The arcade : Causeway bay gamecenter

The Tremere puts back her hands on her lap and looks at them as she touches her own fingers, to keep them busy. She denies with the head slowly, keeping calm.
(Claudia) The only other option is dying. You have to bite, Estela.

She gives up, but looks back at Estela with more determination, but also severity and seriousness. She's clearly wearing a mask, to hide her worries and her fears.
(Claudia) Do as you wish, I will not force blood down your throat. I told you everything you needed to know, you're still denying. If it takes a frenzy and a few deaths for you to understand, then so be it. I will not be there to help you cover your tracks, and you will have to deal with the consequences yourself.

She stands, closing her fists. Her voice is slightly broken.
(Claudia) Have I made myself clear ?

Perception+Empathy>4:

There's a flicker of fear when Claudia claims that her only other option is death. It doesn't seem like she'd thought of that possibility. The look lasts for only a moment, her determined, headstrong expression returning. “No, I don't. I'll find a way. And if I don't....” Estela shudders visibly at the grim picture the Tremere paints for her with her words. She wraps her arms around herself, looking away from her friend. It's clear that her words hurt the younger vampire a great deal, but at the same time she tries to cover this up by acting tough, continuing on her earlier displayed determination. “Fuck, you can tell me 'I told you so' then, as often as you'd like and beat me over the head with it until you're satisfied.” Estela turns back to the Tremere. “But I'm not planning to let that happen. Ever.” From the sound of it, it doesn't seem like she intends on budging.

She watches as Claudia rises from the sofa, then lowers her gaze. Her fingers dig in her shirt as she clenches her fists. She closes her eyes, letting her breath escape slowly. “Completely.” Her voice is soft, almost a whisper in her answer. Opening her eyes again, Estela returns her gaze to the Tremere. It seems like she wants to say something for a moment, but doesn't, instead shaking her head lightly, expression saddened but still steeled in her resolve. She walks towards the door leading back to the arcade, pausing there, a hand resting on it. “I'm sorry I bothered you.” She waits there only long enough to hear Claudia's response, if any is given, then unlocks the door and leaves the room, closing the door behind her.

Estela lets a shaky breath escape her, taking a moment to compose herself before she quickly makes her way through the groups of people towards the exit. She pauses again outside, turning to look at the building. After a few seconds, she shakes her head and begins walking down the street, head hanging low and hands stuffed in her pockets.

Claudia closes her eyes as she hears again Estela. She unfolds her fingers from her fists slowly, but doesn't move. She just speaks a few broken words, before sitting down again, head low.
(Claudia) You didn't bother me. I will not judge you, I just gave you a bit of guidance, it will always be there.

Loic, with a towel on his shoulders after a game, follows Estela a moment, before catching up.
(Loic) Hey.. Hey !

Hearing the familiar voice, Estela turns slightly to look at Loic approaching. She clearly hesitates for a few moments before she pauses and waits for him to catch up. She forces a smile for the sake of appearing at least a little pleasant.
“Hey, Loic right? Sorry, but...I'm not in the greatest mood right now. Is there something you want?”

Loic clearly did intensive sport as he's sweating and is breathing a bit heavily. He cleans his face with the towel and catches his breath before talking. Competition of DDR or not, he now considers the situation he witnessed and takes it much more seriously than earlier.
(Loic) Yeah don't worry, I don't mind it. What happened ? I mean what the hell. She wouldn't let me touch her ever since she got here in a pity state, with blood all over her, she jumps everytime she hears anything.. And now you?

Estela runs a hand through her hair, sighing a little and looking away from the man. That Claudia arrived at the arcade covered in blood appears to surprise her. “Well....I don't really know what happened to get her so spooked. She didn't really tell me either.” Though she tries to answer best she can, she's very hesitant and careful with her words. “She...Claudia seemed alright. She just needs a bit of time and a place where she feels safe I guess, to calm down and collect herself. Just... give her some time.” The young vampire gives a half shrug. “As for me...it's a separate issue really. And...I'm not comfortable talking about it.”
She turns to look at Loic again. “If that was all...?”

The young man places himself in front of Estela to block her from leaving, as if he caught that she was particularly not eager to tell him what she knew.
(Loic) Don't bullshit me, she has all the symptoms of a rape victim. And you know something. I don't care if she killed the guy in self-defense (she had no wounds so it wasn't her blood), and I will not call the police on her ('cause if I do I go to jail), but I gotta know, get it ? And you're acting like you could do something about it.

