multiversallogs | ( no one ever said elves are nice )

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( no one ever said elves are nice )

WHO: Princess Nuala, Anna Demirovna, Hellsing NPCs
WHAT: A meeting is interrupted.
WHERE: The Hellsing Guild Hall.
WHEN: Friday evening, before and during the crescendo of attacks.
WARNINGS: Nothing currently. Nuala is a lady.

As Ms Demirovna's arrival is anticipated, there's little fuss involved in escorting her to the Princess's (as she's referred to - 'the princess', 'her highness', etc) public office upstairs. Her role in the Guild itself is evidently as a member of the command unit and the head of department for Public Relations; accordingly, her office is a spacious room that appears to have been specifically selected for ease of entertaining those she's obliged to meet with for one reason or the other. The desk is set towards the back of the room, an imposing piece of furniture below a display case at the far wall that holds the silver hand of King Balor, by a corner window with a low ledge that during the day must beautifully stream light into her workspace. Towards the middle of the room, and most immediately relevantly, there is a low settee and soft arm-chairs with a matched table, set at the fireside.

The spinning wheel and sewing baskets must seem, perhaps, like an odd choice for such a room- but not when one is aware of precisely what purpose they serve.

The Princess herself is an elegant representative in red and black, seated at the fireside as Anna's shown in by an aid. "Thank you for coming," she says, rising to invite Anna to the seat opposite her. It's a more personal way of handling this encounter than sitting on opposite sides of a desk that lends itself to an air of interrogation; as Anna is interested in allies, so too is the politically-minded Nuala.

(In her position here, she rates an invitation to the city events of her own, but lately she's preferred to attend as a plus one of Independence Front acquaintances who are so very relieved to be given someone to deal with who - as it were - speaks their language. She's there to make connections, and the awareness of who she represents keeps them polite without requiring that she remind them.)

What Anna is arrests her attention almost immediately - fae, yes, she can feel it, but with her fondness for those of the vampiric persuasion, there is no question that she recognizes the younger woman for what else she is. It's a curious blend that she's not come across before, and at first she's almost taken aback in her surprise. Rather than finding it offensive or distressing, though, Nuala's interest is only further piqued by this development.

They are going to have a great deal to talk about.

"Please," she says, smiling, "do join me."

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Anna is more nervous than she would like to admit to herself, much less to anyone around her. So much rests on this meeting, she can't help but think. This is an organization that would, based on what she has heard from Mina, and from her initial conversation with Nuala, be rather less than approving of the teachings of Longinus and the Lancea Sanctum -- an organization that would gladly hunt down any Kindred who saw fit to truly act as a wolf among God's flock, even if the only heels she nipped were those who strayed into the shadows. But then, she doesn't want to let herself become the kind of predator who actually kills her prey (unless they run away, a part of her whispers).

Her only choice, she decides, is to impress this organization -- and especially this so-called Princess Nuala -- with a show of power. Prove herself a valuable ally -- and a dangerous enemy. And the best way to do that, besides taking a hunt down Hellsing's halls (which would be wonderful fun but also impolite, she reminds herself), is to make them love her. Make them all love her. With a moment of exerted will, Anna finds that part inside herself that lets her somehow shift the world to, for a time, revolve around her. She knows it has worked when the employees who greet her shift from polite aloofness to fawning deference, and she allows herself a smile. She's not so proud to think her power will have much, if any, affect on the Fae, but perhaps she will impress her. Show herself worthy of being more than a simple plaything.

Anna is a bit startled to find Nuala seated in an armchair near a (happily unlit) fireplace, in an office much like any other. To be sure, the wood paneling is elegant, the decor simultaneously rich and understated, but it's a far cry from a sparkling palace of mirrors, for example.

She accepts the offer of a seat, slightly reassured by the familiar atmosphere, though she tells herself she's a fool to trust another of...well, her kind. Still, Nuala doesn't seem...quite like the True Fae who came to Chicago. Her power is more subdued. (It means that I can kill her -- it isn't the time; wait, wait.)

"Thank you for seeing me, your highness. This city is a strange place -- and these days I have high standards for strangeness."

Edited 2011-05-30 01:04 (UTC)

As the two of them settle, Nuala doesn't answer immediately; she studies Anna, thoughtfully, as she examines and suppresses the psychic effect. When she does speak, at length, her tone is firm without being unkind - it has the air of a warning she wouldn't make if she didn't think Anna were worth making such an effort for.

"I believe I understand the impulse," she says, taking neat care with her words, "but I must impress upon you that if you continue to attempt to alter the minds of Hellsing employees and agents, we will be forced to treat you as a threat. I don't wish to do that, and I believe you don't wish us to either. Shall we, then, say no more of this?"

