Plotlogs
Roll The Bones Sr Deacon
In a fateful night at Irene's restaurant in the French Quarter, a group consisting of Angelique, Sarah, Cailyn, and Caelum, gathered by the odd Deacon-lookalike, set out to perform a task that reeked of danger and urgency. Their mission was simple yet cryptic: steal the bones of Nathaniel Beaufort from an old family plot in one of New Orleans' cemeteries.
With tensions running high and the eerie chill of the graveyard surrounding them, one by one, the characters demonstrated their skills and quirks. Caelum, the outspoken and somewhat rugged, was clearly at odds with their location, his head contained in a helmet and his discomfort with the garlic-scented air apparent. The streetwise Angelique, the smooth operator Cailyn, and the analytical Dr. Sarah each added to the group's dynamic, revealing their strengths and hinting at their limitations. But as the group proceeded, a palpable sense of dread was woven into their actions, with jokes occasionally cutting the thick air of anticipation.
As they approached their goal, Caelum's impulsiveness became apparent when he telekinetically snapped the neck of an unfortunate groundskeeper, lifting the metaphysical "blanket" of protection that had been surrounding the group, exposing them to unknown dangers. The subsequent dynamic shifted to a race against time, with Angelique trying to weave her magic to create an escape path while Sarah strategized, Cailyn fretted about her capabilities, and Caelum struggled with a growing sense of menace and pain, collecting the sought-after bones in an act of grotesque urgency.
With the grave desecrated and the bones collected in Caelum's jacket, the group's situation spiraled out of control as an angry mob led by the formidable Levon descended upon them, intent on avenging the disruption of their family's rest. Gunshots rang out, the mob's fury materializing in lethal intent. In the chaos, Angelique's quick thinking and linguistic prowess attempted to deflect and delay the inevitable conflict. Meanwhile, Cailyn's protective instincts drove her toward Sarah, willing to take a bullet for the doctor.
Evasion and escape became paramount as Angelique opened a path, and the group stumbled into the dark void of safety. Caelum, in a haze of pain, absorbed bullets like a nocturnal sponge, his determination unwavering even in the face of potential oblivion. Angelique, her composure masking her desperation, narrowly avoided being left behind as the path closed, and each character, bearing their own new burden of experience, found momentary refuge in the uncertain darkness that would lead them home.
In conclusion, the group narrowly avoided the wrath of the mob, each member bringing their unique flair to the fore while grappling with the macabre nature of their task. Caelum faced the gravest danger, having possibly averted a fate worse than death. Angelique emerged a hero, managing to both deceive and rescue, while Cailyn and Sarah played crucial roles in the survival of the group, all bound together by the shadowy path that whisked them away from immediate peril.
(Roll the Bones(SRDeacon):SRDeacon)
[Thu Jan 4 2024]
In Irene's
This place looks very much like a classic Italian restaurant with a little bit of New Orleans flair. All over the walls are street signs and other bits of classic culture from the big southern city, while the aromas that fill the air are a blend of the holy trinity spices and garlic and Italian delights all mixing into a strange yet pleasing ambiance. Booths and tables are scattered about the dining area with small, dim lamps hovering over each of them to provide each table with an almost intimate or private kind of feel. Most of the restaurant maintains this feel, while one portion in the back is occupied by a sports bar.
It is about 50F(10C) degrees.
Waiting to summon 2 more I think.
Alright! Wait one. I have to check something for someone, Then we'll begin! Everyone who doesn't have their own way here will be offered pathing by Deacon personally. The meeting place is Irene's a strange but excellent restaurant within the center of the French Quarter here. Rp amongst yourself I should be less than 5.
thanks you for your patience.
Stepping off the path with a faintly tired expression, Angelique heads into the restaurant to join those already gathered. Perhaps only alerted to just who is who by the presence of Sarah herself, she sinks into a seat and nods. "Si, steal the bones," she offers, tone dry and suggesting that she's really not any more aware of plans beyond that, than the others. Maybe she wasn't listening? "Hola, Sarah. Cailyn. Y...?" the question lingers.
Slowly in the late hours of this afternoon, people will trickle into Irene's that no doubt stand out amongst the regulars that might eat here. A small spot, this is the kind of place that only locals would really know about, and even more local to really appreciate. They serve a blend of Italian and Creole food, the aromas filling the air sharp but pleasant in the way they blend. Those who arrive one by one will find that the bar in the back has been emptied out, a lone figure waiting there. Tall, he's recognizeable as the man who's asked them all to come here ... until they approach a little closer. IT could be a cousin perhaps, but it's not Deacon.
Caelum finally deems to lift a hand in greeting to others after they've arrived. Fingers curled, leather gloves creaks-- but he doesn't remove his helmet still. "Hey, Angelique - others." The sound may be familiar, but at least he introduces himself. "It's Caelum - and before you ask, no, I won't remove it unless someone eradicates that garlic stench in the air."
"Weird being home a bit, but..." Cailyn trails off, glancing towards Caelum and offering a small wave- Recognizing the name.
Sarah glances at Angelique, "The scar on his clavicle kind of tips him off for me.... That said..." She furrows her brow at Caelum, "And here I thought you were animated by our upcoming journey through chainsaw massacres." Her eyes then linger on the figure. A smile at first as she approaches in quick steps, that then furrows. "...Different." Sarah murmurs from up close, though seeming unsure how. She takes a step back, towards Cailyn, as if uncomfortable with something.
Cailyn looks towards Sarah and moves to wrap an arm around her, offering a little reassuring smile.
Whatever expression Caelum makes in reply to Sarah's approach, it doesn't show. The reflective visor, in its eternal darkness, continues to mirror the room, and her, back at any onlooker. No reply comes, either, while he stays stock still.
"Ah, hola Caelum," Angelique greets Caelum, before giving Sarah an odd look. "Those movies are... uninspired," she offers in her usual, almost-sarcastic way, before she turns, patting Cailyn on the arm and drifting past to hold out her hand to greet the man who looks like, but is not, her boyfriend-of-sorts. "Hola, Deacon's twin. You are here for us?" At least she has the grace not to mention her usual insulting, 'Fake French' here tonight?
"Welcome home" This tall man says to Cailyn first, and perhaps he's just heard her give mention of it. As they all come closer, the man seems ... similar in many ways. He's tall, well-built but lithe and that same light-ish skin that still carries Creole color and those hauntingly green eyes. "There's a good group of folk ever I saw one, hrm?" The man's smile is bright but there's something ... hollow about it. Those who've run into this before - they recognize it the signs of possession. This man isn't at home right now, but something is definitely behind the wheel. "You've come to help my kin, yes? Come, come! You have nothing to fear from me, here. Not HERE" he says with a smile. True to his word ... they're far from the water here.
Caelum shifts in his chair when Angelique takes the helm to move. Taking the cue to move, he pushes up from where he's sitting, then stars to stalk after them. He keeps a relative distance, more or less an arm's length away from Cailyn and Angelique.
Then this almost twin points a casual finger toward Caelum. "Except you. This is a dangerous place for you, boy. I like that" he says sounding very much truthful. What it is he likes about it, harder to say.
"Forgive me if we wander down bourbon street- I'll probably want to get a few drinks..." Cailyn murmurs with a sigh, admitting to her nature. And it's true- Lots of desires to get drunk over there.
The helmet tilts, reflecting the tall, almost-twin's expression back at him. It's almost imposing, not seeing whether Caelum makes a face at that or not- and the usually very animated and talkative man being mute by choice almost seems to add to the effect all the more.
Sarah furrows her brow, then groans. Possession. The way of speaking. Kin. "Did you appreciate the white coat...?" Sarah wonders, seeming very much to be hoping that this will confuse the man, and not lead to recognition. "We've come to help Mr. herveaux, I suppose."
"The wool wasn't pure, but it was a nice gesture, mon cherie" This man gives Sarah the answer she's hoping exactly not to get and his smile turns somehow ... different. There's nothing different about it of course, but somehow it's like being in the gaze of something very powerful, and very hungry. "Good. He is coming along very nicely, isn't he? A worthy vessel of legacy." He places a finger to his lips, as if being naughty and sharing a precious secret with the group. "No telling. Now. Best you hurry." He slides a piece of paper over on the bar. It's directions, easy enough. An exact marker in the cemetary itself for the grave that they need. "The Beauforts will be shadowed, but not for long. Because I liked the coat." He winks in Sarah's direction as he waits to see the reactions from the rest of those gathered. Then he gives a faint wave of his hand. There's a flicker of the lights in this place .. and the man is gone.
Caelum tilts his head again, askew. The motion is exaggerated given the size of his helmet, but it faces Sarah. Before his stare can linger, though - that wave of the hand, the flicker of the light - It visibly stills him where he is, and suddenly, the visor points to the ground. If any where to look, they'd see the hand at the hilt of a sword on his hip tighten, to the point knuckles visible over his gloves grow taut and pale. Then a muffled sounds breaks his silence, briefly put-off to the point it almost wavers in cadence. "..Fuck."
And now the group has a specific location within the cemetary they're after. All that's really left is for them to take heed of their timing. As promised, a few minutes will pass and then a group of local black men of varying ages from children to older men will enter the place. A work crew. They don't ask questions, but they do get offered a free meal as they wait for the group to get on their way. Something not offered to the visitors, for those paying close attention to things like etiquette or culture here.
"It seems in his quest of growth, Mr. Herveaux has elected to call upon his ancestors..." Sarah murmurs unhappily, hand rubbing on her neck. "We've gotten involved in something dangerous here. Where the Gods play ball, we are little more than blades of glass." Sarah adds a little ominously, glancing back towards Cailyn. She looks between Caelum and Angelique. "I don't have any particular skills sneaking about, but I can buy us some time, once, maybe." Sarah shares as she rubs her neck.
Truly looking as if she's got no clue what's going on - why -is- she here? - Angelique merely nods toward Sarah, then looks at the other two. "So. A cemetery?" she asks, with a tiny little groan. "I had, por supuesto, hoped that it would be a matter of merely talking to the right people." She lifts her hands, stating very plainly, "It is what I am made for, si?"
That look seems to bring Caelum out of it. The visor lifts again to pin an unseen gaze on Sarah, while a half-bemused tone suggests; "Why are you looking as if we're sneaky?" True to that, he has the look of someone who deals with everything head-on. Then a shake of his helmet, a glance cast away. An agreeing nod as an addition after Angelique, he makes a suggestion, "What's there to do but charge ahead, now?"
"I'm... Also not good with sneaking about. I'm too loud," Cailyn claims, a quick glance towards Sarah at the mention of Gods. She gives a weak- slightly worried smile. "I can burn things though. That's neat."
Caelum stares down at the paper left behind by the tall man, so near yet so far. His hand lifts, makes a subtle gesture with a wagged finger -- Then their hint propels across the air in his direction, only to be caught between two fingers. It briefly reflects in his visor, their directions, then he holds it aside, towards Angelique, or really, any one of them. "I'll follow along whatever you decide."
Sarah lits off their skills on her fingers as she speaks in a hushed tone, "So one of us can sew the corpse back together." She retracts a finger. "One of us can convince the corpse to stay asleep." A second joins. "A third of us is about to fight the local voodoo community." A third. "...And the last can burn the coffin if it's made of bad wood - also, on that note," Sarah looks between the other conspiratorially. "...Did any of us think to bring a shovel?"
