(Nexus I) Sonnie, Emily, and the Crew

[Sonnie Wu]

Cupping her chin in one hand, elbow on her chair's armrest, she looked at Lenora curiously, "Do I need to repeat myself? I already said I'd give the answer if you all couldn't guess. There's no need for this. That said, I do understand your impatience. Believe me, I do."

Her eyes shifted towards the Mages, then back to the Vampire. "See? They got it, first try. No worries, mate!"

Grinning, Sonnie folded her hands in her lap and moved to speak, but then she paused and looked at Campanella, noticing her was staring at her rear end. Or at least near it. As a test, perhaps, her tail made a rude gesture at him, just to see if it got a reaction. When no obvious response came from the Moros, she shrugged and resumed speaking.

"I'm a Changeling. We were human, once. Now we're, like, part fae. Same goes for Yamiyo and..." her head turned to look down from the balcony area and across the roof towards the other group of supernatural beings. Particularly Mhairi Ankaa and Angel . She pointed in their direction. "...those two. Icicle and Starry McFireEyes. Looks like they dropped their Masks." The Beast turned her attention back to her own grouping. "The Mask is like an illusion, makes us look like normal folks. It's in the 'always on' mode, and it's really draining to shut it off for even a little while. Without it, we're... well, like Angel and whatshername over there. But not just them. We run the gamut of appearances." She held up her hands in a helpless shrug, "I'm part monkey! Wow, it's weird to say that out loud..."

She looked to Pixel, "Through the Hedge, actually. It's sort of a buffer zone between here and Faerie. But you're right, I've got no interest in ever going back to the far side. Most of us don't." Her head cocked to one side, "Martians? Dude, that's just silly!"

Sonnie looked to Emily and smiled, "I'm gonna hold you to the promise of spaghetti-stuffed meatballs. Never break a promise with a faerie critter!" She winked, then looked at Mable, noting the two were holding hands, "Sooooo... you two good?"

[Avis]

Continued from (Nexus I) Angel, Asa, Twist, Mhairi...

"Hey, fuckface," Avis called out, charming as ever, her voice filled with more irritation than threat.

"Yeah, I'm talkin' to you," she clarified, flicking a cinnamon flavored toothpick at Pixel .

"You have one chance to step away from these lovely people -- oh, hey Campanella," a quick nod is shot to the other willworker before her attention is turned back to the offending know it all.

"This is me being courteous, by the way. Don't ruin the rest of my evening."

[Lenora]

Despite the comments of others - and the return of Emily and Mable, Lenora's eyes remain on Sonnie, emulating a stillness only the dead can achieve. Then she minds herself, the mimicry of Humanity finally returning as Sonnie finally gives her what she wants provides the group the answers they are due. The fist though, and Lenora's general appearance does relax though.

After all, Sonnie provided more information than she had been asked for - and her words seemed to ring true to her otherwise mundane facade. If she was telling the truth.

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2020-05-08 01:24:57	Lenora rolls 4 to Detect Lies (Wits + Subterfuge) (10 Again)	6, 1, 6, 8	1 success

Given your games, your understanding is suspect.

Lenora brings up the glass for another drink, knowing full well the controversy that could arise if she spoke such a thought. It was often better to formulate a response before opening one's mouth.

"Your candor is appreciated, Sonnie," Lenora said, her tone returning to her near-formal cadence, "Thank you."

And, just like that, whatever 'beef' Lenora had been building with the Changeling was inconsequential. Lenora was satisified for now, but some latent questions of what peculiarities may arise from mutual activity did spawn in her mind. Sonnie was not Kine after all and, to her knowledge, Lenora had never fed on one such as her. Still these thoughts were squashed when the two lovebirds, with Lenora returning her attention to Emily and Mable, her expression somewhere between curiosity and amusement.

"Yes, I am of a mind with your friend," Lenora offered, "All has been smoothed over in regards to your... relationship, I trust?"

Then came the dark-haired woman and her crude words. The mannerisms were far different from how Lenora would have approached it, but she respected the woman's clear confidence. It was also refreshing to see someone so direct considering what she had just had to endure for a simple truth.

Know thyself.

It seemed Pixel was being reprimanded. Her own self-imposed task to put faces on the ranks of the supernatural in Sacramento largely done to her satisfaction, Lenora was all too happy to remain in the circle and bear witness to the coming entertainment, though she remained attentive to the rest as well.

[Campanella]

Now Campanella really did frown in confusion. Sleeper legend and lore crashed into... a reality.

