2025.01.26: Veronica experiences stuff

Veronica Black02/11/2019
Night of January 26th

Veronica had taken her leave of the assembled Kindred at the Blue Devil and journeyed to the Riverwalk in search of something to do besides talk. She was more than adept at pleasant socializing, but the time had come for something else. Perhaps she would find what she was looking for here.

”Always the same with Elders” she thought to herself, “the older they get, the less they do and the more they talk.”

Veronica was more than old enough to claim a seat at that particular table, it was her lack of interest in political games that kept her from sitting down. She often wondered why it was that way. Perhaps it was her late Sire’s influence. The decadent old fool had coveted political status among the Kindred above all else, and perhaps it was a desire to be as little like him as possible. She was glad that the stake had found the old Poseur’s heart, her only regret was that is wasn’t her hand that had driven it. Still, she had won her freedom and taken control of her destiny.

Technically, she was still here on business. The contract that had brought her here still hadn’t been fulfilled. She had confirmed her target’s location and had reported to the Russian who had hired her, but the man had asked that she wait. Apparently, her client wanted her target to truly feel that he had achieved a lasting safety. It would be all the more devastating when she finally came to collect, and Veronica had to admit that it did have a certain devious panache to it. Besides, she’d been offered a generous bonus to wait. Time was money, after all.

Veronica strolled leisurely along the Riverwalk, in the hopes that someone equally bold and foolish would take the bait.

Doris Ashview (ST Euryale)02/11/2019
The district shows little outward sign that the current troubles have disrupted business as usual. There are a few bars and restaurants...and a Hard Rock Cafe, of all things. It is, as expected, bright, loud, and tacky. The odd patrol car cruises past, and there are the unobtrusive Gordon Industries security cameras blanketing the area in a web of recordings. One might wonder if a flea could fart in privacy here.

Other people in small knots and ones and twos come and go, the peaceable Brownian motion of humans going about their lives oblivious to the darkness that lay just outside their peripheral vision. Veronica would sense nothing particularly out of the ordinary. At least...not yet.

Veronica Black02/12/2019
Veronica puts her hands in her hoodie pockets and continues her seemingly oblivious stroll, beginning to whistle “Into the Wilderness.”

Doris Ashview (ST Euryale)02/16/2019
As the evening wears on, the edges seem to unravel slightly...there are more furtive movements out of camera range. Or at least they think they are out of range. There is a ginger-haired man walking with three dogs, which might be odd. Or it might not. It isn't that late. Just...late enough a guy who looks like a quasi-Viking crashed through about a dozen hipster stores and three big dogs is noteworthy. He does not seem to be a problem and the dogs are well-mannered mutts.

Someone Veronica would recognize as Crickett goes past the other way, in the company of an enormous "German Shepherd" that is probably Hackett, as the two Kindred are rarely separated. Hackett has on his "working dog" vest and is not commented upon as a result. Except there are some entitled assholes who ask if they can pet the obviously-a-wolf, because entitled dipshits are everywhere, even New Albion.

Veronica Black02/16/2019
Veronica gives the pair a silent nod of acknowledgement and continues on her way. She makes a turn towards the less well-lit and observed parts of the Riverwalk, seemingly more focused on her phone than where she is going...

Doris Ashview (ST Euryale)02/17/2019
Outside the ambient glow of the streetlights, the city is slightly quieter and the river's various sounds more apparent. Side streets are quiet, the buildings mostly apartments or charming places for tourists to stay. If there is ever enough draw here for tourists to visit regularly. The sense of held breath is evident.

Veronica Black02/18/2019
Veronica places her hands and phone back in her hoodie pockets and ventures closer to the river. She comes to a standstill as she takes notice of the moonlight reflecting off the surface of the gently flowing water. So beautiful....the way the light shifts in the ripples....occasionally altered by a passing leaf floating on the water’s surface. So....pretty....

Doris Ashview (ST Euryale)02/18/2019
The ripples of the current are indeed mesmerizing as they reflect the lights of the city and the moon. There is some traffic that adds more to the ripples, shattering the current into flashing chevrons. To the right mind, it is dazzling.

The Homeric descriptions of "wine-dark" and "wine-flashing" are so intensely clear in the moment...

Something oozes in the shadows of the overlook. Out of sight.

