Axial Tilt

[Doc]

"--The following transcript was a live chat roleplay--"

Doc: Doc made notes in the file. It was a routine death by postoperative infection due to poor sanitation and lack of follow up care. He had been called in to perform the emergency surgery. As he hit enter, he saw the file was linked to another surgery. Curiosity made him pull that record up. It was the file from the death of the woman that Patty the Paladin killed. His eyes narrowed, as he looked over the autopsy file. He hadn't been the physician of record, so he never saw the autopsy report. But now as he looked it over, he saw the phrase 'throat mangled'.

Paige: Paige was having a difficult time and wanted to be alone. Wrapped in a bloodstained blanket, she kept to the shadows and found a human wearing a dress that might fit her. After two hours of searching, she discovered a transvestite smoking a cigarette outside of a club with his friends. He sported a long red dress and matching heels. Paige could not walk in heels, but she could levitate in them, so she decided to cut her losses. It took another hour to get him alone, but finally she emerged from a club and took a walk. At least she pretended to be walking.

Doc: That phrase, throat mangled, was not how one would normally describe the wounds in an autopsy file. But there had been multiple victims that evening. The trauma bays were packed. Paperwork was more than likely thrown to an intern, who working on little to no sleep wrote what they saw. Mangled would be the layman’s term. And in that term, it dawned on him he had seen that type of mangling on other bodies since that night in the hospital. When he had last seen her, she said she had been working with Wendell. He needed to review some more records. But first, Doc decided he needed to head to the morgue and take a look at the newly dead.

Paige: She had been leaving them during the month of November, and in December her new job, paired with her sire's demand that she control herself helped the bodies to stop trickling in. That night there was a fresh body with a throat injury. If Doc used his medical card and dashing charisma, he could probably spend some time with it. It was the transvestite. Paige had killed him because he had what she needed. She had nothing against men who dressed like women... she hated all humans equally. His throat was a yawning gash. His genitals were no more. He seemed to have died in great pain, his face was contorted. It would have been labeled a hate crime by the news probably.

Doc: Drawer by drawer Doc perused the cadavers for the tell tale wounds that had fast become Patty’s calling card. He was relieved that none of the bodies currently entombed in the morgue bore that mark; though his face still wore the tired, almost annoyed look it had perfected. He closed the last drawer, and an order wheeled in a fresh one. Without saying a word, he moved to help the orderly transfer the body from the gurney to the drawer. He wouldn’t normally help, but in helping, it gave him an excellent excuse to view the neck closely. And his relief at finding no new evidence, evaporated. She had struck again.

Paige: Paige needed to clear her head, so she had not gone to her sire's apartment or the childe allotted apartment. Instead she found an empty park to hover in. She levitated and reflected upon her own reflection. She could not see it. She did not make a sound when she walked. She could scarcely speak, and her blood was oil-black and dissipated into thin air. As she floated and brooded on those facts, she asked herself if she really did exist anymore. Just what was she.

Doc:
Doc pulled his cell and scrolled through his contacts. He didn’t have her number, logically he knew he could ask Cat or Wendell for her number, but then they would get curious. Cat would not let it go, she would devil him to no end. And Wendell.. well he wouldn’t devil him, but he wouldn’t forget it either. He would lock it away in his mind until he needed it. Best course of action would to keep them both out of it, until he had a chance to grill her. Murders like these were sloppy. Humans would catch on sooner or later, it was just a matter of time. This needed to be broached sooner rather than later, so that is how he found himself driving slowly through the neighborhood where he had first run into her, the low rumble of the mustang’s engine sounded like the slow growl of a cat about to pounce.

Paige: The suburban neighborhood had a communal park that nobody played in past dark. It was near a small pond, and there was a basketball court and a tennis court. Paige was hovering near a swing set. She dropped reflexively to her feet when she heard a car's slow approach. The sound came closer, and then there were headlights. Nasty intrusive things. With an annoyed growl, she turned her back on the road several yards away.

Doc:
The neighborhood was dead. The houses didn’t leave a welcoming light on, and many of the street lights had burned out or had been busted by vandals. So his speed was slow and methodical. It wasn’t until the headlights swept the park, did he see a figure by the playsets. Too tall to be a child, and it had turned away to hide it’s face. He stopped, reversed to maneuver the mustang so that headlights shown directly on the figure.

Paige: Illuminated in the light of the car, she visibly winced. Her body cast no shadow, but she expected the driver of the vehicle to be a human who probably would not notice something like that anyway. If the driver knew what was good for them, they would move on and decide not to try to trifle with her. She may have been wearing a red dress and heels, but that was no excuse to pay attention to her as far as Paige was concerned.

