Vampire: The Masquerade ~ Berlin by Night

Prince Gustav. Prince being the key form of addressing; This meant that the current dominant power in eastern Berlin was a Camarilla government headed by Gustav, just as had been rumored. One could never always truly tell from the outside, and this confirmation was welcome information.

"Delightful." It replied, its current form's well-spoken words laced with that eastern accent. "It seems I have met just who I was supposed to, then." Carrying its words with etiquette and courtesy, Drakon replied. "Things near my homeland to the east have become unstable and...undesirable. I had been contemplating a move for some time, and the current situation in this city is one that I must admit presented an opportunity for earning a new home."

He idly shifted the teacup below a few times with two fingers, taking small cares to put on a detailed show of standard mortal activity to any passers-by. "At times such as these, I would be as bold as to presume the rightful master of Berlin could make use of any assistance available."

Dhani gave a big smile and extended his hand. "I'm Dhani and this is... my haven that is in major need of remodeling but that is besides the point. It was nice of Prince Wilhelm to send you here." It seems the Ventrue are not the corpulent bully of an older sibling like i though they were. Dhani's smile began to fade. "You still have not told me who are. I find that to be quite rude."

Ulric

Uric's eyebrow twitched as he again stomped down his anger with sheer will. This Giovanni's tone was getting increasingly on his nerves. The one thing that he could agree on with him was that he wanted this over as soon as possible. With a muttered 'fine' he walked on, leading M.G. To the eastern Elysium.


Sebastian

Sebastian started chuckling before breaking out into a long laugh. He stopped and rubbed his eyes before they started tearing up with blood.
"Magnificent! This is even better than I could have dreamed. Indeed you will do well! I suppose you would like me to guide you to the Prince then for introductions?" He said as he swirled his cup, then taking a deep sip, enjoying the thick copper taste of the blood that indeed filled both their cups. Though to most from a distance it would indeed still just look like tea.


Felix

He laughed out loud for a moment then looked at Dhnai.
"Sorry about that, my name is Felix Klain. A member of Clan Gangrel as you are sure to have guessed, if my information is correct you are of clan Toreador yes?" He said as he nodded to himself. He then looked up as if remebering something.
"Oh, you have been out for a while, it might be a good idea to go Visit the prince now that you are no longer starved. Though I'm sure you have some time if you wish to... Take care of things around here first? But it is unwise to keep a Prince waiting."

The smooth-appearanced one gave a single nod, warm mist coming from its lips in the cold night air via the earlier use of blood to disguise its immortal state. "That's quite gracious of you. I would be most appreciative." It shifted slightly in its seat, its serenely-appearing eyes once more visible from under the hat it wore. "I would hate to keep a prince waiting."

Sebastian

Sebastion clapped his hands together and smiled, as he seemed to do a lot.
"Marvelous! We shall be off then!" Not even waiting to finish his blood tea or pay the waiter he stood up, placed a matching green top hat on his head. He picked up a long wooden cane topped with a golden serpent head and started to walk away from the Cafe. Humming a small tune as he walked.

Standing from its seat at the open cafe, Drakon placed its hands in the pockets of its long black coat and quietly followed behind its upbeat counterpart. Much like the teacups left on the table, one almost empty, and one entirely untouched, the two immortal beings appeared to be rather stark contrasts to one another. The quiet, darkly-garbed disguised fiend walked a few steps behind the green-garbed Malkavian, attentively taking in their surroundings as they made their way to wherever the prince's elysium was located.

Dhani took a look around and shook his head. "No need. My haven can waiting, if I should visit the prince then I shall do so now. As you said, it is best not to keep him waiting and i would like to thank him as well. If you don't mind Felix, could you escort a lost Toreador like me to the prince?"

Cheri? What did that guy think he was, a Gigolo? Back when she was fully human, she would have never opened the door for someone like that, she was not that kind of girl.

Now though… Who or whatever that was, he most likely knew something. Normally people didn’t need to state that they were unarmed.

She really didn’t want to deal with this shit right now, or at least, not until she’d taken a shower. But she was grasping at straws here, she had no idea what exactly was going on here, and if this creep could help, could she really afford to let it go away? In the short run probably, but the long run was another matter.