For a brief moment Anna doesn't realize what Nuala is talking about; it is so incredibly outside her experience for a non-Kindred to recognize her abilities for what they are that she actually blinks once in bewilderment. Then, of course, the realization hits her, and she silently curses herself.

The Fae princess must be more powerful than she appears, if she can brush off her influence so easily, Anna realizes. And it is a frightening realization, but also one that means that for now she had best play nice.

With a sigh, Anna lets the power dissipate.

"My...apologies," she says, a bit awkwardly. "I had only hoped to take precautions."

Satisfied for the time being, Nuala makes a simple gesture of acceptance with one hand. It cannot be said that she relaxes - she isn't such a fool - but her manner was easy to begin with, and it remains that way. "Of course. In this organization, we too must take our precautions, and I hope to best serve the both of us that way."

Even among her own people, the equilibrium in her temperament that the princess displays is unusual - and in large part it is a role she plays, a habit learned over centuries by necessity and not natural to her. Her determined grasp on diplomacy counterbalances her more warlike brother, and her own tempestuous nature remains (at least publicly) further beneath the surface.

(Most of the time.)

"I've not seen such a mix as you before," she says, tactfully aware of the vampire penchant for secrecy (that often even those not obsessed with Masquerade are understandably prey to) and letting Anna fill in the specific blanks herself. "I confess myself curious- and, of course, I will gladly answer what questions of yours that I can."

This time, Anna realizes immediately what Nuala is referring to (she knows herself to be plenty strange; even the mages had been baffled), but she tries her best not to show it, instead feigning something like ignorance. She had hoped to keep her Kindred nature a secret, especially given this particular organization's penchant for...monitoring.

"A mix?" she asks, keeping her tone light. "I've already told you who I am, and it's true that I have both a mortal name and a Fae Title, but I'm not sure if I would call it a 'mix.'"

Actually, these days it increasingly really was a mix, and thus far Anna's way of coping with the encroachment of...herself upon her mind had been to ignore the matter. But doing that was getting harder; what if Leander had been right, and she lost Anna entirely?

The expression on Nuala's face is a wry sort of amusement - like watching a child attempt a trick and finding it charming, if exasperating.

"I cannot - and have no desire to - force you to discuss it with me," she says, her tone never changing from that benevolent amiability, "but it would be easier on us both to simply set the subject aside as you deem necessary. I understand the nature of such secrecy, and in your case as in others here I will gladly respect it."

But she isn't going to pretend to be ignorant.

To be honest, Anna hadn't really expected that to work, but now the question is what to do about it. She desperately wants someone -- anyone -- to tell her what to do, how to deal with all of...this. The Queen, the Fae who had made her herself -- her Huntress self, that is -- had been distinctly unhelpful. Anna had been little more than a particularly high-quality tool to her, and what's more it had been completely beyond the comprehension of the Queen that being her Fae self should be anything but wonderful and beautiful (but of course it is wonderful and beautiful and powerful and why would she ever want to stop).

The girl (for that is really all she is, still, despite everything) is silent for a long moment. She doesn't know if she can trust Nuala, but she so wants for someone to help her and protect her, and so the need is too great to resist.

"When the Queen -- that was what she called herself -- gave me one of her Titles, so that I became...who I am now, it was because I thought an alliance with her was the only way to save the city -- Chicago, that is. I am young by mortal standards, and very, very young by Kindred standards. I was just a tool to the Queen, even if I was a valued one. She would not or could not tell me how to control this power." The words come out in a rush, a kind of catharsis.

Edited 2011-05-30 04:11 (UTC)

Nuala's expression clears in compassionate understanding, and she takes a moment to absorb that; yes, now she sees, and this is something that they can work with and work through, if Anna wishes to as her behaviour does suggest. This, in a nutshell, is why her department exists.

Finally, she offers her hands to Anna, simply. "It's very good that you came to me. You are not a tool, Anna, and I won't treat you as if you were. I'd like to help you, but you will need to trust me, and to listen to me."

This all feels so surreal. Anna is used to Fae who are fundamentally alien in their moralities, mercurial in their preferences, unknowable in their plans, and too powerful to grant even a passing thought to the lesser creatures they crushed beneath their feet. Nuala is powerful, certainly. But she isn't like the others. Not like the Baron, or the Queen, or...her. Or her before she became herself. (As for that, it is confusing to think about: the way her mind seems to blur at the edges.) She wants to trust this strange Fae, but doing that doesn't make any sense.

Anna allows Nuala to rest her hands upon her own, but doesn't return the grip. Her expression is openly wary, now, her eyes wide.

"Your help would be a gift? Freely offered? This is not a contract?" She knows all too well the binding words of the Fae.

Edited 2011-05-30 05:48 (UTC)

The touch of Nuala's skin doesn't in and of itself create any kind of telepathic link, but it brings a closeness to her presence that offers just a glimpse of the depth of her mind and her power. She's almost like molten gold inside, the sense of something that is both overwhelming and so very subtle, deft. She is not harmless, and she is not to be underestimated, but in this moment there is no hint of malice.

