Path of the Vampire forum

Charles stepped out of his car and stretched his back as he looked around. He was on the edge of River Rock to the wilderness. "Well, here we go." he said to himself casually heading into it, mostly heading for Longslade, the place used almost as a sort of base of operations for the Order of Steel of which he had taken a part of. And it was about that matter that he was here, looking for a woman by the name of Tierney who "smelled of death and flowers" apparently.

He took a breath in as he approached Longslade, deciding rather to wait outside since he knew he was early and because the wilderness helped him gain anima which he could use for quite the number of things now. Even if it was only to help him keep working. He wasn't quite like the others he knew. The paladins mostly, they actually had something against the vampires, he didn't. It was true, he thought if vampires could be gotten rid of it would make his life a lot easier. But he was no fighter, or a murderer. He only wanted to go after people he thought might be threats or were actually terrible people, or simply help out the others of the Order of Steel since his powers were already better for assistance rather then combat. He really didn't care too much however, he'd run into vampires time and again but he held no real ill will against them. Nevertheless, overall, they were a problem.

Charles shook his head trying to make sure he paid attention as he leaned against the wall, shoving himself off so he could actually look around to find who he was looking for.

The apothecary had been closed for an evening, her father going on about a leak in the roof that had him unhappy. When she'd been prompted about what she'd be doing, she said she'd be out with Sawyer. It had only been half a lie, she had been out with Sawyer at first, but after sometime, the two women had went their separate ways in the lab. Tierney had used her keycard to the newly renovated building and gained access to the upper floors, bringing her laptop and the meager scripts that she had on hand with her. She would need to upgrade them, soon.

She had plans - improve the security system, tap into the different security streams within the city. It would help their cause to have eyes where she could. In the long run, it would also allow the men and women inside the lab to keep an eye on things. Eventually, she would need to talk to Ephraim about the idea of it, but for now, Tierney had found a particular corner in the lab where she liked to work at an abandoned desk claimed as her own. On the edge of the claimed desk, a small pot of Aconitum anthora sat healthy and thriving as she clicked away on her keyboard. An unlit cigarette rested between her lips, the promise towards her mother's request that she stop smoking in the back of her mind as she worked.

Ultimately, the woman stood up and collected her jacket before heading towards the elevator. She knew she was supposed to be waiting around for Charles, but the lack of patience that dwelled within Tierney typically always won when it came to meeting up with people. It was one of the main reasons she was one to arrive late, admittedly. Her green eyes lifted towards the ceiling of the elevator as it slid open, her eyebrow lifting as she moved her hand to collect the cigarette between her fingers. "Figures they're still messing with the wiring." She muttered to herself something about fangers being nothing but destructive as she stepped inside.

It took only a few minutes before she made it downstairs, placing one hand in the pocket of her jeans as she dug around for her lighter. The doors slid open, an unfamiliar face causing the sorcerer to immediately reach for the pistol hidden beneath her jacket. At the same time, the woman asked, abruptly, "Who the hell are you?"

There wasn't all that much going on outside, and it occurred to him that perhaps they wouldn't actually be arriving but was simply inside, waiting for him to actually come in and look for them. To be fair, he hadn't actually been told where to look around for. But then again most people didn't just hang around in the wilderness either.

Charles turned his head quickly to see her, and where her hand had gone to suggesting she had a gun or knife hidden away. He smiled before actually responding, "Charles Crafter, pleasure to meet you. I'm here looking for someone described as smelling like death and flowers." he commented. In the case that he was wrong, he didn't want to accidentally throw information at a person who might not actually be them.

Could be you couldn't it. Not sure I'd describe that other smell as death. But it's not flowers that's for sure. Cigarettes I guess. He thought before speaking again, "I probably should have gone inside to look around more thoroughly I suppose though."

Charles leaned to one side and cocked his head at her, before glancing around. He really would rather not get shot just now. But he had also gained a few advantages since the last time he'd ended up in a fight with someone. But if this was the person he was looking for there'd be no problem. If it wasn't, well, he hoped it could be resolved peacefully anyway. Violence in general wasn't his thing so best to play around with words.