While the gathered allies consider their moves here, the work group that's arrived takes their pleasure about eating the food that's offered. Most of them speak to each other in quiet tones using Creole French, much like the New Orleans version of some kind of SPanglish of sorts. They seem content to wait as long as they need to - after all the less work they do, they're still getting paid presumeably for their participation tonight. Caelum makes a point toward the group about charging forward, and at Sarah's mention, one of the group will speak up loud enough to be heard. "We have tools." It's good english.
"Caelum's got hands," Cailyn is quick to say, throwing the biker under the... Bus.
"Sure." Caelum intones - but there is mirth beneath that helmet.
"I..." Angelique looks incredibly lost now. "Why are we sewing bones together and making the dead live again? Does Deacon not just want a couple of bones from within the coffin?" She probably really should have followed up on what exactly this was all about. Now, she's looking like she might well be content to stay right where she is and eat something questionable, instead. But she says, "I can have one of my men bring supplies across the path. Do we need more than a couple of shovels?"
Angelique says "Oh never mind. They brought stuff. Good."
Caelum svelte clears his throat. Then when Angelique corrects herself, it turns out to be unnecessary, and he simply turns on a heel to face the group that arrived. Another reach slips that note in any convenient pocket on Angelique's trenchcoat - because she's the most reasonably sane one here, right? Right?
Caelum clears his throat. Then when Angelique corrects herself, it turns out to be unnecessary, and he simply turns on a heel to face the group that arrived. Another reach slips that note in any convenient pocket on Angelique's trenchcoat - because she's the most reasonably sane one here, right? Right? (fix)
"...Phenomenal." Sarah opines, mostly seeming sarcastic before providing a nod. She heads towards the entrance, gesturing, "Let's just go. A God told us to be quick about it, did he not? I presume that means waiting too long will be an issue." A pause. "...And we can hardly formulate a plan based on just the information provided. So long as Inigo can open a path for escape if necessary, and Caelum can hold them off, and Cailyn can... Burn anything flammable?" Beat. "...We should be able to manage. Somehow..." She looks back, behind her, as if making sure she's not alone in this thought.
"Depends on who I'm holding off.. I think I'm at a.. disadvantage." Caelum murmurs that last word. There is something to it, remembered - perhaps something Deacon said. Whatever expression he makes under that visor remains veiled, but it can't be anything good. But seeing as there isn't he can add, he moves ahead aswell, storming after Sarah.
This trenchcoat has lots of pockets and might actually be a reasonably useful piece of clothing, were it not a glittery, metallic silver. As Caelum slips his note into her pocket, Angelique sends him a bemused little smile, still looking more than a little overwhelmed by information piling on that she apparently had no idea about. "Si. I can open a path," she mutters, sounding a bit peeved. "Y do plenty else, too, pero no shovelling," she insists, as she rises, sword and bow mostly concealed beneath the fashion-forward trench. "Vamonos."
Caelum repeats, in a duller, more muffled tone. "Vamonos."
When they're ready - the group won't have any trouble finding the cemetary, the work crew knows where it is. As for the lack fo information well .. it's no secret Deacon has been hesitant to come back here so he's only got so much information to provide on what may come. However, the trip won't take very long either the cemetary is fairly large. When they arrive, it'll be by foot or by car, the cemtary has wrought-iron gating around most of it, a large entrance open to the public. It's not a locked down place, though the group can expect groundskeepers or others to keep an eye over the grounds as needed. The place mostly is a gigantic maze of monoliths, headstones and decorative structures when they arrive. Pure white stone standing out everywhere, they'll have to follow that set of directions pretty closely to find the stone they're looking for. It will read: Nathaniel Beaufort - and it's likely to be made out of that same white stone as many of the other epitaphs.
Cailyn stuffs her bandaged hands in her jacket. "Burning things can be fun," the redhead claims.
Cailyn will be home soon- Sorry for the small emotes
This Storyteller just appreciates people having fun and being willing to come! His future plot runs will be a lot more organized these are all lacking in information on purpose due to his semi-exile from the Big Easy!
As soon as they're out of the den that is what passes for a diner here in this place, Caelum removes his helmet. It finds rest under his arm, and while that one keeps his precious thing, he keeps his other hand on a hilt at his hip still. A brief huff makes his pleasure known, that scent of garlic really was wicked thick in there, it seems. "Hey, if these guys have tools, they probably have a car too, right?"
Sarah nods to Caelum. "Presumably they do." Sarah agrees. She would get into the vehicle once the workers point it out, likely try to find herself a place in it with a good view if she can. All the while looking around, focused, as if searching for something.
"Emphasis on 'can'... I've really had my fill of ghosts today... So Caelum? If there is one? Put it to rest?" Cailyn asks lf Caelum with a sweet smile. Other than that, she's perfectly okay with following Sarah or Angelique around.
Angelique drags her heels. Today, thankfully they're not stilettos, but that doesn't make her any more enthusiastic about this part. Staring at the graveyard surrounding them as they make their way, she states very firmly, "If any of los muertos come to life, I am going home, si?" And taking her path with her. Yes indeedy.
As Angelique is now armed with the directions to the correct Grave once they get to the place, the sun is already setting below the horion as the hours pass now. The car-ride is a short one and soon enough they'll find themselves having to progress on foot through those mazes of headstones. They'll have to work their way through the cemetary more slowly. For now it's nothing to be concerned about, apart from the loss of the daylight. Beyond that - the place is quiet and empty. The only thing suspicious is the overall size of the group, but that's what it may take to get it done quickly. Moving through the place, Sarah doesn't see antyhing out of the ordinary here, for spirits don't tend to find their way too far astray in these parts. On the other hand, it does mean that most of the souls buried here are largely and truly at rest, anyway. One hopes.
Sarah stares at Angelique, then speaks, deadpan. "If you go home without me, I am resurrecting every soul I can find in the Arkwright cemetery and throwing you a surprise, early birthday party." A warning? A joke? Or perhaps an explanation of her discomfort. She shivers. "Unless they've someone very capable willing them to, the dead shouldn't... move... Worst case we find some spirits... probably..." Sarah trails off, "...None of which I am seeing right now. So that /could/ be a good sign." Could.
"With these?" Caelum gives an incredulous look at Cailyn, brows raised and expression almost comical in how he gestures at his swords. "If ghosts are real and they're coming, I'm riding on Angelique's coat and running." If ghosts are real? Did he just say that about his fellow undead? Regardless, he keeps to himself mostly during the ride, and thereafter, at least until they are done with their short car ride and the whole pack of workers pile out alongside them. A brief roll of his shoulders relaxes the joints - and he's the first to move towards the gates upon their exit. Maybe there is a gravekeeper on the other side? Maybe not? Still, he nudges open their entrance, wide enough to allow everyone in.
Cailyn looks to Sarah and offers a little smile. "We could go to my old house- Maybe my mom still lives there... And we could take her car. I'd return it after our little roadtrip," the redhead quips before looking to Caelum and lifting a brow. "Ghosts are /very/ much real. I dealt with a Wilson and a Salte earlier- The Wilson tried to drown me."
The dead will stay in their graves, peacefully at rest. This is exactly what Angelique hopes, exhibited by the moment where she crosses herself, upon crossing the threshold into the graveyard itself.
For the moment, she holds in her hands the directions, giving them to whomever needs the information to get the group to where they need to be. Giving directions is something she's quite good at, after all.
Aside, she asks of Caelum, "Why have you not yet joined the Hand?" in tones far too innocent to be truly innocent. They're in the middle of God-knows-what in a graveyard in Lousianna and she's recruiting. Or maybe she's just ignoring Sarah's threats to her, aside from a side-long, narrow-eyed look at the blonde, and the almost-playful quip of, "You would have to find a way back, first, si?" But then Cailyn is offering a way back, and Angelique just huffs, though not without a hint of a smile.
"Also, New Orleans is home to the main branch of GenTek- I /could/ just say I need a car and they'd give me one..." Cailyn trails off with a little shrug. She glances towards Caelum Gaze betraying a small bit of surprise. But hey, that's Hand business. And Cailyn is an Orderite.
For the moment, nobody to meet them at the public entrance to the place. The size of the group is likely to draw the attention of whatever groundskeepers may be about at this time but for the moment the group seems fine. It's a tedious jog through a straight-up warren of graves and plots. At long last they'll eventually find their way toward the stone they're looking for. Name and everything. This grave is in a place of promience in the cemetary, and an inspection of the surrounding stones will reveal they all carry the name Beaufort. A family plot in the center of one of the city's oldest cemetaries. Oh joy.
"Moments like this make me grateful she didn't succeed." Sarah tells Cailyn with a smile, then glancing to Angelique. "Can't believe she's doing her job in the middle of a cemetery... remind me to give that one a bonus this week." Sarah murmurs to herself as she follows after Caelum. Her steps are anything but smooth or quiet, but she makes up for it by also staying behind and letting others take the fall for her. Or so her plan seems to be, anyhow.
The doctor idly fiddles with a scalpel, glancing around the place. "This feels altogether too easy." Sarah jinxes.
"You'd think the Salte would've tried to drown you." Caelum teases with an all too sharp smirk over his shoulder at Cailyn, but otherwise he continues to pace beside Angelique, stealing a glance at her instructions. Without even looking, or really batting an eye, he replies too casually, "What's the Hand?" Odd thing to ask, that. Truly clueless, and in opposition, genuinely innocent comparative to Angelique. Upon their arrival though, his attention wavers, flits between tombstone to tombstone. Brows knit together, and eyes all too narrow.
"Did he just- Caelum /is/ aware, right?" Cailyn asks Angelique and Sarah with a rapid blink.
"I'm aware that you're not looking for the tombstone." Caelum reminds, without looking. That steel gaze travels still, all while he moves slightly further ahead, checking the graves individually, and occasionally wiping their stones to reveal names hidden under dust. "I already forgot the guy's name."
"He is vampire, so I hope so," Angelique offers in a tone that's almost amused. She clearly isn't buying Caelum's naivety as truth, but she doesn't push for now. There's dead things around them, and the reminder that they're looking for a tombstone brings with it a shudder. "Here," she says, waving the directions and pointing at the Beaufort collective. Her tone is little more than a mutter. "I bet if you look right in the middle, that's where it'll be. Nicely surrounded by the bodies of all his kin that'll rise to his defense the moment we break hallowed ground."
As the group finds their way, Sarah just has to open her mouth, of course. But luckily for now ... nothing yet seems to jump out of the dark. The group that came with them, they waste no time now. Shovels and picks come out and they're setting to working that grave; They start with smashing into the headstone itself, for one reason or another perhaps they have orders of their own! But it makes a loud ruckus that's for damn sure and it's no doubt that someone will be along shortly to check out what the hell is going on in pretty short order. Now - Caelum and Angelique take the time to exchange a little reparte while Sarah and Cailyn converse about their lamentations here, or their back-handed praises. Some voices can soon be heard in the distance, two of them that respond to that smashing sound and they're going to be coming closer. Time for someone to come up with a good excuse for them being here and quickk. At least no Zombies raise up out of the ground. Yet.
Cailyn perks up, "Don't break ground yet. We're here visiting a relative, or... Something," the redhead states. Smooth operator. "But we've got people headed this way."
The work crew will pause, waiting to actually break ground at Cailyn's request.
