Post by Alistair Crowsly on Dec 2, 2012 11:45:55 GMT -5
“Sorry, friend, but when you bumped into me in the alleyway tonight, it was not the best night for you to be doing so.”
Certainly; he’d have had better luck on a night before she became a silver-wielding Hunter with an agenda. Then again this girl was something to behold. She made him feel moral. Perhaps he needed that. A reminder he’d once been human. A reminder he could still feel. His mind lived on and within it he had the capacity to feel. This girl had made him feel more empathy than he had in a long while.
“Look- I can take care of myself. I don’t need pity, and I certainly don’t need it from you- but that…creature... I-I watched him… And he’s going to pay for that.”
He didn’t pity her anymore than he pitied himself. He realised then as he looked at the fire in her eyes that they were the same. In some way they were the same. They had suffered loss. Loss of human soul/s. Whether or not his loss was greater, or lesser, than Rae’s was matter of opinion for some philosopher on high to decide but right here Alistair knew it was a link.
And Alistair knew her rage was reflected in the haunting image he saw in the mirror; an image by all rights was not there; the soul that haunted him. The restless soul an impossible revenge he had been too cowardly to commit when he had the chance. He didn’t know if revenge would be the answer and frankly he didn’t know why that should matter. He’d lost his chance at revenge. His Daemon had died his mentor; his father; his friend. He had never been confronted only revered in some sick, brainwashed way that only now Alistair can admit to being fake. She could have her revenge. Those souls that had been taken away, though never to be given back, could be avenged and perhaps that would put them to rest. As for Alistair the soul ill at ease would forever haunt him and that soul was unmistakeably his own.
“How are you going to do it? Where are you going to do it? When are you going to do it?” He asked everything but why. He knew why. “Daemons are tricky business. You’ll need someone with expert knowledge in their magics; their habits; their every which way. Someone who pities no-one and doesn’t take no for an answer. Know anyone?”
Post by Rae-Star Berii on Dec 2, 2012 11:58:31 GMT -5
His answer to her darkness came in a barrage of questions, they were all questions Rae had considered, they were all questions that she knew well and there were more he had not asked that she had asked herself. She went quiet for a moment as Abbie passed the table, filling up their glasses and doing her waitress duty. She ignored her old school friend as the girl clearly hovered, and she looked only at the dirt under her finger nails.
When the waitress had gone once more she picked up the glass and sipped from it. This was her third now. Rae could hold her drink well enough but she was beginning to drown herself in the alcohol. Maybe that was a thought for another day, maybe if she drank so much the pain would eventually dissipate?
Her eyes came back to him and she answered his questions with a simple set of her own; “Why are you so interested, Alistair?” Rae started her voice as empty as the look in her eyes. “Are you offering?”
She had a plan. It would take time. And he would be the first of three. Rae knew, after she had killed him she would become a hunted woman, that the other two would probably come after her and it really would be a race until the death. She did not want to start something until she was ready, for now, she was content to see him- to know his habits, to follow him and to learn that he was really was the worthless piece of shit she thought him to be.
Post by Alistair Crowsly on Dec 2, 2012 15:01:42 GMT -5
She drank more than he did and he couldn’t even get drunk. That was a sign of something. Post traumatic distress, perhaps? Well she had certainly suffered trauma and getting blitzed would make her forget about it for a while. It wasn’t the answer. Well, it might be. He wasn’t a Doctor. He was relatively sure it wasn’t though many humans seemed to have tried.
“Why are you so interested, Alistair? Are you offering?”
There it was. The ultimate question. Was he offering? Did he even care? Who was she to him? Food? Enemy? Friend? She had done nothing for him except point a gun in his face. Then again they were even on that front. He’d tried to kill her. He would have too. She let him go though. If he’d had her he wouldn’t have. Did he still owe her some then?
No, that Daemon had slain a child. What sort of a chance at life was that? The child could have turned out to be useful. Daemons forgot that the supernatural world was built on the back of the human one. When humans progressed it was good for the supernaturals most of the time. Every human needed that chance to be great. It wasn’t just that though; that was a lie Alistair told himself; killing babies was wrong because it wasn’t natural. It wasn’t right. It just wasn’t. Alistair had a moral belief that was not grounded in logic. That was not made to protect himself. That was not a means to anything. He held on to something because it was right. That was something he couldn’t really understand but that part of himself still human could understand and so keeping that morality kept a part of him human.
