1052/Do Vampires Need To Be Invited

Do Vampires Need To Be Invited
Date of Scene:	20 June 2017
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Ares, Selene (Underworld)

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Ares has posed:
    It's only been one night since the visit to Bludhaven, the tall grim man who spoke of seeking a particular werewolf, who when pressed admitted to such an incredible claim as being descended from the Gods themselves. Perhaps it was something about how he explained himself, or perhaps she was able to discern the element of sincerity in the man's words. Yet whatever it was, it was enough to bring her across the state lines at night. For her to focus her considerable abilities into tracking that man
    It was not hard, for there was something about him definitely otherworldly. Not a feeling of the usual creatures she faces in that war she has been in for hundreds of years. But there was definitely something... timeless to the man. Her path led her to the city, and then in turn to the suburbs North. It was only when the area turned partially from the greys and browns of the urban, to the greens of a city giving way to hints of nature.
    She found his home. A two story place that was off the road with a copse of trees in the back and a tall wall that blocks it off from its distant neighbors. The lot itself is several acres large. But from her place of observation she can see the house... and the lights on within.

Selene (Underworld) has posed:
     Selene came down the driveway in a rather advanced looking motorcycle, her coat billowing behind her as she looked at the home as she approached it. Those luminescent blue eyes taking in the house a god might call home, gods among us indeed. Stopping near the front and putting down the kickstand she took off her helmet and shook her hair free looking around a moment before getting off the bike and walking towards the door. She looked around before reaching over and ringing the bell, after all she hadn't lived this long on poor manners and well vampires had difficulty going into homes without a invitation, one of those little quirks no so widely known.

As she waited she adjusted her body suit a moment checking her gear and belts but she was certain she'd found the right place, after all everyone had a certain scent, a trail, a pattern, and she was good at finding them. Six-hundred or so years of practice can get you quite a ways in the art of man hunting.

Ares has posed:
    As she crossed the broad sweep of yard towards the front door, she will see it is well kept... but there are small tell-tale glimpses leading to assumptions about those who lived there. A child's BMX bike is leaning against the garage, and there is a football sitting on the wire-framed table that sits on the porch. A glance aside and she might espy a set of foils and fencing helmets put away in a plastic container next to the garage as well...
    But then the doorbell rings and naught comes of it.
    Perhaps it rings again and still there is no answer.
    But then there's a shift of the wind, the breeze brushing past her. She might catch that man's scent. It was unique to her even in that club. She can almost taste it, the tang of exertion, blood, steel, and sweat that spoke of the tall grim man whose neck felt the edge of her blade.
    It comes from around the back, into the sweeping copse of trees that are behind the property. At this time of night her vision is amazing, and when she is able to... she'll see the silhouette of that broad-shouldered man, kneeling next to a group of pots upon the ground, a single small spade in his hand as he digs into the earth.

Selene (Underworld) has posed:
     Selene dismissed the lack of answer and honed her senses to what she might hear and smell instead, that subtle beating of a heart was near, but outside. She vaulted quickly from the porch, climbing and jumping her way to the roof as she swiftly spotted him behind the home and landed behind almost silently. "Doing a little late night gardening?" She asked slightly amused unsure of what exactly he was doing out there.

She walked around his front to face him directly instead. "I must admit when I determined myself to find you this isn't quite what I expected, maybe a few more pyres or crosses where I hear the lamentations of your foes as they slowly die?"

Ares has posed:
    "You see," The tall man gains his feet slowly, rising to his considerable full height as he smirks at this young woman who has seen more years than most mortals. His lip curls and she can see that he was indeed tending to a small garden... a garden that is definitely... struggling is what best one can say. It's clear he doesn't have a green thumb but it's not from a lack of trying. There's a single light that hangs from the lip of a shed and shines down onto the place he's working. Just a few rows of recent plantings and some now empty pots that had contained the recent transplants. "That is what you get for jumping to the end of the story."
    His lip curls wryly as he wipes a forearm over his brow, smearing a hint of dirt there but getting rid of the sheen of sweat from his efforts. "Who are you, who are you, and I tell you. But you have no frame of reference. Impatient woman." His tone is wry, amused. But then he tosses her one of the pots and says, "Make yourself useful while you're here and I shall relate to you what I have learned and why you see me as I am."
    With that he gestures towards a small bag of earth, clearly asking her to refill those pots with a good bit of earth and loam. He proceeds to do likewise as he settles back down on one knee. "I told you of my lineage. I did not tell you that I resigned my role and turned my back on my family. These last ten years..." He gestures with the spade, "I have tried to live as a mortal... and raise my son."

