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From: The Wildchilde
With a flash of black curls in the dim light, a thin figure leapt into the tunnel from the half-opened grate with a shallow splash of the slow-moving ooze of sewage. Peering into the blackness, her white eyes glazed over with blood and suddenly flared to life with an eerie crimson light that panned back and forth to feed on their surroundings with hunger. She walks along a few steps, pausing long enough to leap onto a high and precariously narrow ledge, her travel unimpeded with wariness or even fear of the lofty heights she had ascended to.
Above her, the shadows seemed to shift with a motion that dimly reflects hers.
A sharp turn led into a side tunnel, and the small chamber from which the neonate had so recently re-awakened from her battle and burial from her psychotic opponent.
The pursuing movement sinks down the wall and drops quickly to the floor as a pair of night vision goggles fades briefly into view before fading back into supernatural obscurity. With a sudden step upward, the outline of slender, feminine form suddenly reveals herself, raising her goggles briefly to wipe her blood encrusted eyes with a peeling hand, sniffling the air with a blood filled nostrils to attract the Gangrel's attention.
Sally looks up in mild alertness, freezing in one place for a moment as the pursuer rustles her blood-slimed hair against the wall she is propped upon, prompting a whirl of motion by the Outlander toward the source.
Sally had known that the Nosferatu were deformed, but the sight before her was absolutely surreal. Crouched on the wall on all fours like a spider was a slender, female figure, her skin hanging offer her sinew in flakes and sags that exposed her insides here and there for all the world to see. But that was not the half of it...from every opening on her face trickled thin streams of congealed blood, her eyes thickened the dried ichor as they stared out at her, and hanging from her skull in stringy waves were locks of hair soaked with more of the decayed vitae. They regard one another calmly, respectfully, for a long while, as if testing one another's patience...it was the Nos that broke it with...
"Greetings, childe of the ally of my primogen." Her scarlet covered eyes roamed over this visitor to the sewers in a blatant, appraisingly-lewd expression.
First impressions were everything, this much the neonate knew. She took a pensive step forward to oggle her host a little more closely and answered, in the most respectful tone she could offer, "Hello..." She had not really considered what she would say once she had found one of the members of this elusive clan, and did not expect to find one so quickly.
"Bit...pretty for these parts, ain'tcha?" replied the Nosferatu.
"Yeah..." came the Gangrel's reply in an attempt to formulate her thoughts. "...I was looking for someone specific down here. I hope I'm not intruding--" Her speech stopped abruptly as a small piece of cracked nail, attached to peeled skin, sailed past her face. She watched with a non-plussed reaction. It was no worse than microbiology.
The Nos' grin almost seemed to concede respect to the Gangrel for her lack of revulsion as she opened her mouth to say, "You've found someone specific, I'd say."
Undaunted, Sally asked, "Are you the one who dug me out?"
With a shift of her body in mid-air, the Nosferatu moved from the wall to the ground, standing up straight before countering, "So, even you don't know. Interesting that...and for the information that you don't know I will give you in return that No, it wasn't me."
The surfaceworlder idly shoved her hands into the pockets of her blue jeans as she watched her subterranean companion pick at the flaking flesh on her inner thigh, just inside the short, black leather mini skirt before offering, "I don't suppose you would know who it was, would you?"
Staring up into Sally's eerily glowing eyes, she diverts the subject casually with, "Pretty eyes, that." In a mild gesture of humor, the Gangrel crosses the glowing orbs as the deformed Kindred rubs her fingers together, letting the dead skin drift off them like wispy feathers. Teasing the subject mildly, she finally answered, "I know whom it was not, pretty little childe ally of my primogen."
Fascinating, the Outlander thought to herself. I can't imagine how many organic chemists would crave to study her. Her title, however, was beginning to annoy her in its length, so she replied with, "Please, call me Sally...I'm not big on formality."
With an almost effite gesture, the Nos wiped the dripping blood from her nose and flung it against the wall with an annoying splattering noise as she asks, "And I am?"
Confusion gnawed at the edge of Sally's consciousness for a moment as she thought aloud, "You don't know?" right before adding, "Ahh, you mean you're not big on formality...I see." She shook her head with a grin at the intricacies of her native language.
"What sort of Sewer Rat would I be to say that I didn't know about anything? I know...for the right price. Or the right... ally." The Nosferatu looked the Gangrel up and down again, a blood drenched tongue caressing her flaking lips for an instant.
"Ally..." Sally reiterated flatly. "...I don't mean to burst your bubble, but I'm not a big fan of the Camarilla anymore...I doubt having me as an ally would be very helpful." This seemed too much like Hollywood's rendition of a deal with the devil, and she was beginning to become suspicious of this individual...
A nonchalant shrug was followed by the deformed Kindred's words, "That I know...byt your sire is. Exoneration is but a step away for you, if you wish to...degrade...yourself a bit." The word degrade was stressed as the monstrous vampire stepped forward ever so slightly to her fellow conversationalist.
"And if I don't care what they think of me...?" Sally mused.
Closing her eyes and sniffing the air, the Nosferatu simply questioned back, "And what do I mind if I have an ally who cares not what the Camarilla thinks? Some allies are useful, at times. For a tidbit of information, with the sway you must surely hold over your sire, it seems a good trade."
For you maybe, Sally thought to herself...I still haven't seen the goods... It was time to make some subtle hints about her views toward this "bargain"... "I'd just rather you not feel cheated if I'm not all you hoped for in the political arena... and you must know, I'd never ask her to do anything unreasonable," she punctuated with a nod just before her pointed ears twitched under her curls as they detected the drip-drop-drip of distant water.
The Nos offered a nod of understanding and continued, "Of course. The fact that our clans have been allies for a great amount of time in this city will only make arrangements easier for our mutual benefit. And nothing will be thought of it when our primogens do agree from time to time."
The neonate Gangrel had to smile at the thought of trying to make Kalista agree with her on anything...still, she could only try and maybe fail, or maybe succeed. "Sounds like we have a deal," she nodded. This Nos sounded a lot like a ruder, uglier version of Lucille...
"I will tell you that it was none of my clan. We do not believe it was one of yours. Meet me three days from now, fifty feet from here, and I will tell you what else I can," she stated wirh a nod down the corridor. She was stalling, Sally could tell. Still, it did not hurt to have one more person searching. The Nos slowly approached, extending her hand, to which the Outlander removed her glove to receive as she spoke, "I look forward to seeing you again." Just as their hands were on the verge of touching, the peeling-skinned vampire withdrew with a sigh and whispered, "Perhaps next time," as she leapt toward the wall, vanishing before the reached the stone.
"Likewise..." Sally replied in bewilderment, looking around for a trace of the grisly figure before turning to leave. She smirked in spite of herself at her new ally's apparent queasiness and vaguely wondered if she was not the one who seemed horrific because she was so normal in such an abnormal environment. Following a quick climb back to the precarious ledge, she walked along to the entrance and leapt up to the grate, climbing back into the land of the living.