Cailyn beams at Sarah after showing off her supposed authority.
"Unsure." Sarah murmurs softly to Cailyn, "Not every vampire knows about the rest of the world. Could be his sire bit him but neglected to tell of the ways of things..." The blonde looks hesitantly between Angelique and Caelum, "Nathaniel Beaufort." Sarah states, herself not really seeming to notice any danger just yet. She rubs at her arms, considering, "...I don't think there'll be zombies..." Sarah hopes openly before grimacing at Cailyn. "...They'll hear the noises anyway. We're with far too many to claim to just be visiting. At this time of day, too." The doc opines, glancing at Angelique. "...Angelique, can you come up with something that explains us digging into this ground?" She requests as her hand reaches out to rub the small of Cailyn's back.
"I think we would be better off with claims of exhuming a body over claims of suspicious death and the challenging of a will," Angelique says softly, pondering. "There is nobody who can make us look like police, pero si, Sarah always looks like a scientist. A... forensic person would not be a hard sell. The rest? Just crew," she murmurs thoughtfully. But she seems content, for now, to go ahead and try to sell Cailyn's idea too, though she mutters, "Hide the shovels, si? Though I do not know if we can pass as Beaufort kin..."
Caelum gives a little scratch to the back of his nape. There might be more time to linger on his genuine innocence later on- but he casts a glance at others. With the work crew stopping their assault on everything, and his deliberation brief, he decides to move. Closer to the ground first, then after some stalking, somewhere behind Angelique's position, takes cover behind a still yet unbroken tombstone. Either he's preparing for a fight, or he has other plans - that remains to me seen.
Based on the locals, Angelique can probably suss out theat none of them are going to pass as Beaufort's that's for sure. However, as she's mulling over those options (some of which sound promisinig) they all can hear those voices coming closer. The work crew puts away those shovels for the time being, or tries to make them less conspicuous at the very least. And then two groundskeepers can be seen cresting around some hilly section off in the distance and headed they're direction. One can be seen pointing their direction and moving their way soon enough yes indeedy! They look middle-aged and both of them are black with graying hair and beards.
Cailyn shifts her emerald gaze upon Sarah, head tilting at what she thinks is to be affectionate touching. "I do hide my accent- And well... Maybe- Okay, disregard my idea. Forensics team. Name drop GenTek- I can show them my badge."
Will wait for others to pose and he'll combine.
Caelum wonders if that's a go on his attempt?
The attempt will succeed but I want to see what others are doing so he can work it all in!
Sarah casually lifts her briefcase, knocking on it. "I've my medical tools on me. And while my current lab coat is... unorthodox... I've a medical degree as well, should they run a background check." Sarah tells Angelique, then tapping her foot on the ground. She watches the men as they arrive, doing her best to appear at ease, professional, relaxed. Easy enough for her, really - cold frog that she is, though passing for a local would be something else, entirely.
As Sarah and Cailyn buy into her idea, Angelique nods and steps forward to meet the two groundskeepers. Proving that she actually -can- speak in very good, unmangled English when she chooses to, she offers, "Good evening, gentlemen." Whatever's going on behind her, she extends her hand to first one, then the other, her manner utterly businesslike and brisk. She pauses a moment, clearly intending to hear their questions before trying to put words to her own story.
Silence. Motionless, dreadful silence. Caelum has that steel expression with his head against the tombstone, waiting, listening. All until the gravekeepers are closer to their location, their interest their doom. It appears Caelum hass a different attitude compared to his group, in a silent but deadly fashion, too - and while they work their verbal magic.. He brings his hand up, fingers splayed. It's as if the two gravekeepers are frozen for a split second, then Caelum makes a fist, which he yanks down and... Crack! Both of the men propel forward from where they are, and fall neck-first against the tombstone Caelum hides behind, the angle of their bent scrag simply gruesome, and they're dead before they even realize.
As Angelique moves forward to greet the two men with an extended hand. Her English is perfect, and it's a welcome distraction for that moment Caelum chooses to reach out with supernatural force. Only one of the men pulls forward, but it's a vicious yank that does that job exactly as intended and while there's nothing around at present to explain it, it will put a quick dampen on things in the diplomatic sense! The second man watches in shock and surprise as the first of the two groundskeepers seems to ... trip and fall rather suddenly and with force at such an angle that breaks his neck! He screams out, in that surprise. "Wh-what?!" It's unimagineable bad luck of course, or so it might seem. That death leaves something that comes lifting up off of the Graveyard. At first, only Caelum could feel this blanket lifting off of them, but now they can all feel it's presence. Or rather, the absense of it.
Only one large man for the Telekentics!
Meanwhile, the ground crew still isn't digging.
Caelum makes a mental bah!
When that man is jerked right past her, Angelique mutters something that is blatantly and offensively a Spanish invective. Whether it's aimed at Caelum or just a general expression of displeasure, it doesn't really matter in the long run. She twists to try and catch the shocked and anxious groundskeeper's attention with her eyes, stating to him in a firm, clear tone, "Your help is needed, sir. Will you please join them?"
Waiting to see if that attempt will succeed in the stressed-out mind, she wipes her hand on her coat, shoves both into her pocket, and spins on one Gucci heel to look, narrow-eyed at the gathered group. "Well?" she asks, tone just a bit too-nice after such a crude moment of cursing, to be anything but dangerous. She gestures at the shovel-carrying crew. "Darse prisa!" At least this time, she translates: "Hurry up!"
The persuasion of the man will take hold in that shocked moment quite easily and in that shell-shocked state he'll kind of stumble over to the worker's crew that now jumps into motion. Six foot deep by six foot long, it's not a small hole they're digging at the minimum!
Cailyn probably takes the most surprised reaction. "Wha- What the fuck?!" She squeaks out, eyes shooting daggers at Caelum. "Why in the /hell/ did you do that?" She asks, eyes wide- She looks around nervously as if trying to spot anyone who might be spying. "Oh my god... This is not gonna' look good in my trial. You didn't even give us a chance to talk to them!"
However, while they dig everyone else can feel that something like a blanket that lifts up off of them all as the innocent man's blood is shed proverbially and literally as the body will soon to be doing what bodies do when they die. It leaves everyone present with a sense of renewed urgency.
That cold emanating from the ground makes Caelum eager to stand back up. He does so with a grimace - and a shove of the head that landed atop him, to push the lifeless body away. It seems he overestimated himself a little, given how he stares at his hand, and clenches and unclenches his fist - like he didn't just take a life. Maybe it's such a common occurance, it simply became mundane for him. It's the crew jolting to work that pulls him out of his head, and narrow eyes regard the group again - but he's soon staring down almost uneasily once more. "Something feels wrong.."
Cailyn says "You think?!"
Sarah grimaces, mouth ajar, as one of the men is sent flying - crashing, and dying. She runs a few calculations through her head, rapidly, then nods to herself, paling. She stares at that corpse, as if considering something. "...Not someone anyone else here could pass for." Sarah decides with a clack of her tongue. She's then grabbing her blowgun, scanning around the graveyard. "...Cailyn, see if there is anything, preferably well away from us, that you could set aflame if there's a need to. Having to call on the fire brigade opposed to handling things themselves could buy us precious time." Sarah suggests to the woman, then raising her hand. "Exactly /what/ feels wrong? There's no spirits I am seeing..." Sarah murmurs, then trying to focus her eyes. Was she /trying/ not to see them?
Cailyn lets out a huff at Sarah's orders, but she obeys. Lifting her glasses from her eyes, she scans the surroundings. "I did not think I was going to be burying anyone today..."
Caelum gives a slight, noncomittal shrug towards Cailyn, brows raised - entirely innocent. But it's fleeting. He can't bring himself to joke or jest towards Cailyn, or regard Angelique's anger. Instead, he folds his arms atop the tombstone he just killed a man with, and squints at the ground. "I don't know what's wrong. I just.. feel like something is."
"We are in a graveyard full of the dead," Angelique reminds her companions, while bitchily snapping, every so often at the crew to hurry up, in both English and Spanish. "Things are very wrong." She probably doesn't sense what Caelum does though, she's just paranoid and perhaps a bit superstitious. Having chosen for herself the task of hurrying others up, she continues that.
Angelique is sorry but will be as fast as possible.
"You /just/ spilled blood atop a grave of someone's in New Orleans- There's probably some magic at work now," Cailyn claims to Caelum with a grumble. "Can you like- Let /us/ handle that next time? Please?"
Well those workers don't need Angelique snapping at them to be working quickly, they seem to know the stakes moreso than the others that are gathered here right now. Cailyn proceeds to yell at Caelum while those two are bickering the doctor of the group is looking about with her blowgun. For Caelum - that wrongness it's like being exposed. That sense of things being too easy - that's gone. The feel of the clock ticking almost thunders in the back of his head here.
"There will be time for discussions later." Sarah tells Cailyn in an impassive tone, stealing a glance at someone, "...I am tempted to call in Roberts, but if this is going to be occult, he won't be of much use." Sarah shares as she stretches her neck. "...We get the bones and path out before anyone - or anything - comes to us, and all will be well." Because, of course, that's how these things are likely to go.
"There will be time for discussions later." Sarah tells Cailyn in an impassive tone, stealing a glance at Caelum, "...I am tempted to call in Roberts, but if this is going to be occult, he won't be of much use." Sarah shares as she stretches her neck. "...We get the bones and path out before anyone - or anything - comes to us, and all will be well."
"Sure," Caelum agrees. Too easily. Far too easily. It shouldn't be this easy for this man to relent while he shoots a sideway look at Cailyn. The smirk he flashes is fanged viciously so. "I won't lift a hand on the next thing." Then he keeps himself comfortable. Perhaps the cold, winter night here is cumbersome to others, in the graveyard, but he probably feels like he belongs. Or would, if not that his castaway expression once more fell in the lingering feeling. It makes him swallow thickly, and his throat moves slowly. "I think we should be much faster. I feel exposed, its strange."
"Yes, please... Quick," Cailyn agrees with Caelum, glancing towards Angelique and the crew. Her worried and frankly scared gaze softens some when she turns it upon Sarah, and she murmurs. "If we can drag the body away- I can burn it. It's not a burial, but..."
Tick tock, tick tock. That feeling only grows stronger and more ominous to Caelum and Caelum only as the seconds pass. Minutes pass ... and each one that comes is like an agonizing stretch of time that comes with each one that DOES pass. Finally, after about five to ten minutes the work crew with hit a THUD as they make the coffin. It is of course, sealed but it's not banded with iron or padlocks or anything at least. New voices can be heard off in the distance. Many of them.
Caelum seems to grow increasingly more agitated where he is. Shifting in place, chewing on the corner of his thumb - staring into the distance. It's an unusual thing. Not rooted in nervousness, but some other kind of compulsion. During their wait, he had even left his place to grab the corpse and haul it away to Cailyn's request. And then, the THUD. He bounds away from the tombstone. Relatively normal in his storming pace still, but he displaces quite a few workers to reach the hole - then jump down. His only pause is to snatch a shovel from one of them; likely intending to use it to try and unseal it by brute force.
"You'll have plenty of time to worry about the dead once we finish here." Sarah states firmly to Cailyn, "I wonder what's so special about these bones. Or this graveyard. Local voodoo family or not..." The doctor wonders a little late, her arms crossed.