With a resigned sigh, she answered:
“Fine, come in. But no funny business, and keep your distance!”

Still not looking through the peephole, she reached forward to push down the handle, then lightly kicked against the door to have it swing open slowly, and retreated back into the room so that the window would be at her back and the bed between her and him. During all that, she still avoided to stand in front of the door to take a look at the guy, seeing how as stone wall offered better protection than a wooden door. She also changed her grip on the dagger, now having the blade point upwards to gain better reach.

Felix

Felix nodded and stood up, dusting himself off and making sure everything was in order.
"Sure thing, would be a pleasure." He turned to the side and gave a short whistle. Waiting a moment a large black Great Dane came plodding along. It looked almost exactly like how Felix did a moment ago.
"Now then, shall we?" With that he and his dog walked out into the night.


Leontel

The man waited for a moment, muttering something about a headache before entering the room. He was scratching the stuble on his chin in a thoughtful manner, the Fedora on his head tilted slightly to one side as he took a look around the room. He made sure to keep a couple of feet away from her as she had asked. He held a large metal breif case in his hand, after walking in he set it on the dresser near the entrance. He turned to her again with what must have been an award winning smile as he took afew steps away from the case.
"Now then, I'm sure you are full of questions and we have a small moment befor things get out of hand, after all some people did take notice of your arivle, and that thing with the front desk clerk." He stopped and chuckled to himself when he remebered her trying to use the old jedi mind trick gag. She clearly had no idea that little happened in a city this important with out someone noticing, lucky for her he seemed to have gotten to her first.
"But first lets do this, I'll ask you a question, then you can ask me two. First question, do you know what you are?"

Spoiler:

Lea’s mind raced. On the bright side, her suspicions had been right. The whole human monster business was monitored and concealed by some organisation, and this guy most likely belonged to them. Bad news, said organisation, likely to be full of monsters itself, had taken notice of her, and she wasn’t nearly as subtle and smart as she thought she was.

But really? This was probably the most dangerous and uncertain moments of her life, and this pretty boy with the French accent (or something) wanted to play Q&A?!

With a tone expressing both aggravation and fear, she said:
“I am the girl who was at the wrong place at the wrong time and is now a fanged monster with a craving for red! I am also filthy and in need of a shower! And pushed into a corner, thusly prone to violent behaviour involving a long knife in order to preserve my life. But what do you want from me? And if you insist on two questions, who or what are YOU anyway?!”

Leontel

He held up his hands with a slightly pained smile.
"Now now Cheri, no need to be so hostile. Fortunately for you I know what you are, The being a vampire. But I don't quite think the gravity of what you are having sunk in yet, well judging by the way you brandish that little knife anyway. Maybe a small demonstration is in order?" He looked around the Hotel room till he found a small mirror set on the bedside table. Picking it up he banged it against the table, breaking the glass. He took a long jagged shard of glass and held it up to his palm for her to see. He drew it across his hand, digging a deep wound. But little blood poured out of the cut, and less than three seconds later it was healed, two seconds after that there was not even a scar left.
We are not the vampires from the myths, legends and movies portray us. Really they only got a few things right, those I'm sure you have figured out, stay out of the sun and drink blood. But it goes far beyond that." He said with a slightly grim tone.
"You might be out of your depth a little Cheri. But now for your Questions in revers order." He gave a short bow while holding his right hand over his left breast.
"I am Leontel, a Vampire like you. My bloodline is from Clan Ravnos... Oh dear me, you probably do not even know about Bloodlines do you? Anyway, what I want from you? Little really, I'm just here to make sure you don't get yourself killed, at least not in a way that would cause trouble for the rest of us. You seem to be bumbling about in the dark, I can help." He said with a self satisfying smirk on his face.
"Next question, Do you know who or what turned you into a Vampire? A name? A look?"

So. There it was. The answer to what she was now.

Vampire.

Okay, to be honest, she had already considered that possibility, but denied it because it would have been a little too obvious, and she was sure there were other mythological creatures with a lust for blood.

