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ScarletFrost Vice Captain
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 Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2012 6:53 pm
Sitting on a comfortable cushion in her office, Scarlet opened the scroll from Helena.
Dearest Scarlet,
I miss you. Do you miss me? I always remember our last nights together in Patra. I have not found a lover with as much stamina or wealth since. We must be together again. Eris is in one of her moods, and you know how she can be. All she talks about is chaos this and chaos that. I haven't seen her in such a tizzy since those appallingly organized Nazis ransacked her shrine. I want to see you. I need to see you. My entourage and I will arrive at your castle in three days, and we can have an old fashioned bloodbath.
Your Succubi Sister
Helena
Scarlet sighed. If she could get headaches, this would certainly cause one. If Eris wasn't controlling Helena, the world could be in danger. Again. Helena was, after all, THE Helen of Troy. And Eris was naturally Eris. Ancient Goddess of Chaos. They were both just vampiresses. Well, "just vampiresses" that had played a role in every empire from Egypt to France. Eris had turned Helena. Helena had been the one to turn Scarlet's mother. Madness must run in the blood. They were the three most powerful vampiresses of their line, and while Scarlet was the youngest, she was sometimes the most mature, and always the most tech savvy, which is why the other two depended on her so much.
And now madness was marching up to her unsuspecting home. As soon as Val finished the doors, she could go home and prepare the staff. That is, send them into hiding. She had to plan what she was going to do with Helena. Previously, setting her up in picturesque settings with a constant supply of blood, sex, and whatever material things she wanted (gold, jewels, silks,etc). But how would she do this while she set up her empire? How would she even explain the complexities of the situation to Val, Alfons...and Ciro?
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Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2012 8:37 pm
after sketching out his initial blueprints, Val was quite pleased to find a team of construction aids ready to work with him. that would definitely help speed the process up. of course, he would still have to oversee the construction of each gate, being the only person who knew properly how to include the Null Fragments into the construction... but still, the work would be completed in roughly a day on this side.
"you, gah..." he waved his hand impatiently at the servant he addressed, until he told him his name was Hiro. "yes, Hiro; go tell Lady Scarlet that tommorrow I need to be flown out to the locations that she wants her Portal Destinations. this is going to be a very convoluted network..."
Hiro ran off to deliver the message, and Val continued his work. he was actually quite enjoying himself.
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Chieftain Twilight Captain
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ScarletFrost Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2012 8:46 pm
Hiro tentatively knocked on her office door and slipped in with a bow so low his head touched the floor. In soft respectful words, he relayed Val's message.
"Tell it to Kyo," Scarlet snapped. "He'll take care of the travel arrangements."
Hiro, surprised to see his mistress in a bad mood when usually she was so flirtatious, scrambled out of the room lest he incur more wrath.
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Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2012 10:35 pm
As the door slid open, the three could only see a dark room. Then, out from the darkness stepped a strange man indeed. His skin was a patchwork of cloths, including burlap and differently colored cotton. His hat and jacket were raggedy, and he wore an old brown Victorian style suit. His boots were crusted with mud. Spectacles adorned his face.
"Gentlemen, I present one Quincey L'oiseau," Alfons introduced.
L'oiseau bowed, and said, "You may call me 'Corbeau,' if you like." As soon as he finished, the spider leapt from Alfons and crawled to him. It climbed his pants and entered a pocket, falling apart as it entered. "She's a puppet, you see," Corbeau explained.
"I see you're still using that old thing to travel around in." Alfons gestured at the man's body.
"You know that this is my favorite body, Monsieur Goldschmidt." Corbeau pushed his glasses up.
Dmitri was too drunk to really care. He suddenly felt nauseated, and immediately ran to the edge of the deck outside to vomit over the rail.
"How do you do this?" Ciro asked, amazed at what he was seeing. Corbeau grinned widely. "Trade secret, Monsieur Salucci."
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Chieftain Twilight Captain
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Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2012 4:23 am
"WATCH WHERE YOU'RE AIMING, SLABOUMNYI!" was heard from below.
((слабоумный -- slaboumnyĭ -- imbecile))
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Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2012 10:59 pm
"Izvinite." *Blech*
"Corbeau, what's the the situation with my brother?" Alfons inquired.
"The man is very angry that he keeps losing his subordinates, and from what my sources tell me I do believe he has all but completely called off the hunt for you," Corbeau answered.
Ciro shut the door. "Did Rochus have anything to do with us getting shot down?"
"I do not believe so. The intel I've gathered doesn't point to him. Unfortunately, at this time I have insufficient data to reveal who hired the pirates, Monsieur."
"And are you really French?"
Corbeau grinned again. "Nein, Ich bin Deutsch. Oppure io sono Italiano? Vozmozhno, Russkiĭ. Je ne vous diront jamais. Hahahaha."
((Извините./Sorry. ; "No, I'm German. Or am I Italian? [Возможно, Русский.] Perhaps, Russian. I will never tell you." ))
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ScarletFrost Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 1:44 pm
Scarlet did something she almost never did: she picked up the phone and called her brother. She quickly informed him of Helena's immanent arrival and gave him instructions for calling in all of her contracted donors, making arrangements with the nearest medical school for doctors, nurses, and EMTs to be living in the castle during Helena's visit, and for the pawn and antique shops to be emptied of anything interesting and valuable. (She was not about to let her grand sire ransack the Frost family riches.)