Now there's somebody who's itching to put himself into motion. Jumping down into the hole, he'll start working at the coffin lid, but it'll take him the shovel and some prying to start working at it, no great feats of strength as of yet hiding within the undead fellow. Meanwhile those voices they can hear? Those are coming closer and it sounds like at least a dozen. Best guess? A minute perhaps before things are about to get REALLY dicey.
"I-" Cailyn cuts herself off, frowning as she looks between Sarah and the body, clearly conflicted. "Yes, love," she murmurs before looking over her shoulder. "How we looking? They're almost here... And I don't think the GenTek thing will work this time."
Angelique grits her teeth when the sounds of men working isn't enough to hide the sounds of more feet approaching. "Mierda," she mutters beneath her breath, then shakes her head in agreement with Cailyn. "Pero..." she says, and turns back to the already hypnotized groundskeeper that's helping. "Perhaps I can get him to support it. The other one... the dead one? That is going to be more of a problem. Can we hide it?" She looks over to Caelum and asks, "Can you push it away, si? Behind another stone, far enough to look unrelated?"
Meanwhile Caelum has to split his concentration now between what feels like a massive headache beginning to start its way behind his eyes and his attempt to open that coffin. Something tells HIm that whoever's on approach isn't going to be in the talking mood.
We're gonna try and wrap this up here for you guys pretty shortly, as we make it through the climax here!
Sparks, then sounds of bashes. Out of sight, out of mind, there is a snarl heralding annoyance from the hole Caelum harbors. Was that him? A shovel shoves up on the top after a second, hands following - then Caelum' head pops up and he half-climbs. "No, screw that - they're not coming to talk." How does he know? Who knows. Yet something is off about him - one eye half-squeezed shut in what appears to be a painful migraine. Then, before he sinks back into that hole to keep trying to push a wedge into the coffin with a shovel, he grabs two workers by the sleeves, and pulls them in with him, urging on as many as would fit, too. Topped with a growl, no less; "Work!"
Well, when Caelum takes over her job of demanding more than the workers can possibly give, Angelique can only smirk. The vampire's suffering, the exhaustion of the men digging at such a rapid pace, and everyone else's worry has her spiralling into a moment of pleasure that leaves her a bit more relaxed. Not entirely though. Instead, she wonders, "If you can get it out of the ground, let's just take the whole coffin through the path, si?"
"Tricking one is one thing, but tricking a whole group?" Sarah grimaces, then furrowing her brow at Caelum seems oh-so-sure this isn't going to be a peaceful solution. She glances at Angelique, then nodding. "Perhaps start preparing that path, Inigo." She suggests as she starts stretching her legs, seeming to be preparing herself for a run, blowgun in hand. "I should have brought Roberts. Or had him path here when we had time." Sarah reflects as she does, eyes fixed on the direction of those voices.
That young man is really being effected by whatever seems to be impressing itself as these voices approach, and they're just around the corner now. Angelique makes the suggestion, though this may only be serviceable if someone here can lift about 800 pounds! Now though, there's the sound of cracking wood. At last, Caelum manages to get through the lid of the coffin! More work will reveal the bones of the body held within. If anybody had bothered to check the dates on the headstone they might've noted that the body would be almost two hundred years old - and so it's just bones inside the coffin here. It also explains why the coffin is so sturdy! But now they've got access.
Cailyn looks to Sarah and nods, dipping down to stretch her legs, flexing against the tight denim of her jeans. "Seems like pathing is the best bet," she murmurs, "I should have just started burning the damn coffin."
Over the hill comes what looks like a mob of people in the two dozen range - and the flicker of flashlights and the like come with them. The entire crowd is black, or mixed and they're led by a man who looks as wide as he does tall. There's yelling and theat mob of people are fixing to start storming their way toward the group now!
Delay, delay, pressure. It's like Caelum' head is trapped in a metal vice, slowly being turned shut to squeeze his brains out. In agony, he's less human than he lets on. Those eyes, wrought with pain and narrow as slits, display on the gold-yellow sheen ringing his sight, and every breath leaving his lips does through a mouthful of fangs that shies away quite a few of the workers out of the hole. Then comes more sound, bashing, repeatedly, with cracks and crackles, as well as planks. At last, he kneels atop the thing, and shrugs out of his jacket to splay it out across the ground. Two-hundred years old or not, Caelum starts too shovel armfuls of bone, dust, dirt, anything and everything inside his leather jacket, which he'll soon tie up in a makeshift knapsack. Poor, poor jacket.
Who worries themselves over the weights of coffins? But as Caelum breaks thorugh and the group is able to scavenge the bones, Angelique takes a small step forward, toward the mob that's heading down the hill. Either she thinks she can handle this, or she's trying to give that impression. Pasting a social smile onto her lips, she calls out, "Hola!" though behind the facade, she's most assuredly working to rip open that veil between this real and the next.
This realm* Angelique means.
It's definitely an unorthadox approach to the situation, but Angelique is displaying some serious brass balls right now. She's stepping forward and putting herself out on the spot while Caelum is in that hole scooping up bones - the rest kind of hanging back to avoid too much scrutiny for the time being. Now then - at least it's dark. That the headstone has been smashed is evident enough if they're going to try and hide things but at least they won't be able to tell right away that they've dug up the grave itself. "Who's that? Levon, who's that? Who's the girl, Levon?" The words are coming from everyone in the group, and they all look to the semi-giant of a man. Six feet and three inches, he must weigh nearby three hundred pounds. Even a the man looks to open his mouth there's a sudden sense of doubt that can be seen crossing his dark features. The conversation is easy enough to listen to as it begins, not a lot of sound to be had but for perhaps the growling and fang-y aggrivations of Caelum in the hole. "Who are you?" Comes a booming bass voice eventually, "You come to pay a price, desecrating our family plot! Who are you?"
It's only that doubt that crosses his face that causes the man to take the time to wonder about Angelique's identity, and the quick thinking of Sarah will play it's part here now as Angelique looks to capitalize. In the commotion ... what's Cailyn up to?
Sarah furrows her brow, staring at the giant of a man, seeming to be concentrating on something. She positions herself diagonally behind Angelique from the men, keeping her stare fixed yet trying to stay well away from attention. "This path better come soon..." Sarah murmurs, tense, her hands pale as they grip onto her weapon. She doesn't seem to think it a fight they can win, at least. Yet she straightens herself as well as she can.
"Levon, si?" Angelique asks, having gained the name from the rumblings of the crowd, though she holds up pretty, very clean, very manicured hands in a gesture of innocence. "No, senor," she assures softly. "My friends and I? We arrived just as a group was -leaving-, si? I think they took something from a grave though," she lies with the sweetest of smiles that turns ever so slightly concerned. "Su familia? Dios mio," she murmurs, seeking to catch the giant fellow's eye, as she'd earlier done with the groundskeeper. It's definitely a risk, while trying to work the pathing magic, but she takes it.
Cailyn glances between Sarah and Angelique before taking a deep breath and stepping over towards Angelique to help with the crowd of people. She adjusts her glasses- Pushing them up along the bridge of her nose before speaking up- Well, she was about to before Angelique talks.
Angelique can rescind hers!
Caelum is happily (in pain) gathering up all the bones. Provided he doesn't scoop up anything odd, the jacket is already bound six ways to sunday and held up. While a commotion hasn't broken out just yet outside, he's helped out by the workers who let go of him just as fast as they help him out. Perhaps somewhat subtly, his jacket is showed into his helmet once he's out of the hole, and he takes a hold of it, to carry it as a.. container of sorts - one that no one would think to have bones in it. Not long after that, he pops out of the woodwork between Sarah and Angelique, caked up in dirt and grime and likely some dusty pieces of ancestry. He has that thousand yard stare, simply staring.
It's probably for the best that Cailyn doesn't talk, to be fair.
Splitting attention can be a risk, but Angelique's taking it. The first part of it seems to hold with the larger man, as she offers every reason to believe that she at the very least might not have anything to do with the group at large here. BUt two groups in one place, no make it three with the veritable gang mob that Levon's brought with him as well? It's a tough sell. "Our Patriarch, ..." there's a tense moment ... but it's not enough. "An' you all gonna die!" There's a roar from the man and it behooves Angelique to step back as he seems ready to charge like a bull! The rest of the mob is all caught up in that cause as well because they're moving forward all as one! Angelique can feel those tendrils beginning to coalesce around her in a more physical sense - but it's going to be close!
// Alright! My intent is to have the path show up just in time, and for a lot of bullets to be fired in your direction. Cailyn and Angelique have Fast Reflexes and can feasibly avoid a mild wound here. Sarah and Caelum do not, but only Sarah of the two would be really feeling that gunshot as a potential wound. I won't be passing out any mechanical wounds but keep this in mind if you wouldn't mind as you guys pose your escape here!
Yes! Anyone who wants to take the hit for one of the others is welcome to!
Did that work correct?
She's a dancer, not a gymnast, but Angelique does her best to slide out of the way, dodging to the side in the same direction as she's working to pull on those tendrils. Tearing it open, metaphysically, to let herself fall in, though hopefully not in a way that's terribly obvious and would lead to the mob, or any part of it, following her. "Vamonos! Hurry!" she shouts, trying to call the others to her - at least the trio of Sarah, Caelum, and Cailyn that she's been working with. The others? Reasonable losses, in her mind, even if not in Deacon's.
"Fuck!" Cailyn yells out in alarm as she turns about and sprints- Not to where the path may be- But straight for Sarah. The doctor seems to be the redhead's priority, and she doesn't seem to care if she's the one taking the bullet.
"Ah!" Caelum, quite comically out of it at this point, in a pain-addled mind, jumps up at the gunshots that rain down on them. His main concern seems to be keeping the helmet, holding the leather wrapped bones safe and cushioned inside - and he turns away with it after Angelique. The bullets that whistle past catch him on the thigh, the shoulder - really, anywhere appropraite - all as he 'accidentally' shoves himself into Cailyn jumping for Sarah, and really - he's eating up all the bullets and still hauling, "Go, go!" with the intention to usher the final two women inside, while falling in after them both. The workers? Poor workers. Anyways.
"So much for negotiation tactics." Sarah grumbles before tapping something on the armor beneath her suit. Activating something. A smirk forms on her face as Angelique manages to create a path. At the start seems almost casual in the way she starts to sprint towards the path at incredible speed, giving pause as called to, glancing at Cailyn, her eyes widening. "For the love of-" she hisses, then she's grabbing for Cailyn, jerking her roughly to - and into - the path, visibly straining to manage that speed with the extra weight.
And so it's through another play of luck as much as skill that sees Caelum, Cailyn, Sarah and Angelique falling their way onto that shadowy path that will lead them home. THe path closes behind once they're in but it is its own sense of horror, how close Angelique especially will come to finding herself teetering on the edge of that path ... the unknown endless void the only promise beyond. The workers are all left behind to suffer the wrath of the Beauforts or to be interrogated, either way this group at the very least will find themselves safe. Caelum soaks up the bullets but they don't effect him, and Cailyn takes one in the shoulder despite the undead man pushing at her to try and take the heat Terminator-style. It's a slow breath once they're safe but of all of them, it's the Vampire that feels more than anything that he's just narrowly escaped a fate far worse than Final Death or torpor. Unwilling service to a master of the dead.
