Rebel with a Cause - Anarchs

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Keira Kelly
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Re: Rebel with a Cause - Anarchs

Post by Keira Kelly »

A slow smile spread on Marni's lips and she brushed her short, streaked hair out of her face. "Vengeance, you say?" she asked. Brother Gregory was dead though... Still, the rest of the damned cultists at that church had done nothing to help her... Will had, and he had proven himself an ally, a friend even in that. He had given his life to help her escape. None of these people had bothered to even try. They might have been scared but... was that even a good enough excuse to enable what was being done to her? Will had been scared too but... he had looked past his fear to see the.. innocent woman inside the captive monster that they had held.

She felt a twinge of guilt at the thought of going in and murdering people, but.. at the same time, they had made their choice. They had just as much blood on their hands as had Gregrory... or Marni herself. They weren't innocent and needed to be stopped from doing this to anyone else. And added to that, she would have a chance to see what she could really do now. Learn what she was capable of now and how to control it, just as she was learning how to control the hunger. But stopping these deranged people from indoctrinating or hurting anyone else was the main reason. She nodded. "I'm ready for it." she answered. She smiled, remembering the nice arsenal she had just picked up tonight too. Some of it would come in handy.

Hans nodded about the numbers that Vanessa was looking for. A fair number for merely dealing with Kine but.. well, there would be unexpected eventualities and they needed to be sure that all of this went according to plan. Besides, with those numbers, they could be more than sure that no one would get away... at least, no one that wasn't meant to anyways. "Very well, then Fräulein Vanessa. Gather your people and I shall call you when all is ready." he said. "If there is nothing else, I wish the both of you goodnight.. and, in three days hence, good hunting should I not see you before then." he added.

When Marni and Vanessa had gotten outside, Marni turned to the elder vampire, a bit worried now. "Should I.. maybe try to practice with some of these.. abilities before the big day comes?" she asked. At the back of her mind was the thought of how that night, in three days time, would end: with her 'death', for the benefit of those that cared about her. She tried to ignore it, tried to put it out of her mind for the moment. She needed something else to concentrate on. "Maybe I should test out some of those guns I got too.. make sure they do work all right..."
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Re: Rebel with a Cause - Anarchs

Post by rivaan »

As they were outside, Vanessa looked at Marni with a raised eyebrow." It is true that practice makes perfect and you do need a lot of practice on this." The brujah nodded as they were walking back to her car. She was certain it would be starting to rain before long, there was a certain heaviness to the air right now, it was like a calm before a storm." Hmmm..." She mumbled about it and looked at Mari again.

"Well, why not do both of those at the same time?" She added with a smile as she unlocked hte car adn got in, waiting for Marni to join her inside, before she started to drive off. Sure enough, it wasn't much longer before she noted the first tiny drops on the windscreen. It wasn't raining yet, but a few drops could be seen. So it was either slow starter, or it was going to be a fake storm that was just messing with them." Since you want to test firearms, we needed a secure location for it."

"There's a place." Vaenssa suddenly said and relaxed her grip of the wheel as they reached a red light." A gunrange... well underground gunrange, good sound isolation. Perfect for firign weapons within the city limits withotu getting into problems. The people that run it are bounded to people of our community. Most of the younger Anarchs often visit there to try their weapons and limits there. Usually at this point of the night there shouldn't be any kine there. Want to go there?"

"As for the disciplines, I've got a toreador friend." Vanessa said casually." Can call them to join, we used to run in the same group a some ways back. Pretty dependable, good in a fight, trusty, but the most annoying person if you let them talk about country music. Once the topic is brought up in any remote ways, he wouldn't stop rambling about it.
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Keira Kelly
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Re: Rebel with a Cause - Anarchs

Post by Keira Kelly »

The location that Vanessa was suggesting sounded perfect to Marni. And she was excited that she could actually start really learning something about... what she was now. She had been flung into the deep end without being shown how to swim and she knew she was at a severe disadvantage against any other vampire... err.. Kindred, no matter how young. It was frustrating knowing that she had a lot of potential, that the powers were in there... but having no clue how to access them. The one time she had managed the enhanced speed, it had been entirely instinctual, in a dire situation. She needed to know how to initiate it at will though.

"Yes, yes I do." she answered almost desperately. "I do want to go there. I feel like I'm handicapped... not knowing how to use whatever powers you say are inherent to my clan. I know it's in me, I've had a small taste of one of them, but... I need to know how to bring it out, how to access it...." she added. The guns would be good to test out, to get a feel for but... that was more just getting some experience, some muscle memory for them. The powers though were what she was mostly wanting to know about.

Her brow furrowed at hearing of Vaness's Toreador friend, a mix of emotions going through Marni at that. What would this person think of her? Would they laugh at the ignorant little baby vampire? Would they pity her? Marni was Toreador in terms of.. what, the blood? Yes, there had been blood. A dim memory of... a figure dripping blood into her mouth... That was what had changed her. So she was technically Toreador by blood, she supposed but.. she had no knowledge of them any deeper than that.

It was like someone that had been lost or given up for adoption as a baby, and then became part of an adoptive family but then later found their birth parents. The ties of loyalty were strongest to the adoptive family just as Marni felt.. well if it wasn't loyalty yet, it was at least gratitude, to Vanessa. To Baron Bruhl too, for that matter. And they were both Brujah. Marni had had more interactions with Brujah so far in this new life than she had with any other clan, so the idea of meeting someone from the same blood as her... rebirth? It was.. daunting. And yet, at the same time, if they could teach her what she needed to know, she was nearly desperate for that too.

