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"description": "Masquerade! \n\nFreakin vampires on parade!\n\nMasquerade!\n\nFreaking Bite! Your freaking! Neck off!\n\nYeah, I donno why I did that. Anyways, More Collared", "description_bbcode_parsed": "Masquerade!

Freakin vampires on parade!

Masquerade!

Freaking Bite! Your freaking! Neck off!

Yeah, I donno why I did that. Anyways, More Collared", "writing": "Collared Chapter 8: Masquerade\nBy TerraMGP\n\t\n\tClear moonlight shone down over a lovingly cared for rooftop. It was a garden. Well cared for rows and boxes of flowers set up for the pleasure of residents all too busy to come enjoy it. A wasted beauty. A fleeting thing in which only one figure luxuriated.\n\n\tHe wore no shirt. His toned body instead resting bare-chested in a pair of tight leather pants. He laid on the ledge of the building with one leg slumped off and a hand dancing lazily though the air. The way he looked at it cut though the light of moon and stars one could almost imagine it to be a tangible liquid.\n\n\t“Such a beautiful city. Small, frail. Yet look at it at night. Stand atop her shoulders and gaze down at the lights. Up at the stars. Like a box of gems. Glittering. Glimmering. None within would expect the poisoned toad lurking contently within this jewel-encrusted box.”\n\n\t“That’s what I hate about your types.” A voice echoed from the stairwell door. “You never make no god damn sense.” The sickly old lights of the stairwell framed the speaker. A stocky, hulking brute of a canine. A husky in tattered jeans and an open red flannel shirt. He cracked his knuckles and then his neck. Hatred raising off of him like steam.\n\n\tThe goat smirked slightly. He lay resplendent in the moonlight. His fingers curled around something that had been lain near him and pulled it up slowly. He cradled it to his chest, the two foot long shaft shimmering at both ends with gold, before gripping the handle and drawing it slightly from the sheath to show a glint of silver.\n\n\t“She was a courtesan, you know. In France. A lovely little bauble who caught the eye of a Marquis. Men. Women. Especially women. He, you should have seen the way d’Aubigny’s hair glimmered like fire on the Danube. Did I turn her? Did she turn me? We twist and turn together” Those questions slipped free in a high-pitched and feminine sing song while the lounging man gazed at the metal. Echoing the questions in a familiar voice trying to parrot the heights of an opera singer.\n\n\tHeavy combat boots thudded into the cement floor. Intentional. The stocky canine making clear his annoyance with the flamboyant nonsense. “So we doin’ this or what.” Jasper spat, kicking one of his heavy combat boots against the ground.\n\n\tThe goat giggled faely and turned his head lazily to the side. “Mademoiselle Maupin spent such a time teaching her the blade. Our poor, departed friend. By Mother Lilith, but Camille loved it. Loved the way the silver danced and gleamed. Loved the way blood would dance from the tip like ribbons. It was almost poetic.”\n\n\tThe husky reared to lunge. Stopped in place by four loud bangs. He ell to one knee and snarled. One arm pressed in over the holes now punched into his Che Guevara tee shirt while the pain of his undead body knitting a kneecap back into place kept him low and almost feral in his posture.\n\n\tWithin a split second the distance between the two vampires was cleared. The shirtless black goat holding the sword to his foe’s neck with one hand. Its blade now fully bare. The other playfully dangling a gun from his index finger as it jangled like keys from its trigger guard. “Now me? I kinda always liked the VP 70.” The austere affectations of the black furred boy abruptly melting into a neutral Californian accent. “First polymer gun, ya know. Huge mag size for the time. I hate reloading. Feels all, squishy.”\n\n--------------------\n\n\t“REF!”\n\n\tA figure in a poorly sewn hooded robe stomped itself over to the pair. A young hawk in his mid 20s pulling the hood back and glaring angrily. “What is it this time Augie?” He said as he glanced at the Husky who’d called out for him.\n\n\t“What do you mean what is it?” Augie grumbled “This is bullshit and you know it. Ozzy is a Malkavian. Only now he gets Celerity? What’s up with that?”\n\n\tThe hawk’s eyes narrowed as he glanced to the rather unassuming, and shirtless, goat. Then back to Augie. “So were you just not paying attention with the whole scene where Monique let him Diablerize her character? Or…”\n\n\tThe soft green eyes of the otherwise heavy set husky glanced away for a moment. He bit back on his frustration and shifted to his other knee, not liking the bare fur as his only padding against concrete. “Stupid ripped jeans. Yeah I saw it. Diablerie is bullshit. That’s my point? Suddenly he gets her ranks in that celerity superspeed bullshit and his blood potency goes up?”\n\n\t“It’s the same as yours!” The hawk snapped. “Plus you have Fist of Caine. Why didn’t you just punch him while he was monologue instead of trying to walk up on him?” He gripped the bridge of his beak and glanced at the now smirking goat holding the nerf gun and costume sword. “You ok with this scene so far, Oz?”\n\n\t“Yeah, Beck. I’m cool.” Ozzy shrugged “Hope I was doing ok with Julie’s backstory. Shit that was a hell of a read.”\n\n\tAugie shifted back and snarled slightly. Not at Ozzy. Not at Beck. Just a general, exhausted snarl. “Sucks that she left.” He sighed. “We don’t have enough people to do this shit.”