Perception+conscience>5:

Estela scowls at Loic when he blocks her way. She's obviously not happy with it. “Contrary to what you think, I DON'T know what happened to Claudia. Like I said, she didn't tell me, and until you told me just now, I didn't even know she arrived here the way she did!”
She pauses, blinking a little in realization, as though a few things clicked in her head. Frowning a little, she looks down, resting her chin on her hand. After a moment of consideration, the young vampire shakes her head, “I can't be sure but maybe... Look, I could try and find out, but you gotta tell me what you know.”

The young student observes with more detail, curious about the words. He finally sighs and gives up. Because he's not sure how far and how accurate he is, he's just gauging the reactions as he speaks.
(Loic) I don't want to meddle in her affairs, since I owe her much. I know she shouldn't be alive. I know she should have spent the morning with me, but she didn't make it yesterday. She said she wasn't allowed out by her family.

Estela frowns at Loic's words, surprised and a little confused by them. Some of what he says appears to disturb her for some reason, but she tries to keep her expressions as neutral as possible. “I heard a bit about Claudia's family...they...well, they don't really get along from what I've heard. Not that there's any abuse I'm guessing. Just...” She shrugs. “She doesn't like them much from my understanding.”

Perception+Subterfuge>4:

She makes eye contact with the young man, appearing a little saddened. “Hey, if you don't want to meddle, it's probably best not to look into this to much. If Claudia wanted us to know, she would've told us, don't you agree? You...We should respect her privacy on this and just be there for her until she's back to her old self.”

ST:

Estela looks at the street behind the student, then back to him. “I'd like to leave now, alright? I have a lot on my mind at the moment.”

Loic half frowns, suspicious, but he says nothing. He then vaguely nods as she continues speaking and tries to talk him out of everything. He's a bit more relaxed, even a bit slower.
(Loic) I guess you're right, who cares.. If she doesn't talk, it's her problem, we're not here to look after others right. Well, good evening then, sorry to have disturbed you.

He moves back to the Arcade without another look or a word, putting the hands in his pockets.

Estela seems a little disturbed by the reaction she gets from Loic despite it being because of her actions. It lasts only a moment though, for she steels herself and gives a nod to him when he turns to leave. “No worries.”
She watches him for a few moments, then shakes her head and turns her back to him, beginning to walk down the street. At a crossroad she hesitates and pauses, taking time to consider her next course of action. The young Kindred grins wryly after a moment and sighs. “I just can't leave this shit alone. Sometimes, I can be such a hypocrite.” With an expression between a scowl and mild amusement at herself, Estela begins to make her way north.

Rufus slowly circles the area, clutching William to his chest with one arm.

"How would you like to do this? You can enter as any of the kine, but my options are rather limited..."

OOC:

William took some new glasses from his pocket and surveyed his surroundings. He considered his options for but an instance. "There is no room to land on the sides without anyone noticing us fly down from the skies, we'll 'quietly' drop on the roof and I'll try to see if I can access the building somehow. Unless you have a better suggestion. If we're lucky, Claudia isn't on the bottom floor and you can just phase through."

William snorted, "Oh and Roofy, you owe me a new pair of glasses and a ritual to keep water and dirt from affecting it."

The Gargoyle begins a slow descent down to the tiled surface of the roof of the building. His clawed feet shuffle against the loose times, but between his great strength and extra-appendaged balance, he has no trouble keeping a firm footing on the uneven surface. He finds a smooth spot to set William down upon, then begins moving toward an area of the roof he seems to know. If closely examining Rufus, William will notice that the Gargoyle almost seems to be following a scent more than anything else. He stops, then turns toward the neonate, speaking in a hushed down.

"Here. I will part the tiles for you, then I shall enter. You will only descend between the beams after I have spoken with Claudia. No need to unnecessarily startle her."

Rufus - pointedly ignoring the demand for replacement spectacles (as well as being called 'Roofy') - bends down and begins moving the tiles aside, after a minute revealing a hole just barely large enough for William to fit. Once that task has been accomplished, the Gargoyle focuses his power and slowly melds into the stone of the building, emerging below in Claudia's room.

"Hello?"

Under the tiles, both the Gargoyle and the Tremere may notice the isolation materials put to allow a certain security. It's mostly tissues isolation instead of wooden or plywood plates. This access must be used often enough as while the tiles are heavy, they weren't totally fixed to the roof. From the inside, maybe with a tool, it should be easier to move them.

Perception+Investigation>4:

Claudia lets out a slight "eep" of surprise as she notices Rufus take form in the maid room. She lets a small smile show, and speaks with a certain unexpected happiness to see the gargoyle.
(Claudia) Rufus !

