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InactivePermalink Reply by ✓ Astoria Belinski ~Admin~ on January 16, 2019 at 17:55

It had been a busy day at the dojo- between training, overseeing the new members and looking over the faction report in general Valeria was exhausted. Since returning back from her impromptu trip of four months, she had relished being in a place where she felt like she finally belonged. Val could still remember the phone call from Max, her apprehension at the task he had delegated and her own desire to never settle down in one place.

Evermore had changed that completely.

As she carefully locked the dojo for the day, she couldn’t help but step back and marvel at how at home she felt there. While home for many would often be the place they grew up in, Valeria never had the luxury of such an identification. She had been on a move all her life- different cities, different states, different countries across the globe. And perhaps it was one of the reasons why she had been conflicted when Max had seeked her out, she didn’t think she could stay in one place for too long. She never had.

Yet those four months apart that been an eye-opener. Valeria had found herself missing Evermore and the familiar sights. She had felt strange without her daily training with the other dhampirs, their laughter and jokes and while she normally would have turned away from a place without a single backward glance, she had found herself getting nostalgic with each passing day. It was why she had cut down a year long vacation and returned back within four months.

As Memphis pawed at her for attention, she grinned down at her husky “Didn’t think I’d ever say this, but I am glad to be back home!” Val confessed before attaching a lease to her collar. This had been her daily schedule since she came back. She’d finish her tasks and then take Memphis for a long evening walk. There was some attesting about the evening sky and she loved the cold winter air brushing up against her cheeks.

They had been ambling along the pavements for half hour when Memphis suddenly stopped and make a low growling noise, enough to alert Valeria that all wasn’t well. Her hands found her weapon and she slowly edged along to the scene before stopping suddenly. She had no idea who the unconscious figure was, but the lady crouching down beside him seemed familiar and she could instantly sense that she was a supernatural “What is going on here? What are you doing? ” Val loudly inquired just as Memphis pawed the unconscious person, sniffing them. 

Ailward AspectPermalink Reply by ✓ Malva Ailward on January 17, 2019 at 18:28

Malva has been waiting for the day where she'll finally have the chance to retake every single decision she's made and mold it into a whole new one to fit the situation in hand. Her every whims were at its storm end as she struggled against the inner battle she's been experiencing for the past few months. First, she had a session with her siblings; from Aurantia to every single one, the last being Argent. The only sibling she has yet to talk to recently was Venetian, Virindeus and Erythreus. On her previous session with Argent, she had trouble trying to get back on track. And it wasn't all ordinary too. For the past few weeks before that, the Aspect of Magic has been trying her very best in regaining control over her own element-- magic itself in general. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to. Hence, all the books making themselves known once again after being stored away for centuries long, especially those that inhabited the knowledge of dark arts.

From blood magic to connective magic, Malva has been trying to get a decent grasp on it so she was able to understand it better. Here she was, in her rather dull and somber room, with her eyes glued over to the book that had particularly focused on blood magic. Some time ago, she reenacted the connective magic that connected the bond between her and her personal guard; Tatiana. For reasons that was still very much unknown. To her it was just an experiment, but then again, nothing was ever sure when it comes to the pessimistic Ailward Aspect. Flicking to another page of the ancient book, her own train of thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a vase dropping nearby. Her ears perked up at the sudden intrusion and walked by the door; which was left ajar for some unknown reasons, and peaked her head out to the hallway. “What the-” she mumbled under her breath as she saw the broken pieces of the porcelain vase that once became the home to a few flowers, laid across the corridor. She went towards the source and bend over to see what was the whole scene was about.