OOC: Thank you guys so much for participating today! Cailyn takes the wound but I think it's Angelique who gets the Award today because they really went above and beyond - doing their job while on mission and putting themself int the line of danger for the sake of the group! Special Shout-outs to Caelum for making some Trouble and getting the group into some shit!
With tensions running high and the eerie chill of the graveyard surrounding them, one by one, the characters demonstrated their skills and quirks. Caelum, the outspoken and somewhat rugged, was clearly at odds with their location, his head contained in a helmet and his discomfort with the garlic-scented air apparent. The streetwise Angelique, the smooth operator Cailyn, and the analytical Dr. Sarah each added to the group's dynamic, revealing their strengths and hinting at their limitations. But as the group proceeded, a palpable sense of dread was woven into their actions, with jokes occasionally cutting the thick air of anticipation.
As they approached their goal, Caelum's impulsiveness became apparent when he telekinetically snapped the neck of an unfortunate groundskeeper, lifting the metaphysical "blanket" of protection that had been surrounding the group, exposing them to unknown dangers. The subsequent dynamic shifted to a race against time, with Angelique trying to weave her magic to create an escape path while Sarah strategized, Cailyn fretted about her capabilities, and Caelum struggled with a growing sense of menace and pain, collecting the sought-after bones in an act of grotesque urgency.
With the grave desecrated and the bones collected in Caelum's jacket, the group's situation spiraled out of control as an angry mob led by the formidable Levon descended upon them, intent on avenging the disruption of their family's rest. Gunshots rang out, the mob's fury materializing in lethal intent. In the chaos, Angelique's quick thinking and linguistic prowess attempted to deflect and delay the inevitable conflict. Meanwhile, Cailyn's protective instincts drove her toward Sarah, willing to take a bullet for the doctor.
Evasion and escape became paramount as Angelique opened a path, and the group stumbled into the dark void of safety. Caelum, in a haze of pain, absorbed bullets like a nocturnal sponge, his determination unwavering even in the face of potential oblivion. Angelique, her composure masking her desperation, narrowly avoided being left behind as the path closed, and each character, bearing their own new burden of experience, found momentary refuge in the uncertain darkness that would lead them home.
In conclusion, the group narrowly avoided the wrath of the mob, each member bringing their unique flair to the fore while grappling with the macabre nature of their task. Caelum faced the gravest danger, having possibly averted a fate worse than death. Angelique emerged a hero, managing to both deceive and rescue, while Cailyn and Sarah played crucial roles in the survival of the group, all bound together by the shadowy path that whisked them away from immediate peril.
(Roll the Bones(SRDeacon):SRDeacon)
[Thu Jan 4 2024]
In Irene's
This place looks very much like a classic Italian restaurant with a little bit of New Orleans flair. All over the walls are street signs and other bits of classic culture from the big southern city, while the aromas that fill the air are a blend of the holy trinity spices and garlic and Italian delights all mixing into a strange yet pleasing ambiance. Booths and tables are scattered about the dining area with small, dim lamps hovering over each of them to provide each table with an almost intimate or private kind of feel. Most of the restaurant maintains this feel, while one portion in the back is occupied by a sports bar.
It is about 50F(10C) degrees.
Waiting to summon 2 more I think.
Alright! Wait one. I have to check something for someone, Then we'll begin! Everyone who doesn't have their own way here will be offered pathing by Deacon personally. The meeting place is Irene's a strange but excellent restaurant within the center of the French Quarter here. Rp amongst yourself I should be less than 5.
thanks you for your patience.
Stepping off the path with a faintly tired expression, Angelique heads into the restaurant to join those already gathered. Perhaps only alerted to just who is who by the presence of Sarah herself, she sinks into a seat and nods. "Si, steal the bones," she offers, tone dry and suggesting that she's really not any more aware of plans beyond that, than the others. Maybe she wasn't listening? "Hola, Sarah. Cailyn. Y...?" the question lingers.
Slowly in the late hours of this afternoon, people will trickle into Irene's that no doubt stand out amongst the regulars that might eat here. A small spot, this is the kind of place that only locals would really know about, and even more local to really appreciate. They serve a blend of Italian and Creole food, the aromas filling the air sharp but pleasant in the way they blend. Those who arrive one by one will find that the bar in the back has been emptied out, a lone figure waiting there. Tall, he's recognizeable as the man who's asked them all to come here ... until they approach a little closer. IT could be a cousin perhaps, but it's not Deacon.
Caelum finally deems to lift a hand in greeting to others after they've arrived. Fingers curled, leather gloves creaks-- but he doesn't remove his helmet still. "Hey, Angelique - others." The sound may be familiar, but at least he introduces himself. "It's Caelum - and before you ask, no, I won't remove it unless someone eradicates that garlic stench in the air."
"Weird being home a bit, but..." Cailyn trails off, glancing towards Caelum and offering a small wave- Recognizing the name.
Sarah glances at Angelique, "The scar on his clavicle kind of tips him off for me.... That said..." She furrows her brow at Caelum, "And here I thought you were animated by our upcoming journey through chainsaw massacres." Her eyes then linger on the figure. A smile at first as she approaches in quick steps, that then furrows. "...Different." Sarah murmurs from up close, though seeming unsure how. She takes a step back, towards Cailyn, as if uncomfortable with something.
Cailyn looks towards Sarah and moves to wrap an arm around her, offering a little reassuring smile.
Whatever expression Caelum makes in reply to Sarah's approach, it doesn't show. The reflective visor, in its eternal darkness, continues to mirror the room, and her, back at any onlooker. No reply comes, either, while he stays stock still.
"Ah, hola Caelum," Angelique greets Caelum, before giving Sarah an odd look. "Those movies are... uninspired," she offers in her usual, almost-sarcastic way, before she turns, patting Cailyn on the arm and drifting past to hold out her hand to greet the man who looks like, but is not, her boyfriend-of-sorts. "Hola, Deacon's twin. You are here for us?" At least she has the grace not to mention her usual insulting, 'Fake French' here tonight?
"Welcome home" This tall man says to Cailyn first, and perhaps he's just heard her give mention of it. As they all come closer, the man seems ... similar in many ways. He's tall, well-built but lithe and that same light-ish skin that still carries Creole color and those hauntingly green eyes. "There's a good group of folk ever I saw one, hrm?" The man's smile is bright but there's something ... hollow about it. Those who've run into this before - they recognize it the signs of possession. This man isn't at home right now, but something is definitely behind the wheel. "You've come to help my kin, yes? Come, come! You have nothing to fear from me, here. Not HERE" he says with a smile. True to his word ... they're far from the water here.
Caelum shifts in his chair when Angelique takes the helm to move. Taking the cue to move, he pushes up from where he's sitting, then stars to stalk after them. He keeps a relative distance, more or less an arm's length away from Cailyn and Angelique.
Then this almost twin points a casual finger toward Caelum. "Except you. This is a dangerous place for you, boy. I like that" he says sounding very much truthful. What it is he likes about it, harder to say.
"Forgive me if we wander down bourbon street- I'll probably want to get a few drinks..." Cailyn murmurs with a sigh, admitting to her nature. And it's true- Lots of desires to get drunk over there.
The helmet tilts, reflecting the tall, almost-twin's expression back at him. It's almost imposing, not seeing whether Caelum makes a face at that or not- and the usually very animated and talkative man being mute by choice almost seems to add to the effect all the more.
Sarah furrows her brow, then groans. Possession. The way of speaking. Kin. "Did you appreciate the white coat...?" Sarah wonders, seeming very much to be hoping that this will confuse the man, and not lead to recognition. "We've come to help Mr. herveaux, I suppose."
"The wool wasn't pure, but it was a nice gesture, mon cherie" This man gives Sarah the answer she's hoping exactly not to get and his smile turns somehow ... different. There's nothing different about it of course, but somehow it's like being in the gaze of something very powerful, and very hungry. "Good. He is coming along very nicely, isn't he? A worthy vessel of legacy." He places a finger to his lips, as if being naughty and sharing a precious secret with the group. "No telling. Now. Best you hurry." He slides a piece of paper over on the bar. It's directions, easy enough. An exact marker in the cemetary itself for the grave that they need. "The Beauforts will be shadowed, but not for long. Because I liked the coat." He winks in Sarah's direction as he waits to see the reactions from the rest of those gathered. Then he gives a faint wave of his hand. There's a flicker of the lights in this place .. and the man is gone.
Caelum tilts his head again, askew. The motion is exaggerated given the size of his helmet, but it faces Sarah. Before his stare can linger, though - that wave of the hand, the flicker of the light - It visibly stills him where he is, and suddenly, the visor points to the ground. If any where to look, they'd see the hand at the hilt of a sword on his hip tighten, to the point knuckles visible over his gloves grow taut and pale. Then a muffled sounds breaks his silence, briefly put-off to the point it almost wavers in cadence. "..Fuck."
And now the group has a specific location within the cemetary they're after. All that's really left is for them to take heed of their timing. As promised, a few minutes will pass and then a group of local black men of varying ages from children to older men will enter the place. A work crew. They don't ask questions, but they do get offered a free meal as they wait for the group to get on their way. Something not offered to the visitors, for those paying close attention to things like etiquette or culture here.
"It seems in his quest of growth, Mr. Herveaux has elected to call upon his ancestors..." Sarah murmurs unhappily, hand rubbing on her neck. "We've gotten involved in something dangerous here. Where the Gods play ball, we are little more than blades of glass." Sarah adds a little ominously, glancing back towards Cailyn. She looks between Caelum and Angelique. "I don't have any particular skills sneaking about, but I can buy us some time, once, maybe." Sarah shares as she rubs her neck.
Truly looking as if she's got no clue what's going on - why -is- she here? - Angelique merely nods toward Sarah, then looks at the other two. "So. A cemetery?" she asks, with a tiny little groan. "I had, por supuesto, hoped that it would be a matter of merely talking to the right people." She lifts her hands, stating very plainly, "It is what I am made for, si?"
That look seems to bring Caelum out of it. The visor lifts again to pin an unseen gaze on Sarah, while a half-bemused tone suggests; "Why are you looking as if we're sneaky?" True to that, he has the look of someone who deals with everything head-on. Then a shake of his helmet, a glance cast away. An agreeing nod as an addition after Angelique, he makes a suggestion, "What's there to do but charge ahead, now?"
"I'm... Also not good with sneaking about. I'm too loud," Cailyn claims, a quick glance towards Sarah at the mention of Gods. She gives a weak- slightly worried smile. "I can burn things though. That's neat."
Caelum stares down at the paper left behind by the tall man, so near yet so far. His hand lifts, makes a subtle gesture with a wagged finger -- Then their hint propels across the air in his direction, only to be caught between two fingers. It briefly reflects in his visor, their directions, then he holds it aside, towards Angelique, or really, any one of them. "I'll follow along whatever you decide."
Sarah lits off their skills on her fingers as she speaks in a hushed tone, "So one of us can sew the corpse back together." She retracts a finger. "One of us can convince the corpse to stay asleep." A second joins. "A third of us is about to fight the local voodoo community." A third. "...And the last can burn the coffin if it's made of bad wood - also, on that note," Sarah looks between the other conspiratorially. "...Did any of us think to bring a shovel?"