"Changeling? You certainly don't look wizened and malnourished to me..."

Taken aback, he turned and followed Sonnie's gesture. And his jaw dropped.

"By the gods!"

His voice was louder than he had expected.

"Oh hi... Hello Avis."

He responded to the Arrow's greeting rather weakly, eyes still stuck on the revealed Changelings in their midst.

[Mable Wood]

Mable squeezed Emily's hand back. "Ha! I knew you were part monkey. Well, not in the way that you actually were part monkey but seriously, you are so monkeyish." Mable chuckles.

She nods to Lenora, "I think things are okay for now. Thank you for asking." That was weirdly nice of Lenora.

Mable then stood quietly watching and listening trying to absorb it all.

[Yamiyo Lillich]

After finally having rested and recovered from her attack the world was finally right enough for her again to be able to comprehend it again, having climbed the stairs in enough time to catch Sonnie's description or well at least most of it, she was telling them the truth yes but she was also giving them falseness without even thinking about it.
Unlike vampires and werewolves whom brought up clear images in peoples minds of what they were which also were what the vampire had hidden behind, she had given the least explanation of them all as to what she were and Yamiyo was certain that she knew that as well.

Having stood a bit back whilst the tale was uncovered and letting people react to it before intervening as Campanella spoke, the story was out no reason to hide it anymore.

Walking into a corner as she spoke in reply, her small nimble body easily dancing around people.
"Well for kindness sake let me fill in a blank for you all however I do expect you all to tell me one thing about your true shall we call it being as well before this star filled night comes to an end."
Turning as she had passed them all, looking out over them before continuing her eyes focused on Campanella though whom were the only one that seemed to have caught the half hidden lie.
"To begin with to call us Changelings is both true and a lie, for us it makes sense for you it will not so forget that word before you get the wrong idea. Instead think of us to be the ones that lies behind most folk tales out there. We are the demons of the east, the benign guiding spirits of the woods, the malicious and evil spirits from every single region of the world. We are demons, we are spirits, we are fey and we are good and evil. Most folk tales you have ever heard, a lot of the creatures of myths, legends and folk tales are the ones that speaks of us or rather ways that humans of the times have perceived us and how they then created their own tales of us."
Shrugging her shoulders.
"To define us in one word is to deceive yourself, to try to grasp that you know us from meeting or talking with a few of us is to fool yourself. Few of us are like the next, we are to diverse to truly grasp nor are the tales of us even if we are the same as the tale rarely accurate. Just because someone claimed that what we were did the things we did so does it not mean that we did it or that we did it for the reason they claimed we did it. Just like all humans so can we be good and evil, we have the same morals and same conscience as humans for the most part, we might have tricks that helps us in some fields but I am quite sure everyone here has some skill that no ordinary human can dream to pull of."

Smiling towards Sonnie and then looking to Pixel, he had understood the Grimm connection which was something she often herself used to understand things and were lore that she used in her studies.
"As she says she has a kinship with beasts I have my kinship to lust and desire, I am a mirror into the depths of your subconscious in ways that not even I myself can comprehend. True I have cousins which names might ring a bell of understanding in this world but to speak it would be to lie of what I am since they are only a part of what I am in addition to not being the true story hence I will actually tell you more by not using the name or else your minds might confuse it to much with associations. Our tales are not happy ones though, you mentioned the Grimm brothers tales well lets just say that ours are more akin to the nightmares the things in those tales and I do mean the original ones not the censored ones might imagine combined with the tales of old Greek mythology and I do believe we all learned enough in school to know how truly horrible the gods and beings of that time were said to be."
A thought rising in her mind, was Zeus perhaps a member of the gentry? He certainly had things that would make him qualify especially if you filtered the written knowledge through the mind of one of the Lost that knew what details to pick up on.

Leaning back ready to escape should danger start, she had done her part to partially tell them tales of who they were that built upon Sonnie's description, she had stuck to the truth not a single word spoken a lie but she had deliberately deluded the information, given them endless potential powers, endless possibilities to what they all were, she had claimed they had powers but not told of how they worked nor what they were. She had given them all just enough information that their powers were broad, given them endless possibilities where their natures stemmed from and most importantly of all compared them to beings that potentially held power enough to be called demigods at one point in time. As such she had hoped that she would at least keep everyone careful enough to take their time before a hunt on them would start and make them all proceed with caution.

"Now I cleared up our tales a bit are any of you ready to add a part that we cannot already guess from common lore or separate fact from fiction so to speak."

