do you bare your fangs at us, sir? MOONLIT RIVALS LOG 2, SCENE 2

[libraryassistants]

Who: Readers and Actors
What: The werewolves who are not sneaking into the party cause a bit of mischief... and did anybody actually agree to keep the peace tonight?
When: The night of the ball itself. [ooc timeline: Feb 6th - 19th]
Where: The city of Montica.
Content warnings: Please include any warnings in headers.


Waxing Gibbous Moon

In Town

Above the city, the Umbra Mansion stands tall. Its grand doors and windows have been opened, spilling light like a beacon. Music lilts in the air, drifting so far as to be faintly heard even in the neutral centre of the city.

The streets have emptied, particularly in the vampiric half of town. Most of the vampire loyalists have joined the masquerade, leaving their homes and shops unattended. Tonight is a special night - a once in a century event, and they wouldn’t miss it for the world.

Even some werewolves and neutral citizens have been enticed to attend. Jadis the Mystic has created a lotion that will disguise the scent of a werewolf; an effect that is broken by shifting, breaking the skin, or the gradual passage of time. It is not widely distributed, but rumours travel fast. The lotion is only given to any Guildulf-aligned werewolves, but… well, there’s nothing wrong with a little trade here or there. Right?

For all of the wolves in town - with the moon so close to being full, it’s natural for them to feel a bit more excitable. Energetic. Ready to take on the world. And seeing as Montica is so empty, it’s like a playground has just been opened up. The young wolves in particular are eager to take advantage of the empty streets, the sound of not-quite-mature howls breaking through the air in their excitement. There are hardly any people around to be scared if they play too rough or run too fast, and they are taking advantage of this with great enthusiasm.

In the highly-debated 'neutral' zone, some small packs of adolescent werewolves are gathering. There's banter and roughhousing, the not-quite-adults playfully shoving each-other over the invisible line where the vampire territory begins.

Some of the bravest amongst them take the challenge to dart over and brush their fingers over silver doorhandles - their yelps spurring courage and adrenaline in the others. What starts harmlessly enough quickly escalates as they urge each-other on, teenage excitement and the thrill of the moon encouraging all sorts of bad choices. The longer they go without reprimand, the more bold they become; and somewhere along the way, bulbs of garlic start winding up in places they wouldn't normally be found. (There is at least one group who is excitedly challenging each-other to leave the garlic in more and more absurd places. If they happen to sting themselves on some silver ornamentation on the way, all the better.)

Not all homes are unoccupied, though - sooner or later someone’s going to disturb someone else’s peace, and tensions are already so high. Hopefully there are some Responsible Adults around to curtail the worst of the mischief before someone’s temper is sparked.

Comments

[obeir]

"It's an... arrangement, made to keep my brother safe. As safe as he can be in this place," Kade explains in a resigned manner. "Vampires leave him and the neutral sanctuary he established alone, in exchange for my service."

Would he rather not be involved with vampires at all? Of course. It had seemed like the best bet out of multiple bad options at the time. But now, after having lived in the city for some time and with the power of hindsight...

Still, his brother's safety would always be his priority.

[ugh_emotions]

So it's a protection racket. Well, that SecUnit understands. That was essentially what the company did, really.

"With the vampires. But not the werewolves, because they don't like you," it says. In normal circumstances, it probably would make more sense for Kade to get protection from other werewolves. But apparently not, in this place.

[obeir]

"He's a werewolf. Other wolves don't normally target him the way vampires do simply for being what he is. Then there's the humans like you, who are aware of what we are."

A less common occurrence in Montica than one might expect, but not unheard of. Likely the rumours of supernatural entities prowling the city streets at night have even lured foolhardy humans to visit or move there.

"Humans are too often collateral damage in the fighting between vampires and wolves. It's part of why my brother established his sanctuary, to help them. I like to think putting myself between them and the vampires has made a difference... but I'm beginning to think it may have been better staying in the sanctuary and handling any threats directly."

[ugh_emotions]

SecUnit scowls. Yeah, the humans were too often collateral fucking damage. It's why it was out here, trying to keep as many of them alive as possible.