While the gathered allies consider their moves here, the work group that's arrived takes their pleasure about eating the food that's offered. Most of them speak to each other in quiet tones using Creole French, much like the New Orleans version of some kind of SPanglish of sorts. They seem content to wait as long as they need to - after all the less work they do, they're still getting paid presumeably for their participation tonight. Caelum makes a point toward the group about charging forward, and at Sarah's mention, one of the group will speak up loud enough to be heard. "We have tools." It's good english.
"Caelum's got hands," Cailyn is quick to say, throwing the biker under the... Bus.
"Sure." Caelum intones - but there is mirth beneath that helmet.
"I..." Angelique looks incredibly lost now. "Why are we sewing bones together and making the dead live again? Does Deacon not just want a couple of bones from within the coffin?" She probably really should have followed up on what exactly this was all about. Now, she's looking like she might well be content to stay right where she is and eat something questionable, instead. But she says, "I can have one of my men bring supplies across the path. Do we need more than a couple of shovels?"
Angelique says "Oh never mind. They brought stuff. Good."
Caelum svelte clears his throat. Then when Angelique corrects herself, it turns out to be unnecessary, and he simply turns on a heel to face the group that arrived. Another reach slips that note in any convenient pocket on Angelique's trenchcoat - because she's the most reasonably sane one here, right? Right?
Caelum clears his throat. Then when Angelique corrects herself, it turns out to be unnecessary, and he simply turns on a heel to face the group that arrived. Another reach slips that note in any convenient pocket on Angelique's trenchcoat - because she's the most reasonably sane one here, right? Right? (fix)
"...Phenomenal." Sarah opines, mostly seeming sarcastic before providing a nod. She heads towards the entrance, gesturing, "Let's just go. A God told us to be quick about it, did he not? I presume that means waiting too long will be an issue." A pause. "...And we can hardly formulate a plan based on just the information provided. So long as Inigo can open a path for escape if necessary, and Caelum can hold them off, and Cailyn can... Burn anything flammable?" Beat. "...We should be able to manage. Somehow..." She looks back, behind her, as if making sure she's not alone in this thought.
"Depends on who I'm holding off.. I think I'm at a.. disadvantage." Caelum murmurs that last word. There is something to it, remembered - perhaps something Deacon said. Whatever expression he makes under that visor remains veiled, but it can't be anything good. But seeing as there isn't he can add, he moves ahead aswell, storming after Sarah.
This trenchcoat has lots of pockets and might actually be a reasonably useful piece of clothing, were it not a glittery, metallic silver. As Caelum slips his note into her pocket, Angelique sends him a bemused little smile, still looking more than a little overwhelmed by information piling on that she apparently had no idea about. "Si. I can open a path," she mutters, sounding a bit peeved. "Y do plenty else, too, pero no shovelling," she insists, as she rises, sword and bow mostly concealed beneath the fashion-forward trench. "Vamonos."
Caelum repeats, in a duller, more muffled tone. "Vamonos."
When they're ready - the group won't have any trouble finding the cemetary, the work crew knows where it is. As for the lack fo information well .. it's no secret Deacon has been hesitant to come back here so he's only got so much information to provide on what may come. However, the trip won't take very long either the cemetary is fairly large. When they arrive, it'll be by foot or by car, the cemtary has wrought-iron gating around most of it, a large entrance open to the public. It's not a locked down place, though the group can expect groundskeepers or others to keep an eye over the grounds as needed. The place mostly is a gigantic maze of monoliths, headstones and decorative structures when they arrive. Pure white stone standing out everywhere, they'll have to follow that set of directions pretty closely to find the stone they're looking for. It will read: Nathaniel Beaufort - and it's likely to be made out of that same white stone as many of the other epitaphs.
Cailyn stuffs her bandaged hands in her jacket. "Burning things can be fun," the redhead claims.
Cailyn will be home soon- Sorry for the small emotes
This Storyteller just appreciates people having fun and being willing to come! His future plot runs will be a lot more organized these are all lacking in information on purpose due to his semi-exile from the Big Easy!
As soon as they're out of the den that is what passes for a diner here in this place, Caelum removes his helmet. It finds rest under his arm, and while that one keeps his precious thing, he keeps his other hand on a hilt at his hip still. A brief huff makes his pleasure known, that scent of garlic really was wicked thick in there, it seems. "Hey, if these guys have tools, they probably have a car too, right?"
Sarah nods to Caelum. "Presumably they do." Sarah agrees. She would get into the vehicle once the workers point it out, likely try to find herself a place in it with a good view if she can. All the while looking around, focused, as if searching for something.
"Emphasis on 'can'... I've really had my fill of ghosts today... So Caelum? If there is one? Put it to rest?" Cailyn asks lf Caelum with a sweet smile. Other than that, she's perfectly okay with following Sarah or Angelique around.
Angelique drags her heels. Today, thankfully they're not stilettos, but that doesn't make her any more enthusiastic about this part. Staring at the graveyard surrounding them as they make their way, she states very firmly, "If any of los muertos come to life, I am going home, si?" And taking her path with her. Yes indeedy.
As Angelique is now armed with the directions to the correct Grave once they get to the place, the sun is already setting below the horion as the hours pass now. The car-ride is a short one and soon enough they'll find themselves having to progress on foot through those mazes of headstones. They'll have to work their way through the cemetary more slowly. For now it's nothing to be concerned about, apart from the loss of the daylight. Beyond that - the place is quiet and empty. The only thing suspicious is the overall size of the group, but that's what it may take to get it done quickly. Moving through the place, Sarah doesn't see antyhing out of the ordinary here, for spirits don't tend to find their way too far astray in these parts. On the other hand, it does mean that most of the souls buried here are largely and truly at rest, anyway. One hopes.
Sarah stares at Angelique, then speaks, deadpan. "If you go home without me, I am resurrecting every soul I can find in the Arkwright cemetery and throwing you a surprise, early birthday party." A warning? A joke? Or perhaps an explanation of her discomfort. She shivers. "Unless they've someone very capable willing them to, the dead shouldn't... move... Worst case we find some spirits... probably..." Sarah trails off, "...None of which I am seeing right now. So that /could/ be a good sign." Could.
"With these?" Caelum gives an incredulous look at Cailyn, brows raised and expression almost comical in how he gestures at his swords. "If ghosts are real and they're coming, I'm riding on Angelique's coat and running." If ghosts are real? Did he just say that about his fellow undead? Regardless, he keeps to himself mostly during the ride, and thereafter, at least until they are done with their short car ride and the whole pack of workers pile out alongside them. A brief roll of his shoulders relaxes the joints - and he's the first to move towards the gates upon their exit. Maybe there is a gravekeeper on the other side? Maybe not? Still, he nudges open their entrance, wide enough to allow everyone in.
Cailyn looks to Sarah and offers a little smile. "We could go to my old house- Maybe my mom still lives there... And we could take her car. I'd return it after our little roadtrip," the redhead quips before looking to Caelum and lifting a brow. "Ghosts are /very/ much real. I dealt with a Wilson and a Salte earlier- The Wilson tried to drown me."
The dead will stay in their graves, peacefully at rest. This is exactly what Angelique hopes, exhibited by the moment where she crosses herself, upon crossing the threshold into the graveyard itself.
For the moment, she holds in her hands the directions, giving them to whomever needs the information to get the group to where they need to be. Giving directions is something she's quite good at, after all.
Aside, she asks of Caelum, "Why have you not yet joined the Hand?" in tones far too innocent to be truly innocent. They're in the middle of God-knows-what in a graveyard in Lousianna and she's recruiting. Or maybe she's just ignoring Sarah's threats to her, aside from a side-long, narrow-eyed look at the blonde, and the almost-playful quip of, "You would have to find a way back, first, si?" But then Cailyn is offering a way back, and Angelique just huffs, though not without a hint of a smile.
"Also, New Orleans is home to the main branch of GenTek- I /could/ just say I need a car and they'd give me one..." Cailyn trails off with a little shrug. She glances towards Caelum Gaze betraying a small bit of surprise. But hey, that's Hand business. And Cailyn is an Orderite.
For the moment, nobody to meet them at the public entrance to the place. The size of the group is likely to draw the attention of whatever groundskeepers may be about at this time but for the moment the group seems fine. It's a tedious jog through a straight-up warren of graves and plots. At long last they'll eventually find their way toward the stone they're looking for. Name and everything. This grave is in a place of promience in the cemetary, and an inspection of the surrounding stones will reveal they all carry the name Beaufort. A family plot in the center of one of the city's oldest cemetaries. Oh joy.
"Moments like this make me grateful she didn't succeed." Sarah tells Cailyn with a smile, then glancing to Angelique. "Can't believe she's doing her job in the middle of a cemetery... remind me to give that one a bonus this week." Sarah murmurs to herself as she follows after Caelum. Her steps are anything but smooth or quiet, but she makes up for it by also staying behind and letting others take the fall for her. Or so her plan seems to be, anyhow.
The doctor idly fiddles with a scalpel, glancing around the place. "This feels altogether too easy." Sarah jinxes.
"You'd think the Salte would've tried to drown you." Caelum teases with an all too sharp smirk over his shoulder at Cailyn, but otherwise he continues to pace beside Angelique, stealing a glance at her instructions. Without even looking, or really batting an eye, he replies too casually, "What's the Hand?" Odd thing to ask, that. Truly clueless, and in opposition, genuinely innocent comparative to Angelique. Upon their arrival though, his attention wavers, flits between tombstone to tombstone. Brows knit together, and eyes all too narrow.
"Did he just- Caelum /is/ aware, right?" Cailyn asks Angelique and Sarah with a rapid blink.
"I'm aware that you're not looking for the tombstone." Caelum reminds, without looking. That steel gaze travels still, all while he moves slightly further ahead, checking the graves individually, and occasionally wiping their stones to reveal names hidden under dust. "I already forgot the guy's name."
"He is vampire, so I hope so," Angelique offers in a tone that's almost amused. She clearly isn't buying Caelum's naivety as truth, but she doesn't push for now. There's dead things around them, and the reminder that they're looking for a tombstone brings with it a shudder. "Here," she says, waving the directions and pointing at the Beaufort collective. Her tone is little more than a mutter. "I bet if you look right in the middle, that's where it'll be. Nicely surrounded by the bodies of all his kin that'll rise to his defense the moment we break hallowed ground."
As the group finds their way, Sarah just has to open her mouth, of course. But luckily for now ... nothing yet seems to jump out of the dark. The group that came with them, they waste no time now. Shovels and picks come out and they're setting to working that grave; They start with smashing into the headstone itself, for one reason or another perhaps they have orders of their own! But it makes a loud ruckus that's for damn sure and it's no doubt that someone will be along shortly to check out what the hell is going on in pretty short order. Now - Caelum and Angelique take the time to exchange a little reparte while Sarah and Cailyn converse about their lamentations here, or their back-handed praises. Some voices can soon be heard in the distance, two of them that respond to that smashing sound and they're going to be coming closer. Time for someone to come up with a good excuse for them being here and quickk. At least no Zombies raise up out of the ground. Yet.
Cailyn perks up, "Don't break ground yet. We're here visiting a relative, or... Something," the redhead states. Smooth operator. "But we've got people headed this way."
The work crew will pause, waiting to actually break ground at Cailyn's request.
Cailyn beams at Sarah after showing off her supposed authority.