\n\n\tBeck nodded somberly. The three friends looked between each other. All of them were thinking it. Here they were on an apartment roof in what was to be the big climactic battle between two rivals and they couldn’t even get anyone else to come watch. \n\n\t“Didn’t you say you knew a guy who wanted to join, Ozzy?” Augie noted\n\n\t“He’s gonna. At some point. Poor guy’s kinda freaked out and working two jobs on top of classes. I told him not to push himself. We’ll get him slotted in once he settles.”\n\n\tThe husky slipped down to sit cross-legged on the ground and huffed “Could at least introduce us.”\n\n\t“I did” Ozzy chimed “Remember? That show at the Old Dog?”\n\n\tAugie took a moment to process things, scratching the scraggly chin fur he still refused to trim. “Wait, are we talking about that scrawny Eddie Riggs wannabe you paid to roadie for us?”\n\n\tThe black furred goat boy gave a contented nod “Yup! I mean, Eddie Riggs isn’t blonde…”\n\n\t“Yeah but he had on the sleeveless shirt thing and the bracelets and just… he looked like a metal try hard, ya know?”\n\n\t“Oh that’s just how he dresses.” Ozzy waved a paw, then winced as said paw nearly lost grip of the nerf gun. He caught it before it fell and smacked his canine friend in the head. “Besides. That was half your drum kit hauled at no cost to you.”\n\n\t“Just tell me that he’s not gonna be a Malkavina. I don’t need this kind of bullshit team up in stereo.” Augie muttered\n\n\tBeck shook his head and pulled the hood back over his head. “We’ll cross that bridge when we join up. We can also cross the ‘figure out other players’ bridge at that point, too. Time being, you guys feel up to getting back into it?”\n\n\t“Yeah, I got enough fortitude dots to shrug off some pot shots. Just kinda bullshit he can do that for a loss in furmanity.” Augie sighed\n\n\tBeck chuckled a bit. “I thought you called Furmanity bullshit, too.”\n\n\t“It is when that stupid bear baron asshole can keep it at nine dots! Him and his girlfriend getting to swap to all his ghouls because he has ‘herd’. Freaking ‘Orin the Baron-sage’ crap. Why can’t people build normal characters around here?”\n\n\tBeck and Ozzy simply exchanged a knowing glance. The hawk then moved back into the shadows, and the scene continued.\n\n--------------------\n\n\tEver since moving in last year, Ozzy had largely considered the living room of the big old house to be his personal domain. It wasn‘t an arrogance thing. It was simply a matter of their last roomate being some overly frugal workaholic who only moved out because he could finally buy a house out in the boonies. In truth he and Willa had probably only exchanged a few dozen words with the guy between them, and half of those were an odd lecture before he left about Ozzy‘s ‘meds‘.\n\n\tAdmittedly there were still some lectures about pot from Gretchen. She also didn‘t come down quite as much as she could have. But Justin did. The otter was way more chill and actually wanted to hang out. Better still, he had friends. Namely the red panda girl who‘d been coming over to hang out lately.\n\n\tEventually Justin pulled himself up from the couch and twisted his back. Even from half way across the room Ozzy swore he could hear the bubble wrap pop of each vertebrae. “Ok then, ready to head out?” Justin grumbled as he pulled himself out of his seat.\n\n\tThe red panda girl shook her head and took the opportunity to throw her legs up on the couch. “If it’s ok with you I think I’m going to hang back. I’m enjoying this game and there’s nothing to do at the dorm.”\n\n\t“What do you mean nothing to do.” Justin shot her a cock-eyed look and shifted his hips in a more feminine way than he probably intended.\n\n\t“I mean I don’t have anything. Classes are caught up and the only system I can really have in my dorm is the switch. No place for a proper TV.” The response was flippant. So was the way the Chinese girl shifted and swayed this way and that to get a better look at the TV. Not that she needed it. But it sure as hell seemed to be getting on Justin’s nerves.\n\n\tAs if in response the Otter took a step forward, now actually getting in between the girl and the TV. “You realize I might not be back for a few hours, right? This isn’t a ‘clock in/clock out’ job. I’m there till I nab a ‘gig’ or go home. You’re gonna be stuck here late. So I don’t want to hear you complaining.”\n\n\tJustin wasn’t expecting the small thud against his coat. He looked back towards Ozzy, who simply gave him a small wave of the paw. “Dude, go on. We’ll save ya some pizza. Plus if she really gets sick of hanging around here I can always give her a lift.”\n\n\t“You sure?” the otter blinked\n\n\t“Yeah I’m sure.” He nodded back “Be nice to have some company. Well, company doing more than just snoozing away on the couch or trying to drown me in passive aggressive quiet.”\n\n\tThere was a pause, then a long and drawn out sigh. “Ok, if you’re sure. Sorry about that.” The otter boy glanced back at his guest and huffed at the air a bit. “And you, try to behave. Right? At least save your brat shit for when I get back. That is unless you want me to tell Becky on you.”\n\n\tThe two exchanged some kind of odd glance, the girl looked away in a huff, and Justin casually strutted his way out. Off to have ‘fun‘ with the job he was reluctant to discuss in detail.