WDE
“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen of the skeleton crew, this is your captain, Ryvr Lorea speaking, and we are making our descent into the island nation of Riviera momentarily. The weather outside is currently probably hot, and the weather is, as always, probably sunny anyway. To the rest of the crew, I have rented out rooms for you at the 21 on the main street as a reward for coming this way with us, and if you need room service, just put it on the tab ill cover it. Now anyways if you look to our left, you should be able to see the Brujeria undocking itself from our starboard side momentarily.” Ryvr pressed on the mic on the control panel, “Good landing, Brujeria dont forget I gave Rosario the confirmation slips for your rooms at the Roulette.” A voice cracked through a speaker, and Kian said, “Understood, see you there lord Ryvr.”
They walked out onto the deck of the brujeria. The parking scaffold was full, hanging in it were airships of all makes and models, luxury and budget models parked side by side in a heterogeneous mixture. Carmilla stepped out of the door first with a red bag with a straw hanging in her mouth, and she said, “All right lets get this swashbucking fucking pirate party started.” Rosario’s hand pressed on her shoulder, “Riviera isn't like that anymore.” She looked at him, confused, “What do you mean this place isn't a libertalia anymore? I just sold them some opium like 75 years ago?” he shook his head. “No, 70 years ago, the Riviera family rallied a merc army and took the island from the pirates. What was once the Libertalia is on the other side of the island.” She sulked, “Aww man, those pirates were some wild folk, but they knew how to throw one hell of an orgy.” Rosario stepped past her sandals and shorts with a backpack on his back, the hilt of his sword hanging out of it. “Don't worry, I'm sure you can still get into some sort of debaucherous shenanigans while we're here.”
Senarre walked out next, an unbuttoned flowery pattern shirt revealing the Master of the Forge shirt underneath. “How do you even have a medical license if you sold pirates opium?” Carmilla turned to her, “I didn't even graduate, I'm not officially a doctor, but if you spend enough time digging around in living things, you'll figure out how they work, at least that's my philosophy on how medicine as a practice got started.” Senarre’s eyebrow twitched. “Youre telling me you used healing magic on my leg without being a fucking doctor?” Carmilla waved her hand dismissively. “Oh, whatever patients tell me, it only hurts as much as childbirth or getting repeatedly kicked in the gonads.” Senarre, visibly angered, looked over to her. “How do you not know how much it hurts?” Carmilla pulled back her lips, showing off sharpened canines. “My status as the living undead grants me particular perks; one of those is pain tolerance. That's not really an undead thing, that's more of being repeatedly torn to pieces by a sociopathic sex criminal and being forced to slowly heal over and over and over.” Senarre made a chill with her shoulders. “That's pretty horrible i take it that was Grigori?” Carmilla shot her a look and said, “Bingo, anyway, no time to dwell on the past, we still have seven days until this nobility shitshow goes off, so let's enjoy this, I wanna find an opium den and maybe play a couple rounds of pinfinger at a shitty pub.”
Rosario, walking towards the scaffolds, said, “I told you this place isn't a pirate den anymore.” Carmilla pouted and mouthed the words back to him behind his back as Kian exited the ship, shyly walking across the deck with a semi-sulking tone. Senarre turned to him, “Are you ok? Looks like you've seen a ghost.” He shook his head, “No, I'm fine. I'm just tired. I wanna take a nap and can't wait to get to the hotel.”
They descended the scaffolds down to the lower area that held all manner of skiffs. There was a man in a blue uniform hassling an elven man with sunglasses and a haircut that resembled a bowl on his head. The man in the uniform said, “I told you not to bring this type of vehicle around here, now get outta here before I call the guards on you.” the elven man looked at the uniformed man and said “Man i don't give a shit who you are or what you do i paid for this parking spot fair and square, can't a man just enjoy a night out on the town.” The guard looked at him and said “I don't care get your ride and get out of here othersider you aren't allowed on this side of the island.” the elven man turned to look at Rosario and company before looking back to the guard “Look you aren't going to do that to these people are you?” he looked to Senarre and saw her half-elven ears and he pulled on his own ears before walking over to her and saying loudly so the guard could hear him clearly “Look cousin im so glad to see you here this man is preventing me from parking here to pick you guys up.” She looked unenthused to be dragged into the situation. Rosario stepped forward and tossed a wad of cash at the guard .“Just let him park here, please.” The guard hastily flipped through the bills and said, “Will do.”