She stands from the mattress she was sitting on, letting a book to the side, but something keeps her from greeting him with a closer contact as she sometimes does when they're alone. She's wearing a men's large t-shirt with printed patterns and a pair of jeans that are clearly not hers, but that fit her. She looks away, losing the smile and fighting a moment against her instincts. It's clear she's thirsty, as her fangs show when she speaks and her voice betrays a hushed beast, which may be why she's not getting too close. She also guesses he has a good reason to be here, a clan related reason.
(Claudia) I thought the Regent would leave me alone a few nights...

She sighs, then gives another look to Rufus, one that shows compassion.
(Claudia) What is it ?

William lands on the roof with a soft thud. He balances on the tip of his toes and holds himself stead with his right hand while regarding his cane and it's presence which had caused him to be unable to catch his previous glasses. The roof wasn't exactly made to stand around on. He corrected his hat and glasses, and slowly followed the gargoyle, carefully testing every footstep, for he didn't have the grace the gargoyle was showing on this kind of underground.

Rufus explained the plan, and William rolled his eyes. "Ah yes, cause a gaint gargoyle appearing in a lady's room is a lot less startling then a man wi-... Never mind, go ahead."

His eyes stared after the diminishing shape of the construct as he slowly made his way towards the hole in the roof. He sat on the edge and looked inside, and at the loose tiles. "This is not the first time this was used as a exit or entry." He stated to no one in particular. He poked with his cane on the cotton like isolation, the way it has been placed, it could easily be moved. He prodded a small opening and used Auspex 1 to hear for conversations below.

Rufus gives a very slight smile upon seeing Claudia, as though her mere presence gives him relief from some inner pain no one else understands, or is even aware of. But just for an instant, after it appears it is just as quickly gone. The Gargoyle's red eyes take in her dress and appearance, her demeanor and obvious hunger. Without speaking, he drags a claw across his forearm, opening a small incision, then offers it to her.

"Drink, Claudia. I see your pain, your thirst. I am satiated for now - take from me what you need."

He stares at her for a long moment before speaking again.

"Please."

Claudia hisses when she sees the claws move, her beast perceiving it as a potential and deadly danger. It is, of course, but her conscience would never associate Rufus with a threat to herself. When she understands the gesture and he tells her to drink, she stares at the wound with envy. She mutters, willing to resist.
(Claudia) You know I can't..

Her voice fades as she approaches slowly, still observing, under the spell of the thirst and the idea it could be eased. The Beast wins the inner battle as she takes the arm with both hands and sinks her fangs into the wound, taking as much as she can, being even not as docile and kind as se presents herself to be.

Rufus:

Once stopped or once she has had enough, she moves back and looks away in shame. She tries to change the subject.
(Claudia) You came for another reason...

Rufus watches Claudia drink from him, his red eyes misted over by some deeply inhuman yet long-forgotten emotion. After a moment, his eyes close and a slightly audible gasp (of pleasure or pain is uncertain) escapes his rough lips, and just as he feels his own Beast begin to softly pound at his internal walls, he gently pries Claudia away from him, turning his back slightly toward her - both to give her time to make herself presentable, as well as to hide his own expression.

He glances up at the hole in the ceiling, as though suddenly remembering, then turns back to Claudia.

"Yes, I am here for... other reasons."

His deep, gravelly voice seems almost pained at this point, but that fleeting glimpse of his own humanity is gone nearly instantly.

"There is a neonate of the Clan outside. William I believe his name is. Ly- er, uh, Regent Kersten has sent us to retrieve you. I told the whelp to await my say before he enters."

He pauses here, almost grinning.

"I told him I did not want him to startle you."

There are "curtains" in all the roof, to hide the isolation and the beams.
The young Tremere pulls back her hair from her face and taps a little on the T-shirt she wears. She sighs and shakes her head in denial, she wants to forget she has fed. She smiles an instant.
(Claudia) Startle me, uh.. At least now I won't eat him.

She forces a slight laugh and sighs. She looks and sounds surprised when he mentions a Neonate.
(Claudia) A neonate ? Fine. On the roof, I guess.. ?

She moves closer to her seat, on which she stands and moves away the fabrik that hides the isolation. She then moves away the isolation slowly with an iron bar attached to a beam, peeking a little.
(Claudia) You may come in.


