(1005) Avalon Underground

[Rosyn]

Lori Meyers arrives at the Avalon, stepping out of a cab whose driver teases her once more about her dress before speeding away. For once she had decided to follow the theme and she went to a vintage store as soon as she got word of it. Her dress was short, black, with a tight vest and standing collar that she paired with black leather boots.

Picture

Following the ques that were left for arriving Kindred she finds herself in the meeting area and wanders into the Commons. She gives a small bow to the Prince when/if he looks her way but doesn't approach the Court proper.

[Frost]

Madison descends the stairs to the underground court with Seneschal Staley on her arm. She has a slight smile playing on her face as if her companion has just said something amusing. She pauses with him at the entrence and takes a good look around before stepping into the common room. She spots Victoria, Jayant, Markos, and Ishani speaking close to the door and the Prince, O-Yama, Shadow, Reeve Culler and a gentleman she doesn't recognize conversing in another part of the room. She catches glimpses of Priscus Von Schusten as he moves through the area.

She decides to go and greet her Priscus first, remembering how the Prince feels about being approached by lesser kindred at Court.

She walks to the small group surrounding the Harpy, Staley still with her. She lets go of Heathcliff's arm to give her Priscus a sweeping curtsey. "Harpy Stamform, Priscus of Lords it is a pleasure to see you looking so radient this evening."

Madison's Attire

[Max Heinz]

*Max can't help but shake his head a little as everyone begins to pair off into their social groups, as it was at every Court. He moves from Shadow's side, she'd seemed to have found her protection for the night. He doesn't bother the small circle of higher station Kindred, they were too busy fawning over each other; and he doubted his words of praise would be miss with so many being tossed about.

Instead he offers a deep bow to Asa as he enters, then fades back towards the south east corner until such time as he might be needed. At least being a Deputy gave him one advantage: he wasn't being antisocial, he was being vigilant. As he scans over the gathered Kindred, he makes note of the new faces, and those still missing; two faces especially...*

[West]

Asa Clarke
Presence ●●●● | Mask of Tranquility

"Why thank you," Asa said, opening the box. He sifted through his memories, and smiled in appreciation. It is an often overlooked but true axiom that the value of a gift is measured by what it cost the giver -- a lesson he knew well enough from a Valentine's Day gift. He took a few moments to affix the chain to a belt loop, and slipped the watch inside of a pocket.

Anything more was cut off by the exchange between Arnold and O-Yama, which Asa watched with an amused intensity. It was always interesting to watch men of power dance, and his own Blood made the unspoken nuances almost taste delicious. He silently fought with his own predator, already crouched in defiant anger at the power of the Reeve's Blood, and more than ready and willing to enter the silent, deadly sparring.

To distract himself, he glanced around the room, an eyebrow raising once or twice at choices in apparel. Cassandra, in particular, had gone all out, and he looked towards the stairs, wondering where Twist was.

"I'm under the impression that the Grindhouse has been... re-opened," he commented with a small smile as he turned his attention back to the others.

Just in case they'd like to settle things.

For entertainment value only, of course.

Argent
Blood Potency ●●●●

Argent arrived, also dressed in a Mandarin style suit.

Well, not really.

It was the uniform of all the hair dressers at Giorgio's, but, whatever. 'Close enough' was something the Daeva heartily endorsed.

"Fessez moi," he breathed, approaching Cassandra. "How does such a belle fleur find herself all alone?"

Mon dieu, that yowling thing inside was annoying. He'd have to ease in to get it to shut the fuck up. And slowly mingle.

[banner]argent[/banner]

[Yog-Sothoth]

Dirge

Dirge carefully made her way down the stairs with her cane tucked under her arm. Cerberus was on her left side and he led her downward while her right had gripped the handrail to aid her descent. As she reached the bottom step she listened to the murmering of voices around her to recognize who was already present and match them up with the familiar pull of their beasts in reaction to her own.

The blind haunt wore a black and red evening dress, with long black gloves that matched her blindfold. Her long black hair was styled and up with the help of one of Mark's ghouls and Dirge hoped her outfit would be appropriate for the event because, while she may not be thrilled with the Prince and his recent policy she was not upset enough to show open defiance in the way she dressed. Ventrue Prince's tended to be assholes about such things, well most Princes did for that matter. Ventrue Princes tended to be assholes...just do it with style.