Selene (Underworld) has posed:
     Tilting her head at the request for such a mundane task she might've scoffed if she wasn't talking to a apparently former god of war. Removing her coat and setting it aside she walked over and picked up the bad effortlessly of course thanks to her strength as she started to fill the pots. "You're giving me flashbacks tending to the Lords flowers when I was a child. So a god who decided after being cast out to live among mortals. I would've imagined all of you tried that once or twice. Hasn't it gotten boring for you?" From her perspective she wasn't a god but even the idea of such seems seemed so, strange.

"But then again you said 'tried' so I'm guessing it's not all going so well on your modest estate, not to mention the hunting of werewolves doesn't quite seem to be a normal every day thing for a mortal to do. The world at large just keeps pulling you back in?"

Ares has posed:
    A short 'chuff' of exhalation is heard, almost a laugh but a more sardonic thing than that. She might catch him eyeing her with a smirk for a moment before he starts digging again. "Alright, here it is. No interrupting."
    As he speaks he continues making small furrows in the earth and adding the transplanted... melons? Cantaloupes? One or the other assuredly. But he continues steadily, "Two hundred..." He tilts his head and looks askance, as if trying to pull the exact figure from the air, "Around two hundred years ago, after a great war, I turned my back on my family. I broke the oaths binding me to them and gave up my role." He takes a breath and continues planting.
    "At first I simply traveled the Earth. Eventually I tried to build a life. At times I could. Often times something would break one way or another. But as the years progressed I became more at ease with considering myself if not mortal... then as one who considers himself of this land."
    He tosses another few pots towards her, smiling at the deftness at which she handles them. "It was only these last ten years, however, with my son that I felt truly bound to these wishes." He takes a breath and grimaces, "Then, a month or so ago, my sister finds me. Oh she is so upset, she has left home. She wanted my help, I gave it to her. Of course now... strange things begin to happen and yes... I do find myself having to take part in activities I once thought I had left behind."

Selene (Underworld) has posed:
     "I suppose even gods have a story, but as usual power comes with strings even if you try to cut them. With so few even believing in your pantheon though I would've thought it maybe a little easier for the rest of your family to 'let go' I suppose you could say. Though now I'm curious what's the truth of it, are you aliens or something like those asgardians or is it something different?" Catching the tossed pots with a slight roll of the eyes as she was tasked with such work but even so she was obviously curious.

Ares has posed:
    "I actually have several thoughts on that," But then he tosses the small spade into the ground and gains his feet, rising up and then offering her his hand should she need it to stand. Of course she doesn't, but habits die hard. "Perhaps we'll speak on them some day, but suffice it to say just imagine that we're a giant dysfunctional family and when one of us wrongs the other blood tends to be shed and rarely ours."
    He puts away some of the tools then lifts up the hem of his shirt to wipe at his brow. John then looks to her sidelong, "It is no coincidence that after my sister found my home that I have been dealing with intrusions. This werebeing just one of them. I intend to find the man who hired him. And there... is where you come in. If you wish to help."

Selene (Underworld) has posed:
     "Luckily our goal align on this task, I wish to learn more about the local packs and lycans and this could be a way to do just that. There's plenty of them lurking in the darkness that we don't know much about and I'd like to see that changed. After all no truce or peace has ever lasted, eventually they all turn to war and savagery." Her words rather resolute after all she had plenty of experience in the matter. "Putting them down becomes difficult after all they recruit from the dregs of society and once turned they often become ruled by their feral instincts. But I can track this one for you, I'm sure it left something behind for us to follow."