"Unsure." Sarah murmurs softly to Cailyn, "Not every vampire knows about the rest of the world. Could be his sire bit him but neglected to tell of the ways of things..." The blonde looks hesitantly between Angelique and Caelum, "Nathaniel Beaufort." Sarah states, herself not really seeming to notice any danger just yet. She rubs at her arms, considering, "...I don't think there'll be zombies..." Sarah hopes openly before grimacing at Cailyn. "...They'll hear the noises anyway. We're with far too many to claim to just be visiting. At this time of day, too." The doc opines, glancing at Angelique. "...Angelique, can you come up with something that explains us digging into this ground?" She requests as her hand reaches out to rub the small of Cailyn's back.
"I think we would be better off with claims of exhuming a body over claims of suspicious death and the challenging of a will," Angelique says softly, pondering. "There is nobody who can make us look like police, pero si, Sarah always looks like a scientist. A... forensic person would not be a hard sell. The rest? Just crew," she murmurs thoughtfully. But she seems content, for now, to go ahead and try to sell Cailyn's idea too, though she mutters, "Hide the shovels, si? Though I do not know if we can pass as Beaufort kin..."
Caelum gives a little scratch to the back of his nape. There might be more time to linger on his genuine innocence later on- but he casts a glance at others. With the work crew stopping their assault on everything, and his deliberation brief, he decides to move. Closer to the ground first, then after some stalking, somewhere behind Angelique's position, takes cover behind a still yet unbroken tombstone. Either he's preparing for a fight, or he has other plans - that remains to me seen.
Based on the locals, Angelique can probably suss out theat none of them are going to pass as Beaufort's that's for sure. However, as she's mulling over those options (some of which sound promisinig) they all can hear those voices coming closer. The work crew puts away those shovels for the time being, or tries to make them less conspicuous at the very least. And then two groundskeepers can be seen cresting around some hilly section off in the distance and headed they're direction. One can be seen pointing their direction and moving their way soon enough yes indeedy! They look middle-aged and both of them are black with graying hair and beards.
Cailyn shifts her emerald gaze upon Sarah, head tilting at what she thinks is to be affectionate touching. "I do hide my accent- And well... Maybe- Okay, disregard my idea. Forensics team. Name drop GenTek- I can show them my badge."
Will wait for others to pose and he'll combine.
Caelum wonders if that's a go on his attempt?
The attempt will succeed but I want to see what others are doing so he can work it all in!
Sarah casually lifts her briefcase, knocking on it. "I've my medical tools on me. And while my current lab coat is... unorthodox... I've a medical degree as well, should they run a background check." Sarah tells Angelique, then tapping her foot on the ground. She watches the men as they arrive, doing her best to appear at ease, professional, relaxed. Easy enough for her, really - cold frog that she is, though passing for a local would be something else, entirely.
As Sarah and Cailyn buy into her idea, Angelique nods and steps forward to meet the two groundskeepers. Proving that she actually -can- speak in very good, unmangled English when she chooses to, she offers, "Good evening, gentlemen." Whatever's going on behind her, she extends her hand to first one, then the other, her manner utterly businesslike and brisk. She pauses a moment, clearly intending to hear their questions before trying to put words to her own story.
Silence. Motionless, dreadful silence. Caelum has that steel expression with his head against the tombstone, waiting, listening. All until the gravekeepers are closer to their location, their interest their doom. It appears Caelum hass a different attitude compared to his group, in a silent but deadly fashion, too - and while they work their verbal magic.. He brings his hand up, fingers splayed. It's as if the two gravekeepers are frozen for a split second, then Caelum makes a fist, which he yanks down and... Crack! Both of the men propel forward from where they are, and fall neck-first against the tombstone Caelum hides behind, the angle of their bent scrag simply gruesome, and they're dead before they even realize.
As Angelique moves forward to greet the two men with an extended hand. Her English is perfect, and it's a welcome distraction for that moment Caelum chooses to reach out with supernatural force. Only one of the men pulls forward, but it's a vicious yank that does that job exactly as intended and while there's nothing around at present to explain it, it will put a quick dampen on things in the diplomatic sense! The second man watches in shock and surprise as the first of the two groundskeepers seems to ... trip and fall rather suddenly and with force at such an angle that breaks his neck! He screams out, in that surprise. "Wh-what?!" It's unimagineable bad luck of course, or so it might seem. That death leaves something that comes lifting up off of the Graveyard. At first, only Caelum could feel this blanket lifting off of them, but now they can all feel it's presence. Or rather, the absense of it.
Only one large man for the Telekentics!
Meanwhile, the ground crew still isn't digging.
Caelum makes a mental bah!
When that man is jerked right past her, Angelique mutters something that is blatantly and offensively a Spanish invective. Whether it's aimed at Caelum or just a general expression of displeasure, it doesn't really matter in the long run. She twists to try and catch the shocked and anxious groundskeeper's attention with her eyes, stating to him in a firm, clear tone, "Your help is needed, sir. Will you please join them?"
Waiting to see if that attempt will succeed in the stressed-out mind, she wipes her hand on her coat, shoves both into her pocket, and spins on one Gucci heel to look, narrow-eyed at the gathered group. "Well?" she asks, tone just a bit too-nice after such a crude moment of cursing, to be anything but dangerous. She gestures at the shovel-carrying crew. "Darse prisa!" At least this time, she translates: "Hurry up!"
The persuasion of the man will take hold in that shocked moment quite easily and in that shell-shocked state he'll kind of stumble over to the worker's crew that now jumps into motion. Six foot deep by six foot long, it's not a small hole they're digging at the minimum!
Cailyn probably takes the most surprised reaction. "Wha- What the fuck?!" She squeaks out, eyes shooting daggers at Caelum. "Why in the /hell/ did you do that?" She asks, eyes wide- She looks around nervously as if trying to spot anyone who might be spying. "Oh my god... This is not gonna' look good in my trial. You didn't even give us a chance to talk to them!"
However, while they dig everyone else can feel that something like a blanket that lifts up off of them all as the innocent man's blood is shed proverbially and literally as the body will soon to be doing what bodies do when they die. It leaves everyone present with a sense of renewed urgency.
That cold emanating from the ground makes Caelum eager to stand back up. He does so with a grimace - and a shove of the head that landed atop him, to push the lifeless body away. It seems he overestimated himself a little, given how he stares at his hand, and clenches and unclenches his fist - like he didn't just take a life. Maybe it's such a common occurance, it simply became mundane for him. It's the crew jolting to work that pulls him out of his head, and narrow eyes regard the group again - but he's soon staring down almost uneasily once more. "Something feels wrong.."
Cailyn says "You think?!"
Sarah grimaces, mouth ajar, as one of the men is sent flying - crashing, and dying. She runs a few calculations through her head, rapidly, then nods to herself, paling. She stares at that corpse, as if considering something. "...Not someone anyone else here could pass for." Sarah decides with a clack of her tongue. She's then grabbing her blowgun, scanning around the graveyard. "...Cailyn, see if there is anything, preferably well away from us, that you could set aflame if there's a need to. Having to call on the fire brigade opposed to handling things themselves could buy us precious time." Sarah suggests to the woman, then raising her hand. "Exactly /what/ feels wrong? There's no spirits I am seeing..." Sarah murmurs, then trying to focus her eyes. Was she /trying/ not to see them?
Cailyn lets out a huff at Sarah's orders, but she obeys. Lifting her glasses from her eyes, she scans the surroundings. "I did not think I was going to be burying anyone today..."
Caelum gives a slight, noncomittal shrug towards Cailyn, brows raised - entirely innocent. But it's fleeting. He can't bring himself to joke or jest towards Cailyn, or regard Angelique's anger. Instead, he folds his arms atop the tombstone he just killed a man with, and squints at the ground. "I don't know what's wrong. I just.. feel like something is."
"We are in a graveyard full of the dead," Angelique reminds her companions, while bitchily snapping, every so often at the crew to hurry up, in both English and Spanish. "Things are very wrong." She probably doesn't sense what Caelum does though, she's just paranoid and perhaps a bit superstitious. Having chosen for herself the task of hurrying others up, she continues that.
Angelique is sorry but will be as fast as possible.
"You /just/ spilled blood atop a grave of someone's in New Orleans- There's probably some magic at work now," Cailyn claims to Caelum with a grumble. "Can you like- Let /us/ handle that next time? Please?"
Well those workers don't need Angelique snapping at them to be working quickly, they seem to know the stakes moreso than the others that are gathered here right now. Cailyn proceeds to yell at Caelum while those two are bickering the doctor of the group is looking about with her blowgun. For Caelum - that wrongness it's like being exposed. That sense of things being too easy - that's gone. The feel of the clock ticking almost thunders in the back of his head here.
"There will be time for discussions later." Sarah tells Cailyn in an impassive tone, stealing a glance at someone, "...I am tempted to call in Roberts, but if this is going to be occult, he won't be of much use." Sarah shares as she stretches her neck. "...We get the bones and path out before anyone - or anything - comes to us, and all will be well." Because, of course, that's how these things are likely to go.
"There will be time for discussions later." Sarah tells Cailyn in an impassive tone, stealing a glance at Caelum, "...I am tempted to call in Roberts, but if this is going to be occult, he won't be of much use." Sarah shares as she stretches her neck. "...We get the bones and path out before anyone - or anything - comes to us, and all will be well."
"Sure," Caelum agrees. Too easily. Far too easily. It shouldn't be this easy for this man to relent while he shoots a sideway look at Cailyn. The smirk he flashes is fanged viciously so. "I won't lift a hand on the next thing." Then he keeps himself comfortable. Perhaps the cold, winter night here is cumbersome to others, in the graveyard, but he probably feels like he belongs. Or would, if not that his castaway expression once more fell in the lingering feeling. It makes him swallow thickly, and his throat moves slowly. "I think we should be much faster. I feel exposed, its strange."
"Yes, please... Quick," Cailyn agrees with Caelum, glancing towards Angelique and the crew. Her worried and frankly scared gaze softens some when she turns it upon Sarah, and she murmurs. "If we can drag the body away- I can burn it. It's not a burial, but..."
Tick tock, tick tock. That feeling only grows stronger and more ominous to Caelum and Caelum only as the seconds pass. Minutes pass ... and each one that comes is like an agonizing stretch of time that comes with each one that DOES pass. Finally, after about five to ten minutes the work crew with hit a THUD as they make the coffin. It is of course, sealed but it's not banded with iron or padlocks or anything at least. New voices can be heard off in the distance. Many of them.
Caelum seems to grow increasingly more agitated where he is. Shifting in place, chewing on the corner of his thumb - staring into the distance. It's an unusual thing. Not rooted in nervousness, but some other kind of compulsion. During their wait, he had even left his place to grab the corpse and haul it away to Cailyn's request. And then, the THUD. He bounds away from the tombstone. Relatively normal in his storming pace still, but he displaces quite a few workers to reach the hole - then jump down. His only pause is to snatch a shovel from one of them; likely intending to use it to try and unseal it by brute force.
"You'll have plenty of time to worry about the dead once we finish here." Sarah states firmly to Cailyn, "I wonder what's so special about these bones. Or this graveyard. Local voodoo family or not..." The doctor wonders a little late, her arms crossed.
Now there's somebody who's itching to put himself into motion. Jumping down into the hole, he'll start working at the coffin lid, but it'll take him the shovel and some prying to start working at it, no great feats of strength as of yet hiding within the undead fellow. Meanwhile those voices they can hear? Those are coming closer and it sounds like at least a dozen. Best guess? A minute perhaps before things are about to get REALLY dicey.