The elven man walked over to Rosario, laying an arm over his shoulder. “Thanks for that, boss. What can I do for you?” Rosario looked at him flatly and said, “Give us a ride to the Roulette then.” The elven man turned to him, “You sure, boss? You got an elf with you, they don't take kindly to non human humanoids round these parts. If you're looking for a place to stay i would be glad to show you guys a nice place on the otherside” Rosario said. “Just get us to the roulette, please.” The five of them piled into a skiff with a pinstripe pattern on the side. The elf turned to everyone there and said, “This baby girl is my pride and joy, built her myself from scratch shes the finest skiff on Riviera.” he flicked a switch on, and the radio started blasting music before he hastily switched it off. “Sorry, anyway, what brings you to Riviera?” Rosario looked at him carefully, “Business propositions.” He looked at Rosario suspiciously while reaching between the seats carefully. “What kind of business propositions are you doing around here with a Halfkin and beastfolk in tow?” he felt a cold, cylindrical object pressing against the nape of his neck from Senarre in the backseat. “Move another centimeter into that seat, and you're painting your windshield. He let his hand go, holding it up, “Whoa whoa, there, halfkin, I ain't trying to play with y'all, it's just a little sus that you're coming here and ain't parkin in the waterfront.” Rosario said calmly, “Just here on business, all you need to know now, can you take us to the Roulette or not, because I think that guard is starting to see that I gave him considerably less bribe money than he thinks I did.” the elven man said without turning the barrel of Senarre’s gun still digging into the nape of his neck “You two fuckin crazy, pulling a gun on me on my own turf.” Rosario looked down at his hand. The elven man had a tattoo on his hand featuring three 7s like a slot machine. “Not your turf, you wouldn't have identifier tattoos if this were your turf.”
The elven man sucked his teeth. “Fine, but the lady puts the gun down, and we get moving.” Rosario turned to Senarre in the backseat and shook his head, and she lowered the gun. “Deal, get us to the roulette nice and fast, and I'll even drop you a couple of extra bills.” The elven man started the engine and pulled up on the stick of the skiff. Moments later, they were flying low over the city. The elven man cleared his throat. “Sorry, we got off on the wrong foot. My name is eddie what about you?” Senarre leaned back smugly, "Your name's not Eddie, you're a fullblood, your ears aren't like mine, what's your name really?” Eddie leaned forward in the seat, “don't know bout any other name other than the one ma and pa gave me. What about you, lady, you're a mixed breed. What's your name?” Her eyes narrowed, “My name’s Senarre, what kinda parents you got naming you Eddie then?” Eddie shrugged, “Don't know the elves who were my parents aren't anywhere to be seen, all I know is Ma and Pa raised me, so that's who I'm loyal to.”
The skiff came to a stop in front of the large resort, shining bright lights visible even during the day, glinting gold windows and large glass doors revealing dark interiors shining with slot machines. The four of them piled out of the skiff, backpacks in hand. Eddie, with his hand resting on the wheel of the skiff, said, “This is where you wanted to go if you ever come looking for some more fun on the otherside don't hesitate to come by Ma and Pa’s.” Rosario walked back up to the window, leaning on it. He pulled a small wad of bills from his pocket and handed them to Eddie. “Thanks for the ride, I'll be sure to seek you out if we come to need any lesser than official services during our stay here. I hope twenty-five thousand marks is enough for this.” Eddie pinched the bills out of his hand with two fingers, his eyes wide. “Sweet, if you need anything and I mean anything, come find me on the otherside, I'll probably be on a binge at the cowbell.” Eddie pressed forward on the wheel and accelerated out of the drop-off lane in front of the Roulette.
