It's Hard to Get People to Like You When You're a Vampire

[sanguineroyal.livejournal.com]

 Nanashi had found an open Sensorium, and had quickly summoned up the war room from her castle. The walls were lined with books. Nanashi had read so many of these so many times you could open them and  be able to read what they said. 

But Nanashi was not concerned with the books, she was standing over a table with tiny sculptures of warriors with blades like hers- along with some of the people she knew on the ship or remember from the battle. Opposite them were sculptures of the various Ohm, clashed in mid battle. Nanashi was trying to recreate the battle on the board.

She had meant to be going over how she should gain some trust among the humans for her campaign without taking advantage of her relationship with several of the children on the ship, but the final parts of the battle just were not sitting right with her.

Something was off... Aside from the fact that the Ohm clearly decided to leave.

Even as she concentrated on the table, she had decided to leave the door open, with a "Vote for Nanashi, Vote for Experience" sign on the door. She thought it sounded catchy. She did not like 'catchy', but others seemed to. Below was a scroll that read, "Have any questions? My door is always open!"

Well, figuratively it was at least. And only for the purposes of her campaign. Normally she liked closed doors. Locked doors. They helped keep out the assassins.

Comments

[curiousredsoul]

The sign on the door had attracted Celena's attention, not due to the political sentiments but for the name it held. Queen Nanashi, just the person she had been looking for. Thus, with little hesitation, the dragon entered the sensorium. Her gaze sweeping the room, from its lay out she could only assume it was a war room. Her attention brought to the one standing beside the table and then the table itself as she approached.

"A recreation of the battle on Zokez II I assume," She commented easily as she stopped a few feet from the table, opposite Nanashi scanning the table closely before turning her attention the occupant of the room, "Queen Nanashi I assume? A pleasure to meet you in person as it were," Dipping her head in greetings at that, one might notice something akin to a necklace around the dragons neck, what would seem a decorative pendant at first hanging from it.

[sanguineroyal.livejournal.com]

A dragon. Nanashi bowed deeply. Deeper than one might expect a queen to bow. "Yes to both of your questions madam" there was no calling a dragon 'little one', however old the dragon might be. "It is an honour to meet you as well..." She did not have a name for the dragon, but clearly they must have met on the comms.

"I have been trying to figure out why the Ohm let us go. It is terribly unsettling."

[curiousredsoul]

Celena returned that deep bow with a bow of her head. "I am Celena Vantari, we spoke over the communications network before shore leave and this," She replied in way of introduction, nodding toward the table in reference to the battle. "An unsettling thought indeed, were they to have continued there is little doubt we would have been in a worse situation than we had been," She shook her head at that as she looked over the table in greater detail.

After a moment she looked back to Nanashi, "I did come for a reason, though the battle may have delayed it I have something for you," opening a small pouch attached to her upper forelimb as she spoke to draw forth a small wrapped object, on that she would float across to the queen.

Within that finely wrapped cloth was the Crystalline device Celena had made for her. The most noticeable feature of the device was the multifaceted tear-drop shaped crystal at the center, each facet carved with small but intricate runes, the crystal itself seemingly lit from within with a soft red glow. Curled around the Crystals lower half what seemed to be a metallic section held the crystal, the surface of which was covered with intricate patterns to aid with the ascetics of the item. If picked up, the device would seem warm to the touch, the crystals glow would increase. The entire device weight rather little, and of a size where it could easily fit into ones palm or hung from a necklace should the case may be. Not unlike the similar device which currently hung around Celena's own neck.


((Sorry if any of that's a little confusing, really need to draw a little pic the thing))

[sanguineroyal.livejournal.com]

"Oh, Miss Celena!" So, she was bringing the device she had offered. "I remember." Nanashi gingerly took the wrapped object and opened the fabric as if she was forcing open a bud. She gasped at the device's beauty, dazzled by how it glowed brighter and felt warm as she turned it over in her hands.

Nanashi bowed again, "Thank you very much, Miss Celena. It is beautiful, but how does one work it?" She had a feeling that the little runes were how to control it, however Nanashi was not about to play around with it to try to figure it out and end up breaking it.