The taste of cinnamon lingered on the herbal cigarette, nicotine added to it on occasion to keep the edge away. They were clean based, never too terrible for her but a bad habit the same. It had, at least, gotten her off tobacco. Her hand remained on the edge of her gun as she waited. Charles Crafter. It was the name of the guy Tierney had been volunteered to teach. She really needed to thank Sawyer for that. "She met me when I was tending to a Stapelia gigantea. I'm usually working with flora that lives or dies. Doesn't quite mean I smell like literal death."

Tierney supposed it was only her friend that could get away with saying that she smelled of flowers and death. Truthfully, she took it as a compliment on some levels. She smelled of plants, which she was fond of. It was what she was studying with school. "Ain't any in here." She said as she removed the rolled bit from her lips and flicked it towards the small pile that she'd begun to gather there. Normally, she'd ***** at someone, but she'd always been sure to use paper that would decompose properly and return back to the earth without harming nature.

"Whether or not she'll ever clarify to why she introduces me that way to people, I will never know." She nodded back the way she came, turning on her heel as she removed her jacket once more. The woman turned on her heel as she headed in the direction of the elevator, making a motion for him to follow her as she went.

"Ah, certainly makes more sense." Charles commented on the matter of why she had been described how she had been. He still wondered about why death was the description, but oh well, some people liked dramatic words. Admittedly, he was one of them, but he noticed he often didn't expect that of others.

There was not any worry about her shooting him now. Or at least not anymore then the regular amount of suspicion for random people on the street. He was working with people who had a thing against vampires, something that set humans almost entirely out of the direct goal, and only in it indirectly, so it really wasn't expected that there would be much in-fighting since nobody could profit from it.

He shrugged and quickly set himself into step behind and just a bit to the side so he could see her face, and where she was going but also still manage to follow along, "Well some people just have a curious way of introducing their friends to people. Some a bit more odd then others, but hey, plenty of friends can be weird."

"Carrion flower." She clarified after she realized she hadn't used the unscientific name. She studied plants for a living, it was only well that preferred the latin version. As Tierney waited, she took it upon herself to pick at some of the dirt underneath her fingernails. Although the nails themselves were painted a dark shade of green, she knew it lingered there. She could feel it pressing against the tip of her fingers. She couldn't remember if she had an old toothpick hidden within one the desks she had taken over.

Her relationship with Sawyer was a bit complicated if one didn't know their past, the comments that could be made between the two different compared to what most best friends would give and take. "You don't know the half of it." She said before blowing a strand of fallen hair from her face as she walked, tucking her hands away into her pockets. Only when they made it back to the elevator did she remove one hand, swiped her access card and tucked it back away once more. "What do you know about hacking before we get too far into the conversation?"

The sorcerer asked, straight to the point. It was as the doors slid open that Tierney made a mental note to request a coffee machine that she could tuck away in the event of another attack. "At least in the sense of hacking scripts. Likely scenario is you've got a decent level set and a brain on you. Won't get you too direct but within a few backdoors it can be wiggled around. Worst case scenario, I'm going to give you a shitload of stuff to practice on. Best case scenario, I'm not going to want to introduce my face to my keyboard again tonight." It wasn't that she was being rude, or that she was trying to, but she knew it came out as such on occasion.

Charles considered the question for a moment, "I wouldn't call myself bad at it. I can get version four's and use them moderately well. So I'm not quite as good as I could be, but it's usually enough." he commented. He'd managed to hack law enforcement a few times, although it was extraordinarily difficult, but if he were just doing a random hacking of a business or something it was typically a piece of cake.

He didn't actually notice as much whether it was rude or not, but that was probably because he'd had two businesses to deal with and employees, or costumers, could get very tiring to deal with. So he heard rude voices quite a bit, and just got accustomed to ignoring them.

"Much easier to hack then to fight most of the time, so I've definitely got some experience in the matter. Fightings all fine and dandy, it just usually ends in injuries. They heal but they still hurt when you get 'em." He said shaking his head. "On topic again, I can only sometimes get into law enforcement and erase or add data, it's tough and only works maybe a tenth of the time. But that's still something to work with perhaps."

