NeoAJ

Palm Beach Royals: Senior Year

@Moro Couldn't help it. Taylor has my eyes.

REBOOT COMING SOON. INVITE ONLY.

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Location | Misfits' RV, Bell Mountain, California (108 miles from Santa Monica)
Interacting with | Kim @Stanifly, Matt @Legion02, Umbra @Syn
Mentions: Val @Dirty Pretty Lies
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As she continued to kneel in the California sands, Emilia was feeling less alone with the attention that Matt and Kim were giving her. It felt less hopeless, even if her relationship with the football player was nowhere near as advanced as her relationship with one of her best friends. The crying continued to ebb as the breakdown was beginning to pass.

Kim was taking the lead, as she usually had a level-enough head to do. "You're gonna dehydrate from all those tears, under this sun. Wanna go back in the shade, at least?"

Emi nodded her head and sniffled a couple more times. At least to hold it in until she could make it to a tissue. She slowly stood up. "That sounds fine..."

However, she didn't get a chance to move before feeling a sting against her face, a sting stronger than the wind or the sun. A sudden shock to the system delivered by a hand Emi was definitely not expecting as the girl she ended up inadvertently bracing herself against during the RV's off-road antics delivered a wake-up call. Usually if anyone was gonna slap her, it was Val. This caught her completely off-guard.

“Get a hold of yourself, man! You’re tougher than this or did I pick the wrong white girl?!”

Emilia tried to respond, but the dreadlocked girl quickly turned her attention to Matt, before running out of steam while talking to Kim. All she could do was rub her cheek as the reverberations continued to be felt in her face. When did Umbra build up that kinda strength?

The slap left her almost unprepared for the actions of Matt Brown. “Here, one for you to share with your friend.” The football player quickly produced the promised candy bars and pressed them against her palm, but it was clear that there was something else underneath the chocolate, unless it was a ziploc bag filled with pixie stick dust. “And one for you as well. It should make you happy.” She quickly moved everything into the pocket of her leather jacket. She wasn't sure what she had just been handed, the fact that it was in a baggie probably meant it was some kind of drug. But there were candy bars for now, which would help the situation immensely. Matt turned to walk back to the rest of the parked cars that had gathered in front of the RV, so now Emilia was left wondering just what she now carried in her pocket. Or she would have before Matt added a few parting words.

“You’ve always been too good for him.”

Those words hit just as hard, if not more so, than Umbra's slap. Matt walked away after saying them but the impact was brutal. Possibly not even fully felt by the still-dazed blonde. Always been too good for him? What does that even mean? What is Matt saying with that? Did he know something about Brandon? Did he think he would have been a better boyfriend than Brandon? Is he just trying to puff me up? I don't...

"I'm calling a tow truck. We can probably get one from Victorville." Kim's statement broke Emilia out of her own head, at least for the moment. It was going to be a set back, having to head backwards on I-15, to a place that was kind of a dump. But at least there was candy. "Save some for me if there's dark chocolate in there." Emi carefully removed the two bars from her pocket. Kim was in luck. There was a dark chocolate Mars bar, probably discounted in order to catch a customer's attention, along with a packet of Almond M&Ms. The candy-coated treats may not have counted as a traditional "bar", but it was a welcome sight to Emilia.

"You're in luck, Kim," she informed the girl now on the phone trying to get them out of the area. "I'll put it in the fridge for you!" She hoped the fridge was still working at least. Emi turned back to Umbra, tear streaks still on her face, but now dried up with the lack of replenishing fluids. "I'll split the M&M's with you if you give me a warning next time before you slap me like you did... Oh who am I kidding? I'll split them with you even if you don't. Thank you though. You didn't pick the wrong white girl. At least I hope not." Breakdown number two was quelled for now, but even as she anticipated tearing into the beige bag with the goodies inside, Matt's last sentence was ringing in the back of Emilia's head. It probably would for some time.

[Canceled]

🗡️

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May 16 9:30AM->9:50 AM
The Loft
Interacting with: Khione @Hoekage, Becky [NPC]
🗡️}

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It was too early. It had to be too early. There was no other reason for the crustiness in the eyes. The quick rollover to bury the head in the pillow. The taste of cigarettes and Baccardi 151 in the mouth. It all added up. It was a Saturday morning after all. There was absolutely no need to do anything. Just roll over and tell the day to fuck off and.... shit. Someone else was here in this bed.