Claudia wears a large modern men's t-shirt with patterns that doesn't fit her (neither in colors nor in size, as well as some jeans that do fit her but that are obviously not hers. Her auburn hair is not combed and has been placed behind her ears. Her brown eyes seem quite alive, looking carefully at every detail she catches.
She is quite tall, but also very very thin. Unnaturally thin. Her pale skin shows marks of a harsh life, with a few round scars behind her ears, on her wrists, on her ankles and toes. One can easily guess that she has similar marks on the rest of her body. Her bones are thin and light : she probably didn't go out a lot when she was a child, or didn't have a normal childhood and adolescence. 
She is wearing absolutely no make up, which is odd enough for a woman, but especially odd for kindred wishing to maintain the masquerade. 
By all means she looks like she could break down at any time.

William follows the scene as he looks at his watch, rolling his eyes as he hears the events unfold. He stands up as the girl opens the hole and asked him to enter. He Smiles as he placed the hook of his cane below the now small hole and pulled the fabric open, the cotton looking isolation easily bending aside. He held the cane using his head and shoulder and slowly lowered himself into the building. As he landed on his feet, he dusted off the cobwebs and dust and took in his surrounding. He studied the girl's appearance up and down, studying the scarred and mangled out appearance.

Auspex 4:

"Greetings! Humm... I thought you'd be taller. Now that you're done sucking the gargoyle and still have you clothes on, I'm William, the new sciencetist, occultist, historian, security guy and computer geek." He took a short bow, took Claudia's crowbar free hand, and give it a short courtesy peck, ignoring and not mentioning her appearance. "I'm your new many times removed cousin, if you know what I mean... Ah yes. Proof." William doesn't waste time, flowing from one action in the other, an excited glee. He took off his hat and grabbed Lyle's necklace and give it to Claudia. "Proof Lyle actually send me, redundant since Roofy is here, but then again, rather you have it for whatever reason. I did check it out, it has no tracking ritual, but then again Lyle's got quite a few years on me with these sort of things, just saying, but I'm still very good at those sort of things, which is why I'm here."

He regarded Rufus. "I'd offer you a bloodstone. Mortal blood of course, alas I seem to have forgotten to resupply in my haste to get ready; I was on my way to get some, alas, you don't say no to Tarcisus when he calls you aside." He quickly checked his phone. "Still no E-mail with the information. I hope he's done with the Toreador girl sometime soon."

He looked up, "Ohh right Claudia," He regarded the girl again. "You know, Worlds-worst-pilot-who-broke-my-glasses over there IS right. Feeding is essential. If not for yourself, do it for the people you might hurt if you loose control of the beast. Unless you actually wish to go crazy, have a blast, well then it's just fine with me. Warn me first tho, had a fledgeling Tremere once in my old chantry, didn't want to eat. He sire was stupid, instead of letting him feed of a kine as first meal. With the proper precautions of course, he was given blood packets for the first week or so. Did you know this kind of treatment has 25% more chance of developing drinking disorders? I did a study on it once. The vampire doesn't get used to his new nature because he just replaced his coffee and lunch with a red caparison and isn't mentally prepared to actually take blood from kine without killing them. Resulting in them not taking blood at all, and all sorts of mess stuff happens soon afterwards. Of course, the regent had no ears to my resu- ohh right. Claudia, nice to meet you, we have a job, and you're the only girl who can help us it seems. Well, I have a job, Rufus is tagging along."

Claudia's eyes widen as she hears the new apprentice speak. She opens slightly the mouth as if she wished to speak, but fights against it and lets him finish. she lets her hand be taken, before taking it back wish a contained hiss. Obviously she disliked the fact she was touched but she didn't act against it. She takes the cross-token offered to her as a proof that he is, indeed, Tremere. She observes it an instant, touching it with the tip of her fingers, as if she was analysing it. She's not sure what to do with it yet, so she keeps it in a hand. She raises an eyebrow when he mentions a Toreador, it ticked her interest, but again, she doesn't speak yet. She can't help a smile when her grandsire is mentionned. She frowns visibly when he tells a story of a troubled fledgling of another Chantry, and even tells her she should feed. She lets out a frustrated sigh, and she crosses her arms.
(Claudia) First, that's "Regent Kersten", "Lord Tarcisus", and "Rufus" for you. No matter what the Regent tells you, it's a trick to corrupt and use you. For heaven's sake, what the hell with neonates not having their eyes in front of their orbits. Second, I very well know when, how, and why I should feed, I've been doing it correctly for years and there was no reason this time would have been different. If Rufus had not made me enter frenzy, I would have hold on correctly until the right time for me would have come. She sighs slightly, speaking a little lower, disappointed, hurt. I should have been on fast tonight and tomorrow... It would have all gone perfectly if..