Up until she was eventually surprised by the sudden rustling against her back and a few meows emitted from her while feline, Sapphire. Its fierce and cold blue orbs matched that like her owner, as it sauntered into the Aspect of Magic's room like she owned it. Because technically, she did, since she resided there. Shaking her head in dismay, she cleaned the entire thing up and decided to piece them back. A small showcase of her ability after not practicing it for a short while. Under a few seconds, the vase was magically restored to its former state. It even had flowers blooming rapidly, which caused Malva to smile unknowingly. At the sight of the flower, she was reminded that she needed to stop by the local apothecary to grab a few herbs. And so, she packed what was essential such as her spell journal, her phone and the particular book she was studying earlier, and threw it inside her bag before she gave one last pet over her cat and went downstairs.

Surprisingly, no guards went with her this time. Thank goodness. Wrapping herself in a windbreaker and a scarf alongside a beanie, she slung her bag and stepped inside her boots before she evidently exited the compound. The cold breeze of the air hit her as she inhaled it in with a smile etched on her face. It wasn't usual for the Aspect of Magic to look jolly, but things could change. However, just as she was walking down the stone pavement en route to the city using the shortcut from where she came from, she came across two females on the path. One was crouching over to the body while the other-- whom she recognized to be the dhampir ambassador had her weapon sheathed. And of course the cute pup and the unconscious male body on the road. “I am way too old to be concerning myself with this..” She huffed and walked nearer. Couldn't she just walked away? Not exactly, her doctor instincts just came up to her and told her to check on the male. Besides, as an Ailward Aspect, it should be her duty to look over things. “What happened here..” She asked the two, a scrutinizing and bored look was present on her features with her hands tucked inside her jacket pockets.

ValkyrPermalink Reply by ✓ Cecilia Laterza ~Admin~ on February 14, 2019 at 14:17

Today was not what she expected to go. Finding a possibly dead body on the pavement, in no other than their own territory? That was suspicious enough, not to mention her own reputation that lies around. That's right, Cecilia Laterza had a reputation to precede and even when she didn't bother about it, it still follows her around like a plague. Ironic, plague. When she decided to walk around to get a whiff of fresh air, she didn't expect to come across an unconscious body. As if things were not bad enough for the Italian Valkyr, the dhampir ambassador, Valeria Alridge, just had to be present. It doesn't stop there, before she could even start to explain herself, another figure emerged from the shadows, another female-- one she would be stupid not to recognize.

Great.

Just great.

What a great way to start your day, well, evening, Celia. You're really prone to trouble, some things just never changed. The second time she tried to utter a word, the three of them got interrupted by a male figure. Right, she knew who that was. After recently settling down in Evermore, Celia made sure to go through every detail meticulously. What can she say, she's a huge perfectionist who expected everything to be done in precision. Not that she wouldn't mind a few random and spontaneous scenarios that would require her to improvise, much like the situation before her, right now. There could be nothing precarious interceding their organization, so she couldn't bother to bring this up to Gideon. No, he'd kill her if she stirred up any sort of trouble. Again.

Holding both her hands up in defense, she backed away from the body, an alarmed look masking her features. “Look, I didn't do anything. This looks very suspicious, believe me, I know. But I did nothing. I was just minding my business and decided to walk this path casually. I came across this.. Guy.” she exclaimed, really not liking the circumstances laid before them right now. Such a nuisance. It was not looking good for her. After all, this did occur on her territory. And she doesn't have an alibi. Not a concrete one, at least. This is bad. Not only did the dhampir ambassador just so happened to be there, poised and ready to attack her if she did anything, there's also the an Ailward Aspect and the city's defense general. The three of them alone speaks authority figures.

“I don't think he's dead..” she pursed her lips and made no advance to go and check. She's a doctor, sure. But she wasn't the only one. She'll leave that for the the Russian Aspect to go search, it wasn't as if things are working out for her right now. Might as well refrain herself from appealing anywhere.

InactivePermalink Reply by ✓ Astoria Belinski ~Admin~ on February 21, 2019 at 16:53

The whole scenario appeared to almost be out of one of the detective novels she had been fond of reading when she had been younger. Val could still remember hiding away in the garden or the city library and spend hours trying to solve the murder mystery along with the protagonist. She had loved playing the detective, had once even contemplated going that route but things had changed and she didn't think she'd ever have a chance to play that role in her life. But the current scenario was calling to her to investigate further and while on any other day Valeria would have minded her business, today didn't seem like one of them.

She had been about to shoot a string of questions at the lady, whom she now recognised as being a member of the Valkyr faction, when a familiar figure approached them. Acknowledging Malva's presence and lowering her weapon, she was glad for the Aspect of Magic being there. While being a Dhampir did give her healing powers, it could never be at par with what Malva could do should the need arise. "I'd actually like to know that too. It isn't everyday an unconscious man..well possibly dead, I didn't check yet is found on the street" she replied to her query just as Memphis began circling the body poking the figure with her paws before going and growling at Cecilia. While on any other occasion, Val would have stopped her husky's aggressive behaviour, she allowed Memphis to continue hoping a semi-annoyed dog would make the woman speak the truth. 

Before any of them could act on the situation, another familiar voice greeted her ears and made a small smile tug at the corner of her lips. "Perhaps it could be because we are the brains to your brawn Ben" with a nonchalant shrug she gestured towards the body "We don't know yet, but you bet I am about to find out" Stalking purposefully towards the man, she crouched down and turned his neck slightly, a frown marring her features before getting up and looking at everyone before finally fixing a hard stare at Cecilia. "I see.." Val began crossing her arms "Say we even begin to believe you, that still wouldn't explain why there are fang marks on his neck. Fresh mark, mind you. Obviously some Valkyr was feeding on him, rather recklessly I might add and left him to possibly die. His pulse is very weak. Doesn't look like a good defense to me Cecilia. It would be better if you speak now-" She perhaps should have been more mindful of her vocabulary because at the precise moment that the word 'speak' was uttered, her husky began howling loudly. "Okay that's enough Memphis" she admonished lightly "But coming back to the point, it is better you explain right from the beginning just what was happening here because when I found you, you were crouching over him. And that doesn't look good for you at all given the present circumstance. And we should perhaps do something about the man otherwise he probably would be dead soon" Stating her opinion, Val turned to her other two companions ready to hear their point of view on the situation.

Ailward AspectPermalink Reply by ✓ Malva Ailward on February 22, 2019 at 13:45

At this point, Malva was just contemplating on her life choices. She's a bad decision maker when she's alone. Today was just going to be that day where she walks around Evermore to take in their enigmatic beauty in the weather she favored so much, but no, it just had to be that day too where she's once again going to either play the card of being a doctor or Aspect of Magic. Talk about expectations. When Ben came out of nowhere, possibly from the same route as well, she stared at the three figures in front of her now. Well, look at that combination. A valkyr, dhampir, and human. Cute. But also troublesome. Not just any ordinary people too, unfortunately. It was Valeria Alridge, Cecilia Laterza, and of course, the human she can't seem to shake off, Benjamin Vaughn.

Following Ben's remark, Mal squinted her eyes and gave a scrutinizing glance his way, indicating she was not amused by his words. “Okay wow, I'm offended.” She even went as far to place a hand over her chest to feign offense. Malva Ailward can be a dramatic gal when she wants to. She did however, chuckle at the mention of the dhampir ambassador saying how they're the brains. “She's got a point there.” What else would the human really expect coming from the unusual pessimistic Ailward? Right, she also needed to make sure if that's an actual dead body or just an unconscious one. A big factor that could end up putting Cecilia in a dent. Seeing as the Italian female mad enough attempts to check on the unconscious male lying on the pavement, she took it as a cue for her to step in.

Leaving the three to their own space, she crouched down and checked for a pulse. Thankfully, he was still breathing, but at a faster pace than any average human. Tilting her head slightly to the side, Malva pushed his head to the side to examine the wound inflicted on the poor soul. Valeria was right, there were puncture wounds on his neck, just below his carotid artery. “Well this is weird..” She mumbled silently and returned her gaze to any other parts of his body, preferably on the wrist. There was another puncture wound there too. Taking out a small cloth from her bag, she wrapped it around his neck moderately, not too loose but also not too tight to restrict any air movement. “Cecilia is old, isn't she?” She asked as she got up from her crouching position.