That quick realization was enough to jostle Natalia Pereira out of her slumbering state. She did her best not to bolt up immediately, lest she alert the other person in the bed that there was activity. As she did her best to pry her eyes open to assess the situation, she tried to remember what had happened last night. All right, all right, what did I do again? It was an off-night. We weren't booked, so I decided to drink. Went to Envy, made sure no one getting any ideas with Mina, talked up... She looked down at the long-haired head still resting on the pillow next to her. Nat craned her neck to get a look but couldn't tell if she inadvertently broken her own loft rule or not. ...someone. Brought them home, and I'm gonna guess since there are clothes all over the floor we had some fun. Ugh. She gave her body a once over to make sure there weren't any bite marks or anything. From a cursory glance, there was nothing fresh. Just the scars from the nights accompanying Khione out when she was learning about the trade. All right, so I probably didn't do anything too stupid. Only one way to make sure though.

Nat slowly eased her way out of the bed, the cold floor offering another wake up call on her bare feet. She shook it off and moved over to the window, which currently had its blinds drawn to prevent as much sunlight as possible from getting into the main bedroom of the loft. That was going to change soon. Nat quickly shifted the blinds to arouse her unknown bedmate from their slumber, either via pain or ... well less pain.

The person in the bed groaned slightly before sitting up and rubbing her eyes. Well, the lack of screaming would indicate that I did not bed a vampire, so that's a plus. The lack of clothes indicated that Nat had not broken the loft's "No Guys" rule, which was a relief. Guess I would have remembered if a guy actually managed to talk his way into my pants, since that never happens. As the girl with the dyed purple hair shook her head, Nat looked down at her previous night's companion. "Hey you, sorry to offer the early wake-up service, but I got stuff to do, and I figure it's best I don't leave you alone in here to nick all my shit. So you gotta hit the road."

"Already?" The young woman looked around before grabbing her bra off the floor. "Shit, I figured you'd at least get me a coffee or something before you kicked me out."

Nat thought for a second. If her little sister wasn't up and about making noise at this time, it likely meant she was out during her usual Saturday morning café run. That meant she would have her usual tasty treats coming soon. But there would be nothing for this girl. "Hey look..." She was drawing a blank on this girl's name. Did it start with a B? Why would she be with a girl whose name started with a B? "...Britney."

"Becky!"

"Really? OK. Well, whatever, Becky. Look, last night was great and all. And if you need the money for a cab, I got ya covered. But I have some important stuff to do. You know how music labels are, right? Of course you don't." Nat grabbed her own pair of jeans off the floor, sliding them on as she searched for a top. "But hey, you come to Envy enough, you'll probably see me there again at some point. We can hit things off again then." She punctuated this last notion with a wink. She didn't need to know how rare it was for her to be at Envy and not be working.

"OK sure. I have money for a cab. And... you have my number, right? I mean, we did exchange numbers?"

Nat subtly rolled her eyes. "Sure, doll. I'll be in there under Dagger. Look me up when you are back in New York." Odds were Becky was one of those commuter-type party girls. In from Babylon or Massapequa or something stupid on Long Island. Nat found Becky's pants on the floor and tossed them to the girl in order to hasten the expedition process.

"DARLINGS I'M HOMEEEE~"

That sound meant that the clock had run out on Becky's chance to leave without attracting attention. Nat sighed and slid a worn t-shirt over her body. "Well, sounds like you do get to meet a roommate on the way out. Consider yourself lucky, Bex."

"OK, well I think I have everything..."

"Well, if you don't, I'll mail it to you. Let's go."

Natalia quickly ushered the still groggy woman out of the master of the three-bedroom loft that was a steal at the price they were paying for. She had hoped Khione had ventured into the living room area, but nope. Still in the entry way. That meant she would see the results of last night's visit to Envy.

"Oh, hey Khi," Natalia said non-chalantly. "Don't mind the young lady here. She was just leaving. Isn't that right, doll? Becky made a move to answer, but Nat cut her off. "Yes. Yes she is. All right talk to you later, doll." Nat quickly pushed what she could only assume were Becky's shoes into her hands and sent her out the door, locking it behind the one-night stand. She grinned at the veteran vampire hunter. "So, uh, I think Mina is out getting the usual, so you know, I hope you're hungry and in the mood for a recharge after... I'm going to assume you were out beating something up? Something inanimate at this time in the morning?"

REBOOT COMING SOON. INVITE ONLY.

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Location | Misfits' RV, outside Barstow, California (130 miles from Santa Monica)
Interacting with | Kim @Stanifly, Matt @Legion02
Mentions: AJ @TootsiePop, Umbra @Syn, Val @Dirty Pretty Lies
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As her knees dug deeper into the sands surrounding their now doomed RV, tears splattering the dust before drying up in an instant, all the usual breakdown thoughts were swirling in Emilia's head.

How much did AJ know? Why didn't he tell me Brandon was going to break it off? Why did he break it off? Why am I so worthless? Can't even fix a stupid RV! Why is my life like this? I'm so alone!

None of this was stemming the flow from Emi's eyes, even as she heard footsteps coming towards her. Heavy footsteps, cracking the gravel on the shoulder of the road before softening in the sands beneath her. Maybe it's someone who has come to put me out of my misery.