Ares has posed:
    "The one that had come here, I am not so interested in him. If possible I would like to know where he went and to whom he reported." He rubs at his chin as he begins to walk, his footsteps quiet in the night even as he steps onto the small path that leads back to the house. When they reach the halo of light from the porch he pauses and looks to her. "I have some information on where we may pick up his trail, but it would be... impolitick to pursue it until tomorrow."
    In the light the man seems to cast such a long shadow, as if the darkness grew heavier around him which is assuredly mad. She has been around humans and immortals of her kind for six hundred years, but this man before her... there isn't even an increase in his heartbeat at her presence, as if the predatory aspects of her existence somehow did not apply to him. He stops with a foot upon the first step, "Do you have any questions?"
    There's a slight smile and he adds, "And forgive me, I should have offered earlier. Would you care for something to drink?"

Selene (Underworld) has posed:
     "Well now that depends on the vintage you keep in your cellars." She said with the slightest of smirks. "I may not drink as much but I do enjoy the taste and there are a few courtiers of The Coven that make a lovely Cabernet." Though it seems his hospitality was enough to let her enter along with him. Looking around curiously as ever at what the home of a god might be. "My guess would be whoever hired him wants some artifact or perhaps something that would allow them to exploit you and your power. That is the most rational motive for crossing a god."

Ares has posed:
    As they walk inside he seems to give her a nod, but then when she explains her reasoning he gives her another look, for it is always pleasant when he is surprised, even just a little. His smile is a wry thing as he steps out of her way and then closes the door behind her. Inside they've come into what passes for a library, though the floor plan is open and a living area is but a few strides ahead towards the large bay windows that look out towards the yard. Around her are several book shelves and a rather ornate desk with a brass cast depiction of a war horse.
    "You are very clever, Selene." He gives her a nod, "For you are exactly right. The man who wishes me ill seeks to claim two items I won at auction." He says this as he walks further into the library area and it's then that she'll most likely get a better look at the decor.
    On the walls there are a few artistic renderings, impressionistic, images meant to create a mood without depicting reality. Also upon a few tables and in cases are a few scattered antiquities, a few blades in ornate sheathes, and a circular shield that covers a pair of crossed swords. Yet none of these are where he moves towards. Instead he opens a closet and produces a small wooden box that he sets on the desk and opens. Within is a corroded blade from around 100 BC, Roman of make and clearly ancient. "That, and its companion scutum are what I purchased. They're the prototypes that Gaius Marius had made when he was planning the Marian reforms. I do not believe they are mystical, but I have not delved into them too deeply."
    With that said he steps towards the kitchen and says over his shoulder, "I will return directly."

Selene (Underworld) has posed:
     The blades were certainly older than anything she'd ever laid eyes upon, taking in the shape of the no doubt aged weapon as she spoke. "Relics of this nature must've cost you a fortune, just where does your money come from exactly?" Her questions always seeming to have some purpose, after all Ares or John as he calls himself is unlike anything she or The Coven has encountered.

As he excuses himself she decided to sit in a nearby chair the fabric of her outfit still clunk tight and didn't make a sound, obviously tailored perfectly to her form in movement. "I can only imagine the world back then, in the middle ages it was bad enough."

Ares has posed:
    Indeed, that Death Dealer's uniform is rather different than the garb of most people. For it lines the form and leaves one free to move as needed to defend oneself. It barely even makes a sound as she takes that seat, though the cushion compresses faintly with a faint rush of air.
    Yet that blade on the table does not seem to call out as one might imagine a magical blade would to those who were... arcane of nature. Nor does it seem to even have an edge anymore. But who knows what power might be hidden inside the mundane looking artifact. Still, he'll answer her once he returns, carrying a bottle of a Bordeau blend, mostly sauvignon, from 1897. Two glasses accompany it and he sets one down upon the end table next to her chair. There is a faint /pop/ as the cork is freed and then the gurgle of the liquor as it is poured into her glass.
    "I have been alive a long time, Selene. At points I have saved things that have held an interest for me, and over time I've traded on them and the nostalgia people hold for them."
    He steps back and then sets his own glass down next to another chair, then proceeds to pour. Once that's done the bottle is set down with a faint clink. He holds up the glass and extends it towards her, "What would you like to toast to?" He asks of her out of curiousity.

