Coopers Arm Pub

Moniker walks into the pub, and a wave of smoke, booze, and blood rushes his senses. He mimics a deep breathe as he scans his surroundings, his eyes jumping from one person to another. He has a small smirk on his face, the back of his mind churning out heinous thoughts of debauchery and cruelty he intends to inflict upon his next victim. 

Tonight was going to be a ride. What was left to chance was who was going to join him on the adventure.

There is quite the selection on offer at the Cooper's Arms. The pub is an upscale establishment, though clearly not one for strict enforcement of the law. No smoking has been allowed in pubs for years now, but the calmness of the bartender and the thickness of the pungent fumes leads you to believe that there is some protection here from the Met. You wonder absentmindedly what other laws are broken here.

There is a wide selection of potential victims. A beautiful young woman and her three less-beautiful friends. Some middle aged irishmen arguing about the football. A suited businessman a little too deep in the beer. A stern-looking old woman commiserating with a younger man about something apparently important.

On the television, a replay of today's rubgy game plays, but few show any particular interest. A few people's eyes drift to you, but few linger there: there are plenty of strangers in the pub, and it seems this late at night people are more interested in the people around them or the glasses in front of them than one new face among dozens.

Moniker reaches into his pocket and draws from it a single coin. Its not fancy, or old. Actually its a token that he took off of the corpse of a woman he slew back in the States from one of those party/game establishments where you get tokens for winning games. 

He lets his gaze rest on each person for a moment, flipping the coin in his hand and taking note to where it lands. His smiles as "heads" comes up for the older looking woman. 


"Luck favors the old... HA!" He thinks to himself. He positions himself a few tables away from the older woman and man talking, extenuating his sense of hearing to pick up on their conversation.

"I told you this would happen, Charlie, I told you! She was no good, I've said this the day you brought her home, I said 'Charlie she's no good' and did you listen? No, of course not"

The man does not shift his head from it's sunken position, still staring plaintively at the bottom of his pint, as though it has some answer he's been looking for.

"Mother don't speak of her like that. You didn't know her, no-one did. She didn't do anything wrong, she had to go."

The mother takes this as even more fuel for her self-righteous speeches. "Did nothing wrong? She made you like this, and that I simply cannot abide. Tomorrow, I'm going to find her and give her a piece of my mind you mark my words."

The conversation continues in the same vein for as long as you listen, neither side really taking the other seriously.

Moniker is hit with an epiphany as he listens in on the conversation. 

"Two birds with one bazooka. Play time."


A waitress walks over to offer him a menu and ask what he is drinking. He takes the menu and dismisses her with a quick reply of "Beer". 

He remains in his chair, only a few tables away from the couple conversing. He intends to wait for either the woman to leave, or the opportunity to intercede with the man to make his move. 

As he waits, he takes in the details of the pub, watching each patron go about their dull business. His fondness of mortals has dissipated over the years of being Kindred, viewing them now more as mere objects of entertainment or pawns in his crooked game of chess. 

He has eternity to wait, and this opportunity is to perfect to pass up.

The lady continues her rant for the better part of an hour, finally standing up while closing her frustrating spiel.

"Well, if you're not going to listen to you own mother, I won't waste your time. You've got to grow up sometime Charlie, and one day I won't be here to help you through it!"

How much she had actually been helping is up for debate, and the son did not so much as react to her departure. She simply walked out of the pub and turned right onto the dark, streetlamp-lit sidewalk.

Moniker smirks as he watches the mother leave, his order of beer arriving moments after. He raises the glass to his lips, fakes a sip, and stands. He slowly moves over to the table where the younger man is sitting. 

"Mothers. They never know when to shut that trap of theirs.." he says to the man, pulling up a seat and sitting across from him. Moniker is grinning wide, attempting to come across as trustworthy as possible. 

"I couldn't help but overhear your mother going on about some lady friend of yours... Sounds like a real peach..." 


He shifts in his seat, taking another fake sip of his beer, and pauses to allow the man to respond to his rather random presence.

The man glances over, still sullen, and after a second of consideration, decides to respond.

"Don't speak badly of her, she means well. She's right, after all: she warned me about Caroline for months, and I didn't listen to her. You're right, though, she was a peach. Beautiful, smart, funny..."

He continues for a while, mixing praise and complimentary anecdotes in equal measure, neatly avoiding touching the subject of their apparent separation.

He notes the name, and tilts his head as he speaks. 

"The thing with beautiful, smart, and funny women is that we have to really fight for them, ya know?" 


He slides off of his seat and gets closer to the man, offering him his hand in introduction. 

"Names Moniker. And you my friend, need another beer." 


He motions for the waitress to hurry over with a drink for the man, and in the meantime he continues to speak. 

"Tell me about this Caroline. What did she look like?" 

He chuckles slightly, depression still clearly audible in his voice. "And I thought my mum was a handful, at least she didn't name me that. I'm Charlie, though I'm sure you and the whole bar knows that by now"

He restarts his spiel about Caroline, the talking clearly not making him feel any better. He is wildly complimentary, only confirming that he was the one who was left, not the other way around. He eventually stops after two more pints, and with a much more drunken gaze surveys you properly for the first time.

"Why're you so curious? D'you know her or something?"

Moniker has taken notice to Charlie's growing intoxication and decides now is the time to put things into motion. 

He will have to play this close to the chest if he hopes to sink the 8 ball off the corner rail, so he takes his time with his words, making each syllable precise, sharp with intent. 

"Perhaps I do. Perhaps I can take you to her right now. Would that make you happy?" 