She heard a thump in front of her as someone else hit the sands. “Hey, you’re okay. That wasn’t such a big crash. You’re still in one piece.” Who is that? I know that voice... “Want a chocolate bar?”

Emilia managed to lift her head out of her hands and squint her eyes at the person in front of her, although it was hard to see through the water and the Barstow sun. Eventually, she rubbed her eyes enough to make out the man now holding the promise of candy in front of her. What she got though, was another unpleasant reminder of the man who so ruthlessly spurned her. Matt Brown. She remembered Matt. Just like AJ, he was on the football team. The running back, so she saw him talking to Brandon a lot. Again, their conversations had been very cordial, lest Brandon get jealous she was hanging around other teammates, but for a football player, he seemed all right. The problem was that first part though. Football.

The tears started to well in Emilia's eyes again and this time there was someone to catch the full blast. "MATTTTTT!" she wailed. "WHY?!? WHY DO THESE THINGS KEEP HAPPENING TO MEEEEEE?!? She made a motion to wipe her nose on her still new leather jacket, but even in this state she managed to catch herself. "What did I do? I thought... I thought I was a good person? Why does God hate me? I don't... I..." She was starting to lose steam. The hot desert sun was tiring at full blast, and she was starting to run the risk of dehydration without another place to get frappes nearby. "I can't... I don't want this hurt, Matt. I don't want it... Make it go away..." She continued to cry, muddling the words somewhat, but she couldn't help it.

While Emi was stuck in her own pity loop, she was oblivious to the Blossom to her Bubbles arriving behind her. At least until Kim put a hand on her shoulder. Initially, she thought it was Val or Umbra, since Kim usually stayed away from the whole touching thing. "Better? You hurt anywhere?" The shock that it actually was Kim snapped the sobbing loop, at least for the moment. Kim. Kim cares about you. You have friends. You are not alone. So buck up.

The blonde sniffled and toned down the crying enough to sound somewhat normal again while talking. "I don't think... I'm hurt from the crash," she confirmed to Kim. "It's... it's just the usual hurt." She tried to use her hands to wipe away the rest of the tears, but they were saturated as it was. "It's the usual sucky hurt."

Palm Beach Royals: Senior Year

Well that was a complete waste of time.

Shawna was still trying to comprehend what had just happened to the last three hours of her life. She didn’t even go to the stupid Homecoming. Why the hell was she subjected to the mind-numbing torture that was listening to a 40-something teacher who probably had a bottle of Wild Turkey in their desk try to explain why underage drinking was a bad thing? Also, the entire marijuana section was a fat lie. She had been smoking for months and definitely didn’t want to try heroin because of it. Then to top it all off with the preaching of God and abstinence for the final hour, just the pinnacle of pointlessness.

Like I have to worry about that. Gonna be real hard to knock me up … unlike some of the other girls here…

The green-eyed girl had staked a claim to a table in the cafeteria while Kellie Anne went through the lineups to get her meal. Shawna didn’t want to bother with that hassle today, so she went with a traditional packed lunch of her three remaining cupcakes from the previous day paired with an apple and a banana grabbed in a quick stop at the convenience store before she arrived at school. Strange it wouldn’t have occurred to her to even add the fruit if she had hatched this meal plan a month ago, but she felt almost obligated to balance out the baked goods with something healthy. Sugar be damned.

As she sat by herself, Shawna debated whether or not she should wait for Kellie to begin tearing into that cookies and cream cupcake, but she held off for now.

Today was Sable’s first day at her new school. While she had originally given Kings a hard no, she had convinced herself that perhaps things weren’t going to be so bad after all. While things weren’t as bad as the scenarios that her mind had come up to torture her with. She had assemblies at her old school, but the one she had just been subjected to was something else. Speeches on underage drinking were a lost cause, and everyone knew it. Besides, Sunshine wasn’t giving up her tequila just because some grumpy older woman wanted to tell her she may or may not get into a crash. Car crashes could happen when you were sober too. Marijuana wasn’t a gateway drug. It’s used for plenty of medical purposes. While Sunshine had never smoked, she could clearly see through the teachers bullshit. Last but not least abstinence? Sunshine was already damned to Hell.

All of these thoughts ran through her head as she went through the lunch line. Luckily, she was one of the first ones in said line, seeing as how she practically ran out of the auditorium. She decided to go simple - just a piece of pepperoni pizza. Besides, she had cookies stored in her bag that she wanted to eat as well. She paid and turned around to face the rest of the room.

Tables were lined up everywhere, people bumping into her as they passed to go sit in their previously claimed areas. That’s when it hit her - Sunshine didn’t have any friends here. I officially have zero friends. This is shaping up to be the perfect day. Just peachy, rosey, absolutely tip top perfect. Then she spotted another loner. Or, at least, someone sitting by themselves. Sunshine took a deep breath, and approached. Why she was nervous, she had no clue. Talking to people had never been a problem for her, so why would it be now? Stopping in front of the girl on the other side of the table, Sable stood there awkwardly for a brief second. “Um…. Hi? Do you mind if I sit here?”