Selene (Underworld) has posed:
     She listens to him talk about the source of his wealth and she accepts that, after all her kin have similar experience with money controlling some of the largest corporations in the world money was never an issue for them. Taking her class she holds it up and thinks a moment. "To the swift death of our enemies." She said rather simply after all revenge was one of her keenest motivations and desires. Taking a moment to smell the drink before taking some onto her tongue to enjoy the taste for a few moments before swallowing. "Before you ask yes I can still eat and drink things it simply doesn't sate my hunger at all."

Ares has posed:
    There's a faint clink as his glass touches hers and then he takes a sip to seal the acceptance of the toast. He turns away and just as he sits into that chair she'll make that casual mention about eating and drinking. And from across the way his dark brown eyes will meet her subtly luminescent blue and his lip will curl. "Is that a subtle hint that you want me to cook something for you?" For some reason it is easy for him to make light with her. Mortals, other people, he can often sense the duality in them, the subtle malice of little lies they utter.
    With her he does not get quite that same impression. Oh it seems as if she is hiding something, perhaps just how she is, having to hide that edged and primal nature of the blood drinker. But there is something genuine to her that moves past it.
    But he smiles a bit and looks at his glass, lip curling as he says. "I suppose I could throw something together..." He begins to muse as he gathers his thoughts.

Selene (Underworld) has posed:
     "I wouldn't mind, we do it as ritual fairly often at the balls and banquets the Regents throw to entertain themselves and guests and as the leader of our 'Military' I suppose you could say I'm often obliged to make appearances, even suffer through the advances of some of the more smiley members of The Coven." In truth she was considered an elder among her kind though she never sought out to legitimize such titles, even so being the child of one of the legendary kings made her quite desirable to many a suitor.

"I'm guessing it's nothing as cliche as gyros?" She teased a moment as if to tease him a little back. Taking a moment though she swirled her wine and took another taste. "So you had a son, according to stories demigods often lead doomed lives do they not? Hounded by fate and gods alike?"

Ares has posed:
    "You recall that war I mentioned?" Those brown eyes hold hers as he speaks and he waits for some sign of acknowledgement before he goes on. "Clotho died during the siege. With her passing, the strands of fate strayed. Free will and self-determination? Perhaps. Perhaps not. But things did change." He rubs at the stubble along the curve of his jaw. "Such as a god of war being able to lay down his mantle."
    But then he takes another drink of his wine, coming close to emptying it as he looks to her. She spoke of the others in her coven courting her, her prominence. And, to be fair, when he looks at her he could see why. She was a statuesque beautiful woman with an inner strength that most would find daunting. And there was that edge of danger to her, the pure lethality in the subtle ways she moves, the faint hint of fangs when she smiles and speaks. He gets a small smile himself and shakes his head, looking away towards the kitchen.
    "I have a pair of steaks, and some sweet potatoes. Perhaps I could steam some broccoli as well if you wished?" He gains his feet and takes up the bottle by the neck, gesturing with one hand for her to come with him. "Come on. If I'm going to cook you can at least keep me company."

Selene (Underworld) has posed:
     She stood up slowly setting her glass aside as she walked over. "You know if someone asked me to do such things where I come from they'd be subjected to no small amount of discipline." She said with a glance in his direction as she took a knife and got to work trying to help. "So I'm guessing by the looks and smiles I'm getting from you, whoever was the mother of your child is no longer here. Did she depart from your home or the world as a whole?" Her tone as direct as always as blue eyes gazed towards him in curiosity and concern.

