Umbra Noctis - Tavern/Club RP

She shook slightly. "W-we're a symbiote now... A-and no, t-they're still at large..."

Quill turned away, rattling in shame and fear, and vanished down into the wine cellar.

The young girl could only notices Quill's departure. She didn't peeked in what seemed a private convertation but now she regret it, seeing the face the mage had.
"Does she... go well?" she inquired to Sorano, not even wondering if she should feel concerned by this.

"Good to know!". The ogre didn't notice Telu's feeling, or feint to at very least. Carrying the plate for his friend upstair, he leaves her here.

Silly girl... Katarina thought, getting up from her chair with a soft sigh of minor exasperation. She walked towards the bar counter to follow the symbiotic mage, though was halted by Sorano standing in her way. "What assurance do you need from me now?"

"That you won't hurt her in any way," Sorano replied coolly. Katarina rolled her eyes.
"I intend no permanent harm. If anyone, I'm the one who has to worry about getting hurt. Let me by, clerk." The Felix gave the vampiress a warning look, then permitted her to follow Quill into the cellar.
"I don't know, Maybelle. I've never seen her look like that before. Last time, I left it alone," Sorano muttered to the girl, shrugging as the trap door closed. "I just hope neither she nor the humanoid parasite kill each other." The trap door popped back up and shut abruptly, startling the Felix girl and likely whomever else in the vicinity. From just below, Kat's muffled voice called,
"I heard that, dragon girl!"

Shaking her head, Katarina walked deeper into the cellar. Humanoid parasite, indeed. She would not announce her presence to the mage, as she was wont to do. Quill would either hear her or sense her, or she wouldn't.

In the kitchen, motherly Telu began to wonder how the mercenaries were doing. Especially that one that had caused the big ruckus earlier with his wound and all. She knew the big one and one other were upstairs, but the others, she wasn't sure.

It was dark in the cellar. Far darker than it should be. A scratchy, damaged voice drifted out of the racks.

"I can feel you, haemovore... What do you want from this tormented soul?"

"As I should have expected," Katarina replied, hands in pockets and using her night vision to the best of her ability. If the darkness was caused by anything other than shadow and absence of light, it would hinder her. Night vision was only good for natural light and darkness changes. Though, her nose and empath abilities would guide her if her eyes failed.

"First, let me say that my intentions are not evil. If you don't want me closer, I'll stop here," she said, pausing her step. "All I want is information. Whether you're willing to give it to me or not is your choice. To start... Why run? The staff up above seem rather comfortable around you in spite of your condition."

Katarina could about make out the hunched figure of Quill's robe in one corner, but the reason for the cellar's blackness is fairly quickly apparent. The vines have covered everything, with a moving clear spot around Kat's feet.

"She is afraid. She hasn't perfect control over us. She doesn't want to hurt you, and we always awaken when she feels threatened, physically or mentally."

"So it really is more than one consciousness in that body..." Kat mused, a slight smile of understanding tugging at the corner of her mouth. Though, the fact that the vines themselves had their own mind concerned her, if only due to her self-preservation instinct. "I see. So, tell me, if you will, what is perceived as a threat from my person. I will, of course, reciprocate if necessary."

The ancient was trying to gauge what she should and should not do. After all, even one who has died once already can still be bothered by the notion of permanent death or irreparable damage.

"Well... I... suppose everything will go fine between these two...". She sounded reassuring. Like, she has her instinct telling her "Everything is fine". She is usually right about this. Not always, but... most of the time.
"But, Sorano... I wonder if there is anything I could do to help... I cannot help but think that we're not over with trouble here.". This time, she deeply hoped she was wrong, but...

The two mercenaries are now with the child in their room, as the ogre delivered the man his dinner. Their door is closed, but not locked. They seems to be talking to each other.

"Harm to our host, or us. She feeds us, we protect her. She fears the spring, though, as then we try to spread."

Phoenix would approach Maybelle and Sorano. "We'll be fine. C'mon, we fought this lot off, didn't we?"

A reassured smile comes across her face: "Yes. And next time, if it happen again, I will help you. I swear. I may not fight, but I know one or two things.". The excitation can be felt around easily... you can even see her toes swinging in her shoes!

Katarina's knowing smile merged with a casual business smile, and she nodded. "I can figure as much. And trust that I will do no harm without provocation," she said. She glanced around the cellar, then took a step forward as an experiment, to see if the vines would move to clear another spot for her foot. "Well, to get right to the point, I followed you down here to assure you, Quill, if you're paying attention, that there's no reason to fear for yourself or feel threatened. I can tell that much just from standing this close to you."

Sorano looked at Maybelle and smiled a bit.
"The more of us there are to defend this place and its people, the better. And Phoenix is right, we'll be fine. As for those two, there's more to both of them than meets the eye, so... I think they'll behave themselves," she said.

Quill nodded. "We-" The vines twitch, moving out of the way. "She-" Quill thumps the floor. "I understand..."

She slowly stands up as the vines retreat into her cloak, and she turns to Katarina. "Surely... You understand my feelings, though... Please don't tell them what's under these robes..."

