Delicate

**Clara E. Verne** · Feb 27th, 2019 11:47 AM

Hotels and Vampires were remarkably similar creatures. Clara mused on this thought that crept into her mind with the distracted mien of a predator toying with her prey. She sat in a bar named REVIVAL at the Sawyer Hotel. Uniform raised chairs lined up before a line-up of booze and bartenders with easy smiles and nimble fingers.

Clara's disinterested aura discouraged interaction with the kine she was surrounded with. Despite the Bacchante's enticing looks and outlandish outfit she remained apart. She had spent the better part of the past hour sitting at the bar. While she wouldn't order anything, bartenders didn't cajole the quiet girl to leave. Her standoffish aura shut down any direct attempts at conversation, which left many with one course: buy the pretty girl a drink. Colorful concoctions were pushed to the bar directly in front of Clara one after another. One after another, they were left untouched.

The tenders removed her gifted drinks when the buyer was gone or not looking, thinking they understood Clara when their best guess was the farthest thing from her mind.

**Clara E. Verne** · Feb 27th, 2019 11:48 AM

book-keeping

Feb 27th, 2019 03:36 PM

The Sheriff entered the bar. Her outfit wasn't one that was dressed for a party; rather, she wore black pants, a matching tank top and a black leather jacket. It wasn't often that someone just disappeared and then showed back up suddenly, months later, with nary a word.

It happened, sure.

But Clara Verne had been her Whip.

Moretti peered at the Bacchante from across the bar, gritting her teeth within her mouth against the Beast. The face that peered at the ageless Daeva was... different than it had been before. Hers was a face of perfect Humanity. With the Blush in her skin and the Change of the Soul, Lina Moretti was entirely indistinguishable from a mortal.

She slid up to Clara, finding the seat next to her.

"Good trip?"

She could only assume.

For record-keeping: Lina Moretti is carrying a concealed knife in her boot.

**Clara E. Verne** · Feb 27th, 2019 05:58 PM

"Wasn't a trip, so much as an inconvenience." Clara's eye was on the murky miniature reflection staring back at her in a bottle of amber. The persistent dark passenger of her Beast demanded assertion of dominance. Clara was over this petty rage and brushed it aside. The cowed presence remained on the periphery, still wanting attention and acknowledgement. Clara was over wanting at the moment.

She turned and briefly took in Lina's form. This woman might be the woman Lina Moretti was before she became Kindred. She was blinking. Was she breathing? It hurt to look at. The annoyance of her Beast helped convince Clara she wasn't talking to a ghost.

Clara's numb expression helped to hide her discomfort at Lina's Humanity. "Thanks for showing up." She gave the room a cursory glance before settling facing forward on the bar. "Unless you've got a Shadow, I'm also thankful you showed up on your own." She then brought her hands up onto the bar and pressed her palms lightly together.

"Are you still the sort of woman who'd prefer a straight-forward chat?" She spoke in a low almost hushed tone and kept her steely gaze on the little gray blur in the bottle.

Feb 27th, 2019 06:03 PM

The Sheriff glanced over at her former Whip. An inconvenience? That was concerning. What the heck had happened, to cause this lady who was so dedicated to her Danse to dance off into the night with nary a word?

"You're welcome."

Whether or not she had a Shadow was not addressed, but Moretti certainly appeared relaxed enough. There was a row of drinks in front of the vixen, each untouched. The Sheriff reached out and took one in her hand.

"If you're still the sort of woman who shares her booze," she said, a small smile crossing her face. A dimple. One that wasn't there before the Change. It was uncanny. "What happened?"

Also for record-keeping forgotten in last post, -1V for Blush of Life.

**Clara E. Verne** · Feb 27th, 2019 06:15 PM

"I was hoping you could tell me that." She started to lean in and, odd for Clara, gave Lina a nonverbal nod that she had to whisper. The closeness of Beasts wasn't something that alarmed Clara as much as it did other Kindred. She let her long straightened hair fall over the part of her face away from Lina, and brought her lips to the other Daeva's ear. "Were you the one who tried to ash me?" She asked the question in the same tone and manner one might ask another up to their room.

