10215/Its a Mall. In Gotham...

Its a Mall. In Gotham...
Date of Scene:	27 November 2019
Location:	Red Hook Shopping Mall, Red Hook
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Selene (Underworld), Buffy Summers

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Selene (Underworld) has posed:
Its a Mall.

In Gotham...

Its got a notoriously high shoplifting and crime rate because of the type of people that come here. Frankly its a wonder that a shopping mall can even survive in 2027 with how the world is dominated by online shopping now, but... people have cash and they want to buy things now now now, so some malls have survived.

Selene and Buffy had shared contact information after their last encounter and a meeting had been setup, this spot had been decided on as it was both public and friendly enough... if you weren't here to shop lift or rob anyone?

Either way, Selene has arrived and is at the designated meeting spot, a food court near a large circular fountain with a horse and rider statue in its center. Selene is seated at a table along side it, her feet are up on the edge of the fountain, her eyes are on her mobile phone in her hands and in front of her is actually a coffee cup that she'd purchased at a vendor just across the way.

She looks casual, for someone dressed all in black and a lot of it being tight fit leathers.

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy Summers was never a big online shopper herself, and while she wasn't a big fan of crime-ridden shopping malls either, being a super heroine often meant hanging out in such places - if only to find the demons she so frequently hunted, while finding a good shopping deal at the same time! Of course, it may just be a good meeting spot too. Robbers? Shop Lifters? Not while she's on duty!

She's a bit hungry when shse arrives, so the food court's a good place to meet and she strides in, peering around at the various restaraunts, pondering what to munch on today..Eventually she settles for a spicy thai chicken soup and bread, glancing around and spying Selene seated at a table not far away. She can't help but smirk, now realizing what she is.

"Soo, do you really eat normal food too, or is this all just for appearances?" she knew that Spike often ate food and smoked and drank all the time. But Spike is Spike all the time.5r

Selene (Underworld) has posed:
When Buffy arrives with her soup, Selene is tapping at her phone with her right thumb. She stops though when the young woman steps up and speaks with a question right off the bat. This causes Selene to take her feet down off of the fountain's stone edge wall and settle her boots back down upon the floor in front of her as she sits up higher in the chair.

To the 'Hunter' she looks now, while sliding her phone away into her long leather coat's right side pocket. A half soft smile shows on Selene's pale lips then. "If I feel an interest in the food, or care to enjoy the taste of it. I can then, yes. But do I 'hunger' for it?" She asks, then shakes her head just a little. "No, I don't."

Her eyes glance down to the cup she'd bought though and she picks it up to indicate it. "I do enjoy things that taste nice, however, and... sugar tastes nice even to a... person of my ilk." She sips the coffee then.

A moment later and its being set down on the table, along with a small silver spike not unlike the wooden ones Buffy uses, but this one is machined and shines bright in the ambient light. "This." She states, and rolls it toward Buffy.

"Twist it open and pull it apart." If Buffy does-so, she'll find a glass vial of dark red liquid inside it of it. "Synthetic blood. My people have learned how to create this, it provides us with sustenance. It... means we never have to sink our teeth into another's neck." Her voice is soft, calm, pleasant even.

Buffy Summers has posed:
"Mmm. Of course you do.." she smirks. It is a response that she would have expected. Vampires eat 'normal food' only because they like the taste of it, or perhaps the novelty of it. It's kinda sad really, having to rely on blood to survive, to 'live'. Not that she generally empathises with Vamps..Unless they have souls.

When the silver spike is rolled towards her, she peers at it suspiciously, perhaps a bit hesitant to touch it. But she eventually does open it, more out of sheer curiosity. Cuz Buffy is a pretty curious gal. One has to be, in this line of work. Forget about killing cats and all that nonsense.

She's a bit surprised to see blood in it, but maybe she shouldn't be. Selene is a vampire afterall, but Buffy is surprised she is telling her all of this. "Synthetic blood, huh? I've..Never heard of such a thing. How the heck is this stuff even manufactured? Who manufactures it? How is it done? I..." she laughs, "I have a million questions for you, i've no idea where to even start..You sure aren't like typical vamps. Are you a nother ensouled vamp? Is that why you're different?"

