The Gathering

[Storyteller]

Gideon
looks around, sees his brother, moved by him and gave him a pat on the back. "Brother," Gideon says quietly

Samson Krahn
was pretty quiet, leaning against a wall, arms folded across his chest. His eyes were alert though.

Esli
found the return to the same spot he left in a wash of red lights and hazing pain a bit unsettling. But there was a victory and it was worth it. He glanced around absorbing the emptyness replaced by faces that were far more at ease than he had seen in a while. His brother was one in particular. A grin lifted. "Brother." A return to the pat on the back and a nod to the rather tall male standing with them. "Good morning." Waves.

Gideon
Gideon ignored the other guy for now. "We have to talk later." He tells Esli.

Samson Krahn
offered a nod to Esli and something of a grunted greeting.

Lasair
was right behind Esli; with him, in fact, as the two were mostly inseparable. There was a gleaming anger in Lasair's green eyes, anger that was new. Her eyes had once been soft as an Irish meadow. Now they were hard, cold. But she looked strong, now. She wasn't out of control with grief. She was... better.

Gideon
Gideon turns to his sister, nods at her, and adds in, "You too, sister."

Esli
nods and looks to Lasair."Will Mona be joining us?" Slips an arm around Lasair's waist. He did a double take once she was closer. A fire was burning once more and this had him inhaling deep and holding it in. God was good.

Gideon
Gideon shook his head. "Unlikely. There is the flock she must attend to." He offered a small shrug

Lasair
arched a brow, her arm slipping around Esli's waist. It was an automatic echo. She nodded at Gideon, curious as to what he was speaking of. Noticing the man she did not recognise, she knew he must be someone they could trust. She'd shrugged in response to Esli's question. Mona? She had no idea. She offered a hand to the stranger. "Lasair," she said, holding out a hand.

Sawyer
ran her fingers through the tangled mass of brunette as she stepped from their room, her eyes tired. The morning was far too early for her to be stumbling into some meeting, yet, she did. For some ******* reason, she did. Straightening on her t-shirt, she took note of the faces, and seeing Tierney absent, she muttered a curse and shot out a quick text before tugging a lock of Samson's hair once.

Esli
"An impressive one." Understandable with triplets. He hoped Oliver would behave this time. His eyes kept watch.

Samson Krahn
pulled away from the wall, leaning closer so he could offer one of his own large mitts in greeting. The woman stood more than a foot shorter than him, which required some hunching of the shoulders. And one hand essentially encompassed all of hers before he gave a shake. And then his hair was being yanked. Another grunt, and his gaze fixed on Sawyer. "Greetins' to you too." He muttered.

Lasair
her hand was shook, and the guy seemed... well. A bit like an ogre, with all his grunting. She'd given her name but he'd given none in return. Perhaps he wanted to remain a mystery. She offered Sawyer a small smile.

Sawyer
ignored the animalistic sound the male made as her eyes continued to sweep the room. First, Gideon, then Esli, and finally Lasair. They were faces she knew, faces she had grown to... respect. With one hand, she started to work free the tangles of her hair, her lips curving into some kind of smile. She'd start functioning soon. Until then, she waved to the gathering trio.

Ephraim Steele
stepped into the room from the elevator, the soft chime the only announcement offered for his arrival. He moved with the air and authority of a man in his home, his ease evident in the way that he glanced over the faces gathered within the walls of the new stronghold that they had obtained for themselves. He tugged on his jacket, pulling it free from his frame, the confined space of the military base a litle warm after his brisk walk in the Canadian air of early autumn. He gave each of the familiar faces a nod as he moved to make himself comfortable against one of the empty walls. "Good morning, ladies. Gentlemen."

Sawyer
I don't understand how you can... function. You're not natural.

Gideon
glanced back to Sawyer, nodded, then looked to the elevator. "Morning."

Sawyer
offered her partner a grin before she motioned to a small table against the furthest wall. "Jenna brought breakfast, if any of you are hungry. I'm pretty damned sure she bought out the bakery." Slowly, she was starting to become more human, less zombie. Curling the sleeve of her shirt around her knuckles, she wiped at her eyes and plucked a biscuit from the plate.