\n\n\t\t“You want one?” Ozzy held up a freshly rolled joint about as far as his arm would reach, which was still a good ten feet from the girl\n\n\tShe shook her head and wrinkled her nose a bit. “Nah, thanks. I don’t really do that.” She shrugged\n\n\t“Well at least you’re cool about it. Unlike some people. People who live here. And date your friend. And shall remain nameless… It’s Gretchen. I’m talking about Gretchen.”\n\n\t“Hey now, be nice to her. Otherwise you‘ll probably end up getting a phone call from my little sis and have to listen to her whine.” her voice fell a bit flat as the wah wheeled her body around a bit in her seat and flailed her arm for a can of orange crush. “It was creepy enough seeing her fawn over Justin when we were growing up. Now you got a new girl fawning over her, too. Gonna be funny seeing them try to explain it all to our parents though. So I guess that‘s one thing.”\n\n\t“You sure you and Justin are friends?” Ozzy snickered\n\n\t“Best friends“ The chirped reply was genuine enough. But somehow the girls words only made the goat boy feel that much more unnerved.\n\n\tHe shrugged it off and shifted his attention back to cleaning up his little mess. Small fragments of marijuana brushed carefully into his open paw… and then promptly shoved into his pants pocket when he realized there wasn‘t a trash bin at hand. The room once again went quiet save for the sounds of the girl playing her game. It was kind of impressive to him how quickly she‘d made herself at home.\n\n\t“So, Kathy, right?” Ozzy offered as he once again realized he’d forgotten her name.\n\n\t“Xiulan.” She corrected\n\n\t“Xiulan? ’m I saying that right?” Xiulan nodded in approval. Ozzy took a moment to roll the word in his head to make sure he didn’t screw it up. “yeah, sorry. No idea where I got the other name from then.”\n\n\t“It’s ok.” Xiulan nodded “It’s complicated. But you didn’t technically screw up really.”\n\n\t“Ok cool. Making sure. Still, you re really ok hanging out here instead of back at your place?” Ozzy did his best to tuck one of the blunts behind his ear and began putting the rest in the small wooden box he used to store them. \n\n\tThe girl shrugged and flicked her tail lazily in his general direction. “Like I said, nothing to do there. I’d just end up bored. Plus no car means no going out. Same ol problem I always had.”\n\n\t“Yeah I guess.” Ozzy sighed “I mean I don’t mind taking ya back or anything. I just know our place isn’t exactly party city. I mean it’s not exciting. Not, you know, the store. Fuck it, you know what I mean.”\n\n\t“Yeah, I get it.” she nodded “Honestly I don’t really mind waiting here for Justin, either. So don’t feel like you have to sit around waiting for me. I really didn’t want to drag anyone else into this. Though I guess this is your house too so if you do wanna drive me home when you get sick of me I won’t say no.”\n\n\t“Nah.” Ozzy nodded “Yer cool.”\n\n\t“Thanks.” Xiulan smiled. It was a more genuine one than what she had been giving Justin. Once again Ozzy was left wondering just what was up between the two. Not that it was any of his business. None of this was any of his business. Technically he wasn’t even playing host.\n\n\tThe goat gave a half hearted nod in return and slipped his phone out of his baggy pants pocket. He thumbed though a few messages. Mostly from Beck and Augie. Rather, almost all from Augie. He then quickly shoved the phone back into his pocket. “You know if you want to actually do something other than school you’re gonna need to get a car at some point. Like Miss mole will tell you, the busses around here are pretty shit.”\n\n\t“Oh they aren’t so bad.” she shrugged “Besides. I can always get Justin to drive me. Like I said, same as it ever was.”\n\n\t“Don’t you think he might be a lil busy for that?” Ozzy blinked\n\n\t“Serves him right, really.“ Xiulan shrugged and did her best to keep herself from giggling. Ozzy still noticed, but the effort was there at least. \n\n\t“And what’s that supposed to mean?” It was hard for the goat to keep the edge out of his voice. His curiosity was now properly peaked\n\n\tXiulan pushed her bangs out of her face and scooted back on the chair a bit. Sitting up so as to meet Ozzy eye to eye. She looked dead straight into those blue-green eyes and for a moment all of the mirth and light heartedness drained from her face. She caught herself quickly, but there was something. A moment there that left Ozzy feeling a little uncomfortable. “All I’m saying is, He’s the one who has to work his ass off a bit now. So let him. Look, I love the guy, but you didn’t grow up with him. I did. He’ll be fine. This is all good for him.”\n\n\t“If you say so.” Ozzy shrugged\n\n\t“Besides, I’m already pushing it with the number of things I can do that would have my folks melt down at me. Even if I was willing and able to pay for driving lessons I’d have to listen to them complain to me about it. In Mandarin mind you. Which makes it worse.” The red panda let out a sigh and pulled her legs up closer to her chest. She tossed the controller down on to the couch and let her cheek smoosh into her knee socks while gazing over in Ozzy’s general direction.