“When a Daemon kills for no reason he is a mindless excuse for a sentient creature. When a Daemon kills a child for any excuse he is Maleficar. He is dead inside. A blight. I’ll help. We’d all be better off without him.” Alistair wasn’t sure what his reasons were but this reason seemed, at the very least, to make the most sense to him.
Post by Rae-Star Berii on Dec 2, 2012 15:16:56 GMT -5
He was going to help her.
She felt strange inside; weakened suddenly by this support. Whatever his reasons were she was not sure but ultimately she felt it inside. She felt strange and sad and relieved all at once. Whether she wanted his help or not was another matter, it would be different for her – she did not trust him, she did not necessarily like him but he was offering to help her. That was the fact she could not get past. Did it make him a good person? Did it mean there was goodness within some of the supernatural beings? She was not sure…she was not asking those questions yet.
Her eyes went past to the daemon once more and then came back to the vampire. She listened to his reasons and she nodded after a moment to take it in. She was not ready to speak of her plan to him yet, it may change now that she could include him within it, but she nodded and smiled softly. “Thank you.” Rae said gently. She had been brought up to be respectful, to be understanding of others and to be grateful of them.
She ran her finger across the rim of her glass, watching the dark liquid for a moment. Then she looked back up at him, taking in the look on his face; her dark eyes travelling over his soft smile, his chiselled jaw and the dark determined look in his eyes. Rae rose from her seat, touching her pale pink jumper into place against the curve of her bottom, then she moved level with him, taking her glass with her.
“Now…something simpler. Poker.” She sighed. Momentarily she paused, really observing his face, as if she was trying to see through him and into his soul….assuming he still had something of a soul in his body somewhere.
And headed straight to the table with the daemon on, placing her glass down on the red velvet, sitting opposite her nemesis.
Post by Alistair Crowsly on Dec 2, 2012 16:29:59 GMT -5
“Thank you.”
He had to smile; even if it was a small, charming one. He hadn’t heard those words sincerely in a very long time. Perhaps not even since he was Human. His Sire may have said it but he couldn’t be sure. He couldn’t help but feel a little happier; a little warmer. He almost felt human.
“Now…something simpler. Poker.”
Alistair had watched as she stood and had already guessed what was on her mind. He rose as she spoke and slipped gracefully into step taking his full rum and coke along with him.
He sat beside her allowing the daemon only enough glance so as not to arouse suspicion. There was nothing overly daemonic about his character but Alistair could feel, and even smell, it. This man was, at the very most, not human.
He reached inside his suit and withdrew another wad of cash placing it down on the table. “Five hundred, dealer.” He said sliding the money across to the Dealer who then slid the correct amount of chips back at him. He assumed Rae had her own money since she hadn’t planned on meeting a wealthy Vampyre tonight.
Post by Rae-Star Berii on Dec 3, 2012 13:39:56 GMT -5
Poker was simple. The game itself required very little interaction from the player, cards were dealt in pairs then three lain down on the table face up. All the player had to do was decide if their hand was worth the bet or not. The real skill came in reading the people around you, and the table that they had just joined was not going to be an easy table to read.
Other than the dealer, Rae and Alistair there were two others sat around the red velvet. The first was the daemon, he was broad, handsome and with a darkness around him. His domineer was brooding and mysterious; which alone made him hard to read. But further, he was very still. As each card was placed he barely twitched…there was no tell, so far as Rae could see. The second man at the table was a lot smaller, a weedy looking man whose once-white business shirt was faded grey and a little yellow with sweat. He was mouse like and Rae imagined him to be either recently divorced or going through a divorce. He seemed like the sort of man who was trying to gamble all of his money away before his bitch wife took it. He was not a man whose aspirations encouraged winning large amounts of money and his bets were frivolous.
She sat and watched as Alistair exchanged his chips. She had, of course, his roll of money from before. How much money did this guy have? Maybe that was the trick to being rich? Living forever and not having to buy any really form of sustenance, just kill lots of rich people and sell their stuff on eBay? Hey…there was an idea….
Rae placed the remainder of the roll of notes on the table, taking the clip off it and exchanging the two-fifty pounds for chips. She had the money she had intended to spend tonight in her purse, but if she could spend someone else’s she was not going to have a problem with that. It was his own fault for pretending to be her boyfriend and giving her the money in the first place. Other people’s garbage and all that…
“It’s a minimum of twenty bet.” The dealer explained, passing the chips over.