Marni grimaced at hearing about the country music. "Shouldn't be too hard to steer clear of that topic." she assured. She had never liked the whiny lyrics nor the off-key 'singing' of that genre herself, having much preferred rock of various kinds. "But please, if they would be willing to teach me... I'd.. give almost anything..." She frowned, shaking her head slowly. "Sometimes I wonder when I'm going to wake up out of this crazy, insane dream.... How ridiculous is all of these to believe... How the hell is any of this real?" she said, half to herself. "Drinking blood, having MY blood drunk, dying, coming back as.. something else, being held captive by a cult for months... Escaping, preying on low-lives like a feral animal... Having to fake my death, but being excited to learn some crazy vampire powers..." Her shoulders slumped in the passenger seat. "It's crazy, it's insane. But it is real, isn't it." She let out a noisy breath at all of it.

A more determined look came over the previous, lost-looking expression. "I guess even if it's an insane and crazy world out there, I can't do anything other than be ready to fight it." Marni said. "And I need to learn all I can so I can defend myself against.. whatever the hell else is out there." She paused. "I hope you know how grateful I am that you stepped up to help me not to sink. So yes, I would.. really appreciate it if you could convince your friend to teach me."
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Re: Rebel with a Cause - Anarchs

Post by rivaan »

"Well, well." Vanessa grinned and nodded at Marni." I do like your enthusiasm, but do remember to keep level headed. Even with what you had experienced, you are too eager to improve too fast." The brujah stated as she drove the car." These curses... blessings?... powers? Well call disciplines whatever you wish in the future honestly, up to you how you see them, but anyways. These aren't something you can master in a simple brief span of time. It will take a while for you to start to master them. It will come naturally to you soon enough, don't be that desperate. There are even greater challenges ahead of you. If something this small gets you this riled up, how will you fare later?" She asked with a calm smile.

"Ehh..." Lisa shrugged when Marni went on a little speech about how unreal it all was, but it was real alright. She threw a smart glance at the toreador and grinned widely." Sure, I will give them a call when we are nearing the firerange." She nodded and after a brief moment of silence continued. " As for how real this is... well it's not any less real than the werewolves running about." She laughed casually without much care despite the fact most Kindred had huge fear of Garou. It wasn't that Vanessa didn't respect the Garou's prowess in battle. She simply didn't FEAR them. She knew full well a Garou was battle monster that can tear many kindred apart, she just didn't understand this weird unspoken rule that kindred hated and feared the Garou. It could be the englightment of her sire that was passed down to her in the process of her learning, but eh, she respected them a lot rather than fear." Who knows, you might even meet a walking talking mummy or a 'zombie' one day." Vanessa let out a chuckle.

"Anyways you shall be on point soon enough. Most Kindred adapt to their abilities rather rapidly once they start using and feeling them. Now that you have felt them once or twice and got a few points from me and will get even more pointers and direct instructions from a clanmate, you should progress with leaps and bounds." The brujah assured her as the car drove further and further into the storm

Not even half an hour later they had arrived at their destination. It was actually not too far from
Vanessa's bar. There was a living building on top of it with a parking lot by it. The building above was where the ghouls that ran it lived along with a whole other group of misfits and general people that were nearly cast out of society. As the brujah parked, she took the spot closest to the entrance way, an entrance way which turned out to be a stairwell leading downwards. It actually had a plastic roof over the staircase to protect from rain and storms. There was also a big neon sign over it. Saying this was a gunrange and other informative stuff.

Vanessa left the car, getting onto the rain without much care. There wasn't much use of an unbrella at the level of storm this had gotten to. There was good wind too so it was more or less raining at a rather annoying angle that an unbrella wouldn't help with. Thus she waited for Marni to join her as she walked to the staircase and down to the door. There was an intercome, an armored metal door and a card reader. She pulled her wallet, pulled a card from it and swiped it, opening the door. She gestured for Marni to follow her in.

"Good evening, Miss Helgate. Would you require to rent any of our fine selection?" There was a young woman at the reception. She was dressed in t shirt and jeans. Shoulder lenght black hair and big gothinc earrings on her left ear.

"No need. We've got our own." The brujah replied and threw a look at Marni." Run my friend for a registration for entry card." Vanessa added as the woman nodded and pulled a few forms from underneath the counter as she gestured for Marni to choose one of the pencils on the counter to fill them out." This will allow you future entrance here with minimum hassle even without me. Could also be used as a save haven should you require a place to hide out as long as you have that card." Cammies and Sabbat didn't get access to this place and at the request of a kindred, the entrance could be locked anyway, not allowing access even during the day for kine." Actually anyone else here tonight?" She asked.

"Not presently." The woman replied as she was pointing out where which fields must be filled out as for htem to be able to issue the card.

