Neonate's Faulier (for MannyMalkavian)

[Jinchu]

Chicago is secretly controlled by vampires. Well, as well as any big city, actually. Humans don't know about it, because Camarilla, teh powerful organization of teh Kindread, as they call themselves, keeps their inluence and the very existance in secret. And so it should stay.


Maria von Strauss was one of the most powerfil Kindread in Chicago. She's an elder of Ventrue clan and came here from the Old Worls centuries ago. Now she controlled the most prominent parts Chicago's realty - indirectly, of course. And that was the problem, because then you're deep enough in teh shadows people might try and bite from your cake without even realzing it belongs to someone the don't want to deal with.



In one of the city's areas comapnies which were under von Strauss' control began to suffer from the growing pressure of firms connected to local mafia. The elder was too old and powerful to bother with that herself, but she also couldn't ignore the issue, so she had sent a young Kindread of her clan to solve the problem. She was expected to use diplimacy and wisely explain the mafia authorities that they asre dealing with more tehn tehy can swallow...


But instead the conflict was escalated through open threats without proper backup to them. So the bandits took exectly the opposite messagethen intended and turned to the violent approach. Even worse - the young Ventrue got up after being shot numerous times in front of the group of mortals. Yes, it impressed the mafia killers, but also violated all norms of the Masqerade, and now the city's Sheriff had to interfire...


For now everything stood in an unstabel balance, ready to either return to normal if everyone put enough effort into it or, figuratively and probbaly literally speaking, burst into falmes any minute...

[Silverstone]

It had to be a clean and simple job.
A little domination, a little intimidation and everything would be sorted out quickly.

But it had all gone to pieces.

Of course, in hindsight she shouldn't have got up when she was shot, she should have played dead and none of that would happen. But it was the first fucking time that someone shot her, it was instinctive!
Luckily Amber had immediately recovered her coolness, stemming the disaster as best she could.
Even if "at best," that didn't mean it would be okay.

She had to hastily call the sheriff, tell him what had happened because she needed a quick and direct intervention and that beast was the only one with the means and the authority to do it.
That meant the prince and potentially the whole domain knew about the bullshit Amber had done.
Then she had to call her sire to ask her for help too, and only Cain knew how many favors she would have to burn because of that disaster.

For several nights she hadn't seen anyone from the domain, closed in her shelter to stem the latest system flaws, checking newspapers and social networks.
None of them reported any strange news or rumors.
The only consolation was that the masquerade infraction seemed to have been avoided and she would be spared seeing the sun rise.
But the consequences for her ineptitude would come soon and she knew it well.
Amber was sure that as soon as the waters calmed down, the prince would summon her for explanations about it. Only her Ventrue pride kept her from leaving the state, in the face of that premise.

[Jinchu]

Sherif Brian Morain was pissed off. Very much so. For the last few nights he had been running errands around Chicago, making sure the newspapers and, even worse, that new Inter-net thingy only published acceptable pieces off information. He had to push many buttons,a nd two overly impressed mafia members ended up silent forever to cover the screwup of one careless Ventrue. In the process he had gotten a very clear image of what Amber had done and all that was wrong about it.


Brian was not an evil persone in heart. Otherwise he would be consumed by the Beast completly long ago. He didn't want the young girl (even with her afterlife years she was almost a child in his eyes) to turn into ash or even spend a few decades slaving herself to repay the debts. The Sheriff talked to the Prince and ensured him there was no need in official actions. He also promised to make sure the Kibnread who acused that havoc won't remain unpunished.



After that he called Amber.


"Tomorrow night. At midnight. Club's name's "Steppen Wolf". Come and we'll talk." the low, hoarse voice ordered and the call turned off.



[you are good with public punishment, right? if no, I'll edit that; I'll describe BBrian's apperence in teh enxt post, hope to know more about Amber too. That would be a badass underground bicker club, if you wnat to describe her reaction right away]

[Silverstone]

(Spanking in public is absolutely ok for me)



Amber hadn't time to argue.
She looked at the phone, with extreme disappointment, wrinkling her nose.
She didn't really like that kind of hasty communication. Not to mention the place chosen.
But it was never wise to discuss an elder's orders, especially if that elder was the sheriff. Especially if she had just hit a mess.

By now it was not long before dawn and as she slipped into her unnatural sleep, all worries vanished.

Unfortunately they were back there waiting for her at the next sunset.

Standing in the walk-in closet, Amber was deeply indecisive.
She knew the type of place where she had been given an appointment.
It was that jeans-and-boots kind of place. She had some inconspicuous clothes, but she wasn't sure wanted to wear them.
They would have given the impression She was trying to hide herself. Eventually she opted for her usual style.

It would have been flashy, but better than giving the impression of being a shy little lamb.
She was proud, fierce. Her ventrue pride dictated it to her.