Shawna looked up at the girl standing there. She was alone, a feeling Shawna was very familiar with from her time in the intellectual elite of the school. A time when there was no place for her at any table. Those feelings still hurt.

Still, she didn’t want to just give this girl a spot at the table. There was supposed to be a spot for her cupcake companion, and Shawna wasn’t exactly built to defend slots from invading cliques. Also, what if Kellie Anne wanted to just have spots for the two of them? Shawna risked alienating her before their friendship even lasted a day. It was a tough decision.

Damn it. This is why I started smoking. To get away from these thoughts. Stupid school.

Shawna made a snap decision. ”If you help me save at least one more spot, sure. You can sit here.”

Figuring that it wasn’t the worst thing she had ever agreed to, Sable sat down as she shrugged her shoulders. ”So what’s your name? If you don’t mind me asking, of course.”

“No crime in asking as far as I know,” the Wisconsin native noted. “My name’s Shawna.” She looked over the girl sitting across from her. She had this innocent look to her that reminded Shawna of someone who didn’t exist anymore. Someone who was way too innocent. “And who I am banking on to help me defend this seat from other cafeteria ne’er-do-wells?”

The way the other girl - Shawna. Her name was Shawna. - talked made Sunshine sort of curious. Did she always talk like that, or was it just some sort of thing she did kinda randomly? Only time would tell. ”My names Sable. Most people call me Sunshine, though. I just moved here from LA about a week ago. Say… are random ‘if you have sex you’ll die’ assemblies common here?”

Shawna shook her head. “Not as long as I can remember. They came in pretty standard times. I’m guessing this bullshit was related to Homecoming. I don’t know what exactly went down, because I didn’t go, but some people must have done some fucked up things. Which, honestly, is not surprising here.” She looked down at her lunch before realizing she had nothing to drink with her bounty of sweets. “Shoot.” She reached for her phone and tapped out a quick message.

To: Kellie Cupcake

Hey, could you grab me a bottle of water or a thing of milk or something? I will pay you back. ;)

Shawna set her phone back down and turned her attention back to the girl who went by Sunshine. It was an appropriate name here. “So, LA, huh? Must be a bit of a come down going from that to Palm Beach. What brings your family to this slice of paradise?”

Family. That word hit a nerve. The only family Sunshine had left was her aunt, and she was more or less absent from the girls life doing her best to make ends meet with her job as a waitress. Sunshine had offered to pay for her own tuition, but her aunt refused.

”I, um….,” Sunshine began, her attention now more focused on her pizza than it was Shawna. ”I didn’t really have a choice. My mom died when I was little, and my dad did too not that long ago…. So I sort of had to move here with my aunt. But hey! It doesn't seem that bad so far,” she finished with a somewhat enthusiastic tone.

Shawna may not have been too familiar with social cues, but it was pretty clear she inadvertently touched a raw nerve with that question. Dead parents were usually a conversation killer. At least she bounced back, but the green-eyed girl still felt awful. “Shoot, I’m sorry Sunshine. At least I can say, one transplant to another, it isn’t terrible. You can definitely thrive down here. And there are some very friendly people. Just gotta know where to find them.”

It was at that moment that Kellie Anne Nicholson appeared out of nowhere, holding a tray with the selected lunch of the day. Grinning, the young woman chose to take her seat next to Shawna, plopping the tray on top of the table and throwing her arms around her new friend. “Hi, Wolfie!” the dancer said cheerfully, planting a kiss on the other girl’s cheek. “I brought you some Pepsi, so I hope that’s okay!” she declared, passing the Pepsi bottle to Shawna before before leaning close to the girl’s ear and adding in a playful whisper, “You’ll definitely have to pay me back later… and I don’t mean with money!”

Wolfie, as she was now known, blushed brightly as she felt the squeeze of her new friend and a kiss thrown on her cheek. They hadn’t really talked about what Sunday meant, but it looked like Kellie Anne knew where she was at with their relationship and Shawna was more than happy to go there with her. She giggled. “Pepsi works. I was trying to be healthy, but I am not going to say no to Pepsi. Money is in my locker. I’ll get it after.”

Letting out a giggle, Kellie gave Shawna a tight hug before noticing for the first time the unknown girl sitting at their table. “Oh!” she exclaimed comically, eyes widening with curiosity. “I am so sorry if I interrupted you guys! Who’s this?”