He makes eye contact with Charlie and lets all of his seductiveness ooze into him, creating an aura of safety and trustworthiness. [[Majesty - Awe]]

Charlie's eyes widen slightly, a thankful smile spreading across his lips. He nods at first, not quite believing his luck, meeting someone so kind and helpful in his darkest hour.

"That would be the best thing anyone's ever done for me. I just want to tell her I'm sorry, just let her know I still love her".

He stands immediately, and fetching his coat from the rack he waits for you to lead him out the door.

" />

After finding someone to driver me and the little one up  the road a bit, we stop at what appears to be a bar closed for the night. Smiling I get out, with the little one and we stand before the building until  the driver moves along.
After studying the building for a moment, I pull out my lock pick set and smile down at the little one.
" Don't feel bad if you are a good little puppy I will find some cash and buy you a steak. So be good and watch over me in the morning and I promise you two and they won't be from a dead guy's flesh." I tell the dog with a smirk as I looked around then lean in to start working on the lock.

The lock proves difficult. You go down three picks before you give up, the mechanisms more intricate than you're used to, likely thanks to the rougher neighborhood in one of the most dangerous cities in Europe. The door itself appears to be thick wood on sturdy hinges, not unbreakable by any means but certainly more than enough to repel common street hoodlums.

The adjacent bar appears to be hitting it's high water mark. There is not much time before it closes, and as such the patrons are both numerous and the most drunk they will get. The procession of intoxicated individuals slowly tricking out of the bar is gradually, but noticeably, getting larger, and the final traffic rush of the night shows signs of starting.

" Well, Chichi think we can bribe someone into taking us home?"  I say to the little one as I sigh at getting into the Copper Arm and turn towards the leaving  crowd with a wicked smile.
" What don't whine at me, they may have something good for you in the fridge. " I say as I look at the dog before looking through the crowd for an easy target as the hours are getting shorter til the sun comes up.

" Hey, can any one help a lone and lost Canadian, I am lost and can't find my hotel." I say with a shy tone as I start to rub my arm up and down my other forearm, slowly twisting my leg showing off my tight black and white tights.

Only to be turned down for a second time, I wait until most of the drunks leaving the other tavern are out of side and try only to fail at the door of the place again.
" I think one of my kind might live here... but why are they not here? " I tell chichi as i lean down to pet his head.
Knowing that this is futile, I nodded to Chichi to follow as we start to blended into the vanishing crowd of drunks as some wait on the bus and others gather in groups to head  towards cars to leave.
" Next time chi, I am just going to steal the damn car. Being nice to anything but animals is worthless on humans. " I tell him as we walk a little faster along the  street. Heading towards more lights and what seems to be the bridge back over towards the air port.
" Lets go see if we can get you at least a few hot dogs, so you can stop looking at me with those sad eyes." I say to chichi as I place my head on my head.
Thinking that maybe once we get into a much crowded area that we can run into another one of my kind rather than failing to break into one of my kind's havens.

Spotting one of your kind is more difficult than you expected. No more than a few thousand vampires hiding among 9 million humans is not a large number, but after a long search and a little luck you spot a pair of kindred, both looking very human, leaning against a lamppost, talking to each other as they survey the passing humans. One is a long haired scrawny man, black jacket and nice jeans contrasting with the tall, fair-haired woman whose attire looks more than a little ragged, as though she had just been in a fight of some sort. The two laugh at the same time for a moment, and then continue to talk. They do not notice you.

Seeing the pair I narrow my eyes and walk over to them.
" I am looking for a nice pub that serves really a good bloody Mary. Do you know of any?" I ask as I smile with a wicked gleam in my  eyes.  Wondering if my new loss of humanity will give them a clue that I am like them.
Before binding down to pet Chichi as I await there reply to my question, as I look around for a nice fat purse to pick in case I need money to catch a cab to get there.

The two look at each other, and almost in unison shrug.

The man speaks first. "Well, there's always the Royal Albert..."

The woman picks up his sentence as though she were the one who said it. "... new kindred could go there..."

"But I wouldn't recommend it too..."

"Stuffy. And pompous. We've got a house just down the road, and..."

"We always have room for a guest."

The man raises an eyebrow, and the woman makes a small gesture indicating her invitation.

" I would be happy to give it a look as long as no one tried to hurt my dog . And you said the Royal Albert was a bit stuffy. Good to know and also could i find with you guys a  nice steak for my dog, Chichi." I say as I continue to pet Chichi as I speak with them.  Taking in the information that they give me, turning over my mind if this information is give because they want to  trap me or they are really trying to be helpful.
Still I rise and stand looking at the pair wondering what they, yet I can  hear Chichi's stomach and hope that when we get there we can get him something to end the sounds in my ears.

After talking with the pair about the local sights in the area and more. Marallenodded at the after she looked in her bag over her things that had dried roughly from the swim that she made from shore to shore. Still she knew that the rising sun would be a problem and with out her music to calm her already riled upnsavage inner beast, she let out a long sigh.
"Well I would like to keep in touch but since my phone is dead from the water, I hope to met with you again. "
With that she walked off with chichi walking at her side. Now that he had come to understand the complexity of the beast he stood beside. Still she scanned the thinning crowd of pppl for more information, possible food for her and for chichi.
Humming to herself a small part of a church song she remembered from her days as a human at her granny's side.
"God's going to trubble the water."she said under her breath as she found what appeared to be a small cafe still open this late or early as the case maybe. With a wicked smile she looked at chichi before walking up slow and calmly to the glass door and rapping gentle against the glass to get the owners attention.
Only to hear a small sigh once more from the dog, as he stood waging his tail at the idea of a meal. And the thought of e horror awaiting the human that crossed his new masters path