Mick Mackay02/18/2019
Veronica hears a whisper as if she can almost feel breath come from it, "Failure." The whisper is in the sound of her own voice.
Oozing up from the ground a shadow starts to take form as if it has oozed up from the water. It is a mirror image of Veronica... as if she was staring at herself in rippling water...but tainted by a deep slick of oil.

Veronica Black02/19/2019
The sight ends the Enrapture and returns Veronica’s senses to more immediate concerns. No good can come from the presence of an evil clone....

Veronica takes a step back and addresses her new counterpart.

“To think, I was just having a conversation the other night about my distaste for counterfeiters. You know, I don’t think it’s going to take that Jafar fellow to determine which one of us is the original.”

Mick Mackay02/19/2019
The form ripples in it's waterly oilslick, "Ah yes, Jafar. The one that sees a tool that can be used. When will he see us as the expendable failure you make us out to be."

Veronica Black02/19/2019
“Darling, I will not be judged my anyone’s standards save for my own. If you were truly anything like me you would know that I don’t consider nearly five centuries of life, owning a successful art gallery, being fabulously wealthy and an in demand assassin failures. My peers also regard me as an Artiste, there is no finer accolade.”

Mick Mackay02/19/2019
"Darling, I am you. Right now you are at the riverwalk talking to yourself while looking in the water. All the people are walking around staring at the woman that is just talking to herself."

Veronica Black02/19/2019
Veronica lowers her voice to a whisper so as not to attract attention from anyone that might wander by.

“A compelling bluff, but I remain unconvinced. You are nothing more than a hallucination caused by an external force trying to prey on insecurities that do not exist.”

The redheaded Toreador raises her phone to her ear to camouflage her seemingly talking to herself.

“Nonetheless, I’ll humor you. Tell me, how have I, or we, failed? Indulge me. Satisfy my curiosity.”

Mick Mackay02/19/2019
In response, Veronica feels her heart beat.
The beating starts slow... and starts to quicken... going faster and faster and faster until she feels like she has to struggle for...breath....

Veronica Black02/19/2019
A wisp of....is that nostalgia, enters her voice.

“It’s been so long since I’ve felt that. It was....taken from me against my will...”

Mick Mackay02/19/2019
"We know this."
Veronica feels a stabbing in her chest as if her heart is ripping from the overuse, of beats catching up that never got beaten....her ribcage starts to tighten in pain.

Veronica Black02/19/2019
Her porcelain features contort from the sensation.

“If you knew this, then you would also know that I had my vengeance, and that I do not want it back.”

Mick Mackay02/19/2019
The pain is intense, but you barely stop from frenzying due to the unfamiliar feelings of the past that is weighing down on you....however you feel weak... your body does not feel like your own, and you plunge head first into the water. The sensation of breathing mixed with the water makes you choke...in the water Veronica sees a clearer reflection of herself "We could kills us right now and we would be forgotten by all..." You see your form dissipate into ashes and get swept away by the water.
And you find yourself standing next to the river.
Dry
The hustle and bustle around you seems to notice not a thing as if you got lost in watching the water.

Veronica Black02/19/2019
If Veronica needed to breathe, she would be catching her breath now. She blinks a few times and conducts a quick physical inventory, searching for any injuries.

Mick Mackay02/19/2019
There is no need to breath, no heart beating, no injuries. She remembers everything and everything she felt.

Veronica Black02/19/2019
Veronica’s emotions return to the annoyance that has seemingly been the default since she came to New Albion. Still whispering, she speaks in the hopes that the intended audience will hear...

“Kill me? You don’t even have the steel to face me cleanly, amateur. Go try your tricks and babble on some freshly turned Neonate or Werewolf pup, you do not impress. Better than you have tried, and they all ended as dust on my boot heel. Should you find your courage, I imagine you know where to find me.” she hisses vehemently.

Mick Mackay02/19/2019
"Of course we know how to find us, we are always here"

Veronica Black02/19/2019
“There is no “us” you miscreant, and just because I’m English doesn’t mean I use the Royal “We.”

Mick Mackay02/19/2019
"Finally the belief that one is a miscreant out of our own lips to our own ears."

Veronica Black02/19/2019
“Trying to twist my words, are you? I know my own thoughts darling, I have lived with them for nearly five centuries. I know which ones are mine and which ones are foreign.”

Mick Mackay02/19/2019
"We are our thoughts. We are finally opened to listening."

Veronica Black02/19/2019
“Fine. I’m going to go look for a chance to indulge in my art. You can watch, but on one condition.”

Mick Mackay02/19/2019
Veronica blacks out.