Post Summertime Blues at the Asylum

Aug 23rd, 2016 03:55 PM

Katya was sure to arrange the private room for Alice after it was confirmed that they'd be meeting there. She wanted to discuss things with her at the Farm, but with the security of it still unclear, she decided it would have to wait until she checked it with some safer company.

With the location ready, Katya perused the main floor of the asylum, dressed in her pinstripe slacks held up by suspenders. Her torso was covered only by a white tank top and those who were close enough could see she wasn't wearing anything else underneath. Katya's hair was pinned up in it's normal high ponytail, giving her face that long shape, like a snake slithering through its domain ready to tighten itself around any willing submissives. They of course would have to wait as Alice had an appointment.

With her body counter-fitting life powered through her blood, Katya holds a crop in hand and taps it in her palm as she waits for Alice to arrive.

-1 vitae for blush of life

**Alice Hart** · Aug 23rd, 2016 04:34 PM

This would be the first time she'd left the Deep Kingdom since....since, a breath taken she didn't need, since her eyes fell to ash.

She wears a dress, one that felt like silk to her fingers, the doll's still to unsure of herself to chose from her collection of tops and skirts lest she make a fool of herself. Though from Robert's words she knows the sunglasses she wears have purple frames, to match her once amethyst eyes.

Blood moves as her will directs before she leaves her safe-haven, and makes for the Asylum. She might be white as sin, but even the kine would know the difference between dead-doll-flesh and that which was what not.

As she enters, her sometimes prop, and sometimes not folding cane is exchanged for a funky colored variant. They tell her it's yellow. Alice wonders if that's true.

The Wraith notices Katya first.

And for the first time in her unlife, it reacts in anger. The Once-Senechal is a weak mewling thing. Couldn't hold the Prince's favor, couldn't save her farm couldn't stop Alice if she - With a gasp, the doll pulls the hissing thing back. Back until it resides once more inside it's frozen bared cage.

Then with slightly shaky legs, Alice walks closer to where her Wraith could sense another's Beast. "Hello." she says, and hopes for the best.

Aug 23rd, 2016 04:52 PM

With her eyes on the door, Katya spots Alice enter, intrigued as she trades one cane for another...was she planning on staying for some play time? Or perhaps she was interested in continuing that assertiveness like she had anticipated. Something Katya would have to ask for later.

Without Alice's Beast to pull at Katya, she notices the slight shift in the timid Haunts' demeanor, the change from Alice to her Demon as it senses Katya. So rarely does Katya take the time to observe as an outsider, but it is just for a moment before Alice pulls it back. Again, something Katya might inquire about later but for now, she bows her head to Alice and says. "Good evening. Thank you for coming. Shall you follow me?" seh asks, gesturing with her finger before turning. "Nice cane by the way." she adds.

As she leads Alice through the club, Katya wonders what it's like for Alice the second time through, if it's still as alien and uncomfortable as before or if she's able to walk through it through different eyes. Soon she'll know once Katya opens the door to the private room and waits for Alice to enter before closing and locking it from the inside.

"Thank you again for meeting me in relatively short notice Mistress Keeper Hart. Before we get to business though, how have you been? I think we haven't seen each other last since the solstice." how interesting it was for Katya to call Alice Mistress given the building they were in, at least it was amusing to her.

**Alice Hart** · Aug 23rd, 2016 05:10 PM

When she hears Katya's voice, the first thing she asks, of course, is, "Is it yellow?" before she could help herself.

When Katya begins to move, Alice uses the women's Beast as a compass to navigate the throng of kine through the labyrinthine paths of the Asylum. This experience walking through is vastly different from her first time she'd met Katya here. For one, her eyes couldn't be caught of the blush inducing sights, but her ears still caught the telltale sounds that were the trademark of a fetish club.

But she'd walked this path once before, and with the multitude of sounds around her the mental map seemed quite complete.

As they come to a stop, Katya will notice that Alice's face is flush. One of the draw backs of counterfeiting life in Alice's books.

As she slowly draws into the room, Alice uses the cane to feel the area. The door frame gets a wack, as she tries to find herself a seat.