Rosario caught up to Kian Senarre and Carmilla. “Do you guys wanna see if Ryvr and his wives are here yet, or do you wanna just go up to the rooms to leave our shit and then come back down to the casino?” Carmilla said quickly, “Kian and I will go scope out the casino floor. I wanna put it all on black before lunch.” Rosario sighed, “Fine, I'll see you guys in a little bit. We'll take our crap up to the room.”
They parted ways. Senarre and Rosario walked towards the elevators, and Carmilla and Kian headed down a hall with a sign that read “Table games.” Rosario and Senarre entered the empty elevator. They rode in silence for a moment. Rosario broke the silence, “I know you're under a lot of stress right now, but did you need to draw on him like that?” Senarre thought quietly with a slight frown, “No, I didn't mean to. I just saw him reaching into the seat, so I moved to react. I shouldn't have reacted. I know you can defend yourself.” He frowned and looked over to her. “It's fine, don't worry about it, all works out in the end, plus we made a new acquaintance too, who might prove useful if we need some off-the-books services while we're here in Riviera.” She scratched the area around her arm in the cast. “This damn thing is so itchy, say what's that Ma and Pa he was talking about?” Rosario was quiet and said, “They are one of the factions that manage the other side of the island. Pa runs their casinos, drug trade, and weapons, and Ma is the bookkeeper and the mastermind behind all of their Brothels. Don't know their names or anything, just pseudonyms they use to do business. They're usually engaged in turf wars with other organizations on the other side of the island.” Senarre looked confused. “But why don't they run the whole island then?”
“Mercs hired by the Riviera family keep all activity deemed less than savoury isolated to the other side of the island, like Carmilla said it used to be a pirate haven, the modern criminal organizations are likely descended from the pirates that called this island home in the past.” The elevator opened to a long hallway. They walked to the left to a large double door and opened it, revealing a room with large plush couches, sweeping views of the city below, and a conversation pit in the middle of the room. Senarre dropped her things on the floor and walked over to a couch, threw herself onto it, and sarcastically said, “Dearest Lorea i fear you have accustomed me to the finer things in life.” He walked over to the couch opposite her and threw the backpack on his back onto the floor, and sat on the couch, hanging his arms over the back of the couch and exhaling deeply. “I apologize profusely for my wicked acts of temptation.” She sat up on the couch. “What are we doing now?” he tilted his head towards her. “I don't know, we have like a week to kill until the noble summit, so I figure we just relax until then.” Senarre placed her feet on the ground. “Wanna go down to the pool?” Rosario sat up, “sure why not?”
Rosario, Senarre, Kian, and Carmilla exited the elevator on the penthouse floor. The lights were low. Carmilla stepped forward, holding her arms out, every hair on her body standing on end. She said, trembling, “Something's here.” Rosario generated a simple blade of black stones. Senarre reached into her waistline and pulled a pistol, thumbing its hammer forward. Kian whispered, “I don't have a weapon?” Carmilla stepped forward. “Stay behind us then.” They stepped out into the hallway. Rosario said, “Real heavy mana down the right.” They walked in formation to the right of the large doors of one of the penthouses. Carmilla drew a sharp inhale and generated a blade of smooth crimson from her hand. “Ready?” she pushed open the door, and all four barged in. Ryvr and his wives were sitting on the couch, wreathed in bathrobes, and an older woman with a sword in her hand was standing there, pointing the sheathed blade at him. Her hair strands of black interspliced with gray, she wore a Black long coat with a large insignia of a Laurel wreath spliced with a flower in the center, her eyes a sharp green like unpolished jade. “Gods, Ryvr, can you never keep it in your pants? You've been here one day, and this Penthouse already reeks of sex. If I find out that the ancestral manor has turned into your playhouse, I will personally write you out of my will and name Rosario or Hana as the sole inheritor of clan Lorea.” Ryvr smiled and held out his hand, pointing behind her. She placed the sword at her hip. “I already sensed him and the other three.”