"Hmm I see. Miles, will be arriving shortly. Tell him to directly meet us downstairs later." Van added as she led Marni to the gunrage hall. They passed by a guncheck where weapons could be rented and the like, but the man didn't appear to even react to them as they passed by him and entered. The room was very big, with many shooting lanes. The space between the back wall and the tables from where to shoot was long enough. The back wall was filled with sand bags." So... time to see if you can actually reload those toys you got."
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Keira Kelly
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Re: Rebel with a Cause - Anarchs

Post by Keira Kelly »

Marni felt a bit dismayed to hear that it would take time to master the powers that she would be learning about, maybe a lot of time from how Vanessa was making it sound. The faster she learned, the faster she could defend herself... the less likely she would be made into a victim yet again. That was what really concerned her. She never wanted to be used again, have her life taken from her at someone else's whim. At least not without being able to make a good showing in her own defence. She had been blindsided twice before, first with her.. Sire, and then again with that damned cult kidnapping her, having had zero chance to resist either time. She would be damned sure she could at least try to fight back the next time.

The Toreador's head shot around towards Vanessa, Marni's eyes going wide. "Wait,, what? Werewolves?! Werewolves are real?" she said in surprise. "Wait... why the hell am I surprised..." she said to herself with a sigh. "I mean, I'm a freaking vampire now... Oh god, this is crazy..." She went completely silent, staring over with wide eyes as Vanessa joked about a talking mummy or a zombie. At least... wait, it was a joke, right? Marni couldn't guess one way or the other anymore. Maybe not a joke.....

When they arrived at their destination, Marni followed Vanessa through the heavy downpour, carrying the large duffel bag over one shoulder as the Brujah headed down a staircase which clearly marked the location as a gun range. By the time they made it inside, Marni was soaked, her short hair hanging in wet clumps which she tried her best to brush back, wringing the worst of the water out. Surprisingly, once inside, they were greeted by a young woman. Not what Marni would have first thought to find at a gun range.

Marni frowned when Vanessa asked the.. receptionist? to set up the Toreador with a card.. for the facility, she guessed. Like the one the Brujah had used in the door? Probably. Apparently so, as Vanessa began to explain. Marni looked over at the multiple pages of forms that were handed over, and a pencil from a container on the counter. The woman began to point out what to fill in and Marni stared at it, wondering if she should... Hell, there were a couple fields that she didn't know how to answer, and some she didn't know IF she should answer. A quick glance at Vanessa indicated she should. With a few questions to her new mentor, she finally did get the forms filled out though and handed back to the receptionist how told them that the card would be ready soon.

Finally though, they headed off to start. The gun range, as the woman had said, was empty. The range looked much like one you would see in a movie, thought Marni, having never been to one before. The stopped at the far shooting alcove and as Marni lowered her bag to the floor, she glanced over at Vanessa. "Um.. yeah, I might need you to.. well, I'll see how it goes." she answered.

She got to work, pulling out the two pistols, the smg and the shotgun she had chosen and laid them out on a table nearby, the retrieved the ammo. She picked up the first pistol she had chosen the Sig Sauer one and studied it, feeling it in her hand, looking at all the little markers and details on it. There was a safety on guns, right? She tilted the weapon in her hand until she saw a little switch and flipped it, showing a red dot and then, hiding it again. Red dot meant the safety was off... at least so she thought. After a moment, she found a button on the side of the grip that released the clip. The clip was empty, as the girl, Zoey, had told her all the guns were.

Marni had to get Vanessa to help her figure out how to actually load bullets from the boxes she'd been given into the clip and then put the clip back in the gun. Under the Brujah's instructions, Marni pulled back on the slide, chambering a round. She repeated the process, now at least a bit more familiar with it for the smg and the other pistol, and then the shotgun as well. She put the two holsters for the pistols on, and wearing them both, moved to the firing line, taking up a stance like she had seen on TV and movies, at least.. the non-cheesy ones. Her first shot with the Sig was way off but it allowed her to get a better feel for dialing in her target. By the end of the clip, she was hitting.. mostly, where she was trying to aim.

She again repeated the process with the smaller pistol she had put on her ankle after holstering the Sig on her thigh. She was quicker to dial in the aim on that one, it feeling much the same though with less kick than the first pistol. She opted to try to the shotgun next and was nearly knocked back by the recoil she hadn't been prepared for. Damn, that hurt though.. where the butt of the gun had been resting against her shoulder. Despite the lingering soreness, she readjusted and continued firing it until she had emptied its smaller reserves of ammo. Finally she came to the smg. It was a lot harder to figure out how to hold properly than the other guns had been.

Finally finding.. something of a comfortable stance with it, she held down the trigger. The gun jumped in her hand and, thankfully, she immediately let off it. She glanced over at Vanessa. "Short, controlled bursts, right?" she asked before trying once more, only tapping the trigger in spurts. Oooh, yeah.. she liked this gun. She definitely liked the feel of it. It was only after she had emptied the clip that she noticed that Vanessa had been joined by someone else. The other Toreador she had called in to help perhaps? Marni put the smg back on the table, deciding to keep the pistols on her person for the moment, looking over to Vanessa with a curious look, not wanting to be too forward.
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Re: Rebel with a Cause - Anarchs

Post by rivaan »

Vanessa patiently guided Marni through the steps that Marni didn't know about reloading any of the guns. The first pistol and the shotguns were the ones who really needed explaining, after all seen one, seen it all. She was nodding and smiling as Marni gradually moved from barely hitting anything, to zoning in onto the target. At the end of a gun she was mostly hitting, it wasn't perfect, but she wasn't expecting sharpshooter aim from someone who probably never held gun in the past. The brujah nearly burst into a chuckle when the bigger recoil guns were used such as the shotgun and the smg. The shotgun visibly kicked the young toraedor like a mule while hte smg rapidly rose, but still Marni realized to just burst fire it. Lisa gave an approving nod to the younger woman.