But it also wanted to keep Kade alive too. Even if he wasn't actually KD​6-3.7.

"I mean, probably," it says, in regards to the suggestion of Kade staying in the sanctuary. "How good is the Security there?"

[obeir]

"Aside from my arrangement, limited. Usually just what residents can provide."

Not the best, in other words. Certainly nothing compared to the privileged safety that the upper class enjoys at the expense of servants like him. But at least there are a few people other than himself willing to help keep it safe.

[ugh_emotions]

Limited.

SecUnit already thought the Security in this whole Settlement was shit. No SecSys. No cameras. No monitoring or alert systems of any kind. All that had were physical barriers, and like, people physically standing around guarding shit.

In short: it was fucking terrible.

But that was SecUnit's opinion. Which it realised was going to be different from the people who actually lived here, and had never seen good security in their entire lives. So If even Kade thought it was limited...

...Yeah. It had to be bad.

"So what security are the vampires providing? Specifically."

[obeir]

"The benefit is their absence. The vampires affiliated with the clan won't hunt or otherwise cause trouble there."

So an indirect security? It does keep a good percentage of the city's vampire population at bay, so the arrangement probably isn't quite as terrible as it no doubt sounds to a stranger. But Kade's aware he got the short end of the stick. Still... it has kept a whole lot of blood suckers away from his brother and the vulnerable residents of the sanctuary, thus far.

[ugh_emotions]

"That's not Security. That's extortion," it says, scowling.

It was also, in the end, an inevitably losing proposition.

"What's stopping them if something ever happens to you?" And something would happen to Kade, eventually. That was the problem with those kinds of arrangements. In the end, someone would always end up deciding that they'd much prefer not to have to deal with it at all. If something else didn't scuttle it first, like an accident.

[obeir]

It absolutely is extortion and Kade can't refute it. Nor does he know what he can even do about it at this point. He's in too deep, and afraid of what could happen to his brother (and Viktor, for that matter) if he ends the arrangement.

"The thought plagues me. Once I've outlived my usefulness to them, or if they decide the arrangement is too much of an inconvenience... I don't expect I'll be allowed to simply walk away."

[ugh_emotions]

Its organics twist uncomfortably. It doesn't want anything to happen to not-KD​6-3.7. It doesn't want him to get used and discarded by vampires.

But it can't do anything about it. Just like it couldn't do anything about humans in the Corporation Rim who were stuck in contract labour. It didn't have the power to do anything.

Not for real, anyway. Sure, it could beat up some vampires or werewolves that were harassing Kade now. But this Story was going to end at some point. And then SecUnit would be gone, but Kade would still be here.

"Vampires suck," it says quietly. It doesn't really have anything else to say.

[obeir]

"Some are particularly foul," Kade agrees. The same could be said for any species, but there's something about immortality that all too often seems to wear away everything good in a person. It may be that human minds simply aren't equipped to handle it.

"With the political landscape being what it is, some of my problems might resolve themselves sooner or later." A grim attempt at humour with some truth behind it. Assassination attempts against the wealthy are rather in vogue these days, for a reason.

This line of conversation also has him curious about something...

"You choose to remain neutral?" he wonders. In the many conflicts amongst humans, vampires, and werewolves.

[ugh_emotions]

It makes a face. Both at the discussion of the political landscape (ugh), and also at the suggestion that it might deign to involve itself in that in any way.

"I am not picking a fucking side," it grumbles. (Except maybe the side of defenceless humans. It could pick that side, or whatever.)

[obeir]

The reaction isn't too surprising, both in general and based on the very little he knows about Rin.

"It can be difficult avoiding conflicts here without like-minded allies." Speaking from experience here. Even regular humans could be their own kind of monsters, they didn't need fangs for that. "There's at least a few of us who feel similarly to you... too few to make a real difference, I think," he says with a shake of his head. "But if ever I can repay what you did for me, I'd like to."

[ugh_emotions]

Shit.

"...You don't need to pay me," it says, awkwardly. "We don't have a contract."