She quickly returned the kiss to her girlfriend’s cheek before turning her attention to introductions. “Right, Kellie, this is Sable, but most people call her Sunshine. She just moved here from Los Angeles, so she is new to all…” She waved her arms around, indicating the school. “This. Everything this. Anyway, Sunshine, this is Kellie Anne Nicholson, my white knight as it were.” Sunshine didn’t need to know that Shawna was to Wolfie as Kellie was to Cupcake. At least not yet. “What did you end up getting, hun? I might trade you a cupcake for it.”

“Nice to meet you, sweetie! It’s always nice to meet someone with knowledge of good ole’ California,” she said sweetly, shooting Sunshine a playful wink before turning back to Shawna. “I just got myself a chicken wrap. Figured after all the cupcakes yesterday I would try and keep it healthy the rest of the week.”

Shawna gave Kellie a pout McKayla Maroney would be proud of. “I guess that makes sense. I just wanted to eat the rest of the sweets while they were still fresh.” She was now regretting a decision made out of laziness. She could have least gotten a sub or something from Ramiro. “No worries, I’ll get like some lean chicken or something tonight. I swear, I’ll be as healthy as this banana!” She held up the actual piece of fruit to prove her point, although the bruises on the peel were not appealing.

The food talk was off-putting. It was time to distract herself with the new person in the picture. “So, Sunshine, what is your impression of Palm Beach, even after just a week? I mean, it’s has to be something else with a fresh set of eyes, right?”

Sunshine had been listening into the conversation before her, sort of losing concentration about half way through. She shook Kellie’s hand politely before taking a bite of her pizza. When Shawna asked her a question, she quickly swallowed said bite in an awkward fashion. ”It’s really pretty, I can tell you that much. The humidity here is something else though. Not only are your beaches gorgeous, so are the people - at least what I’ve seen so far. I haven’t really gone out that much, because, ya know, moving in and stuff, but I can’t wait to see what all there is to do here.”

“Oh, you’ll loooooooove it here, sweetie, promise! I moved here from Silicon Valley a few years ago, and I can’t tell you how much more I like it here than I did over there. Just don’t fall for Max Wallenberg and you’ll be fine!” Kellie simpered, knowing in her heart she was being ridiculously petty towards her unassuming ex-boyfriend but not caring. If she knew Max like she thought she did, he’d pull all the stops to get the new girl between the sheets of his bed in record time. Better to screw up his chances now than deal with the fallout later.

Shawna nearly choked on her Pepsi hearing Kellie so flippantly bring up the boy they spent most of yesterday trying to help her forget. Nearly though. She was banking on Kellie to fill Sunshine in on the happenings of Palm Beach, seeing as Shawna spent most of her life avoiding the social scene and had little knowledge of anything that actually was happening. “Honestly, the beaches are probably the best part. Fucking immaculate. You can spend an entire day there and just lose track of time. Great date spot too.” Shawna looked over at Kellie as if to confirm she was the one intended to be dated on the beaches. “Just… Yeah. Max is evil. Stay away.”

“Oh, and stay away from Santiago Fernandez, too,” the dancer added as an afterthought, taking a happy bite from her wrap. “Don’t let the face, the arms or the solid abs fool you. El Diablo will chew you up and spit you out in the blink of an eye- if April Foster doesn’t kill you first, that is.”

Who was Max Wallenberg and why was this Fernandez guy such a bad dude? More importantly, who was April? Was she the queen bee or something? Head cheerleader? The biggest, nastiest bully in town?

“Are these Max and Santiago characters the main fuckboys around here? Because back at my old school, we had like… cliques, ya know? And I assume that’s sort of a thing for every school…? Anyway. You had your fuckboys. The preps. Emos. Weirdos. There were a lot of different people.

Shawna tried not to give away that she had as much of a clue as Sunshine did, but it was hard. She could answer the latter part of that question anyway. “It can definitely be cliquey here. Like everyone has their own group they run with pretty much just interact with. But, I mean, I’ve never been too concerned with all that stuff, you know?” She punctuated this fact with a bite into her apple that was remarkably crisp. Ramiro had actually gotten good apples apparently. “And I guess, if you want, you don’t have to either, if you want to just run with us or something. I mean, you’ll have to put up with regular PDAs.” She winked at Kellie as she said that, indicating she was open for more affection.

Sunshine laughed. ”PDA isn’t a problem at all,” she responded. After all, what did she have to lose? She didn’t have any friends here yet, and these two seemed nice enough.

Shawna smiled and nodded. “Then I think we will get along just fine, Sunshine.”

Kellie Anne nodded brightly. “I definitely agree! Welcome to Crown Heights, sugar.”

[Canceled]

The Darkened Blade of the Scarlet Dagger

Nat 🗡️ Natty 🗡️ Dagger

Jordan Miller 🗡️ 8a2cb5
Natalia "Nat" Pereira 🗡️ 24 (looks 27 to her dismay) 🗡️ 11/25/1996 🗡️ Female 🗡️ Bisexual 🗡️ Single 🗡️ Her loyalty is to the loft.