\n\n\tThe goat boy flicked his ear, then winced as his joint nearly fell free. Cursing himself he stuck it back into place and tried to push one of his long dreads down a bit to keep it pinned. “I guess I can’t really relate to that one. My folks never had a problem with me driving. Well, when I drove out here I guess. A cross country haul in a jeep is pretty shitty. Waves out here suck, too. Not that it has anything to do with anything. Just kinda regret bringing both boards when I can’t use em that often.”\n\n\t“So what ‘do’ you do, exactly?” Xiulan’s question was actually rather soft. Much of the bratty edge in her voice worn away. “I mean, Every time I come over I tend to see you eating, or smoking, or skating. Or you’re not here. Is driving really that big a help for you?”\n\n\t“Well for one thing it gets me to work.” Ozzy snickered “Plus it keeps me able to get my meds. And the food. And rent.” He punctuated the last one by waving his paw in the air. \n\n\t“Is that it?” the question souring her tone a bit “Just get to work and get to class? So the same as Justin?”\n\n\t“Oh I got shit I do still, I have loans. Which means I don’t have to work two jobs. I just gotta put up with over inflated bullshit payments into my late 30s or early 40s. That means I can go out to some better skate spots. Or do some of my hobbies. Plus it helps when my band has gigs. Also got the Masquerade to consider.”\n\n\t“The wah?” Xiulan barked\n\n\t“Oh, didn’t I tell you dear? I’m a vampire!” Ozzy bared his teeth and did his best vampire hiss. An illusion which probably would have worked better with some fake fangs. Or if he wasn’t sitting in direct sunlight.\n\n\tThe hiss got him a pillow to the face. Xiulan huffed She used her tail to awkwardly batter the controller back into hand so she could resume her game. “So, Masquerade. That sounds familiar.” Much of the fire had died down at this point, the girl simply glancing at him, trying to hide her curiosity.\n\n\t“Really? You don’t play vampire? I kinda figured you guys must have since that’s how I met Justin.” Ozzy chuckled\n\n\t“Wait, you mean the whitewolf game? The one with the video game everyone tells me to play? Not that I’m gonna play some old retro game that probably came out before I was born.”\n\n\tOzzy was quick to shift himself out of the chair and on to the currently empty couch, birding the gap between him and the red panda. He slumped his upper body over the couch arm and smirked playfully at her. A bit of a glint in his eyes. “Yeah, well, Justin seemed to know the rules and the lore pretty well, and he was looking to actually try LARP when he got up here. I figured since you were one of his gaming buddies back home you guys probably did it a lot. But if you didn’t.” he scooted up a bit more and slumped his chin on to his arms. Once again his ears twitched a bit, though this time the small bundle of white paper stayed firmly in place.\n\n--------------------\n\n\tHorrid florescent light stabbed into Jasper’s brain. Even after decades without the sun such light felt repugnant and wrong. A twisted mockery that made the trembling vampire curse his unlife.\n\n\tYet he was alive, or as alive as his kind got. He lay there, tucked away in the cold cement of a parking garage. There was no other structure it could be. He could taste the familiar healing balm of copper on his fangs and lips. His body ached with the heavy weight of Torpor. That horrible and possibly eternal coma which one faced when knocked near the point of death.\n\n\tWhich meant, to his disgust, that he had lost\n\n\t“Good, you’re awake.”\n\n\tJasper threw a wild punch. His weakened body was unable to even carry it though and his paw came to rest on a now empty bag of blood. He looked up once more and scanned the shadows. Two figures, dressed in slightly tattered but otherwise well kept school uniforms. One boy, one girl. The pair of them walked out of the shadows. Their faces stony and cold. Their eyes locked on him, two sets, both barely showing a hint of emotion.\n\n\t“Do not exert yourself” the boy said firmly\n\n\t“You almost died.” The girl added\n\n\tJasper spat. He dug his fingers into the cement and tried to pull himself up only to slump back down into the cold cement. “Fuck. Who are you two? That prancing fucking prick manage to get me?”\n\n\t“You were knocked off of the roof.” The girl, a red panda looking to still be in her teenage years, raised a finger and waggled it at him as if she was scolding some child.\n\n\t“If we hadn’t gotten you blood, the sun would have taken you.” The boy looked about the same. His hair cut a bit shorter and his uniform had pants. But really in the dark it’d be very hard to tell which was which. Even Jasper, a man who all but prided himself on his lack of culture, had to admit that was a bit cliché.\n\n\t“Fine. Good. Great. So I can assume you two aren’t just random kine, then. And since you saved me that means you’re not looking to kill me. Not yet at least. So go ahead. Let’s hear it. The creepy twins have some kind of a deal they wanna cut with me?”\n\n\tThey both looked at each other, nodded, then turned to him nodding once more. Even their headfur seeming to bob in unsettling unison.\n\n\t“Our sire defeated you three nights ago.” They said in unison “We would like to help him meet his final night.”", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "Collared Chapter 8: Masquerade
By TerraMGP
\t
\tClear moonlight shone down over a lovingly cared for rooftop. It was a garden. Well cared for rows and boxes of flowers set up for the pleasure of residents all too busy to come enjoy it. A wasted beauty. A fleeting thing in which only one figure luxuriated.