She uncrosses her arms and sits in her seat, asking William to move aside from it. She rests on it a moment, letting go the initial anger, thirst, fear. She shows the cross in her hand, in front of her.
(Claudia) I have nothing to do with this. And I don't plan on seeing the Regent for as long as I can, and it's an important object of his. One of you will have to take it back to him. And what "Toreador" were you speaking about ? About Rufus, I have never had a single problem with him when he takes me to the skies. What did you do to this childe, Rufus ?

Somehow, she half approves, but she knows it could go wrong, after all, William is a Tremere, and Rufus should obey him and treat him well... At least officially.
(Claudia) As for the Regent's task, I will not help you. I've gone autarkis on the clan, I do obey direct orders, I do attend the mandatory meetings, but I've done my part. Papa Tarcisus understood it well in the twenties and he never bothered me with anything. Regent Kersten has respected it so far, leaving me out of Tremere affairs as well and I don't want that to change.

'Papa' Tarcisus ? She let it pass by...

William moves aside and took the necklace again once it was offered and hang it around his neck once more. He walked to a nearby wall, took his cell out of his pocket and regarded the screen, after a few clicks, he started typing. "Autarkis? Really, that's quite interesting. And Roofy... Wait, Rufus you say, I don't know, I kind of keep forgetting his full name, then again he keeps forgetting mine."

"And about the Toreador, a small little creature, young, from they way she behaved in a room right next to the office of the prince. Must be a painter, all desperate for your location. And well, what Kersten was doing to her when I last saw her.... I really shouldn't say." He pressed once more and the phone made a short beep.

He stared at the screen for a few moments. "You hate him yet you defend his title. Then again he does stake apprentices should they have problems focussing so they get maximum encouragement to learn how to focus. Other than that, you really seem to have a liking to 'Lord Tarcisus'. What if I told you the matter at hand affects all Tremere in the area, you, me, even your Daddy Tarcisus. What, just because you had a tormented life, you should let the world go down under? Life sucks, get over it. Adapt. So what, you like, got snatched away from Malkavians, embraced by the wrong elder? Keeping a grudge against a training regime from a man who has no positive social skills at all, which I might add partly is just common training for all Tremere? You think you're the only one whose life isn't exactly perfect. Damme Queen of Drama? Century old grudge. Pfft, get over yourself. You don't even know why I'm here to request your assistance. And I mean I'm here, not Lyle, not Tarcisus, although he seems like an okay Lord."

William put the phone back into his pocket.

"You are that focussed on your pathetic bad luck, irresponsibly fasting. Yes irresponsible. You make an excuse about Rufus, while you forget, for the same chance, a mortal wonders in here with a wound, even when bandaged, and you loose it as easily as you just lost it. You are that focussed on it, that you look unhealthy, even for a vampire. You obviously don't feed enough, hoping to counter the thirst by locking yourself up in this small room, even a neonate such as myself can see this. From the look of your clothes, something did happen, for they definitely aren't yours. Borrowed maybe. I'm young, yes, maybe that alone makes you look down on me, maybe that's just who you became over the years, and I might be mostly interested in Science, and research into the supernatural, I'm not the most social creature around, but even I see this. What are you going to do for eternity, hide in your hidey hole, shunning everything until the end of times until someone is worried enough to check up on you, to put you back together again until the next time you break down? You're as far as I known, a smart self aware girl, who unlike others, had a bit more luck in the ability department, and you squander it like a Malkavian in the corner of some old room in dangerous conditions. I'm not asking you to exploit your gift like the others. Get off your high horse."

"I'm not asking you to go sweetly toes with the regent, or do some sort of training. I seek to help us all, no matter if you Autarkis or caitiff or whatever it is I don't care. There is an artefact out there, somewhere in Brujah territory. Now, you probably noticed when you weren't gloating in your own misery that those of our blood aren't very welcome there. You on the other hand, have some sort of relation with one of the Brujah which could possibly grant us temporal passage without them ripping our heads off. All Rufus and I need is to get in there, find an artefact of which I have no idea of how it looks, what it does, where it is, or that it is even still at the right location after years of kine rebuilding the city, preferably before Tarcisus has to bring in a fake artefact."

William almost damaged the wooden wall as he all but slammed his cane against the wall and took of his coat and sat down, taking off his glasses and putting it into his pocket. "You want to be a 100 year old child, fine! Let's starve until eternity together, we'll make a campfire and tell horror stories about Vienna, online games and whatnot. For I am not leaving until you do."

The Tremere started mumbling against himself. "Fasting... pff, don't be ridiculous."

Auspex 4: