Just Good Business

If Uprising was taking any cues from Daybreak's reaction to the scenes around them, she didn't show it. She'd already written the vampire hunter of as highly eccentric, so the fact that she appeared to be rather compromisingly aroused by the situation wasn't sending up any more red flags that were already waving around. She took off with Tera and left the huntress to her work.

The two listened with a calm expression while Daybreak explained herself, before the more in charge of the two glanced across at his crony with a smirk and a wink.
"She's trying it on, not half bad, eh?" the other shook his head in response and grinned, though if anything his own smile seemed more than a little wistful as he looked Daybreak over and took it all in.
"Sorry lass, we know better than to sample the goods before passing them on to the boss. Not worth our necks, frankly. No offence. Still..." He seemed a little uncertain and uncomfortable. The first guard sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.

"I know what you mean... why'd it have to be our shift? We're still going to catch the flak for this..." His eyes turned back to Daybreak. "You'd best be something else, girl, personal issues or not, you ladies know what happens if a house doesn't pay up. Couldn't they have sent back ups? You look like you're a North Square girl... they were meant to send two, and boss has been happy with you lately, so maybe you'll get by, but the other two houses making a no-show... there's going to be hell to pay for that. I'd say save some energy for me later, gorgeous, but if it's just you on your lonesome, I won't count on it. Ah well... good luck to you, I guess."

With another small shake of his head, the guard stepped across to the door while his companion backed off and returned to his chair. The first knocked a few times, then turned the handled and pushed the door open enough to let Daybreak pass through, and closed it behind her once she did.

The interior of the upper most floor was like walking into a home - a mansionesque home, to be sure, but a home all the same. There was a small foyer space for hats and coats, though presumably Daybreak wouldn't be hanging anything up. Beyond that, there was a slight step up from black marble flooring, to plush carpeted living space - a broad open area with a couple of couches, a book case or two, and a large open patch of flooring before a TV screen, the size of which looked like it might be better suited in a sports stadium. The screen was set against the near wall - on Daybreak's left as she entered, such that a person watching it would only have to turn their eyes slightly to pay attention to the doorway instead. There was no-one in the living space at the moment, however the Tv was on, showing what seemed to be a news channel that was talking about stock indexes.

The far left wall was mostly glass - it looked out over the electown night, and indeed would make the perfect vantage point for brooding darkly out of and surveying domains, regardless of whether one was a dark overlord of vampirism, or business... to any besides Daybreak, it might even be hard to guess which was a more worrisome prospect.

Along the right hand side, there was a wall divide running partway across the floor, before a doorway which was closed over but not shut, and directly ahead, at the back of the living space, another pair of doorways - one was open and seemed to lead to a terminal room, with various technological equipment and data processing architectures, while the other was emitting a soft, dark rosy glow, and was probably a bed chamber of some description. In the house-like design, there didn't seem to be any amenities or a kitchen of any kind, but such things weren't uncommon for navis, after all. For now, the only sound was the Tv; Daybreak's 'host' wasn't making himself apparent right away, it seemed.

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Elsewhere, Uprising was travelling with Tera to another corner of the lower floor, moving swiftly now that they were on their own again. They arrived, or at least stopped walking, near the back corner of the floor and uprising glanced off to one side.

"We're on our way. North corner. Have you got us? Good, do it now." There was a brief crackle, and then uprising crouched to begin running her fingers over the base of the wall, seeking something. The finish panel came away easily enough, revealing a far less real-world looking panel surface below, and a rather tight-looking access hatch. She got it open, looked in, the waved Tea along after her before sliding herself in feet first. Tera moved to close the panel behind her as well, after following through, but paused when she recalled the familiar following them, and made sure to first locate it, then ensure that it was coming along with them. the vent was narrow and cool, but it was only a few feet before uprising, in the lead, curled up, then stood up, rising into an upward turning of the shaft. There was a hum of a great many processes running behind the scenes keeping the office building running smoothly, though once they were in the walls, it seemed to come from everywhere about equally. In a muffled voice, the revolutionary cussed about her current clothing and how ill-suited it was, then lifted one foot to brace against the shaft, then another, and started to climb.

"Sorry about putting you through that, Tera. I promise I would have pulled you out if things had started to go too far. How are you doing?" She sounded quieter now, calmer than she had been, and her tone was soft. it didn't sound like the brace climbing was actually any effort for her at all. Beneath, Tera had begun to climb too.

"I'm fine. I trust you." There was a pause, before, "but I'm glad I'm here with you now, rather than... there. Do you think she'll be alright." At this, Uprising snorted.
"Normally, I'd be worried, but it sounds like she actually wants to go have sex with the creep anyway, so... As long as she does her job. She's... got some strange ideas, but I think she'll be reliable enough when the time comes. It's her operator I'm worried about. I'd like a back up plan, in case she decides to yank Daybreak at the crucial moment. I've got something in mind, but I don't like it, and I'd rather not. I'll think of something else, hopefully." There was a soft grunt, as the rebel pulled herself over a lip and began crawling again, though this space was barely wide enough to commando crawl, rather than making it to hands and knees. It was only a short distance, at least, barely a body length or two, before uprising stopped, facing what looked like a dead end, and slammed her hand, palm first against the flat surface. It sprang out with the sound of wrenching metal, and spiralled away into the darkness of the night. A gust of cold wind whipped in, assailing them as it blew; the small crawl space led to the outside of the building, it seemed. Tera glanced behind her shoulder making a realisation.

"Uprising... Daybreak's, um, eye. It can't fit through here. I... don't think we should leave it behind though. That might be risky." Ahead of her, uprising uttered another curse.

"Damnit... you're right, we can't. Let me look at the plans, just a second." The pause was only short while the chill wind moaned quietly on its way past the exposed opening. "Take it back down, head along the wall two window sections, and open a pane there. See if you can get it to wait for us, then come back. Hopefully it can fly as well as hover. If not, we'll improvise." As asked, Tera backed up, and slid back down the crawl space... hopefully the familiar was intelligent enough to back up too, otherwise she'd end up sitting on it. Minor movement mishaps aside, Tera eventually managed to extricate herself from the crawlspace again, and returned to the spot Uprising had mentioned, finding the subtle press-seam that allowed the otherwise featureless glass to open outward slightly, on a disguised top hinge. She pushed it out enough that the familiar would be able to slip out, if it wanted to. for now the invisibility was holding, and it was showing no signs of showing up, nor was Daybreak herself showing any predisposition towards fading away.

"Wait here, ok?" Tera whispered after reaching out one hand to make sure she knew exactly where the floating eyeball was. "I'll be back in just a minute, I promise. Then we'll keep going." She repeated her instruction slowly, and rubbed the familiar gently on what might be considered the top of its head, if it were more than a floating eye, then swiftly returned to the open crawls space ot continue with Uprising.

"Not to worry! Gentlemen such as your master oft find they never have an experience such as the one that I offer more than once in their lives," Daybreak encouraged the two, though not for concern for their health. She had no sympathy to spare upon servants who were themselves vampires... and these two seemed to have a bit of the aura themselves. Nothing worth a rank, but their appetites and the accent of one made it clear as day to her. She smirked when the toadies mentioned "hell to pay." "Oh, yes. Hell will get its due. I'll feed the gaping maw of the devil the restless vampire soul of Commeseur that has eluded its pitiless judgment," she thought to herself.

The vampire hunter thought for a moment about hanging up her outer garb, seeing as she'd presumably be without it soon regardless, but she decided that it would be rather without class to do so. Speaking of those without class, it didn't seem that Daybreak's host was waiting on her attentively. That wasn't much of an offense, but worse was the fact that he'd left stocks on the television... only those with particularly strong admiration of wealth could find it sexy when a host decided to put up stocks for a romantic evening.

On another note, Marian was at odds with herself. "I can't decide," she murmured to her wife, watching the PET on the table and feeling grossly voyeuristic. "Is it good that we're gathering more evidence of the guy's wrong-doing, so that we don't have a moral dilemma, or is it bad, since it just makes me think we're letting Daybreak walk right into danger?" she asked, her maternal instinct biting her even when it was her reprehensible navi in peril.

"I'd say the former. She does so want a chance to do good in the eyes of her God," Tajana proposed. "I'm rooting for her to get the opportunity and maybe ease the suffering of this district a little." Marian was through talking about how futile an effort this likely was and furthermore didn't want to ruin dinner, so she decided to hold her tongue.

Daybreak knew she could gain an advantage in allowing her allies more time to prepare, but at the same time, she realized that she couldn't afford to be too passive lest she bore her client. She decided on a comfortable median between the two, slowly sneaking for what she assumed to be the master's bed chambers, which emitted a somewhat sinister, somewhat erotic glow. For a moment she thought to herself "red is my color, after all", but somehow, the thought made her uncomfortable; she didn't want to associate her preferences with those of vampires. When she reached the door, she'd attempt to gently nudge it open a crack and peek her smiling face in. That could be scary for one not expecting it, given her strange eye patch and striking remaining eye.

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Uprising and Tera found Daybreak's familiar to be little more than dead weight... certainly nothing worth giving an eye over. The invisible eye watched Tera and Uprising warily, although they couldn't see it and might not be able to place an expression on a floating eyeball regardless. It was vaguely aware that they were discussing something around him, but was content to bob in the air ignorantly. Thankfully, it wasn't capable of reporting Uprising's misgivings back to Daybreak herself; the first hint of distrust would definitely foster distrust from the huntress herself.

One couldn't fault the eyeball for being too crafty, but one couldn't fault it for being too courteous either. As Tera backed up, it seemed perfectly pleased to let Tera back up her posterior onto its face (pupil). The heat from the center of the eye was especially strong. If Tera continued to urge it, either via force or command, it would comply and back up, perhaps reluctantly. One fond of the familiar might say it was being affectionate and appreciated every opportunity to snuggle, One less optimistic might think the eyeball had decided it had grown fond of Tera's bum.

Tera's instructions seemed to work well enough; the familiar rolled under her touch and seemed to warm, contentedly. It obeyed her command, although it was hard to shake the feeling that it was a bit like a dog, its tail falling behind it as it realizes that its master has to head out the door somewhere. At any rate, there was no metallic clang indicating that the eye was trying to follow them, so they ought to be in the clear.
High in the penthouse of the office block, Daybreak crept forward to peek into the bedchamber of her host. The dim lighting of the room might take a moment for her to adjust to compared to the well lit living quarters, but the difference wasn't start enough to actually stop her from seeing the room, and its occupant passably well. The chamber was commodious, but dominated by a sprawling four-poser bed made to look like thick mahogany, with thick silk sheets in red. There was a wall-length mirror on the right wall, and walk-ins set into the back. To the left, a double set of glass doors with rich drapes led out to a balcony terrace. The man Vampire who was presumably Daybreak's target was lounging in the middle of the gigantic bed, head back with with a black eye-mask covering his eyes. He had a glass of wine in one hand, the bottle of which was on a small side table beside the bed, and he sipped from the glass without looking - why a navi might want a sleep mask over his eyes was really anyone's guess. Despite the setting, he was dressed fully in a white button-down shirt and a black waist coast, black dress pants and black socks; no shoes on the bed, though a pair of business dress shoes was tucked under the end. In the dim red light, his features were a little hard to make out - his figure was lean and tall, though not enough to be called skinny or scrawny. He had black hair, cut simply and short, and pale skin. His eyes were covered for now, but as Daybreaks peeked in, the man sat up and looked towards the door.

"Good evening ladies! I am CommissionMan, but for tonight I wish only to be addressed as 'Sir', or 'My lord', unless I instruct any of you otherwise. Please make yourselves comfortable in the lounge. I'll summon the first two of you shortly." His voice was confident and deep, but an attentive ear might detect a hint that suggested he'd worked to make it so, rather than it being naturally appealing. He gave a small wave of his free hand, dismissing Daybreak. It was at about this time, however that the vampire hunter would get a private message from her employer. It was a brief, voice only message.

"Daybreak. This is Uprising. We need you to get him out of the bedroom for a little while, if you can. Just a few minutes, please do what you can." The line cut off as swiftly as it had opened, though from this point forward Daybreak would have a means of responding to Uprising privately if she wished to.

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Elsewhere, it was with a series of gentle nudges and pushing that led to Tera getting the familiar our of the way, though she kept quiet while doing so. She didn't take any offence at its insistent nuzzling of her curves, but given her nervousness regarding such things earlier it was probably that she simply wasn't attributing those kinds of thought patterns to it. Having left the invisible observer by the opened window panel and returning to her navi, it was time for Tera and Uprising to actually get moving again. Back by the tiny crawl space out to the exterior of the building, this began with Uprising sliding mostly out of the opening and standing up with one foot in the vent and one hand holding onto the underside. Her fingers sank into metal panelling making four small punctures but neither she, nor Tera seemed to act as though there was anything unusual in this. Perched barely on the edge like this, she leaned out to let Tera crawl past her, taking the rebel's offered right hand for support as she got most of her body out of the crawl space.

In truth, the sight looked a bit ridiculous at this point; Uprising, clad in her strappy boots and short dress, Tera in an elegant gown that was too long for her and now blowing in the wind quite dramatically, both clinging to what looked more or less like the sheer surface of an office block dozens of floors above the ground. Up above by a few metres were some support struts that held up a balcony attachment, to one side, and a few metres higher still, docked window-cleaner's platform to the other. If the familiar was looking out the window, and looking upwards in the right direction, it might be able to see the pair, though if not they were apparently about to fix that. Uprising looked to her SP then shifted the foot that she was actually standing on slightly.
"Ready?" A nod from Tera and the smaller girl bent knee slightly, then heaved upwards. Tera assisted the throw with a jump of her own, and when they released grip, she made it up high enough to wrap one arm around one of the under-supports for the balcony. It only took a moment for her to right herself, then flip around so that she was holding on by her knees, reaching her hands out to catch Uprising as she made her own jump moments later. A few seconds later, the two were crouched in the angled supports and Uprising glanced to the side.

"Target status, Okano?" She paused for the response then nodded. "Hold position then, we''ll be with you soon." She looked back to Tera. "He's in the bedroom, can't climb up here yet. Ready for another jump?" Again the SP nodded and the smaller girl measured her angles carefully. In the end it took a second risky move, and another impressively leveraged throw for them to get Tera onto the cleaning platform back across the way. Fortunately for both of them, and the mission, it wasn't bounded by physical world strictures, and actually had no cabling to attach it to the building, instead hovering in its dock until Tera lowered it down to the point where the open window and the obediently waiting familiar hopefully still were. An exhalation of effort was followed by uprising herself landing on the platform beside Tera this time while the other woman softly called the invisible eyeball through the window to join them. She even took the time to stroke it briefly once she made sure it was with them.

"You know..." she murmured as they re-raised the platform to its down at the pinnacle of the building, "If this guy's staying with us the whole way now, there isn't really any need for the invisibility. We're planning not to be seen anyway." Uprising shook her head though.
"Keep it out of sight just in case. We can send it back to Daybreak if she needs it, this way." her attention diverted as the platform docked. An access gantry ran a short way along the building-side, though it only looked as though it led to the other maintenance platforms around the building, and not actually down, or out to anywhere else. Regardless, a small amount of climbing and careful jumps saw uprising and Tera meeting up with her other SPs, who were perched cautiously on an edge a short way above the balcony for the master bedroom, pressed flat to the surface and keeping a low profile. Okano, nearest, looked over at them, though it was unlikely that the familiar would really recall who was who.

"We could have come back and lowered the platform for you."
"You've got your jobs, we could handle it. Have you found an opportunity yet?" Uprising brushed off his concern. In response, the SP shook his head, then looked down again, black eyes hard to read.
"We've been watching, but nothing yet. We need to get him out of the bedroom so we can do our work. Nothing we can do without compromising our concealment though."
"Well, that's why we've got our fall-girl in there. I'll see what she can do." There was silence as she sent a private message to Daybreak, then waited to see what would happen. This high up the wind was fast, strong and bitingly cold, but neither Uprising nor the three SPs with her seemed to pay any attention to it.

Daybreak approved of the décor with a sly smile as she peeked into the vampire lord Commeseur's bedroom. "Ho ho ho... Coffins are no way for vampires to sleep. Indeed, this luxurious, oversized bed can be seen as the postmark of the modern vampire," she thought to herself. Even as she critized the extravagant tastes of the master of the house, even she had to admit it was a bit eerie how well their interests aligned... except for the tyrannical market control and willingness to do... something unpleasant, whether it was firing or killing wasn't clear... to his subordinates. There was enough of a commitment to her role in her heart, however, to driver her feelings towards spitefulness as she witnessed Commeseur in recline. "Why rest now? Soon you shall enjoy rest eternal," she thought to herself, her one exposed eye narrowing slightly.

As it turned out, she was slightly off on his name, but surprisingly slightly. "Well I'll be," Marian couldn't help but remark, marveling at the coincidence of it all.

"My lord," she agreed, bowing slightly while still holding her coat closed with her red, metallic arm, keeping her arm crossed at her chest more like a fancy butler than an expensive call-girl. For a moment, she considered whether it was best to break the news now or speak only when asked to; either way, he'd figure out there was only one girl tonight one way or another. The answer was made for her, however: Uprising needed somebody to divert CommissionMan for a few minutes. She certainly hoped she could manage at least a few minutes, although it wasn't exactly going to make a magical start to a romantic evening. That said, she wasn't here to give a vampire a sexy fun time, she was here to bring an end to his life unending, so annoying him along the way was overall pretty inconsequential.

True to Tajana's prediction, Daybreak was indeed interested to learn whether or not the man was worth killing. After all, as much as she believed everyone was vampire until proven innocent, she also didn't think she could just drive a stake through him before confirming he was evil and not just a bad boss. "Diversion was exactly what I had in mind,"she responded to her employer, privately.

As the last resistance against vampires, it was only befitting that Daybreak would resist the commands of a vampire. "My lord," she started, despite his instructions. "I would leave you as per your instructions, but I'm afraid I have ill news to report. The others who were originally to accompany me, sent by the other suppliers, were forced to stay their movements. You see, one of the ladies, fine woman that she is, cares for a small child. That child has fallen gravely ill and she must attend to him immediately; the girls, though they were eagerly anticipating this opportunity, could not ignore the need of that poor little girl... I hope that you will not begrudge them for this," she began, giving another small bow.

"I knew, however, that we owe you so much; three can attend the child and I, well... I am woman enough to fill the roles of four, you'll see," she smiled slyly, though the boast didn't feel as titillating as it did the first few times she'd told it. "If I may be so bold, my appearance is unfamiliar to my lord, is it not? This is the first time we've met and I bring with me a host of abilities, experience, and exotic talents that others you've had before cannot claim. This hand of mine... when you feel its steadiness, its uncanny warmth, the smooth firmness, yet graceful delicacy, you will see why I sacrificed my arm: it was the price necessary to become the ultimate in my craft," she explained, approaching the bed. She reached out her hand, beckoning him to take it; through the cracks in the limb's armor, light shined out here and there. If he was a vampire, he would probably have some aversion, but simply having a light-up hand wasn't proof of being a vampire hunter; she didn't think she'd be sniffed out just from this. In case he accepted, she warmed her hand up to a steamy temperature; it would indeed feel hot to the touch, though the metallic nature would be... an acquired taste. More likely, though, he'd have some words for her disobedience so far. That aside, the goal was just to make him watch her hand for a while and converse.

"I'm so eager to serve, my lord... can you not command me immediately? My hand is as warm for you as is my... heart," she spoke in a whisper, giving her best needy look and trying to move closer, to lean over the bed, if he'd allow her to do so.

