Synopsis
February 28, 2005 - Beatrix happens upon Michael at Bloody Mary’s. They discuss the Fellowship of the Sun and disagree on how they should be dealt with.
Setting
Bloody Mary‘s Bar:
Given to irony, Bloody Mary's Bar is decorated primarily in black and varying shades of red. From the black bench seats and chairs, black tables, black walls with chilling red blood flowing down them in a continuous manner, it's quite obvious why this bar has the name it does. Deep red mahogany makes up the floor and bar. Dangling red star lights illuminate the bar, lending to it's somewhat creepy look.
Beatrix:
You see a woman who appears to be in her late twenties or early thirties. She extremely thin and yet very toned, giving her a fragile yet dangerous look. The woman's skin is flawless and of mixed complexion, and her long limbs give her an elegant look. Her face is very pretty, with full lips and dark eyes. She usually wears bold lipstick and dark eyeliner, and her hair is black and tends to be pulled up in a complicated fashion.
The woman is wearing a black and red dress. The dress looks almost like a modern variation of an older style, though it is hard to place the design. She often wears fingerless black gloves which leave her well manicured fingers exposed. A pair of tall high heel boots click on the ground as she walks. The woman is wearing a choker, earrings, and rings that are all silver in color and are inlayed with black stones.
___
Michael:
Standing at 5'7 and somewhat on the slender side this man appears to be in his middle years, his short cut blond hair's just starting to grey and his deepset blue eyes are ringed with wrinkles. He's clean shaven and extremely neat, apart from the signs of age he appears in good shape, and had strong well defined features.
Dressed casually the man wears a dark grey shirt, under a black jacket, blue faded jeans and a pair of black boots.
Scene
It's late evening, late enough that most of the human tourists have left, and even the more dedicated fangbangers have either found company or given up. As such the bar currently consists mostly of vampires, Michael is one such vampire, sitting at the bar alone he quietly watches the room, his expression impassive, even by vampire standards, he leans on the bar in a casual fashion.
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The door opens and a woman enters the bar. She is wearing a black dress and carrying a small bag. She looks around the establishment for a moment, appraising it as though seeing it for the first time. She approaches the bar and sits near Michael, placing her bag on the ground next to her. She gives the bartender a distasteful look, human employees? How quaint. The woman sighs, though it is for show since she does not breathe. “I suppose I’ll take one of those bottles of artificial food. I don’t care what kind, they all taste the same.” She looks around once more, trying to decide who would be highest up in the hierarchy here. “So what’s the deal with your Sheriff here, there seems to be some confusion as to who is in charge.”
___
Michael shrugs slightly, he has no drink, he studies Beatrix for a moment, his expression still impassive, his tone decidedly neutral, he does however incline his head slightly. "If William Grant is in charge, as for who the Sheriff is? I would suspect that you're looking for Isobel Symon." He shrugs with just a hint of a smile. "If she isn't Sheriff she'll know how to contact him."
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Beatrix turns to look at Michael, smiling slightly. “Ah, thank you. I moved here recently and would like to announce my presence, but it has been difficult to figure out who exactly I need to speak to. I shall look for this ‘Isobel Symon’.” She receives her bottle of drink and takes a sip, making a distasteful face. “I am Beatrix. Beatrix Reynard.” She nods to the man again. “How do you find the humans in this region? I find them difficult to read.” It is possible Michael may have heard of this woman. She was popular in New Orleans about 150 years ago.
___
Inclining his head Michael offers a smile of his own. "Michael Isonzo, it's a pleasure." He seems to consider the next question. "There are certainly some interesting types in the city of course. It's more numbers than uniqueness of the indviduals." Michael for his part's fairly well known for his age alone, said to be considerably more than a millennium old. "I take it you arrived within the last few evenings?"
___
Beatrix raises an eyebrow. “Michael Isonzo? Not THE Michael Isonzo? I have heard you. They say you are older than the human Christ.” Perhaps her sources are a bit off. “And yes, I arrived three nights ago. I have spent much of my time organizing my effects, but I did run into a two natured one here earlier this evening. I keep smelling them. This place is crawling with shifters and werewolves. To a greater degree than even New Orleans.”
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There's a slight arch of the eyebrow at the statement. "No, I'm not that old. Although I'm closer to his age than I am to most of the vampires in the bar." He nods slowly. "Yes, as I say there are a number of the less usual mortals here, the Two-Natured seem to be affected as well."
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Beatrix chuckles. “Ah, well forgive me. You know how stories get blown out of proportion sometimes.” She nods at his response to the two natures. “I wonder what draws them, unless it is simply the affinity to each other that brings them here. Either way, it’s not a bad thing for us I suppose.” She takes a tentative sip of her drink. “And the attitudes of the mortals? I have heard that the Fellowship of the Sun has a stronghold in this area of the country.”
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Nodding Michael sighs very slowly. "Yes, the Fellowship have their headquarters here, but for the most part mortals are the same as anywhere. Put three of them in a room and you'll have six opinions." He looks at Beatrix. "We have the Fellowship of the Sun headquarters here, and the League, it seems to be balancing out somewhat."
