forum vita post mortem | sci-fi vampire rp

Started October 15, 2022 by @knightinadream group

tune

Lucy purses her lips as she stares down the oldest vampire. My handwriting is too poor for this simple task! Bullshit. A guy like this has to have the biggest ego ever, and a giant ego like that without a doubt extends to his handwriting. Her palm aches to slap down on the table–her eyes flick to the mirror–but her superior is watching. No matter what her temper wants, Lucy values her job more. Nevertheless, she pushes the clipboard and pen over to Averill.

"Fine, then just tell us what you know about them." This detective forensics dude has to have some sort of recording device on him. Isn't that what guys like him do? They have a funky pen with a recorder in the clicker and that's how they catch criminals. (Or that might've been something she saw on TV as a child during her many afternoons home alone.) She eyes Averill next to her, the man still standing next to her. She doesn't like how tall he is.

He raised an eyebrow at Narciso's words, but decided not to fight the older vampire on this. It wasn't worth it. He took the clipboard and pen when Lucy pushed them over to him, opening the pen up and preparing to write. He knew how to write fast and write neat, often utilizing shorthand. Before recording devices for playback purposes, the only way to record things had been by hand, fast, as someone spoke. He had had a century and a half to practice it.

"Alright." he drew the word out, finally sitting down so that it would be easier for him to write. "Tell me about them, then. Names, dates, any information you know." He wrote down "1", in preparation for Narciso to begin talking. His handwriting was neat, but old-fashioned, his cursive the kind that Lucy might have seen had she read something written by her great-grandmother. Looping, easy, and almost delicate, flowing out from his hand with a lot of practice behind it. He barely looked at the paper, instead keeping his gaze on Narciso.

As long as this will get him out of here one way or another; that's all that matters to him. It would also be nice to get away from these two, yet he think he could manage. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, right? He sighed then reluctantly nodded his head. "Fine, let's get this over with."

He sat the photos out into two rows of five in front of him, but he didn't start right away. The silent passing of time was not on purpose though. Narciso had to stare at the pictures, letting the imaginary dust and cobwebs disappear from his mind. Hey. For some of these bastards, he hasn't seen them in years and for good reason too. Finally, he pointed at the first picture.

"Andreas Kohler: probably 163 years old, former Phantasma, was a current Crimson Sect member, goes to those balls and parties run by the wealthy, he tried to rebel against Crimson Sect a few times and is too prideful for his own good. Then that one's Dominik Lehr: same as the last idiot. Those two were like peas in a pod; I think they considered themselves soulmates or whatever. Third is Ivana Novak: 130 years old I think, was part of Phantasma, arrested, was invited to join Crimson Sect but was heavily against joining. She was always around those clubs downtown though."

When he was finished with those three, he pushed their pictures out of the way. His finger pointed at the next one. "No one ever really knew his name, but everyone called him Gio. Some forty year old vamp from southern Russia. He was part of Crimson Sect since their beginning, then started to become a wire to the police. They threw him out a year ago. Same thing with Farah Zaman, but I though they fled to Turkey or something. Farah never stayed in one place, but was always loyal to the secret society. I say 'was' lightly."

"The last vampire is Berto Bellini or something." He squinted his eyes at the photo. "He had no ties to Phantasma nor Crimson Sect. I don't why he's in with the rest of these. Berto is actually a decent vamp; he has or had a lot of human friends. Some of them are over there." Narciso pointed at the remaining pictures. "Oliver Lehis, Jasper Suh, and Mia Charbonneau. Those three are just humans. I think Oliver and Mia are twenty-six while Jasper has to be almost thirty. They work in that symphony hall by Seward Street. That's how they met Berto cause the vamp loves theater and music."

Though the manner being useless, he took a deep breath. He stared at Av then at Lucy. "There. Happy?"

(I'm so sorry I forgot I had this one to reply to–)

With a clenched jaw, Lucy takes in all of the names and stores them in the back of her mind. She didn't spend her formative years memorizing thousands of influencer tips for nothing. Thanks to that, things rarely fly over her head. Things rarely escape her memory. With a click of her gum, Lucy sorts the names and brief descriptions away in her mind in neat, color-coded piles. None of the vampires' faces look familiar to her, but that's to be expected with how young and new to the game she is. Her temple temporarily bulges as her teeth grind together. You're not useless, goddamnit.

"How do you know Bellini?" She asks, reaching a manicured black talon over to tap on his face. "If he's not associated with the Crimson Sect and if you've been locked up here for the past ten years, what's the connection?" She squints through her mascara-heavy lashes before moving her hand to spread the pictures of the three humans with the pads of her fingers.