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Ironically, the open air was a much less precarious space for Daybreak's familiar than a crawlspace; it was easy enough for it to float along without worrying. Tera, Uprising, and now even Daybreak had plenty on their minds, but the eye only questionably had a mind to begin with, and nothing about all of this sneaking around was bothering it. If it could comprehend the situation, it might take some alarm at Daybreak being called a fall-girl, but as it was, the only of Daybreak's group who had a proper grasp upon her role in the mission was the navi's operator (the skeptical one). Though no one could see it, the eyelid flickered happily under Tera's touch. One would think that Tera was the one who'd sacrificed her eye to spawn it, with how affectionate it had quickly become to her. She would feel it hovering as close as she'd let it, occasionally moving in to run up into the curve of her waist or inside of the arm, which would feel warm and nice but might disrupt further attempts to climb up the outsides of skyscrapers. She'd probably need to scold it and make it give her some distance beforehand if she intended to do something like that again.
The unexpected sound of his supposed hire-girl talking any further than an acknowledgement was enough to crease CommissionMan's forehead and he reached up slowly to pull the eye mask from his face as she explained her desperate plight. The eyes underneath were a reflective gold in the iris with a silver pupil and black sclera; they glinted in the relative dim lighting of the room. The gaze watched what of Daybreak could be seen while she spoke, as his expression settled into a neutral, unreadable contemplation. While she went on he shifted to swing his legs from the bed and stand up, though his face never turned from her as he did. He was, thus, standing by the time she approached with her slightly unusual offer, and when she was within a few steps of him the man raised a hand, palm out and with two fingers upwards, in a stopping gesture. If she didn't take the hint, he added in a firmer command to stop that was clearly meant to curtail both her movement and her words. The odd colouration of his eyes made it hard to tell, in the dim light, exactly where on her he was watching; truthfully it might feel to one concerned about it, that he was simply watching all of her at once.

"Risky move, girl, but it is more interesting than the simpering spinelessness that usually follows my first instructions. Let's have a look at you then..." He waved her away ahead of him, back towards the centre of the room while he stepped around the end of the bed, a small smile cresting the corner of his lips in an otherwise unmoving expression; if there was an actual opposite to a smile that reached the eyes, this was it. If Daybreak had been watching for a sign that he wasn't just going to let her lay arms on him, it would be hard to take his initial aversion to her touch as anything else. It was entirely possible that he simply didn't want to be touched by a call girl in any way that he himself wasn't initiating, but that would have been a frightfully mundane conclusion to reach. He flicked his gesturing hand with one finger up and down, towards her outer coat. "Silence for now. Open that. Turn, slowly." There was no doubt that his attention was fixed on her now, and provided Daybreak obliged his short-worded instructions, he spoke more while she did.

"So, you look like North Square. You're lucky they're in my good books." There was a pause before he continued; he wasn't really giving Daybreak the opening to respond, and indeed his tone sounded as much like he was musing to himself while viewing art, than actually talking to another person. "You speak with an old form to your tongue. Yes, I think I might do the same then. It is an interesting change, after all." Having said as much, though, he promptly waved away the rest of her excuse with a shake of his head. "I care not for your contrived sob-story, woman. The other houses will get what comes of snubbing the commissioner in due time. Lets us hope for your sake that you are indeed fit for the tasks your sisters have failed in." He had begun to walk a slow circle around Daybreak while he spoke, opposite to whatever way she turned, but stopped in front of her again with his hands clasped behind his back.

"I doubt your claims, but we shall see. I take several girls for these visits because the treatment I enjoy visiting upon one often leave them wholly unready to endure what I require of the next. I am sure you know this well enough; I am not so dull as to pretend that there are any secrets between whores. Do not expect that I will bridle myself because you are but one. Am I understood?"

As clearly focused as he was, they were still in the darkened bedroom for now. Luckily for Daybreak, Uprising wasn't about to rush her, it seemed; they couldn't make their own moves until he was out of the bedroom, but the rebel and her SPs seemed willing to wait for Daybreak to clear the way for them in her own time. For now, it seemed she was expected to answer this time, though if she was feeling game there was probably a broad enough space for her to say more than "yes, sir". If his response to her words and behaviour so far was any indication, she might actually get away with being quite bold. If this were a normal call-girl and client situation, it might be up to her to set the boundaries, but at the same time, it didn't exactly seem like a 'normal' situation either.

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A surprisingly short distance away, above and on the outside of the building, Uprising had placed one hand lightly on Okano's shoulder and had her eyes closed. Tera was watching her navi with an unwavering calm, but her free hand continued to brush and stroke the familiar as it cuddled up to her. They were apparently as in position as they needed tog et at this stage, since they didn't seem intent on moving further, so the invisible eye lucked out and avoided any kind of reprimand for making itself a nuisance.

"She's engaged him... Ok... talking..." Uprising whispered quietly. "Looks like she's got his attention, just have to wait until she gets him out of the room. Chikara, we may only have a very small window, I know you're cleanest with it, but it will be faster if we each do one part. Pass them out." Along the small line of programs pressed low to the building side, the one furthest along nodded in response and a thin trail of bubbles arced from him to each of the other three. The familiar did not get a trail of bubbles of its own. This was probably a good thing. After a few seconds, Uprising nodded again. "All set. Now we wait for Daybreak to get him out of there. On my mark." Beside her, the three support programs closed their eyes and lowered their heads. Uprising continued to hold Okano's shoulder gently, her own eyes shut. Tera's hand on the familiar stilled, resting flat palmed on top of it now, as though trying to spread the sense of quiet stillness to it as well. The biting wind might have spoiled the effect slightly - it wasn't letting up and Tera's dress fluttered and rippled.



Daybreak decided to follow commands for now, hushing up but still smiling confidently as CommissionMan got his fill of inspecting her from various angles. Her face flushed, not out of embarrassment, but rather, involuntary excitement, as she opened up her cloak in response to his demands. The tan-lines of her skin gave way to fairer, white flesh in the spots that the bands and buckles didn't cover, which, to be honest, was most of the space under the cloak. She listened to him for a while; his words again ignited contempt within her, both because he appeared to be an uncaring master to those who he ruled over, but also for her increasing certainty that he must be a vampire. On the other hand, it wasn't exactly killing her buzz; it would have been pretty disappointing to learn that the high-ranked Commeseur was not an evil creature worthy of withering under her sacred light. She was a creature that thrived in conflict, so even a verbal (or literal) dressing down was not unwelcome for her.

"Indeed, I don't expect it will be you being bridled, my lord," she agreed, giving a coy smile. His description certainly sounded alarming, but on the other hand, again, staring hardship in the face with her one good eye (usually with both, but her larger, disembodied one was occupied elsewhere now) was her favorite pastime. She could stand around, doing catwalk poses and extolling her sexual readiness through innuendo all night long, but she knew that she had a responsibility to get CommissionMan out of the bedroom, in spite of his obvious predilection against doing what other people asked of him. This would call for both craftiness and boldness in equal measure... Well, she had the latter, anyways, as one who didn't fear a dressing down, verbal or otherwise.

"My lord, if it pleases you... and it will please you... let us venture together into your lounge area. If I'm to reap the privileges of four women, then I must have the space ordinarily allotted for four women to move around in," she offered, turning to show her other side and sticking out one leg at a 45 degree angle, bending the knee just a bit and running one hand up the leg. She almost felt like taunting him a little to up the ante... but, while she expected to be punished, she didn't want being punished for her impudence by being thrown out of the building to be part of that package. At any rate, she had a backup plan, but it would probably be messier for everyone involved... she hoped it wouldn't need to come into play. "I can sense that you, my lord, are in need of something fresh and new... something you have not experienced before. You must sense it in the air tonight, my lord, the ripples of destiny, twining cords around our waists... Tonight is meant for exploration... Call it... an awakening! Golden as your tested path may be, would you not be willing to venture down my path? With the accompaniment of my gold?" she questioned, flipping her tremendous hair again like a luxurious, golden fan, before allowing it to rest straight over one shoulder.

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For its part, Daybreak's familiar was at least able to follow the simple instruction to be still. It had found its perfect spot regardless, so it had nothing it would rather do than plop down and receive affection... and possibly contemplate the vital question of whether if it was possible for a huntress to transfer ownership of an eyeball that acted rather like an SP to another navi's SP. The ball rolled back and forth discretely, but otherwise remained unobtrusive.
Hard as his cold expression was to read, it seemed fairly safe to guess that Daybreak's target had been satisfied with what he saw of her. The gold and silver in his eyes glinted as she dared to propose her own schedule of events, but he didn't chastise her right away. Instead, as she spoke, he stepped in again and reached out one hand, taking her by a shoulder enough to turn her back to him. That one hand was all he laid on her for the moment, though he stood close enough for the huntress to feel the brush of his fancy clothes on her back. The fingers held her shoulder tightly - by chance of their position it was her more 'normal' arm - and she would be able to feel the distinct impression of his head craned in close by her ear and neck, his breath on her skin.

"Careful girl. You tread a fine line." There was a lengthy exhale that accompanied the warning, his lips close enough to her ear to kiss, or bite, though he did neither for now. A moment later the intimacy of the position was jarred apart as CommissionMan pushed her towards the door a little more roughly than he strictly needed to. It seemed as though he was granting her request, but working to make it look like merely his own decision. The hand left her shoulder as she was guided through the doorway and back into the well lit living space. When her host followed a moment later he waved one hand briefly, causing the over-sized Tv screen to turn off. He regarded Daybreak for an extra moment or two, then strolled across to lounge comfortably in one of the living area's luxurious couches.

"Now then... why don't you show me exactly what sort of exotic new experiences you are promising on your path, girl. Have a care, though... If I grow bored we'll be returning to the original plan." He was watching her with his peculiar eyes, elbows propped on the arms of his seat and fingers laced. Daybreak had the room at her disposal now, for what it was worth - the carpet was probably comfortable, and there were several one or two-seat couches with thick arm rests, and a single low coffee table that was about the length of a person and rose only about a foot or so off the ground. Nothing about the room had changed since she first stepped in a few minutes ago.