\tHe wore no shirt. His toned body instead resting bare-chested in a pair of tight leather pants. He laid on the ledge of the building with one leg slumped off and a hand dancing lazily though the air. The way he looked at it cut though the light of moon and stars one could almost imagine it to be a tangible liquid.

\t“Such a beautiful city. Small, frail. Yet look at it at night. Stand atop her shoulders and gaze down at the lights. Up at the stars. Like a box of gems. Glittering. Glimmering. None within would expect the poisoned toad lurking contently within this jewel-encrusted box.”

\t“That’s what I hate about your types.” A voice echoed from the stairwell door. “You never make no god damn sense.” The sickly old lights of the stairwell framed the speaker. A stocky, hulking brute of a canine. A husky in tattered jeans and an open red flannel shirt. He cracked his knuckles and then his neck. Hatred raising off of him like steam.

\tThe goat smirked slightly. He lay resplendent in the moonlight. His fingers curled around something that had been lain near him and pulled it up slowly. He cradled it to his chest, the two foot long shaft shimmering at both ends with gold, before gripping the handle and drawing it slightly from the sheath to show a glint of silver.

\t“She was a courtesan, you know. In France. A lovely little bauble who caught the eye of a Marquis. Men. Women. Especially women. He, you should have seen the way d’Aubigny’s hair glimmered like fire on the Danube. Did I turn her? Did she turn me? We twist and turn together” Those questions slipped free in a high-pitched and feminine sing song while the lounging man gazed at the metal. Echoing the questions in a familiar voice trying to parrot the heights of an opera singer.

\tHeavy combat boots thudded into the cement floor. Intentional. The stocky canine making clear his annoyance with the flamboyant nonsense. “So we doin’ this or what.” Jasper spat, kicking one of his heavy combat boots against the ground.

\tThe goat giggled faely and turned his head lazily to the side. “Mademoiselle Maupin spent such a time teaching her the blade. Our poor, departed friend. By Mother Lilith, but Camille loved it. Loved the way the silver danced and gleamed. Loved the way blood would dance from the tip like ribbons. It was almost poetic.”

\tThe husky reared to lunge. Stopped in place by four loud bangs. He ell to one knee and snarled. One arm pressed in over the holes now punched into his Che Guevara tee shirt while the pain of his undead body knitting a kneecap back into place kept him low and almost feral in his posture.

\tWithin a split second the distance between the two vampires was cleared. The shirtless black goat holding the sword to his foe’s neck with one hand. Its blade now fully bare. The other playfully dangling a gun from his index finger as it jangled like keys from its trigger guard.  “Now me? I kinda always liked the VP 70.” The austere affectations of the black furred boy abruptly melting into a neutral Californian accent. “First polymer gun, ya know. Huge mag size for the time. I hate reloading. Feels all, squishy.”

--------------------

\t“REF!”

\tA figure in a poorly sewn hooded robe stomped itself over to the pair. A young hawk in his mid 20s pulling the hood back and glaring angrily. “What is it this time Augie?” He said as he glanced at the Husky who’d called out for him.

\t“What do you mean what is it?” Augie grumbled “This is bullshit and you know it. Ozzy is a Malkavian. Only now he gets Celerity? What’s up with that?”

\tThe hawk’s eyes narrowed as he glanced to the rather unassuming, and shirtless, goat. Then back to Augie. “So were you just not paying attention with the whole scene where Monique let him Diablerize her character? Or…”

\tThe soft green eyes of the otherwise heavy set husky glanced away for a moment. He bit back on his frustration and shifted to his other knee, not liking the bare fur as his only padding against concrete. “Stupid ripped jeans. Yeah I saw it. Diablerie is bullshit. That’s my point? Suddenly he gets her ranks in that celerity superspeed bullshit and his blood potency goes up?”

\t“It’s the same as yours!” The hawk snapped. “Plus you have Fist of Caine. Why didn’t you just punch him while he was monologue  instead of trying to walk up on him?” He gripped the bridge of his beak and glanced at the now smirking goat holding the nerf gun and costume sword. “You ok with this scene so far, Oz?”

\t“Yeah, Beck. I’m cool.” Ozzy shrugged “Hope I was doing ok with Julie’s backstory. Shit that was a hell of a read.”

\tAugie shifted back and snarled slightly. Not at Ozzy. Not at Beck. Just a general, exhausted snarl. “Sucks that she left.” He sighed. “We don’t have enough people to do this shit.”