The ancient nodded. "That I do. I'm an empath, for one. And," she added, chuckling lightly, "I know too well what it's like to hide oneself and one's condition from the rest of the world. True vampirism being quite underground, as it were."

Back up on the couch in the main lobby, Soren turned over and opened her eyes. She yawned and stretched, sitting up and looking around the room. Looks like a few people left or something. She leaned back, deciding to stay put for a moment and maybe channel a bit of mana.

Quill would hesitantly walk back upstairs, looking around at all present in fear.

At the pulling of power from the vicinity, Void would start, with a winding up of gears, and then relax as he saw it was Soren.

Upon the opening of the trap door, Sorano would instinctively look down at it. She at first looked nervous, but relaxed and smiled as she saw both Quill and Kat come back up from the cellar.
"I was a bit worried one of you two would come back up either ripped apart or bleeding out. I'm glad it's neither."

"You give us way too much credit, Felix girl," Kat replied with a brief grin before sitting down. "I see you're awake, blood mage," she said as she went back to her chair. The hemocryomancer looked up and waved.

"Yeah. I feel a bit better. I just gotta refill my mana stock."

Quill looked around, picked up a mop and began to clean the floor. "Oh, it could have been messy. I'm glad it's autumn..."


Void would look up at the arrivals and watch those walking around while he created little blue translucent cubes, which would glow inside.

"Indeed," Kat muttered. Sorano just looked confused for a little bit, trying to make sense of the 'glad it is autumn' sentiment. She knew about the vines, but nowhere near the extent that Katarina did. What does autumn have to do with how what happened down there being messy? she thought. She would probably arrive at some conclusion later.

((And I'm completely empty on what else to do other than [re]introduce a character. ._.;; ))

Quill would get on with her job, until a massive "foosh" could be heard outside, along with a familiar sounding, but lower pitched and louder, bell-like ticking, as the door was struck three time.

At the first sound, Sorano, Kat, and Soren all turned to look towards the door. Telu peeked out of the kitchen.

"What in the great briny blue was that?" she asked. Sorano shrugged and went out from behind the counter to go answer the door. Kat and Soren both looked to Void. Soren, being a mage, and one possibly pursued at that, began to assume things about the visitors at the door.

"Void, should we be worried?" she inquired of the chronomancer.

"You have nothing to worry about. That is a time guardian. I have reason for concern. I am an unauthorised time traveller. I am a rogue chronomancer, separate from the guild."

"How is it that the guild deals with rogues such as yourself?" Katarina asked. She was familiar with the ways that she and hers dealt with rogues, and her ways were none too pleasant for the unauthorized vampires in question. "That question goes to any rogue on the run from their respective authoritative group," she added, noting that Soren was relaxing. The hemocryomancer glanced over at the vampire, then back to Void before settling back into the couch.

"For us. it means that the Imperial Mages will track you down. They recruit from the local Academies and if you somehow dodged it, you're marked as rogue. It's assimilation or death for rogue mages where I come from," she explained, keeping it brief. She didn't feel like reliving how she had been assimilated.

"Just compliance for the return of time to the correct path or our erasure. I would advise someone to open the door fast.

The issue is that the head of the Time Guardians is the... Well, I can't say the words without side effects, but he is the reason I'm a mechanised human. Not-alive and not-dead."

"Worrisome, then, isn't it? At least, for you, chronomancer," Katarina said. "Almost makes me curious as to what those words are."
"Let's not go there, vampire. Curiosity has a line and that's it for this case," Soren said. "I'm going to avoid the really obvious pun about curiosity and cats, too."
"You and I both know I could get the information, anyway."
"Yeah, and I really don't care. I'm already freaking out because I have to wonder when my superiors will be coming after me for unfinished business I left behind." The blood mage did look decidedly harried. "That and I worry about other people getting pulled into business they have nothing to do with. Yeah, strange for me. Whatever. There is a human heart in here," she said, lightly thumping her chest. Katarina deduced that Soren was a nervous talker. Just talking for the sake of it because she was tense, even if she didn't really show it.

Finally, Sorano opened the door, and said,
"Hello, how can I help you?"

The large blocky machine outside glared at her, the roman numeral I set into it's forehead.

In a electronic voice it spoke, sounding harsh and emotionless looking vaguely like Void's own mechanisms, but powered by a purple glowing hourglass in it's chest. "This building harbours the signature of the fugitive chronomancer known as Void, wanted for crimes against history, the Lifelines and the Council. I will search this building, with your permission or without it." While it's left hand was normal, it's right was a large and sharp clockhand sword, edges laced with magic recognisable as a vorpal enchantment.

"Then everything is fine."
As the young girl said this, the sound of the chronomachine is heard across the place.
"... Err, at least for now?"

The same wondering look can be seen both on her face, but also on the one walking down the stair at the same time. It's the human mercenary, with his now empty plate, who was on his way dropping this to the kitchen. He tries to get the conversation without looking like he listen to it on his way.