"I-" Cailyn cuts herself off, frowning as she looks between Sarah and the body, clearly conflicted. "Yes, love," she murmurs before looking over her shoulder. "How we looking? They're almost here... And I don't think the GenTek thing will work this time."
Angelique grits her teeth when the sounds of men working isn't enough to hide the sounds of more feet approaching. "Mierda," she mutters beneath her breath, then shakes her head in agreement with Cailyn. "Pero..." she says, and turns back to the already hypnotized groundskeeper that's helping. "Perhaps I can get him to support it. The other one... the dead one? That is going to be more of a problem. Can we hide it?" She looks over to Caelum and asks, "Can you push it away, si? Behind another stone, far enough to look unrelated?"
Meanwhile Caelum has to split his concentration now between what feels like a massive headache beginning to start its way behind his eyes and his attempt to open that coffin. Something tells HIm that whoever's on approach isn't going to be in the talking mood.
We're gonna try and wrap this up here for you guys pretty shortly, as we make it through the climax here!
Sparks, then sounds of bashes. Out of sight, out of mind, there is a snarl heralding annoyance from the hole Caelum harbors. Was that him? A shovel shoves up on the top after a second, hands following - then Caelum' head pops up and he half-climbs. "No, screw that - they're not coming to talk." How does he know? Who knows. Yet something is off about him - one eye half-squeezed shut in what appears to be a painful migraine. Then, before he sinks back into that hole to keep trying to push a wedge into the coffin with a shovel, he grabs two workers by the sleeves, and pulls them in with him, urging on as many as would fit, too. Topped with a growl, no less; "Work!"
Well, when Caelum takes over her job of demanding more than the workers can possibly give, Angelique can only smirk. The vampire's suffering, the exhaustion of the men digging at such a rapid pace, and everyone else's worry has her spiralling into a moment of pleasure that leaves her a bit more relaxed. Not entirely though. Instead, she wonders, "If you can get it out of the ground, let's just take the whole coffin through the path, si?"
"Tricking one is one thing, but tricking a whole group?" Sarah grimaces, then furrowing her brow at Caelum seems oh-so-sure this isn't going to be a peaceful solution. She glances at Angelique, then nodding. "Perhaps start preparing that path, Inigo." She suggests as she starts stretching her legs, seeming to be preparing herself for a run, blowgun in hand. "I should have brought Roberts. Or had him path here when we had time." Sarah reflects as she does, eyes fixed on the direction of those voices.
That young man is really being effected by whatever seems to be impressing itself as these voices approach, and they're just around the corner now. Angelique makes the suggestion, though this may only be serviceable if someone here can lift about 800 pounds! Now though, there's the sound of cracking wood. At last, Caelum manages to get through the lid of the coffin! More work will reveal the bones of the body held within. If anybody had bothered to check the dates on the headstone they might've noted that the body would be almost two hundred years old - and so it's just bones inside the coffin here. It also explains why the coffin is so sturdy! But now they've got access.
Cailyn looks to Sarah and nods, dipping down to stretch her legs, flexing against the tight denim of her jeans. "Seems like pathing is the best bet," she murmurs, "I should have just started burning the damn coffin."
Over the hill comes what looks like a mob of people in the two dozen range - and the flicker of flashlights and the like come with them. The entire crowd is black, or mixed and they're led by a man who looks as wide as he does tall. There's yelling and theat mob of people are fixing to start storming their way toward the group now!
Delay, delay, pressure. It's like Caelum' head is trapped in a metal vice, slowly being turned shut to squeeze his brains out. In agony, he's less human than he lets on. Those eyes, wrought with pain and narrow as slits, display on the gold-yellow sheen ringing his sight, and every breath leaving his lips does through a mouthful of fangs that shies away quite a few of the workers out of the hole. Then comes more sound, bashing, repeatedly, with cracks and crackles, as well as planks. At last, he kneels atop the thing, and shrugs out of his jacket to splay it out across the ground. Two-hundred years old or not, Caelum starts too shovel armfuls of bone, dust, dirt, anything and everything inside his leather jacket, which he'll soon tie up in a makeshift knapsack. Poor, poor jacket.
Who worries themselves over the weights of coffins? But as Caelum breaks thorugh and the group is able to scavenge the bones, Angelique takes a small step forward, toward the mob that's heading down the hill. Either she thinks she can handle this, or she's trying to give that impression. Pasting a social smile onto her lips, she calls out, "Hola!" though behind the facade, she's most assuredly working to rip open that veil between this real and the next.
This realm* Angelique means.
It's definitely an unorthadox approach to the situation, but Angelique is displaying some serious brass balls right now. She's stepping forward and putting herself out on the spot while Caelum is in that hole scooping up bones - the rest kind of hanging back to avoid too much scrutiny for the time being. Now then - at least it's dark. That the headstone has been smashed is evident enough if they're going to try and hide things but at least they won't be able to tell right away that they've dug up the grave itself. "Who's that? Levon, who's that? Who's the girl, Levon?" The words are coming from everyone in the group, and they all look to the semi-giant of a man. Six feet and three inches, he must weigh nearby three hundred pounds. Even a the man looks to open his mouth there's a sudden sense of doubt that can be seen crossing his dark features. The conversation is easy enough to listen to as it begins, not a lot of sound to be had but for perhaps the growling and fang-y aggrivations of Caelum in the hole. "Who are you?" Comes a booming bass voice eventually, "You come to pay a price, desecrating our family plot! Who are you?"
It's only that doubt that crosses his face that causes the man to take the time to wonder about Angelique's identity, and the quick thinking of Sarah will play it's part here now as Angelique looks to capitalize. In the commotion ... what's Cailyn up to?
Sarah furrows her brow, staring at the giant of a man, seeming to be concentrating on something. She positions herself diagonally behind Angelique from the men, keeping her stare fixed yet trying to stay well away from attention. "This path better come soon..." Sarah murmurs, tense, her hands pale as they grip onto her weapon. She doesn't seem to think it a fight they can win, at least. Yet she straightens herself as well as she can.
"Levon, si?" Angelique asks, having gained the name from the rumblings of the crowd, though she holds up pretty, very clean, very manicured hands in a gesture of innocence. "No, senor," she assures softly. "My friends and I? We arrived just as a group was -leaving-, si? I think they took something from a grave though," she lies with the sweetest of smiles that turns ever so slightly concerned. "Su familia? Dios mio," she murmurs, seeking to catch the giant fellow's eye, as she'd earlier done with the groundskeeper. It's definitely a risk, while trying to work the pathing magic, but she takes it.
Cailyn glances between Sarah and Angelique before taking a deep breath and stepping over towards Angelique to help with the crowd of people. She adjusts her glasses- Pushing them up along the bridge of her nose before speaking up- Well, she was about to before Angelique talks.
Angelique can rescind hers!
Caelum is happily (in pain) gathering up all the bones. Provided he doesn't scoop up anything odd, the jacket is already bound six ways to sunday and held up. While a commotion hasn't broken out just yet outside, he's helped out by the workers who let go of him just as fast as they help him out. Perhaps somewhat subtly, his jacket is showed into his helmet once he's out of the hole, and he takes a hold of it, to carry it as a.. container of sorts - one that no one would think to have bones in it. Not long after that, he pops out of the woodwork between Sarah and Angelique, caked up in dirt and grime and likely some dusty pieces of ancestry. He has that thousand yard stare, simply staring.
It's probably for the best that Cailyn doesn't talk, to be fair.
Splitting attention can be a risk, but Angelique's taking it. The first part of it seems to hold with the larger man, as she offers every reason to believe that she at the very least might not have anything to do with the group at large here. BUt two groups in one place, no make it three with the veritable gang mob that Levon's brought with him as well? It's a tough sell. "Our Patriarch, ..." there's a tense moment ... but it's not enough. "An' you all gonna die!" There's a roar from the man and it behooves Angelique to step back as he seems ready to charge like a bull! The rest of the mob is all caught up in that cause as well because they're moving forward all as one! Angelique can feel those tendrils beginning to coalesce around her in a more physical sense - but it's going to be close!
// Alright! My intent is to have the path show up just in time, and for a lot of bullets to be fired in your direction. Cailyn and Angelique have Fast Reflexes and can feasibly avoid a mild wound here. Sarah and Caelum do not, but only Sarah of the two would be really feeling that gunshot as a potential wound. I won't be passing out any mechanical wounds but keep this in mind if you wouldn't mind as you guys pose your escape here!
Yes! Anyone who wants to take the hit for one of the others is welcome to!
Did that work correct?
She's a dancer, not a gymnast, but Angelique does her best to slide out of the way, dodging to the side in the same direction as she's working to pull on those tendrils. Tearing it open, metaphysically, to let herself fall in, though hopefully not in a way that's terribly obvious and would lead to the mob, or any part of it, following her. "Vamonos! Hurry!" she shouts, trying to call the others to her - at least the trio of Sarah, Caelum, and Cailyn that she's been working with. The others? Reasonable losses, in her mind, even if not in Deacon's.
"Fuck!" Cailyn yells out in alarm as she turns about and sprints- Not to where the path may be- But straight for Sarah. The doctor seems to be the redhead's priority, and she doesn't seem to care if she's the one taking the bullet.
"Ah!" Caelum, quite comically out of it at this point, in a pain-addled mind, jumps up at the gunshots that rain down on them. His main concern seems to be keeping the helmet, holding the leather wrapped bones safe and cushioned inside - and he turns away with it after Angelique. The bullets that whistle past catch him on the thigh, the shoulder - really, anywhere appropraite - all as he 'accidentally' shoves himself into Cailyn jumping for Sarah, and really - he's eating up all the bullets and still hauling, "Go, go!" with the intention to usher the final two women inside, while falling in after them both. The workers? Poor workers. Anyways.
"So much for negotiation tactics." Sarah grumbles before tapping something on the armor beneath her suit. Activating something. A smirk forms on her face as Angelique manages to create a path. At the start seems almost casual in the way she starts to sprint towards the path at incredible speed, giving pause as called to, glancing at Cailyn, her eyes widening. "For the love of-" she hisses, then she's grabbing for Cailyn, jerking her roughly to - and into - the path, visibly straining to manage that speed with the extra weight.
And so it's through another play of luck as much as skill that sees Caelum, Cailyn, Sarah and Angelique falling their way onto that shadowy path that will lead them home. THe path closes behind once they're in but it is its own sense of horror, how close Angelique especially will come to finding herself teetering on the edge of that path ... the unknown endless void the only promise beyond. The workers are all left behind to suffer the wrath of the Beauforts or to be interrogated, either way this group at the very least will find themselves safe. Caelum soaks up the bullets but they don't effect him, and Cailyn takes one in the shoulder despite the undead man pushing at her to try and take the heat Terminator-style. It's a slow breath once they're safe but of all of them, it's the Vampire that feels more than anything that he's just narrowly escaped a fate far worse than Final Death or torpor. Unwilling service to a master of the dead.
OOC: Thank you guys so much for participating today! Cailyn takes the wound but I think it's Angelique who gets the Award today because they really went above and beyond - doing their job while on mission and putting themself int the line of danger for the sake of the group! Special Shout-outs to Caelum for making some Trouble and getting the group into some shit!