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She turned her hand on the pommel of the sword to look at Rosario and company, Senarre Carmilla, and Kian fell to their knees. Senarre clutched at her throat with her hand in the cast. She said through a ragged breath, “What the fuck?” She ran her hand along her throat and raised the hand to her face, expecting to see blood. The woman walked over to Carmilla and rested the blade on one of her shoulders like a lord being knighted. “Spawn of Grigori? Where might your master be, and why might you be traveling with my son are my first questions, and a further question would be, why are you, Lorea?” Carmilla tried to speak up but was unable. Rosario stepped in front of the woman with the sword. “They are my friends, they mean no harm.” The woman stowed the sword, allowing the three on their knees to stand gasping for breath. Carmilla stood up, holding her throat. “Grigori is dead. Rosario helped me kill him.” The woman walked around Carmilla. “Fascinating, you are a contradiction, you live, yet you are an undead.” She said, “My son assisted in the slaying of a high-class undead, quite spectacular. I had not assumed him to be the type to be proficient in combat.”
Senarre walked over to Rosario. “She said son, is that?” Rosario shook his head, “Yep thats Yaren Itzcoyotyl Lorea, the sword maiden, the Mortal blade.” Senarre's eyes lit up; she looked at Yaren giddily. Yaren turned away from Carmilla and looked at Senarre's eyes, narrowed inquisitively. Yaren raised a hand sheathed in woolen fingerless gloves, she reached upwards, grabbing Senarre’s chin, turning her head, and inspecting her face carefully before looking at her eyes. Yaren said quietly, “You remind me of my master. I like you.” Senarre pulled back and said bashfully, “Thank you, I'm a big fan of your work, could you sign my cast?” Yaren looked at her carefully in thought, “Sure.”Senarre held out her hand as Yaren reached into the breast pocket of her coat and pulled a black ink pen and wrote with a single stroke a stylized “MB.” Yaren turned away from her and walked over to Kian. She said in a calm tone, “Sorry, little one, I didn't mean to scare you.”
Kian stood up, hand on his throat, “What was that? I felt like you cut my throat?” Yaren grabbed her right hand with her left, rubbing the palm. “A spell I created, it works by essentially drawing out the opponent's fear with one's own killing intent. Back in my day, it was great for bringing in bounty targets alive, granted, usually they'd pissed themselves by that point, but alive.” Kian turned his head curiously. “How come it didn't affect Big bro and Ryvr?” Yaren smiled, and the wrinkles around her mouth creased. “I created this spell forty-five years ago when I was fifteen. I took inspiration from a cursed blade that my master had in her possession at the time. When I created the spell, I added a clause in the automatic activation, it won't target the ones with my blood in their veins, which is why, despite your undead friend here bearing Lorea blood, she is not my progeny, so she would still be affected.” Kian’s eyes lit up, forgetting about what had just occurred. “Can you teach me?” Yaren looked at him and said, “No, it's my secret technique.” Ryvr cut in from the couch, “Ok, now that pleasantries have been exchanged, can we all please leave my room?”
Yaren raised a gloved hand, opened wide, and pinched her thumb and index finger together in a gesture that said “shush.” Ryvr said, sulking, “But mother dearest, we are trying to produce you some grandchildren here, and we can't do that with everyone in the room.” Yaren glared at him maliciously and repeated her gesture before walking over to Rosario, allowing her sword to rest at her hip. She pulled him in for a hug. “How are you doing, my son? When you disappeared, I feared the worst, but I knew not to fret over anxieties; clan Lorea is sturdy stock.” She patted him on the back. “Thanks, mom, I'm ok, I survived this woman and her, uhhm, pulled me out of a skiff on their way out of the city, and I've been traveling with them for the last three or so odd months, also picked up the Kian and the Vampyr too.” Yaren turned to Carmilla again, resting her gloved hand on the pommel of her sword. “Now, why are you a member of clan Lorea?”