Esli
faces he remembered from the night that moved faster than he was prepared for. Now that would change. He vowed. He stood quietly anitcipating the plans that would come. Surely he would be ready. If only he had not errored and shot ...no, he should have. It was a set a fangs. He did not smile at the greetings. An expression of resolve surfaced instead.

Sawyer
We're missing two, and one should be here soon. She promised coffee.

Samson Krahn
literally never turned down free food. But first things first. He nodded a greeting towards Ephraim. It seemed the giant of a man didn't really like to use his words all that often. Though he did murmur his name to Lasair - he'd been briefly distracted by Sawyer's hair tug. His voice was a bracing rumble of a baritone. He was still trying to find his place, as it were, new to this whole Paladin business. However he wasn't new to food, so he went to inspect.

Sawyer
thought Samson bared a strong resemblance to a bear, but said nothing.

Gideon
Gideon was silently taking notes. He just nodded about the information of missing people

Samson Krahn
was a bit like a bear. Bears were usually less hairy though.

Lasair
didn't eat much, not really -- though she was starting to get her appetite back. She glanced at the food, and assumed there'd be black coffee on offer. She glanced up at Esli, then back to Sawyer. "Is there anything Vegan?" she asked. For a hunter, it might seem strange she kept to her Vegan ways. But they hunted vampires. They were demons, monsters to be destroyed. It wasn't the same as hunting game.

Gideon
"Coffee would be good." He muttered, then looked at his watch.

Ephraim Steele
nodded and made a gesture toward the table that Sawyer had mentioned. "Indeed, our friend saw fit to think ahead about food. I know many of you are used to making your way home about this hour, so the idea of breakfast indeed slipped my mind. Help yourselves." He cast his glance to the elevator he had just left, and another to the stairwell. He had managed to seal the lower floors with a concrete slab, to keep water from rising into the floor they stood on. The elevator shaft was, apparently, unbreached at the lower levels. He wasn't entirely sure how long that blessing would last. Seeing that neither of the other expected guests were arriving that moment, he turned his eyes to the one that was more beast than man. "At least Samson can be punctual." he murmured with a twitch of his lips. His eyes found Sawyer, then, and he moved to stand with her.

Esli
as soon as a need was announced from her lips he took the incentive to inspect what was there. Their choices could be satisfied later if not.

Ephraim Steele
So, with at least one of our new members here, I suppose I can take the time to briefly introduce Samson, and we can get things started. We'll have to take the time to greet the others when they arrive.

Sawyer
‘s fingers paused in her hair at the question, her unfocused eyes slowly starting to brighten. “I’m not sure, but she swore she purchased at least two of everything, so there should be,” she responded, her voice gaining a bit of strength, even as her hands trembled when they once more started to work at the knots. She could have grabbed a brush on her way out, but the thought had slipped her mind. Much like everything else, she wasn’t one to care about her appearance. It was more of a nervous habit, the way she tugged and pulled at the tangles, even when Ephraim found his way to her side. “There’s regular coffee, but she forgot creamer and sugar. I can ask Tierney to grab some, if you need.”

Samson Krahn
was being introduced. Which was only bad because he had an entire biscuit stuffed into his mouth, when he heard his name. There was this brief deer in the headlights look as he thickly swallowed, brushed crumbs out of his beard, and lifted a hand as if to say 'that's me'. He ended with a sort of wave when he realized that didn't make any sense.

Gideon
Gideon moved to claim some black coffee now that he knew the names of everyone present. And a muffin, banana nut

Esli
simply nodded because that answered his question. The brief gathering of some coffee and a cup to spare was offered to his wife.

Lasair
followed after Esli, nudging lightly at his side. They communicated without speech; she took the cup for the coffee. They'd get something later. Most pastries and muffins were made with some kind of dairy and, without specifications, they couldn't be certain. The coffee was appreciated, however. She did, however, steal a nut from the top of Gideon's muffin, winking lightly at her brother-in-law. "Thank you, for the breakfast," she offered, Irish accent thick. She could be thankful, even if she was unsure whether she could eat anything.

Esli
sipped the heat from the surface of his cup and watched the faces with curious, interested eyes.