She was playing a dangerous game and she knew it however to tell of this night to the court without further details later on could put them all in a disadvantage that she did not desire to be in nor did she know what the other two had said to anyone else hoping that they hadn't given away to many dangerous details of their existence that could come back and bite them in the behind.

Looking towards Campanella and Pixel to get her final words in, a last attempt to gain cooperation and kinship between them.
"Now the two of you intrigue me in a sense that I would love to further discuss, you are young and seem to have a curious mind I am certain that you could comprehend things and think up questions that no one else here would if you would care to exchange numbers so am I sure that we could meet for study sessions and talk in a friendly manner."
Her eyes going towards Campanella.
"You seem to talk very little making you perhaps the wisest of us all and I am sorry for making assumptions but you also seem like a learned man based upon my well impressionable mind filled with stereotyping's, say would I be far off in thinking that you either are or at least have connections to scholars? I do have some manners I would love to pick your brain upon if such is the case naturally you aid me and I aid you, I am sure we can come to some form of agreement if you're interested to discuss things further? If so I would love to exchange numbers with you as well."

Lastly a gaze towards Emily, a warm smile that the lovers seemed to hold on to their hearts even after their ordeal at the bar.
"So when are we gonna have those cooking lessons?"
Partially said cause she really wanted them, partially to show everyone else that the wolves got along with the Changelings and partially cause she had started to build up a bit of curiosity here, were the wolves related to them in some manner she did speak of spirits perhaps some spirit interference with beasts or even a member of the gentry in ages past had created their own branch of beings separated from them somewhere but still sharing a common ancestry. Also it would be interesting to know what part of folk tales spoke of actual werewolves and which ones that spoke of those that she would call members of the beast seeming.
And lastly cause she wanted to drop the tension a bit and have things calm, she had just recovered from her attack and quickly chosen a manner to react in directly afterwards that had left her mind in a sense of unease that she would gladly escape from.

[Pixel]

So changeling. Pixel giggled a bit as his aliens theory was dismissed but didn't have time for anything else before Avis approached.

"Why?"​ His eyebrows raise as he turns his attention to Campanella. "Did I break a rule? I waited for other people before I scrutinized."

And on that last word his attention returned to the Arrow. Yamiyo was noted mentally, her expanded narrative and offer to talk piquing the young mages interest.

"I don't have a cell but I can give the number to the dorm room for anyone who wants it."

His attention didn't meander far from the woman who so adamantly objected to his presence. It was late, and he should probably get going anyway, but he wasn't about to be bullied out of the club. Especially in front of two of the only mages Pixel happened to like. If he had done something against the rules and he needed to go he would, but anything less was Avis's problem.

Also probably his, but that was likely in his future experience rather then his past reference.

[Sonnie Wu]

Sonnie grinned as Avis approached and laid into Pixel for no reason she could discern. "Friend of yours, Mister Pix?" More like an ex-girlfriend, it seemed.

This really is like an episode of Maury!

Campanella's familiarity with the southern girl suggested she was another wizard, and the Monkey took her to be such. Turning her eyes to Lenora, was was glad to see the vampire had calmed down. "No problemo!" Sonnie, having indeed been telling the truth about Changelings (and herself being one of them), read that way to Lenora's discernment.

Yamiyo's sudden return to the group, coupled with her big bowl of word salad, left the Beast tilting her head to one side in befuddlement, "Yeah, that... that really cleared things up for everybody. Thanks, Yami." Maybe it was just the Monkey who had a hard time following all of that.

Wait, am I a demon?

Shaking her head to clear it, she looked to Mable and smiled, "Cool! You two are so cute together! And yes, I'm part monkey. Was it that obvious?" She laughed, "Sorry you can't see my tail. It's very cute." Well, she could have shown off the tail, but she had no interest in expending all of her Glamour to drop her Mask. It was a level of vulnerability she just wasn't ready for with these people.

She looked Mable over curiously, "Okay, you're not a faerie and apparently not a werewolf. So, you a vamp or a witch? Oh, wait, are there other options?" She looked about the rooftop excitedly, "Are there actually ghosts? Mummies? Zombies? Dragons? Oh, what about Frankensteins?"

[Campanella]

To Pixel : "I have no idea. I would have thought not, because if you are then I must be worse." He gestured carefully to his eye.

