paris ♔ tried to save myself but myself keeps slipping away

[necessaryevil]

♬ Facade (reprise) - Jekyll & Hyde

WHO || Faith Lehane, Max Rast, Lissa Dragomir, Helen Magnus
WHAT || The Knights investigate a string of vampire attacks in France
WHERE ||Paris, France
WHEN || April 11th, 2015 [backdated].
HOW || Actionspam. Single thread.

One vampire attack is cause for worry enough, but when bodies are found with telltale puncture wounds and heavy loss of blood become a recurring nightmare across any city, alarm bells are raised.  Such is the case recently in Paris, where Wynn suspects that either a careless clan has moved in, or some lone vamps are stirring up trouble.  With the locations of the bodies marked out in the eight block radius where the deaths have been occurring, the team arrives in the late evening, staring at the rows of apartment blocks, small businesses, and pubs that comprise this section of town.

Comments

[daredtobelieve]

[Shes still not sure just how this works but if Lissa is asking questions, she can at least try. They at least have two names so far. That's something.]

And once she was gone? Once the girl was bled dry? What then?

[necessaryevil]

[ he chuckles, cricks his neck ] This time it's a cab driver. Jo cleans herself up for it, lures him to the curb, dominates him into backing up to the mouth of the alley.

We load the body into the trunk and he's ordered to dump it in the river. We're still waiting for one of them to get caught, for the blood to be found on their cabs, their clothes. We watch the news religiously, but so far---

So far, they've all worked hard to hide their dirty little secrets. Maybe they convince themselves they did it.

[lastdragomir]

[ lissa doesn't understand -- well, she understands the violence, shuddering at the way max gleefully recounts it -- but she doesn't understand the point to it. she tries to step around helen and toward max now that he seems to be at the tail end of the experience, expression awash with confusion. ] Who?

[necessaryevil]

The shills we make dump the bodies. The ones we set up.

We take turns taking control of them. It's always hard not to feed on them when the blood's still warm in our throats.

[lastdragomir]

[ creep creep creeping forward. ]

Why stop yourselves then? Why not give in, what's stopping you?

[necessaryevil]

Because we have a system. You don't get it. All these covens and their rules, taking all the thrill from the hunt.

We're done with it.

The hunt is on.

[lastdragomir]

Isn't that dangerous?

[ lissa. -_- don't have emotions for murderous vampires just because your bf if channeling one of them right now. ]

[necessaryevil]

What's the point of existing without that danger?

[daredtobelieve]

You've broken away from the structure of your kind. [Which at least explains why it's something that's coming to light all of a sudden. The vampires have likely been here for quite some time, but kept themselves in the shadows, unseen by the public. But not this group, it seems. They've grown tired of it.]

Won't they come after you? These covens?

[necessaryevil]

That's why we're setting up these saps. And even if it doesn't work and they figure us out--

Let 'em try.

[daredtobelieve]

[Helen shakes her head and glances to Lissa and Faith, not sure if they should stop this. She's not certain just how much more information they can get out of Max, or how safe it is to let him continue. Since Lissa seems to know more about this whole process than her, she'll hope that the girl can give some insight on that.]

How long can he sustain this?

[msattentionspan]

[Faith watches all of it unfold before her, but she doesn't question it. Hell, she doesn't even know where to start. It feels like the dreams Slayers have, the prophetic ones, but she's never had it that vivid before. She pushes that thought aside and waits for Lissa to answer Helen.

So far, she knows they've got a few leads. Names of two of the would-be vampires, a coven to look for, and a cab company that's been dumping bodies. They could track the blond victim, but really that's probably the way the cops went and came up empty.]

[lastdragomir]

I'm not... I'm not sure. I've never let it last this long. [ and with that at the forefront of her mind, she steps determinedly toward max, carefully reaching out to brush her fingertips across the back of his hand. ]

Max? It's Lissa. Come back to me, Max.

[ (diplomacy??? nat 20, 36 total) if that doesn't work she has another option at her disposal, but she'll try to talk him down first. ]

[necessaryevil]

[ he lashes out an arm to try to grip her by the neck, to slam her against the wall (idk grap...ple attack?? 24) ] I'm not. Max.

[lastdragomir]

[ her opposed roll was a 2? so she isn't hard to slam around like a rag doll, a strangled gasp ripped out of her throat. she bares her fangs reflexively, but... is less intimidating than she is strong. (intimidate crit fail lmao) ]

[daredtobelieve]

[Helen pulls her gun free from its holster in an instant, cocking it and closing the distance so that she's got it right against Max's head.]

I will only say this once. Let. Her. Go.

[Intimidate 31]

[msattentionspan]

[That escalated quickly!!]

Whoa! [Hey, look the gun is intimidating, but maybe we not threaten to shoot our teammates??? At least, that's Faith's feeling here. She could be wrong... but that seems extreme even to the girl that tortured her own Watcher for a few hours.

Maybe instead, just have the girl with the 26 strength check try to pry them apart from each other?] How about we just get him off of her and put him into a time out?

[She'll reach for the hand around her neck, trying to just separate them and then maybe keep a hold of this guy.]

[necessaryevil]

[ as faith pushes them apart, max unleashes a straight up snarl from his throat, and snaps his head to the side, trying to sink his teeth into faith's neck 8| (atk 28, dmg 3 if it succeeds) since he doesn't actually have... fangs, but his teeth are slightly sharper than a human's, at least. ]

[daredtobelieve]

[Helen's glad to see that she was convincing that she planned to shoot Max. It wouldn't be anything she actually planned to do, of course, but if it came down to it, she imagined Max would prefer death over hurting Lissa. While he's distracted by going over Faith with his teeth, Helen will reach out with her free hand to hopefully pull Lissa back with her. I have no idea if this requires a roll. I've lost track of where we are or who's hands are where.]

[msattentionspan]

[Even if she didn't see that coming, she still manages to dodge that pulling away from his snappy jaws and just trying to keep him contained.]

I bet I taste good, but you gotta get a handle on yourself.

[lastdragomir]

Max, please. [ this is bad, yo. ]

[necessaryevil]

[ slipping away - nine inch nails

as helen yanks lissa back, and faith keeps a hold on him, his eyes meet lissa's, flare strangely dark red for a moment, and then the hateful expression on his face begins to slip away, to be replaced by horror mingled with confusion ] ... Lis?

[lastdragomir]

[ OH THANK GOD. lissa rips free from helen in the most romantic nat 20 and rushes forward. one hand drops to catch his in her own while the other lifts to brush her fingertips against his jaw. ]

Are you alright?

[necessaryevil]

[ he involuntarily jerks his face from her touch, holding up one hand as if to ward her back, pressing against faith who's presumably still got him in her grip ] Don't-- [ he looks terrified for a moment, disgusted with himself ] Did I-- What did I--

[lastdragomir]

[ oh. she tries not to take it as rejection because she knows it's not like that, but it still stings a little. ]

You told us what we needed to know. Its a small group of vampires who are bucking the system the other covens have in place. [ ignores the fact that there are probably still red marks from his grip on her pale throat. that wasn't max. ] You gave us names and I think their basic M.O. [ she's unsure about that because she... wasn't paying loads of attention tbh. ]