Ares has posed:
    Once they're in the kitchen, he casually rolls the two sweet potatoes her way, letting her chop them up as she likes so they can make a lovely mash. But then he heads to the refrigerator and pulls out the steaks as well as the broccoli. He's closing the door shut with a faint /whumpf/ of displaced air when she asks her question and he frowns to himself.
    For a time he sort of stands there, not too long... but a pause. Long enough for her to notice, and then to notice the next instant when he tries to step past it. But she can hear in his voice the tinge of that old pain that even the oldest living beings still at times have touch them. "She passed,"
    He seems almost likely to leave that as all of the answer, but then he seems to think more of it and instead tells her. "When Alexander was born." A faint smile is given to her, sad, apologetic, but not one seeking pity nor the like. One just saying that this is how things were.
    "Nothing mystical to it. There were just difficulties." He flares a hand slightly as if brushing his words away. "I was foolish to allow myself to..."
    Another pause and he starts to trim the fat from the sirloins, just a few passes with a knife before he then takes up a salt shaker and begins to season them. First with a few turns from that, and then the pepper as well. "In any case, Alexander is a good child. I am proud of him."

Selene (Underworld) has posed:
     Selene nodded. "I understand, I lost my family when I was very young and my adoptive father has been sleeping for a few hundred years now. It can be a little lonely being the lone sentinel trying to prop up what it is you believe in as I'm sure you do with your son." She said in a somewhat reassuring fashion, after finishing her knife work she left it to him. "Though perhaps in some ways were in the practice of futility, two immortals who likely don't need to eat cooking food and pretending to be one of them that go along blissfully ignorant to the darkness around them."

Ares has posed:
    As she speaks he listens to her, nodding a bit at each point she makes. Then at the end of it he can't help but laugh a little. At first it's a little chuckle, but then it grows into a rumble chortle as he sets the knife down and shakes his head. He looks across the island in the kitchen where they're doing their prep work and he meets her gaze with a rather open smile. "Selene, you are such a charmer. A few more dinners shared and assuredly I'll slit my wrists."
    Oh it's a grim thing to say, but also for two beings such as them, there is humor there. Graveyard humor, assuredly, but still humor as he laughs again. "Go on, chop the ends off the broccoli. Get to work, I'm not afraid of your 'discipline'." Oh he heard what she said before, but perhaps decided to let it go... until now, tinging the words with a wry smirk.

Selene (Underworld) has posed:
     She went on cutting. "Oh well that would merely mean you lack purpose, it's what drives us forward when our lives run eternal. Otherwise I fear I'd become as decadent and self indulgent as some of the regents I've seen come and go through the years." She looked at him a moment. "I wonder back when you were the God of War what would you have done if approached by a creature like me?" She was getting to know who we was now but there was still much she didn't know of the figure that came before all that time ago that had not just purpose but divinely so.

Ares has posed:
    Another gruff 'hrmf' comes from him as he reaches down and pulls out the pan from the drawer and puts it onto the burner. He twists the knob until the heat comes on, the lighter clicking a few times til the gas catches. He walks over towards a cabinet and withdraws the oil, then returns to pout a few tablespoons worth into the pan, letting it get some heat. "If approached by you?"
    He looks at her sidelong as if gauging her anew, imagining what it would have been like then. She can see it troubles him somewhat, for truly that mindset is not an easy thing to summon forth. And he would answer her, yet the answer might not be well received. Though now, with her, he is loathe to lie. So he does answer.
    "Back then, Selene..." He lifts a hand to rub at the back of his neck, frowning for a moment. "I lived in the moment. I was a very... primal creature." He tilts his head towards her, "If you challenged me I would have loved it. We would have crossed blades, and if you were able to hold your own I would have honored you, perhaps even courted you." His brow knits, "If you were weak... I would have slain you."

Selene (Underworld) has posed:
     "A simpler time hmm? But as odd as it might sound that man you were isn't all that different from some today. Do you miss him? That paragon of war and desire that you used to be? I almost wonder if it feels like you died once already." She of course would have some experience there, she was once a innocent girl that wandered the halls of a castle picking flowers and playing games with her sister.