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

Outside, Uprising lifted her head, hen nodded to her companions. Silently, they each sprang from their position down to the small deck that connected to the bed chamber, landing one after the other in near silence. Tera jumped last, giving the familiar a last little pat before leaping down - it would be free to follow her, of course. Uprising had paused for some last quick words before they slipped through the balcony door, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Disturb nothing. Find a suitable target and get your program set up. Stay on watch once you're done, eyes and ears sharp, and we'll get out together once it's all done. I'll let Daybreak know what the triggers are once we're clear. Ready? Move." Ahead of her, Okano opened the door smoothly and in silence, and the small band of programs darted through one after the other.

If the familiar followed them all the way, and was paying attention, it would be able to see each of the freedom fighters quickly searching the room with delicate movements. The dark-skinned, netfrican-looking one, earlier identified as Chikara, had begun to do something to the bed which dominated the room, while beside him Okano had begun doing something equally mysterious with the opened bottle of wine that their gracious host had left on the bedside stand. He had tucked his long braid into the back of his shirt at some point, so that it couldn't interfere with anything he was doing. Uprising and Tera were still looking through the rest of the room for something suitable.

As Tajana watched, she began to feel inspired, but she had the vague feeling that the events unfolding were a bit too close to another best-seller that she ought to steer clear from somewhat if she wanted to keep her reputation in tact. Marian, on the other hand, found herself worrying, thinking that either way the next scene played out, she'd wish she hadn't given Daybreak leave to do what she wanted. At this point, either she was going to learn what upsettingly "exotic" things her navi had thought up in years of confinement to a PET by herself or she was going to learn what sorts of upsettingly "exotic" things CommissionMan already knew how to do.

"You will not be disappointed, my lord," Daybreak bowed, crossing one arm beneath her breasts and giving a wide smile in return. The truth of the matter was that her mind had become a fast paced interstate with a lot of cars trying to get off at the same exit and none of them had a damn clue where they were going. She'd thought of a lot of things she'd liked to try, but never under quite these circumstances. The fanciful huntress had also never had anyone to practice on. Things were bound to get messy, either by design or by blunder.

In fact, if Daybreak wasn't so nonsensical (and horny (and masochistic on some level)), she'd be pretty scared to find out what CommissionMan's preferences were. Right now, she was more curious than anything. First, though, she had to take the reigns. Prostitute roleplay was one thing, but fighting vampires was deathly serious. She had to do whatever it took to keep CommissionMan out of his bedroom... and also not to get thrown out. "The hard part..." she thought to herself, "is figuring out how to be exciting without offending 'my lord.'"

"Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained," she reminded herself. "Please, make yourself comfortable, my lord," she encouraged, waving one arm towards the couch before bringing both arms to rest glamorously above and behind her head. "I'll show you something fascinating..." she assured the master of the house, moving her hands slightly to tug on the portion of the outfit nearest her neck, yanking her breasts up along with the belts before allowing them to fall into their former position. What would be the best sexy trick to share, though?

She decided that she had to do something really weird if she wanted to keep his attention. "Now, if it pleases, you, my lord... feast your eyes upon the void!" she offered, grabbing her human arm onto her metallic one. Ordinarily, a lot of light would shine out of the cracks in her gauntlet dramatically, but just as important as showing off here was purposefully withholding the knowledge that she had a vampire-killing sun floating around inside of the space of her body somehow. Instead, she simply removed the appendage, leaving in its place the same shape, but with a bizarre property, like looking at a hole in space through which the night sky could be viewed. She wiggled her fingers for a moment, moved her good arm behind her head, then approached CommissionMan to allow him to inspect.

"Heat is one thing, but I get the sense, my lord, that you care more for the potential that of the zero-world, the void in which no mortal life may continue. That is the power that I traded my arm for. If flesh passes through it, the muscle will become numb and lifeness. It is a vacuum, that will suck breath and life from whatever it touches," she warned. "Yes, it heralds danger... and suffocation," she teased, clasping both hands at her neck and leaning her face in as close as she dared, along with her breasts, if she cared about those. Truth be told, she was exaggerating a bit; given enough time, someone might suffocate having their oxygen deprived by the hand held over their throat, but it wouldn't be much easier to use that way than to simply strangle someone with one's hand. It wouldn't exactly drain the life out of living muscle just by touching it.

"How about it? Any ideas?" she offered, playing with her breast idly using her non-void hand as she awaited his answer. It actually wouldn't be possible for her to use the black space as a hand, even if she wanted to; it would pass through anything she talked like a ghost's might.

In the other room, the eyeball regarded the others curiously as they went about their work. Each of them had taken up a spot in the room staring at things, so it decided to follow suite; staring at things was what it knew best, after all. Quietly, it rolled onto the floor, its pupil spinning around in a way that ought to dizzy it, before coming to rest by the bedside and attempting to peer under it. Ironically, the great size of the eye would make it less effective at seeing anything under there, although one had to question what it would do if it found anything useful regardless.
Behind her, CommissionMan was slow and deliberate in his movements, watching her with cool, hard eyes but for now going along with her instruction. He dropped easily into one of the nearest single seat couches, leaning back with his arms on the rests in what made for a calculate pose of authority. His head tilted slightly as she reached back, curious for the moment, but he was quick to caution her in between that and the beginning of her unusual show.

"Remember, girl... you aren't here to fascinate. You are here to please me." The voice was flat, with an edge of impatience to it, but he let it go at just a caution while Daybreak got on with what she was doing. As it turned out, this did, actually, seem to fascinate her target enough that his brows drew down slightly while he watched. while she showed off her newly stripped down arm and moved it about, he shifted his position slightly and lifted one hand to rub at his chin with a contemplative look on his face. His eyes darted temporarily to the metallic armament she had removed to reveal the void beneath, then back to the arm while she extolled its dubious virtues.

When Daybreak leaned in closer, to him, the man lifted his other hand, the one still on the arm rest, just enough to pinch the nipple that came too close and give it a savage twist. He had shifted to watch her face when she closed in, and continued looking at her intently as he did this, but betrayed no other movement or reaction at all, save to chastise Daybreak to continue if she faltered at all in her description as a result. He did released his pinch right away, but continued to tug and roll it between his fingers as he rubbed his chin again thoughtfully, still watching Daybreak's face.

"And the cover you wore over it... that controls and contains this void, does it? If one held your arm while it was worn, it would be held?" He wasn't about to stop twisting her nipple while waiting for an answer, it seemed, and expected her to give him one despite it. On the bright side, something about this seemed to have piqued his interest at least, though it was hard to tell exactly what. Less fortunately, unless Daybreak herself was making at least a small amount of noise at this point, a quiet sound from the other room would make her target look that way for a moment - she would really need to make sure she had his attention and kept it for the next few seconds at least, unless she wanted to risk him checking on the noise. Of course, if by chance the huntress was actually making some noise of her own, he might not even hear in the first place.

----

In the other room, Daybreak's familiar would only manage to find out that dust bunnies under the bed were not, in fact, a problem in the net world. The space beneath the bed was empty and clean, with enough height that a small person could slip underneath fairly well, though it might give a bulkier person problems. While it was inspecting this fascinating room detail, the rebel navi and her SPs were working on rigging the room for their target. Uprising and Tera had quietly opened the bottom drawer on the bedside stand and were going through it now. One came up with a pair of overly fluffy handcuffs, while the other pulled out a besequinned mask-style blindfold. They nodded to one another and got to work doing... something to them.

While they worked, however, Chikara moved around the bed to stand better watch, finished with his own work. Unlike Tera, however, he had no sense of where Daybreak's familiar eye was, or even really that it was with them at all, and he stumbled over it roughly. The Sp caught himself as he fell, one hand gripping a post of the bed, but there was nevertheless the soft thump of his hand hitting the wood, and a small creak from the bed itself. Everyone in the room froze, and Uprising winced, then quickly got back to work. She sent a private message to Daybreak quickly that simply read:

"Almost done. Respond quickly if he comes back."


If CommissionMan was set up to be annoyed by a cry of pain from Daybreak, he'd be pleased to find that she didn't release one. On the other hand, if he was set up to be impressed that she had no reaction, that wouldn't happen either. Instead, she gave a brief gasp of tittering glee, accompanied by her teeth biting hold of her round, red lip. "Whoopsie... That wasn't very appropriate of fate's chosen huntress," she reminded herself, though she barely cared. Her expression turned to a curious smile as CommissionMan posed a question of his own. "Why yes... As long as it is worn, it operates just as an arm of flesh," she affirmed, squinting her eyes slightly with the stimulation of having her breasts abused. She immediately regretted her answer... in an instant, the arm had gone from a sexy device of domination for her foe to use against her (the fiend) to... a regular arm. "My eye is not quite the same... although the cover hides it, there is no 'fake eye' in its place. I've simply trained myself to see out of one."

She couldn't leave it at just that, but she'd been having a hard time thinking, and that was before she'd had the fiendish additional distraction that the heinous Commeseur was providing. "Would you like to see it...? The eye void that replaces my eye, I mean. You've seen most of the rest of me already," she asked, pressing one finger to her cheek as she pointed to the eye-patch, but allowing him to do the honor if he liked... though she figured it was more likely he'd expect her to handle it herself.

Marian felt awkwardly as though she was watching porn while her kid was out of the house... though, she'd been guilty of that indiscretion several times, even since she became married. She knew Tajana didn't do that sort of thing normally (or if she did, she was very good at hiding it), so she found herself watching her wife's reaction... but Tajana still seemed more fired up as a writer than anything. Marian figured that Tajana would probably stay that way as long as the fun was harmless, but if Daybreak ended up in real danger, she knew that Tajana would be the more concerned of the two. For her part, the original operator could hardly pity Daybreak when she'd chosen to bring whatever came her way upon herself (and would probably enjoy half of it).