Alright then. Vampires were real, she was one of them, and another was having a conversation with her Also, apparently vampires could easily heal wounds. She almost lowered her dagger, but then she thought, a cut or stab in the right places should still hurt quite a bit. And assuming the cliché wooden stake routine was actually real, she saw no reason for steel working less than wood.
But wait, Ravnos? That didn’t sound French. And Clans? Bloodlines? Why did things always have to be more complicated than they needed to be? Then again, human societies were a gigantic mess of complications already, so why should vampires be any different? No point bemoaning that now, better to learn more. And to do that…

“Since you said that we don’t have much time, lets make a long story short. I hung out with new friends in a rundown place, monsters, eh, I guess vampires who look like Count Orlok on steroids ad with red eyes come in and knock everyone out. I wake up, suddenly I have fangs and everyone else looks like Orlok on less steroids. Big Orlok guys give us a talk about a crusade against their grandparents or something, and to stay out of the sun, net thing I know we are all thrown out of a car next to what seemed to be a rundown factory. And then vampires who look like normal people come and kill everyone, I hide, Orlok guys come and fight not Orloks, and I run. That’s all.

Okay, my turn. How do I know you are telling the truth? And when you said that we don’t have much time, does that mean in a few minutes more vampires are about to jump through the window or something?"

Dhani fought the impulse to run over and play with the dog as if he was a child all over again. "Yes, of course. Lead the dear friend." As he followed Felix and the great dane out, he stop for a moment to attempt to put the door back on the hinges. "Perfect... well sort of."

Dhani caught up with them and brushed his hair from his face. As they walked he whistled a little tune to himself.

Ulric and Sebastian

Both of the Camarilians led their own charges to the court of Prince Gustav. Said Elysium seemed to be set in a rather large art museum.  Ulric and M.G. Arrived first, Ulric walked up to what seemed to be an older man sitting by a door marked 'VIP' With a nod to the guard the door swung open and they entered into the main room of Elysium.
Sebastian and Drakon show up only moments later, doing the same thing, though the guard seemed to eye Drakon and Sebastian a bit more critically than he did for the last group.
Shortly after entering Both Ulric and Sebastian took leave, wandering off to go inform the Prince of their guests. Though they did mention before leaving that they were free to move about the main area, have a drink, relax on one of the padded sofas or mingle with the handful of other vampires that were present.


Leontel

Leon listened to her story, noting first that her dagger had wavered but not lowered. He had not yet gained her trust. Good, maybe she wouldn't end up dead anytime soon then. He leaned against the dresser that he had laid his case on and rubbed his chin.
"Hmm mass embracing, Big and ugly fellows, fighting against their 'grandparents'...." He sighed and rubbed the back of his head, looking slightly put off. He sighed and looked at her. Orloks? She is probably referring to some of those damn Tzimisce or maybe or maybe Nosferatu, though her story said all the other looked like them, but she still seemed to retain her looks, good thing too as she would not have even gotten this far if she looked any different.
"It would seem that you ran afoul of a group known as the 'Sabbat'. Nasty Boyos I tell you. It seems that you got off luckier than your friends did though. The Sabbat sometimes do this, pull a bunch of people off the street, turn them into vampires then send them as meat shields." He sighed and shook his head. Then he thought about her Questions.
"How do you know I'm telling the truth? About what? Being a vampire? You should have guessed it by now, About me wanting to help you? Well I'm not exactly doing it just for you, if you freak out and cause trouble it will bring unwanted problems down on us. Actually speaking of that, it brings up the answer to your next question. No other vampires are not on their way." At least I hope not.
"But on the other hand someone saw your little stunt with the owner last night and just so happened that from his mouth word reached a group of hunters based in this area. So I would guess four or five guys armed with weapons for vampire hunting are on their way. Should still be a bit before they reach here though." He said the a nod. He clapped his hands together
"Now then, next question. Besides for your little mind powers have you noticed any other abilities? This will help me figure out what bloodline you are from." Though if I guessed right I may end up regretting this.


Felix

After a hour or so of walking They arrived at a rather fancy looking building, Felix waved past the two guards standing out front who eyed the Toreador. Entering the building the came into a lavishly furnished grand hall with several other people all milling about, chatting or drinking from fine Goblets.
"Welcome back to Elysium."

