Date: March 3rdTime: MidnightLocation: The Dark LadyTriggers: Violence, blood, gun violence, death I

Date: March 3rdTime: MidnightLocation: The Dark LadyTriggers: Violence, blood, gun violence, death It was presented like the birth of Aphrodite—a thing to covet, to desire, to guard with life and limb. A material god, constructed to coax out the avarice of even the holiest of saints. The spotlight shone on the black leather of the suitcase, but what caught the eye were the contents that caused the light to dance about the stage. Coins, antiques, priceless rarities that were all tied to the the suitcase in name and memory. There were rumors about where it came from, but the more one listened, the more one noticed a consistent pattern. Though it was stolen from one place, reappearing in another, it was always tied to Russia. But the Capulets had no contacts there, and the Montagues would’ve made their involvement known, so then who could this mysterious donor be? Names were whispered in the dark, murmured into the ears of men and women whose pockets were as deep as the oceans that covered the world. But they all hesitated before placing their bid, the question rolling through the crowd like an uneasy wave. Who was the donor? Who? Who? Such priceless things were not meant to be tied to anonymity. Did the Devil steal a soul and not leave his calling card? Was this donor more conniving than Lucifer? Oh, miei bambini, if only you knew.The golden suitcase was presented second to last, the guards around it shifting about restlessly—like a dog might do before the tremors of an earthquake. They shook their arms out, turned their heads this way and that, every crow of laughter a reason for them to cringe or flinch. But for all their wariness, they would never be able to reconcile how they let their guard slip enough for the devil to move within their ranks, working his dastardly deeds. Then again, would it really be Verona if everything went as expected? The series of events happened like clockwork—like dominoes, their movements as seamless and practiced as if Father Time himself had bowed his head to them to allow their work to take place. It began with a man whose smile did not quite meet his eyes; if only one were to look long enough and see the duplicity that lingered there. He cavorted with a wild-haired Capulet, her smile a bit sadder than it had once been but there all the same. At her side was Cosimo himself, who looked at the proceedings with the boredom of a king whose kingdom was no longer at war—oh, the price of peace. There if you looked to the right of stage, there was the woman, the harbinger, the scorn. She called herself the hand of justice—but should such a hand really be so bloody? Hand-in-hand she walked with the lamb, taking it to the slaughter with a joyous smile on her face, eyes alight with an ecstasy that was often reserved for when a worshiper partakes in something holy. Look to the left and watch the angel of death wield its quiet weapon, sniper rifle as their glaive, eyes barren save for the reminiscent sadness that hid in dark hues. The guards dropped atop the stage, as if they fainted—one, after the other, after the other, too quick any one of them to notice before they themselves fall and too quiet to be called brutal. But fainting is not followed by blood pooling upon the ground, painting the stage in a rather morbid picture of fallen soldiers who were picked off by a sweet-singing Valkyrie. The crowd takes notice slowly then all at once, a sheet of silence falling over them as if choreographed.Turn to center stage and watch the director of it all step into the light, his ever-present assistant at his side. She watches the bodies fall with an unwavering gaze, as if she has seen worse and still has yet to see even more terrible deeds wrought. While he, the rival king, Verona’s newest puppeteer, takes his place in the spotlight, closing the suitcase carefully so that all might gaze upon him. Why stare at the cause of greed, when greed himself, personified in the flesh, was there for all to see?