Path of the Vampire forum

Backdated: Pre-Levesque Meeting.

ELOISE
Since arriving to Harper Rock, Eloise had a tendency to want to venture out on her own, even veering off from her sister and the rest of her family. Once their father had said of the departure from home to began expanding their casino dealings, the Canadian had decided to scope out the area; unfortunately, she wasn't gifted with knowing where her location was(especially in a brand new area). Hearing the warnings of zombies and even feral zombies in the Quarantine Zone, she had been able to procure some things along the way, but she had a few cuts and bruises from the stumble and tumble of her fights.

She was now sitting on an empty crate, trying to catch her breath while also figuring out where the hell she was. "Damnit," Eloise grunted with her back pressed onto the wall as she glared up at the ceiling. It was getting dark, and her cell phone light wouldn't be enough.

CALIGRACE
It was no surprise that she had found herself on the wrong side of town. It was also no surprise that her phone was dead. What was surprising was the fact Every wasn’t answering her mental plea for direction. It was unlike her, and anxiety began to gnaw at the pit of her stomach as she pushed her way through the sludge of the sewers until she found the man-hole and slammed the heavy cover from her way. Lifting herself free of the damp darkness, she smoothed her palms across her jeans and glared into the shadows of the Quarantine Zone.

“Oh, ****,” she groaned, head falling back for a moment before she shook off her displeasure. Hopping over a pile of scattered cloth - which she prayed nothing was actually living in - she made her way to what she had thought were the flats, and focused as she was on her phone, she hadn’t paid an ounce of attention to where she was headed. Taking the stairs two a time, she made her way to what she presumed would be her abandoned apartment, only to trip and stumble over shattered bits of a wooden crate at the landing. “What a vampire you are, Caligrace,” she muttered under her breath as she brushed away a few splinters and finally peered into the hallway, only to come quickly to the realization that she had made her way into the asylum. “Of course. Of course I did.”

ELOISE
She heard something crack, like wood breaking and soon the heeled woman was on her feet and directing her gun towards the direction of the nose. With her cell phone light on and holding it in her right while the left held onto her weapon, Eloise called out and making sure that fear wasn't in her voice that desperately wanted to tremor because of it.

"Who's there?!" She thought there was an actual voice instead of the normal grunts, groans, and banshee cries of the normal creatures, so perhaps this one was different...or potentially more dangerous since it had actual cognitive thinking.

CALIGRACE
While she didn’t necessarily need a light of her own to see within the darkness, it would have helped in that moment. The second she heard the voice, her hand dropped, the battered crate forgotten, fingers brushing her jacket aside to reach for the butt of her gun. “You know, that’s how people usually die in horror movies,” she replied, her tone soft, friendly, and her laugh melodic. “Do you honestly think one of these beasts - or even a serial killer - would answer you honestly? You’ve no need to point that weapon at me, either. I’m not going to hurt you unless you give me a reason to.” Tossing her hair over her shoulder, the redhead ensured that her thumb was on the safety, prepared to flip it any second as she kept the shadowed frame within her focus. “My name’s Caligrace, to answer your question,” she added quickly.

ELOISE
At the sound of laughter, she felt her dominant hand start to lower down and soon fiddled the thing into its proper place with the holster. She kept her posture more on the defensive side but once approaching the woman, a wave of something...unfamiliar washed over her. It was like walking into a perfume store and all those fragrances hitting one's nostrils at once, or a certain warmth in the middle of a brisk winter.

Now within four feet away, Eloise could make out the person dubbed Caligrace, her pupils dilated now at the sight of someone so beautiful. "...my name is Eloise." She took a deep breath. "I'm lost," she admitted, not liking that she had to.

CALIGRACE
It was easy to notice the fear that had taken control of the stranger, even without feeling it tug on her soul, just as it was easy to tell that she was nothing more than human. Pure, non-threatening and adorable, but... human. Of course, Caligrace was never one to underestimate anyone or thing, no matter how innocent and docile they may appear upon approach. “That makes two of us,” she laughed, and with a quick motion, re-holstered her weapon before holding her empty hands in front of her to show that she truly meant no harm. “Where were you trying to go, sweets? I can only assume you didn’t mean to find yourself in the asylum. Even I tend to avoid this place like the plague as often as I can.”

ELOISE
Was this person also new to the stranger? No, surely not. She knew what this place was despite having been turned around herself. Eloise glanced down at her hands before back up to that soft face. If sunshine had a pinpointed scent mixed with some underlining darkness, it'd be this mystery woman.