It was rather upsetting that Dirge had gone from a respectable member of the domain with political affiliation through the Circle, to unaligned rabble based on the decree of a power mongering and oppresive Prince. If he thought that taking away her legal political representation would cease her practice he was sorely mistaken. However, she saw no need to defy the current edict by his highness as it wasn't an outright ban.

After checking her cane in the coat room she let Cerberus lead her into the room and away from the stairs to clear the entrance for any later arrivals. She slowly made her way across the room listening for someone she could approach or to find a out of the way place to stand.

Dirge's outfit for court.

Victoria Stamford

Victoria's smile persisted as Ishani declined her offer. She hadn't expected the woman to accept the offer, but thought it would be polite none-the-less. "A most excellent choice. The Viscountess' sense of elegance and style are very impressive. I don't know that there is anything that I would be able to contribute, but I would be happy to assist in planning or arranging a more permenant theme for the venue."

The Harpy's attention was briefly drawn to the entrance as Madison and Heathcliff made their way in. The fact that Madison and him had been spending so much time together and that she arrived on his arm was not lost on her. She had always thought Madison had better taste than to settle for the Seneschal. She smiled at Madison as she approached.

"Good evening and thank you Miss Wells. It is a pleasure as always," she finished while giving her clanmate a slight nod.

[Joseph Hartman]

Joseph watches the other arrives and fails to act fast enough to talk with Markos. Damn it Instead he makes his way over to Max.

"Deputy Watson I presume? Or was it Agent Green?" Joseph had fun with the nerd pursuit but he didn't have to deal with them.

[West]

Argent
Blood Potency ●●●●

"Bon temps," Argent cooed, taking the offered hand. "The hair, that's nice. Is it natural?"

Sliding over to Regina, Argent sketches something between a bow and a Heimlich maneuver recipient, then uses a hand to present Regina as if she's the newest prize on Wheel of Fortune.

"This, this is Reggie dearest, my cousin! And, this," he gestures back to Cassandra, "Non, I do not know her name. She is my belle fleur."

[Premsyl]

Arnold nods in appreciation for O-Yama's comment, replying "I am fortunate for my friends and allies. I'm certain, though, that you made a fine Sheriff for the duration, and are quite capable of the job."

But it's mine is the unspoken finish to that sentence.

Why did he feel as if he must compete with O-Yama? The two were of the same clan with similar skillsets, this was true, but they followed different paths. Perhaps Arnold had expected O-Yama to be more outward about his feelings regarding the Priscus matter, and Arnold was simply compensating for an unspoken rivalry that perhaps did not even exist.

He goes on to say "It truly is good to see you safe after your long ordeal. Not only safe, but the supposedly the slayer of the fiend Bethem. From what I understand he was torpid at the time, but quite an accomplishment nonetheless."

Then the Prince speaks of the Grindhouse, drawing Arnold's attention. He had mixed memories of the place, and had never been to one of the fights that supposedly were once held in the arena below it.

It was not long ago, though so much had happened since then, that Arnold had professed personal interest in the Grindhouse and its refurbishment.

"Interesting," he replies "I've never attended one of the events there, the closest thing for me being Freddrick's last Court and the... show.. that he put on that night." Arnold's casual tone and conversational smile doesn't change even as he remembers the Kindred burning to death that night.

Glancing back to O-Yama out of the corner of his eye, he realizes what Asa might be implying, whether the Prince meant to or not, regarding the two Nosferatu.

It was an interesting thought, to say the least. His Beast, ever violently jealous of the space that O-Yama was taking up in the world and eager for the man's blood to be devoured in tribute to Arnold's own will, felt so especially.

Arnold tugs at his collar a bit. It was getting stuffy in here with so many Beasts mingling.

[West]

Asa listened, and kept his face carefully composed, not reacting to Arnold's words. Whatever was going to happen, he wasn't going to provoke it further.

He saw the entrance of someone he wished to speak to, but was frankly loath to leave the current entertainment. Instead, he simply called out quietly for her to make her way over. "Miss Dirge?"