It wasn't too unsual for people who never fired a certani gun to understand the base principles of wielding it. Popular media was well dealing with that and video games as well were making decent progress. The Brujah was pretty certain that one day those medias could be used to train people to train warriors with less of the hastle. Heck if she went down to it, if she picked a random schoolkid from the street, they'd likely be able to reload weapons on virtue of video games. In any case while Marni was dealing with the SMG, a familiar figure appeared on the doorway and since the younger toreador was sot engrosed into her weapon, Van just called the person over.

The man walked over, shoulderlenght dark brown hair, slight beard, a fancy fashionable suit, shades, a silver eagle medallion and a bracelet of big sharp teeth, crocodile ones to be precise. They had a bit of a chat while Marni was busy firing the SMG. Eventually the bullets ran out and she realized that someone had joined them." So this is the reason you called me tonight, right?" The man asked, taking off his shades and putting them in the chest pocket of his fancy brown suit." Youres really Tobias's kid huh? He's lucky I cannot punch him, leaving a childe behind like this, even if he's dead, he shouldn't have done this." The man said in annoyance." Well doesn't matter. Sorry we had to meet like this, Kid." The man's voice changed as he turned to Marni." My name's Miles Cooper, a Toreador." He introduced himself and reached a hand for a hand shake. He certain WASN'T what most would think when it came to Toreador. He had his style and kept to it, but he wasn't a fan of some of hte main trends in the clan.

Van let Marni introduce herself to her clansman. They were of the same clan after all and while he was a bit of an odd bird in some was, Miles was certainly a Toreador member of some repute. He wasn't on the same level of Tobias, but he was pretty good. The man was also a great musician when it came down to it, sure he was a country music fanatic, but he actually sang pretty good many other styles, including rock ballads. He was embraced at the start of his career, effectively ending it before it began, but his skills remained and despite his deviation from many other more traditional Toreador, his skill in music was well accepted within the clan. He and Van ran way back for a few dacades now, so he was good folk.

"So, Van here told me that you want to learn a few things. Of course I will help." He stated and patted Vanessa's shoulder." I hope Vanessa's been treating you well, she's a bit of a weird one, but usually has good intentions." Miles added.

"Pff..." Van did an eyeroll at him." In any case, stop rambling if you could. Neither of us has all night." She warned him that they didn't realy have the entire night on their disposal. Time was constantly running and htey would have to separate soon enough so each could go to their havens.
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Keira Kelly
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Re: Rebel with a Cause - Anarchs

Post by Keira Kelly »

As Marni had gone through testing of each gun, she was excited to learn each one. Learning these weapons meant protection for herself... and maybe even eventually give herself and opening to get what she wanted most in the world. A chance to get to really see... well, more than just see, those she cared about, who cared about her. Again though, she would bide her time for now. Despite the promises she had made to Vanessa, despite the risks and warnings that the other vampire had laid before her, Marni just couldn't.. accept having to cut off everything from her life when she had done NOTHING wrong. Anger coursed through her at the thought of that and she poured it out with each burst of fire from the SMG she was currently using, the weapon that was quickly becoming her favourite once she had learned how to fire it properly.

Too soon, the clip ran out though. Marni dry fired it twice more before her attention came back to really what she was doing and she realized she was out of ammo. Slowly, she put the gun on its side on the small counter before her and paused, willing herself to cool off, to bottle up the pain before she would turn back to Vanessa. Marni finally turned, only then noticing that someone was now standing beside her benefactor. This guy shocked Marni out of her thoughts. He was... very good looking, young. Very class, very.. chic. And he carried himself the same way she could dimly recall Tobias had. That air of confidence bordering on arrogance, what you expected of the rich and powerful... and good looking. Well, Vanessa HAD said that a Toreador friend of hers would be dropping by. Marni supposed this was the guy. He certainly fit the bill from her very little experience with other members of that clan. Her clan, she reminded herself.

Marni stared into his eyes as the man put away his shades, standing tall and proud and determined. "I guess I am." she responded to his comment about her being Tobias' childe, her tone almost standoffish about it. Her brows drew together, confused for a split second as he continued until he stated the reason for the posthumous threat against her sire. Her jaw dropped just a little, shocked at this man's.. sympathy for her circumstances of becoming what she had. She felt her own defensive armour within drop just a little in realizing this guy wasn't going to be just another rich, arrogant prick like she had expected. She gave a small nod at his apology for the circumstances, still in some shock.

When he reached out a hand after introducing himself, Marni stared at it for a moment, before reaching out to return the shake. She risked a glance at Vanessa before introducing herself. Her new mentor would have warned her had she wanted Marni to hide her identity.. probably. Vanessa trusted this guy so Marni had no real cause not to follow suit. "Marni.. Lacroix." she replied. "I guess.. well, I've been told that being Tobias'... child? makes me a Toreador too." she added.

Miles gave a small laugh. "Yep, that it would, kid... that it would." he agreed. He proceeded to agree to help the young fledgling learn and made a joking gibe against Vanessa.

Marni glanced over at her mentor, still struggling for words as she turned back to Miles. "She saved my life." she answered simply. It was true enough. Had Vanessa not helped her feed the other night, Marni would have ended up losing control once more and who knew where or how she would have ended up after whatever killing and feeding spree had sated that damned overpowering hunger. Her head cocked slightly to the side. "She's treated me better than Tobias did..." she added, just a hint of acid slipping in to her tone.