Selene (Underworld) has posed:
Selene, for her part, seems oddly calm and peaceful for a Vampire, that alone might be un-nerving for Buffy. Angel had those moments of peace in him, Spike is more like a firework inside of a closed pot though and the others? Far from calm, generally.

A breath is taken in though and Selene glances away to the interior of the mall before she gathers her thoughts and looks back to Buffy, to the silver spike with the vial of blood and then back up to Buffy's eyes again. "My people originate from a curse." She explains, finding a starting place that might help most. "Two brothers, named Corvinus. They stumbled across a place in their childhood back in their home of Hungary, a dark place, that left them both stricken with this curse. One became a Vampire, the other a Lycan, and in their uncontrolled rage of not understanding the plight they were now mutually facing they grew to loathe one another. This lead to fighting, which lead to war... An 'arms race' began, recruiting allies to aid either side in this war. A very... dark family fued, you might say." She's leaving a lot out, trying to make this as simplistic to grasp as possible, only for Buffy's sake of following more easily.. at least for now.

"I joined it long after it had begun. My family, my... human family... were murdered by the Lycans. It was the Vampires who found me, spared me and brought me into their fold. My sire, Viktor, to be precise." She takes a moment to let that settle in and after a short pause she glances away, then back again.

"Through gathered wealth and generations of scientific study, that is how we've created that synthesized blood." She shows a slight grin then. "I'm sorry, I'm not a scientist, I will fumble with much further explanations on that. But I can say, some of my people are very smart... hundreds of years of research and education on the subject. As for a soul?" Selene shakes her head just a little. "Who's to say what a soul truly is, or if I - or even you - truly have one. But, that is up for debate, as I'm sure you know. In my experience, a soul has never come into play with what is that I do."

Selene is different from her own people though, and even she doesn't truly realize just how much.

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy Summers arches a curious brow. "Hmm, I guess I never heard of the origin story of vampires before. Something about mixing demon blood with human blood or something.." She was never a particularly studious student in terms of slayer history, preferring to leave the reading up to Giles in all honesty. She continues to toy with the silver vial, before rolling it back towards Selene.

"Okaay, so you were sired in the usual way? With a bite and blood drinking craziness?" she smirks at the thought, remembering how Angel once described it to her. It seemed pretty disturbing actually. "I mean, I've heard that there are different..Types of vamps. That explains the how but not the why? If you're a 'good' vamp, does that mean you still have a soul..?"

She shrugs, 'soul' is not something that is easily explained. "Well..The vamps i'm used to fighting, usually lose their souls once they become vamps. Kinda like, their homan side 'dies' and they're just an empty body with a demon spirit possessing them. Which explains their inability to differentiate bewteen good and evil. They're basically demons in human shells who only know how to hunt and kill and not much else.

Selene (Underworld) has posed:
There comes a gentle nod of acknowledgment to Buffy's words on siring a new Vampire. "Correct." She affirms. "Sharing of the blood will lead to joining my people. I was sired at the age of 19 when Viktor found me after the Lycan raid on my village. He took pity on me because he... was reminded of his daughter who'd been killed many years previously by Lycans as well." Which is also a lie, that Selene isn't aware of.

"I had no where else to go, with my parents and brothers killed. I would've... never made it very long, had Viktor not taken me in." She draws in a breath then, and places her hands down onto the edge of the table to accept the rolling silver spike back beneath her pale fingers.

"That was over 600 years ago now. Since then, I've been fighting in this war and I've come to be at the top of my people's warrior ranks. This is why I'm here, in the United States. I've come here to bolster the abilities of our American Coven - which is still in its infancy by all rights - and before I arrived? The Lycans came here, to find super powered people who've begun to congregate in this area. They're looking for new weapons to aid them in their bid to fight off... extinction."

"In my experience, the quality of the Vampire - or Lycan for that matter - is highly dependent upon the quality of the person prior to being sired. Your worst traits will become personified if you're brought over and improperly trained..." Slowly Selene shakes her head. "If a soul plays into that, well? I cannot say. I'm not a religious person."