I'm gonna have to assume she's been doing this longer then me. She seems more solidly founded with the team, or at least that one of them. So there's a good chance it'd be best to see if there's anything useful I can actually learn from her about this stuff.

She was going to want to hit her face against her keyboard after teaching this to Sawyer. That, to Tierney, would be a definite and unavoidable account. The ginger lifted her hands and pushed her hood lower off her head before lifting her light colored eyes to the ceiling; her foot tapped impatiently, jostling the lift just slightly as it moved higher towards their destination. "The better the script, the easier the run. I'll need to gather source codes, but at least you know the basics. It'll save me time and frustration." She said as the lift came to a stop. The doors slid open and Tierney's foot stopped moving just before she took a step into the upper floor of the building.

"The codes are found in businesses, you can either hack for them or steal them from office buildings. I tend to do the former as it's not always best to have everyone on the planet looking for your mug." Tierney led Charles over to her 'forest' as it would be described best in due time. Her little slice of heaven. Or at least, the one place where she knew only few would approach her when she was working later on. At the moment, there was only her desk that she'd taken. Eventually, she would surround herself with more to create an L shape and place extra monitors up, as well as surround it with more flowers and plants, but for now, it was a work in progress.

"Doing this will mean more than getting in fights, but the injuries are going to be plentiful. Just means you have to suck it up and learn to throw a punch." Tierney slid into her leather chair, crossing one leg over the other as she tapped in a sequence of letters to pull up her mainscreen. The second one that she'd positioned for the time being began to awaken. "The better question will be can you handle the heat in the long run without bringing trouble to those around you?"

Charles listened as he followed. Hm, yeah office buildings might be more entertaining. I might be able to get them with hacking, but it's not quite as enjoyable I think. he thought. Charles had been a criminal for awhile, even though he was hardly ever caught. It did happen, but he was never stuck for too long with a criminal record. There was a convenience of growing up knowing how to do things that were illegal, now that vampires were so well known it was a bit of an advantage.

He looked at her desk, before responding, "Then again, if ya fail too many times trying to hack the codes it draws a bit of attention as well. Break in's are usually a whole lot easier, at least for me." he said. It was more a vocalizing of his thoughts on the matter. Though he imagined that had more to do with him personally rather then in general.

He looked at her and leaned one hand against part of the table as he glanced at the screen thinking about the next thing she'd said. Trouble indeed. I've placed myself among vampire hunters because they're causing issues, getting too chaotic. Trouble will happen whether or not I like it. he thought.

"Injuries I can handle, generally." He said before thinking a moment more about the other matter, "Well I'll certainly hope so. If not, that'd be a real shame."

The ginger gave a lift of her shoulder and dropped it as if she weren't too bothered about getting caught. Then again, there weren't too many times Tierney was caught. She had a system that she stuck to, a plan to pass the attention off to others. She hacked multiple systems in one area and then she shifted to a different location, and so on. Never the same business twice in a week, sometimes two depending on her mood unless she was specifically going after a targeted individual.

"That's one of the reasons you never hack in your hiding place, or where you live." She said, lifting her hand to run her fingertips through her hair. Tierney felt her hand catch a knot and carefully worked it free with her fingers. "In addition to vampires, you have to worry about their allies. You have to worry about soldiers and cops, the government." She considered the information that she'd been gathering in regards about the cure and gave a shake of her head.

She supposed it helped, really. She knew there were others that could heal her, just as she could heal others. The sensation of the power that filtered through her body helped keep her reassured that the reckoning was upon them. It helped reassure her that she wasn't making the wrong decision when she'd joined the Order.

"The most common security program that I've run across is the authenication process. Sentiel is the second. They're easy to overcome with delete, if that's all you have. Tracer is, as well, but it's better to just run the program that's designed to counter it. Mask, silence, etc." Tierney began as she pulled up a training system before moving. "I've already began coding some, I'll need more source codes as I said, but it'll take me a while either way."