Miles stood there, staring at the kid for a long moment before giving a conceding nod. As much as he had respected Tobias, he HAD pulled a big stupid here and the getting killed part had been the least of it. He raised his hands then at Vanessa urging to continue on and laughed. "All right, we can get this rodeo started right now." he agreed. He turned back to Marni, contemplating her. contemplating what he could teach her. New fledglings usually picked up some of or bits of all the clan's usually powers fairly quickly, but that was often with at least some instruction. Van had told him that this one had had zero training whatsoever. "Okay kid.. tell me true here... have you picked up any powers, disciplines as we call them, on your own yet?" he asked.

Marni frowned, swiping some hair away from her face. "Bits and pieces... in the heat of the moment. Moving really fast... once or twice when my senses seemed to go haywire, get extra strong.. if that's even a power..." she answered.

"What about being able to influence other people?" he asked.

Marni frowned more so. "Influencing? I.. I don't know. I mean I got one of the cult guys who was holding me captive to help me escape but.. he had reasons to... I don't think I did anything special to him other than talking... Aside from that, I was mostly kept pretty isolated and when I got out, I kept to myself as much as I could.." she added.

It was Miles' turn to look surprised. His glance over at Van confirmed that this wasn't fiction. "Damn, kid... Okay, okay.. let's start at the basics." he said. "The 'moving really fast' is what we call Celerity. It let's us.. move 'really, really fast'." he explained with a chuckle. "It's one of the more physical of Kindred disciplines so it's one of the ones that often can be picked up easiest. Go over to the far wall there." he said, pointing at the other end of the range, past all the other shooting stalls so that Marni could have a clear spread to test in. He waited till she was in place before continuing. He looked over at Van. "Did you teach her about Blood Buffing yet?" he asked to which he received a negative answer.

He sighed. "Okay, really back to basics, kid. Close your eyes, focus inwards, into your own body, into your veins... Can you feel it? The blood inside you? The power inside you?" He could see the kid was a bit confused by that. Not really a surprise since the blood mostly just sat there until you used it. He walked over to Marni, stopping in front of her as she opened her eyes. "Raise your arms out level with the ground." he instructed. He glanced at Van again. "She had enough feedings to do all of this?" he asked and got an affirmative nod. "Okay kid, I'm going to try to push your arms down and you try to prevent me, all right?" He grabbed both of her wrists and used his taller stature to push down. The result was about as expected, she put up a good resistance but was at a disadvantage to begin with. "Okay, lets try that again but I'll tell you what to do."

Grabbing her wrists again when she put her arms out, he began to press down once more. "Okay kid, imagine your strength being the stilled blood in your veins, the blood of a line of Kindred dating back to the first... It IS power and you can harness that power. Imagine it... will it into the muscles of your arms, tell it to give you strength. Make it serve your needs!" he said, pushing down harder, gripping her wrists almost painfully.

Marni gritted her teeth, trying with all her might to resist. This wasn't really a fair test though. Suddenly she realized though... she could feel.. something. Her mind concentrating on the idea of strengthening her arms, her muscles and she FELT what she could only describe as power shift there from its sleeping state, enhancing her muscles. With strength that surprised her, her arms now easily resisted the downward push and flew up, inadvertently striking Miles with a glancing blow to the side of his jaw and knocking him back onto the ground a good few feet back. Marni stood there, Miles' grip now released from her wrists, and she stood, staring at her own pale arms in surprise. What the hell?

Miles stood up, laughing. "Well, you picked that bit up fast." he praised. "That is what we call Blood Buffing. You can enhance your strength by sending the Blood within you to your muscles, or increasing your dexterity or even your hardiness to take a hit. This is something that every Kindred, no matter the clan, can do. Van can run you through the finer details of this. Just remember though: you're burning blood to use it. Use it too much and you get hungry real fast. Next one does too, for that matter. Now for the Celerity.. get ready to run across to the other side there." he said, moving off to the side. "But this time, now that you understand the feel of the Blood within you, urge it to make yourself faster... spread it through all of your body with the intention of speed..."

As confusing of concepts as these were, Marni was beginning to get it. She could almost picture a red glow of power within her body, like at rest now, it was centred in the core of her chest mostly. She looked at the far wall, urging that glow to do what Miles said, to spread out, to give her speed and then started to run. Her body... the Blood she guessed, responded and faster than she expected. Within two steps she knew she was moving faster than she ever had before and more quickly than she expected, she reached the far wall, slowing too late. She had enough time though.. oddly easily enough time, to turn her side into the wall, taking the impact mostly in her shoulder and hip. The wall was immovable though and she rebounded, hitting the floor hard. She groaned. "Ow.... I'm gonna be bruised tomorrow.." she said, slowly getting up, surprised that she wasn't hurting more, surprised that she hadn't seemed to have broken anything.

Miles laughed. "No, you won't." he answered as he headed towards her. "We don't bruise, kid. No blood to pool where we don't want it to." he explained. "Okay, since we are in a time crunch here, next one: we call it Presence. It's all about influencing people around you. Not like commanding them, but.. making them interested in you, making them do what you want them to do by making them WANT to help you, to side with you. Some other clans can directly command people but... hell kid, we like to be a bit more tactful than them. We influence emotions, which in some ways is a hell of a lot more powerful. Keep in mind though, while you might end up liking this one, if you use it too much on your own allies, they will probably come to resent being influenced." he warned.