Gideon
Gideon smirked, then poked his sister in the side after setting his coffee on the table's surface

Ephraim Steele
nodded to himself, seeing everyone grow a little easier at learning Samson's identity. That much was easy, at least. He made sure to note to himself Lasair's dietary preference, for recollection in the future. He hoisted a thermos he had carried in with him, and sipped from his own coffee that he had carried with him, the insulated carry mug keeping the bitter glory hot through the cool morning walk. He was glad to see, at least, that the majority was attended to. "Take all you like. Make yourselves as comfortable as you can. Creature comforts are still being tended to, here." He shrugged a shoulder and let his eyes move around the room. "So, most of you know why we're here. What we're trying to do. For those of you that are unsure, the idea behind what we're working towards is taking Harper Rock back from the vampires. As things stand, they have control. What happened right here in these walls showed us that rather... decisively."

Gideon
Gideon glanced to his brother and sister then. He obviously felt differently, but that was their secret....

Esli
listened while settling in, hand comfortably within contact of Lasair. Far more at ease with Gideon on the other side of her.

Samson Krahn
grabbed another biscuit, and then claimed a little black coffee for himself too. He happened to love the smell of good, strong coffee. Then he settled into place so he could listen to Ephraim as the man launched into a pretty ambitious mission statement.

Tierney
slipped out of the elevator, a tray of coffee balanced in hand as she turned her phone to silent as soon as it became aware to her that it was more than just Sawyer in the room. Green eyes looked around briefly before she moved towards her long time friend, offering her the promised frozen drink as she was very aware of being halfway late. It had taken her longer than she'd wanted to slip out of her parent's shop, the white lie that she needed to run errands before making a deposit a burning sensation on the tip of her tongue. The sorceress set the remaining drinks down, reclaiming her own and letting it warm her hands as she nodded towards the others.

Sawyer
had promised Ephraim that she would be on her best behavior, and so, when the redheaded woman turned to offer her gratitude, she remembered manners. Instead of saying something off the wall, the brunette offered a warm smile. “Of course, and we’ll remember next time to find something vegan for you,” she spoke, though her words were soon drowned out by her boyfriend. Snatching the thermos from his hand – Tierney still hadn’t appeared – she took a sip, gagged on the bitterness, and shoved it back into his massive palm. God, how the **** could they drink this? Sweeping her gaze across the room, she zeroed in on the trio once again, tongue tracing over a canine. “Tierney,” she greeted, hands outstretched for the waiting deliciousness, even as she kept the trio – and Samson – in her sights.

Lasair
kept her face passive, refraining from frowning like she wanted to. They were all on the same side; they all had the same goals. She nodded, glancing at Gideon and Esli. The vampires may appear to have the upper hand, but they had the labs. They had this space. They had... more than that. "It's all just smoke in mirrors," she said, confident despite the numerous trips they'd made to the hospital.

Ephraim Steele
lifted a hand and ran his nails along the underside of his chin. He took another sip from his coffee as he glanced at each of them, offering a subtle gesture to Tierney when he saw her. "There are many of us that have been at this a long time, some of us only a very short while. Alone, our efforts haven't seen much fruit in the way of our actual goal. Vampires are everywhere, and now even the government has taken notice." He swept a hand back through his hair as he shook his head. "And their answer was to feed the fire. To toss these soldiers into the city and provide the vampires with even more chattel. So, I, like many of you, had the thought that perhaps together we could see to doing a little more than we were able to handle alone and separate."

Esli
his eyes drifted down to the flatness left in the wake of Lasair's body for a reminder that it was so much more than that to him, to them. His eyes lifted back to Gideon as he sipped his coffee.

Lasair
was aware of the movement at her side, but she didn't look up. She no longer dwelled on what she had lost; she no longer wanted to claim it as a weakness. The men on either side of her were quiet, but she had questions. "And you have a plan, for how we might make a bigger difference together?"

Tierney
offered a smile to the woman as she greeted her with, "Sawyer." Before inclining her head to consider what Ephraim had said after she caught the gesture and returned it with her own. "Sometimes it's best to expect more than less when regarding these creatures. Saves the act of being surprised or caught off guard." She had no positive opinion towards the government, often considering that the majority were nothing more than idiots. "That really is likely their primary goal. They could have opened the public's awareness ages ago, yet chose to keep it a secret likely due to out cry and fear of being blamed for incompetence."

