The Greatest Plans often go Awry

Her gaze wasn't the only one to raise to the heavens. Rhev followed suit as well as the group of killers. One of them moved for the stairs and disappeared. The room shifted to a dark bedroom with a baby cradle. The slender man leaning over the cradle was as clear as day, weathered top hat, skull painted face, glowing eyes of amber green. The creole accent thick in the words being sung, as he cajoled the babe back to sleep. The door burst open and the male from downstairs stepped in. The singing man turned and stared death at the intruder and broke his line to speak quietly to the intruder. His words were similar to white noise, but the threat was present in his body language. The intruder stopped in his tracks almost as if he just noticed the man, and his eyes filled with fear. He didn't turn as he backed out of the room again and bolted back downstairs. The last sound heard is the song the man was singing before Rhev and Riot return to the fountain in a blink. "Hmm. It would appear you've met Johnathon before"

It was hard to tell exactly how she felt as she watched Johnathon bend over the crib to sooth the infant back to sleep. There was a gentle side to the man shown here in this room that was difficult to associate with the man she'd seen around the Masquerade.

Or it had been until the brute from downstairs had come stumbling in on the worlds most formidable... nanny? If that was the case the Babysitters Club was gonna have one hell of a year. The thought led her to picturing the houngan leading a troop of girl scouts.

It sparked a sharp bark of a laugh.

Then suddenly they were back. Frowning she fixed her eyes on Rhev, seemingly waiting on an explanation.

He pondered as he sat down on a bench "Johnny has been in the area longer than I have. It would make sense that he patrolled this far south. But what did he do afterward? Do you remember anything from before you were placed in the foster system?" He looked at her curiously almost as if he wasn't looking at her, but into her "Its starting to make sense however" he seemed to register her features "Apologies, I tend to over think. What we just witnessed, was a memory. One of your memories. And memories don't lie, they just merely may not contain the whole truth."
-in reality- Rhev checked his phone and typed a message out and hit send as quickly as his smart phone would allow him, and placed his phone back in his pocket-
"So you've met Monsieur Johnathon Auvyear of the Seprents of the Light. But as it was a early memory you had no way of recollecting it consciously. Something is talking to you young Briar." The roar was malicious this time. Almost as if angered by his words "And I very much doubt it cares for me" he looked around gleefully as if there was something truly entertaining threatening to show itself.

"Well I certainly don't recall any mysterious voodoo uncles or mysterious benefactors growing up." There was a dry sarcasm that ribboned itself through her initial reply to his offered perspective. Not just snark, no this time it was flavored with a rainbow array of frustration, restrained anger, and annoyance all layered together like a sundae and finally topped off with a candied cherry of bewilderment.

Anything else she might have said was cut off by the bellow that reminded them both that it was out there in the dark. Whipping around she stared the direction it had originated from and narrowed her eyes in annoyance at the interruption. "Will you either get the fuck over here or shut the fuck up?! I'm trying to have a god damn conversation!"

It had been a beast of a night already and one could only be in a state of fear for so long before it finally wore off. Apparently this was that point.

Rhev witnessed the frenzy happen two fold. A large cat leapt from the fog and tackled Riot in her mental scape, at the same time Riot herself launched into a hate filled rage fueled frenzy and the telepathic connection threatened to severe. In one fluid motion, both physical and mental, he raised his hand to both catch riot by the neck, and grab the cat by the scruff. With a heave he lifted the cat off of riots mental form and slammed it into the waters of the fountain and held it. Physically Rhev was merely holding Riot by the neck against the booths cushioned back, her back pressing into the stone underneath.
-Mindscape- "Perhaps you shouldn't taunt the monster in your head. Not often you have back up in here" he turned to look at her "And this one is indeed here to stay" his next words were both physical and mental "I like the ears by the way."

It had felt empowering. Screaming back into the fog at the thing in the dark she had been afraid of.

She had thought maybe it was just fear of the unknown given some phantom form, that was out there gliding through the swirling fog, stalking at the edge of her field of vision to keep her from being able to focus.

Nope.

That was not at all the case.

In the time it took her to register she was in danger, a blurred shape had already torn itself out of the dark and crashed into her with all the force of a falling star impacting the terra.

Fuck.

Something had happened. That was the biggest understatement in the world; but the specifics of the last few seconds utterly eluded her. The only reason she was so certain something had happened was owed to the feeling of Rhev's fingers around her throat back in thee booth; not squeezing, simply keeping her pressed to the back of the booth it seemed.

One of the black topped scarlet ears that were now a permanent feature of her appearance, twitched both here and in the booth as a response to the comment. "Noted." Troubled she reached up and ran her fingers over the soft fur and her shoulder fell. "Seriously? Of all the least intimidating things in the world... What the hell?!" She was more annoyed than angry, thanks to her beast having just been manhandled.

Holding the cat just over the waters surface he watched Briar closely "You might want to come take this. I can only hold it for so long" his words seemed almost sarcastic, as if he were telling the truth, just omitting some information, such as the amount of time exactly

There was another indignant twitching of a tall ear, before she sighed and walked over to where he was standing by the fountain. All other things aside she felt a little bad for the creature he was holding under, and with a frown she reached out to take control of it from him.