Carmilla, with slight fear visible in her eyes, said, “Well, basically, you know that one time that triplets were born into the main family, and then the head appointed them to the branches and shit. well basically im the product of one of those triplets the one that was placed in De la Rosa and a member of the Esparza they did the whole thing and i was born and twenty or so years after i was born i was off at the university in Morriak and then someone spiked my drink with Vampyr blood, im gonna guess you know who and when he tried to do his usual thing when targeting lone women i bit him and it turned me, spent the better part of a century living under his thumb until your son and friends came along and helped me put him in the dirt, well dirt is a strong wording i absorbed him so hes technically not dead, im him i guess.” Yaren rubbed her chin with her exposed fingers. “You're quite fascinating. The mana you output is like dirty fragments of your own mixed with others. How are you generating your own mana at all?” Carmilla tapped herself on the chest with a closed fist. “I’ve been experimenting. I'm also partially visible in mirrors now, I can make a small portion of my own mana, so I can eat normal human food sometimes, but most of my mana comes from others like a normal Vampyr.”
Just then, the door crashed open, and a woman in a maid's uniform dropped two suitcases onto the floor. One of them opened, revealing a stack of books. Yaren, Ryvr, and Rosario turned to look at her. Rosario said, “Ophelia?” The woman in the maid's dress bowed and said, “It's good to see you, young masters.” Ryvr raised his hand and waved it slightly. Yaren raised her gloved hand to him again he made an exaggerated expression and placed his hand on his chest. “What did I do?!” Yaren glared at him. “Aside from somehow managing to stink up a penthouse in less than 12 hours, you didn't even consult me when you turned coat on other Dreynas forces and fired upon supposed friendly air units, and kicked off that shitshow in the Capitol.” She turned to Rosario and then back to Ryvr. “Can we trust your wives and friends?” Ryvr smiled, “I'd trust my wives with my life, some hopefully all of them will be mothers to your grandchildren.” Rosario shook his head, “Yea i trust them. I trust Senarre with my life implicitly. Carmilla is family, and Kian is a close friend.”
Yaren scratched her forehead. “Ryvr, did you sweep the room for any listening devices?” He shook his head, “Yea thats kinda standard operating procedure.” Yaren glared at him, “Don't be smart with me. Anyways ill trust the lot of you if my sons can vouch for you.” She cleared her throat, “I think someone is targeting Clan Lorea, I don't know who, but I think the pieces on the board in the visible light show us as a target, i dont know motives or anything but i urge you both Rosario and Ryvr to tread exceptionally lightly, and to gather allies wherever possible because should the worst of the worst come to pass we would be looking at three options War, Death, Exile, in the days to come during the noble summit tread carefully do not give out trust freely.” Yaren walked over to the door “now that this is stated im ready to go to bed, i suggest you all should as well i made arrangements with the hotel staff to serve us breakfast at 9 o’clock on the dot.” She opened the door and slipped out. Ophelia walked closely behind her and bowed and said, “See you tomorrow, Young masters.” Senarre turned to Rosario and said, “Your mom is so cool im her biggest fan. When I was a kid, I used to read the stories of her days as a bounty hunter. I can't believe I got the Mortal Blade to sign my cast.” She began walking towards the door as well. Ryvr, looking unenthused, said. “Ok, can everyone please get the fuck out of my room now? I was very, very busy and now all these visitors have disrupted my nocturnal activities.” Rosario looked at him with a flat expression, “Is this what you do every night?” Ryvr, with a smug expression, looked at his brother, “Yea pretty much, beats seeing the nightmares every night, plus if you're too tired sometimes you won't get them.” Carmilla looked to him, “You get nightmares too?” Ryvr waved his hand. “Yea but mine have a concrete explanation for their point of origin, you know what they say about not all the scars being physical wounds, you know, war trophies and all that.” Carmilla understood and shook her head. Rosario turned and walked towards the door along with Senarre, Carmilla, and Kian.