- - - -
Occupation:
🗡️ Lead singer / Guitarist for "The Scarlet Dagger", a two-person band with her sister Mina. They could have interest in a drummer, should they be able to hang with both Mina's symphonic concertos on the keys and Nat's alternating rock-heavy shredding on the electric guitar and soft strums on the acoustic. They could have an album deal in the works.
🗡️ Bartender / Bar-area Bouncer at Amnesia NYC. She keeps the job despite the band's recent successes because the tips are really good, she gets to dress as she pleases and she can keep a close eye on the friskier patrons that try anything when her sister is up on stage dancing. They get to find out why she is called Dagger.

Affiliation/Loyalty:

Her loyalty is to her family, what little is left. It's her and her sister until the end. She also will fiercely defend the loft and her roommates from the scourge of vampires and men. However, in an effort to get info on her father's killer, she has maintained friendly relations with the Artois, unbeknownst to her sister.

Personality (3 positive traits, 3 negative)
🗡️ Loyal It takes a lot to earn Nat's trust. However, once someone has it, they have an ally who will fight to the death (or undeath) for them. She does not take slights very easily and will defend those she cares about in whatever manner she has to, especially if it involves violence.

🗡️ Creative Nat has grown up being an outside-the-box thinker, and it's led to some beautiful things. The creation of "The Scarlet Dagger" was one, combining her sister Mina's classical talents with her own rock-honed strains to make something truly unique on the New York scene. It's also led her to come up with some very innovative ways to get her daggers exactly where they need to go. She will not be pegged as some straight-shot simp.

🗡️ Unafraid The worst of the world already unveiled itself to Nat, so what does she have to fear from it? She will not back down from any fight, she will not shirk away from any tenuous situation, she will dive in and face it no matter what. Daggers drawn.

🗡️ Overprotective She may claim a lot of lovers, but there is only one woman in the world that matters to Natalia, and that is Mina. She will literally do whatever she needs to in order to protect her lone surviving non-insane family member, even if that means sacrificing herself for her sibling. She is the smart one. She has the world-changing talent. She must survive, even if that means Nat must not.

🗡️ Hot-headed Nat has a temper, especially when it comes to protecting her little sister. There have been many drinks offered to patrons to make up for being on the wrong side of the Dagger's anger, although she argues that 95% of them deserve what they get. It's led her to be a little rash, but she is so good at what she does that the management of Amnesia and Envy usually look the other way.

🗡️ Free-wheeling Definitely not as meticulous as her sibling, Nat is usually not one to go into things with a plan, other than attack. In any aspect of her life, be it finding her next make-out partner or finding the next off-kilter vampire to slay, she just charges in with her weapons and hopes for the best. Heck, getting a job at a popular vampire hangout and bringing her sister in blind to work with her wasn't exactly planned out, but here they are.

Aspirations/goals/philosophy:

🗡️ "There are two powers in this world; one is the sword and the other is the pen. There is a great competition and rivalry between the two. There is a third power stronger than both, that of the women." - Muhammad Ali Jinnah

🗡️ Natalia subscribes to being a master of all three mentioned in the quote above. As a woman, songwriter and mean wielder of daggers, she believes in herself and what she continues to do. She has to do so. There were few who did at the start.

🗡️ It feels like everything has been building towards this era in time for Natalia. The band is finally getting some buzz, enough to get notice from at least one record label thanks to her friend Angie. Loft life is good. Her sister is still good, and starting to come out of her shell a little bit. Things may finally be looking up for the Pereiras, and Nat will do whatever it takes to keep it going.

🗡️ Long term, the goal is to eventually get out of the loft and find a family home again, for her, Mina and their mother to live in relative peace and harmony, like they did before talk of vampires and serial killers entered their lives. Maybe even back in her birthplace. If its good enough for all those hockey players, it's good enough for them.