Sawyer
sank her teeth into her lower lip as the man spoke, the memories of what she had endured at the hands of vampires flashing through her mind. "I don't care what we do, as long as they're gone," she whispered, her voice holding more emotion than she intended. Catching herself, she pressed both hands through her hair and leaned into his side, her gaze never wavering. She took note of every face, every shift in expression, every twitch of their lips. She took stock of it all, filed it away for examination later. Remaining quiet again, she let her man take the floor. He stayed awake for nights here lately, planning, hunting, gathering, securing. Whatever questions came, he would know the answer to, so she sipped her coffee and swallowed the darkened memories down.

Gideon
The new woman caught his attention. He didn't acknowledge her really. Good thing nothing was going down, or the group would be screwed

Gideon
"Well, I think we need to discuss tactics. Do we try and reveal them as the monsters they are to the humans? Or do we keep the fight between us and them?"

Esli
was open to tactics. Shooting the first vampire on the same team didnt ecactly work out so well for him. He lost his fast pass to the fun house before the rides truly began

Samson Krahn
had been about to ask what the plan was, if only because he agreed that numbers tended to work better than individual efforts, but only if they were used wisely. Gideon saved him the trouble though. He remained silent, deciding to listen. Get a feel for the general consensus.

Ephraim Steele
nodded at the question. Good. Questions meant they were paying attention, that they were thinking, and forming opinions. He rolled his shoulder, still stiff from the cold during his walk, though the warmth of the base was beginning to seep into him again. "The plan," he began, addressing the asker of the question, "is to work as a unit. Together, we have the strength to take down the stronger of these things. The more... resilient vampires, that alone would take just one or two of us weeks of effort. Take, for instance, our coming together in the first place. Where we met. The floor of a hospital, after /vampires/ put us there. Working together to take them out before they can take us out, we can much more effectively get rid of some of the more troublesome things." He turned to Gideon when he spoke, and he nodded again. Another good point. He turned his hand over, rolling his wrist. "You saw the reaction on the local web pages. People are idiots. They think they are living in a Twilight novel. Vampires have been romanticized for too long. Something has to be done to show these people that these /things/ are not people."

Lasair
"The latter I think, brother. Surely?" she said, glancing around. There were faces she didn't know, but she assumed trust. A lot had been taken from Lasair, but she was still good-hearted, and still chose to give those in the room the benefit of the doubt. They were human. They were friends, until they ever proved they could be enemies. She nodded as Ephraim confirmed her thoughts. "If they are aware of the monsters living among them, the more we will be able to recruit to our cause."

Ephraim Steele
This place here is designed to protect its inhabitants. The government has abandoned it, the flooding in the lower levels would be too expensive to repair and handle. We, then, have taken up residence here. This will be our safety. Those things can't make their way here without some effort. Here, we can afford some safety. We can strike at these monsters and live another night to strike again, rather than simply trading tit-for-tat and hoping to survive the night when they come to our front doors in a swarm.

Gideon
"Sounds like we've got a plan. We just need to get it into action, and know where to begin then. Idea?"

Samson Krahn
"Way as I see it, pickin fights just muddies them waters. Makes people real sympathetic. I ain't opposed to violence, but better to let monsters make enemies for themselves and us just give them the chance to do so." He offered. Eventually the government had to do something. Eventually enough people were going to get tired of not feeling safe, of living in terror. And then what? Already there was talk of quarantining all of Harper Rock. If they could just...push it over that edge. How many lives could be saved that way?

Sawyer
| "If they knew what they could do, what they have done, they wouldn't be so quick to defend them," she agreed as she pried herself from his side to reach for another biscuit. "They don't deserve that chance, Samson," she spoke, her gaze finding the bear of a man across the room. He was new, she told herself. He hadn't seen the horrors yet, she reminded herself. "They won't be so sympathetic when they realize the truth in our cause.' Taking another sip from her coffee, she closed her eyes for a moment. "We find their hunting grounds, I say. They tend to hang around there, don't they?"

