Special Delivery

[Velma]

As soon as the last shard of wood is removed from the songstress heart her body moves as if stirred by profane magic. In a single lifeless moment the inert body is now undead and Dillon’s hand is now grasping not a simple cadaver but a kindred.

Velma’s eyes open wide.

There are a few moments of silence. Inside her she is dealing with the press of Dillon’s beast, the anger of being staked and worst of all… the hunger, deep and relentless hunger. Those blue wide opened eyes momentarily meet those of Dillon that is holding her in place and the Prince that is sitting in the sofa across the table.

  Resisting Frenzy: Success

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2013-04-22 18:09:32		Velma Star rolls 3 to Resist hunger Frenzy Res + Comp -2 extended - aiming at 3 suxx - 1st (10 Again)		9, 10, 8, 4		3 successes

When she suddenly realizes what is going on terror and fear start to creep in her mind, slowly, like a gelid poison that liquefies the muscles and the innards…

Velma tries to talk first, her throat already coarse and dry but all that the songstress is able to produce is the sound of someone struggling against the gag ball. Her head moves to look to her arms, her legs, only now she understands why her movements felt odd and different.

In quiet but controlled panic she decides to alt and wait.

Blood Pool = Zero | Willpower Pool = Zero

[Asa]

Asa watched as the corpse reanimated, fascinated by the process.

Such a simple thing, a sliver of wood...

His eyes flickered to the shortened stake that Dillon removed; an awkward weapon, now. It made it no less dangerous. The eyes lingered on the claws before returning to Velma, finding it convenient that more blood wouldn't have to be found.

He listened, and watched, until she settled.

He gave her his most charming smile.

"Good evening Miss Star."

Despite having been ready for anything --including a Frenzied, newly risen angry and hungry predator-- he presented the perfect image of insouciance.

"You've been a bad girl. Consider this my way of reminding you that I would rather that you behave yourself. I would also like you to 'open' each Court for the next three months with a recital of my Laws and the rules of Elysium to remind yourself. If we can agree to that, I'll have the Reeve release you."

Asa leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees.

"If you misbehave again, well, you'll find yourself surprised at what you'll be willing to agree to."

Asa's unblinking eyes bored into her blue ones for a moment, emphasizing his words before he smiled again.

"Are you going to play nice, Miss Star?"

[Velma]

Velma listens attentively to the Prince’s words… not only because his presence and charisma demanded so but because her requiem did depend on it. Before being a songstress, an envious Daeva bitch and a provocative socialite Velma was a survivalist, so she still enjoyed her own Requiem a lot to see it come to a premature end.

When Asa looks her in the eye Velma meekly casts her own eyes downwards, maybe ashamed, maybe afraid… maybe both, she felt the tension rising slowly as he spoke, being humiliated in such a way was a harsh punishment, being humiliated in public was harsher, but when the Prince asks her if she was going to play nice the songstress produces a succession of nods, each one faster than the previous…

She decided against moving hands to release the ball gag realizing it as part of the lesson being administrated.

[Dillon Connery]

The Reeve's palm remains against Velma's bare collarbone, thumb on the opposite side and resting against her throat. Where, in a living being, he would feel the slow and steady pulse of life.

He almost expects it, at the Daeva's reanimation. Even if she isn't Blushed. It just seems as though such a thing should accompany this awakening to the world. But like all things in the Requiem, it is life counterfeit. A semblance that in any other instance would be a predator's camouflage.

With his hand against bare flesh as her Beast returns with her, Dillon is struck with the urge to snap her neck. A squeeze and a twist, and she would go right back down. The Hellhound would conquer.

At the very least, he could throttle her until the creature satiated him with its torment.

Neither happens. Dillon mentally throttles the Beast instead; with the leash he keeps a tight reign on at all times. The leash tethered to three collars.

While his literal restraining hand holds Velma firmly - but not cruelly - against the cushion, the other slips over to undo the gag and hood. He doesn't bother to release the piece of stake as he does this, granting its former recipient an uncomfortably close view of the implement that had been her sentence. He withdraws the items, and lays them casually in Velma's lap. Save the stake, which he holds on to.

The luscious cherry red hair, and tongue, now have their freedom.

[Asa]

"Wonderful."