The cat reared and snarled, but ultimately it was handed over to her. Rhev inspected it closer "Seems your beast has taken to the animalistic nature of the gangrel blood. Rhage is fairly old, his blood is quite strong" he stood straight and looked at Briar again "So now what will you do with it?"

Couldn't exactly blame the manifestation of her rage for its behavior, if she'd just been held in a fountain she'd be pretty pissed off too... Was pretty pissed off too? She still didn't quite understand how this who symbolism of the mindscape worked. Hell she couldn't even determine much beyond the surface of those complex expressions that kept crossing Rhev's pale features.

Sitting down on the fountain ledge she set her beast beside her and stroked its fur with her free hand. "I'm sorry I'm so bad at all of this. I feel like I keep missing ques that should be obvious, so by proxy really all I'm doing is wasting your rather valuable time." A shrug was given.

"My plan is to ask Jonathon what the hell the next time our paths cross, but that is about all I've got plan wise."

Rhev looked over his shoulder rather quickly as he felt another presence enter his telepathy. The entry was rather subtle and non violent, but still felt as if a snake was crawling along ones skin. His voice filled the area before he appeared from the fog "Why, oh why, have you summoned me your majesty. I do have things that need tending to" the creole thick in his words, ushering in his appearance. His top hat sat cocked upon his head, a curtain of stick straight brunette hair framed a delicate and beautiful face with ice blue eyes. His black petty coat fastened around the remnants of a black and green three piece suit. He held a dark staff, and has a satchel hanging from his shoulder. His eyes fell on Briar and he smiled "Ah the young Catif, are fare you this eve darlin?"

Apparently the control of those fuzzy black tipped vulpin ears was instinctive because at the sound of Jonathon's voice they perked forward in his direction then laid back against her head; as if she didn't already have enough trouble wearing her heart on her sleeve.

Her mind strained to remember the man past seeing him at the club, but there was nothing. Which only served to compound her frustration and lifting her eyes from her beast she looked at the new arrival.

"You don't recognize me do you?" Setting the feline down gently she rose to her feet and crossed her arms, putting a great deal of effort into remaining reasonable about the matter.

Almost as if their surroundings were listening to her, the scape morphed back the street in front of that house. Johnathon glanced at the house and his brow furrowed. The group of silhouettes appeared and made their way for the door. As they made it to the porch when the serpentine hiss rose up in the air "This is wrong. There were 5 of them" a fifth silhouette manifested in front of the other 4. "And they were Cainite" the shadows solidified into a group if rough feral looking men and women, each quite monstrous in appearance. The group continued on as before but now the scene had great more detail, as well as a new perspective. Her mental scape seemed to have been hijacked, as the scene played out from what one could only assume was Johnny's point of view.
'How he had been following the group, and entered the domicile after the group, but was already to late to save the mortals. He was poised to strike the group when the sound of a babe caught his attention. In stealth, and with blinding speed he made his way upstairs. He began to lowly chant a lullaby to the young lady when the feral walked through the door. He was unremarkably weak of blood as he took no notice of Johnathon. 2 steps into the room had Johnny's silky sweet voice filling the air "One more step, my prey, and you will reawaken the poor lass. And that I can't have" he looked up at the walking corpse with a sadistic smile on his face "But in not done chasing you. Not yet. But now you get to know my face. Run little piggy" he leaned over the crib placing his hands on the banister and allowed the poor idiot to see through his mask exposing his monstrous humanoid serpent form to him, his tongue lashing out but not far enough to strike "Run!" The feral bolted for the door and began yelling to his friends to run. Johnathon hummed lightly to the shifting babe, who stilled instantly. And put his hand, clearly clutching something down into the crib and nestled the charm into her chest, and then he made his way out of the room. Once he was at the door he pulled his phone out and made a phone call. "9-1-1, Whats your emergency?" "Yes, I just saw a group of very suspicious men kick in the door of house I was passing. I believe the address is..." he trailed off giving them the address as he walked away from the house. He dropped a small pouch just before he stepped off the property and made his way down the street, malice and disdain in his steps
The fountain came back into view and Johnathon stood with a sad look on his face. "No. But I know who you are"

It had always been a strange memory, after all as an infant she certainly hadn't been standing in a place to observe the arrival of the cainites; if it was the memory of another what was it doing in her mind in the first place?

That hadn't escaped her notice even the first time she'd watched the events play out. Unsurprisingly the gaps that Johnathon had filled in only left her with more questions.

Still, it was difficult for Briar to hold onto her anger as she watched sorrow overtake his; empathy was a real bitch in moments like this.

"I'm sorry." She wasn't even sure what exactly she was apologizing for, though the intent of the words had been genuine, she didn't want to be the source of unhappiness for anyone truth be told. "I just... I'm trying to figure out where I belong in all of this."

His aged presence lightened slightly as he sat on a chair that appeared "Rightly darlin, I do not know. I fear to shatter something you might be harboring, but its possible you were just simply the ultimate victim in a simple altercation. I went back that night to check on the situation, but by then the young lady had already been taken from the house, and I lost track of her completely...at least until now it would seem" he reached forward and plucked a cup of tea of off the tea table that appeared next to him, which had a second cup sitting on it.