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

Daybreak's missing eye tried to roll beneath the bed a few times, from various entry points, before realizing that there was no way it was going to get its giant, hard, circular body beneath there. Everyone else but the eye itself reacted as one of the intruders tripped over its smooth, overly large, mobile surface. The familiar simply stared dully, not registering much of a reaction. The pupil moved back and forth between the room's various occupants lazily, until they all got back to work, at which time the eye began to search the room for furniture with a high enough space from the floor to allow the eye to roll itself beneath. For the purposes of searching, of course.
The partially stifled gasp of pleasure seemed to be just the kind of reaction CommissionMan had been hoping for, every bit as he seemed to enjoy drawing his entertainment into trying to continue a conversation while he stimulated her. For now, that meant the torment and titillation of her exposed places continued; his fingers released briefly, the pinched again, pulling and twisting harder than before this time.

"I think you misunderstand, girl..." With his other hand now, Daybreak's target for the night reached out for the gauntlet that had been covering her void arm, seeking to take hold of it himself. As long as she gave no resistance to this, he curled his own fingers over the fingers of the gauntlet, then reached out with in in hand to see if he could take hold of her void arm by the wrist like that. It was clear he was hoping that the glove would give the resistance it usually did while she herself was wearing it, so that he could grab the purportedly life-draining appendage safely. He hadn't shifted from the seat she'd put him in, but a small smile was creeping across his features and would continue if the glove actually gave him the purchase he was hoping for... or if Daybreak was quick enough on the uptake to fake it realistically if it didn't.

"What I meant, was.... could another use this guard to bend such a potent part of you to their own will... even against yours..." His voice was waxing vaguely domineering and sinister again, though again there was the sensation that it was a trained manner of speaking, and not completely natural to him.... or maybe he was just disguising an accent. If he could actually get a hold of her void arm in some way, CommissionMan seemed intent upon holding it by the wrist and dragging it up to brush Daybreak's own voided fingers over her cheek and down toward the side of her neck.

Of course, if this didn't work at all, and if Daybreak didn't catch on quickly enough to make it look like it did, his disappointment would be accompanied by another particularly vicious twist of her nipple with his other fingers. Either way, however, his mind seemed to jump ahead swiftly at this point... whether it was because he was feeling inspired, or bored would probably depend on the success of his venture, but either way, it would be up to Daybreak to guess which. Strangely, her offer of looking under the eye-patch hadn't seemed to have grabbed his interest as keenly as her empty arm, and amidst his other motions he had brushed off the offer to have her remove it for him.

"I think it's time we moved this little show, don't you? Come." He stood smoothly, though it was still a brisk movement, and worse, he didn't release his pinch on her breast as he did, drawing Daybreak up with him one way or another. It would become immediately obvious that he was intent upon dragging her back to the bedroom now, but as yet the vampire hunter still hadn't received word from Uprising that they were done.

----

In the other room, The SPs had recovered from the moment of tension that tripping over Daybreak's familiar had caused, but even between them Uprising and Terra seemed to be having some kind of trouble with one of the items they were fiddling with. Whatever it was, the other SPs seemed to be getting agitated and hurried now, wanting to be out of the danger zone as swiftly as they could, but at the very least it afforded the eye a little longer to look for a good hiding spot. Searching position, that is, of course.

There wasn't a lot of other useful furniture in the room in this regard, though if it was seeking a place to be out of the way while still about, it could probably hide well enough in the foot space under the dresser; the chair that matched it was already pulled out, so there would be no need to move anything to slip into the gap. There was also what looked mostly like a cupboard space, that one would assume might hold clothes and suits in a normal situation, and one of the doors was slightly ajar. The eyeball might need some help with that one, unless it was content to nudge it open further itself. If it did take a closer look here, however it would find a nice vantage point in the form of a hat shelf, at the top, that was empty and bore ample space for it to nestle into. It could also shuffle in amongst the shoes, if it wanted, though the hanging clothes might reveal its presence if they were pushed aside unnaturally.

The question of its continued invisibility became moot a moment later as the eyeball faded back into full view. Terra gave a small hiss and immediately clapped hand over her mouth to silence it. Apparently she'd lost control of the invisibility while she was concentrating on her other task.

Many innovative forms of grabbing were tested upon Daybreak, including one she'd never really thought of (and she'd thought of quite a lot). She found herself praying silently during those short few moments that he'd be correct and he'd manage to grab her void-hand. If he couldn't, the anticlimax would surely weigh on her evening a bit... Then again, should a vampire huntress really be praying that a vampire could use her God-given weapons to manipulate her phantom arm? Probably not. But then, her logic led her to do a lot of things that anyone worrying about God's opinion ought not do.

It seemed there was no need to worry, although the result was not particularly climactic either, if one thought about it. CommissionMan was indeed able to maneuver the space-like vestige of her arm using her prosthesis. Daybreak exchaled discretely and smiled. "There's your answer, my lord," she responded with a cool, slight sigh escaping her lips. Speaking of voices that took some effort, she found herself contemplating his own. It was what she expected and yet somehow a bit different... perhaps something he'd affected to hide his identity as the monster, Comesseur... but she'd forgotten whatever pages she'd read regarding his manner of speech to begin with, so she couldn't make much of an assumption off of it. Well, much further than her usual assumption that he was a vampire.

She'd crane her long neck slightly, allowing it to fully trace her cheek and the line of her neck. While smiling and keeping her mouth closed, she managed to look somehow classically gorgeous, even while wearing an eyepatch and having her own disembodied metal hand softly touch her cheek. She found herself slightly disappointed he didn't seem aroused by her void offering. She wanted her first vampire encounter to be as freaky as possible. Then again, even vampires might find the concept of a gaping hole in their lover's head, with no scarring, but rather empty space, a bit disconcerting. "It's fine... the more vulgar it seems, the more unfathomable, the further it proves my devotion to my lord... not this lord, the real one. This one, I'm going to kill," she reminded herself, her painted lips parting into a jovial grin.

Nobody was readier to get on to the next course than Daybreak, but she remembered that she had a mission to do. Freaky sex was high on her priority list, but hunting vampires was even higher; she couldn't afford to fail her mission just for the sake of appeasing her master for the night. "God, give me irresistibility," she prayed for sexiness, enough to overpower whatever frustration he might feel at being defied. "My lord... I confess, I have a vice, and that is the love of foreplay," she began, fluttering her long, strangely golden eyelashes. "Before you take me however you wish, would you grant your humble servant one last request of her own given will, and... help me to prepare myself further... here in the living room? I hunger to kiss you, or taste you... I can help you erect or induce you to shiver if you'd like... but I would feel sinful entering your hallowed chamber without getting into the right mindset first." Though, a look at her breasts and you'd certainly think she didn't need any more teasing at this point.

It wasn't a very strong hook to stay, but she intended to force the issue if she had to. She certainly didn't think he'd enter the bedroom without her, but she also thought it was perfectly likely she was going to get backhanded for stepping out of line. "So what if I am? God protects me. He has no such love for a vampire," she reminded herself.

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

The rolling eye had not managed to accomplish much useful; beyond that, it really wasn't even able to satisfy itself. No hiding spot seemed just right... but perhaps that was because it didn't really want to hide in the first place. It wanted to find something that would help, but only in the vaguest sense... it realized other people were checking out every cranny of the room, but had no idea where it could go to help as well. It was questionable whether it would even know something of interest or a good hiding spot for... whatever was being placed around the room... if it found either such thing.

The eye decided to give the upper shelf of the closet a good gaze over, since perhaps the others couldn't reach it so well. What was searching quickly became lazy rolling, until it settled on staring down disconcertingly from inside. It was possible that it was ready for everyone to move on as well, having grown bored... or it was possible it was about to fall asleep. One would hope it was the former rather than the latter, as everyone would need to make a swift exit soon.
The curled smile only grew on her target's lips as Daybreak found her spectral arm being successfully manipulated by another. Still holding onto the removed brace, keeping its fingers curled about her voided wrist, he dragged the hand further to make its fingers press across her throat, watching for a reaction. He only held the ghostly fingers there for a moment though; perhaps he'd accepted that it had genuinely life-draining properties and was being cautious before he knew how much effect it would have.

At her sudden protests, though, CommissionMan had to cover a brief look of surprise. It was gone a second later, but for just that tiny moment he seemed quite shocked that the lady giving such tantalising reactions to the abuse levied on her chest was in any way in more need of play. He responded to her pleas by reaching out to take a hold of her good arm and pull her with him, stopping just shy of the entrance to the bed chamber so that he could thrust her against the door frame. He stood in close to her, one leg forward enough that she would be more or less forced to had her knees out to either side of him, and while his hand had released her nipple, it now reached up high to pin her normal wrist well above her head against the wall. Overall it was the sort of pose that might leave Daybreak feeling stretched and exposed.

"I suppose I cannot fault a woman for needing more time to prepare for her master's dominance, but I expect more from you too. I'll hold onto this for now..." His eyes searched hers while he spoke, voice cold and hard, but as he did he continued to control her missing limb by way of the metallic brace he had taken possession of. This time he was more precise in his manipulations, using the fingers of the gauntlet, curled beneath his own hand, to push the void hand to her own throat, effectively making it look like Daybreak was choking herself. He was probably expecting some kind of reaction, given that she'd spoken about the limb's life-draining properties, but even as he did this, he raised his knee between her thighs, grinding it up against her groin as well.

Still holding the void hand to her throat and the other high above, he leaned in close while he applied the pressure with his knee, lips beside her ear, then lower in the suggestion of brushing lips to the side of her neck, though he didn't actually do so.

"How much more patience must I show, I wonder... Before you will be ready to accept your rightful place as my play thing? You will need more discipline later, if you need such special treatment now." Rather than getting directly angry at her defiance, Daybreak's target seemed to have assumed that she quite simply wasn't ready for sex yet, and was taking some measures to correct that; it continued, vaguely, with the creature's more cautious brand of dominance behaviour so far. If she was particularly perceptive of such a thing, Daybreak, or perhaps her operators, might see traces that he was being dominant less from personal callous desire, and more in the way of being the dom that a sub might need to get her own jollies.