They walked back to the large Penthouse, six rooms branched off from the living space. Upon entering the room, they split up, and each went to their own rooms before entering his room. Rosario said, “Don't forget to be up early tomorrow. Mom’s idea of a breakfast is one to not be ignored, more like an order than a request to join her for breakfast.” The other three nodded as he closed his door.
He sat on the edge of the bed and pulled off the green cardigan and unbuttoned his shirt before crossing his legs and resting his hands in his lap, imagining a field of flowers. “Youre back?” The smoking mirror said, peering through the crack in the shimmer. “Yea just to ask a question.” Smoking mirror leaned back in his throne of black stone. “Ask away ill try my best to answer.” “You heard what my mom said, right?” Smoking mirror shook his head, “Yes, about her concerns.” Rosario sat back on a spontaneously generated throne of black stone. “I need you to teach me to control it.” Smoking mirror frowned and shook his head, “No, I won't do that, too dangerous, just a half-assed activation created the crack. If you perfected it, I don't know what would happen. If you could find an elven priestess, it would be a different story, though.” “Why would it be a different story?” Smoking mirror sighed “Because i was digging around in my mind and i guess yours too to some extent my Yeli was the elven priestess of her time if you could find one they might be able to tell you what's going on with this whole situation we got going on here, maybe even why your friend is also touched or gifted or whatever you've taken to calling it.” Rosario leaned forward in interest “who is this Yeli, is it the same person you were speaking of the first time I arrived in this place?”
Smoking mirror leaned back in fond reminiscence, “She was… my world. I don't remember when we first met, but I think it was on a battlefield when we crossed swords. We levelled mountains that day, we fought for hours, neither getting the advantage, and an endless dance of a storm of blades, slashes, and cuts, the ground around us cracked, turned to ashes or black stone. When our first battle finished, we were lying side by side in exhaustion, exchanging verbal jabs, unable to move until the blade goddess came to retrieve her. I remember the feeling of her pressing the blade on my neck when my Yeli said, “Dont” every single time we crossed paths after that, my heart fluttered like a butterfly on black wings.” Smoking mirror leaned back in his throne of black stone, wiping tears from his eyes, “I would destroy the gods themselves to have her by my side again.” Rosario looked at him curiously. “Is that an expression, or do you literally have the means to slay a god?” Smoking mirror continued crying and said in a defeated tone, “Pick one.” Rosario, taken aback by the sudden shift in the smoking mirror's demeanor, said, “I'll leave you be for a bit. I don't know what to say in this kind of situation.”
Rosario and Senarre stood in the elevator heading up to the penthouse level after the obligatory breakfast. She stood admiring the signature on her cast, “Kinda weird how Kian didn't come down for breakfast, huh?” Rosario leaned against the wall. “Yea he usually doesn't turn down a meal, you think he's sick or something?” She looked up from her cast. “Maybe let's go check on him when we get up to the room, then we can re-join Carmilla down on the casino floor.” The elevator came to a stop, and they exited, walking towards the penthouse suites.
They entered the penthouse and walked over to the room Kian had selected. Senarre tried the handle. “Locked, can you do me a favor?” Rosario walked up and held his hand up to the keyhole, generating a fine shard of black stone and turning it like a key; the door opened with a push. The room was clean, the bed made, nothing of note except a small piece of tattered paper on the pillow. “I'm leaving for a few days, don't come looking for me- Kian.” She dropped the note, “Shit, the cat is gone, should we go looking for him?” Rosario picked up the note, giving it a quick read. “I think we should probably go looking for him. Vina is going to absolutely murder me if i dont give her little brother back in one piece. Let's head back down and tell Carmilla to stick around the casino in case he comes back, and we'll go looking for him.”