( shortly after sundown ) ( voice ) + ( private to Mina Barrett )

[indiscreet]

[ This is her first time posting with her communicator wholly on her own, and for a moment the feed statics, then flashes to a blurred image of a face— ] damned contraptions [ —before switching properly to the AUDIO setting. ]

Ah— good evening. I suppose it is becoming increasingly apparent to all of us that we're either stuck here or else need to begin acting as though we are. [ Her voice is young and pretty-sounding, the accent mostly American but subtly tinged with Russian. ] As such, I was wondering if anyone might have...well, weaponry. Specifically, weaponry I might be able to call my own. I know my way around a bow, so that would be my preference, but beggars can't be choosers.

I can't precisely offer payment, but I can promise to shoot various beasties of the edible or dangerous kind.

PRIVATE to Mina Barrett
The dire wolf population seems to be thinning. For the kine that's a good thing, but for me...

Mina, I don't know how you're doing it, but I need a source of blood, and between the two of us — hell, even with one of us — it won't be long before we make everyone here anemic, or worse. I can keep trying to hunt animals, but I can't catch them without the Huntress's abilities. So, unless you have any better ideas, it seems like the lesser of two evils.

Comments

[indiscreet]

I want you to talk to me. You're acting all strange and, wouldn't you know it but I actually care a little about what happens to a bearcat heretic like you.

Now are you going to let me in or not?

[primogen_vampirate]

Enter at your own risk, Anna.

[indiscreet]

[ The door swings open and she enters, shutting it gently behind her. She rests one hand on her hip. ]

What in God's name are you doing holed up in here? If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were hiding.

[primogen_vampirate]

[You asked for it, Anna.

Mina is lying on the foot of her bed, wearing nothing but her unmentionables and a gun holster. There's a burn mark across her left arm, shaped like a hand. And it appears she's reading the Bible.]

[indiscreet]

And you don't seem one to— [ she turns back from shutting the door, and starts slightly ] —oh.

[ A long pause as she considers what to do now that she's gotten herself into this position of seeing Mina at a moment of (probably) rare vulnerability. After a moment, she tugs off her shoes — a pair of low-heeled leather boots, toeing the line between fashion and practicality. Then she walks stocking-footed over to the edge of the bed, perching herself at the other end. ]

I didn't expect you to have found religion. [ Her soft tone mutes the sarcasm that would otherwise be apparent in the words. ]

[primogen_vampirate]

Darling, what you fail to realize in your zealousness, is that it's all one.

[Mina closes the Bible, setting it off to one side and sitting up. She grabs her button-down off of the floor and pulls it on.]

[indiscreet]

[ She merely raises her eyebrows at that: she hardly agrees, but she's interested in getting Mina to open up, and she has the social sense to know that she's not going to achieve that by giving into the urge to needle her about religion. ]

Very philosophical. But I nevertheless find myself wondering what brought this on.

[primogen_vampirate]

Research, darling.

[indiscreet]

...About angels. [ It's not a question, but a conclusion. She imagines meeting an angel — if that's really what this Castiel, and whoever the other one is, are — would send her looking for a Bible as well, even if the ones lying around this town aren't the Russian Orthodox sort she grew up with. ]

But why does research require lying about in your unmentionables and attempting to avoid talking to me? [ She lets herself flop slightly on the bed, half-playacting dejectedness and half settling in. ]

[primogen_vampirate]

I'm wearing my unmentionables because I don't have a proper nightgown and I didn't want to wrinkle my suit.

As for not speaking with you...should I really need a reason?

[indiscreet]

[ a small snort - she more or less expected that reaction ]

Fair enough on both counts. And yet you seem very insistent on not telling me why you seemed in such a lather earlier.

[primogen_vampirate]

Has it ever occurred to you that not everything is your concern, Anna?

[indiscreet]

[ she props herself back up on her arm ]

I don't understand why you're so determined not to tell me, though. You're withdrawing, you've got some horrible burn on your arm... it isn't normal.

[ The thought flits into her mind that she could make Mina want to tell her; these are exactly the circumstances most conducive to that power...but is there really anything to gain from doing it? The other woman would probably not be any the wiser; that was perhaps the key advantage of the Daeva's signature power over that of the Ventrue. But the fact of the matter is that she doesn't want to have to make Mina tell her. ]

[primogen_vampirate]

[Mina glances down at her arm.]

Oh, this? Quite the tale, I assure you. One of daring heroics and snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.

[indiscreet]

I do love a good story. [ Well, it's not false, and if this is what will get Mina actually talking to her, she'll gladly hear it. And besides, she is rather curious. ]

Is it from the affair with the box, or something else entirely?

[primogen_vampirate]

The damn box. I used Cruac. Couldn't afford to heal it up right away.

[This has been bothering her quite a lot and it's very evident from her tone of voice.]

My darling Pendragon offered to heal it for me.

[indiscreet]

Darling Pendragon? [ The edges of her lips tighten into a small, mischievous smile: awfully romantic-sounding language from the pantsuit-wearing Hierophant. ]

Is this your other angel? The one you're keeping for yourself? [ She can think of no other reason, outside perhaps a mage, that this "Pendragon" should be uniquely qualified to heal a vampire's wounds. ]

[primogen_vampirate]

I don't know what he is...

[She frowns, glancing down at the Bible.]

But the manner in which he healed me as caused a lot of suspicions to swirl about.

[indiscreet]

[ She echoes the frown, and follows Mina's gaze. ]

What do you mean? How did he heal you?

[primogen_vampirate]

With his bloody hand.

[indiscreet]

[ Anna's chin jerks as she abruptly looks back over at Mina. ]

With his hand? Is that what left the burn? Why would he burn you if he was healing you?

[primogen_vampirate]

I have no idea...

[Not true...she has an inkling.]

[indiscreet]

[ That leaves her frowning pensively, and for a moment she chews her lip. ]

You said you didn't know if he was an angel... but if he were, could that be why? I've heard rumors among the Lance that true faith can repel any Kindred. [ a pause ] And I'm assuming if his hand actually caught fire, you'd have noticed something like that.

[ Now that Mina has put the shirt back on, she can't examine it, but Anna finds herself glancing curiously over at Mina's arm all the same. ]

...Were you researching him?

[primogen_vampirate]

I feel quite certain that he's something biblical. I just don't know what, yet.

He claims to be a Norse god. But the Bible often absorbed the deities of other nations.

[A pause.]

And I assure you, there was no fire.

[indiscreet]

What makes you so sure? Did my true faith theory occur to you as well?

[ a pause, as an uncomfortable thought occurs to her ]

He... is there any chance he could be fae? We still don't know the full scope of true fae abilities..