The Boy is Mine

[Clara E. Verne]

Paradise Beach at night looked ominous: a dark abyss coated deep with hues of murky green and black that reflected an almost-empty sky. The sand was rough underfoot, heavy with thousands of tiny rocks and broken seashells. The actual Beach was equal parts sand and small islands of shrubbery and trees starved for water. A few empty camp sites lined the border between sea and land, the bare bones of previous campers and hints of kine activity there for those that looked for them.

Resting just outside of the rising tide's waves was a college boy in a crisp satin shirt and swimming trunks. He sat on a pink picnic blanket with a backpack resting at his feet. His dark hair was kept crisp with his constant fussing: constantly checking it in his phone's camera to adjust any trace of a hair that was out of place. His face was a picture of youth; young and sharp with gray-green eyes and light dimples. When he was (momentarily) satisfied with his hair he busied himself fiddling with an open picnic basket, checking it and counting under his breath, closing it, and then opening it to check everything was still in place.

The boy seemed nervous and excited and the heavy thrum of his heartbeat rang in his ears. She'd be here soon.

[Blackbird]

Now acknowledged, Blackbird had spent the last few nights traversing the city, familiarizing herself with her new home within the bounds of communal feeding grounds. Paradise Beach was just next on her list. In truth, she hadn't come to the location to Hunt and her attire showed it. She was dressed in a pair of black, tight fitting jeans, a distressed, denim jacket that had lovingly been mended for many years, a simple black "Bad Religion" t-shirt. However, just because she wasn't hunting didn't mean she wouldn't take up a juicy little morsel.

Spotting the boy in the distance, the young neonate willed some of her vitae to grant her the blush of life. She assumed the boy was gearing up for a late night rendezvous with some college sweetheart. Frankly though, Blackbird knew most girls amongst the kine lacked her... capabilities. If persuasion didn't work, she had other gifts. All she needed was to get close enough for the kiss.

Thus, with a wry smirk tugging at one side of Blackbird's flushed lips, she began her approach, quietly walking to the picnic blanket, though not with the intent of stealth. When she felt she had closed the gap enough to get the boys attention, she paused, watching his diligent.

Must be some girl.

Blackbird almost felt bad about her intent to steal whatever romantic evening had been planned away. Almost. Finally, she spoke. It was time for the lure to begin.

"Little late for a picnic isn't it?"

The neonate kept her tone soft and her greeting simple. She just had to get the boys attention. Soon, he'd be putty. Of that, Blackbird was certain. For now, she maintained her knowing smirk, looking over the young man's frame with mildly veiled anticipation.

[Blackbird]

-1Vitae for Blush bookkeeping

[Clara E. Verne]

The boy shot up in a fit and start at the sudden unfamiliar voice. He hopped off the blanket and turned to look at brunette punk girl. He took a breath and calmed himself at the sight of the girl. "Hi! Wow, sorry." The stranger hadn't attempted to conceal her movements but the boy remained oblivious all the same. He looked the girl up and down as he stilled the muscle pumping precious blood through his body.

"Um, yeah--I thought that. But she likes surprises like this. So I just thought, y'know, picnic." Then a sudden realization dawned on his face. "You should leave. Now." The boy adopted a sense of foreboding into his voice tinged with truth and fear for the girl. "If she sees me talking to you, I-I don't know! This is all too new. Uncharted territory." He glanced back towards the sea with a worried look on his face. Leaves was scared.

Deep in the dark abyss of the ocean Clara stirred out of slumber. Her body shimmied out of the sand and in a half moment she was free. Her foot kicked off the tether she'd had to a slab of rock jutting out on the ocean floor. The Bacchante took a moment to stretch at the ocean floor before lazily forcing her body to swim to the surface. The top of her head peeked out of the murky waters a little ways from the coast. Once she spotted Leaves she knew the direction to go. She then submerged herself once more and prepared to make the trip to shore.

A little less than half a football field she thought as she called on her Blood and shot through half the ocean in an instant. The supernatural disturbance left a rippling arrowhead of salt and sharp cutting waves pointing towards the spot where Leaves and Blackbird were. It was only when Clara reached the halfway point that she was able to feel out where Leaves was did she sense the familiar tug of an adversary. It was still too distant to feel most of the specifics out for Clara, but she knew one thing: whoever it was they were right by Leaves. She had to hurry.