She pulled back only enough so that she could lock eyes with Moretti. "If you were, I thought I'd make it easier for you," she said as one hand came up and a finger made lazy circles around her chest.

Feb 27th, 2019 06:34 PM

Someone had tried to ash Clara? What the actual...? And the fact that she thought she needed to ask Lina. A look of surprise crossed her youthful face. Leaning in, the Sheriff whispered back, "Clara... no. I am the law. I'm authorized. I don't need to do someone dirty. But if someone did try to do you... then that's a fucking problem. What the hell happened?"

**Clara E. Verne** · Feb 27th, 2019 06:48 PM

Clara pursed her lips. She didn't acknowledge the law comment--things move fast in the Danse and whole steps can take decades. The incongruity of those two facts were fundamental truths of the Danse. "That's--well." The Bacchante supposed Lina could be lying, but didn't think it likely. The attack had been sloppy for someone with as much support Lina enjoyed when she went missing.

She thought on Lina's words for a moment. Then she rested her chin on the palm of her hand so that her lips were blocked from view by the bartenders while her hair kept the other half of her face obscured. "A hunter. Either so beneath notice we didn't see him or a kid just recently turned." She glanced off to the street. "At least that'd be the explanation that makes the most sense. One unlucky night. The one I was leaning towards was someone from the company helped up the kid's chances." Her eyes found Lina's. "I trusted you the most." She said as if that were reason enough to suspect Moretti the most.

Feb 28th, 2019 06:03 PM

The Sheriff remained in a forward lean, letting her cousin murmur closely. An eyebrow popped as the Bacchante explained what had happened to her. She'd been jumped. That a single Hunter had managed to actually do much to Clara was surprising, but they all had passions. Perhaps she had been ambushed. The fact that Clara figured that the person who she trusted the most had betrayed her... well, that is how the vampire do, so fair enough. But.

"I want to know who is responsible for this. Where did it happen? We can get guys looking into it. Where have you been?"

**Clara E. Verne** · Mar 1st, 2019 12:35 PM

Clara's gaze was indiscernible. She nodded at the bartender and directed Lina deeper into the hotel. The elevator ride they shared was a quiet one. Clara was deep in thought.

The ding of the opening elevator had the Bacchante saunter through and produce a hotel key. They entered the room and found it to be lived in. The blinds were closed and a mess of colorful women's outfits littered the floor, bed and bathroom counter-tops. Clara made a show of approaching a hunter's handgun hidden in the love seat by the window, displayed it like one might a newfound pair of lost glasses, and tossed it to the other side of the room.

"Not that guns are especially threatening," she said as she planted herself onto the one piece of furniture not overburdened with clothes. "Just didn't want you thinking this is some attempt on your person." She leaned back on her chair and, with her head slung over the top of the love seat, parted the curtain enough to get a view of downtown. "Disappointing."

She regarded the upside-down view. "I don't know who. The boy got a lucky shot in that knocked me into dark waters just before the sunrise and paid for that with his life. As to where...that's why it took me so long to get back." She lifted her head off the love seat and reclined comfortably into place while gazing at Lina. "I was on a yacht out at sea. Rallying some support with a few lobbyists and busybodies to focus on the horrendous gang problem we had. I even had a secluded suite set up for a weekend cruise." A finger came up and rubbed at her lower lip. "I had to sink down and shelter myself before I fell into the sunsleep. After that..." Her smile was hard and sharp. "Our condition isn't for the weak, cousin. Persistence and patience yielded results. Slowly."

She glanced at the bed with eyes focused on elsewhere. "I did consider the eclipse some days. So many times close to starving before I reached a vessel...and animals did nothing for me. Not to say anything for the storms."

Delicate

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