"I heard of a place that I could take down some zombies and other weaker creatures. I just moved here with my family and I heard this place gets overrun by them, and someone of my weak caliber should be able to stand up to them. Can't let my skills get rusty."

She paused. "I say I'm weak, but only because I'm weaker compared to vampires. I'm still strong." Her voice was firm, making sure to keep eye contact while semi-rambling.

CALIGRACE
Try as she might, she couldn’t tune out the emotions that wrapped themselves around this small, dark-haired female. Even as she steeled herself and rambled about her self-proclaimed strength, her anxiety crawled along the redhead’s skin like a thousand small bugs. However, she let none of that on, and instead, focused on Eloise with that soft, welcoming smile. “You meant to head to the apartment building next door. Corvidae Flats,” she offered, taking a step back and towards the stairs.

The second her heel landed back on the dust covered floor, a low groan caught her attention, her gaze instantly tugged into the darkness behind the human. “Here, how about I show you where to go, so you can find it easily on your own.” Outstretching her arm to indicate Eloise walk past her - and hopefully quickly - she bounced on her heels. “Also, welcome to Harper Rock, I suppose. We haven’t gotten a lot of newcomers recently. It’s nice to see fresh faces.”

ELOISE
Corvidae Flats. That did sound familiar, recalling overhearing that people wanting to fight against the foes could find them in abundance there. Despite the situation, her anxiety soon started to wilt away the longer she stuck around this ethereal woman, and for the first time since arriving at Harper Rock did she dive headfirst into making the decision to take her offer of heading down the stairs with her hand resting on the hilt of her sword just in case someone decided to come along their way. She was much more proficient with sharp objects than guns, even if the latter was more effective in this situation.

It wasn't long after that the two were on the first floor and despite being in the dark, she recalled the way back to the exit, occasionally looking back at the redhead before soon fresh air hit them both, leaning back against the brick wall of the building as her lips curled up into a wicked smile. "It sucks not always knowing where you're going, huh? Surely that's why you were in there and not just to find me specifically?" Her gaze turned back to the woman.

CALIGRACE
As the woman followed her willingly, the allurist bit back another smile. If she were any other creature that lurked these streets, she was positive this poor human would be on her way to a much different fate. As it were, she had taken every precaution that she could to ensure she remained as ‘human’ to the untrained eye as possible. Of course, there was no danger to the petite pureblood in front of her. The taste of blood didn’t appeal to her, and she hardly noticed the way the crimson vitae hummed beneath her skin. In fact, if her mind hadn’t drifted to the comparison between herself and other vampires, she wouldn’t have noticed her slowly calming pulse at all.

“It does,” she agreed as she used the heel of her boot to slam the door shut behind them, ensuring that the abominations within remained as such. It wasn’t the zombies that bothered her, but the Theodosian monstrosity she had watched lumbering lazily towards them before she hastily lead them down the stairs. “I’ve an eidetic memory, but for the life of me, I can’t find my way around this city. It’s like my brain has taken on too much information at once, and just doesn’t have any room for directions,” she laughed, orange glossed manicured nail tapping against her temple. “My friend jokes about a GPS tracker being installed on me, but I have to wonder if she’s actually kidding sometimes. Anyway,” she swept her hand through her hair and motioned across the sidewalk.

“There’s Corvidae. It’s crawling with zombies and such, as well as some others that are trying to contain the population of undead. I hope you've a strong stomach, or that you're well practiced in ignoring horrible smells."

ELOISE
"..." The way Caligrace moved vaguely reminded her of her twin sister, Elodie. Like a swan that flowed along the waters as they only moved due to the feathery creature. As the other spoke, Eloise didn't say a word and only studied the other before she pointed off towards the flats and she looked towards the place, dimly lit, before going back to the redhead. Her head gave a small bob. "I'll manage, I'm sure." She checked over her katana by grabbing onto the sheath and giving a sharp tug, then studying the blade to make sure it didn't have any cracks.

Pivoting on her foot so not to face the allurist, she entered the ready stance and swung her weapon from a down to upward slash, following a more horizontal line as if she was slicing bamboo in her training regime. Satisfied, it was brought back into place and her head bowed to the woman. "Thank you for showing me the way, uh...Caligrace," she repeated the woman's name slowly to make sure it was correct. "I'm sure you'd like to get back to where you need to be heading towards."

CALIGRACE
Humming a quiet note of amusement, she watched as the woman began to ready her fighting stance. It wasn’t as graceful as she would have liked to elevate the worry she felt for this strange human, but she knew it wasn’t her place to stand in her way. Not only that, she had a feeling that she would fare just fine within the rancid walls of the flats. Even still, she dropped her hand and wiggled her fingers this way and that until the zipper finally released, allowing her to reach inside and free a pack of ammo. After, she unstrapped one of the knives from around her thigh, the edge sharp and deadly, and pulled out the extra gun she kept against her lower back.