\tBeck nodded somberly. The three friends looked between each other. All of them were thinking it. Here they were on an apartment roof in what was to be the big climactic battle between two rivals and they couldn’t even get anyone else to come watch.

\t“Didn’t you say you knew a guy who wanted to join, Ozzy?” Augie noted

\t“He’s gonna. At some point. Poor guy’s kinda freaked out and working two jobs on top of classes. I told him not to push himself. We’ll get him slotted in once he settles.”

\tThe husky slipped down to sit cross-legged on the ground and huffed “Could at least introduce us.”

\t“I did” Ozzy chimed “Remember? That show at the Old Dog?”

\tAugie took a moment to process things, scratching the scraggly chin fur he still refused to trim. “Wait, are we talking about that scrawny Eddie Riggs wannabe you paid to roadie for us?”

\tThe black furred goat boy gave a contented nod “Yup! I mean, Eddie Riggs isn’t blonde…”

\t“Yeah but he had on the sleeveless shirt thing and the bracelets and just… he looked like a metal try hard, ya know?”

\t“Oh that’s just how he dresses.” Ozzy waved a paw, then winced as said paw nearly lost grip of the nerf gun. He caught it before it fell and smacked his canine friend in the head. “Besides. That was half your drum kit hauled at no cost to you.”

\t“Just tell me that he’s not gonna be a Malkavina. I don’t need this kind of bullshit team up in stereo.” Augie muttered

\tBeck shook his head and pulled the hood back over his head. “We’ll cross that bridge when we join up. We can also cross the ‘figure out other players’ bridge at that point, too. Time being, you guys feel up to getting back into it?”

\t“Yeah, I got enough fortitude dots to shrug off some pot shots. Just kinda bullshit he can do that for a loss in furmanity.” Augie sighed

\tBeck chuckled a bit. “I thought you called Furmanity bullshit, too.”

\t“It is when that stupid bear baron asshole can keep it at nine dots! Him and his girlfriend getting to swap to all his ghouls because he has ‘herd’. Freaking ‘Orin the Baron-sage’ crap. Why can’t people build normal characters around here?”

\tBeck and Ozzy simply exchanged a knowing glance. The hawk then moved back into the shadows, and the scene continued.

--------------------

\tEver since moving in last year, Ozzy had largely considered the living room of the big old house to be his personal domain. It wasn‘t an arrogance thing. It was simply a matter of their last roomate being some overly frugal workaholic who only moved out because he could finally buy a house out in the boonies. In truth he and Willa had probably only exchanged a few dozen words with the guy between them, and half of those were an odd lecture before he left about Ozzy‘s ‘meds‘.

\tAdmittedly there were still some lectures about pot from Gretchen. She also didn‘t come down quite as much as she could have. But Justin did. The otter was way more chill and actually wanted to hang out. Better still, he had friends. Namely the red panda girl who‘d been coming over to hang out lately.

\tEventually Justin pulled himself up from the couch and twisted his back. Even from half way across the room Ozzy swore he could hear the bubble wrap pop of each vertebrae. “Ok then, ready to head out?” Justin grumbled as he pulled himself out of his seat.

\tThe red panda girl shook her head and took the opportunity to throw her legs up on the couch. “If it’s ok with you I think I’m going to hang back. I’m enjoying this game and there’s nothing to do at the dorm.”

\t“What do you mean nothing to do.” Justin shot her a cock-eyed look and shifted his hips in a more feminine way than he probably intended.

\t“I mean I don’t have anything. Classes are caught up and the only system I can really have in my dorm is the switch. No place for a proper TV.” The response was flippant. So was the way the Chinese girl shifted and swayed this way and that to get a better look at the TV. Not that she needed it. But it sure as hell seemed to be getting on Justin’s nerves.

\tAs if in response the Otter took a step forward, now actually getting in between the girl and the TV. “You realize I might not be back for a few hours, right? This isn’t a ‘clock in/clock out’ job. I’m there till I nab a ‘gig’ or go home. You’re gonna be stuck here late. So I don’t want to hear you complaining.”

\tJustin wasn’t expecting the small thud against his coat. He looked back towards Ozzy, who simply gave him a small wave of the paw. “Dude, go on. We’ll save ya some pizza. Plus if she really gets sick of hanging around here I can always give her a lift.”

\t“You sure?” the otter blinked

\t“Yeah I’m sure.” He nodded back “Be nice to have some company. Well, company doing more than just snoozing away on the couch or trying to drown me in passive aggressive quiet.”

\tThere was a pause, then a long and drawn out sigh. “Ok, if you’re sure. Sorry about that.” The otter boy glanced back at his guest and huffed at the air a bit. “And you, try to behave. Right? At least save your brat shit for when I get back. That is unless you want me to tell Becky on you.”

\tThe two exchanged some kind of odd glance, the girl looked away in a huff, and Justin casually strutted his way out. Off to have ‘fun‘ with the job he was reluctant to discuss in detail.