Skill Set:
🗡️ Guess Why She's Called Dagger: With her sister needing protection following the disintegration of their family dynamic, Nat sought ways to protect herself and her sibling. A chance visit to a pawn shop on the Lower East side netted her a pair of daggers that she quickly became skilled with. It took many nicks and cuts that Mina had to treat, but she is now ruthlessly efficient both in stabbing someone wherever she wants and throwing her daggers wherever she wants. She has accumulated many daggers for her continuing training as a vampire hunter, enough that there is a door in the loft that others open at their own risk, as it has become her "dagger closet".
🗡️ Beaten to the Punch: That isn't to say that Natalia would be helpless without a blade in her hand. Prior to acquiring her collection of weapons, she became proficient in bare-handed combat after being enrolled in a boxing class for "troubled youth" when she was 13. She enjoyed fighting, and learned how to defend herself, as well as the other members of her family, since her sister was loathe to fight and her mother's ability to battle steadily eroded. It's given her the ability to essentially be her own bouncer while tending bar.
🗡️ Flexible In All Ways: The training she undertook as a teenager has given Nat a very flexible body, as well as a flexible mind. Boxing trained her to think quickly, look for openings and try and come up with battle plans on the fly. She is relatively new to applying that to hunting, as she is still learning about the trade from her roommate, but certainly it can't hurt.
🗡️ Drawn To the Rocks: While her sister is more of an operatic singer when she performs vocals on stage, there is a rough, jagged quality to Natalia's singing voice that suits her rock leanings. However, when switching to the more hushed, acoustic songs, Natalia can get quiet and smooth to convey the tone. It allows her to match whichever muse Mina has when it comes to their music.
🗡️ She Can Dance If She Wants To: While not as taken to dance as her sister was, Nat still shared in the classes if only to maintain the family cohesiveness that it bred. She is a passable Latin dancer because of this, but she did not go to the lengths of Mina.
🗡️ Puny Gods: While Mina has her own god she prays to, Natalia has become something of an atheist. Hard not to after what happened to her father and what she learned about the world that got him killed. No, bless her soul, Nat found her rapture in the rock and roll, and sweet blasphemy guides her in much of her daily dealings.

Fears:

Her main fear is something happening to Mina, especially given how little she knows of the world she finds herself on the fringes of. She doesn't want her to fall in.

- - - -
History:

Natalia Alicia Pereira was born on a brisk fall day in North Caldwell, New Jersey to Mónica and Justin Pereira, who married following a whirlwind romance after Mónica came to America as an exchange student from Mexico. She met Justin, an aspiring architect, who when they got hitched, adopted the surname Pereira as his own, out of reverence to Mónica's family, and to be rid of the last name Dyck once and for all. They doted after their little brunette treasure, and Mónica became even more devoted to family life when Mina came along a little over two years later. They were happy in their idyllic New Jersey town, but a job offer forced Justin into the city, and the family, against their better wishes, followed.

This lasted for a couple years until Natalia was 12 and the disappearance of her father rocked her world. She and her mother were at one of Mina's recitals when they got the call from the local precinct that they had reason to believe that Justin had been claimed by the Bonekeeper, a serial killer who had been working in New York for some time. It was incomprehensible to Nat that her father would just be vanished like a cheap trick. It couldn't be. The world didn't work like that. Mina didn't take it well and Nat did her best to be strong for her sister, but it was hard.

Nat started lashing out at school, in anger at the world for what it did to her family. It led to her enrollment in boxing lessons to try and corral some of that rage. However, the money was drying up at a rapid rate. The Dycks, never thrilled Justin took Mónica's name, cut the family off from their resources and Mónica had to do terrible things, mind-wrenching things to try and keep the family afloat. Nat took a job at 16 at a local music store, doing janitorial work and odd jobs to try and help, but it wasn't enough. Mónica got worse and worse. When she was 18 and Mina was 16, Nat became the legal guardian, and Mónica was committed to a mental hosptial to try and get help for her various problems.

Nat continued to work at the music store and Mrs. Mitchell was happy to indulge the young woman in this world, leading to Nat's dreams of a band of her own to perform and serve as her outlet. She learned how to play the guitar and got very good. This was also when she bought her first set of daggers, for protection on the mean streets of New York. However, when she was 21, Mrs. Mitchell sold the store to a national conglomerate who just wanted the retail space for another bloody coffee shop. As thanks for her hard work and to give her a bit of a payout from the sale. Mrs. Mitchell offered Natalia a loft above a different record store that she owned as a rental deal, given what the family had to go through and how she just uprooted her from her spot. Natalia accepted. By this time, Nat was on friendly terms with the folks at Amnesia, who had allowed her in for a couple open-mic nights with her guitar. She picked up a job there as a bartender, and then learned just how much she didn't know about this city she was moved into.

It was at Amnesia when she had her first encounter with a vampire, a smooth-talker who liked the bourbon and was convinced Natalia was a reincarnation of a 16th century Spanish countess. He got handsy, and as such got punched out. A couple of the other co-workers revealed their statuses as vamps and informed Natalia exactly what Amnesia was about. Nat was angry at first, having associated the surreal with the disappearance of her father, but she needed the money, so she stayed. It was especially surprising when Angie Park, her former friend from the music store, resurfaced as a vampire in the most obvious way possible, but in a way it made sense. Rekindling that friendship helped Nat get over the initial shock of being knee deep in a bloodsuckers' world. Eventually, she grew accustomed to having vampire co-workers and patrons, like it was just normal, and her fellow barkeeps helped keep her sharp when dealing with the unruly customers. However, while Nat was now convinced that not all vampires were evil, she had to know what happened to her dad.