[Blackbird]

He thought he could get her to leave with a few words. Cute. Blackbird's smirk grew to be a small smile as she boldly closed the distance between her and the prey as he spoke. Standing a mere foot from the man, Blackbird let him finish. She noted his fear, but when whatever he was afraid of arrived, she'd be long gone. She just needed him to Look. At. Her.

"Sometimes the best thing with uncharted territory is to let go."

The words left Blackbird's mouth as more of a eager growl than the honeyed purr she had intended. Whether it was the boy's frequent glances to the sea or annoyance at his attempts to tell her what to do, something through her off her game and revealed the colder part of her personality. Perhaps it was the cold anticipation in her eyes or a predatory bent to her stance, but she was unaware of this. Thus, she stood, waiting for the man's response and studying his form.

failure

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2018-08-24 03:41:38		Blackbird rolls 7 to Seduce Leaves! (Persuasion 3 + Manipulation 3 + SL 1) (10 Again)		2, 4, 7, 3, 7, 1, 5		failure

[Clara E. Verne]

Leaves was too distracted to fully take in the captivating Blackbird's advances. Importantly, though, he didn't seem off-put by the neonate's more predatory nature being revealed in a flash of moonlight. "No, you don't get it. She's--"

A little less than 20 yards away Clara pushed once more and shot through underwater in an instant. One moment Blackbird and Leaves were alone on the beach. The next moment a woman coated in salt materialized in a sharp splash of water and sand. She wore black bike shorts and a black sports bra. Her skin was pale and luminescent in the moonlight.

Clara's Vampiric senses revealed there was no one else nearby. Good she thought as she locked focus onto the girl eyeing what was hers. "Leaves. Come along." she said in a light sing-song voice. The boy shrank away from Blackbird, scooped up the backpack, and ran to Clara's side.

"I-I didn't. It's--" Leaves was stammering, his brain thinking too fast for his words to catch up.

Clara brought a finger up and placed it gently against his lips. "It's fine. I saw. You did good." The boy nodded and squirmed a little under Clara's praise. She draped an arm over the boy's shoulders and then turned to face Blackbird. Clara leaned against Leaves and let him feel her weight press against his form. "So. Awkward! 'Cause I swear I just saw you try to flirt with what's mine. Or am I missing something?"

Clara's form and Blood hinted at the barest possibility of violence to intimidate the other girl.

  Intim 1 suxx

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2018-08-24 03:56:19		Clara E. Verne rolls 6 to Intimidate (Man 3 + Intim 2 + BP 1) (10 Again)		6, 2, 4, 1, 5, 9		1 success

Intim suxx vs Blackbird's Wits + Comp roll - 1 for having lower BP
http://nwod.org/wiki/index.php/Predators_Taint

[Blackbird]

Blackbird was startled by the blasting water and sand. The Potency of Clara's beast was the first thing the neonate felt, it washed over her and called for her own to flee. This time though? She didn't care, the elder vampire had interrupted her attempts to feed and the look on Blackbird's face was one of irritance.

This agitation continued when it donned that Leaves was enthralled to a vampire. Especially as she looked to the flushed skin of her hands.

Well that was a fucking waste.
Then came Leaves' flight to Clara's side and Clara's subsequent threat. Blackbird wasn't fearful, however, and her familiar smirk soon returned to her lips as she looked the new vampire over. She was amused, but showed this only for as long as Clara could see that her attempts were for nothing. Then she adopted a more submissive position, taking a step back and relaxing her form. She was ending her Hunt to avoid conflict with Clara, but she was not afraid.

"Easy, cousin. If I had known the toy was yours, I wouldn't have engaged in the chase... but to be fair, it's difficult to ignore a morsel on the beach, no? Especially. One . Like. Him."

Blackbird punctuated those last few words by looking over Leaves. Her eyes traveled along his flesh and up to his expression of fear. He was a coward, but at least he knew his place...

"If he is yours, he is yours. I will not fight it. There will be easier prey tonight. We, ummm, got off on the wrong foot. I don't think I've seen you around yet."

There was a truth to her softened voice. Blackbird broke her gaze from Leaves' form as she looked around, seeing that they were alone. Then she locked her gaze on Clara.

​"My name is Blackbird."