Gideon
"Which hunting ground? I've seen them all over the place. Maybe we need to be specific and focus on one or two at a time."

Esli
absorbed what he was learning for the first time. His experiences had been isolated and the group as a whole was widening his awareness tenfold.

Ephraim Steele
"That, they do, from what I have seen." He nodded, and ran a hand along Sawyer's shoulder as he glanced the new man's way. "The problem with inaction is that, when the time has come to stand and fight, which many of us have felt has come and gone by, that others that will be looking for answers, to know what people have been doing about it, will look at us, and they will ask what we have done to see that the world wasn't simply handed to the vampires on a silver platter." He pushed his hand back through his hair again as he mulled over Gideon's double-edged question and suggestion. "It appears that they collect in different places dependent upon their strength."

Sawyer
"I've encountered a few stronger ones in the sewers near Westwall. They were... fun, to say the least."

Ephraim Steele
In some places, they fight among themselves. Other places, they fight against creatures of different varieties. Some are much stronger than others, you can see that by observing the things that they fight. So what we need to decide on is; do we strike at higher priority targets? At older, more experienced, more powerful vampires? Or do we strike at the ones that are still young, the weak masses that are still trying to gain their legs?

Lasair
's brows furrowed as she listened, glancing between them. "But, how does knowing where they gather help to reveal their monstrosity to humanity?" she asked. "I have spent far too many weeks in that hospital and I'd really like to avoid the place. I do no' like that those nurses know me by name," she said, and even managed a laugh. "I think we need t' lure them out int' the open, int' the crowds. It could be dangerous, but at leas they will then see..."

Samson Krahn
"I wasn't talkin' inaction. I was sayin' we make our actions count. Can't win a war in the shadows against darkness itself. That's plain' someone else's game, when we should be settin' the rules is all I meant."

Gideon
Gideon nodded at his sister's suggestion. He didn't mind a good fight, but time in the hospital meant time not doing things

Samson Krahn
"And if I had to pick, I'd say we go after the older the better. We leave a younger one all fucked up and starved, and he's likely to just maul an innocent. Sends more of a message if we're pickin off the ones they think's untouchable." Though he still wasn't sure that was thinking big enough. But he was the new guy. Best to pay his dues before trying to call any shots.

Ephraim Steele
"Then I understand you a little clearer now." He offered the large man a grin, and turned back to Lasair. "That idea has merit. Though, there then raises the question of accountability. People will start to wonder if we truly have their interest at heart, if they see that we're dragging these things into the public." He scratched at his chin. "Though, all around town, people are starting these gatherings for peace. They're standing around, mulling over talking about letting these monsters go unmolested, while they tear their very loved ones from them forever. Perhaps a feral vampire finding its way into one of those assemblies might not be so bad. We would have to be very careful, however, to keep ourselves as unattached to the incident as possible.

Ephraim Steele
That, in itself, could play into the very plot, Samson. Let the starving youth come across these little gatherings. Let those that cry out for peace with the devil be the ones to feel the lash of his fangs across their throats when those inexperienced brutes descend upon them. Without the guidance of their elders, there is bound to be a mighty number of them that will descend upon the innocent.

Ephraim Steele
And that is where we make our stance in the peoples' eye. We defend the innocent against the very monsters they fight to befriend.

Gideon
Gideon found himself frowning. "And what if those they may turn, or kill in the process? Every human life lost in either respect is losing the human battle in my mind."

Lasair
flinched. She knew what she had suggested, though she wouldn't have gone so far as to... she shook her head. "No," she said. "Letting some feral monster free into a crowd, that will make us no better than the monster itself. It will be our fault," she said, nodding in Gideon's direction "If someone is killed, or turned. I will not have that on my shoulders. My suggestion is a vague one, that I will admit. But I would not have it involve the death of innocents."

Esli
believed some were not to be forgotten or exependable. He continued to listen.

Lasair
"It is something I would only agree with if we can be certain that we will step in, before anyone is hurt."

Samson Krahn
set his jaw in thought. There was something wrong to him, with the idea of gambling with the lives of people like that. Though Ephraim had a good point. Maybe there was a way to do something similar but mitigate actual risk to people. Or maybe there was a way to take innocents out of the equation entirely.