Doc: The figure didn’t move, apart from small shifting. It was as though it was holding it spot for a purpose. Was it daring him to approach? or was it hoping he would get bored and leave. Well unfortunately for the figure, he was quite comfortable in his car and could wait the figure out. If the figure fled, he would give pursuit. He had the advantage at the moment, and he had a specific target in mind, not any random figure. Until he could ascertain who the figure was, he was content to watch.

Paige: She intended to wait the driver out. She was expecting them to come out anyway, and heckle her or attack her. But there was not a sound from the vehicle. It just sat there, aiming everything at her. It was as though the driver knew what she was, and what she had done before. Suddenly she regained her usual posture and bolted toward the tennis court. There were some fences nearby she could scale and then take refuge in shadow.

Doc: As the figure bolted, he smirked. It had been a while since he had a good old fashioned hunt, and it shouldn’t take that long, from the direction the figured headed he knew he could cut it off. The engine roared as he gunned it and drove at breakneck speed to the junction the figure would have to cross. The figure was fast, and had a straight line to follow, but he knew the area, and he was afraid of the speed. It would be close, the odds were on the figures side, but that is what made it fun.

When the car pursued, Paige growled low in her throat. What was this? She had not been caught. She was sure she had covered her tracks. Her red dress fluttered as she levitated as fast as she could toward someone's backyard. The car almost hit her, and she grazed close to the fence. Perhaps it would make them crash and create a diversion for her to escape. Just who was this driver, and what did they want?

Doc: The chase was an impromptu thing. A moment of pleasure that just happened his way. The one thing he had learned since being turned was, he actually had time to stop and enjoy the small pleasures that came his way. It wasn’t until the fender nearly hit her, did he see her profile and made recognized her. Well ****. It was her. There went his hunt and destroy game. He brought the mustang to a halt, and stepped out. He shoved his hands in his pockets and waited.

Paige: To Paige's disappointment, there was no crunch of metal-on-fence. She had darted up the high fence and was taking refuge on the other side, panting. She had no gun, but her strength and martial arts skills were nothing to laugh at either. Perhaps the person on the other side of the fence was unarmed too, but she doubted it. She assumed that they had come to run her over out of some purpose other than a cruel impulse. Like a mouse chased into a hole, she kept still and watched for signs of movement between the wood slats of the fence. If she had to, she would stand and fight.

[Paige]

"--The following transcript was a live chat roleplay--"

Doc: He sighed audibly. “Why do you have to make this so ******* hard?” He would have used her name, but **** him, he couldn’t remember it. Patty, Pamela.. Patricia.. or some crap that started with the letter P. She was Mako in his head, but she didn’t know that. “I don’t want to fight.. I want to talk.. alright?” His voice expressed his exasperation with having to wait for her.

Paige: "You!" she exclaimed in a furious, raspy growl. Then she had a ragged coughing fit that brought her to her knees. When she was done, she stood and massaged her own neck with her fingertips. Someday, perhaps she would find a way to fix it. She had heard that some vampires enter new bodies when they are killed, but she was no idiot to kill herself when she had come this far. "You could have run me over," she rumbled. She had half a mind to attempt to beat him to a bloody pulp even though he was her elder.

Doc: “But I didn’t, did I? No.” He gave her his usual disgruntled grimace. “We need to talk you and I… Why don’t you take a seat in the car.. and we can have a chat.. hmm?” She really was lucky he recognized her when he did, because he was intending to run her down with his car. But things, being what they were, she didn’t need to know that right now. Let her think he was just playing around, or that he was an ***.. it would be better for her and him in the long run, for her to know where they stood with each other, to a certain extent.

Paige: Paige growled again. What an ***. What did he want with her? If her sire hadn't warned her to obey her elders she would have floated angrily away, but Paige climbed the fence again and landed soundlessly against the grass. She floated to his car door, let herself in unceremoniously, and gave it an angry slam on the way in. His territory. It stank like a hospital. If he thought he was going to give her another examination, he was sorely mistaken. Already her brain was weighing the benefits of leaving versus possible future punishments.

Doc: Doc had crossed halfway, to open the door for her, when she sullenly did it herself. He sighed. Apparently no one taught manners anymore. He moved back to the drivers side door and let himself in. Once seated, he pulled a notebook from his breast pocket, flipped it open to a particular page and then he looked at her. “You have a ‘tell’. Do you know what that means?”

Paige: She knew the word tell. Skazat, when you told someone something. But to have a tell, that was confusing. The question caught her off guard, as did the pen and paper, and she could only shake her head mutely. Her orange eyes were clever and watchful, as if she could float away at any moment.

