IC Time: May 23, 2007 - Dark and Smelly Dungeon - Who Knows?
Location: Volterra Dungeons
Synopsis: Inari arrives to feed the Wolves and has it out with Chelsea only to find out she's not the culprit. Aset works on his treaty modifications and makes a rare appearance as the ever elusive hybrid.
Submitted by: Inari
Aset smirks a bit at that, and pauses in his scribbling for a moment, but just a moment as the amusement passes and he's back to work. Finally, the problem is checked, and Aset stops writing and leaves the rest of the formula to be finished on the morrow. "She would say the same, yes," the werewolf states before shifting just slightly, careful not to move in a manner that might wake Abbey as he looks to Chelsea. "Cute, but neccessary.. The original version had some errors that needed to be fixed. The abridged treaty is no different from the first, other than that it lists us as allies rather than vassals.. Primarily. We're a sovereign nation, and we should be labeled as such. We just pledge ourselves to perpetual peace with the Volturi, as well as assisting your nation for the common good of us all."
Whatever the formula is for, Chelsea doesn't notice. Chemistry hasn't really been in her realm of study. "Well I supposed she would…she does defer to you more than the other way around. Perhaps it is you who allow her to share the mantel?" Chelsea asks curiously as she walks around the cage. She grins at his reply, "Well I suppose it is only a matter of semantics…one word for another of the same value." Her finger's stroke the bars lightly as she watches the pair in the cage.
Inari flits down the steps in her customary little blur. She's got one of those food trays again. The scent is distinctly Italian. Pasta of some sort. She's not smiling today, in fact she looks a bit angry. She's dressed in her white leather outfit today, a celebration of sorts. She stops right at the cell door barely missing Chelsea, who receives a frown. "Dinner." She removes the top, letting the scent waif out. "Is served." At the discomfort she knows this smell is going to give Chelsea she smirks slightly. To Aset, she simply says "Should have left vassals." Wow, did her hearing get better or what?
It is true that Abbey tends to defer to him on the matters of relations with the Volturi, and much of the overall direction of the pack, though Chelsea's words tickle the werewolf and a soft chortle flows from him. "Yeah, well… We're bound together, so that kind of working relationship suits, wouldn't you say?" Taking in a deep breath, Aset shifts just a little bit more to make viewing the vampiress more comfortable, as he supports the weight of his head on one hand. A smile to Chelsea, and the wolf-man nods. "Semantics, yes… Though the value of the words is changed, if ever so slightly. When it comes to treaties, it is the little things that make all the difference.." That's when Inari is noticed, but not before the smell of pasta. When Inari mentions the treaty, Aset blinks, though a grin is soon to follow. "We'll see… Smells good. What've you got for us?"
Chelsea looks over her shoulder as Inari enters and she smiles to the woman. She too is dressed in white though something softer and more flowing. She smiles to the woman taking the opportunity to play her little games with the woman's bonds, her curiosity making her unable to ignore them and seek out that illusive bond. As the food is revealed Chelsea wrinkles her nose faintly and arches a brow at Inari, "Someone put some effort into it today…fattening them up?" She asks with a light teasing note to her voice. She cants her head to Aset, "And the little things that can ruin it all."
Inari fixes Chelsea with a glare as she peers at her. "I wish you would stop with that. It really is fucking me up." Reaching into her jacket she retrieves a set of cell keys and unlocks the cell, sliding the door open. "Penne with Shrimp. Garlic Bread. Killer for the arteries." As she turns to open the cell Chelsea might actually see a bulge at the small of her back, protruding against her jacket. As she begins to step inside the cell she smiles at Aset, her eyes a bright pink today. As for her bonds, the elusive one is well, still elusive. The one for the vampire in Forks, is bright in anticipation. The rest, dull, except the adoration and loyalty to Aro - solid. The fear for Caius - solid.