"Okay, for this one, you are going to have to put on an act. YOU are the most important person in the room, in the crowd. Everyone around you notices you, wants to be close to you, wants to meet you and get on your good side... You have to will yourself to be the centre of attention in the room. And act like it. It won't go over so well if you don't act like it... You don't have to mess with the Blood inside your body for this one, just... WILL it that people notice you..." he instructed. It took a minute but eventually he began to feel something of a pull towards looking at the fledgling, and not wanting to look away. It wasn't very strong but the kid was new at it and he.. well, he knew his stuff. "All right, kid. Turn it off." he said finally. "Just stop thinking about doing it."

Marni let out a breath, despite not needing the air. "Did I even do anything?" she asked doubtfully. "Before.. all of this, I would see someone and think 'look at me!' but.. of course, it wouldn't do anything. I don't really feel like I did anything different..."

Miles nodded. "Well, it was working this time, I can tell you. You probably just couldn't notice a response because we knew what you were trying. This trick works best on the ignorant and/or distracted." he replied. He looked over at the Brujah. "Van, you should probably take her to some Kine hangout at some point, a place where the two of you aren't known so she can test it out for real." he suggested.

Turning back to Marni, Miles held up one finger. "Last one, kid. We call this one Auspex. This one right here is where you, as a Toreador, are going to differ from Van and her clan. This is another mind power, if you want to think of it like this. Some would argue it is ALL about the senses, and I guess, in some ways it is. This one.. is a little more... vague than the previous two disciplines. And no need of the Blood again for this." he began. "Okay, so you mentioned that you managed to heighten a sense before. That is this. Or at least the beginnings of it. Go over to the other side of the room, against the wall again." He waited till she had done so. He raised his voice so she could hear. "I'm going to whisper something to Van... like the Presence, will yourself to be able to hear what I'm saying."

He turned to Van, lowering his voice to even barely a whisper. "Think she can get this one?" he asked. "She's doing pretty well so far... Anyways, let's see... You gotta drop by sometime and listen to the new album I wrote.. Think you might like this one." he said, not really joking this time. He had experimented adding in some more styles of music this time. "Of course, I can't put the album out or anything but.. I think I found someone who could be the face for my music in the world. With the proper grooming of course. Want your opinion on the songs first though, Van."

He cast a glance at Marni at the far end of the room. The look on her face hinted that she was indeed hearing his words, and was cautious about them.. probably the part of grooming a human for use. After she had been used, it was no wonder she'd be suspicious. But that wasn't why he was here. He needed to be sure though that she was succeeding at this discipline. Slowly he turned, walking over to where some of the guns still lay on the counter by the gun range. He picked up one, a pistol and checked it still had a bullet and with no delay, raised it, firing it at one of the target sheets down the range, not really looking. His aim didn't really matter. The shot went off, loud enough to the unprotected ear that he flinched at the retort. But his attention was on Marni.

With a cry, Marni dropped to her knees, hands going instantly up to try to protect her ears. It felt like a bomb had gone off all around her. The sound had been so overpowering that she felt dazed and overwhelmed. After a few moments, she collected herself enough that she put a finger to one ear, sure that it would come away bloody but it didn't. Suddenly, Miles was there, helping her to her feet.

"I'm sorry to do that, Kid, but I wanted to make sure you understood the risks of using Auspex like this." he apologized, his voice sounding normal volume again. "You could hear what I was saying to Van right? Well, you can boost any one sense like that, the same way. Sight, hearing, taste, touch, smell... any of them, but only one at a time. You just have to know that any drastic change, a really bright light if you are heightening your sight, loud sound for hearing, etc... and it will daze you, just like this did." he warned. "It can be a useful trick but be well aware of your surroundings when using it."

Marni stared at him, annoyed at his tactic but the stare was to try to determine his real intention for doing it. Had it really been the best way to demonstrate the risk? Suddenly, she pulled away, the anger draining away as she stared at him. She saw.. colours.. around him. Very faded, but still perceptible. A pale pink aura surrounded him, there were some other pale colours as well but.. pink was predominant right now. "What the hell is that around you?" she asked, half shocked by the sight. "The colours.."

Miles looked around himself in confusion for a moment before realization crossed his face. "You see an aura around me?" he asked. When Marni nodded, Miles smiled in understanding, though there was a hint of surprise. "Well, damn... you really do pick it up fast, don't you kid... If you can do that, if you really concentrate on someone, sometimes you can pick up their auras. Won't always work, won't always be specific or maybe even accurate but... it can help a bit from time to time. You'll have to figure out the meanings for colours and patterns but... well hell, you managed to take the second step into Auspex..." he explained. He leaned in a bit conspiratorially. "See, what most people tend to forget... there are more than just five senses... Some of us Toreador learn how to tap into the sixth..."

He checked his watch. "Well, it's about time I high tail it out of here... Good start on the powers though, kid. Keep practising them. Van can help you more with that in the coming nights. Was nice meeting you, kid. If you have more questions about our clan, have Van contact me." he stopped and pointed at Vanessa. "And you, get back to me about listening to my music, all right?" he said, before saying his goodbyes and leaving.