Sabbat? As in, like the Jewish Sabbath? Now that was the last thing she needed, religious vampires.

But that was of no concern for now, at the moment she was mentally freaking out over the mentioning of people coming to kill her for what she had become against her choice, and how nonchalant the… Ravnos seemed to be about it.

“And you say that now!? Quick then, which stories are real concerning how to kill vampires, what do I especially have to look out for?” While saying that, she was nervously scanning her surrounding and took a searching look through the window, through her blade was still pointed at the other vampire.
“And if you still insist on your answers even with these “hunters” coming, nothing special I can think of, I am stronger than before, but I guess that’s normal. Although… it’s been some time since I last saw one, but for some reason I can’t see my own reflection in mirrors. Is that normal as well? Because it seems a little hard to conceal in certain places.”

And boy, if she were still alive, she might as well have gotten a heart attack when she had become aware of that.

Elysium. A sanctuary where the peacocks of the Camarilla can take off their masks. Though even in this environment, they still strutted about, clinging to their humanity and veiling their weakness in games and schemes of social status. Though it was ultimately disgusting, coming to this place and saying the right things to the right cainites...or kindred, as they would be called here, would be essential. At least for the time being.

This particular elysium appeared to be an art museum, though if it also doubled as the prince's haven had not yet been made clear. It mattered not; Drakon was here now, and promptly carrying out the proper protocol needed to stay afloat in the seas of Berlin for the time being. It would do whatever is necessary to secure itself a legitimate clearance for haven in the city. If the prince would request a task of some sort, so be it.

The fully human-disguised Tzimisce stood silently in the black coat and hat adorning it, warm breath no longer coming from its lips and color no longer in its entirely pale visage, as within elysium the requirement to waste precious vitae on appearing alive was no longer necessary. Its posture idle and its arms crossed at its chest, the tall and darkly-clothed visitor quietly stood near a painting. Its hat casting a shadow over its eyes, it waited, peering in no particular direction and not making eye contact with any of the humanity-veiled vultures here.

M.G. Sighed as he entered the main Elysium chambers of the Museum. As the Assamite skulked off to inform his foul master all, M.G.'s mind was aglow with questions. Assamites in the service of the Eastern prince? When did this happen, what kind of purpose could the Assamites have to align themselves with him? Something big was on the rise, and M.G. knew that having an Assamite about could only spell trouble, even worse since it seemed the man who held the leash was his proverbial land lord.

It would probably be suicide is he tempted fate yet again by asking the Assamite again, they typically were not ones to give up such information; M.G. had been lucky enough to get a name and a clan out of him. Maximilian chalked that up to his ancestors looking out for him. He would have to look else where for an update on the current situation. Looking around he found familiar faces, most being the hopelessly blood bound lap dogs of the prince. Few escaped his need for total control. M.G. found it disgusting how many would rather be pets than masters, but it did impress him. Their was a measure of respect you had to give the man that could force so many vampires, known for their independence, to bound themselves to your will. Information would be tight, and he felt like the kid without a click, which essentially what he was. The ugly girl at the ball...But just because they would not give up any sensitive information knowingly you could always trick a word or too out of the naturally vain nature of the kindred.

M.G. took off his coat and hat, placing them on a coat rack near the door, giving the door man a stare letting him know that he was not a man to steal from. Not that anything was within his coat of worth, but what worried him was finding something that was not supposed to be there. He straightened his green vest some, and pulled his hair back in a pony tail. If he was not threatened into coming so soon he would have tidied up some, he was a man of class after all. Image counted for something amongst his clan and the same could be said for the Camarilla. He maneuvered his "emergency" medical tool in his shirt pocket to look at least orderly. His scalpel and a medical syringe filled with a very potent sedative he used on larger prey that struggled too much. The high from the feeding had its appeal he would admit.

The door behind him opened up once more to usher in the Malkavian he knew as Sebastian, the real herald/pet of the prince, who was escorting a new face into the room. He was a vampire, that much was obvious by the sudden lose of rose red from his cheeks. A dark figure, for a vampire, obviously even more cautious than he was by the way he avoided the crowd. Curious, a new face in Berlin, or at least east Berlin. Was he from the Western side he wondered.