"No contract," she assures, letting their palms touch and not clasping, demonstrably taking no more than Anna permits. Wryly: "I don't ask fealty of you, only good sense. This is what I came to Hellsing to do, you see? To give aid." The key word there is 'give'.

The princess is, she realizes, so beautiful. There was a time when proximity to that kind of raw power would have been above all intimidating, and there is still a part of Anna that wants to shrink away like she used to shrink away from all things Fae, but now the combination of her Fae fascination with unconventional loveliness and mortal noncombativity holds Anna in stunned suspension. It is, she decides, what sunlight would be like if it lived beneath the earth and no longer scorched her skin.

Roiling beneath her own skin is the Huntress (part confrontation, part delight), and Anna wonders if Nuala can sense it: mist and storm clouds and lightning and the smell of ozone.

"In that case," she says, "I am listening."

When the world seemed young and so was Nuala in reality and not simple air, she lived beneath the earth as its daughter and the flame of her mother burned nearer, burns still within her now; Anna's assessment is closer to the truth of this woman than she can readily know. For her part, she feels the Huntress, too, more separately than she suspects is felt within the two of them themselves, and she takes care not to draw her out yet.

"Good," she says, and the warmth of her smile reflects the warmth of that sunlit presence at the edge of Anna's awareness. Though they have long been parted, Nuala is ever her mother's daughter. "Whether you wish to join Hellsing directly or not, I will have time for you myself. Among the first things we may do- there are those like you here in Baedal. Do you wish to be put into contact with them? I presume you know your own politics well enough to be mindful of the respect that must be paid there."

It's clear she doesn't mean the Fae - she is contact with them, here, and she'll handle whatever Anna wishes her to in that way to the best of her ability - but she does (as promised) honour the silences involved and speaks without specifics.

There is a pause -- not hesitating, but pensive -- as Anna considers her options. She leaves her hands beneath Nuala's, though: it is good, after so long, to find some kind of consolation.

Given Mina's rather choice remarks about the few other Kindred she had encountered, it is hard for Anna to be optimistic about meeting them. Of course, on the other hand, Anna also finds a certain pleasure in taking the opposite position from Mina on any subject. After all, the woman is a Crone heretic; she can't know everything.

"I...confess myself curious," she replies carefully. "I am perhaps fortunate to have found so quickly an old...acquaintance in Baedal, but it is true that I find myself at something of a loss without some form of structure, some hierarchy. I appreciate your respect for the need for secrecy, but the simple fact that you know of the Damned at all is... disconcerting. And if there is no secrecy at all, no Masquerade, what could we possibly have to say to one another?" She sighs, frustrated.
"But no, put me in contact with them, I suppose. Better that we know each other, if only to better avoid one another in the future."

Had Mina been mentioned, Nuala would have simply noted that the other woman had been offered the self-same opportunity and chosen to scorn it - she's not quite sure why, but having not spoken to the other woman herself, she can hardly speculate.

"Don't think there's no Masquerade," she cautions, instead. "That there are those of us who will know you for what you are is true; that the courts of Baedal police themselves is true as well. We at Hellsing have an understanding with them - that's how I come to be able to make you this offer. Here, things are...complex, but don't make the mistake of believing the rules to be gone. You must have known that there are those outside your kin who see?" If she didn't before, she's certainly learning now. "Rejean will speak with you. He's-" she considers how to put this diplomatically, and settles on, "-colourful, but he is influential, and he'll guide you this way if you let him. I will consider it a personal favour of him to me. Be civil with him and he will be more civil with you." More than he usually is, and usually he's not very at all.

(Rejean doesn't speak to the Princess in public, because she'd feed him to Alucard if he spoke to her the way he speaks to everyone else; in private, he's practically a kitten. Possibly she's a vampire-whisperer.)

Edited 2011-05-31 17:48 (UTC)

"The courts of Baedal?" Anna asks eagerly. "If there is a Prince, then I must present myself to him - or her - as soon as possible." Perhaps she shouldn't get her hopes up overmuch, but still: a Prince, a structure, would change everything. Idly, she wonders if she might reclaim her Harpy position.

"This Rejean... what manner of position does he hold? Is he an envoy of some sort to Hellsing? I confess, the description 'colorful' doesn't precisely inspire confidence, but I have my priorities and I trust myself to remain diplomatic so long as there is need to."

"Rejean is a man of many talents," Nuala says, as diplomatically as she might, "but he does act as liaison for those powers that be and though I cannot call him good-mannered, he is well worthy of your respect." Her tone hints at a genuine fondness; if Anna pays attention long, she'll see that Rejean is not the only vampire in the princess's affections, or indeed the first.