Doc: Doc nodded grimly, time to educate, hopefully she would take it to heart and learn from it. It would really piss him off, if she squandered this lesson. However, only time would tell if that would be a the case. "A 'tell' is typically used in poker, scams, and crimes. It is an action, that is very 'telling' about the person doing 'the' action. It is like a fingerprint. It is unique to them. In poker, when someone bluffs, you look for their 'tell'. It could be anything, the way they hold their cards.. the way they lean back in their seat.. it takes time, and study.. but you can learn their tells. If you do, you know when they bluff and they do not. Which gives you an advantage in the game." he paused to make sure she understood, "Your tell.. is the way you mangle the throat of your victims. I found it.. and I wasn't even trying. There is bound to be some detective out there, that has put two and two together, and will soon enough be on your trail. So.. one of two things need to happen.. either stop killing.. or you stop leaving the bodies to be found. Do I make myself clear?"

Paige: She studied him as he spoke, narrowing her eyes. Poker? What did that have to do with- Oh dear. Paige was embarrassed that Doc knew. She felt exposed, but it was her own fault. She bit back the urge to growl at him for bringing that up and finally managed a bitter, "Why do you care." He was such a meddlesome creature. Then again, every vampire she had the pleasure of becoming acquainted with was meddlesome. They over-concerned themselves with her affairs, sometimes looked at her strangely, and always told her how to change her behavior. It was tiresome.

Doc: "Why do I care..I really don't, but if you break the masquerade, I will have to hunt your *** down and kill you. However, Vel doesn't want us to kill babies like yourself.. so I am trying to educate you so that we don't eventually have to hunt you down. And if I am successful in helping you.. perhaps.. just perhaps, you will help someone else down the line, and we wont have to ******* kill them either.. alright?"

Paige: "You enjoy killing," she rumbled at him, amused. A sly smirk spread across the adolescent's lips. "This must be difficult for you." She could see it now. Doc approaching this Vel vampire, and explaining to them that he would have spoken to the "baby", but she was tragically hit by a car before he could manage.

Doc: He shrugged, maybe he did enjoy killing, he wasn't about to admit or deny it to her. "How is this difficult? I have made my case. I have presented my evidence. It is all on 'you', now. Your actions will precipitate our 'reaction' if there is to be one." He smirked. "Besides, I have a lot of hobbies." he added cryptically.

Paige: Such as applying himself where he did not belong. Oh, to be able to kill in peace, she would be in paradise. "You would rather kill me," she clarified, then whispered "My sire has shown me how to dispose of bodies. Tonight I... lost my temper. It was a mistake." Perhaps he knew about where she had gotten the dress she wore. How, it didn't matter. She was not surprised anymore. Nothing could surprise her anymore, now that she had vampires invading from all sides.

Doc: "Kill you? No Mako.. not you." His use of the name he gave her slipped unconsciously into to use. And he was actually being truthful, he had no desire to kill her, so much as study her. She was very much like him. And if there was one thing he realized, it was that regardless of how careful you try to be when you analyse yourself, you give yourself allowances that you shouldn't. By studying her, he could possibly use that information and apply it to himself.

Paige: Paige growled but otherwise made no corrections to her name. Kladvyia, Paige, Mako. What did it matter. She was nothing yet. But someday, she would surpass her betters. Then there would be a reckoning. Until then, let them spy on her and change her name. "I will be careful," she finally promised.

Doc: "Good. Do you need me to drop you somewhere? Or do you prefer to walk?" His voice was polite and bland, as if to signify the meeting was over. He didn't really want to drive her anywhere, but it mannerly. He fully expected her to refuse his offer and fling it back in his face. And he would be fine with that. Because he didn't care.

Paige: Paige did not want to go to her sire's apartment. It had been a rough night with her red-haired roommate and killing someone had only eased her anxieties slightly. There was a moment of silence as the raven-haired vampire thought about where she could possibly go. Finally, she asked, since he had almost run her over anyway and owed it to her, "Will you please drive me to the Groom Center?"

Doc: Doc lifted an eyebrow, that was unexpected. "Of course.. " He started the engine and reversed, and pulled back on to the street. He had said what he had intended to say to her, so he was content to travel in silence.

Paige: She was also silent, though she did wonder about him. She did not believe him when he told her that he didn't want to kill her. When the car began beeping at her, she grumbled and put on her seatbelt, then glanced at the passing street lights. Perhaps he had a tell, but it was burnt away from the last person she had seen him destroy. As if she had been a barbecue.

Doc: He pulled up in front of the Groom Center in Bullwood, and put the car in park though he left the engine running. "Here you are. Enjoy the evening." He had actually been relieved that she had pressured him for small talk. He wasn't good at small talk and polite conversation. He did try, but it usually ended with a slap and someone calling him a ******** or asshole. He smirked to himself as he absently wondered what it would take to make her do that.

Paige: Paige was used to being slapped, not doing the slapping. She thanked him hoarsely for the ride and slipped out, this time she was more gentle with the car door. She stepped into her place of employment and tried to find an empty conference room to pass out in before sunrise.

Doc: As the door closed, he put the car back into gear and made his way back to the lab. He need to make some notes while things were still fresh in his mind.