Asa made it sound as if she'd agreed to a social engagement. An intricate mixture of pleasure, satisfaction, and expectations met. It would have been a shame to stake her again.

He stood, and gave Dillon a nod.

"Reeve, thank you. A pleasure to see you again."

It was clearly the beginnings of an exit. The night was young, and the world was full of important things. The EU was collapsing. North Korea was testing nukes. The NFL Draft was close.

[Velma]

Velma doesn’t make an effort to move as the Reeve undoes the mask and the gag onto her lap, her eyes skim over the stake for a moment just to be sure it wasn’t going to end up in her chest again… what a terrible joke it would be… but perhaps more along the lines of what she feared she would get if her first suspicions had been proven true…

In a certain way it was a relief.

In another she would have to find it in her to leave the hole she had dug for herself.

Could a kindred learn lessons?

Time would tell!

Inside her something was definitely changing.

As the Prince stands to leave she just nods again in silence, the perfect image of contrition.
Her eyes remain shyly locked in the mask and gag in her lap.

[Dillon Connery]

Dillon remains knelt for only a beat after Asa rises. As he stands to his full height as well, returning the Prince's nod with a deeper one of his own, the Gangrel slips the shortened stake into a handkerchief and then his jacket.

As usual, he'd been hoping for the best, and expecting the worse. Thankfully, they'd all been rewarded with the former. Pleasantly surprised, that Velma hadn't awakened in a suicidal frenzy, or tried to ply her wiles on the Reeve and/ or Prince.

At least this time, Dillon wouldn't have had to be grilled about why he ashed a problem Kindred.

He begins to wonder how far up the chain of command his stabbing Neil Coben in the face had even made it. Surely Conner or Ariana had informed Asa one way or another. Not that Dillen expected His Majesty to care about the Requiem of a potential troublemaker, but a then-deputy usurping his power to grant Right of Destruction isn't something to be taken lightly.

Well aware just how differently things could have gone both then and now, the Reeve decides against overly flowery words. There is a fine line between honorifics and sucking up.

"Anytime, sir. Anytime." A statement of both his service and his presence.

Slipping his hands into his pockets, Dillon looks down to the songbird, and winks.

[Velma]

A wink…?

You motherless dog!

You staked me!

You want me to thank you is that it?

But then again you didn't ash me...

Shit...

...maybe there's still hope Dillon.

Velma decides to lower her view when the Reeve winks in her direction, slightly afraid of letting some of her thoughts transpire if she kept looking or tried to force a smile that just wasn’t going to be perfect.

After a few moments and after clearing her thoughts she stands as well, ready to leave the Asylum to taste freedom and the awaken world… she felt like shit and wanted to take a night long bath, maybe it would help to sort all this mess she had gotten herself into.

[Dillon Connery]

It could have went either way, in Dillon's mind. Rabid anger at him, with all intention of ripping his dead lungs out, or some sort of groveling supplication, possibly in the form of sexual advance. But as Velma seems to possess no strength for the one and too much pride for the other, the Reeve isn't completely caught off guard when neither comes.

Right now, he's thinking there's still hope for her, as well.

"You can keep all that, by the way," he says, with a small wave of an indicative finger at Velma's attire. As though subtly implying he might have required her to remove and return it before he leaves. "The suit won't fit anyone but you anyhow, and I have no need of the hood or gag.

"We can work out some way for you to pay me back for it later."

The finger now shifts to point back at the ottoman. His other hand moves to assist, playfully indicating with both index fingers. "I'm keeping the cage though. It's the perfect size. Never know when one might need it again."

Or who he might need it for.

The night where he held Catherine , flailing and snapping at throats in the park, springs to mind.

Scooping the hanging ring on the top of the cage with two fingers, Dillon also begins to show the intentions of leaving. Though his face is the cheerful, lopsided smirk it usually is, the words he leaves next are thoughtful, and fairly serious.

"Don't forget anything I told you before this event. I can only reiterate the claim that I never lied to you that night, Miss Star."

[Velma]

Yes Dillon, keep stomping my pride…

And I will even have to pay for the suit I didn’t bought!

Fucking extortionist.

I won’t…

…Reeve Connery.

Were the only words she dared, least the bile she kept inside her came spilling outside in a manner most foul.