(Dagger Caper) Incident Under Red Lights

[Yumyumcrow]

Sacramento was a boom town again.

The old had long been cleared away in the space north of downtown but south of the American river. Old empty lots and mouldering light industry was being revamped and renewed. Rebuilt in piecemeal fashion. By day the zone was a place of dust and noise, hard work, and crisp newness. By night it was still a place of stark loneliness: of harsh lights and deep shadows; of false paths that lead nowhere - or new paths to somewhere else or something new.

Fragments of the old remained, like this ruined and neglected space hard by the rail lines and Mckinley Village Way: a flat, open space of dirt and sparse vegetation. A place where shadows pooled by night. A place quiet enough to bring prey. A place of mystery.

There is a single, solitary light here: a guttering thing that glows a demonic red. Ambient light from the nearby industrial plant only add to the bloody contrast.

What brings Kindred out to this lonely spot, between the 28th Street and the new developments at McKinley Village?

Cadence Behr trickychicknixon CMS Josef Alice Hart Saber Sloth

[Alice Hart]

Euros. It seemed, brought these Kindred together.

Or that was the Acolyte's opinion when they met that night.

There had been a restlessness about her, the kind that had initially lead her to the Sister Three. With it, Alice did away with her soft fabrics, and her equally soft pastels. Alice chose to wear something she hadn't worn in month. Jeans. They felt weird on her legs, just as weird as the work boots on her feet. Or the cotton t-shirt worn under her leather jacket.

Lyssa hadn't said a word whens he saw her mistress in such attire, but Alice knew the ghoul wanted to.

She needed to walk. She needed to move. A knife, her little fang slipped into the shadows and into the waistband of her jeans, because after Bea. The Blind Doll wouldn't be found with just her fangs again.

Stepping out of her apartment, as the Doll had been taking to spending her daysleep here instead of the Necropolis, with Robert. The restlessness calmed as Alice's face turned into the East Wind's kiss. Her hair loose as it always was, blown violently in a single direction. Cane in hand, and amethyst sunglasses perched upon her nose, hiding the vacant pits of darkness from sight, Alice traveled to where the king of the blood red leaves was leading her.

When she comes upon the other Kindred the Wraith thrashes. A twisting blend of Fear and Rage causing it to writhe in the waters. Alice grits her teeth, soft human teeth, not hint of fang, she was better then that, and takes a breath she didn't need to leash the Wraith once more and shut it behind it's cold iron bars.

"Good evening," she greets, as Euros caresses her face.

  ToS: Knife

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2017-10-14 20:10:30		Alice Hart rolls 8 to Hiding her little fang! (Wits3+Lar2+Obfus2+1size) (10 Again)		5, 10, 6, 3, 1, 9, 8, 9, 3		4 successes

Equipment, Kinfe (ToS), Reinforced Cloths (Leather Jacket), cell phone set to vibrate, cane, and sunglasses

[Alice Hart]

The threat approaches first and says naught. Alice's teeth grind but she doesn't go for her little fang. She knew Ale's and Vivian's presences without thinking, Wood was getting there as well, with the times they've run into each other at Court....this Beast....Alice didn't know, but it wasn't entirely new.

Candace is next, her voice far more familiar then the mewling thing in her breast. "Miss Hart." Alice cuts in, "Or Alice. While it appears we're alone, we're not safe. I do not know this place, and someone as new as you...keep titles to safe places." Alice chides, far more softly then she had in the past, but her mind always remembers the time Garrick had done the same for her when she first arrived. "But to answer your question, I am restless. Is that what's brought you out tonight?" she asks the Daeva, before turning to the unknown threat. Questions silent on the air.

[Yumyumcrow]

Three Beasts circled one another where the shadows pooled beyond the lights. It was only when the Kindred were in close proximity to one another that it might have struck them how isolated the spot was; a place between. Between the thoroughfare of 28 Street and shiny new developments at McKinley Village (not yet complete). It was a safe place, surrounded by comforting shadows.

Or perhaps it should have been.

None of them saw the approaching danger. It did not come up from McKinley Village and, indeed, if it had there would have been plenty of warning - lights and the sound of an engine, for instance. It did not come by the train tracks for again the lights, sound, and vibration would have been easy to detect. Nor was the threat from some thuggish kine spotting them as marks in the dark.

The danger originated from 28 Street. Josef and Cadence didn't see it, for the road was well away from their position and the first hint was the flash of distant headlights; headlights following the exact path of the thoroughfare and in no way a danger to them. Alice didn't feel it, not at the start; her senses may have been keen but even if fuelled by Vitae she could not detect things from such a distance.

The first hint of trouble was subtle - the distant headlights became... erratic.

The next hint was the sound of tyres screeching and an engine howling in distress. Getting closer.

Then the lights and the sound was getting closer, accompanied by the sound of thudding and grinding and banging. A flare of screaming tyre, dirt and gravel.

The light was bearing down on them. Josef and Cadence saw it from the periphery of their vision. Alice felt it vibrating through the earth, dully, under her feet. Then with a shriek and an unashamedly anticlimactic bang, the light swerved some distance from their position.

A faint popping and ticking noise, mechanical in nature, infused the air. The headlights remained, their basilisk glare staring vacantly passed the Kindred's position.

In the ominous and suddenly self aware quiet, there was the gentle creak of a car door.

[Alice Hart]

"Ah." Alice breathes as as feels the weaker presence of Cadence's Beast move between her and Josef. "Miss Behr, rebel. Mister Löwenstein, the same." Says Alice as it appeared neither Carthain had met yet.

Then before more words breathed and conversation given life there is a sound. Screeching tires, a whining engine and the apocalyptic crash all of which thrums through the Doll as the other Kindred react to the crash.

Josef speaks and Alice nods "Thank you for the offer but there's no need." said distractedly as she's lost to memories her feel carry her forward and the Blood infuses into her dead-doll flesh. She wonder is this us why Euros brought her here, and if this crash would lead to something as interesting as the last one.

Alice trails after the Daeva, but doesn't speak. Anything she would add would only harm with her hollow voice.

-1Vitae to Blush
Sorry can't get to the proper expenditure icons :(

Edit: Ack didn't see Jsef's post while I was typing away at mine!