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

Just barely on the other side of the door frame, the sudden movement had triggered a silent panic among Uprising and her SPs. Most were finished with their various tasks at this point, and the thump of bodies against the door frame sent a ripple through them that culminated with Uprising stopping what she was doing and giving the others a series of rapid hand gestures, repeated twice over, and finishing with a hurried motion towards the door they'd come in through.

Tera hesitated while the others moved to quickly exit back out onto the balcony, before Uprising shook her head then physically turned the SP about and shoved her towards the door with the rest. In what was obviously more of a hurry than before, the rebel returned to fiddling with the object in her hands, stealing glances towards the door every other moment as she did. At one point, she caught sight of the revealed familiar and made a quick dashing motion with one hand, hurriedly tyring to indicate that it should either get out or hide itself, and quickly.

At last, she seemed to finish with what she was doing and carefully shut the drawer on the bedside cabinet again. She took a last quick look about the room, and the door which the SPs had closed behind them, then grabbed the edge of the bed and slipped under it quickly; even for someone as slight of build as Uprising it didn't leave a lot of room, and she was probably grateful for not having to worry about any kind of massive female endowment at that particular moment.

Daybreak would get her message a moment later.

Quote ()

Ok, we're set. I'll keep it brief. No easy or elegant solution I'm afraid. There's a number of trojan-style subroutines that will let you deal the final blow, but he's got to interact with them for it to work. There'll be no sign of them working, just trust and don't miss. We've attached them to things in the bedroom.

The bed is one — anyone in contact with it will have their EJO will be disrupted enough to allow a kill shot to go through before it triggers. There's a bottle of win on one stand. Anyone drinks from that, and their write protection will be fully compromised for about half an hour. It'll look like they're at normal health, but they won't be. In the bedside drawers there's a blindfold, and a set of fluffy handcuffs. Anyone touching the blindfold will have their signature and chip systems locked up, though it won't show unless he actually tries to use one. Anyone touching the cuffs at all will have their NC disrupted, though it'll maintain an after image that makes everything look like it's normal.

That's all we could give you. Use what you can, but it's not all essential. You'll need at very least the jack-out disruption and the write protection compromise — that's the bed, and the wine. the others might make your job easier if things get hairy, but remember, they're indiscriminate and will affect anyone and everyone. We're in your hands now, good luck!


Uprising hadn't mentioned the fact that she'd been caught out and was hiding under the bed herself, more as a result of panic than anything else, but at the very least Daybreak had the go-ahead to take things to the bedroom now, and an interesting shopping list of options for what to do once she got there.

One thing Daybreak hadn't lied about was the choking coldness of her void hand; she was uncomfortably reminded of that as the hand brushed seemingly against, partially into, the flesh of her throat. Then again, for Daybreak, discomfort was just another half of the erotic coin, and even as her eyebrows tensed with the shock of the touch, her body did not resist.

Her reaction was the same but elevated when he pressed her against the door; even as he placed his knee between her legs to part them, he found that she was readily spreading them regardless. She did indeed feel exposed: one among her favorite feelings. An ordinary person might have a hard time choking themselves, due to the natural instinct to avoid injury to oneself, thereby easing force... Daybreak wouldn't have that option if she wanted it, considering her void sucked heat and air without her actually manipulating muscles or joints. She shut her eyes and gasped for air. It was painful, but she was getting her hunter-in-distress itch scratched super hard. If he was worried she wasn't aroused, though, the feel of her lower body responding to the pressure of his knee would erase that concern. She rolled her head to allow him to reach his lips to the length of her neck, but of course, he stopped short. "Who's the real tease here?" she managed to think, which was good, as it drew her attention from the fact that she was sort of suffocating a bit. "Oh Lord...

She appreciated his dedication to domineering and foreplay both, but she found she couldn't actually respond to his questions; the only way she'd be able to was a terribly unsexy croak, and that wasn't entirely a given, so she didn't want to try. The good part was that Uprising had apparently finished her preparations in the next room, so if she indicated she was ready to start the main show, she could do so now. "Fortunate, because I sort of dug myself into a hole with this whole being choked thing," she pondered, thinking that it might be sexy if she were to become light-headed and briefly lose consciousness, but thinking that it would be an affront to God if she were to pass out and die. She somehow doubted the big guy in the sky would give her a pass on that one.

Still, by the sound of the secret weapons that had been prepared for her, it was likely more choking might be in her future. The bed and wine sounded ideal... and the other pieces were nice too, but by her reasoning, this could become tricky... after all, she needed some way to attack Commeseur, but if she touched the handcuffs and blindfold, she'd be unable to use her own weapons. "Possibly role inversion? Well, I'll cross that bridge only after I make certain it's very secure," she thought to herself.

To indicate her readiness, given that she had neither hands nor voice right now, she slowly shifted her head, as if going for a kiss. She was fairly certain he wouldn't allow her that, but it might serve as a good sign to show she was ready to take the next step.

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

Inside the room, Daybreak's eyeball opened up wide, realizing it was about to doze off in enemy territory, and flew towards the makeshift exit where the others had gone out. For a moment, it seemed dangerously as if it was going to misfire its trajectory and smash into the wall, but it managed to correct and squeeze out with the others.
It was to be hoped that daybreak wouldn't actively need her familiar to assist in delivering the final attack to her strangely attentive vampire overlord; the fleeing SPs closed the balcony door behind them after it slipped out rather than hiding, and there wasn't much chance of them getting a chance to let it back in now. They mostly seemed to disregard its presence as they retreated to the furthest point on the open-air platform to have a hushed argument with each other in whispered tones.

It would probably be difficult for the eyeball to identify exactly who was saying what, given that it wasn't too well acquainted with the freedom fighters, but they mostly seemed to be arguing about whether they ought to have left Uprising behind as she asked, or not. Different snippeds of hissed whispers came one after the other.

"—doesn't matter how strong she is, the trojans aren't keyed! If he—"
"—more worried about getting caught. The whole point of getting a scapegoat was to—"
"—call me a hypocrite, but you know she's far too easy with the idea of noble sacrifice!"
"—know she still feels guilty about that other navi, and now this? You think she'll just—"
"Hide and let the plan go ahead? Yes. She will. Trust the woman we've sworn to."
"I know, but..."
"She'll be fine. Jane is watching."
"—about if we regroup with the others? Do you think—"
"We'll wait here. She told us to get out, but if we do need to crash the party, at least we'll be ready. That's all we can do now." That last came from Tera, crouching with the others, though she had extended a hand to unconsciously stroke the eyeball if it came close enough for her to do so. With varying degrees of agreement or reluctance the others nodded as well. When they were all quiet again, Chikara stood straight and whispered to the others.
"Very well. Arms out. At the ready." Without any more words, the SPs each stood, forming a rank and readying their choice of weaponry; most present still seemed to favour swords. Within seconds they had settled back into that silent stillness that came from disciplined training, and a moment after that they all faded from sight completely, Tera included. If the eye was still paying attention though, it would be aware that none of them had actually gone anywhere, and could happily maintain whatever level of contact with Tera it had decided it wanted; now that she had gone into serious mode, she didn't seem like she was about to shoo it away. The other tell, of course, was that despite their visual disappearance, Tera was still in her borrowed outfit and the strong wind was blowing the trail of it in a way that continuously made delicate fabric sounds.

----

Back inside, Daybreak herself seemed to be succeeding unintentionally in raising her lord's excitement as she struggled for air. If ever it looked like she might be getting too close to the edge, though, she'd find the life-sucking hand pulled back from her throat just enough. Even so, the wanton reactions of her body were telling CommisionMan all he needed to know, whether she said anything or not and he laughed deeply, a slow, soft chuckle right by her ear. When she made efforts to kiss him in turn, he turned his head; not quite enough to deny her completely, but enough that all she was able to actually kiss would be his jawline.

In response to this, he drew her void arm away to the side, removing the sensation from her throat entirely and craned his neck again, this time dragging his lips more clearly across the side of her neck accompanied by a delicate brushing with his teeth, and a long, drawn out breath. The rest of his body pressed against her, pinning her more thoroughly to the wall; if she were paying attention to the details, Daybreak might become aware that, indeed, her target had no need of help in terms of raising his own excitement now. As his teeth dragged their delicate line against her neck, just scoring without actually trying to bite, he turned his face upwards and finally pinched the top of her ear delicately between faintly pointed canines.

"I think it's high time I made you mine. I can smell how much your body wants it, even if you demur." It was a sharp, but commanding whisper, and he bit a gain, a touch harder this time. "Come."

With a brusque efficiency, the lord of the manor stepped back from their press, letting Daybreak stand on her own feet again as he removed his knee and brought her hand down, then turned her about, twisting the more solid limb behind her back and holding the more intangible one to the side with her appropriated gauntlet. Next came the few quick steps, leading Daybreak ahead of him, that carried them both back into the darkened bed chamber. Her host gave no signs of seeing anything out of place as they returned, though he seemed mostly fixated upon drinking in the sights of Daybreak's exposed back and neck as he watched her from behind.

Normally, this might be the point where the call girl was more fully undressed, but in Daybreak's case she really was almost as undressed as she was likely to get, with the only part of her outfit that could obscure any activity being the lower strap... Indeed, depending on just how excited she actually was, there was every possibility that CommissionMan might have stained the knee of his trousers earlier. Here in the darkness, though, neither of them were likely to answer that question any time soon. Perhaps the most fortunate feature of their entry into the bed chamber was that in going first, Daybreak was coincidentally in a position where she shielded any chance of her target catching a glimpse of movement under the bed; she herself might just catch the quick shuffle out of sight of what she might recognise as one of the strappy boots that Uprising had donned as part of her disguise, but it was sufficiently hidden well before the real danger had any chance of noticing.