“The wound inflicted.. It's just below his carotid artery. It didn't puncture it. Either the person who did this is too messy or too inexperienced.” She concluded, and for Cecilia who's literally had centuries worth of training, she wouldn't be so messy, especially when her clothes looked clean and wasn't as disheveled. “His pulse is weak and the breathing is too erratic, I'd guess from the blood loss.” Honestly, Malva didn't want any trouble to come in between the factions. They can't afford that right now. “Thought I'd still call a paramedic. I can inspect him a lot better surrounded by equipments I need.”

ValkyrPermalink Reply by ✓ Cecilia Laterza ~Admin~ on March 5, 2019 at 18:01

Her hazel hues wander from one to another, the three figures circling just around the unconscious male. It was seriously feeding Cecilia's anxiety, which she didn't even know she had much of one until today?! Her breathing was starting to get uneven, though it was only audible and noticeable in her view only because she was quick to hide it. She was confident the stranger wasn't dead, and let out a relieved sigh when Malva confirmed that the male was very much still alive. Now, what's left for her to do is to tell the three of them what happened. Was there even a story for her to tell? Whatever works their way, she's guessing.

“Look, I'm telling you it's not me. But you're right, I should at least explain my part in the story before anything. You wanna know the whole thing? Fine. I'll tell you” she was getting real defensive all of sudden, but could you blame her? Celia was just taking a walk around for fresh air and just happened to stumble across that guy laying half-dead on the ground. And the first thing she did was to check for a pulse and see if he's okay, which didn't even go that far because she was then interrupted by the dhampir ambassador. “I came from my place not far from here, I just wanted to take a walk because I felt stuffy indoors. Then I used a shortcut which is this route and found that guy being.. That.” She pointed towards the still unconscious body that the Aspect of Magic then moved slightly to slump against the wall.

“I'm a doctor so I tried to check for a pulse. You can even check my records in Evermore General to see if I'm telling the truth.” The Laterza female even held both her hands up in defensive position as she clicked her tongue in annoyance. This was not how she pictured her day to go. If Gideon was to hear about this, she's never going to escape his chastise. God have mercy on her then. “Let's be real here. This is our territory, it's a shady place. Secluded from most part of the city. There are still valkyrs who are not apart of the community yet, those who didn't have to abide by the rules we enforced here due to the peace treaty that we signed. Speaking of, wouldn't it be stupid for me to wreck our treaty contract because I was hungry? And feeding on someone out in the open? I'm an experienced valkyr, not a week old fledgling.” It was clear that she didn't like being looked over like that.

“I'm not that stupid to leave a body out in the open too.” What, she still needed to point that out. If anything, Cecilia Laterza is always careful. “Exactly like what she said, I wouldn't be that sloppy” she mumbled, her hubris peeking out which could serve as a good defense because she is prideful, which means she wouldn't dare hide what she did. There were times when she hated to be reminded of her age, but it served as a better part to defend herself so she nodded in affirmation. “1783 years old this year to be exact.” When Ben placed his conclusions on the table, Celia crossed her arms and sighed. She has nothing to hide so why bother. “There could easily be rogues. I've been hunting them down since as long as I could remember. You should know about them, wouldn't you? Since you're half-valkyr, which means you know our history” her gaze fell on the blonde dhampir. The topic about their bloodthirsty soulless counterparts were a sensitive topic, but if needed to it, she had no problem bringing it out.

“Pushing aside all of this, I am actually a very good liar, Mr Vaughn.”