\t\t“You want one?” Ozzy held up a freshly rolled joint about as far as his arm would reach, which was still a good ten feet from the girl

\tShe shook her head and wrinkled her nose a bit. “Nah, thanks. I don’t really do that.” She shrugged

\t“Well at least you’re cool about it. Unlike some people. People who live here. And date your friend. And shall remain nameless… It’s Gretchen. I’m talking about Gretchen.”

\t“Hey now, be nice to her. Otherwise you‘ll probably end up getting a phone call from my little sis and have to listen to her whine.” her voice fell a bit flat as the wah wheeled her body around a bit in her seat and flailed her arm for a can of orange crush. “It was creepy enough seeing her fawn over Justin when we were growing up. Now you got a new girl fawning over her, too. Gonna be funny seeing them try to explain it all to our parents though. So I guess that‘s one thing.”

\t“You sure you and Justin are friends?” Ozzy snickered

\t“Best friends“ The chirped reply was genuine enough. But somehow the girls words only made the goat boy feel that much more unnerved.

\tHe shrugged it off and shifted his attention back to cleaning up his little mess. Small fragments of marijuana brushed carefully into his open paw… and then promptly shoved into his pants pocket when he realized there wasn‘t a trash bin at hand. The room once again went quiet save for the sounds of the girl playing her game. It was kind of impressive to him how quickly she‘d made herself at home.

\t“So, Kathy, right?” Ozzy offered as he once again realized he’d forgotten her name.

\t“Xiulan.” She corrected

\t“Xiulan? ’m I saying that right?” Xiulan nodded in approval. Ozzy took a moment to roll the word in his head to make sure he didn’t screw it up. “yeah, sorry. No idea where I got the other name from then.”

\t“It’s ok.” Xiulan nodded “It’s complicated. But you didn’t technically screw up really.”

\t“Ok cool. Making sure. Still, you re really ok hanging out here instead of back at your place?” Ozzy did his best to tuck one of the blunts behind his ear and began putting the rest in the small wooden box he used to store them.

\tThe girl shrugged and flicked her tail lazily in his general direction. “Like I said, nothing to do there. I’d just end up bored. Plus no car means no going out. Same ol problem I always had.”

\t“Yeah I guess.” Ozzy sighed “I mean I don’t mind taking ya back or anything. I just know our place isn’t exactly party city. I mean it’s not exciting. Not, you know, the store. Fuck it, you know what I mean.”

\t“Yeah, I get it.” she nodded “Honestly I don’t really mind waiting here for Justin, either. So don’t feel like you have to sit around waiting for me. I really didn’t want to drag anyone else into this. Though I guess this is your house too so if you do wanna drive me home when you get sick of me I won’t say no.”

\t“Nah.” Ozzy nodded “Yer cool.”

\t“Thanks.” Xiulan smiled. It was a more genuine one than what she had been giving Justin. Once again Ozzy was left wondering just what was up between the two. Not that it was any of his business. None of this was any of his business. Technically he wasn’t even playing host.

\tThe goat gave a half hearted nod in return and slipped his phone out of his baggy pants pocket. He thumbed though a few messages. Mostly from Beck and Augie. Rather, almost all from Augie. He then quickly shoved the phone back into his pocket. “You know if you want to actually do something other than school you’re gonna need to get a car at some point. Like Miss mole will tell you, the busses around here are pretty shit.”

\t“Oh they aren’t so bad.” she shrugged “Besides. I can always get Justin to drive me. Like I said, same as it ever was.”

\t“Don’t you think he might be a lil busy for that?” Ozzy blinked

\t“Serves him right, really.“ Xiulan shrugged and did her best to keep herself from giggling. Ozzy still noticed, but the effort was there at least.

\t“And what’s that supposed to mean?” It was hard for the goat to keep the edge out of his voice. His curiosity was now properly peaked

\tXiulan pushed her bangs out of her face and scooted back on the chair a bit. Sitting up so as to meet Ozzy eye to eye. She looked dead straight into those blue-green eyes and for a moment all of the mirth and light heartedness drained from her face. She caught herself quickly, but there was something. A moment there that left Ozzy feeling a little uncomfortable. “All I’m saying is, He’s the one who has to work his ass off a bit now. So let him. Look, I love the guy, but you didn’t grow up with him. I did. He’ll be fine. This is all good for him.”

\t“If you say so.” Ozzy shrugged

\t“Besides, I’m already pushing it with the number of things I can do that would have my folks melt down at me. Even if I was willing and able to pay for driving lessons I’d have to listen to them complain to me about it. In Mandarin mind you. Which makes it worse.” The red panda let out a sigh and pulled her legs up closer to her chest. She tossed the controller down on to the couch and let her cheek smoosh into her knee socks while gazing over in Ozzy’s general direction.

\tThe goat boy flicked his ear, then winced as his joint nearly fell free. Cursing himself he stuck it back into place and tried to push one of his long dreads down a bit to keep it pinned. “I guess I can’t really relate to that one. My folks never had a problem with me driving. Well, when I drove out here I guess. A cross country haul in a jeep is pretty shitty. Waves out here suck, too. Not that it has anything to do with anything. Just kinda regret bringing both boards when I can’t use em that often.”