Aset closes his eyes briefly, reveling in the delicous aromas that fill the dungeon thanks to Inari. "Yes," he begins to answer Chelsea. "Exactly why I had to make the changes that I did. It's not enough to simply threaten the death of a single wolf… The people that I speak for have to believe that we are not only allies of the Volturi on paper, but that we /should/ be allies of the Volturi. I mean to prevent rebellion as deftly as possible to give your people what it is that they truly want to gain from this progressive step into the future," he explains, his eyes opening then when the cell is unlocked. A smile is offered to Inari, and Aset gives a light gesture that suggests that she may simply set the food down in the corner of the cell nearest to its bars. "Thank you, Inari. You've been wonderful to us," the wolf-man offers with a light bow of his head.
Chelsea can't help but laugh at Inari's response to her meddling, "Oh but it is so much fun darling…especially with you aware of it." Chelsea responds with a devisish light in her eyes. Her gaze shifts to the bulge at the woman's back her fingers move quickly to reach to inspect the bulge at Inari's back as she is walking in the cage, her fingers returning to her side with the object and glides her fingers over the smooth bottle. "Nice vintage I have heard said…even if not my flavour…" Chelsea responds, her fingers stroking the glass bottle as she looks curiously between Inari and Aset. "Wine my dear for the pups? We aren't allies yet…"
Inari bends to set the tray down where indicated, returning the top to it, to keep it warm. Straightening, she turns towards Chelsea with her hand out for the bottle, "Oh. I'm aware. I have holes the size of China in my head." She flicks her fingers impatiently for the bottle stepping aside slightly to bring attention to the wide open cage door and leaving Aset's access to it unblocked. Simply expecting the bottle apparently, Inari turns her head to blink at Aset. "I don't need a piece of paper to tell me who my allies are. I got it like that." There is a slight upturn to her mouth as she soaks in Aset's comments, her expression softening. "You're welcome." she simply says as that bond peeks it's ugly head back up again, rising from the bland greyness of the majority.
"You know, it's dangerous to flaunt your power so readily… Sometimes the best method is that of subtlety, no Miss Chelsea?" Aset offers to the vampiress with a light smirk. "Granted, whatever it is that you can do exactly is already very cloak and dagger, but still…" A light shrug is offered as his eyes remain on Chelsea for a moment or so longer, and then Aset's gaze has traveled back to Inari. "No…" the werewolf says, his eyes flickering to the open cage door which he watches for a moment or so before looking right back. "Though any good emissary knows very well how to treat those with whom a treaty is likely to be born. Inari here… She does her job superbly well," the man says, and the corners of his mouth stretch slightly.
Chelsea lets her fingers dancing over the neck of the bottle as she watches Inari enter the cage, her own gaze sharp on the woman. She grins at Aset's comment, "Oh Inari knows my value wolf…I hardly need to hide it. It is more fun with her really, with those that know it is happening. After a couple hundred years sometimes it is the challenge that keeps the interest." Her gaze shifts to Aset and she shifts down to a crouch and looks to the wolf, again teasing at the bonds of his toward her. "I enjoy a good game like any other…" She says, her voice almost a purr. The work is gentle, teasing, playing lightly. With the same though she works to shift Inari's bond from the wolves to her as well. "Sometimes you must butter someone up to make them more easily handled.."
Inari glances at Chelsea sharply, "Butter is slippery." She begins moving towards the cell door, not looking at Aset she comments to him. "Yep, that's me. Bringer of food and first line of defense against lying wolves." She steps past Chelsea and swings herself around the door with one hand, gripping it to close it, but waiting for Chelsea to get out of the way. "A glorious fucking job, indeed." The bond winks out fairly easy, not resistant or resilient as it used to be. The bond to Chelsea however is being petulant for some reason or another but grows none the less, coaxed.
Aset chuckles softly at Chelsea, seeming to find it amusing, whatever it is that is between the two vampiresses. A light shrug is offered then from the werewolf when Chelsea speaks to him, and his grin grows a bit more sly. "Yes, and /sometimes/ that works.." the man says with a hint of amusement in his tone. Perhaps he was starting to like this Chelsea a bit more, but then again, he had an idea of what she could do by now as well. "And sometimes it's just nice to be fed. This must be very exciting for you… Wolves here in Volterra of all places. I doubt you've seen many of my people that weren't either dead, or snapping at your throat," Aset muses and then his red-amber gaze is on Inari once more. "Lying wolves… IS there such a thing?" comes from the dark-skinned man with a wink.