(Of course she loves Alucard best, and if she sees fit to refer to him as 'dear' in public, his reputation can take it. He's still terrifying.)

"I'll see that you've a meeting with him." She isn't going to ask him to baby her new protege - Anna will sink or swim on her own, ultimately, and there are far worse things that they all must deal with than Rejean's 'colourful' language - but she is taking care to ensure that she doesn't walk in blind and make the same mistakes as Dr Barrett. The last thing anyone needs is unrest sparked in the courts. "He'll know what you must do better than I can."

There are footsteps in the hall, though, purposeful, and Nuala suspects that is not the sound of good news.

Anna nods her comprehension and assent.

"It is a strongly held belief of mine that those who find themselves in positions of power and influence have good reason to be in those positions. If you say that this Réjean is worthy of my respect, then I will be honored to meet with him. I only hope that he will give me some benefit of the doubt, the matter of my age aside: I am anything but inexperienced when it comes to...our unique brand of politics."

At the sound of footsteps -- and especially at Nuala's bothering to acknowledge them -- Anna cocks her head. It's getting late; hardly the hour for mortals to be conducting business that is anything but urgent.

Though the habits of Hellsing's employees cannot all be judged by those of humans (and the nature of their work necessitates fairly nocturnal office hours, regardless), the attitude of the pale blue, dark-haired Aruzan woman who joins them (neatly dressed in black, bearing the hand-stitched badge of all Hellsing employees that sports the enchanted silver thread of the Princess, a spell woven into it that is essentially magical swagger - a psychic suggestion that these are not individuals to be trifled with) carries hersef with an air that suggests Anna's assessment is otherwise correct.

"Go ahead," Nuala says, rising.

"The city is under some form of attack, your highness; I'm to relocate you to the war room to make further arrangements." If she's curious about Anna, she's a consummate professional and indicates nothing.

"I understand." Nuala directs her aid to collect her sewing (not quite as incongruous as it seems), turning back to her guest with an expression that holds both regret (that she cannot promptly finish their conversation) and resolve (because this is nothing so very unusual to her). "I'm afraid I shall have to cut short our interview."

When Nuala rises from her seat, Anna mirrors the action: she understands the importance of etiquette, ritual.

She listens attentively as the strange-looking woman (another Fae? or perhaps some sort of Fae-formed servant? it's no wonder the Masquerade is so...variable, here, if these are the Baedal's denizens) makes her announcement, trying to keep her expression even, though in truth she is disturbed to find this new city to be a source of perhaps as much conflict as the one from which she had just been plucked.

"Would you like me to help?" she asks cautiously: if help is needed, then this is as good a way as any to prove her value; and besides, Anna knows perfectly well that an offer alone can go a long way. "I am not nearly so useless in a fight as I once was."

Nuala studies her for a moment, and then seems to make a decision - she lifts one hand toward the window in a gesture that isn't strictly necessary for what she's doing so much as a long-held habit. The network is very useful, granted, but she and Alucard have far faster means of exchanging information when the need is there.

"Yes," she says, dropping her hand and, evidently, making the executive decision to drop Anna in the deep end to see how she fares. She's taking a leaf out of Integra's book, in a way; Anna declares herself politically capable and carries herself as familiar with such conflicts, and so Nuala will first take her at her word. If she flounders - politically with RJ as the courts' representative or here in the heat of battle - then it'll be on her own head, and if she doesn't, all the more intriguing and all the better to work with her in the future. Nuala is gentle, but her ways are not coddling - she's too long been both a politician and the daughter of war. "Alucard fights in Brock Marsh - go to him there. He expects you."

Anna frowns slightly at the name -- Alucard. She feels as though she should recognize it, but she can't think from where. Perhaps it was in one of those books she had never bothered to read, but listened to the other schoolchildren -- and her brother -- chatter about? Or maybe she had heard it mentioned by Dr. M, with the Ordo Dracul?

"Alucard? Who is he?" For now it is just idle curiosity, but she would rather have some vague idea what she's getting into. Perhaps Alucard is the sheriff here?

"You may better know him as Vlad the Impaler," she says, with no small hint of pride; Alucard is a beast on Integra's leash, but to Nuala, he is her darling and she unreservedly adores him. (Judging by the matter of fact way she delivers 'the Impaler', it isn't an ignorant or oblivious affection; she knows what he is, certainly, and her life leaves her with something of a predisposition to great fondness for warriors, especially those who show her the respect she's due.)

Given Anna's momentary glimpse at the overwhelming gleam of what Nuala truly is, she can presumably infer that the princess knows what she's talking about when she declares who and what Alucard is.

"I would not, however, advise that you presume to use that name." There are two people in Baedal who've earned the right; Sir Hellsing and the princess herself. Presuming an undeserved intimacy would be courting a great danger. "He is Alucard, and he leads our Combat Division."

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( no one ever said elves are nice )

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