She leaned against the counter her own mind wandering back to those times of her own that were far simpler. Times that even now motivated her towards her goals.

Ares has posed:
    "Selene," He says her name, as if summoning her, at least drawing her attention. But then there's a /hisss-sizzzle/ as he sets the steaks into the pan, searing one side for now and being careful not to have them crowd each other. Normally he would perhaps add in a bit of garlic but well... not with his current dining companion. "You are a warrior, and a vampire. You have taken life, and you have blood on your hands."
    He says these things matter-of-factly, as if it were simply the way of the world.
    "When the enemy had Olympus besieged they did not call on me at first. No." His voice is level, even as he tells her even as there's that steady background sound of the hissing spitting steak. "At first they tried what they could. My half-brother, my sister. They brought forth all the allies and the armies that could be summoned. For even then, on some level my family feared me. It was only when things were most dire that they removed my leash and set me against our enemies."
    He looks down and then takes the sweet potatoes she cut up and adds them to a steamer with some of the broccoli, setting it to heat. But with that done now he leans against the island and looks to her, arms folding over his broad chest. "I was able to turn them back, but not through some valorous effort of arms. I was a slavering mad dog worse than any lycan you may have faced. I profaned my enemy, I set my hands to the task of genocide and I felt no remorse."
    He looks at her steadily, "Even after they were defeated there was no mercy. Your hands may be red with blood. I could swim in it, just from that battle alone." He scowls and then says, "And after that they all looked at me as some... some /thing/. So yes I turned my back on them, but not before they had become so disgusted with me for being the tool they needed... that I felt no choice than to try another path. Or else I would be..."
    He gestures to the side and says simply. "Lost."
    "Do I miss him? No. No I do not. Not at all. Not for one moment. For I am /still/ him. I just fight that nature every moment that I can."

Selene (Underworld) has posed:
     Selene arched her brow, she'd seemingly managed to dig up the past she was so curious about. "You're not like the Lycans, they're cursed beasts that kill for no purpose other then their own pleasure. Even then when you were but a tool you were wielded for a purpose that in the end I imagine was positive for this world. Even as a beast you had meaning, there's something to respect in such butchery." She walked towards him again placing a hand on his shoulder. "Would it make you feel better if I endured more of your flirtatious courting?"

Ares has posed:
    His eyes hood, "I will have you know I have not courted you, nor flirted with you." John eyes her dangerously, but then again, he doesn't move her hand even as she draws near. Instead he says, "Yes, I do find you attractive on some level," His lip curls again at the corner, just a ghost of a smile as he shakes his head and then grabs the steaks with a pair of tongs to flip them, the pan sizzling again. "But I am capable of living beyond those impulses."
    Yet as he speaks, his words don't exactly match actions as he lifts a hand to touch just the curve of her chin, as if tilting her head just so, so he can look into those faintly glowing blue eyes. But then he shakes his head and another small chuckle, barely a breath slips from him as he says in way of distraction... for her or perhaps just for him, "Let me guess, you like your steaks rare?"

Selene (Underworld) has posed:
     Selene listened to his protests a few moments and then looked at him as he held her chin. "If such platitudes comfort you, though you did say I'm clever so I suggest you not give such a lie again." She said and then scoffed a little at the talk of steak. "I'd have it still alive normally, but a little rare will have to do." She thought a moment as she sat down again. "Lets enjoy our pointless meal and toast this time instead to your self control. After all without such will I imagine we'd be in a much different world right now."

Ares has posed:
    "Certainly," He walks over towards the cabinet and pulls out two plates with the scrape of ceramic on ceramic. John brings them back and sets them down as he begins assembling the plates. "Afterwards we'll adjourn to endure some pointless coitus and then engage in depressing vengeance on those who have crossed us." His smile is amused, however, as he speaks though he does start to slide on some of the veggies on the blade before the steak as well.
    "And indeed, let us toast my self control, for you test it sorely, my dear."
    He points at her as if letting her know he's onto her, and there is humor in his ways, perhaps even truth in his words. But half the fun because of that.