(2209) Eternal Court

[Seryna]

Eternal Court

The Nox Populi is an upscale experience that will take Sacramento nightlife to a whole new level.

In the heart of downtown Sacramento there is a place of intrigue, excitement and entertainment. The modern flare of this venue is host to exclusive parties. The seduction of this establishment may take you away as you drink, dance and socialize. There are private services available upon request. The best DJ’s in town are in line to play a wide variety of music. Some of you may dine…as long as you have your VIP pass.

However the Kindred arrive they are discreetly met and led to the back of the club. The space downstairs is decorated in dark, rich woods and expensive furniture. There's a coat room that will also hold one's 'unmentionables'; namely, weapons, at the foot of the stairs. There are also private areas, dark, and furnished with soft couches, as well as meeting rooms with conference tables and chairs, and an area with several televisions. The Court area is decorated with long black and brown silken drapes cascading from floor to ceiling. Draped in elegant bunches and gathered into valances across door frames and between supporting pillars; the lighting is intentionally low, but without the pulse of the music from above, the place has the feel of a sepulchre.

The common area circles the Court proper, and it becomes apparent that this is not decorated for a single evening. Small symbols note areas for Kindred only that branch off of the Commons, which will be necessary once those Kine privileged enough to see behind the Masquerade filter in: ghouls, herd members, or even devotees. The furniture setting is familiar now: a set of elegant chairs, all dark wood and red leather, arranged in a circle. The baroque lighting leaves the corners of the Elysium commons in deep shadow.
Towards the center of the room, a table was placed and roped off that was decorated in similar black and gold runners. Upon it was a model ship, roughly two and a half feet long with two sets of oars on each side- a Bireme.
Another evening; another Danse. For some it will their first, for some it shall be their last. After all, this is the Prince's Elysium, and subject to the Laws of the Domain.

Eternal Court is open once more...

Please remember that Predator's Taint is in effect and role-play is expected, or rolls will be asked for!

This is a great place to get Acknowledged

Eternal Court is not a singular event. Always open and in constant motion, a compression of the comings and goings of Kindred within Elysium throughout the nights. As such, Eternal Court is also never truly empty; this can include 'faceless masses' of Kindred beneath notice, ghouls, herd members, devotees, or even officials in their offices.

[Conner Wells]

Conner enters Elysium with a lighter step than usual, flush with stolen life and with a hint of a smile on his face. He's dressed in a grey suit jacket over blue dress shirt and pants, the suit jacket he quickly leaves with the coat check along with his cloaked blade. He takes his first few steps towards the entrance to Elysium and...

Nothing?

Or rather, not much of anything. There were some scatterings of people there, but nobody he recognizes. Nobody worthy of notice. ​He twists the Lancea ring on his hand and descends as he ponders briefly whether the monster was disappointed at no opportunities to display dominance or relieved that no stronger presences were here...yet. Give it time. There'll be plenty of opportunities for that.

The bireme still sits, in all its scaled-down glory. Conner remembers back to when the boat first appeared here; thinks about how many of come and gone since that time. And how many were beginning to trickle back...

He sits to one side, back straight and eyes forward out of the habit of being immune to mortal fatigue, and manufactures a non-verbal sigh as he sits in the all-but-empty chamber to await the next buffet of presence.

[Helen Kingsley]

Court or no court, thats the question. Or not. Helen doesn't really feel like going to Nox, but then, it's been a long time since she's been 100 % on board with the stuff she's been doing anyway, so what the hell ? Its not a formal anyway, that makes it a little easier to jujmp in and see who and what is about. Or not. Technically, nothing's official until next formal but after more or less short absences of three Priscuses over the last months ? Who knows who'll be next ? Or they get some more prodigial folks...

Anyway, without checking in anything, Helen prepares to enter Nox. Annoying as hell, but then, it is what it is and with the folks in attendance being what they are... It takes a while before she gets over the threshold. Not that the place looks very crowded right now, really. Tonights t-shirt of the, well, night is dark red. Yeap, not too many people around she knows better than 'have seen that face in passing somewhere before', really.

Except for her special friend Conner Wells over there, that is. So she goes to see whats up.

"Slow night, Padre ?"

[Helen Kingsley]

Also bookkeeping, because dumbass !

[Conner Wells]

There's no way to catch the tell-tale errant shadow that normally follows Helen around. But Conner definitely feels Helen just a fraction of a second before he sees her. He looks up from his seat and offers a friendly smile, the impulse to lunge upwards in defense muted by the sense of camaraderie he's developed with the Haunt over the past several months. "Slow night, quiet night. Either way, it's not unwelcome." Peace meant he could think undisturbed by the harrying stimuli that comes from having superhuman senses and a paranoid past. "I trust the night finds you well, Ms. Kingsley?"

He nods towards an adjacent seat, just in case Helen might want to stay awhile and listen. "I've been thinking about this trouble we've been handling since we found that graffiti in the industrial district." The room is all but empty save the two of them, but he still wants to be discreet. "All these little power vacuums that have been building up around the city. What are your thoughts? I'm wondering if we should be more proactive in seeking them out rather than waiting for opportunists to show up." His expression becomes just a bit more solemn here.

[Helen Kingsley]

"Yeah, pretty much, I guess. But then, night ain't over yet, who knows what's still waiting. What about you ?"

With not too many folks of note around and not too much better to do anyways, Helen takes the indicated seat. She taps her chin thoughtfully, as Conner brings up the investigation as well as some power vacuums.