There's a faint smile then from the Vampire woman. "What I can say..." Her face grows a little more serious in expression then. "Is there there are great differences between the Werewolves of your country and the Lycans of mine. American Werewolves, as I've found, are... smaller, weaker... less capable killing machines. If I were to wager?" Selene gently tilts her head then. "I'd say that the 'curse' I spoke of, is an off-shoot of the Vampires and Werewolves you are familiar with here, but one altered and mutated through magic... But, that is only a guess."

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy Summers blinks slowly at the 600-year part of that sentence. "Waaaait a minute..Are you saying that you're more than 600 years old?" her voice lilts a bit at the end of that question, clearly surprised. Heey, you don't usually see vamps that old.

"Wow, you must be pretty..Badass.." she smirks, "I mean, I guess I saw that for myself firsthand, but I never imagined you were that old." She laughs, "I mean, it kinda makes Angel seem young."

A soft sigh escapes Buffy's lips as she ponders something. "Huh. I wonder how old the Master is..If he's back..That could be bad news..Really bad news. I killled him..I didn't think..." Her frown just deepens at the memory of that particularly powerful werewolf that Selene tore apart. "Heh. I haven't met a whole lot of werewolves honestly. But the few i am used to certainly are weaker and smaller than that one. Kind of makes me wonder..If I am THE Slayer, how much can I really take on? Back in Sunnydale, i've never experienced such powerful enemies as I do now.." Why, she's starting to doubt her abilities, just a little.

Selene (Underworld) has posed:
All of what Buffy is said is listened closely to, Selene only takes a moment to take another sip of her hot beverage in that cup with the cardboard sleeve that oddly contrasts against the clothing she wears and the general... tone of her... everything.

When Buffy finishes it causes Selene to nod to what she says. "Thats precisely whats happening." She responds. "Things are escalating, growing more powerful with every passing century." She hints at a grin. "And yes. 644 years old to be precise, though 19 of those were - as I said - experienced as a human... warm blood, beating heart, things that..." slowly she shakes her head again as her eyes grow distant in stare. "Seem as though they weren't even happening to me. Faint memories, like a long deceased friend."

Her gaze refocuses on Buffy then and she affords the young woman a smile, though its soft as it ever is with Selene due to the nature of her long lived life of war and fighting. "Angel is a vampire contact I assume? Thats a rather ironic name for a man 'without a soul' wouldn't you say?" She tries a quip, not realizing that Angel does indeed have have a soul, or so it would seem as per these 'rules'.

"After we parted last, I looked up the... how would you say... ah... significance of 'Slayer' and I think I've learned a bit more about your kind from my resources. You're a... Vampire Slayer. When one of you dies, a new one is born somewhere in the world, yes?" She asks now of Buffy. "That doesn't bode well for me." Another faint smirk then is shown.

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy Summers nods slowly as she listens, blowing on her soup before sipping it hungrily. It's been a long day, probably just came from a night of patrolling. And she'll be pretty pissed if someone s tarts causing trouble in the mall now, too.

"Wow. Of course, I imagine there are vamps out there even older than you.." she nods slowly in agreement about the escalating war; a war she didn't even know was a thing. "It's funny, I've read stories, watched movies about wars between vamps and lycans, but I didn't know there was actual truth to it. Wait..But then the werewolves. Are they the bad guys? I mean, in truth, werewolves are just afflicted by a curse. Heck, I have a friend who's a werewolf. We used to lock him up when he couldn't control his abilities during the full moon. But now that he's got better control over it.."

Wait a minute, but Selene was killing Lycans who could be innocent people. Does that make her evil even if she seems to have a soul..?

"Yeah, Angel is a vamp with a soul..Big gypsy curse thingy. And Spike..Well, he doesn't have a soul, he just has a chip in his brain that stops him from harming innocents. Another long story." Buffy chuckles, "Yeah, I guess I know some vamps, know a psychic vamp even, too..But.." her smile fades at the whole slayer-dying thing. "Yeah, that's right.." She arches a curious brow at Selene. "Don't worry, you don't seem like an evil, souless vamp. I'd rather be your ally than your enemy.."