InactivePermalink Reply by ✓ Astoria Belinski ~Admin~ on March 17, 2019 at 19:33

Her head had started to throb a little, the current scenario rather reminiscent of the situation she had found herself in recently, only in that case she had been a witness to the murder. A flash of that gruesome scene evaded her consciousness and she tried hard to shrug it off and concentrate on matters at hand. Pain infliction rune was no walk in the park and neither was it a child's play. She knew exactly what had happened internally when it had been used and it was a miracle that she hadn't thrown up at the sight. For all her tough exterior and bravado, she had never really been a witness to gruesome death. Violence and tragedy...yes, deep loss and grief...yes and she had definitely lost her mother and brother to it, but this- seeing one of her own Dhampirs remorselessly take another's life and put her on an edge she had not really been able to shake off.

A slow breath of exhale was enough indication that she believed the Valkyr's explanation "I apologize for jumping in with the accusations Cecilia but you have to agree the situation isn't ideal. Plus I can't think Gideon would be too happy with the paperwork or the fact that we all were there, a little late, but unable to really dig the solution out" Atleast he wouldn't have to deal with the sort of paperwork she had been dealt with and Val felt another pang of unease before she rubbed her temple.

"I think it is best we hush this incident for now and help the man. Once he comes back to consciousness....maybe we'll know something." She knew about the rogues, had experienced the havoc they had created back in France and a few other places she had visited. It had also been the reason Max had put her in charge and left abruptly "Thrice removed half-valkyr actually" Val replied with a small smile. Her family had all considered of pure blood Dhampirs afterall "But I know about your history. Have witnessed it too on some occasions. We'll have to deal with the man and then report this to the higher-ups. Most of us can defend ourselves but it is the regular citizens I am worried about" Her gaze flickered to Ben for a long moment "Guess it is time Mal and I give you some intensive training. I don't know how well it would help...maybe against two but anymore and.." her voice trailed off, a worried frown marring her features.

On his request, she cast a heat creation rune around him that kept the outside chill away before turning to Mal "I am glad you happened along. I doubt my bite would have been as effective as your skills but this is really strange." Her gaze flicked from Mal to Ben to Cecilia "I have been hearing a lot of strange happenings around the city with people randomly acting out, being aggressive and violent for no reason and on being stable not remembering what they had been up to. I wonder if all this is tied up in a way. We'll have to look into that. But for now, where do we take him?" 

Ailward AspectPermalink Reply by ✓ Malva Ailward on March 27, 2019 at 9:57

God help her, this is not what Malva expected. She was just supposed to be on her merry way, maybe pay a visit to her office at the hospital to skim through a few documents and reports regarding their last clinical inspection on the patients’ blood tests. Wait. Blood tests. That's when she gaped at the unconscious male, and went crouching back to her knees and tilted his head while creating his neck to inspect the puncture wounds once again. “We've been having plenty of people admitted in the hospital from blood loss, I'm sure Cecilia would know since she said she's a doctor there. There's been at least 5 patients this week alone suffering the same problem.”

Getting back up on her two feet, she tucked in both her hands inside her overcoat and sighed, blowing the few stray strands of her hair away from her peripheral vision. “Looks like we might have an uncontrolled fledgling on our hands. You better settle this as soon as possible. If not, we'll be forced to intervene and I honestly don't like the sound of that.” Her statement went directly to the older female, since she should know everything that's happening. The Ailwards didn't like to step into matters that didn't need their supervision. They had enough on their plates and if the faction had their own, they would rather push it to the respective species first.

“That, or we have a serial killer with the same MO. I won't be surprised, we've been having plenty of those cases as of lately, feels like Evermore is the center for all supernaturally freaky things to happen.” It does worry her that these things are beginning to occur in their city, a place that was supposed to be their safe haven. “Val's right, you're gonna need to up your defenses up soon. I don't think this is the last batch” she muttered, obviously cursing internally at how some troublemakers were doing this to spite them.