"No problem, Miss Harding." Alice says turning around, giving up her seat finding, for the moment. "No we haven't. And...my..." how to explain. Her fumbling use of her borrowed cane, and the way she'd asked after the color were clear indicators that something was different. "...my nights have taken a turn." for better or worse the Doll knew not yet. "And how have you been?"

Aug 23rd, 2016 07:51 PM

An eyebrow raises when Alice asks of the color of the cane handed to her, but she puts two and two together, from the cane to the glasses. "...yes it is yellow." she says calmly to Alice, not wanting to inquire out in the presence of kine as to this apparent change. Once leading her to the private room, Katya gives Alice her autonomy, letting her move at her own pace. She does the same as she watches Alice explore the interior of the room before saying "There is a sofa about three steps ahead of you." she will extend a hand to Alice if she asks for help. Once she is seated, Katya answers her question

"I have been....busy...very occupied as it were with some new developments that require my immediate attention. The presence of the Brood being one of them. While it wasn't exactly what I had wanted for your first observed ritual for the Circle, it certainly left things open for other potential. But we can get to that later." her head tilts as she observes the body language of Alice and she quietly says"Yes, I can see your nights have changed. May I ask what has happened since we last spoke?" just when she thought things with her own family were chaotic, it would appear that Alice's were no less trying.

**Alice Hart** · Aug 23rd, 2016 09:59 PM

A forced fake smile is flashed at Katya as the Doll takes those three steps toward to find the couch. Taking a seat, she rests the yellow cane next to her leg.

"I...gathered that it wasn't what was planned. It was...terrifying. Seeing David run into the building..." the flames sear across her memory. Alice tilts her head, wondering after 'other potential', but nods at Katya's words that it would come up later.

Then the soft questioning words spoken, It wasn't like she'd be able to hide away, or hide her blood's apparent weakness, at least, not unless she quickly over came the limitations of her new sightless world. "My sire..." she starts, "Was apparently apart of a blood legacy....one night not to long after the Solstice, I woke from my daysleep to darkness." she folds her hands upon her lap, "It didn't hurt. But you can imagine my reaction." Her hands unfold, and she smooths out the fabric of her dress. "Robert-Constable Cross, and I...well it's only his efforts researching that I know that this was a matter of my Blood strengthening, following the lines of the sire I never really knew, and not...and not an malicious attack."

Alice falls back into silence, wondering if Katya would want to see her eyes-that-weren't.

Aug 24th, 2016 09:27 AM

Katya's eyes close, thinking back to her wounded colleague, wondering just how much the flames damaged his body and his will.

"Yes it was...although much to his credit, David is devoted to the Dark Mother and that includes tracking her enemies and holding them accountable." Rather than let her anger get the best of her, she owes Alice the facts. "It is most likely that this attack was from the Brood. I can't remember if I told you, but David and I went to check out a formal temple belonging to the crone. There we found the presence of an altar as well as a basement that had evidence of a massacre occurring there. It was evident that hte Brood had desecrated our home and we cleaned it up, first to better preserve the Masquerade, but also to reclaim our temple. Our miscalculation was not realizing the Brood would have tracked us to our home." her eyes remain on Alice's face to judge her reaction before she asks "YOu've had some time to process that night, what were your thoughts of the ritual itself, along with the threat of danger that followed?"

Her eyebrows raise as Alice shares the tail of her sire, and the evidence that her blood was strengthening. It wasn't exactly something she'd heard or witnessed but if her family member vouched for it, then it had to have some truth. One remained now was the fact that this occurred so soon after the Solstice. It isn't that she believes one directly correlates to the other, but it's more that Katya views the two significant events happening so close to one another important to analyze and not ignore. "Well while I am sorry to hear that such an abrupt change was frightening to you, I will say this idea of your blood "strengthening" does ring true, and indeed I would argue you as a person can rise as a stronger person." Before she can become too preachy she realizes she should do a temperature check first. "You mention Constable Cross assisting you on this matter, and I have no intention of steering you away. That being said, I do find that the chronology of this event in addition to the Solstice might be worth reflecting on and I'd be happy to do that with you if pursuing the path of the Dark Mother is something you are still interested in."Did the fact that she and David stirred a demonic hornets nest scare her away? Would her recent change add to the distress that would steal her focus? Katya couldn't blame her if it did, but if not, it would clearly show a potential powerful vampire within the Domain if she overcame these obstacles.