Ephraim Steele
That is the idea, of course. I am entirely against any of these things placing their fangs in any living creature.

Sawyer
What if we planned a gathering ourselves?

Sawyer
We use our own people, people that could defend themselves. We have a handful here in the lab as it is, and that's not counting us.

Samson Krahn
smiled.

Ephraim Steele
"I don't see there being any reason that we allowed anyone to be harmed. Simply the illusion of implied harm." He turned to Sawyer, and nodded.

Samson Krahn
"If it was somethin' real public, and vampires descended on us when we're just gatherin' might look awful bad. Might give some folks hope too, seein' they can defend themselves." He reasoned. Though he was completely oblivious to the logistics it would take to pull that together.

Gideon
just nodded his head, taking in everyone's perception of things and plans.

Lasair
nestled into Esli's side. He was being awfully quiet. And she had said her piece. She'd made her suggestion; her mind was whirring, of course, trying to think of a good scenario, a reason to gather. But they had it in hand.

Sawyer
"It's something we can do, as well as hunt them down. That way, we're covering our bases. Exposing them - and eradicating them."

Sawyer
's hand twitched once as she moved to set aside her drink, the coffee spilling over the edges. Turning her back on the group, then, she quickly wiped along the spilled drink to clean the mess, before securing herself back at Ephraim's side.

Lasair
watched Sawyer carefully, bright eyes taking in her every movement. Either she wasn't a morning person, or there was something else going on. But she wasn't going to ask -- at least, not here, not right now.

Samson Krahn
nodded to Sawyer's suggestion to expose and eradicate. Best of both worlds. Unless there was something else he was missing.

Ephraim Steele
kept an eye on the woman, his arm sliding around her as she returned to his side. He glanced at the others, and nodded his head. "That idea does have its merits. Taking action in both a direct manner, hunting these things down, and doing what we can to turn the public opinion against them."

Gideon
"Then let's start with that. Ideas on the venue and reason for a get together?"

Esli
supported the lean of Lasair as always with the extra welcome of his receptive side. He gave much of what he was hearing thought. Plans were still ofrming and so far the details were not set in stone.

Lasair
"Something inocuous. Not something to do with Halloween -- they might think it was a gag, a set-up. A trick," she said. "It should be a celebration of something. Something carefree, innocent. A wedding. A b..." she was going to say baptism, but stumbled over the word. "Something joyous, ruined by demons."

Sawyer
offered Lasair a smile, one that she hoped showed she was fine, she had this. Wrapping her arms around her middle, she tucked her hands in to the sides of her over-sized shirt, hiding them from view as she dropped her head to his chest. "A wedding," she hummed, the idea rolling over in her mind.

Esli
perked up a heavy brow.

Gideon
looked around. "Know anyone getting married?"

Esli
looked at Gideon with a partial smile.

Tierney
lifted her eyebrow, remaining silent as she considered the amount of fear and panic that it could potentially cause. While the idea might look good on paper, she didn't think that it would do well for a long term effect. She took a sip from her coffee, making mental notes that she would later write down. A 'gameplan' of her own to settle out her thoughts. "Shopping centers are beginning to fill up with people buying holiday gifts." She said, "Christmas." Turning her cup towards her chest, she wrinkled her nose slightly. "A wedding could work, but it would have to be significantly large to really have an impact."

Esli
"You tell me , brother."

Ephraim Steele
nodded, pleased with the intelligence of the idea. "Preferably something after Halloween. Something a little further out of the season." He turned to Tierney and nodded, again pleased with the thought put into the response. "Christmas is certainly a season that one doesn't apply vampires to the ambience. That is a thought. And, that is a fair point. A gathering too small, too isolated, and it'll simply be another bullet point in the news." He turned to them, his arm tightening around the woman at his side. "Though, it wouldn't hurt to have such an incident occur more than once. We want them to appear regular, not isolated."

Gideon
looked at Esli. "No idea."

Sawyer
realized her mistake as soon as she had uttered the word. 'Anyone getting married,' Gideon had asked, and the panic had gripped her throat. Oh, no. No, no. Hopefully Ephraim didn't -... and then he was speaking, his arm tightening against her side, pulling her in closer. Mixed signals? Or was she overthinking it? Shaking her head, she kept her hands hidden. "A tree lighting ceremony? Something for the entire city. I saw something about that, once."