[curiousredsoul]

Celena couldn't help but give a smile as she watched on as Nanashi unveiled the device she had constructed. Dipping her head to the other in turn as she replied, "You are most welcome, Nanashi,"

Lifting a paw to the similar device resting around her neck, "They are not too difficult to use, merely apply a small pressure to the crystal with the intent of activating the device, like so," Drawing a claw up to lightly press to the crystal and a thought, a illusionary book forming before her and the crystal, "You can interact with it in whatever manner suits, be it a book, free floating notes, or a seeming device like the Omnicomm, then just direct your thoughts of what you wish stored to it," With a gesture she turned the illusionary book to face toward her, the pages black. That is until text started scrawling across the page: 'Like so, or if you'd rather it not be bound so to such a book..' The writing then floated free of the page to stand in the air between them before they would return to the book. "Once the information is stored within, you need only call it forth with a thought,"

[sanguineroyal.livejournal.com]

Nanashi does as instructed, eyes wide with fascination. "Ahh, and how is it that you store information here? Do you just think it?" Nanashi much preferred the idea of a book, and as she thought of it, an empty book appeared.

[curiousredsoul]

Inclining her head in a small nod, smiling as she watched on as Nanashi experimented with her new device, "Indeed, once you have the imformation, thoughts or whatever you wish on the page it is stored, if you were to dismiss it you need only to gesture or give a thought to bring it back, for instance," With a small gesture, several clusters of light and runes hovered in front of the dragon before gesturing to one in particular the others fading back as that in particular expanded, a stilled image of the first stage of the invasion of Zokez II. "Something of a visual recounting from memory of the battle from my view,"

((OOC: Basically with it, she can interact and use it in anyway that would best suit her. So feel free to do anything with it if it seems cool))

[sanguineroyal.livejournal.com]

Nanashi smiled and bowed deeply again. "Thank you,"

Some notes about the battle began to scrawl across the page of the book. A diagram of the worm she fought, along with notes about it, pointing to different parts of the worm appeared on the opposite page.

Again she bowed, "Truly, it is an honour to have met you. Dragons were nigh sacred in my world. While you might not be the dragons of my home, I can not help but feel a sort of reverence in your presence. Forgive me if it makes you feel uncomfortable."

Sorry for the lateness

[curiousredsoul]

Celena bowed her head in return, a smile given, "you are welcome," She replied in turn, watching on as she put the unusual storage device to immediate use. She had not encountered that Worm but she had caught glimpses of the combat amongst her own aerial encounters.

A dip of her head given in return, "It is an honour to have met you as well, Queen Nanashi. Indeed? I would be interested in learning of your world should you have the chance at some point," She replied in earnest, such a world did pique her interests.

"It's fine, it poses little discomfort, you needn't worry," replying with a warmer smile and a shake of her head.

It's not a problem!

[sanguineroyal.livejournal.com]

Talk about herself? Nanashi loved to do that, even if she censored much of the negative bits most times. She laughed a bit, "All I have is time! Theoretically, at least," she waved her hand, dismissing the topic of time and went on, "Since I have already distracted myself from my campaign trail with analysis of the battle, I can see no harm in spending some more time telling you about my world. After all, talking with one of my fellow crew-mates is more productive in terms of running a campaign than puzzling over some figurines."

She waved a hand at the room they were in at the moment, "This was the War Room of my castle. We planned battles and strategies here, as well as re-convened to review our battles- victories and losses alike. We analysed our opponent's actions and developed how we could better counter their assaults. Of course, with intelligent enemies this is rather complicated since they too are at the very least doing some sort of the same thing- unconsciously at the very least.

"If you would like me to tell you more about my world, I could have us sit some place more comfortable."

She could always summon chairs to this room, but there were no chairs in this room for a reason.

Re: It's not a problem!

[curiousredsoul]

Celena was one who was always interested in hearing others stories. Those from other worlds all the more. Though Celena had little concern as to the elections she had heard about. "Well then, I would be quite interested in hearing more about you and your world, Nanashi," She replied with a soft chuckle and a smile, taking a brief moment to touch the crystal about her neck to deactivate it.