"Yes, it means we can push someone where we want them to go…" Chelsea replies to the correction of the analogy. She chuckles lightly and drops the bottle of wine, leaving it for Inari to catch it or let it crash, "Oops…sorry…" She purrs before looking back to Aset, "It has been interesting, I suppose it will get my used to the smell if one of you will be remaining here. Maybe I should bring my charge down here, she does …like animals." Chelsea says with a tilt of her head at the man. "I wonder what she would think about you two." There is a smirk on her lips and a knowing look in her eyes. Oh yes that could be fun, since there is a hint some werewolves were involved in the deaths of her human family.
Inari shrugs and blows air out making her lips vibrate at the pure bluff she reads in Chelsea. Drumming her fingers on the metal bar her hand was wrapped around, she still waits for Chelsea to get out of the way. "Sure. Bring Stasia down here." She turns to regard Aset with a roll of her eyes, "Haven't met a wolf who lied yet. There's still time." She smiles at Chelsea, though it's more of a smirk. "But go ahead." She lets the bottle drop, making no attempt to rescue it.
Aset grunts as he quickly shifts and launches himself forward, reaching out just in time to keep the bottle from striking the floor. Another inch, and he'd be completely out of the cell.. So close, yet so far. From the floor Aset smiles with relief before looking up at Chelsea, tickled again by her words when she mentions that her charge likes 'animals'. "Sounds like she's in good company already," he retorts with a soft laugh. The smirk on Chelsea's face causes the wolf's eyes to narrow, but just a bit as the amusement is still alight within his expression. "Does this charge of yours have a n-?" he starts as he returns to Abbey's side and then shifts again into a seated position in order to rub a hand gently across the she-wolf's back where she lays sleeping. "Stasia… She is here, with you people?" he asks, blinking at that. Certainly Aset had not thought in a million years that he'd be hearing that from anyone. "The world makes less sense by the hour…" he murmurs, shaking his head briefly, only to smirk at Inari.
Chelsea rises from her crouch as the bottle drops to be caught by the wolf. She finally steps out of the way of the door, walking pass Inari letting her fingers touch the other woman's arm lightly. "It would be good therapy for her right now…" Chelsea responds with a grin, a toungue licking her lips before she rolls her eyes at Inari, "Everyone lies darling…even ..vampires. It is the shield we use to protect ourselves from the lies of others…or maybe even the truths. I hardly think werewolves are immune to that trait my dear." She glances back at Aset as he mentions knowledge of her 'charge', "Oh so you know her? I should have guessed as such." By the colour of her eyes.
Inari's eyes follow Chelsea, shaking her head slightly. "Stasia doesn't lie either." she mentions offhandedly as if she had been ticking off those that don't. "Not a matter of species." She slides the door shut, slowing to make sure Aset and the bottle are out of the way before shutting it. She glances towards Aset winking, "They keep me away from the liars. Don't trust me."
Loosening the cork within the bottle of wine, Aset listens on to Chelsea's words surrounding the subject of lying. "She's right," he offers simply enough at first before setting the bottle aside. "We lie just like everyone else, but usually only about things that might cause harm to do otherwise. Not that it would do any good around you, cheri," Aset offers, grinning at the comment she'd made. "Well, one has to make sure that their investment stays…loyal, right?" To Chelsea then, the wolf chuckles. "Why, because she doesn't drink what you drink? I have to admit… I tend to respect that kind of self-control.."
impressive."
"Yes Stasia is rather open isn't she?" Chelsea responds in a low voice to Inari. This charge of hers is an curious challenge for Chelsea. Oh the bonds were easy, the girl secertly wanted them. But well Chelsea doesn't really approve of the girl's choices and that is a bit harder to turn around. "Well she is here now, she will soon settle into a new way of being." Chelsea responds in a low voice before glancing to Aset, "Perhaps…preferences can change though in the absence of choice."
