Disappearing Act [Emerson]

[Prudence]

It was another repetitive night for Prudence. Kill a lot of **** in the caverns, collect some pretty trinkets and then go sell them. Learning the mastery for her path had been pricey, so Prudence needed to make some quick cash, while keeping her fighting skills in tact and sharp.The caverns provided just that.

After Prudence started to feel exhaustion riddling her body, she decided now was a good time to leave. Sell the gems, pocket the cash and rebuild her bank account. Call it a night. Go back to the handle bar even. Just for an hour or two, then go home and lounge all over her lump of man meat.

"Give you twenty-three hundred for them all." The guy at the counter said as he pointed at all the green and blue colored stones, his palms open as he indicated each and every one of them. "I think it's worth about twenty-five hundred...but. Sure, whatever." Prudence didn't care as long as she got a fair price and it seemed like it was a pretty fair price. The guy looked down at the gems and then nodded his head. "Yeah, I can do twenty-five. Tell your friends where you get the best deal in town." He added in as he dug in his cash register and pulled out a few hundred dollar bills. Prudence just nodded and stuffed the cash in her waistline then crossed the street to where the atm was it. She waited in a small line, eyes bouncing from left to right as she waited, then finally was able to deposit it. With that done, she was just about to turn and catch the train to call it a night, when the red head thought she saw something familiar. No, not something. Someone. Prudence squinted, moved around the atm and then decided to cross the river and see for herself if what she thought she saw, was in fact what she saw. And it was.

"Yo! Em." Prudence called with a shove of her hand in the air as she made her way over the ice of the river, not minding how and where she stepped. If she fell in, she could get out. But, it was unlikely she would fall in given she could walk on water when she needed to. "What are ya doing in the land of the living dead?" Prudence asked with a small cackle as her booted feet hit solid concrete ground once again, oblivious to anyone else who was around. Not like she needed to be discreet over one of her mini's killing some zombies and feral vamps.

[Emerson (DELETED 8699)]

- wearing -

Emerson’s destination had never been the Quarantine Zone - she’d just stumbled upon it one day after wandering around the Sanctuary and finding herself all but falling through a fade portal and into somewhere else. Corvidae Flats, she’d learned. She was also quick to learn that the place was full of zombies and feral vampires, giving her the opportunity to train. Over the days, she’d ran away from some fights but handled her own in the rest, and liked to think that she was becoming a stronger fighter. After some trial and error, she realized that she was better with the hunting knife she’d found than her gun, and that’s why the weapon was sheathed and tucked into the waistband of her pants by her side instead of hidden away in her backpack.

And that was where she was headed today after work had let out. She was planning on spending an hour or so getting some practice in, and was then going to crash wherever was closest and easiest. Bjorn had offered the girl his apartment whenever she needed it, and it was only a fade portal and trip down the elevator of the Sanctuary away. There was a couch waiting for her for when she was either proud in her progress or too exhausted to push on.

Emerson almost missed her name being called out and looked over just in time to see Prudence’s arm dropping from its wave as she made her way over to the girl. Across the ice of the river. If the circumstances were different, if they were different, she would’ve been worried. In a way, she still was. The ice could crack at any given moment and the brunette’s sire could plummet into the icy waters unexpectedly - but, then again, they weren’t exactly human, and that meant they could do inhuman things. Emerson wasn’t sure if she could successfully walk over ice or water like that, but she let out a small breath of relief when the woman was safe and beside her.

“Hey!” she greeted, looking up at the woman with a smile. The two never spent much time together, and most of that had to do with the fact that Emerson tried to busy herself with anything and everything most of the time - work, training, trying to dodge her way around the men that were around every corner she turned. She would’ve asked Prudence to help her train, but she figured the woman was busy and had better things to do. The girl didn’t want to make a fool of herself in front of her sire, either. She would’ve asked Prudence to hang out sooner, but she figured the woman wasn’t too big on sleepovers or shopping trips or the like. “How’ve y’been, Pru?”

In regards to the question shot her way, Emerson shrugged her shoulders. “I’m practicing fighting, and stuff,” she explained. “I usually train with someone but I like to squeeze in time on my own. I think I’m getting better.” The straps of the black backpack were adjusted on her shoulders. The girl was usually good at noticing when the air was weird, but she was distracted. The men had never followed her into the Quarantine Zone before, anyways.