**Alice Hart** · Aug 24th, 2016 12:04 PM

Alice listens, silent and still as the grave, waiting for Katya to finish speaking.

The silence carries longer then she would have allowed months, weeks previous. "The parts before the fire and screaming, I was interested. I was looking forward to the conclusion of the ritual, and speaking with you and David. He asked me to look in to Vidar and Ganesh. To see which one spoke to me...and I came that night with my own ideas and another name. Astraeus."

"The night of the attack...I was ready to run, screaming, away from the idea of the Circle." She admits, "I actually thought that the loss of my eyes were somehow connected to that night..." Frenzy and Fire, ash fallen tears. "But...the night I lost my eyes," she continues, voice soft. "I had an epiphany." She stops, wondering how she should go about explaining this to the Acolyte.

"Just because I lost my eyes, didn't mean that I lost my strength. Like the phoenix right? Reborn from fire and ash," a nod to Katya's words 'can rise as a stronger person', she drifts back into silence. Before her head raises, to look with eyes that couldn't see, "It's all about Balance." she whispers like it's some secret revelation.

"So, yes. I'm still interested."

Aug 24th, 2016 01:38 PM

Katya folds a leg over the other and remains still as Alice gives her account of the Solstice. When she names off the instructions David gave her, Katya keeps them in mind but then adds to Alice's admittance of wishing to flee. "We all wanted to run, the Red Fear even taking its hold on myself and David." she says, "But you stayed and you tried to help and yes you are correct, a loss of one sense does not indicate a weakness or that you are helpless. There are many archetypes of Blind Crones providing greater wisdom to those who have eyesight." a hand reaches out and gently touches Alice's shoulder.

"Very good then. Perhaps your evolution was related to the night of the Solstice or maybe it wasn't. What is clear, is that it would seem like the Dark Mother has her own eyes on you and has blessed you with this opportunity. You recall our discussion over tribulation? Well, I think your journey now will be much more fruitful as you adapt. As you said, it's a balance, one does not reach enlightenment without sacrifice, that is an important element in general, but especially for the Circle. To speak from my spirituality, you have a new Gateway within Hades open to you and it's time for you to explore." she shifts in her seat just to let those words sit in before asking, "Now you mentioned Astraeus. I recall some knowledge of him, he is a titan god yes? What led you to identifying him and has that changed at all?"

**Alice Hart** · Aug 24th, 2016 03:57 PM

"But I wasn't helping. I stood there to terrified to flee." she tells the pale women,

"Blind Crones....old wise women, their eyes gone white as enlightenment takes hold. I admit the thought that this," twitching fingers flutter around her covered eyes, "wasn't a random facet of my blood, but...planned somehow." Fluttering finger meet Katya's at they press against her shoulder, dropping when Katya pulls away. "Is a comfort."

"It would be a lie to say my mind hadn't equated of previous conversation over trials and tribulation to my current circumstances." Alice murmurers, wondering what sort of tree would bare it's fruit to the now blind haunt? What new paths will her exploration reveal?

"Astraeus, titan-god of dusk, mate of Eos goddess of the dawn." Alice recited, her mind remembering what she once read, "He and his mate, their children the four winds, the planets...it's not who he is as an individual that drew me towards him when I found him. It was his wife, his children. The first thing I did after feeding when I first came to Sacramento was to climb to the roof of my haven and stare at the night's sky. The wind blowing through my hair...I've always been fascinated by the moon, the stars, and everything in between them, around them."

She falls back into silence.

"Now though...I can't see the universe that once fascinate me so. I need to discover, explore," she nods, hopefully towards Katya, "My new reality before I can say for certain that yes, I still do. Or no I do not. Without more time...right now I'd say no. Because I can't see what he's the god of anymore. But this is true of all of of the gods, baring those of Darkness I suppose."

Post Summertime Blues at the Asylum

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