Once she had finished talking to him, she called her suppliers at every safe house she owned and organized all supplies to be sent to her primary residence. She also sent out warnings to her social circles that she would be indisposed for an undetermined amount of time and not accepting callers.
How different this was from previous encounters. There had been a time when Scarlet and Helena had ravaged the entirety of Europe together with no thought to what came after sunrise. Now she had a budding empire to protect.
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Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2012 9:01 pm
Dmitri finished up outside and entered the room where the three men were. Upon eying Corbeau, he said, "Nyet, ne kukolʹnyĭ chelovek snova."
"Aw, do I still frighten you, little rebenok?" Corbeau teased.
"Yes," Dmitri slurred out; it was followed with a thud, as he passed out drunk.
Alfons shook his head. "Anyway, any good choices for another member of our security force?"
Corbeau walked toward the window, gazing out at the pale moon. "I've already contacted Thane." Alfons's brow furrowed, and he was clearly anxious.
"You contacted him? Thane 'White Death' Whittemore? Are you insane?!"
"I hate to interrupt, but who's that?"
"Gun for hire, ruzless killer and bears an inverse torch tattoo on his back," Dmitri incoherently mumbled.
Corbeau then added, "That's one of the marks of Thanatos."
((Нет, не кукольный человек снова./No, not puppet-man again. ; ребенок/baby))
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Chieftain Twilight Captain
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Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2012 6:09 am
Val could overhear the talk about this Thane, and it intrigued him. whatever about him had Goldschmitt so worried, it had to be something serious. something more than the name implied. after all, among the undead, who would fear death itself?
he decided not to say anything yet, and kept working. that little piece of info would be tucked away for later.
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Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2012 4:03 pm
"The 'White Death' eh?" Ciro laughed, "Why should we worry? Half of us here are undead."
At this Alfons walked over and grabbed him by the collar, bringing him close.
"Mors vincit omnia," he whispered, trying to sound ominous. "Death always wins; he has a method, strategy, and tool for every potential target. You aren't invincible, even if you're strong." Alfons let Ciro go. Corbeau decided to interject, placing himself between Ciro and Alfons. "Yes, yes we've got that you're afraid of the man who considers himself death incarnate. Now how do you suggest we use him to our advantage, Monsieur Goldschmidt?"
Alfons paced the room, stopping in front of a potted plant. "Are you sure his contract involving me expired?"
"I am certain, Monsieur. Your brother ran out of funds for him." Alfons quite visibly relaxed.
"Good. He's an expert on the paranormal. He should be able to help us train conscripts to deal with anything."
Dmitri propped himself up using a small end-table he crawled to. "Great. Now we have five man band of freaks leading operation. Drunk, vampire, puppet, death, and rich nutcase."
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ScarletFrost Vice Captain
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Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2012 8:47 pm
Scarlet got tired of waiting and started pacing the halls. She came to the doorway of the room with Ciro and Alfons and their guests just in time to hear Dmitri's fatalistic assessment of the leadership in this group.
"Which one am I, darling?" she interjected sarcastically, leaning on the wall and pinning him with her ruby gaze.
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Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2012 7:42 pm
Dmitri spoke quickly, as he often did when he thought he might be in trouble. "You are Glorious Leader, ranked above drunk me, puppet Corbeau, vampire Ciro, idiot Alfons, and White Death."
Alfons facepalmed, clearly experiencing Fremdschämen for his friend.
Corbeau sauntered over to Scarlet. "Ah, it is nice to finally meet you, mademoiselle. Quincey 'Le Corbeau' L'oiseau, at your service." He gave a deep bow.
((Fremdschämen--external shame; i.e., feeling embarrassed for someone else. [I feel this way to often xp ] ))
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ScarletFrost Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2012 9:12 pm
"Charmed," Scarlet said in her smoothest voice, holding out her hand for him to kiss. "And it's nice to know you admire me so much, drunk Dmitri. Although I don't think you're a leader of much of anything, except perhaps an AA meeting."
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Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 12:09 am
"She's right, you know." Alfons said to Dmitri, whose face was beet red. Ciro couldn't help but smile.
As Corbeau straightened up from kissing Scarlet's hand, he twitched quite obviously, leaving a slight scowl on his face. "One of my housefly puppets was just destroyed. By a bullet."
--------------------------------------
Elsewhere...
"Gotcha, ya little bugger!" Thane exclaimed. The man's white coat billowed in the wind as he holstered his revolver. He was in the middle of a desolate salt flat, with barren earth from horizon to horizon. "I don't need ya watching me, ya bloody frog. I'll get there soon enough." The readout on his scanner laid out a route to the nearest town, and he started off, humming Scotland the Brave.
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ScarletFrost Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 10:10 pm
Scarlet hooked her arm in Corbeau's and sauntered to the doorway with him. "It is so nice to meet someone else from France--although I have not been back for some time. I've been holed up in Eastern Europe for longer than I care to remember. So tell me, how is my dear Paris?"
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