Vampire: The Requiem - Lordenshaw Opera House (Elysium) II

[Loredoctor]

Please post in here for Stories relating to Lordenshaw Opera House.

[Ivan Karpenku]

Ivan jogs to the edge of the stage and jumps into the aisle. He pats him on the shoulder, a little roughly, and says solemly, "Thank you, asshole." Then he races up the aisle to the exit doors, across the lobby, and out the front door.

He looks around for Maxim, in his red shirt. Or for any cars that are just pulling away.

Maxim can be seen standing with a group of kindred. There are a couple of expensive cars nearby, and an open door of one is bathing the group in golden light. The door is being held open by a giant of man, all muscle with a face that had been broken many times.

Ivan walks quickly (jogging might be seen as aggressive) over to the group. When he gets to a respectable distance, but within earshot, he calls out: "Vozhd, I am Ivan Karpenku. The man inside said that you wished to speak to me. How may I be of service?"

[Loredoctor]

Maxim turns around and places a hand on one of his guards' arms. "It's okay," he speaks in Russian. "This man is expected, but he had better display good manners." He ends the sentence with a grin.

"I received a letter from you a few days ago. Yes, you may feed in my domain, brother. The food is good, like in the motherland. Plenty of money to be made, too. If you want. But you obey me, you listen? The Vozhd does not hand out feeding rights to everyone, and those he does must pay the price.

"You will be told the price in a few nights from now. I have business to attend to. Come to my bar, bring some friends, and we will have a party."

Maxim then turned around and placed a foot in the car. "Hmmm, do you need a ride, Mister Karpenku?"

[Ivan Karpenku]

Ivan smiles broadly.

[language=russian]"In spite of what it may have looked like inside, I can behave with perfect manners. I think the nuns at the orphanage told me to graciously accept anything offered to me, and thank the giver. So, thank you for the offer of a ride. I would be happy to go with you. Though, I also hope that today demonstrated that I can be obedient to those in positions of authority."[/language]

Ivan follows Maxim into the back of the car, smiling still.

[language=russian]"Out of curiosity, what kind of friends did you want me to bring? The useful kind, or the disposible kind?"[/language]

[Tatiana Ivanova]

After finishing her brief conversation with Severine, the blond Russian walks over to the wounded Khalida, solicitous of her childe's well-being.

"Dorogaya moya, what happened?"

[Khalida Mufarrij]

With a muttered apology, Khalida turns away from Tegan and looks at her sire with pain and bewilderment in her eyes. "You want to know what happened? What is it you want to know? What happened before, during or after your friend shot me?"

Dropping her gaze, the young Saudi lowers her voice, to attempt to avoid drawing further attention towards the two of them. From the corner of her eye she sees Tegan toss her an encouraging smile, and move off. "I am sorry, Tatiana. It is just...the time we spent together before you left was spent in a way I very much desired, but perhaps was not the best use of our time right after my Embrace. There is so much happening around me I don't understand; so many different undercurrents I recognize from my experience with my political clients. But I don't know the details and I am...overwhelmed.

"You promised to begin teaching me self-sufficiency after our own business tonight. Please, may we go somewhere and talk? I think it is time my lessons began. My car is outside, and we can return to my apartment, but I would rather not be tempted into distraction by being totally alone with you at the moment. I believe there is a bookstore nearby, with some amazing treasures that were the talk of the Mosque last time I went. Shall we see if we can find it and if it is open? We can also talk while we walk. As you prefer."

[Tatiana Ivanova]

A seductive smile lights the Russian blonde's face, as she says, "Certainly. To be honest, I did not expect this degree of...excitement, shall we say? at the first gathering of Kindred. As far as Ivan goes, well.... His response is not unexpected, considering...he was Spetznaz, they are all a bit...odd, to be charitable. Among them, anything which does not cause lasting harm is acceptable. And a little bit of blood will put you to rights. And once you feel better, perhaps we shall have some leisure time to..explore matters" as she takes Khalida's hand to lead her out to the bookstore described.

[Khalida Mufarrij]

Khalida winces as she attempts to put full weight on to her wounded leg. Tatiana's touch settled her some, but the pain as she limps from the bar across the foyer to the exit is more than she expected. By the time she and Tatiana descends the stairs back to street level, Khalida knew the suggestion to walk in search of the bookstore would prove impossible.

Blinking back tears of pain, she turns to her sire. "I think walking may be a bad idea after all. Can you drive a stick shift? My car is right there," said as she nods towards a silver 2004 Mazda RX-8. "A high school graduation present from my father," she explains. "He would have upgraded it to a new car of my choice, if I were actually graduating from Howell this June..."

As she settles in the passenger seat, she looks at Tatiana. "What did you mean when you said, 'And a little bit of blood will put you to rights?' Do we not need to seek out a physician to remove the bullet and bandage my leg? Perhaps the bookstore isn't such a good idea," she continues, as she lays her head back against the headrest and closes her eyes. "You choose where we should go to talk..."