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Beatrix chuckles slightly. “Ah, fickle mortals. And yes, I had heard of the league as well. Though balance is not what is needed. Such a radical and dangerous group cannot bring balance while it exists. They should be brought down, though carefully.” She glances at her bottle but doesn’t drink from it. “I fear what they will do if left unchecked.”
___
Shaking his head Michael smiles slightly. "It is the pattern of minorities, whenever humans must accept a new minority they gather the more radical element of the majority, from there we see chaos, blood death and ultimately the radicals are culled, and progress can continue somewhat." He shrugs one shoulder. "If we begin to attack the Fellowship then we become seen as the evil vampire monsters they wish us to be, and ultimately a war is begun far worse than the Fellowship could start." He speaks in casual tones. "Give it three, maybe four centuries. We will either have won a political war, or fought a real one."
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Beatrix frowns. “I’d rather not wait three or four hundred years with them killing our kind and gathering numbers. And I’m not saying we should attack them outright but…Well maybe I am. I can’t help but compare the League here to PETA. It seems that vampires want to protect the rights of their food. If the cattle on a ranch was acting up, do you think the farmers would let them cause a problem for three or four hundred years before doing something about it?” She shrugs. “Not that all of this couldn’t have been avoided if we had just stuck to the shadows as I had suggested.”
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Smiling slightly Michael shakes his head. "The cattle on a ranch don't have the technology to fight a fairly effective war against the farmer." He shrugs his expression still giving away none of his feelings on the matter. "As for staying in the shadows, the standard argument is that humans are only becoming more advanced, it was always going to be a matter of time before they discovered us, the near misses have increased over the years, and if they had discovered us rather than us coming out things would have been… worse politically, no you must always begin with politics."
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The woman sighs and shakes her head. “I am sick of human politics. I lived through slavery, oppression, civil rights movements. I tried to keep myself out of the public eye, but it was a hassle. I can finally live a normal life and this happens.” Beatrix frowns. “Sure they may have eventually found one or two of us, but they would not have had an accurate estimation of our numbers. I mean, the two natures are still in hiding. And the witches are in hiding or are generally believed to be false in nature. Why did we come out first, let the others take the brunt of it and then maybe we could reveal ourselves afterward.”
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Laughing Michael looks at Beatrix. "The Two-Natured, and the witches would never have declared themselves." He pauses a moment, his expression becoming thoughtful. "I was not… comfortable with coming out, I make no secret of that, but it was the best time for it, if humans had learnt that one of us existed they'd have begun witch hunts with more zeal than any in history, with their technology that would not be good for us, and once their hunting turned up more of us, well then there would be no stopping them."
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The woman sighs and takes another drink from her bottle. "Well. I suppose that is true, as far as them hunting us down. Granted they may still attempt something of the like. That church is building up an army. I foresee another crusade being launched against us in the near future. We sit around discussing civil rights while they amass and army. It just seems wrong to me.” Beatrix smirks, “And as for taking out their leaders. Well there are ways to do it that would make it look doubtful that vampires were involved.”
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"It would not need to look like we did it for people to blame us." Michael grins faintly. "You talk of 'suggesting' It is my experience that few have the ears of the royalty, and fewer still are told the extent of their plans." He shrugs. "Just because you do not think we are preparing does not mean we are not, I have learnt to never presume I know what is being done where I am not looking." He frowns as he looks at Beatrix. "They are amassing an army, they are becoming more obvious in their hatred of us, they will soon have gathered all those who would see us burnt in the sun, and they may start a war… if they start their war, if they gather their allies and attack us… is that not reason for us to counter-attack, and more importantly is it not best that when we strike we take as many of their number as possible?"
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“There are ways to achieve things wile making it impossible to pin events on vampire kind. Granted those ways have become more difficult as time has progressed, but it is still possible.” She nods in agreement, “Well yes we need to take down as many as possible, but we are talking religious fanatics here. Why wait for their numbers to increase? Why wait for them to attack? If we selectively pick off key members of their organization things will be easier when they do strike.”
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Shaking his head Michael sighs. "They need /no/ proof, no reason to expect us of committing the crime, they will suspect us because of what we are, and because they were our enemies." He shakes his head rising from his seat. "We wait for their attack so that /we/ are the wronged party, we allow their numbers to increase so that we take as many as possible. If we begin to pick anyone off we spring their trap… they become the wronged party. You speak of being subtle, yet you think only in terms of violence, you think only of destroying your enemy… they take their time to strengthen themselves… we do the same."
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Beatrix shakes her head again. “I still say there are ways. A car crash in the middle of the day. How could a vampire be faulted for that? A sudden illness or one of their own weapons misfiring. These things are possible, though more difficult today than they were.” She smirks “Subtlety can still be violent. Great cataclysms can be struck by only pulling a single string, if you know how to do things right.” She shrugs, “Regardless, I’m not going to defy the orders of the Sheriff of this area. If she wants me to sit tight I can do that for a while. I’ll need to find her first, I suppose.” She nods to the man as he departs, content to remain and finish her vile drink before heading home before dawn.
~ Fin ~