She then wore a sleeveless, tight black sheath dress that showed off her curves.
She wasn't very tall, but was slim with nice breasts and soft hips. Her skirt reached two fingers above her knee. it was provocative but not vulgar.
Amber was already naturally beautiful so her make-up was limited to mascara and the inevitable scarlet lipstick. The pale face was framed by black hair, left loose.

She didn't want to keep the sheriff waiting, given the situation, so grabbed an elegant jacket, handbag and a pair of 8-heel shoes and headed for the appointment.

[Jinchu]

"Steppen Wolf" was not a bar for show-off bikers. It was a relatively calm, quite place on teh outskirts of the city, nothing to attract the outsiders attention: dim light in the windows, line of teh bikes in front of the entrance and almost no decoration. Inside some hard-rock was playing, but not loud enough to supress the soudn of human voices. Most of the clents were tough serious men in their middle age or older.



And even in that group Brian Morain stood out.



He was a tall strong man with wide shoulders. Brian wore a very old long letaher coat, rough worn-out jeans and heavy boots. His half-grey, half-red hair were tied in a few braids, he had a medium-lenght wild beard and very rough facial features, like they were carved out of stone with very primitive imstruments. he wore big dark glasses to cover the eyes of a lynx - part of his clan's curse.


Amber's arrival immediately attracted a lot of attention, but as soon as Brian waved his fingers to call her closer (his finger nails looked a lot like massive claws), the other guys looked away, minding their own business. Brian was sitting at teh separate table in a dark, but comfy corner of the club.

[Silverstone]

Amber had gotten out of the taxi, her car was wrecked from the chaos it had created, to erase her tracks.
She would have to get another one but her funds were running out and sooner or later she would have to crawl to her sire and begging for a borrow.

Pulling down the dress that had risen in the movement, she walked confidently into the bar.
Her intention of not going unnoticed had definitely been achieved.

Amber spotted the sheriff and, noticing that gesture, her boldness seemed to fade for a moment.
She took a few seconds to adjust hr jacket and bag strap over her shoulder before approaching with a controlled pace.

Despite the ostentatious confidence, however, at the bottom of his gaze one could distinguish the restlessness of those who know that a biblical scold awaits her.

She slipped gracefully, sitting down at Brian's table. "Good evening," she says, her tone equally set and controlled.

[Jinchu]

"Yep. Good." Brian growled. His words were not hard to understand, but still hsi voice sounded more like a low animal roar then the way a human should speak. "You've messed up badly, you know that? Me and many more run around a lot to cover your ass."



He made a pause, letting the young Kindread think about it.


"Technically you've broke teh First Tradition." Brian continued, not even looking at Amber and watching some bikers playing darts on teh other side of teh bar instead. "For a young Kindread with little value and no real connections it might end up badly..."


He wanted her to get scared. Brian was intending to let Amber go with a light punishment - realtively light, at least; but she had to realise hwo lucky she was to get off so easily.

[Silverstone]

Amber, in that pause between sentences, didn't move a muscle.
She is controlled, steady, if that cool head had been able to keep in the midst of the shooting she would probably not be in that situation.

However, when Brian finishes speaking, that mask begins to crack.
The gangrel will be able to realize from many small things that Amber is actually doing it underneath.

"I'm aware of that," she says, and as speaks she manages to keep her tone cool and detached, but before speaking couldn't avoid to take a slow, useless, deep breath.
The ventrue watches Brian as her hand with manicured red nails nervously moves a lock of hair behind ear.

The beast is frightened, even the ventrue are not immune to the violent emotions of their inner demon.

Amber looks at Brian, motionless, dignified, but in her mind and in her soul the memory of when she was just a newborn and her elder had forced her to stand in front of a window while the sky was always clearing.
She had done it to make the newborn experience the terror of dawn, because that was what expected all of them to do if they failed.

If she had been human the gangrel could have heard the smell of her fear of her from miles.

[Jinchu]

Brian made a long pause again. The players threw a few darts and started to cheer and pat each other's backs after one of them hit the "bullseye", and he just watched through his sunglasses. The fear was good. Young ones learn through it.



"However, the Prince will not execute the official protocol for such cases." Brian finally announced in the same tone of a low, not even threeatening roar. "You're still barely a true Kindread. Maybe you did not recive enough disciplien and lessosn as a fledgeling... Me and your elder will both deliver you these much needed lessons. And then it will be over... Unless you'll mess up ever again."

[Silverstone]

Amber stood still, a pillar of salt.

But those words had a devastating effect.
If her fear had managed to mask her, for a while, her relief had the effect of an avalanche.

She exhales violently, her shoulders hunching as she hides the face in her hands for a few moments, probably mentally thanking whoever had parried her ass.

She takes a slow sigh and straightens up, the proud mask returning to her place, flawless.

"I understand ..." she says, her tone cold and controlled, removing an invisible lint from the sleeve of her jacket.
"And I can only be happy not to have to see the sunrise ...", she admits.

While the idea of dealing with her elder pissed off doesn't reassure her, everything is better than a slow and painful death.