“I'll call the trauma centre, one of you can call 911.” Fishing out the phone from her pocket, she dialed the numbers quickly and waited for the person to pick up on the other line. “This is Dr Malva Arguarde, I'm off duty right now but please have the ER ready, I'll send a patient straight your way soon, ETA 20 to 23 minutes, the paramedics will give you the rest of the details. Prepare for CT scan too.” The poor male had suffered a head injury from the looks of it and she didn't want to risk anymore minor injuries coming up undetected so she requested for a quick CT scan, a huge hospital like that will manage in minutes. “I can't believe this is happening in Evermore.” Clearly she's stressed out that more problems began popping out like mushrooms.

ValkyrPermalink Reply by ✓ Cecilia Laterza ~Admin~ on April 7, 2019 at 10:13

She bit her bottom lip and tapped her nails against her phone that she’s currently holding onto, inside her coat’s pocket, while her eyes still analyzed what’s happening right now. Celia really didn’t like having to justify herself, it just doesn’t sit well with her, especially when the Italian had an issue with having to prove her worth to people every time. It gets tedious and very tiring, which would’ve been understandable given that she’s been around for a long while and dealing with the same problem that comes out like weed every few months, it will begin to exhaust that oneself. She especially hated that if anything will need to bring up to Gideon, who’s quite possibly the last person she would want to worry.

Things weren’t exactly stable these days, too many attacks were happening frequently and while she’s cooped up on her never-ending shift changes at Evermore General, she also had to juggle with dealing with the god knows how many more rogues that lost themselves to bloodlust, across the continent. While she does like Evermore for its ‘sanctuity’, it’s no longer much of a safe haven for supernaturals anymore, not when these random attacks kept popping out lately. Someone must be behind this, and if not an individual, a party. The brunette valkyr doubted it’s only one individual considering the large scale it would take to enact them. But what does she know, other than to piece up the key points of the incidents? She could only theorize and nothing more.

No confirmation or substantial proof was provided by either party, so it wasn’t very ideal to be pointing fingers to anyone, though the current incident before her today is showing the exact opposite. If it was anyone else, she was sure she could’ve been implicated for this untimely injury on the poor guy. “You’re right, Gid wouldn’t like that. We have… enough to handle, at the moment.” Hopefully, they’ll be able to reach a consensus on this because Celia hates to see this whole thing played out the way she didn’t want to. “Thrice removed half-valkyr is still a half-valkyr somewhere, Valeria.” The silver-tongued female offers her a small smile. While she’s not proud of her bloodthirsty and violent aggressive tendencies that come every once in a while, which paid her since she’s usually off for missions that required extreme precaution, sometimes the Italian is proud of what their species were supposed to be. Valkyrs as a whole, they were supposed to be exemplary, though a few bad eggs ruined everything, hence the production of such misconception of vampires. They were so much more than that.

“I don’t know if this is a new thing or not, but we’ve been dealing with rogues for as long as I can remember, though I have yet to encounter one in Evermore” she mused, pursing her lips lightly and gave a thankful nod towards the Aspect of Magic who took care of it since the Laterza female was more invested and focused on the matter surrounding her faction first before acting as a public worker. The last thing they wanted is for the Ailwards to step in, which would be a huge blowout. No doubt they might send kill orders easily if that’s how it was, and despite Celia carrying out most of those sentences on her own kind when she’s forced to after futile attempts on reasoning, it didn’t mean that she enjoyed it. It leaves a bitter aftertaste. Overall after hearing Ben, she was just glad she didn’t have to find a dead body, that would be a very problematic issue especially given her personal past experience with bloodlust. But even if she’s driven with that, she’s still smart enough not to leave them lying around for the public to see. If you’re going to be ruthless, you should make the best of it.

“I’ll try to track them down, see if they’re still around and if they are, I will handle them.” Her tone was almost pleading the others to leave this to her since this was her responsibility. “But.. if you don’t mind, if you happen to come across anything about this, please let me know. There’s more than just one rogue’s doing, these things go up in hierarchal order. Just like any organization. Catching one would not stop them, although we can definitely start with narrowing it down by doing background checks? I’m sure the Organization had those, and so does the Ailward faction, no?”