"Is there an issue, Avis ?" His voice came to a grinding halt and a mix of complete shock flooded his face. He was still facing the bar and beyond the Arrow he saw something truly horrifying reveal itself to Guru West

He rapidly turned away. Listening to Yamiyo Lillich was definitely a good way to regain his poise.

To Sonnie Wu : "I have seen it."

Back to Yamiyo: "I deal in Art. Perhaps if you were to offer your business card first, yes?"

Back to Sonnie: "Yes. Ghosts exist. As do Revenants of various stripes, though I grant to the uneducated they might appear as zombies. As for the others... One might speculate that if we exist then so to must the others - in some form or another."

[Lenora]

"Of course," Lenora offers in response to Mable's expression of gratitude, "Your stability is valued."

A small compliment. Valued by Lenora herself? Indirectly. Nonetheless, the Lord could not deny the investment others in their world had put into the Savage. How would the Prince or Duchess respond if they knew that Lenora had not offered her support to Mable in a time of need? Further, they were two Kindred in a group of strangers. It was important to afford a modicum of effort to ensure that both were protected.

However, at the return of Yamiyo and her long tirade, Lenora could not help but roll her eyes. Raising her glass to finish off the wine within, Lenora then glanced to the sensuous woman, her own expression decidedly unamused by the Changeling's heightened sense of self.

"You grossly misunderstand the meaning of common definitions," Lenora said, "The diversity of your kind is not unique, Yamiyo. Do you truly think the whole of my kind can be fully understood with the term vampire? In a gathering such as this, offering only commonalities is important for the preservation of secrecy, at least for my people. Judging by your willingness to share more, I see that is less of a concern for your society... or at least yourself."

Pale eyes bore into the Romancer.

"You have not wholly disregarded Sonnie's definition. Thus, I can only assume that what I see of you is the Mask that she describes," Lenora continues, "As such, in the most basic of definitions, you are a changeling, just as you view me simply as a vampire due to my consumption of the blood. In both cases, the basic definitions are sufficient for our purposes and I have neither the want nor the patience to refer to you as anything else regardless of your personal hubris."

Yamiyo thought her kind were special. They were not, regardless of the circumstances that led to their formation.

"As for your request, we have already stated what we are in the spirit of common definitions," she continued, "Your decision to provide specifics of your being is as inconsequential as it is vague. That extends beyond what we've established as the expectation by providing what we already have. Why would I share more than this? Such an act is bereft of sound reason in mixed company."

Yamiyo's wish to share more was not one she shared and if she had not fully comprehended what Lenora was by now, that was not the Ventrue's problem, she had been quite forward. Secrecy was important and Lenora was not about to risk Final Death on the latent curiosity of some Changeling that felt others 'owed' her due to some... vague rambling.

Then a glance to Sonnie.

"I do not envy you," she offered to the befuddled Beast, a glance offered to Yamiyo to drive her meaning home. Yamiyo must be dangerous company if Sonnie's society was anything like her own. Why Sonnie put up with it was beyond Lenora, but perhaps the relationship between Changelings was different than the relationships between Kindred.

However, as the Beast inquired about Mable's nature, Lenora's smirk returned. Mable had already shown that she knew Lenora. Further, she was not surprised to see Lenora there. Therefore, Mable was... well, that was her right to share and Lenora would not betray the Gangrel by uttering the truth. Sonnie may have chosen to reveal the nature of her peers in addition to the request of revealing her own, but Lenora saw no need to reciprocate. She doubted very much that the Duchess would approve of such an act, even if she and her beau had been quite forward.

Even so, Mable herself had already told Emily at the bar. It wasn't that far away.*

With that off her chest, Lenora turned her attention to Pixel.

"Mm, no, I do not believe that will be necessary," Lenora said as he offers to share his dorm's phone number, "I see no reason for us to attach to one another this early in our... interaction. Perhaps if we run into one another again that will change."

The comments Pixel and Campanella offered Avis regarding scrutiny are met with a raised eyebrow, but the matter seems quite private and Lenora saw no reason to inquire.

"It appears the three of you have business," Lenora offers, "And I believe the subject of our own discourse is quite concluded. Be well."

A small, cordial smile is offered to all save Yamiyo, as the Romancer's nature had disgruntled the Lord. Instead, she is ignored. Then Lenora departs.

* - I am operating under the assumption of the rule governing common space as presented during Eternal Court. That is to say that their is no true sense of privacy and side-threads can be heard and observed in other threads surrounding the same event. If I am overextending my understanding of this rule, please feel free to strike the bolded line of this post or to ignore it.

Continued in Nexus I...