Her gaze sweeping the room with interest, her assumption had been correct it seems. Nodding at the explanation of its use, intriguing. Though she steered clear of battle where she could, the basis behind strategies, the conflict at the level of tactics and counter-tactics still drew interest at times. "Indeed, any living opponent has the possibility to be unpredictable, some more so than others,"

Inclining her head once more as the offer was made, "That would be nice, though do not worry about seating in my case, such normal seats do not generally...acomodate..to one of my kind," A soft grin given as she replied with another soft chuckle.

[sanguineroyal.livejournal.com]

"Then a walking tour, perhaps?" Nanashi walked next to Celena and suggested, "Perhaps you might want to close your eyes, as the room changing is disorienting. I have never been fond of it."

Nanashi closed her own eyes for a moment and summoned the main part of the city to mind. Much unlike most cities, the place was entirely contained within rock face, stone towering above them, until it intersected the Castle walls. The huts around them were made largely of stone, though they were not carved out of a single piece of stone as the ceiling and castle was. They seemed to merely have taken advantage of the most abundant local resource.

in front of all the buildings in view were vampires on rugs and tables, all trying to sell their goods, which varied from bottles of blood to books and scrolls, to furniture, and anything in-between. The entire place was very dimly lit with an almost ghastly blue glow, from the same sort of blue flickering candles that had lit the war room. The small number of them only offered the smallest bit of light- an amount that might just make a human terrified of all the moving shapes. Human ears would also hear the crowd as being rather quiet, as they spoke on softer terms, the loudest voices being the vendors calling for their items to be bought over their neighbours. All the regular conversations were held at a level just above a whisper.

Behind them towered a great, iron door. It was at least a half- mile high, and half as wide. Around it could be still seen a large crack, where Nanashi had caused it to crash down just over a century ago. They had been able to repair the door itself almost perfectly, but the cracks around the door would be there forever.

"This," she said with a sweeping gesture, "Is the one and only entry to the capital city of Kuninoryu. The castle has a few openings at it's peak, but only a very few, all carefully guarded and impossible for any but a vampire to open. This is the grand city of vampires. It was said that the dragon that made us carved the castle and made room for the city for us as well. It would seem the case, since if you examine the walls of the castle, there are no tool marks, and even with our strength and long lives, we would not be able to create walls so perfect. Perhaps if it was of clay or wood, but certainly not of stone. After all, that," She gestured to the gate without looking at it, "is the best of a repair job we can do. It is still our weakest point."

This was about the time where the vampires controlled by the sensorium saw Celena, and began bowing on their knees, with their heads to the ground and their hands on the ground above their heads. This was spreading like a domino effect. It had not initially occurred to Nanashi to prevent the temporary AIs created by the sensorium from doing that. With a thought Nanashi fixed that, and the people around them continued as if they had never been there.

"I am sorry," she said with a nod of her head, "I shall have the people treat us as if we are not here, with much thanks to the sensoriums, or you would not get to see past here."

[curiousredsoul]

"A walking tour sounds a fine idea indeed," she replied easily as she nodded, "Thank you for the concern, I should be fine though, I do not mind it," A smile on her snout at that. She had enough experience with illusions of her own making to be phased by the shifting of the world around them into a new form.

The shear size and structure of the cavernous city, struck her with familiarity and a sense of her own home, her own city. Her smile fading slightly out of a sense of longing before all the details started flowing through her mind, a new smile soon tugging at her lips as she took it all in, from the smallest flickering candle stick to the largest part of the castle. "Magnificent," she half whispered to herself.

Her attention drawn to the door behind them as Nanashi pointed it out, letting her golden eyes take in its immense size. Who ever had made this place, they had not been thinking small. "Indeed? That would take a skilled craftsman, perhaps with aid of magic to achieve on such a large scale," she commented, "Certainly no small work," Her mind going over all the ways one could achieve such a result, mentally comparing what she saw around her to works of her own kind..similar yet..different.

At the apology she blinked, only just noticing the citizens that had been bowing, so caught up in thought she had been in that instant. "Not to worry, perhaps best for ease of travel..lest I fly that is," she added with a soft chuckle, refolding her wings against her sides.

[needs-release.livejournal.com]

Sam wasn't exactly surprised to find that Nanashi was seeking a position with the command staff of the crew. But she smelled strongly of blood. He knew she still wasn't properly healed. So he decided to pay her a visit.