[Prudence]

Prudence looked around as Em was talking, not to indicate she wasn't listening, but Prudence wanted to make sure there were no shady fuckers around. Prudence could manage to stay alert while listening, her eyes falling on a zombie that was shuffling around the QZ near the outer edges. "Been okay, ya know." Prudence's blue eyes locked on her mini, figuring that she probably didn't know. "Killing stuff in the Caverns. Ever been?" She asked looking the brunette over.

Her mini wasn't all that bad on the eyes, really, none of her mini's were. And she had a nice figure to boot, a little more voluptuous than the red head was, but that was what was pretty attractive about her mini. Not that Prudence was looking [too hard], but she could take a peek and appreciate for a couple seconds. "You been training? With who?" Prudence felt her eyes narrow, as an instant pang of jealousy filled her. Which was crazy, because she had been spending time with her husband and then Vexy, so why should Prudence be jealous? Was she training with Levi? **** Levi, Prudence decided. He and his sire gave Prudence enough ******* headache over the years. Too many for her to be worried about what he was doing, or not doing. Far as Prudence knew, the guy was still alive, only because she checked the business section on her phone app every few days. And his companies were always in the limelight. Yeah. **** Levi.

Prudence shrugged her shoulders and then set a hand on Em's shoulder. "Forget about it. Glad I got ya all to myself tonight." Because that didn't sound slightly nefarious. "What I mean is, it's been a while." Prudence admitted then slid the hand off the woman's shoulder and into the air, before it dropped at her side. "Show me what ya got?"

[Emerson (DELETED 8699)]

Emerson shook her head slowly in regards to her visitation to the Caverns. She’d never been, but she’d heard about it. For now, the girl was comfortable and cozy in her usual spots - the Sanctuary and Corvidae Flats, just to name a couple. She figured that eventually, she’d expand her fighting areas a bit more, but in the moment was far less concerned with answering or thinking about much more than the fact that Prudence was giving her a quick once-over. It only lasted for a handful of seconds, if that, blue eyes (probably) not even picking out all the flaws and impurities Emerson could think of. Even still, the possibility was there. Emerson didn’t think she was supposed to be flawed or imperfect, especially in front of her sire, and to hide whatever she could, the girl took the edges of her jacket and pulled them tighter around herself, gaze drifting away to the ground.

“S’nothing super special, or anything,” the young brunette attempted to explain in regards to her training, rocking back and forth on her heels. It offered some kind of distraction from the little voice in her head that taunted Hey, Em, she’s probably picking you apart. You know that, right? And she’s mad that you didn’t train with her. “Really. We’re just friends, Bjorn and I. At least I think so.” (Because, well, she wasn’t exactly sure what their situation was. An acquaintance in the very least and a friendship in the very most).

Emerson only looked up again when Prudence’s hand met her shoulder, visibly relaxing under the woman’s touch. She figured that the gesture meant that she wasn’t mad, after all, so Emerson’s rocking seized and she was able to offer a smile to the taller redhead. “Yeah, long time,” she agreed with a nod. “M’just busy most of the time, with work and training and-” The girl paused, remembering what she’d forgotten. Green eyes swept past the other woman, observing their surroundings in all directions. She noticed the same zombie that Prudence had, looking rather similar to many that she’d tried and sometimes succeeded in killing, but aside from it, the coast seemed clear. The Allurist let out a small breath, allowing herself to relax. Prudence was with her, and so were her weapons, evident in the familiar weight of her backpack and the push of the sheathed knife against her side, hidden under clothing. There was no reason that things could go from bad to worse if that was, in fact, where the course of fate would lead her that night, but she felt as if she could never be too certain. And Emerson thought right. She couldn’t ever be too certain - what she didn’t know was that at that exact moment, the men were figuring their way into the Sanctuary, following down the route they had seen the brunette take not long ago.

“-running around," she finished with a shrug of her shoulders. “Oh. What I’ve got? I mean, not a lot, weapon wise or skill wise. But I’m getting better.”

[Prudence]

Prudence waited to see if Emerson was going to tell her anything about who she was training with. Prudence held a breath and let the waves of emotions attempt to simmer down and disappear as Prudence swallowed those feelings down and store them in the pit of her belly. Shove them way, deep down, so that Prudence didn't just...lose it at Emerson for something Prudence didn't really have a right to lose it over. At any time she could have told the fledgling that they should train together. Prudence realized that she should have.