Rae picked up the gold and red coin and turned it over in her fingers, examining it for a moment before placing it down on the table next to her drink glass. As she did, the dealer played out two cards each. Rae didn’t even pick them up or look at them, her eyes, dark ovals of chocolate brown; were much more interested in watching the other players around the table. The cards…well, they were meaningless, and if she did not know what lay before her, face down on the table, then she would give nothing away.
Post by Alistair Crowsly on Dec 5, 2012 2:15:58 GMT -5
He wondered briefly whether she was using his money from earlier. Had she expected to steal her bet from another this evening or was she just trying to save her own money from a bad poker run.
He eyed his chips the second biggest pile only to the suspected Daemon who, Alistair had guessed, had his whole starting chips and half of the other gentleman’s chips. Rae’s modest amount of chips was the smallest pile.
“It’s a minimum of twenty bet.”
Alistair looked up at the Dealer before throwing twenty into the pot. The Daemon slid his across to the pot. The other Human simply put it down into the pot with podgy fingers. Rae placed it almost hesitantly or, at least, it seemed as such to Alistair.
The dealer dealt and everyone allowed themselves to look at their cards except Rae. Alistair wondered how good she was or, for that matter, if she’d played much before. He looked at his cards. A King of Diamonds and a Two of Spades; it wasn’t the most encouraging hand of all but it opened up the possibility of a two pair hand or even a three of a kind and a pair. He wasn’t going to throw his hand away just yet.
(I can edit out this next part if you want to be in control of the NPCs)
It was time for the first round of betting and the Daemon was to go first. He bet the minimum which wasn’t uncommon in someone’s first game against an unknown opponent. Alistair could see the Daemon was no stranger to poker and he was going to try and ‘suss them out’ before attempting any risky moves.
After the Daemon it was his turn. He decided to keep the bet the same. His hand wasn’t exactly the most promising of all after all. Next it was Rae’s turn to bet…
Post by Rae-Star Berii on Dec 5, 2012 15:25:15 GMT -5
((I don’t mind, that’s what NPC’s are for. As long as Rae wins a substantial amount of money, as intended, I don’t really mind if you add to the NPC…it’s all part of the fun))
She watched them all as they looked at their cards, more interested in them than the cards that lay before her on the table. Alistair, because she had come to know him a little, was a little easier to read than perhaps he would have liked. She knew his hand was poor, she knew from the way he glanced down, pressed his lips together in thought and glanced up once more that he had little, limited cards that would depends on the draws that came next if they were to give him anything at all. But wasn’t that the joys of playing this game? At the end of the day it didn’t matter what you had in your hand, but what came out onto the table.
Next to Alistair, and the easiest to read, was her divorcee. Now she was close she was sure this was the case, on his left hand, third finger, was a lighter ring of skin, the tell-tale tan lines of a wedding band worn for so long and recently removed. This man was a loser. There was no doubting that, and again, he had nothing of interest in his hand yet- he also had a habit of drumming his fingers on the table…that was interesting…was he faking casual manners or was he waiting impatiently in the hope of drawing something more interesting?
She didn’t look at her cards, but stuck the minimum like the rest of the table thus far, her eyes following the movement of the man next to her as he did the same.
The dealer smiled a knowing smile and placed down three cards face up on the table; the flop. They contained an Ace of Space, the King of hearts and the Jack of hearts. Rae saw the slightest flicker of light in the divorcee’s eye and the tapping paused for all of a second, before it continued once more. He had something; something in the community cards had caught his interest. But, as per the rules, the Daemon went first. He chose to check his bet, playing it safe, though Rae knew by the glint in his eye that he too had noticed the divorcee’s excitement.
Post by Alistair Crowsly on Dec 10, 2012 14:52:20 GMT -5
Alistair had heard of mind-reading techniques before. They would have been so useful here. Of course the key to reading one’s mind without magic, Alistair knew, was knowing how to read their bodies. It was so when the cards were flipped he looked at them rather than the cards noting their reactions first before allowing himself to peruse what was on offer.