“Patrons,” Faron Vasiliev says, hands behind his back as he looks around at the silenced revellers. “May I welcome you all to my Dark Lady—The Dark Lady.”All teeth, all grin, and all the ravenousness that screams devour me—I dare you. Akin to a wolf as it corners its prey, he smiles. “Now, I believe it’s time for proper introductions. My name is Faron Vasiliev – “ a scream of horror, quickly followed by the familiar sound of someone choking on their own blood “ – and THESE ARE THE SPADES.”In the few moments of Faron’s introduction RAFAELLA CAPULET had fallen to the ground dead. Her drink had been poisoned and no one had known but MAEVE PETRE. The Capulet soldier had been about to cry out a warning, but before she could TRINITY CRUYSSEN had slit her throat. The police chief had not wanted her boss’ introduction to Verona to be warned by a squawking little duck.COSIMO CAPULET held Rafaella’s corpse and had tried to drag her away. To leave one of their own would be disrespectful as well as embarrassing to the Capulet name. He ordered PRIAM TARAVELLA and TIBERIUS CAPULET to drag her body away. Once they are relieved of her body by some shocked soldiers they return to the fray.While this is occurring JULIANA CAPULET goes to try and get Maeve’s body to be taken away as well. However, standing over it is BORIS KOVROV. He’s cleaning up Trinity’s dirty work, but doesn’t mind scaring the little Capulet child either. When TIBERIUS comes back, he sees Boris bullying his cousin and the two exchange blows.ROMAN MONTAGUE notes that this is not his quarrel and grabs MARCELO ROSSO so they can grab as many Montagues as they can and organize a retreat. However, MIKAEL FALCO notes that the two are about to flee and doesn’t see why only the Capulets should suffer. He tries to stop them from leaving with the aid of EVERETT CRAVEN.HECTOR SAWIRIS, seeing ROMAN and MARCELO fighting against the CAPULETS, drags ROMAN away at MARCELO’S request, then sends his boss away. The Montagues do not need their only king to fall.LUCRECIA FALCO goes to retrieve Maeve’s body, but is stopped by GRACE DALY who is wearing a vindictive smile. Grace calls for her sister, REGINA DALY, to come to her side and the two gang up on Lucrecia.Blood is now being spilled by BORIS and TIBERIUS, so ALVA GWON and DELILAH VOGEL try to tear them apart. The two end up being hurt in the process, but are successful in stopping the fight from ending in a fatality.However, MATTHIAS WARREN misreads the situation and thinks that ALVA is the one who hurt DELILAH. Matthias begins to exact his vengeance and is stopped by BRIELLE KING. She sends both MATTHIAS and DELILAH off, then begins to help ALVA.ALEXANDER RALLIS has been searching for Roman and Marcelo, but to no avail. Instead, he finds himself face-to-face with PAVEL LAM and thinks him a foe, since the hired gun has been happily watching everything unfold. ALEXANDER attacks PAVEL and the two go at it, the assassin more than eager for some chaos of his own.This whole time VIVIANNE SLOANE has been searching for her son, CYRUS SLOANE, in the crowd. However, she is stopped by CLARK GODREJ, who takes the opportunity to stab her in the midst of the chaos.CLARK then joins GIYA GODREJ. HALCYON SANTOS had been watching the whole time, but was unable to help her dearest friend. She takes a gun and aims it at CLARK, but is shoved at the last minute and hits GIYA instead.CYRUS SLOANE hears the gunshot and turns to see his mother has been stabbed. He shoves through the crowd, but is stopped by LAWRENCE VERNON, who is more than willing to see the other underboss die. CYRUS and LAWRENCE begin to fight. However, BUNNY DU PONT sees her friend being attacked and, in desperation, grabs a knife and stabs Lawrence in the side before running away with CYRUS.The chaos begins to reach a high-point and ODESSA VERNON still has not found her brother. She begins to grow frantic in her search and runs into HUGO KIM who helps her. The two stumble into ORPHEUS AHULANI, who, surprisingly, steps aside to allow them to go on their way.However, ORION MASSETTI spots ORPHEUS’ moment of weakness and goes to let the other know of the leverage he now has. PANDORA RHEE steps in with her gun in hand, her heart set on eliminating the threats before they become one. She raises her gun to shoot ORION, when ORPHEUS grabs her and the two begin to fight.ORION slips away only to run into HIRAN GODREJ. ORION and HIRAN begin to fight – and just when ORION is about to be beaten, he lets it slip that he saw GIYA’S corpse. HECTOR SAWIRIS finds HIRAN and ORION at this moment, then helps HIRAN knock ORION out.CATHERINE DALY finds her sisters fighting against LUCRECIA and tries to help the outnumbered woman, while trying to calm her sisters. But to no avail. CATHERINE and LUCRECIA incapacitate GRACE and REGINA, then drag Maeve’s body away from the fight.VALENTINA GALLO was perhaps the most unfortunate of them all. She stumbled into LILLIAN WEN and, in a rush of adrenaline, began to fight the woman. The two begin to go at it, but LILLIAN was much less willing to fight than the other.Upon seeing this CALINA SOKOLOVA steps in, stopping the