Marni turned to Vanessa now, eyes wide at.. everything she had learned tonight. She didn't even know how to put it into words. At how much power she had at her fingertips now... and apparently, so she had gathered, she had only scratched the surface. No wonder she would have been no match for an older vampire. "This.. is.. so awesome..." she said finally, her eyes still wide. "How the hell are you guys not ruling the planet with powers like this.. and who knows what else!?" She began to laugh at.. all of it, shaking her head as she took it all in. "Just.. wow... Oh.. so you said.. we had to head out too now?" she added eventually as she focused herself again.
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Re: Rebel with a Cause - Anarchs

Post by rivaan »

Watching kiddo Marni learn from big brother Miles was amusingly hilarious. Especially the gun tactic when she was boosting her hearing, Vanessa just chuckled, yeah it sounded about right. her own sire tended to give her the lessons in the harsher blunt way, the way she'd remember them for good and remember the dangers. There were few things more dangerous than unprepared and overly self confident people... especially for those very same people and those around them.

Vanessa looked at Marni and rolled her eyes with a sigh. She pulled out her own gun and looked at it for a moment." Because Marni, first of all we shouldn't Rule humanity just because what we are. We could have lived in harmony, impossible anymore really." She sighed and put the gun away underneath her jacket again." Besides we are too few in number. I've mentioned before, but htey aren't harmless. As great as we can be in the night, we are basically defenseless in the day. We can easily be distinguished by humans also if they really look for us. A squad with automatic guns, can pretty much destroy a number of vampires of certain power with little difficulty, shotguns are very devastating for us and let's not even get into what Fire can do. We are not immortal or invulnarable." She explained to the younger woman with a matter of fact voice." Have you tested or attempted to test what fire or sunlight do to you while you were on your own?" She asked.

"Yes, we should be heading back to the club now. It's been a while you know, time flies when you are having fun, and judging by teh grin on your face from learning from Miles, you've had a lot of fun." Vanessa stated and gestured for the Toreador to start gathering her new stuff back into the bag." Your room should be pretty much done by now also. I'm guessing you'd might want to deal with that as well, put your clothes in the dressers and the like. She then narrowed her eyes at the woman." Also maybe get a bath? How long has it been since you've had a proper bath? Even though we don't sweat anymore, dust and grime does accumulate overtime." She smiled and started heading back towards the entrance." Tomorrow will be an even bigger day for you. Marni, you will get to meet my coterie. A coterie is what you'd call a party of our kind teamed together for different reasons. A team or a squad if you will. There are 6 of us and each is of different clan or walk of society. You already met Miles tonight, but there are 5 more to meet." She smiled. Vanessa had gotten to the entrance of the gunrange and opened it, waiting for Marni to join, before she walked out in the rain. Since she wore a leather jacket which she had zipped up, her shirt didn't get much wet, mostly her hair. Her jeans were immediately wet from the heels up to her tights though. It was a very heavy rain.
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Keira Kelly
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Re: Rebel with a Cause - Anarchs

Post by Keira Kelly »

Marni let out a laugh while shaking her head at the same time. "No, no... I don't mean that we SHOULD rule. And I get the need for remaining hidden.. I guess, but I'm just surprised someone hasn't had the balls and arrogance to try it..." she corrected. "With this sort of power.. or more... Well, there are always dicks out there who want to rule that had more ambition than common sense. With these kinds of powers, they could succeed. In all of history, why hasn't just one of those succeeded?" she asked curiously. "I get that you... I guess we have rules to keep hidden... but you can't expect me to believe that EVERY one of us has obeyed those rules. And I can't imagine how it could have been enforced.. every single time." she added, scratching her head as she contemplated it all, seeing the big picture of the world behind the world now.. or at least a part of it anyways.

Marni's eyes grew big at the mention of fire or sunlight. Even the words brought on a cold dread deep within her, a dread that she could never have imagined feeling for such simple concepts before. It was almost as if the fear wasn't her own but was being imposed onto her. She shook off a shudder and shook her head. "No...." she trailed. "I... don't think... I get the impression the movies are right about fire and sunlight... and.. it's..." She paused, a confused look crossing her face. "It's like something inside of me is rabidly terrified of either..." she said, unsure if that even made sense.

She glanced at her watch. It was getting late... Or.. early or... Well, the night was wearing on. She couldn't help now but grin again at what she had learned and gained tonight. She might not be able to yet stand toe to toe with an experienced vampire but.. at least she had been given the toolkit and the ability to work on it all now, to learn to catch up. She moved over to where her guns were and began to pack them up into the duffel back they had come in. She looked over at Vanessa over her shoulder as the other women mentioned the new room. Ah, a room... Her own room. One that wasn't a hole in an abandoned building or the storage room in a club... A decent room. That sounded nice. She was about to thank Vanessa again when the other woman brought up another point.

Marni's jaw fell open and she glanced down at herself. "A bath..." she repeated slowly. Truth be told, she couldn't remember the last time she had actually had a bath. Indoors. She made a derisive laugh at herself. "The closest I've come to a proper bath in seven months is standing outside in the rain the other night." she answered, almost ashamed at it, at her life having come to that. She had always been much more careful about her hygiene than that but.. circumstances had dictated differently for the past seven months. "I think I'd love a bath..." she nearly sighed as, guns now packed up, she followed Vanessa back to the exit.