Tierney
lifted a shoulder. "Looking at it from the perspective of a business owner, too, I would be more likely to react in regards to a direct impact on my sales rather than a couple of broken hearts." Tierney ultimately moved to take a seat, smoothing her long skirt over her legs, her red hair falling over one shoulder. "A tree lighting ceremony would be a good place to begin. A large gathering, women and children - the innocent."

Samson Krahn
"You got people who think bein' a vampire is..." His features twisted a little. "...sexy. We ain't gotta cause bedlam. Just rewrite the story. Used to be people lived in fear all the time. I been all over the world, seen people had everything taken from em by flood and fire and famine and illness. You just gotta tap into that vein."

Esli
looked to Lasair. They had seen it all as well. They thought so at least until they arrived here.

Gideon
"Whose women and children, exactly?" Gideon spoke up. Weren't they talking about doing something controllable? The only one who had kids was him. Not an option

Esli
held Lasair a little closer.

Tierney
glanced towards the man, "Not everyone who fights for this cause is in this room. I'm sure if one asks around, they'd be find sorcerers and paladin willing to put themselves forward."

Sawyer
"No children," she spoke quickly, suddenly. She had seen the disaster that could cause, had witnessed it first hand. It had fucked her up for life. "We've got the women, though. We've got Jenna, we've got..." she trailed off then, a thought entering her mind, one dark, twisted, and caused her to cover her mouth with her hand to hide her smile. She wouldn't speak on it then, not without his permission, not without bringing it up to him - but they even had the vampires.

Sawyer
"We could make it appear that children were there, though, easily. Strollers covered up, smaller women to pass as younger girls."

Gideon
"Anyone willing to risk their child or children's lives isn't right in the head. Not someone I'll be associating with."

Sawyer
glanced to Gideon, nodding her head once. Just the thought sent a chill down her spine, an old fear rearing its head. Turning away, she wiped at her face, her fingers tightening on the sleeve of her shirt.

Esli
frowned. "We aren't dealing with humans. They have senses stronger than any known predator before they came hunting. They wear faces of others, of animals, and can disappear with the air you bresathe in.Fake masses in strollers won't work. The smell life, blood."

Sawyer
chuckled, then. "They're easy enough to fool sometimes. I agree, though, not all the time."

Samson Krahn
"May be lookin' at this from the wrong angle. Bram Stoker wrote about Renfield. Now I'm new to this vampire thing but I reckon people would get real worried real quick if they knew vampires could make em eat bugs and the like."

Esli
his jaw tightened at what had been taken.

Samson Krahn
"Wouldn't involve no kids gettin hurt neither."

Samson Krahn
Brb, have to shred some chicken! []

Ephraim Steele
Perhaps that's an entirely different angle that we could look at, also. Demonstrating what these things can do, not only the violence that they are capable of.

Tierney
shook her head. If that were the case, she wondered why some still remained in this city. Harper Rock was a risk in its own. For someone to even piss off these creatures could potentially be a death sentence. "It's a good thing we're simply in the suggestion phase." She tapped her fingernail against the top of her cup. "That could potentially lead to the military deciding to weaponize their destructive nature rather than destroy them as they had with the nuclear bomb."

Ephraim Steele
grimaced at the mention of a nuclear bomb. They were lucky they weren't in the states. With the state of affairs back home, he wouldn't have been surprised if Harper Rock wouldn't have already been incinerated off the map if it had been inside US territory.

Sawyer
rubbed her temples as she fell into silence, her head pressed to his chest. There was too many ideas, too many personalities, thoughts, plans. It was an amazing thing, but she wasn't the planning sort. She said her peace, she would wait, let them speak, let Ephraim decide.

Gideon
Gideon looked at his brother and sister. His stance would not change in respects to children. Not with what Lass lost, and what he could lose

Lasair
had remained silent. She didn't want to bare her loss to the room, nor have it be known to those who didn't already know it. She wouldn't repeat it like it was some cross to bear, though she did bear it every single day. "It doesn't matter if the vampires don't know where were no children. It matters that the humans think there were," she said. She didn't repeat the thought that no actual children should be involved -- that had been repeated enough already.