He decided that since he was on neutral ground their was no immediate danger from asking. A new face at least meant that there was a less likely chance of him having any sort of binding that was prevalent in this princes court. He strode towards the new figure, taking a place a few feet away from him, leaning on the wall. M.G. put on his best political, fake, smile and opened with "A new face in the court of good prince of east Berlin....Welcome. Might I ask what has the Prince so interested in you that he had his Malkavian bring you here...." yes please tell me why I had to get the very unpleasant Assamite that wanted to kill rather than look at me. Not that I cared too much for the mad man, but at least he would have a warm cup a blood with you and chat some.

It was afforded a few short moments of silence before it suddenly found itself approached, the cainite speaking to it having an accent that sounded more Latin than Germanic. Following the vest-wearing one's greeting, Drakon placed a hand atop his hat to steady it before giving a courteous nod, bowing his head briefly.

"Thank you." It replied, this immortal's accent very clearly one of eastern European origin. Romanian or Russian was the most likely the case. "I am merely a newcomer to east Berlin. I was searching for a fellow kindred so that I may present myself to the prince in accordance with Camarilla tradition and law. Sebastion greeted me and led me here." The visitor replied mannerly.

Dhani gave a smirk and grabbed a goblet from one of the waiters passing by. "It's good to back, just being here is wonderful for what to do with my haven." Slowly, sipping from the goblet he glanced around to see if he still remebered his way around the elysium even though this is only his second visit as far as he could tell.

Let's see who is friend and who is foe? Dhani scanned the faces of the other guest to see if he recognized any and made note of the ones he didn't. He looked back over to where Felix was and noticed he had left. Hmp, he must have left to inform the prince that i am here.

Leontel

He couldn't help but laugh a bit at her panic. Oh to be young again.
"Fear not Mon Cheri, as I said we still have plenty of time and a small group of hunters will be easy enough to avoid if you stick with me." His laughter faded though after he heard that last bit about the reflection. As he had thought, she had been embraced by a Lasombra. How odd, though tended to not use shovelheads, rather they let others do that as Lasombra were mostly all stuck up. Well Claire was uptight, more so after she became a Paladin, how long had it been since he saw her? Twice as long since he set foot near the Sabbat he figured. He wiped his hand across his face and muttered one word.
"Lasombra..." He gave a small Hmph and went on.
"As for dealing with Vampires, things like silver and garlic have no effect, though you cannot eat garlic, or anything for that matter as I'm sure you have figured out by now. Holy relics have no power over us either. Well unless someone truly believes in it, but that's much harder and rarer to see than you would think as most mortals have some doubts in their minds. The whole 'stake to the heart' thing won't kill you, however if something does pierce your heart it will completely immobilize you, leaving you completely at the mercy of whoever did said staking. That would usually lead to your death. Enough trauma can kill you, being shredded with enough firepower or being blown to bits, or decapitated for that matter. Hmm Oh yeah, stay away from fire. Fire will burn you like dry wood. And of course sunlight will give you the worst sunburn in history." He stopped and checked his pocket watch.
"We still have about... Twenty minutes. So" he snapped the watch shut. "My last question, after this you can ask me anything you want. Would you like me to help you and teach you? If not I will take my leave as I'm not here to pressure you." The Irony of the fact that he had already mentioned the hunters was not lost on him, without him she had little chance against veterans of slaying her kind. But there always was a chance, but would it be worth the risk to go it alone?


Elysium (both)

About eight or so vampires moved about, along with maybe a half dozen ghouls acting as proxies for those vampires who can't afford to spend so much to at Elysium yet wanted to keep tabs on things. All had their own pretext for being here for one reason or another, much of the conversation was about the wall coming down and what actions the prince might take, or about the recent influx of kindred as well as the normal rumors, such as tales of Lupine sightings to the far south, or that a couple of havens had been attacked and their owners killed in the last few weeks. Some say it's hunters, others say its the vampire from the other side of the wall stirring up trouble. Though one even more troubling rumor is that of kine and kin alike showing up dead, not by sun like but looking like death itself had touched them.