"Even a Captain should follow their doctor's orders," he said, by way of a greeting. He leaned casually against the side of the entrance to the Sensorium chamber. His jacket was off, and his shirt sleeves rolled up. "I could smell you from the City." He had a bit of a fond smirk on his face all the while.

[sanguineroyal.livejournal.com]

Nanashi looked up with a guilty smile. She knew she was caught. "Do I smell that strongly? Others have not seemed to notice."

She inclined her head so slightly that it barely seemed to move, and she made the sort of rolling gesture with her hand and arm that served as a greeting.

"Welcome to my castle's War Room. I once used this place to plan battles with the Captains and Generals that served under me." She gestured to the room which was only lit by two small candles with a blue flame in the far walls of the room. A careful eye would notice that the stone was actually worn down in the common paths around the room- from the door to the table Nanashi stood at, from the table to the bookcases, in front of the bookcases, and a deeper wearing along a wall that only was adorned in tapestries where someone had apparently taken to pacing.

She trailed her fingers across the the edge of the table. "It bothers me, the way the battle played out. I am afraid that it has been distracting me from my campaign. At this rate I shall not win the election."

[needs-release.livejournal.com]

"I think my nose is just better tuned than most. I usually pair peoples' scents to their faces before their names," he came in, and followed the worn path up to the table. His stride was slow and casual. Overall, he was much more relaxed than he had been during the battle, for very obvious reasons.

He looked around the room when she explained its purpose. "Reminds me of Lord Ruthwen's study. It was mostly for show, though."

But he nodded at her conclusion about the Ohm. "I wasn't on the front lines, but as I understand it, we were barely holding up as it was. At any time we could have been utterly destroyed, and thus, the Ohm would no longer have any resistance. They had no good reason to pull back. But they did." He looked as confused as the whole situation was.

[sanguineroyal.livejournal.com]

With a light laugh, Nanashi waved her hand at the room, "None of this is for show. So often I have read these books that if you take one off the shelf my memory will have restored these books to completion."

Grimly she looked back to the table with the figures set up on it, "But even within them there is nothing that can truly explain the actions of the Ohm. It leaves me with a bad feeling. I am thinking that if we struck their carriers instead of the main forces once the civilians were evacuated, that while there would have been more damage to the infrastructure that we may have been able to critically wound their forces. Of course, we do not know how resilient their ships are. I would like to dispatch a tactical reconnaissance unit to investigate that next battle."

[needs-release.livejournal.com]

Sam nodded. "We are definitely suffering from a lack of data. There were just so many fronts. I don't think any one person is capable of dissecting the entire situation." He didn't intend to question her intelligence, even though it may have come out that way. "And I couldn't imagine more casualties. The medics barely kept up as it was."

[sanguineroyal.livejournal.com]

Nanashi shook her head, "No, no, I did not plan to sacrifice soldiers." Nanashi used the power of the sensorium to include floating carrier ships. "Ah, so useful." Moving some of the people she dropped them in the air, and let them hover there. "If we take some of our flying units and have them gather data while sacrificing some of the front-" she moved some of the land units to the side and moved the Ohm forward until they were blocked by a building, and then a little past with a thin line of people guarding the doors and windows. "We can afford to gather data with no more casualties than would be expected in normal battle by tunnelling the Ohm through these obstacles. Of course, the larger Ohm will also not come through the building in all likely hood, seeing as going around would be far easier for them. If they do try to strike here," She moved one of the larger units atop the building, "Then the area is still small enough that neighbouring units may fall in." She evened out the defence line more.

She rubbed her forehead, "If I am elected- perhaps even if I am not- the first thing I would do is have a survey of the strengths and weaknesses of the various people. We can match people into units based on these skills. I believe if we create such teams that train together we may be far more effective."

Sighing she shook her head, bracing herself over the table with both arms, "Kano, what do you think?" Nanashi looked towards the wall with the worn spot, and went pale as his laughter rung out, except this time, thanks to the power of the sensorums, his cruel laugh echoed in the room.

[needs-release.livejournal.com]

When the other person came out, Sam was a bit disconcerted. In his experience, changes in personalities didn't usually end well. "...Nanashi?" he pushed past his fear, though, and came to her side.