While Briar was so straight faced it bordered on impassive, in the wake of that briefly lived hope that she might have finally found a real connection, being shattered.

In the booth Riot reached up and brushed a sleeve across her eyes; there had been so many moments of weakness up to this point, what was one more?

"Reality rarely shows mercy and it never takes prisoners, Johnny. Don't worry about it."

Taking a deep breath she looked around her own mindscape, watching the fog recede to reveal the city streets and the area around the fountain that she'd memorized down to the finest detail. "I think the mistake I made was in assuming that immortality came with belonging somewhere." A shrug followed. "I appreciate you clearing up the mystery for me. Now I don't have to wonder."

Johnny tilted his head curiously "Immortality versus mortality has nothing to do with where one belongs, darlin. Its just a matter of how long you have to find it. And believe you me, it doesn't take long. My question to you is this, why're you lookin back? Aren't you more curious about whats in front of you? Your path has indeed grown substantially." He sipped from the tea again, the creole words hanging in the air

"You make it sound so fucking easy." From the feral feline lurking on the upper tiers of the dry fountain there was a low growl that highlighted Briar's frustration. The young cainite and her beast apparently having come a long way since the evening started.

As had the landscape come to think of it.

"Tell me. What is it I am supposed to be looking forward to, hm? The horizon? Possibility? Vague promises that there is something that makes all this worth it? Please. Look at how my life as a mortal ended. All the effort and good karma in the world and my life ends in a moment. Even if I'd stayed dead, my absence wouldn't have made any impression." She scoffed.

His chuckle filled the bar as he stepped up into the vip booth his monstrous form sliding away, to match the image in her mind, to become one in the same. His voice echoed outloud as well as in her mind "Again you look back. Yes you know may lack a heartbeat, but your mind still functions, no?" He bowed to Rhev in reality and has a seat in the chair across from Riot "And the answer your going to get, is the Future. Its always there and you will never know what its gonna throw at ya, but you can always look forward and see the world coming at you, instead of watching it pass you" he shrugged non chalantly "Or you can dig yourself a hole and forget the world exists."

In the booth Riot's eyes snapped open, leaving the mental setting behind if that was something she had the willpower to do. "You don't have the right to dismiss my rage. I've never had anything handed to me. I've never had anyone. So forgive me if I thought this might make my life a little less fucking lonely. That isn't the same as crawling in a hole and letting the world pass me by."

Those tall vulpine ears quivered in the wake of her words.

"Or have you been dead so long you've gotten past something so human as the emptiness in your gut that comes with knowing no one has your back? I noticed, in the *very* short time I've been at this, even the eldest of our kind make it a point to assure themselves of companionship in some form or another."

Rhev seemed gave her a puzzling look and leaned forward to speak but wasn't quick enough before the creole to hit the air "You would be correct. I have been dead awhile. And yes, I may or may not have evolved when it comes to my mentality. I simply embraced what I had been gifted with and moved forward with it. Im not surprised that you took to the blood of Gangrel, now that I've had a chance to speak with you." He didn't get another chance as his words fell silent even though his lips were moving. Rhev spoke, slightly agitated "Johnathon, you really can be a severe pain in the ass sometimes. Riot, are you talking about Orchid?" He looked at her still puzzled.

Just as she was about to snap back in inquiry of what he meant by that comment concerning the Gangrel, The Prince cut in and out of respect she snapped her jaw closed and waited. The question Rhev leveled at her in place of the comment from Johnny earned him a few confused blinks.

"Yes. I also mean every soul in your entourage. While you might not be able to see it, your grace. At least when you are here, you are very difficult to catch when you're alone. Trust me, I've been waiting nearly a week to give you that picture." The rage had temporarily faded from her posture as she fixed the Assamite with a pointed look.

"Riot, one thing you should know is at no point did I think about ensuring I had companionship during my existence. I didn't force any of them into anything. They came along on their own. And some of them I didn't meet until very recently. As for being lonely, there is in fact a whole new world opened up to you. I understand your inner turmoil though. It can be hard going through this world alone" his words were soft but his gaze was weighted.

"Rhev, do you think I wasn't listening with rapt attention when told your story? Naive or not, I take you at your word. So I'd never assume you coerced any of the people around you, to be here. They choose of their own free will to be here, because you've made yourself into someone worth following.

Holding a finger up she slipped away from the table and fetched her backpack from behind the bar. Returning she dropped her new sketchbook on the table in front of him. "There are rare moments when being invisible has its benefits. It's given me all the time in the world to observe people in those moments when they think no one else is watching. Those moments when the truth of who they are shines through. Seeing those. It says everything words fall flat in the effort to describe."

The look she gave him was almost perplexed at his inability to recognize something that, in her eyes, was so obvious.

"What im saying to you is youre in a rush. You've barely been Kindred for a week. You still have some acclimating to do. But who you are is who you make it. Your story is just starting, and your eager to see the final page. Maybe give your supporting characters a chance to reveal themselves?" He seemed to be pondering as he spoke. It was rare that he was caught at a loss for words.