Vampire: The Masquerade IC (Don't forget your hat!)

"Oh no, this wonderful man has just agreed to be our bodyguard on our trip to Athens.. The pet distracted him for awhile." He turned and smiled. "You look stunning in that gown, Kataryna.. You really do. It suits you." He moved to her, wrapping his arm around her waist gently. "So don't worry.. The pet will of course keep him busy unless she feels we need to leave. They've got this really interesting way of telling when shit's about to hit the fan.."

Asia saw no reason to remove her gaze from the television during the brief argument, and was content to sit cross-legged, leaning forward slightly, as she mumbled ambiguous phrases. The program had ended, and she was currently watching a commercial for a credit card, but Asia found the material no less fascinating or revolting. Shouldn't they know? How slow. How slow.

She began to bob her head slightly as the commercial changed and an upbeat jingle played.

He noticed their - for the generalising term - pet Malkavian. This brought on a memory. The smell of Venice's waters, lapping up at the canals. He had been young, 18, and flirting with a woman in the dark of night. A pale woman; beauty. Almost blood-red hair. Then, years later, he had been turned by this exact same woman. Probably why he felt such a primal attraction to Kat.

He snapped out of his trance and looked towards the Malkavian bobbing her head. "You okay over there, little darling? Should we head for the skies oh so high or stay on land, being bland, for days and days, days and days?"

Smiling softly, she made her way over to the girl, sitting down beside her and putting an arm around her shoulders. "If you can find the meaning, yes the meaning, then why is your speech at the level of a peach?" She rolled her eyes secretly, rhyming was never something she enjoyed.

Watching carefully he kept an eye on the Assamite; like it or not, Kat was a piece of eyecandy and he was a neonate. AND a man at that. He'd have to be cautious over this person. A stranger, working for pay.. Only trust could be built by money in this case. "Love, careful with that way of walking you have."

Asia turned to face Kat and grinned widely, her eyes still obscured by her hair. "Fruit is good conversation, if you'd only ask the mouth! Down south, we go, down south we go and you all know more than I, aye."

With this, she resumed watching television. "The dead man, red sands, needn't concern themselves with trickling down every which way, today. The dead man needn't concern himself! Why not finally? Why not finally?"

She nodded, feigning understanding. Her hand slowly moved from the girl's shoulders to her hand. An annoying necessity, like resorting to poor blood. She took the moment to try and define some meaning from her words. "Dead man, red sands... not finally... Okay, dead rising, blood, perhaps sands of time... Not long until the rising dead brings blood..."

"Down south..? To hell? Dead man.. You think she's talking about Caine..?" His interpretation was poor, but he did his best to attempt with this malkavian, and in the end that was the best any individual could do. "Red sands.. The sands were blood lie. Supposedly at this time the Middle East; and Jerusalem IS a supposed resting place for Malkav.. Forget it. We'll depart.. I don't like this.. It worries me.."

She nodded. "I'll change, in private." Patting the girl's knee, she stood up and returned to the room, closing the door before changing into her brown outfit. She returned to the room, fixing her hair so it wasn't as wild as usual. "Alright, I'm ready when you are."

He had slowly slid down the wall until he was sitting with head drooping, almost in that state where you dream an don't know ehat's real or not. He looked up. "Where'd the rum gone?"

"The rum, captain Sparrow, is onboard a plane. Which is where we'll be going. Come along children, the limo's here and we don't want the driver waiting too long or he'll get quite angry." He smiled at opened the door, leading Asia, Kat and Twitch out the door to a long stretch limo, locking up the front door. "We may arrive a bit later so it might actually be daytime when we get there. I've coffins on the plane if you wish."

"Jack Sparrow? Wha- Oh, I was dreaming. Okay. So we're going where, exactly? Obviously somewhere foreign, you said plane, oh my god I can't wait to go!" He hadn't been this excited for a long time. SMall towns were boring. But now...

"Athens. A temple to Aphrodite. We believe the first Toreador was there.." He crossed his arms and waved his lover, pet and employee in before sliding into the car and slamming the door shut. "Champagne anyone? Not you dear, you get applejuice.." He was referring to Asia with this comment.

"Yes please, sir." Athens. Sounded lovely. Seeing the temples, and the history and all the good fun to be had. On th other hand, Europe never really was his thing. What with the socialism and huge amounts of middle asterners, It could also b pretty bad.

She stretched out in her seat, running her hand along the seats. She still had her doubts about the stranger, but chose not to voice them. "As long as I don't get knocked about while they load the coffins onto the plane." She glanced out the window. "I hope the cover story isn't too... exposing."

"Cover story? We're going onto a private jet... When we're there you all can visit museums. Medusa, Zeus, Artemis, Athena.. All kinds of stuff to study in Greece and we don't have to leave immediately from the area. Athens is beautiful..." He passed the champagne around, giving Asia her little box of apple juice. "Hmph.. Coffins are fine.. It's a plane so we can't really close the windows.. We can try blinds but we'll need sleep, and it's comfortable.." He breathed out a sigh and placed his hand down on the leather interior. Fancy, of course, nothing less for the wonders of Giovanni money.

She ducked her head, shaking it in embarrassment. Why did she have to open her mouth and make a fool of herself? "Works for me..." She leaned her head towards the frame of the car to try and rest a bit more. Flying wasn't exactly her favourite past time.

He looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "Don't worry, I just stated we were flying.. It's not your fault. Now.. You need to be prepared for the anguish you'll have." He thought in his mind. Her previous statement.. The clan of beauty and the clan of death.. united..? Maybe he should.. No. He couldn't do that. The family'd hate him.

She glanced at the two strangers for a moment. "I guess I wasn't expecting company during your... rundown of what I have to do..." Needless to say she wasn't comfortable with them listening in, especially the Assamite.

He sighed. "Now now love, the pet won't do anything and this little assassin will do as he's told. With us alive he gets payed 10k. With us attacked or dead, he gets hunted down til he's turned to ash in the morning sunlight. You get my point? So don't worry."

She shuffled uncomfortably. "Still..." She looked up towards the other end of the limo. A screen with accompanying DVD player was fixed into one of the sides. Tapping the girl's shoulder, she pointed to the screen and hoped she would be on her way. The Assamite she'd just have to put up with. Although the idea of him watching her every reaction didn't appeal at all.

He slid to the far end of the limo, motioning for Kat to follow him. When they were together, he pulled up a small dressing screen he had for when he had slept in the limo; the tinted windows forbade light from passing through either side, so often this provided a safe shelter. "Now... If you want we can discuss strategy.. He's a neonate and can't move out of his average physical abilities but you and I are very valid fighters..."

She nodded her head, tilting her hand slightly. "Give me a pair of knives and a room of thugs, I can take them easy." She rested her head on his shoulder, taking the moment to relax herself again. "Okay, how is this going to work exactly? Will there be guards? And what if she grabs me while I'm feeding? I won't be able to stop once I've started."

"Most likely there will be pathetic neonates and ghouls; people she's keeping to protect herself from the wrath of OTHER antediluvians. But we can handle most of those no problem. It's her that's the main worry. How's your grasp of Celerity? If I'm in a lock with her you could be able to run up and start draining her as swiftly as possible."

She sucked at her lids in contempt. "I can't say I'd win any medals for it, but I guess it's good enough." She pulled up the cuffs of her jacket, twisting her neck to relieve some of the cramp forming."