she just almost met her final death. "Before we head in I would like to lock Francesco into a cold locker." She turned to David, "Which locker is free?"

[Martha Villiers]

Martha nods and accepts KC's gift of the footwear. She smiles and nods gratitude.

"Thank you." she croaks and inspects the shoes, as if agreeing with KC's overall assessment of their quality.

"I agree...very fine boots! A very kind gesture, thank you, Miss." she tries a sincere giggle, but her words strangle in her damaged throat.

"...I...I am truly pleased to meet you, Miss...but...what is going on?" she asks to KC and Emma, then sneaks a look to Emma and KC's thighs and legs more generally. Her tone is a general question, there's no hint of rebuke; just confusion.

[Emma French]

As Emma tugged the limp messy body of Francesco she realized she would need to clean up again after she stuffed him into locker 5. She managed to get him onto the gurney and started to wheel him into the other room when Martha asked her question. "I would love to update you once I get the body secured." Emma said with respect in her voice. She then wheels him from the embalming room into the cold storage room. She would check the private work room which was off the cold storage to make sure no one was hiding in it. There were no other rooms or entrances off the cold storage so once she cleared the area and locked the door leading to the embalming room it should be safe to leave his body.

[Wolven Pryde]

Kacey is finally beginning to clothe herself once again, as soon as she's satisfied that the Herald is accepting of her penance. By the time she requests an update on the situation, and Emma answers, Kacey is peering curiously through the neck hole of the scrubs top as it slips over her head. She's wondering if she should give her account first... since it seems the words were directed to her as much as the Gangrel.

Normally, she wouldn't think twice about running her mouth. That's just the sort she is. Her brain actually works very fast. So her voice tries hard, but unsuccessfully, to keep up with it. But here is different. She's had a rough night. Not a thing left to her name except the phone on the nearby counter and the hair band around her wrist. She's carefully hopping into slacks that don't belong to her, in front of at least one Kindred who probably has the authority to ash her on the spot.

She seems awfully sweet, though. Is it a ruse?

"Well," she begins timidly, but soon picking up speed, while Emma secures the body. She tries to keep her eyes politely on the tiny school girl while rolling down the scrubs waist band and rolling up its ankles to fit her proportions. "I'm from out of town... Some friends and I -- er, a band -- were part of a concert at Raley Field when something... um... attacked, I guess you could say."

Her eyes avert, using the action of redoing her pony tail in damp hair to cover the avoidance, as she glumly continues. "It killed our Herd, along with a bunch of kine and maybe a few Kindred as well. I guess Emma was there looking for him," the orange contacts point to the locker Francesco's body is disappearing within, "and we sort of all got caught up in the same mess."

While there are definitely more details to be had, Kacey doesn't needlessly supply them for fear of babbling. If anyone wants her to elaborate further, then they can ask her, and she will.