  2 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2018-08-24 12:04:04		Blackbird rolls 4 to Resist Intimidation! Wits 2 + Comp 3 -1 For lower BP (10 Again)		10, 4, 5, 5, 9		2 successes

[Clara E. Verne]

Pleasure mixed with annoyance at Blackbird's presence. Smothering her. Smashing her. Dominating her. The thoughts washed over her and Clara shut her eyes to recenter herself. It was so easy to get caught up on the high of beating on a neonate. The hardest thing was fighting how right it felt to establish her superiority. Easy. Easy. She still has fangs. And you've got Leaves to consider. The last thought finally stilled her baser impulse. Caution.

Clara re-opened her eyes to find the girl smirking back at her. Clara quirked a brow. Then the girl backed off, making a show of submission. It didn't pass the smell test and the Bacchante wasn't convinced. "He's not a toy, new girl. He's just mine."

Speaking of him caused Clara to glance at Leaves out of the corner of her eye. He was shivering and his fear was palpable. She wondered why he was scared when realization dawned on her. He's never seen me move like that. It was one thing to think 'my girlfriend is a Vampire' and quite another to see it first hand. Well this night is ruined. "Leaves," she said softly and saw him flinch a bit. "You drove here, yeah?" He nodded. "Go to your car. Text me when you're there. Text me when you're home. No stops, okay?" He nodded at each punctuation.

Leaves handed off the backpack to Clara and half shuffled half scurried away from the beach. He made sure to give Blackbird a wide berth. He still looked over his shoulder and checked with Clara even at a distance. "There's no one else, promise. I won't let anything happen to you. Run along, I won't be long." The boy soon became a tiny dark silhouette in the distance.

Clara's eyes had never left Blackbird even as she spoke to Leaves. She was waiting for the neonate to make a move. "I can forgive wanting above your station, petit oiseau. I get wanting. I'm not so forgiving when you want what I've claimed." She said cousin. Were they related? The waves came rushing in and washed over Clara's feet before pulling back. The Bacchante remained silent for four cycles of the waves lapping onto the beach. "Yes, petit oiseau. I saw your face at court." She had manners and didn't seem to want a fight. She'd been to court. Relax. Relax.

Clara still kept her distance. It would be so easy for this to turn to fangs and blows. "I'm Clara. And I don't think I heard an apology yet." Confrontation slipped into her voice unbidden. As soon as Clara said it though, she waited for Blackbird's response. To walk it back now would be a show of weakness.

[Blackbird]

.Blackbird blinked. She understood playing with your food, but this greater Beast actually seemed invested in him.

Just... what?

The neonate watched as the boytoy scrambled from the beach, she couldn't help but smile just a little wider. When she looked back Clara she let her smile fade. A little. The comment of her wanting above her station was a little perplexing to Blackbird. She was already Acknowledged and Paradise Beach wasn't restricted in terms of feeding as far as she knew. Also, petit oiseau? Did she just call Blackbird a bitch? Blackbird didn't know.
What is she on about?

An apology? For what? Oh. Right. She wanted to feed from Clara's lover. That she had no idea was Clara's lover. Still, Blackbird understood. Kind of. Though it was tempting to protest Clara's request for apology, she chose the civil approach, adopting the manners she had displayed in court just recently.

"I apologize, Miss Clara. It was never my intent to offend."

[Clara E. Verne]

Clara heard her out for a minute. The lazy waves pulled back and splashed onto the beach. She then trudged through the water and sand towards Blackbird. She dropped the backpack onto the blanket and sighed at Blackbird's honorific. "Just Clara. You make it sound like I'm your au pair."

Clara scooped up the blanket, let the basket tumble onto the sand, aired it out with one crack of the air, and roughly scrubbed at the water and salt that coated her skin. Once she finished she let the blanket form onto an impromptu mat and stood atop it. The backpack was opened up and she started to fish through it. "Apology accepted," she said with the same absentmindedness that kine did when deciding on adding milk and sugar to their coffee. Holding grudges when apologies were doled out or Prestation made you whole was also a show of weakness.

Still standing she started to slip on loose pink sweatpants with a grunt, one leg at a time. "Are you someone's childe, new girl?" She was curious to see who the Prince would grant an exception for one of the oldest Traditions. "I confess I was busy when you were at August's court. Didn't see if anyone escorted you." Finally she threw on a gray tank top and let her wet hair drip into her shoulders and freshly scrubbed body. "Actually, now that I think on it, you must be new to town. If you were someone's childe, they wouldn't want you out and alone with the hunters roaming the streets."