"And if Oliver, Mia, and Jasper are all humans, they would've had to be around sixteen and twenty when you first heard their names, no?" Unless Narciso was hanging around a high school before he was incarcerated, a lot of it could be lies. (Or simply muddled truths from being locked up for so long.) Some of the pieces don't add up. Lucy will not be taking this bullshit at her impromptu interrogation.

Av's brows twitched as she spoke. She wasn't doing too bad, for a complete newbie who hadn't previously been associated with investigatory things. Her tone was slightly too accusatory for his taste, but it seemed to serve her well. He had a feeling that telling her to tone it back would not go over well. Plus, getting a rise out of Narciso, if that was possible, could serve them well. If they managed to get the old vamp's feathers ruffled, well, who knew what could happen? It would certainly tell them a lot about Narciso's disposition.

He ran a hand through his hair, making sure he had written everything down accurately. He had, luckily enough, so he just went in and cleaned it up a bit, making a few little notes of his own in the margins. He was always careful to mark his own notes as speculation, so that when he read them back later, he would not mess up and think his notes were part of the recorded facts. He had been doing this a long time, and while he could have typed this all up, he preferred the tactile feeling of the paper and pen. Preferred to have his notes in paper form. Later, he would read them aloud to a recording device and play them back, just to listen to the information again from a neutral source, rather than from the mouth of a witness. Tone of voice could distort so much.

He tapped the end of the pen on the paper for just a moment, then stopped the action. It was distracting, and they needed the vampire to focus, not get irritated by an absent little motion like that.

Reclining back into the chair, he grimaced at Lucy. His mood soured if it hadn't been already. Narciso brushed his face off then looked away. Only staring at his reflection seemed to be the only thing that can save his sanity. Well, that and the thought of somehow escaping. Oh the thought of escape…..

"We met at an art exhibit….and we dated before you idiots dragged me here," Narciso mumbled the last part. "Hmmm…I saw him preform in a ballet show before we actually met….Oh Dio…You get my point."

He thought about the ages for a second. "Yes." But it beats him. All he knew was that they were friends of Berto and he had to accept their presence because they're Berto's friends. "I didn't care much about them. Humans, especially the younger ones, who hang with vampires at clubs are stupid. I only cared about Berto." He rested his fist under his chin, looking down at his feet. They swayed a little, sliding against the floor. He forced them to stop.

The clicking of a pen caused his chin to shoot up and turn in the direction of the sound. He stared at Av then tilted his head. So is this one not going to talk? His head snapped back up, but he glanced away from the two of them.

Ex-boyfriend, ex-boyfriend's child friends, a lack of empathy for everyone except for the ex-boyfriend. Lucy scrunches her nose at the new information and stores it away in her brain. The vampire sitting across from her is clearly not fully clear in the memory-department. She supposes the same four walls, ceiling and floor will do that to a man if he's stuck in them for ten years.

She draws in a breath, clicking her nails on the table before adjusting her back. Her spine shifts uncomfortably as she attempts to sit straight. (Damned shape wear Lucy wore in the seventh grade. She should've known better. Should've ignored the advice, should've said no, should've never stolen that credit card to buy it.) Can vampires get surgery to fix a warped spine? Or is she just cursed to reside in her eighteen year and three day old body for eternity?

"Does his disappearance upset you?" Lucy inquires, dropping just the right amount of acid into her tone. Maybe she's distracting her toxic thoughts by pressing them onto another, perhaps she's just trying to get leverage for Narciso to hand out more information. "Like you said, seems to be a decent man."

(hi hello i forgot about this–)
(I'm so so sorry)

Av continued to sit, silent and letting Lucy continue this interrogation for a moment. It was interesting, watching the responses. The back and forth between an 18 year old and the older vampire. The contrast. Lucy, still energetic and short-sighted like any newer vampire, and Narciso, old and supposedly wiser, being questioned by someone centuries his junior. He did notice the instant response to the pen, but did not tap it again. Narciso's response was interesting. It had been almost too fast, for how little stimulation that noise actually was.

He shifted forward in his seat, studying Narciso. "Now, where is Berto now?" he asked. "Or, at least, the last time that you knew of him?" he knew Narciso had been in here for years, but he wanted to know what Narciso would say. Especially with Berto's disappearance. Perhaps. He could not remember if Lucy had actually been told that some of the photos in the stack were completely unrelated to the case. In which case…ah, Narciso would be furious if he was misled. Which could work in their favor. So Av didn't say anything about that, letting Lucy continue with her words. If she had been informed, wonderful. If she had not…well, that would only make it better. She would believe what she was saying, which would mean there would be no trace of a lie anywhere in her words or in her tone.