Inari shrugs slightly at Chelsea, "I wouldn't say she is open. In fact she says only what she wants to say. But when she says it, it matches what she is thinking and feeling." Turning from the cell door she begins to pace back and forth, fidgety. At the corner of the cell she simply stops moving and says nothing, apparently staring down the hallway.
"A little bit yes, but in the absence of choice… Can you really call them preferences? Perhaps, perhaps not, who's to say?" Aset replies to Chelsea with a light shrug of his shoulders. The werewolf moves then, crawling over to the glasses and food which he drags closer to Abbey and himself before snatching up the bottle of wine to pour himself a drink. "Hope you ladies don't mind keeping it down a bit more. I should really get back to finishing this, though you're…welcome to stay," he offers with a light smirk, as if he had a choice in the matter. Laying flat on his stomach again after setting the bottle aside, Aset goes back to the rather lengthy equation that is scrawled out over the majority of half of the cell floor.
Chelsea glances up to Inari and nods faintly as her attention is drawn to the drawings on the floor, "What is this wolf?" She asks of Aset as she once again crouches next to the cage nearest him. her gaze on the scribblings that mean little to her. She looks up to Inari across the cage through the bars. "What has gotten you in a tether my dear?" She asks with a lilt of a smile on her lips.
Inari simply stands there. She's not blinking or breathing. Quite still, statue like. Her face is even locked into it's last expression in the process of changing from the restless fidgetiness to one beginning to look like surprise, mouth slightly open, eyebrows raising, but it never got to finish. So. Standing there still and quiet.
"I have a name," Aset says, and then his brow scrunches as he finds his place among the mass of numbers and elements. "Mood stabilizer for Newborn werewolves," he gestures toward the farthest corner of the cell. "Performance enhancers," he says next, tapping the formula that he's currently working on. "There are a lot of untapped resources yet to be exploited in this century. One thing that peace always tends to offer is a lot of time and manpower for the cause of progress. Now, shhh… Please, this requires rather diligent thought."
"So they as unpredictable as our newborns?" Chelsea asks with amusement in her tone though her gaze doesn't leave Inari's face. Her mind testing those links once more as she slowly rises from her crouch. "The last you might want to ask Aro about, we can hardly let you have such an advantage…Aset." She says the name in a low voice as if deigning to do so.
Inari still doesn't move. Frozen just as she was moments before. Nothing has changed. None of the bonds have moved either. Oh wait. One winks out. A very nebulous one. One associated with her past somehow.
Aset breathes a laugh and shakes his head lightly. "Sure…" he murmurs softly, scribbling a bit before he glances over to Chelsea. "If you read the treaty, then you should know that we're allowed to operate how we wish so long as what we do is not against you. We would not turn this against our allies. If we were to do so we wouldn't be very good allies, now would we Chelsea? Besides… The Volturi stand to gain from this as well." That said, he takes a breath to clear his mind and then once again find his place.
Chelsea moves quietly toward Inari, a curious look upon her face at the other's behavior. "Of course, you would never abuse such, now would you?" Chelsea asks of Aset, though her gaze doesn't shift. "Only in fights against each and yourselves? We hardly have need of enhanced abilities elsewise."
Inari still doesn't move and oops there goes another bond, again very nebulous. They aren't from too far in her past, perhaps a year or two, just not very important apparently. A single finger does twitch as it winks away and just the very tiniest and faintest intake of air.
Aset groans softly, and breaths a sigh. "We don't want another war… They are costly in more ways than just lives," the wolf-man explains, only to laugh quietly. "Stronger allies mean any conflicts that your people take up will be more easily brought to a satisfying conclusion. We wolves will be expected to take up some of your causes, should a clear and present danger be present. With my kind in tip top shape, performing above and beyond average, that which threatens you and us will not threaten either nearly as much, nor for as long. I would offer the same benefits to your people, but I wouldn't know where to begin… Your biology is sadly far too different from anything on record to attempt to alter."
"Yes, why mess with perfection." Chelsea replies absently, distracted it is clear by Inari. "Yes, war is messy, I would like to prevent it as well. Yes the alliance might well be a good thing. There is confusion just touching on her features as she examinaes Inari, as she watches the bonds blink she works on soldifying the ones most important. "Inari…" She finally says in a low whisper.