It was clear the fat one had something. Alistair’s ears were sharper than any mortals and he heard a pause in the otherwise continuous, and somewhat tension relieving, tapping. A pause that would either mean he was royally screwed or thought he had an advantage. Owing to the gleam in his eyes it was obvious which it was: he either had something or he was close to having something. The Daemon did nothing but play it safe and Rae obviously couldn’t give away what she had since she didn’t even know.
Alistair considered his options. He decided to check. The fellow would probably bet but he would see more of the man’s character if he done so. He would see it in how much he raise. He would see it in whether he raised at all.
Post by Rae-Star Berii on Dec 10, 2012 15:02:34 GMT -5
The lay of the cards made things more interesting that was certain; and Rae watched the divorcee raise his bet; nearly tripling the required twenty as he placed down two of the gold and red chips; laying a bet of fifty. Rae wet her lips; that was a safe move for someone with a good hand, it was a safe move for any of the big tallies; perhaps they were thinking a pair here…perhaps Aces or Kings…but all the cards in play were high. There would be no telling. Still, she met his match and watched as the daemon also matched the raised bid.
Finally Rae took her cards from the table; looking down at them she mastered a blank expression. For a moment she tapped the cards thoughtfully on the table before putting them down, face down, once more. Rae reached for her drink and sipped it as she casually observed Alistair once more. They had come to the table almost at the same time; people would associate them together of course and if she continued to watch him in her curious way people would believe anything they were told about the two of them…that would be useful. If she left with him, people would remember her as the girl with the man…the girl with the pink hair, with the man with the dark eyes…the girl who did not know how to play poker…who no-one would take seriously with a gun…. It would create an image in people’s heads….an alibi for herself.
Her Four of Clubs and Three of Diamonds were nothing cards, but it was not the thought of her cards that gave Rae a genuine glint to her eyes; no, it was a plot of revenge that made the gentle sheen on her rosy lips seem all the more seductive. She placed her glass back down, running a manicured finger nail around the rim of her glass; “babe, are these any good?” She asked Alistair, playing up to the character she was creating in her mind, leaning into him and showing him her cards.
"I don't get this game." She pouted, and for a moment there was a glimmer of the old Rae there, the Chelsea girl in her designer clothes and her whimsical ways...
Post by Alistair Crowsly on Jan 3, 2013 15:14:32 GMT -5
He made the bet Alistair thought he would. This guy was just too predictable unlike his comrade, Rae, who picked up her cards decided not to go for the blind anyway. It made her come off as airy which, combined with what came next, was probably what she was aiming for.
“babe, are these any good?”
Alistair allowed himself a human smile as his 'girlfriend' showed him her weak hand. Adopting the role of a boyfriend who had dragged his inexperienced girlfriend to an illegal poker game he replied “Shh, Maria, you're not meant to let anyone else know you're new to this.” He said rolling his eyes for the benefit of his opponents.
He looked at her cards. They were almost as bad as his. Looked like they wouldn't be taking the first game after all.
“I don't get this game.”
“Just remember what I told you before we came out tonight and you'll be fine.” He told her playing the role almost as if rehearsed. The greatest skill a Vampyre could achieve was the perfect ability to emulate their human counterparts. His Sire had taught him that...
Post by Rae-Star Berii on Jan 3, 2013 15:28:58 GMT -5
He played the part expertly; it was sweet really how he slipped into the game, for her sakes; for their sakes. Despite hating any form of physical contact she leant into him, her shoulder resting against his chest and she scrunched her nose in a giddy, girly way. As she laid her cards in his hands, she gave him a gooey look that did not carry to her chocolate eyes and then she smiled, playfully. “Sorry, baby.” The Brit spoke again, in her soft playful way.
“But it was so much to remember.” She complained in a high kept way, “Hands and bids and card colours- what was the one with the little flowery tree on them called again? It’s so much to remember.”
She lent in and spoke into his ear, her voice dropping to a to a whisper; “When I get up, he’ll make an excuse to leave the table, he has nothing in his hand…” She leant away again and sat back in her seat, tapping her fingers on the table once more, the nails clicking against the surface, before she tossed in her cards; “I’m bored, baby-“ And she rose, still pouting, and rising.
In the half-light of the dimly lit place she looked beautiful; she put her hand on her hips. Shaking her head, she murmured; “I’m going for a cigarette.” And then headed out towards the ally-way once more, and of course, the daemon’s eyes followed her curiously.