The breath was let out when Emerson revealed a name Prudence had never heard in her life. It wasn't Levi, or his **** bag sire. "Oh. Cool." Prudence commented, a smile starting to form on her features as Prudence felt herself relax. The zombie didn't really get much of another glance from Prudence, because, well, it was slow and stupid. And zombie's didn't pose a threat to her, and she doubted it posed a threat to her mini-but...

"So, how would ya kick that things ***? Shoot it, stab it or? What would Bjorn do, or tell ya to do? Ya know, if that thing was super scary and bad *** and stuff." Prudence concluded, wondering what her mini would do-not that there were a lot of wrong answers. There were multiple tactics that Emerson could go with and be just fine, but Prudence was curious as to what Bjorn and Emerson had been getting up to, and what her tactics were since she had been training for a while.

[Emerson (DELETED 8699)]

Emerson was nothing less than relieved when Prudence seemed to relax, and she returned an equally as wide smile to the taller redhead. “Zombies are easy. Kinda slow, kinda stupid, so shooting them is my best option,” the girl explained casually. She felt like it was an extremely odd kind of conversation to be having, even though fighting the undead was something of the norm for her now. Sometimes she totally forgot that being a vampire really had flipped her whole world around. “But I still need to work on the whole aiming thing. A little while ago I ran into something - a, um, Fadebeast I think it’s called? - and it took a bunch of tries for me to actually get some damage in.” And then Bjorn finished the job, of course, because Emerson had never done anything like that before and lacked the skill and bravery to do so. Now was different - she was learning and growing and could handle herself fairly well for being such a small, little thing.

As she spoke, more focused on the conversation than anything else going on around her, the men were approaching closer and closer. In the past, they had only ever gotten as far as to share a few words with the girl on Halloween night, disguised as neighborly fathers who were just taking their children out for the holiday - and Emerson hadn’t realized it at the time. After that, they were only able to predict the young girl’s schedule down to the second, knowing when she left for the cafes and shops, when her shift started and ended, and when she took advantage of her free time to hang out with Maddison or go out for some practice. They were right on time, that night, stepping foot into the Quarantine Zone and scoping out the area for their intended target.

By then, Emerson knew that her paranoia from only moments ago was not something to be ignored. This was usually when she would take off running, ducking inside random buildings for temporary shelter, but she couldn’t just ditch her sire so suddenly and so rudely like that. “M'getting pretty good with my knife, though,” she continued, patting at the mentioned weapon from where it was concealed under her clothing by her hip. She tried to make it not seem like a tidal wave of nervousness was washing over her as an emerald gaze flicked back and forth. “Just haven’t really found many good times to use it.”

[Prudence]

Prudence listened and nodded. Emerson seemed to like to keep things that needed to be killed at a distance. shooting things implied long range attack, which was how Prudence used to be. these days she mixed it up with a little bit of close and personal and some long range. She wondered how Emerson would be once she grew more confident with her own fighting skills. "Makes sense." Prudence commented about the zombies, her eyes bouncing around every so often. She saw the men, but so what? there were all sorts of people crawling around in the QZ. Humans and vampire and other things. Nothing to put Prudence on guard, only because everything seemed normal and really, her and Emerson should be able to handle whatever was coming their way. At least Prudence thought and believed so.

The mention of fadebeasts had Prudence's eyebrows lifting. It seemed Emerson was eager to get wet behind the ears with blood of all kinds of beasties and baddies. It made Prudence smirk. "Those things didn't exist for like the first year I was a vampire." Prudence commented, forgoing the fact that she had been the one to kill the first one that had been spotted in the city and with that came a sweet *** payday. Who paid her was beyond the woman-was it the Crow person, or the Administrator dude, watching from behind the curtain like the wizard in the wizard of Oz? So much weird **** went down in Harper Rock, it was hard to tell what was going on anymore. Part of the reason Prudence kept pretty low key these days. Once the city turned into a cease pool of politics, Prudence lifted both middle fingers and gave the city her two finger salute. "Knife, or sword?" Prudence asked, wondering how big Emerson's blade was. While it wasn't true that bigger was better in all instance, sometimes it was true.

Prudence looked at the two men and gave them a glare, before nudging her head, indicating they should walk. Or at least move to keep their conversation just their conversation. "Been in the catacombs yet?" Prudence asked, offering that place as a good place to start working on her sword or knife tactics.