Inari finishes the expression that was attempting to form on her face. Taking in a sharp breath of air she rounds on Chelsea and grips her by the throat with a surprising display of speed. The growl that follows from her throat is menacing and angry. She slams Chelsea against the concrete wall, creating a few cracks in the process. Holding her there by the throat she bares her teeth, "I thought I told you to stop fucking with my head." She glares at Chelsea her pink eyes darkening dangerously.
"Well mainly because it is actually possible," Aset replies to Chelsea, only to lift a brow and glance over to her. "…Oh, you meant Cold Ones.." he realizes, only to chuckle quietly at that. "You know, Chelsea, having a dependency on humans and animals to sustain your life falls dangerously short of perfection. Of course I mean no disrepsect, just…food for thought, no?" Then his gaze comes to rest on Inari and he tilts his head slightly in regards to her. "Hmmm.. Looks like someone could use some air," he notes, watching the younger vampiress for another few moments before concentrating back on his work…until Inari moves, of course. When Chelsea is lifted from the ground, Aset is suddenly on edge, having kicked up into a crouch. "Inari!" he barks, and a booming growl flows through the werewolf as he starts to change into something rarely seen.. A hybrid form, massive, black, half man and half wolf moves to the bars of the cell and reaches out toward the two vampries. When he finds that he cannot reach, even with such long arms the wolf reverts back into its human state. "Inari… Take it up with your Lords. We need Cold Ones like you in good standing. Inari, please.."
"Food is food…cooked or not. Humans is just another type of meat. It hardly makes a deficit." Chelsea responds in that same distracted tone. Though before she can say anything else there is a hand around her throat and she is being slammed against the wall before she can react. Her hand reaches out to the woman's throat in return, though the fingers do not clench. "I wasn't!" She hisses in a strangled tone, "Something else has you Inari…" She hisses again.
Inari promptly lets go of Chelsea, blinking at her. She closes her eyes, and steps away from Chelsea her anger draining. "Not you…." She turns towards Aset, tilting her head and then at the sleeping Abbey (she sure can sleep). Her gaze rests on Abbey suspiciously. Steps back from the cage making sure she's out of reach of Aset. "Then one of them?" Her expression is confused and she flicks her attention to Chelsea questioningly at loss for what to do.
Aset growls softly as Inari turns an accusing gaze toward him and Abbey, and promptly shakes his head. "We don't do mind tricks… At least neither one of the wolves you have here," he states. "Our abilities are mainly physical, or at the least mental in that they only affect us and no one else." Lets squash that idea before it is allowed time to fester. "That I can assure you… Just ask Aro, he would know." Slowly, Aset backs away from the bars and shakes his head before sitting down again. "Just like I told them…" he murmurs. Surely, the vampires had more to fear in this world from each other than any wolf.
If it were anyone else Chelsea might lie. This could be a perfect opportunity to set a divide between her and the wolves. "I don't know Inari…what I see is more active and is being controlled from the other end. I have been trying to study it since you returned." She continues as her fingers stroke lightly at her throat, though no mark remains from the attack. "It is not like anything I have seen before." She says, frustration mixing with an odd sorta of excitement touching her tone.
Inari sighs, pursing her lips at Chelsea. "You should have told me. You don't tamper with memories?" No, of course not. Doh. She turns and begins heading for the stair well. "I have to speak with Aro." She pauses at the stairwell fixing Aset with a gaze. "I'm sorry." Sweeping her gaze to include Chelsea, "Ditto." She quickly flits up the stairs.
Chelsea arches her brow at Inari, "My job would be far easier if I could Inari…that ain't my game, you know that." She responds before she glances back to the wolf and motions Inari up the stairs as well as she follows. "I wasn't sure what to tell you Inari…or if I could." She says with a nod as Inari speaks of Aro. She glances at Aset before she heads out a faint grin on her lips, "Good to see a good cat fat sets the boys on edge no matter the species." She gives an edged laugh and leaves.