“Here, take these,” she smiled, flicking a lock of hair from her face, “what you have already is good, but just in case. You always need to be prepared.” Her smile continued to be genuine, relaxed, even as her gaze danced across the shadows that covered the path between where they stood and the entrance of the flats. “I’ve got a minute or two to spare until my friend sends a search party, so if you want, I can at least make sure you do alright inside?”

ELOISE
Eloise hadn't met to show off in front of Caligrace, only wanting to stretch out the tension in her right shoulder before exhaling a sigh with a grunt to finish off the minor relief. When the redhead had started to move, gathering items, her body had returned to a more stiff position...until the weaponry was offered up so willingly. She blinked a few times, puzzled by her actions the katana was placed back in its sheath and took up all of it one at a time, the pistol being last to go into the other empty holster in her side.

"Um, thank you, but you really don't have to give me things if you need them yourself." At the mention of being accompanied over the small walk towards the flats, her eyes had leveled on the building before falling on her momentary companion before giving a nod. "All right. We should get going so that I don't keep you for long." She wasn't purposefully being standoffish, but one could see Eloise was thrown off by such kindness by anyone in a new place, showing that she wasn't used to it in the least.

CALIGRACE
“Girl, I don’t have to do anything. I do it because I want to,” she said, softening her words with a smile before she sighed. “I’ve been where you are. Tossed in the storm without a ******* clue as to what you’re supposed to do or what you’re up against.” She hadn’t meant to say so much, and it was clear by the way she rubbed her cheek that she had made herself nervous. Clearing her throat, she tossed her hair over her shoulder and took a few steps forward, her demeanor shifting back to that of the cool, confidant, bubbly allurist act that only very, very few saw through.

Tossing open the door of the Flats, she stepped inside and to the side so Eloise could follow her easily enough, her nose wrinkling just a tad when the scent of decay hit her. “If you need something to mask that, I have…” Already, she was digging in her pockets, until she found the tube of scented essential oils. Uncapping it, she held it out in silent offering for the woman if she wanted to use it. “Lavender and honey. It helps, trust me.”

ELOISE
And that nervous tic did not go unnoticed. Ever the watchful eye of such an observant adult, Eloise remained silent about it until they got to the entrance. It was then that the Canadian made a bold, impulsive move on her part on asking the woman outright. "Well, tonight, I guess I'm not really alone because I have you here along with me, albeit only for a small period of time." She gave her a more lighthearted smile. "The storm doesn't really ever fully go away, anyway. It just settles into a soft haze of rain."

Now it was the woman's turn to feel like she was babbling on, giving an awkward 'heh heh' before she turned away as she released the massive stink coming from the impending zombies. Then Caligrace offered a way to cover it up which she didn't turn down, not even the least apprehensive as a touch was dabbed on her left index and rubbing it just under her nose, then on her wrists. "Would you like my phone number? Surely there's something I can repay you for things."

CALIGRACE
“Beautifully said, girl,” she replied with an easy grin as she waited for her to take the essential oil before putting the cap back on. Her teeth sank into her lower lip for a moment as she glanced across the busy lobby, watching as the zombies ambled about. A few were taken down with a couple of sloppy strikes from what appeared to be a rather inexperienced vampire, while another fumbled with her gun, trying to find the safety. It wasn’t often that she felt uneasy about this place, but she realized she didn’t want to leave this strange girl behind. However, she knew that she was running out of time - not to mention, she didn’t have a reason to linger too much longer.

“Yeah, a phone number sounds great.”

The words had been spoken sometime during her observations, and she finally turned her gaze back to Eloise, phone already in hand with the contact screen brought up. “I’ll text you, so you can just add my number that way. You don’t need to repay me, so just… text me for anything, really. Even if you just want to chill some night or you need me to help you with anything.”

ELOISE
The Canadian also took to watching some folks fight against the zombies, some successful, others not so much. Her arms crossed loosely around her waist as her head turned to look at the woman when her phone was extended, explaining that repayment wasn't needed and even the offer of friendship was given.

First response was feeling dubious on why Caligrace was so accepting, not really wanting anything materialistic in return; however, the cell phone was taken, number placed, and the device handed back.

"Thank you again. I'll see you at some point, I'm sure." If only Eloise knew what their futures held... With a brief smile, the woman stepped over the threshold, already drawing her sword to slice it in a downward, angular slash to its head.