West

Beyond all the other Distractions was one man dressed in black and gold trimmed cloths talking to a couple of vampires and ghouls, he seemed to be telling some tale or another about a Recent Sabbat attack in nearby Hamburg. Though it seemed like he was spinning it more as a great tale rather than just plain information to be passed.

Spoiler:

Eastern European, definitely Slavic of one sort or another. M.G. removed his glasses, rubbing them with his sleeve in a fake attempt to clean them. He look at the metal arms of his glasses to see the reflection of the vampire in them. So not Lasombra, possibly Tremere....but it was more likely Tzimisce...interesting. M.G. had seen his fair share of skin jobs, he himself being a sort of pioneer in plastic surgery in his time....not that the subjects came out of surgery looking prettier but more....grotesque....good times!

M.G. was quiet for a few moments, his sensitive ears picking up a few words here and their. Death was on many people's tongues, not so uncommon in a vampire court though. But it was the way they died which disturbed the Giovanni deeply. Rumors would always be rumors, but most of the time they were rooted in some truth. Death was his business, in fact it was his whole family's business. If there was anything to take away from the rumor was that these deaths had something more than just a vampire hit or random hunter attack. M.G. was highly disturbed by this. The first thing he would do once he returned to his haven was to use most of his favors in both the living world and the otherworld. His family named demanded even this rumor, whether truthful or not, to be investigated.

Remembering he was in the presence of the new comer he continued to talk, "My name is Maxamilian, and no I am not apart of the Camarilla, not that you asked though. I retain a good measure of flexibility granted by my family's reputation."

The tall visitor's black-gloved hands returned to their crossed-arm position at its chest, and it replied to the other with a quiet nod of acknowledgement. Inwardly it noted that making such statements aloud in a strict prince's elysium was perhaps not the best idea, as the Camarilla often liked to remind everyone that all vampires fell under its "rightful governance" whether they wished it or not. However, there was no reason to voice this, as introducing displeasure was not wise upon making first impressions. Furthermore, if this kindred wished to cause himself possible harm, it was of no concern.

A few moments following its silent nod, the visitor responded. "I am Drakon." It stated politely. Though appearing to be an immortal of few words, it still appeared to exhibit a sense of etiquette; After all, it would have been rude not to introduce one's self after another has done so. And if this one spoke so freely of its loyalties and values, there was no harm in perhaps obtaining more information.

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." The eastern-accented newcomer added. "How fares the city, if I may ask, after the removal of the wall? Are the rumors of a likely conflict true?"

Drakon M.G. tasted the name on his tongue. For some reason a image of Vlad Tepes came to mind, the mortals made his legacy the kine's book to vampires, and it only seemed to all but confirm his bloodline suspicions about the stranger.

He seemed to be a man of few words true enough, then again M.G. was too when he took his first steps into the Camarilla aristocracy. I would be even more cautious if he is who I think he is. When he followed up his name with a political question M.G. simply bobbed his head side to side, a mortal habit he could not seem to shake, contemplating how to answer. The nature of the question was not lost on M.G., it showed at least a facet of the reason the newcomer had decided to make Berlin home, opportunity. He could not blame him, M.G. had his thoughts of taking advantage of the situation himself but without more support from home or hardly any noteworthy allies the outlook was less than bleak of him coming out anywhere near the top.

"The fact that you hear any rumors about conflict means that there is a chance. There was two cities, now their is one, it makes the need for two princes....redundant. What do you think." the last part being a statement not a question.

"I am sure Berlin will eventually be held by its rightful and most capable owner." He stated conclusively, his tone quiet and with an air that was courteous yet strangely inhuman. Giving the conversation partner who had graciously shared his view with it another nod, Drakon resumed quietly peering in no direction, his arms crossed as he stood near the wall once more awaiting the prince.

It had seemed M.G.'s new acquaintance was done talking, more inclined to meet the prince than anything else. M.G. hoped that he would avoid dying, would be nice to have another non-Camarilla member about. It tends to bring business, adversity that is.

He walked away from Drakon, moving towards the crowd, specifically towards the vampires discussing the "attacks" gliding to the first vampire he heard discussing the subject. "Good night to you...." said M.G. proffering his hand, letting the words drag on some, he had forgotten the name of the person in question.