She frowned at hearing about this team, this... coterie. Odd word. Then again, it turned out that this vampire world was so full of odd words. She was going to have to get used to that. She had questions about this coterie; whether it was always six strong, whether it was always one of each clan, and the like, but... she could feel the beginnings of the pull of the approaching dawn, still a ways off but enticing Marni to prefer haste back to safety of the club over answers for the moment. As they exited, the rain was still just as heavy as earlier.. as the night that Marni had wandered into Vanessa's bar. Like Marni's last 'bath', she thought to herself sardonically. She pushed a hand back through her short, soaking hair as they got into Vanessa's car, trying to squeeze a little of the water out.

She was excited to get back, to see this new room that would be hers, to maybe have a bath even.... And curious about what the next night would bring. Curious and.... apprehensive about what the next night would bring. Tomorrow night was when the plan for.. everything would start: for going to the cult's church, wiping them all out after finding out who was controlling them and maybe who had had a hand in Tobias' death... and then planting Marni's 'body' there for the police, some of them working with the vampires apparently, to find.... So that her family and loved ones could get closure. She closed her eyes tight at that thought. She still didn't like it, still wanted to find a way to go to them and... something! She didn't know what. Maybe Vanessa was right though... but it hurt so damned much... Now was still not the time to pull a fast one though. Even if they thought her dead, one day she could still find a way to.. do something. But not today.. well, not tomorrow anyways. She still had too much to learn... In any case, saying that tomorrow was going to be tough was the understatement of the year and she was dreading it as they drove back to the club.

( You can have Vanessa show Marni the room, etc.. and anything else you want them to do, ie. feed? or whatever, and then we can do a time skip to the next night to meet the coterie. )
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Re: Rebel with a Cause - Anarchs

Post by rivaan »

"I guess you've already forgotten what I briefly explained you yesterday..." Vanessa sighed and looked at Marni in a kindish mentory way." Do you recall what I briefly explained you of the Sabbat? Anyways, seems you've got MORE learning to do indeed." She narrowed her eyes as she got into the car and pulled her hair from her face as to not hinder her driving." I suppose it's time to... do some... self educating when I'm preoccupied elsewhere and do some READING." She grinned and looked at the Toreador. Admittedly at ordinary cases she'd explain everything herself, but honestly there wasn't enough time with a fucking three way war going on even if it was kind of in a deadlock right now. She had other responsibilities, so in the downtime, she was going to procure the younger woman some educational learning materials.

She drove off as soon as Marni was well seated with a belt and everything." I'ts better to have something to read in the downtime before sleeping and so on. Some historical and other records of our kind will be well used I think? Though if we take your reaction to the very brief history I gave you on your clan, I'd guess you'd like to start with some records of the Toreadors?" The brujah asked with a small smile as she drove, it was hell of a rain though. She liked it however, it was an excelent deterrent and or advantage for chaos to happen. If it held a few more days, it would be a great help for the task of attacking that cult.

"As for rain instead of a bath... It's not a perfect, but it worked?" She half asked and drove down teh road. Her phone rang for a message for a moment, which she checked on a traffic light for a moment and put it back down. Otherwise it wasn't too eventful drive back to the bar.

Vanessa drove the car to the parking spot behind the bar and left the car, waiting for Marni to join her before she opened the back door with a secure key and waited for the toreador to follow her inside. Afterwards teh heavy secure door was closed. The bar was actually very noisy, there must have been quite a few patrons still, probably a result from the downpour.

Jim and Veta were still helping around the place and in fact Jim was the first one to greet them." Welcome back, Vanessa, Marni." He greeted them, carrying a keg of beer towards the bar." The room was renovated, the crew left just a bit while ago." He explained with a happy smile. He certainlly looked in decent shape tonight as well. He looked like he was about to say something, when a loud voice was heard from the door leading into the bar hall proper. A familar female voice that is.

"JIM HAUL YOUR ASS OVER HERE FASTER! Where's the beer!" Veta seemed to be very busy and irritatable. Apparently she took the helping at the bar very seriously.

"Ohh right, sorry. Just in a moment." He shouted and nodded to the two vampires." Glad to see you back save and sound." He added and hurried to deliver the beer.

"Well guess at least the bar is running well. Let's get you to see your new room." Vanessa said and walked up to the former spare storageroom. Opening the door, it certainly looked different now. Gone were teh inventory from the bar and other misc items. It was cleaned up, the light fixtures were replaced with something more homey rather than the sterile white light. There was a wardrobe, a new bed with fresh bedsheets, a desk, chair and a tv. Also a laptop on the desk." Guess they did proove they deserve the pay that was demanded. Normal crew wouldn't have done it in 6 or so hours, especially at night." Vanessa smiled and looked at Marni as she brought over the bags they bought of clothes for the younger toreador. Since Marni herself was busy carrying the dakka. She placed the clothes on the bed.

"So what do you think?" She asked. It had a look of a bedroom or maybe a rather nice dorm room. Depended on the viewpoint." Only problem is that the sole actual shower in this place is at my office." She stated and stossed a look at the toreador." No matter what this wasn't accounted on being a full living space after all. No way to be changed in a short amount of time without affecting a the bar so yeah. Well check around the place, I'm sure that Veta has probably prepared your toiletries and the like. Jost go to my office and take a shower. I'm going to be down at the bar itself and let the two kids rest a bit. They really outdone themselves this time. Should I ask one of them to join you after your done with the bath or before it?" Vanessa basically asked if Marni wanted a bit of a snack. She herself was going to feed a bit as well.
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