"Good question. You're right, there's a lot of things worth looking at in the cracks. But those things are also pretty widely spread out over the city, which means you don't pick out your crumbs carefully, you'll be spread pretty thin and getting overextended is no fun out here, especially once others get interested. Notice how some of the stuffs are in locations that are mostly interesting because they're far away from the court's eye."

Not that she hasn't toyed with the thought of putting up some projects, but at the moment, she's got neither the ressources nor the time or the support for that sort of stuff.

"It's pretty noticable we've got few folks of note here, there's a lot happening in town that court doesn't really get to know. Folks like Max, for example."

Although she's more thinking about people like Corvinus, the Arkwright Haunts and stuff like that. Not necessarily a bad thing if the centralized court doesn't know everything, yet it's also dangerous. But then, life in fringes and Barrens isn't that fun, so whoever lives there either has a good reason for that, is a survivaliust or is gone again pretty quick.

"Got your eye on anything in particular, or just thinking in general ?"

[Conner Wells]

"Well. Thanks for asking." Somehow the inquiries about his well being never bore the Shadow. Some begrudging extra sense relays that the interest is at least casually genuine.

Always observant. Conner nods with contemplative agreement. "That last phrase is the thought I have closest to my mind." Makes you wonder how limited the Court's vision has been of late, with so many departures.

"Max has definitely got me thinking about some ideas for the Lancea presence for the future. We'll need to be more open and out in the city. Not aggressively so, but enough that the fledgling or lost Kindred are found and given opportunities to thrive rather than get swept up by opportunists." He gives Helen a rueful glance as if to say 'And by we, I mean me'. "After all, evangelism should be a grand focus of any faith."

"There were a couple Haunts last month that I didn't recognize. Have you gotten to know them?" He's almost positive he recalls some reference to them being found in Arkwright. But he wants to indulge the conversation and confirm his knowledge at the same time.

[Helen Kingsley]

"Just don't tell me you're going to open up some monastery or somethign like that somewhere in the outskirts."

Because ain't nobody got time for that. And the staffing issues. And all the other issues...

"Who's 'we' ? Vincenzo and you ? No disrespect intended, but that sounds like something you can do when you got more folks, unless you want to poster the town with encoded flyers, really. Or stuff the soup kitchens and stuff with faithful non-fangers."

Somehow she doubts Ol' Longinus would look very favourable on that.

"Or you want to recruit laymen or unfaithful as middle-men... Going to offer Max a side-gig ?" She frowns at the evangelism bit. "Depends on the evangelism. Preaching is one thing. I've always been more partial to evangelism through deeds, really. You're right though, we wouldn't let those poor souls fall into the hand of those who'd merely use them as a means towards an end."

She gives Conner a pointed look. Asked on the other Nossies ?

"A brood of haunts that live on Arkwright Cemetery. Pretty territorial guys, not that social, but pretty okay if you know what to look out for. Jackson and Rufus are sort of their speakers and represent them at court. We've met, I've helped a little get them prepared for Acknowledgement. Don't know them from Adam, though. Want an Introduction ?"

She's only half-joking, after all, who knows. Helen's got no idea how the Arkwright Haunts would take to candles and stained glass, but hey. She figures, push comes to shove, it'd be funny to see what happens. Also, they're all grown-ups, right ?

[Conner Wells]

Conner takes in Helen's responses to his query and his eyes are open with a surprisingly mirthful smile. ​"My, my; so many ideas, Ms. Kingsley. If I didn't know any better I'd say you were a freshly minted Lancea." ​He shakes his head. "My focus is going to be less on expansion and more on just being more active in wandering the city. The improvements I've been making around the Moore House are more or less coming to a close, so I've been coming up with more nights to be out and about. The Lancea, like many religious orders, may come off as too insular and self-contained. More content with building resources and presence within than without."

Helen's pointed look is met with a deadpan stare back. Conner could take it and dish it out at this point; he isn't the same fragile Shadow as he was in past months. "And what would one be looking for with these Haunts? Trouble? Parlor tricks?" He tries his best to leave any bite out of his retort, though some residual monstrous sarcasm tinges his expression. "If they're in the area and welcome to it, I'd be happy to meet them." Come to think of it, he couldn't remember encountering any Haunts in Arkwright when he was last there, so maybe they'd ran into Jacque and Quinn's group. And Maeve.

There's a subtle change in Conner's expression, almost like a flinch. Then he looks around the room. "Do you suppose everyone's just waiting to punk us outside? Or did we miss some memo?"

[Helen Kingsley]

"Hah, now I don't know if that's a compliment or not." She grins. "Just been around Lanceae long enough to know how some of the thinking goes, really." Helen shrugs. "Well. lets be honest, in this place, everything that ain't Invictus comes across as too insular and self-contained. Small numbers will do that." Not that she doesn't know that issue herself, but sometimes, saying it out loud helps, or so she's heard.

"Who knows, I guess that depends on what one expects from these Haunts. Rufus and Jackson should be around at times, look out for them. Do yourself a favour and don't go looking for the others on your own. They're pretty territorial. I'll introduce you guys next time I see you, remind we, if I forget."

Follwoing Conner's look around and wquestion, the Haunt has little to do save scratch her head and shrug.

"I got no idea at all. Is a little creepy though, that's for sure. Lets just hope if there's punking going on it's got nothing to do with lemon curd and razors."

Because that shit stings...