Esli
nodded at the eye contact.

Ephraim Steele
That was the idea, I believe. People are much easier to fool, and, in the end, they are the ones we are looking to influence.

Ephraim Steele
So with that in mind, similar ideas can be taken into consideration... decoys. False witness. Things to make the public feel the impact of this sort of an event hit much closer to home than it actually has to, for the sake of public safety.

Sawyer
ran her tongue over her canine, her gaze finding Lasair. There was something familiar in the way the woman spoke, in the way she breathed life into her suggestion. She gave it merit, and though the girl didn't speak it out-loud, she was thankful. "It's all about illusion," she agreed, tucking a curl behind her ear as she went quiet once more for the time being.

Gideon
Well, at least they agreed on no real children. Progress was being made. "So, Maybe the beginning of December we do this tree thing with our people and decoys of children."

Tierney
resisted the urge to roll her eyes. For some to think she would actually put those who could not defend themselves into a line of fire was ridiculous, but she did not know anyone past Sawyer personally, and she supposed that was where it all ended. "What about a church service, it would give the appearance that even in holy places of worship, no one is safe. If we appear to create our own weapons within the church, as well, it could give a sense of empowerment and the illusion that strength comes to one in the time of need."

Ephraim Steele
Perhaps we can do both. A tree lighting at a church. Preferably a church mostly congregated by us and those like us, of course. Something that appears open to the public, so as to lend to the illusion that these are innocent people gathered together to celebrate. There's little more than an act of aggression against the church to stir the Christian blood. I think most of us can attest to that. This way, we can offer the illusion of an attack against the church, while we are still the ones there to defend ourselves. It will also lend to the strength that our cause is righteous.

Gideon
Gideon glanced at his family, then finished his coffee. "I have some business to attend to." He announced to the crowd. "My flock needs attending to. If someone can fill me in on ideas later, it would be appreciated."

Esli
"Fake news seems to be a huge thing these days. What about getting access to a local cable source and start there. Why risk when can televise. People watch more than they move. Bring it to all including those hiding behind screens."

Esli
sets down his empty cup.

Tierney
tugged on a strand of curly red hair. "Is anyone connected to the media here?"

Lasair
shook her head in regards to Tierney's question about media. "Christmas Carols. Televised for local television... " she said. They did that often, didn't they?

Sawyer
"They often show such events at church like Ephraim stated on television,especially if there are a lot of people involved. I have a friend or two that I might be able to stir up. It shouldn't be hard. We can do a gathering at the church, with carols and tree lighting. Make a spectacle of it, and then show how fucked up these creatures really are."

Tierney
gave a nod of her head. She hadn't thought of it. "That would work, we could see who the source is and then one of us can go invite them." The idea of stepping into a church wasn't the best one she'd enjoyed, but it had been her suggestion for a religious angle. In her pocket, her phone vibrated and she ignored the device. "Perfect."

Ephraim Steele
nodded and ran a hand over his beard as he thought, giving the facial hair a light tug. "That sounds like a good route to take. Setting this whole thing up to be televised. Reach a wider audience. Possibly even people outside of Harper Rock. Let people see what's going on here, that nothing is sacred to these monsters. Meanwhile, very little is actually set in the way of risk taken. We know what they are, what they are capable of, and how we can defend ourselves. We won't be lambs in the slaughter, and they won't expect to see us there. Not in numbers. We will have the upper hand." He nodded and ran a hand back through his hair, then. "We have some time to bring all of the pieces together. That plays into our favor as well."

Lasair
's eyes lit up. yes. This would work in their favour. "God is on our side," she said with conviction.

Sawyer
inclined her head towards Lasair. It was all shaping up just fine.




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This thread was submitted via a live roleplay chat in the CFB Longslade B2 area. Participants and rewards were: Gideon earned 752 RPP. Samson Krahn earned 1214 RPP. Esli earned 917 RPP. Lasair earned 1519 RPP. Sawyer earned 2052 RPP. Ephraim Steele earned 2981 RPP. Tierney earned 1075 RPP.