[^_^' Aha, uh, no threadjacking from here please. Thread in general is obviously still open though]

[sanguineroyal.livejournal.com]

Her stomach flipped, but she could not keep her mind from summoning Kano. Appearing where Nanashi had looked for him, he stood taller than Nanashi by several inches and was darker-skinned than Nanashi, but still pale. His hair was the same black as Nanashi's and pulled up into a top knot. He wore a long black jacket and pants paired with a white tunic, cinched by a triple layered belt to hold his swords, much like Nanashi. He was handsome- it was easy to see how Nanashi could fall for his smile, for his charm.

But the laugh that came from his throat did not match the charm on his face.

"I think that you should stop worrying about the past," he sneered, gesturing at the table, "and start working more on the now and the tomorrow!" He stepped closer to Nanashi, folding his arms in-front of him. "You think with the vermin and the good for nothings on this ship, you will last long enough for your plan to come to fruition? You're wasting your time, especially with your fascination with... this kid."

Nanashi's shoulders shook, splinters appearing in the wood of the table. She could not even take in a breath to tell him to leave. All she could ask was, "Sam, close the door and lock it."

Re: [^_^' Aha, uh, no threadjacking from here please. Thread in general is obviously still open thou

[needs-release.livejournal.com]

He did as she requested, but he was utterly confused. "Nanashi, what's going on here? Who is this?" When he came back toward the table, one of his hands began to distend and change, becoming a much more powerful claw. Sure, it wasn't much. And he didn't have near as much physical power to make it effective. But it was all he had.

[sanguineroyal.livejournal.com]

Kano eyed the transformation with amusement, and in a flash he had his hand around Sam's throat, holding him in the air just tight enough to be uncomfortable. He was smiling wide, though it had more a sense of a beast bearing its teeth, the way his fangs glinted just inches from Sam's face.

"Me? I'm Kano. Nanashi never told you about me? Of course not. She's too afraid of hearing my voice to even willingly mention me."

Dropping Sam, Kano turned on Nanashi, "No hello? No 'welcome home my darling'? Still, I see you have been missing me. Or else you wouldn't be trying to replace me, would you? Didn't you learn the first time? Love just means betrayal. It's not like you to need a lesson twice."

Nanashi's fingers cracked through the wood, breaking the edge of the table. She kept her eyes down, not looking up at Kano. "Sam. This is Kano. He was my second in command... And what is my culture's equivalent of a husband."

[needs-release.livejournal.com]

Sam wasn't a fighter, so all he could do was to try and scratch his way free. When he was finally dropped, he got back to his feet as quickly as he could. "Kano...." he repeated. "I see he's a charming individual." A little bit of sarcasm, but it was difficult to be insulted by it when the delivery was so covered by intimidation. He stayed near Nanashi, to at least try and protect her, should the need arise.

[sanguineroyal.livejournal.com]

Kano looked to Sam, guilt all over his face, "oh, I am so sorry. It isn't like me to loose my temper." He bowed, a soft charming smile coming across his face.

He reached his hand out to shake, a seemingly sincere smile on his face. Nanashi was not the only one who could so carefully cover her true feelings- Kano may have even been better at it. "Please, let us start over. If my Lady cares for you, then so do I."

He moved forward as if he was going to take Sam's hand to kiss it, but instead brought his hand from that low level right across Sam's cheek.

Nanashi caught a hold of Sam as she shouted his name. She helped him steady and stepped in front of him.

Her eyes turned to Kano. Even now she was trying to keep years of pent up emotions from surfacing. "Kano, why do you do this to me? Why did you do all of this to me? Get out of my head, I do not want to hear your poison whispers in my ear any more."

Kano just grinned with his chin up and head tilted to the side, fangs clearly showing. As if to show off his mastery, he changed his expression immediately, whining, "I only do it because I love you my love, my Queen."

Even after all of the years she spent hating him that tone of voice made her freeze, made her feel guilty for accusing him, even if for only a second, giving him enough time to step up to her and put his lips on hers.

She pushed him off of her. She had always been the stronger of the two by far.

They really ought to just leave, reset the sensorium to get rid of him, have her focus on something else but a part of her wanted to deal with this. "Perhaps if I confront him, he will leave me alone for ever. What do you think, Sam?"