CommissionMan didn't stop leading her until they were both standing at the end of his luxurious bed and he turned her to face it, looming behind in a way that pressed his body against her back and let him breath on her neck. He put her solid hand against one post of the bed, covering it with his own and holding it there while he continued to guide the other via her brace, pulling it out to a similar position on the other bed post; necessity of position meant that for her void hand, he was actually leaning his own knuckles against the bedpost, and simply holding her wrist with the brace. As she'd been warned, Daybreak would be able to detect no trace that anything was interfering with her systems while she was in contact with the bed, but it was probably better to fall on the side of caution and assume that Uprising was right about what she'd said. Daybreak's modern-day vampire lord hummed to himself, then spoke in the low light; she couldn't see it unless she turned her head, but the silver and gold of his eyes were shining with excitement.

"So... I wonder what part of you I should claim as my own first. If you are all I have to enjoy tonight, then I mustn't use you up too quickly..." another soft chuckle followed his words, but he hadn't made a further advance yet; Daybreak could probably respond safely with her own suggestions if she wanted to. In hindsight, it was probably fortunate that her outfit could suggest mistress as easily as it could slave; in away, it gave her more options to play with. Outside, the dark clouds and growing wind gave way tot eh first sheets of falling rain and the rumble of thunder as a flash of light cut the sky. It was turning into quite the night for it.


----

Program Status

EJO Delay: Bed contact
HP/Write Protection Compromise: Drinking Wine
Chip and Signature Lock Out: Blindfold contact
NaviCust Compromise: Cuff Contact

CommissionMan: EJO: Delay in effect, HP/Write Protection: Normal, Chips and Signatures: Normal, NaviCust: Normal.

Daybreak: EJO: Delay in effect, HP/Write Protection: Normal, Chips and Signatures: Normal, NaviCust: Normal.

Uprising: EJO: Delay in effect (It's a tight squeeze, even for her), HP/Write Protection: Normal, Chips and Signatures: Normal, NaviCust: Normal.
The conspirators had nothing to fear sharing their plans in earshot of Daybreak's familiar, not that it had ears to begin with. The eyeball did indeed try to nestle into the groove of Tera's armpit, as if it wanted her to carry it, but it soon broke off and began to glare at the room with silent intensity... though, with no other reason than that everyone else seemed to be doing so. Unless someone knocked it with their fist, it would remain entirely quiet, as it was incapable of making any noise other than colliding with something else.

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

Intimacy was thrilling for Daybreak, but at the same time, with her deep-rooted, fanatic devotion to her own vampire-hunting fantasy, the romance of the moment was doing little to temper her desire to kill off her host. In this way, the feeling of his teeth excited her more than anything else so far, being that it was both sexy and indicative of his status as a vampire. "Ha ha ha... such brazen hellspawn as this... He must not know who he's dealing with," she thought to herself, smiling wider as she tilted up her jaw. She was thankful that she wasn't wearing her usual earguards with this costume, anyways. "As you command, my lord," she responded simply, though with a breathlessness that better indicated her excitement (and also her having been choked fairly extensively over the past few minutes).

Daybreak's flesh, a mix of suntanned golden brown and pale stripes created from her usual garb, would be partially hidden by the curtain of her shockingly yellow hair, but still nice to drink in the sight of when it flickered into view. For the huntress' part, she didn't mind at all being roughly handled or led in the way CommissionMan had chosen. Her good eye was sharp enough to catch the subtle movement of Uprising beneath the bed; she wasn't sure what to think about that. It made her wonder if maybe Uprising wasn't willing to leave everything up to her after all; a wise move, all things considered. "My power will be diminished without my familiar and in this area, which is thoroughly befouled by the taint. Her power may be indispensable in such an environment," she admitted. "Human though she be."

"Or maybe she wants to watch," she thought jokingly, though now wasn't the time for such thoughts.

She was thankful that Commeseur was helping her keep the position using her brace, as, despite her status as an amputee, she was pretty used to functionally having two hands. If he hadn't been there to stop her, she probably would have tried to lean with her void hand, which would have resulted in an embarrassing lurch to one side at minimum. "If I may be so bold, you've already claimed a part of me, my lord," Daybreak chuckled in response. He gave him a moment to ponder if she meant something cheesy like her heart, before clarifying. "My hand, that is." Key to her next procedure would be deciding how to get him to touch the cuffs and blindfold... drinking wine would be good too. But the others were easier for her to start with.

"And if you're looking for an answer... Might I suggest my hands and eyes, my lord? As much as I'm already anticipating our evening, how much more would my appetite be increased, if I cannot reach to hasten it or see to anticipate it? But then, I am the slave and you are the master," she reminded him. "Correct?" she asked, pausing queerly to smile back over her shoulder with her eyepatch towards him, her expression almost challenging. She nearly added "that's the way with vampires and their mortal thralls, is it not," but that would be a step too forward. She couldn't let Commeseur know she was aware of his true (supposed) nature until she was watching the silver and gold fade from his truly dead eyes.
While Daybreak spoke her breathy and enticing suggestions, her host kept his head close behind her, switching sides to inhale the scent of her body, kiss the top of her right ear, then nip, ever so delicately, at the side of her neck this time. The rest of his body pressed up against her as well, pushing firmly to the curve of her behind such that it would only be his own support, holding her wrists to the bed posts, that would stop her from over-balancing and bending forward. Outside, Daybreak would be able to hear the beginning of the rain fall, and the rumble of thunder now. Occasional flashes in the sky cast brief light through the curtained balcony door as the drops began to beat against the glass in a steady rhythm.

"Indeed... your body is mine to command, now, so too your senses. Let me take them from you." His voice sounded pleased with the suggestion and eager to follow it, though whether out of mutual desire, or a want to be a good master, would be hard even for a focused and objective mind to determine, let alone Daybreak's. For the time being, though, his grip on her solid wrist loosened and traced down her arm all the way other shoulder and down to the middle of her back, at which point he stepped away and thrust her forward onto the bed, releasing her void arm as he did. The push had been a bit sudden, but not entirely unexpected, and the bed itself was plush and luxuriously cushioned, with a very faint flora scent to the sheets and quilting. He had kept a hold of the brace, but walked around the bed to the small side drawers and knelt to open one. He was still more or less fully clothed himself, but when he stood against and looked over Daybreak's form on the bed, the metallic hues of his eyes were glowing in the dim light. As she might have been hoping, he held the blindfold in one hand, with multiple sets of cuffs looped around the fingers on the same hand. There might be a slight problem in telling exactly which set of cuffs was the important one, though.

"Where to begin, I wonder..." He placed one knee on the bed as he moved towards her, reaching towards one ankle. There was a moment here, at least, where she could be certain that her target was in contact with three of the four programs, but without drinking the wine, she'd also be aware that the vampire lord would be at his full Hp complement, so attacking might not be wise just yet. He was reaching for her first ankle, and unless she acted to resist in any way would draw it to him, stripping off the boot she was wearing and running caressing fingers over her calf and thigh before clipping the first cuff around. There was a tangible feeling to the cuff tightening, notch by notch, along with the ratcheting clicks of it being sealed; the shiver inducing sound of impending restriction. Daybreak would be able to feel the tug of where the cuff linked to the chain as her host drew the other end towards the lower bedpost.

She'd only had a moment to look, but these were clearly cuffs designed for bed play — the inner ring was ever so slightly cushioned with a leather lining, rather than cold metal, and the release catches were pinch grips, rather than having an actual key. Unfortunately, they were also of good construction, so, intimate cuffs or not, the chances of her being able to break out of them once they were closed firmly was slim. If she offered no immediate resistance, it would only be another moment before her first ankle was secured to the post. During this time though, he hadn't really offered any admonishing against her talking to him, so that was still an option, for now.

----

Outside, the rain grew heavier, but none of the hidden SPs seemed to pay it any attention, even Tera; as much as she was prone to acting more bubbly and friendly than the others, it was a good reminder that she had just as much a shared history in a shadowy, violent and highly disciplined background as the others. If the familiar got distracted at any point, it might note that the lightning storm was displaying several different hues of electrical activity, rather than a single uniform tone; bolts of white and yellow mixed often with tones of blue, purple and orange.

----


Program Status


EJO Delay: Bed contact
HP/Write Protection Compromise: Drinking Wine
Chip and Signature Lock Out: Blindfold contact
NaviCust Compromise: Cuff Contact

CommissionMan: EJO: Delay in effect, HP/Write Protection: Normal, Chips and Signatures: Compromised, NaviCust: Compromised.

Daybreak: EJO: Delay in effect, HP/Write Protection: Normal, Chips and Signatures: Normal, NaviCust: Unknown. (Daybreak doesn't know which set of cuffs holds the trojan, and is only touching one of them)

Uprising: EJO: Delay in effect (It's a tight squeeze, even for her), HP/Write Protection: Normal, Chips and Signatures: Normal, NaviCust: Normal.

Daybreak appreciated the change in the weather almost as much as much as the advances of her undoubtedly vampiric host. The thunder and lightning would be the perfect backdrop for the slaying of a high rank vampire slaying, she thought. Though, ordinarily, if she was going to have fun of a sexual nature, she preferred to do it in the sunlight... but then, if she was doing it in the sunlight, it probably wouldn't be with a vampire she was doing it with.

Being pushed into a bed, having every inch of her body inspected, and having both legs latched up to bedposts were all in the days work for a vampire huntress. It didn't occur to her until she was half chained into the bed that she might need to reserve some sort of way to fight her captor; if he chained up her wrist and... presumably her arm casing, she wouldn't have much of a way to destroy him. She was aware that her familiar was no longer around either. However... someone still was. She'd send a quick message:

Quote (Daybreak to Uprising)

I may soon be unable to use my weapons against Commeseur. If I'm unable to perform when the time comes, seeing as you're right beneath the bed, I believe you may be able to strike the killing blow against him. It might ordinarily be impossible for an ordinary mortal to kill him, but with the benefit of your proximity to me, the favored servant of God, your strike may be true.


On the outside, Marian found herself wondering if Uprising would come to the rescue. Something about the situation was starting to stink... This setup seemed so intuitive now that she had to wonder why the others insisted on being elsewhere to begin with. It seemed Daybreak being the one to set up the killing attack exposed the navi to a lot of unnecessary danger when Uprising, theoretically, ought to be able to slip out from under the bed or possibly even aim a gun up and make the shot. Uprising's answer would say a lot about whether she had any reason to be suspicious.