fight before LILLIAN suffered too many bruises. She holds a knife to VALENTINA’S back and drags her to FARON VASILIEV. He grabs a gun and shoots it off once before pointing it back to Valentina’s head. SANTINO runs to join them, stopping before getting too close and begs on his hands and knees for his sister’s life to be spared. HUGO joins the soldier and entreats Faron to stop the bloodshed before it drowns the city.The chaos stills, for the King of Chaos himself is now speaking. His eyes scan the room, pausing each time he encounters a still body in the river of blood. They’re easy to pick out—scattered and tossed about the room, trampled on and desecrated, save for the bodies that were held by their loved ones. Faron turns to his advisor, brow raising. “How many do we have dead? One? Two?” She does not answer his question, knowing that he has the answer to it in his mind already. “I believe that I counted three. Rafaella Capulet, Giya Godrej, and Maeve Petre. All prominent names within their own respected groups, am I correct?” Slowly, he cocked the trigger back. “Shall we make it an even number? Unless Vivianne Sloane can be added to the count already.” At this, Trinity gave a quiet chuckle, her hands somehow immaculate despite how much blood she had spilled. Next to her stood Boris, who smiled quietly in response. Alva and Brielle stood beside him, the former looking blank and hollow, the latter appearing almost rueful if it were not for the steel in her spine.Calina spoke up, her quiet voice carrying throughout the room. “We should let her go, Faron. As a sign of our good will.” Whatever good will there was left to salvage from the carnage of the red-painted room.Valentina darted away as she as she felt the gun’s pressure leave her temple. She was quickly grabbed by a beaten Marcelo, who placed themself between her and Faron’s line of sight. The king of the Spades, however, seemed to have lost interest with the woman as soon as she was gone. No, did they not see by now that he had his sights set upon bigger and better things than a lowly soldier? He walked about the stage, like an actor, commanding the attention of the audience. “It looks to me, Cosimo,” Faron began, “that you are in need of an advisor—and perhaps, even, an underboss.” At that point, a low growl came from the back of the room where Vivianne found herself revived to consciousness by Halcyon. “Or perhaps not an underboss,” Faron conceded. “But an advisor is of the utmost importance, is it not? They encourage you to make daring decisions, guide you onto a path that’s meant to profit us all.”The Capulet boss remains quiet, his face unreadable, save for the flush that besets his features. Not even the king can hide his shock at the uncalled-for carnage that lay beneath his seat on the throne. “So, here is my proposal. I work as your advisor, while you, my friend, profit from the debauchery that my business entails. Capisce?” Long live the king…long live the kings…Cosimo stands, smooths the blood-speckled jacket of his suit and nods. “Capisce.”OVERVIEW: Ah, my dear Veronans, now we truly begin our Act II. As noted, the dead are GIYA GODREJ, MAEVE PETRE, and RAFAELLA CAPULET. While VIVIANNE SLOANE is being treated for her critical wounds in the hospital. In summary, Faron Vasiliev is now the “advisor” to the Capulets—his Spades remaining a subgroup within their ranks. Of course, they’re to be ostracized and more or less remain separate from the Capulets. They mainly act as Faron’s own, personal team and their first loyalty is to him. Cosimo knows this, but keep your friends close and your enemies closer, yes? He is keeping them housed with the Capulets in the hopes that the Capulets will be able to glean information from the Spades. To the public, it merely seems as though the Capulets have gone into the drug business with the Spades. Everyone is speculating that the Montagues will be run out of business with Ace and Fairy’s Blood taking over the streets, not to mention the Capulets and Spades now outnumbering the Montagues in heads and territory.OOC: As always, you are encouraged to play out these interactions on the dash or in a chatzy. If you hold these interactions in a chatzy, please post it on the dash so we may all be a part of the excitement. Play out your character’s injuries and recuperation. All interactions may occur between the dates of MARCH 4TH to MARCH 25TH. We hope you have enjoyed ACT II thus far and cannot wait to reign down more agony on you all. As always, feel free to ask us questions. -- source link

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