\t“So what ‘do’ you do, exactly?” Xiulan’s question was actually rather soft. Much of the bratty edge in her voice worn away. “I mean, Every time I come over I tend to see you eating, or smoking, or skating. Or you’re not here. Is driving really that big a help for you?”

\t“Well for one thing it gets me to work.” Ozzy snickered “Plus it keeps me able to get my meds. And the food. And rent.” He punctuated the last one by waving his paw in the air.

\t“Is that it?” the question souring her tone a bit “Just get to work and get to class? So the same as Justin?”

\t“Oh I got shit I do still, I have loans. Which means I don’t have to work two jobs. I just gotta put up with over inflated bullshit payments into my late 30s or early 40s. That means I can go out to some better skate spots. Or do some of my hobbies. Plus it helps when my band has gigs. Also got the Masquerade to consider.”

\t“The wah?” Xiulan barked

\t“Oh, didn’t I tell you dear? I’m a vampire!” Ozzy bared his teeth and did his best vampire hiss. An illusion which probably would have worked better with some fake fangs. Or if he wasn’t sitting in direct sunlight.

\tThe hiss got him a pillow to the face. Xiulan huffed She used her tail to awkwardly batter the controller back into hand so she could resume her game. “So, Masquerade. That sounds familiar.” Much of the fire had died down at this point, the girl simply glancing at him, trying to hide her curiosity.

\t“Really? You don’t play vampire? I kinda figured you guys must have since that’s how I met Justin.” Ozzy chuckled

\t“Wait, you mean the whitewolf game? The one with the video game everyone tells me to play? Not that I’m gonna play some old retro game that probably came out before I was born.”

\tOzzy was quick to shift himself out of the chair and on to the currently empty couch, birding the gap between him and the red panda. He slumped his upper body over the couch arm and smirked playfully at her. A bit of a glint in his eyes. “Yeah, well, Justin seemed to know the rules and the lore pretty well, and he was looking to actually try LARP when he got up here. I figured since you were one of his gaming buddies back home you guys probably did it a lot. But if you didn’t.” he scooted up a bit more and slumped his chin on to his arms. Once again his ears twitched a bit, though this time the small bundle of white paper stayed firmly in place.

--------------------

\tHorrid florescent light stabbed into Jasper’s brain. Even after decades without the sun such light felt repugnant and wrong. A twisted mockery that made the trembling vampire curse his unlife.

\tYet he was alive, or as alive as his kind got. He lay there, tucked away in the cold cement of a parking garage. There was no other structure it could be. He could taste the familiar healing balm of copper on his fangs and lips. His body ached with the heavy weight of Torpor. That horrible and possibly eternal coma which one faced when knocked near the point of death.

\tWhich meant, to his disgust, that he had lost

\t“Good, you’re awake.”

\tJasper threw a wild punch. His weakened body was unable to even carry it though and his paw came to rest on a now empty bag of blood. He looked up once more and scanned the shadows. Two figures, dressed in slightly tattered but otherwise well kept school uniforms. One boy, one girl. The pair of them walked out of the shadows. Their faces stony and cold. Their eyes locked on him, two sets, both barely showing a hint of emotion.

\t“Do not exert yourself” the boy said firmly

\t“You almost died.” The girl added

\tJasper spat. He dug his fingers into the cement and tried to pull himself up only to slump back down into the cold cement. “Fuck. Who are you two? That prancing fucking prick manage to get me?”

\t“You were knocked off of the roof.” The girl, a red panda looking to still be in her teenage years, raised a finger and waggled it at him as if she was scolding some child.

\t“If we hadn’t gotten you blood, the sun would have taken you.” The boy looked about the same. His hair cut a bit shorter and his uniform had pants. But really in the dark it’d be very hard to tell which was which. Even Jasper, a man who all but prided himself on his lack of culture, had to admit that was a bit cliché.

\t“Fine. Good. Great. So I can assume you two aren’t just random kine, then. And since you saved me that means you’re not looking to kill me. Not yet at least. So go ahead. Let’s hear it. The creepy twins have some kind of a deal they wanna cut with me?”

\tThey both looked at each other, nodded, then turned to him nodding once more. Even their headfur seeming to bob in unsettling unison.

\t“Our sire defeated you three nights ago.” They said in unison “We would like to help him meet his final night.”", "pools_count": 1, "title": "Collared Chapter 8: Masquerade", "deleted": "f", "public": "t", "mimetype": "application/msword", "pagecount": "1", "rating_id": "2", "rating_name": "Adult", "ratings": [ { "content_tag_id": "4", "name": "Sexual Themes", "description": "Erotic imagery, sexual activity or arousal", "rating_id": "2" } ], "submission_type_id": "12", "type_name": "Writing - Document", "guest_block": "t", "friends_only": "f", "comments_count": "3", "views": "213" }