Daybreak herself was content to let things develop; she saw no reason to suspect that she might not be able to count on Daybreak's support. With that in mind, her only worry was how to get her master to sample his wine. "My lord... If you're still not willing to favor your servant's lips with a kiss... perhaps I could beg an indirect one? Wine, to set our spirits right for tonight's festivities... If you will drink first, and I after, it would be as chaste as though I'd waited," she recommended. He'd been happy with her suggestions so far, or so she figured. Maybe he'd let her slide this one too without being too suspicious? On the other hand, she thought to herself that it would be interesting to see if she could get off without actually drinking, given that the action would put her sharing every disadvantage her captor had (perhaps save the one from the cuffs)... and that she wasn't sure if she could drink in a sexy way while lying flat like this.

One more thing was bugging her and it wasn't the same thing bothering Marian. "My lord... I know you must hear this often, but you are a most generous master, one who inspires all due love and respect from your most loyal servant this evening. Is that the sort of devotion you like to inspire... or is it fear?" she questioned. She remembered the machines a flight down... the wailing... the promise of impending punishment for those who failed in their duties... but it didn't jive, when she considered how she'd been treated so far. Either he was a very slow starter for a superpowered vampire and liked to toy around, or his penchant for sexual deviancy was oddly tailored to those she'd earlier assumed he abused in some sort of vampire fetishism (though, for her part, she was likely to be excited whether it remained tender or turned painful).

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

Outside, the familiar revealed a dislike for rain that suited its status as part of a fire navi's ensemble. Steam rose off its body with a slight hissing sound as its eyelid flickered open and shut as though it was trying to get water out from inside. It sought out the closest thing to a cloak or cover and huddled beneath it, pushing its warm body up against whoever was inside. Marian and Daybreak might have a lot on their minds right now, but for the creature, it's concern was primarily keeping its body dry.
While Daybreak was distracted by her dramatic appreciation and sending messages to unwitting voyeurs, her gracious host for the evening finished binding each of her ankles to their respective bedposts, and moved around the bed, casually reaching out to touch or trace a finger over sensual, yet still mostly innocent parts of her body. He had begun to clip up her solid hand to the upper post as well.

"Perhaps, in time... all things in their place. Drinks will come, once your senses belong entirely to me." He did seem to be enjoying himself as he gradually immobilised the vampire-hunter, though one had to wonder if Daybreak needed reminding that enjoyment wasn't the main goal here tonight. Her host ran his fingers up the inside of her thigh as he finished cuffing her third limb to the bed, then walked around the far side. He watched her the whole time, then as he drew close back to the side of the bed, reached out to curl her gauntlet back around her free wrist and draw it close. There was a slight moment of hesitation and uncertainty, before he began to fitted the device back over her arm again, doing it up. It seemed as though he intended to cuff this wrist to the bed in the same traditional mode as the rest, but would of course need it to act like a solid limb for that. He obviously wasn't completely familiar with the device,though, and would be forced to accept Daybreak's guidance in getting it fastened properly, if she offered it. This did, naturally, present the opportunity for her to give false guidance that may potentially make it easier for her to free the arm on her own, but she'd need to be careful in doing so. While this was going on, Daybreak received a response from her under-bed lurker.

Quote ()

Daybreak! Remember that it is supposed to be him who is in contact with all the disablers, not you! I can't exactly move freely from where I am, let alone attack reliably, and I cannot be seen clearly or all these plans will be wasted. I will do my best, but I will not endanger you. Do NOT drink the wine, otherwise you will be stuck like that with no write protection, no undershirt, and no functioning EJO. I cannot chance an attack if you end up like that!


If she took a moment to read through this warning, Daybreak would discover that CommissionMan was finished with her final wrist. His fingertips traced the metal of her brace in a vaguely sensual way, before moving to slide over her middle, running across the straps of her harness and moving back in to tweak forcefully at her nipple again. After a moment of inspecting his work, and listening to more of Daybreak's commentary, he laughed and kneeled on the bed beside her, blindfold in one hand while his other drew a very firm, pressing finger up the single strap that was barely keeping her nether regions decent tugging on it a bit once his hand reached the binding ring.

"Your place is not to question, toy. It is the same place as all of those who serve me: to respect my great power, and to obey my will without hesitation." Somehow he managed to answer her question, while wording it as though he was refusing to. "Now surrender your sight to me as well." He reached in to tie the blindfold around her eyes, and Daybreak would have a short window to show resistance, if she wished to. Exactly how much she could resist at this point was debatable, however.

----

Outside, the Familiar was left, well, out in the cold, it would seem. Having gone into their more serious, waiting state of readiness, none of the other SPs, not even Tera, were going to pay it any attention, or offer it any comfort from the rain. Or so it seemed. After a few moments, the quiet sounds of fabric being caught in the wind shifted and changed, and then, seemingly out of nowhere, the red gown that Tera had changed into earlier appeared and draped itself over the disregarded eyeball. Tera herself remained invisible, along with the rest of the SPs, but if it possessed a mind to think with, the familiar could ponder what her throwing away of the not-suitable-for-combat dress might mean for her current state of attire. It might also ponder what it was going to do about being covered in the folds of a long, sight-obscuring (if still quite delightfully warm) dress.


Program Status


EJO Delay: Bed contact
HP/Write Protection Compromise: Drinking Wine
Chip and Signature Lock Out: Blindfold contact
NaviCust Compromise: Cuff Contact

CommissionMan: EJO: Delay in effect, HP/Write Protection: Normal, Chips and Signatures: Compromised, NaviCust: Normal

Daybreak: EJO: Delay in effect, HP/Write Protection: Normal, Chips and Signatures: Normal, NaviCust: ...Unknown, but likely compromised. (Daybreak doesn't know which set of cuffs holds the trojan; they are all attached now, but arguably, the one on her void wrist isn't touching Her, just her brace. If it is that one, then it becomes hard to be sure if it is affecting her or not )

Uprising: EJO: Delay in effect (It's a tight squeeze, even for her), HP/Write Protection: Normal, Chips and Signatures: Normal, NaviCust: Normal.


"How foul! To be treated this way by a filthy vampire," Daybreak cursed gleefully and internally, shivering slightly as she felt her captor's touch along her thigh. She barely registered that her suggestion had been set aside as CommissionMan continued. When he ended up struggling a bit with the last lock, she did what she could to help him secure it. Fortunately for her, that was not much; she hadn't really been thinking about preserving her freedom, but rather, she simply couldn't do much to help him lock it in and felt that instructing him would ruin the mood.

Just as she was feeling pleased with herself, Daybreak received a message from her employer, who didn't sound very pleased at all. She couldn't let the message sit without a response, given its urgency:

Quote ()

Well, it seems you didn't get the handles of any of his toys, nor the insides of some of his clothes, did you? I'm forced to make do with what you did weaponize, which appears to be mostly implements intended for use against the captive, not held by the captor. And why does it matter if you're seen clearly? The only witness to the events is going to die!

I will avoid drinking the wine if I can. At the very least, I should be able to ensure he drinks it first. When he does, take the opportunity to attack him.


The reminder that Commeseur was about to die, rather than participate in some kinky master/servant domination bed-play, was a bit sobering to Daybreak. "As a huntress, I should not any hesitation. All things in God's name," she reminded herself, but she couldn't shake the feeling... a bizarre feeling like maybe she had more in common with the vampire than she did those who employed her. Beyond that, his touch was making it even harder. "Ha!" she gasped, feeling the band that wrapped her lower body yank upward, digging into her a bit more. It was humiliating in just the way she enjoyed. "Yes, my lord!" Now came the blindfold, covering her one eye socket that was not already covered... leaving her 1.5x blinded. She thought it must look a little ridiculous, but she'd been allowed to keep the eye-patch on, so apparently, her master didn't care.

With that, she'd undoubtedly be heavily compromised, which must be driving her employer crazy. Marian watched her PET curiously... she found herself worrying about the employers far more than the vampire, at this point. They'd gone through a lot of effort for this plan, but more and more oddities kept popping up, harder and harder to explain... and still no proof that the target was anything more than a jerk and a shady businessman with a bondage fetish. "She's right about one thing, Tajana," Marian resolved, crossing her arms with a serious frown. "Daybreak isn't going to drink that wine. If she has to, I'm going to jack her out. And... if she tries to kill that navi before we learn if he really deserves to die... then we're also jacking her out."

Tajana smiled sadly, resting her head on her fist. She'd put down her pen to watch the PET instead. "We may not have the opportunity. If he drinks that wine... then he's dead, even if our huntress doesn't get to him. The one below the bed will do him in," she reminded Marian. The look in Marian's eyes told Tajana that her wife had not considered it. "Don't be afraid... We're not dealing with a good man."

"But are we dealing with that bad of a man?" Marian questioned again, knitting her brow with a worried frown as she watched the PET screen anxiously.

"My lord... It will not please you but I must further confess. Your deeds, sire; I wish to hear them, so that I can admire you more. So that I can fear and respect you as is proper. I am but your humble servant and ill informed..." she begged in a needy voice, resting her cheek against the bed as she spoke.

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

It was hard to tell how much the familiar understood or cared about how its allies state of dress must be affected by shedding her dress, but it was clearly pleased by the gift, which caused its lid to stop flittering and the steam to cease rising from its body. At this point, it couldn't see it all, but truthfully, hadn't been watching to begin with. Instead, it drifted slowly to the right, hoping to come in contact with one of its allies. If it did, it would rub up against them slowly, sharing some of its warmth while also perhaps disrupting whatever they were trying to do. If it did not, the familiar would drift over to the left and try the same from another angle. If any of the allies were paying attention... they might realize they had a bit of an investment in making sure that someone caught it while it was drifting. If they didn't, then its course would probably eventually end with bumping into the side of the building, which could be inconvenient for them.