[Loredoctor]

Ivan smiles broadly.

[language=russian]"In spite of what it may have looked like inside, I can behave with perfect manners. I think the nuns at the orphanage told me to graciously accept anything offered to me, and thank the giver. So, thank you for the offer of a ride. I would be happy to go with you. Though, I also hope that today demonstrated that I can be obedient to those in positions of authority."[/language]

Ivan follows Maxim into the back of the car, smiling still.

[language=russian]"Out of curiosity, what kind of friends did you want me to bring? The useful kind, or the disposible kind?"[/language]

"Glad to hear that you want to continue to speak the native tongue," Maxim says with a smile and in Russian. "I actually hate speaking that crass American language, but when in Rome." He shrugged and look out of the window.

Maxim tapped the shoulder of the driver, at which point the car started to drive away.

"I think," he says to Ivan despite that he continues to look out of the window, "that you could be very useful. So I have decided to make an investment. From this night you can feed in my domain. But I won't ask for money. No. I believe you can prove very useful to me."

He turned around to face Ivan, his eyes narrowed and his face deadly calm. "Bring any friend you want to my bar in a week, but bring me some blood. Good quality, not that drug-fucked shit. We will laugh, reminisce and then talk business. Got it?

"Where to, mister Karpenku?"

[Tatiana Ivanova]

Khalida winces as she attempts to put full weight on to her wounded leg. Tatiana's touch settled her some, but the pain as she limps from the bar across the foyer to the exit is more than she expected. By the time she and Tatiana descends the stairs back to street level, Khalida knew the suggestion to walk in search of the bookstore would prove impossible.

Blinking back tears of pain, she turns to her sire. "I think walking may be a bad idea after all. Can you drive a stick shift? My car is right there," said as she nods towards a silver 2004 Mazda RX-8. "A high school graduation present from my father," she explains. "He would have upgraded it to a new car of my choice, if I were actually graduating from Howell this June..."

As she settles in the passenger seat, she looks at Tatiana. "What did you mean when you said, 'And a little bit of blood will put you to rights?' Do we not need to seek out a physician to remove the bullet and bandage my leg? Perhaps the bookstore isn't such a good idea," she continues, as she lays her head back against the headrest and closes her eyes. "You choose where we should go to talk..."

"I have someplace in mind, then. And no, we do not need a physician. Your body will heal either very quickly with a bit of blood, or over night. either way, the healing will push the slug out." Tatiana opens the door for Khalida, and closes it once she is in, then walks around and enters the drivers side. Smoothly starting the sporty little coupe, she smoothly and quickly drives off.

[Khalida Mufarrij]

As Tatiana drives, Khalida opens her eyes to gaze upon her sire in the flickering light of the streetlamps on the road, and in the steady dim light from the dashboard. Praise be to Allah, she is beautiful, Khalida thought to herself. And she desires me... Turning her head, she then looks out the window, so as to not cause Tatiana embarrassment from her adoring stare.

Wondering where Tatiana had in mind for this talk, she tried to pay attention to landmarks and street signs as they continued on into the night.

[Ivan Karpenku]

"I think," he says to Ivan despite that he continues to look out of the window, "that you could be very useful. So I have decided to make an investment. From this night you can feed in my domain. But I won't ask for money. No. I believe you can prove very useful to me."

He turned around to face Ivan, his eyes narrowed and his face deadly calm. "Bring any friend you want to my bar in a week, but bring me some blood. Good quality, not that drug-fucked shit. We will laugh, reminisce and then talk business. Got it?

"Where to, mister Karpenku?"

Ivan glanced at the driver, as he meneuvered the car into traffic."Oh! I see what this is. My choice of blood donor is a job interview, no? If I cause problems in your domain before a week is out, if I can't do this simple job of finding a good quality donor who won't bring too much attention, then I'm not worthy of discussing business."

"Just take me to your bar, then. That will make two places in this town I know how to get to. I won't come in and pester you until the week is out. But I can wander the streets and get used to the lay of the land."

[Loredoctor]

Ivan glanced at the driver, as he meneuvered the car into traffic."Oh! I see what this is. My choice of blood donor is a job interview, no? If I cause problems in your domain before a week is out, if I can't do this simple job of finding a good quality donor who won't bring too much attention, then I'm not worthy of discussing business."

"Just take me to your bar, then. That will make two places in this town I know how to get to. I won't come in and pester you until the week is out. But I can wander the streets and get used to the lay of the land."

Maxim laughed loudly, but his eyes looked serious. "Relax, my friend. It's just how we do things in New Moscow." He laughed again. "We will do business anyway. The blood is like good old fashioned Georgian wine; something us Soviets used to drink while we planned to kill svinoi.

"Driver, to the bar, yes? Drinks," Maxim said with a dangerous look in his eyes, "are on me."