In addition to living in the loft with her sister, Natalia has allowed a couple other women to move into the loft. Vampire hunters. People she could learn from in exchange for a substantially reduced rent in the big city. Mina still doesn't know that Natalia plans to try and figure out what exactly happened to their dad, or how, but that's a worry for another day.

| City of Dreams |

The Blade of the Scarlet Dagger - WIP

Nat 🗡️ Natty 🗡️ Dagger

Jordan Miller 🗡️ 8a2cb5
Natalia "Nat" Pereira 🗡️ 24 (looks 25) 🗡️ 11/25/1996 🗡️ Female 🗡️ Bisexual 🗡️ Single 🗡️ not actually in a family.

- - - -
Occupation:
🗡️ Lead singer / Guitarist for "The Scarlet Dagger", a two-person band with her sister Mina. They could have interest in a drummer, should they be able to hang with both Mina's symphonic concertos on the keys and Nat's alternating rock-heavy shredding on the electric guitar and soft strums on the acoustic. They could have an album deal in the works.
🗡️

Affiliation/Loyalty: Primarily Pereira. It's her and her sister until the end. However, in an effort to get info on her father's killer, she has maintained friendly relations with the Artois, unbeknownst to her sister.

Personality (3 positive traits, 3 negative)
[Give a little bit more analysis/insight on each trait, or an in-depth look into the mind of your character, whichever you like!]

Aspirations/goals/philosophy: Why are they going through this trail, what do they want to achieve? What kind of change do they want in the vampire society?

Skill Set: What sets them apart from other vampires/humans, why would any party benefit from creating a partnership/alliance with your character?

Fears:

- - - -
History: [short blurb about where they come from, what they have experienced]

REBOOT COMING SOON. INVITE ONLY.

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Location | Misfits' RV, outside Barstow, California (130 miles from Santa Monica)
Interacting with | Her own stupid broken head
Mentions: Nate @spooner, Kim @Stanifly, Sami @BrutalBx, AJ @TootsiePop, Umbra @Syn, Val @Dirty Pretty Lies
▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃}

The 120 or so minutes running along 1-15 north were pretty joyous. Nate made good on his promise of Ariana karaoke to the delight of one. Kim assured Nate he was doing well, but it was easy to tell just how much she meant it. Emilia was content to let Nate off the hook with just a couple of songs. For the good of the group. Then the conversation turned to superpowers. The blonde tried to make the case as best she could for controlling the weather, to make sure it was always sunny whenever plans were made, but it was a losing battle. She didn't care though. Someone had to be Storm.

The reverie was wrecked with the sudden jolt of the RV, a quick veering off the road and a lot of bumps. Emilia was thrown against Umbra as she tried to brace against the side of the vehicle. It wasn't effective, and she was thrown to the floor of the vessel.

“What the fuck was that?!” As usual, Val put into words what Emi was having a hard time doing at the moment. Although she could have done without the cursing. The Latina sparkplug lept into the front seat as Sami asked if everyone was all right. Emilia was unable to answer immediately, still a bit shaken from the impact.

She looked around as the other Misfits slowly got up to see what the heck just happened to their chariot. The blonde was feeling a bit woozy. She looked out the front of the window seeing nothing but steam or smoke or something rising out of the front. Her time in Auto Club was short, so she wasn't sure exactly what was going on, but she knew vehicles weren't supposed to do that. Oh god. It's already broken. We made it to what, Barstow? Some trip this is. Stranded in the middle of the desert. My head still hurts. This is terrible... I need... I need air.

Emilia stumbled towards the exit of the RV and made it a few steps outside before collapsing into the sand at the side of the road, hands on her knees. A commotion had sprung up with Val aiming to keep Sami away from...

AJ....

She knew AJ. They had a couple of brief chats over the last couple years. Whenever Emilia was visiting Brandon on the sidelines of football practice...

He...he knew Brandon...who...who...

For the second time in two hours, the emotions were too much for the young woman. The combination of a crash, a possible concussion and the reminder of why she experienced both of those things sent her into a tizzy of bawling into the sands of the Mojave Desert. It couldn't be confirmed which was leaking more fluid at this point; the RV or Emilia. But she didn't care. It was too much. Her hands left her knees and held her head as the waterworks flowed.

| City of Dreams |

Well I might as well confirm what Tootsie said.

---

HUMAN - 24 - COULD POTENTIALLY LEAVE A MARK ON THE VAMPIRE SCENE
BAR MUSICIAN/BARTENDER
HAS PICKED UP A BIT OF INTEREST WITH HER BAND "THE SCARLET DAGGER"
LIVES IN A LOFT ABOVE A RECORD STORE
WITH HER SISTER/BANDMATE MINA @TootsiePop AND THEIR FRIEND KHIONA @Hoekage
INITIATOR OF THE "GIRLS LOFT ONLY" RULE
DON'T TEST HER

Natalia "Nat" Pereira
FC: Jordan Miller, 8a2cb5

| City of Dreams |

I can show interest in this.