Common Grounds - Unintentional investigation

Having settled in a bit and relieved that her sire followed through with mailing all her textbooks, Melissa felt comfortable in getting herself acquainted with the city. She walked the streets people watching and peering into windows, also keeping aware of her inner beast in case any other kindred may be out in public. Lately she had been trying to work on concealing her beast like so many of the other members of her family were able to do. Her sire had often given her grief for focusing on her mental capabilities over her abilities to remain hidden. It was just a concept she could not figure out, was it a mental task of forcing the beast to remain quiet to go unnoticed or was it a matter of mentally affecting those around you to act as if you did not have that taint?

In all of her time thinking it over, Melissa didn't realize she had stumbled upon the cafe, Common Grounds. She was about to step inside when she remembered reading a recent article regarding two murders that happened out back. It stuck out to her the most because she recalled the article suggesting that it was kindred related. That got her angry but she forgot about it that night. now that she was there, a slight tinge of anger returned as well as curiosity as she looked off to the side of the building. Rather than cause suspicion by going out back, she wondered if the gossip was still fresh enough to be talked about inside.

Melissa returns to the front of the building and walks inside, blinking slightly to activate her enhanced hearing to see if she can pick up any noteworthy conversations

On the ouside, the building looks a bit run down and somewhat shabby, but when Melissa enters she is surprised to see how much work has been done to the place. There is a large raised platform spanning the middle of the room where the bar has been placed. Around the bar are small tables for two or three person parties. Each table is of dark wood with intricate carvings on the table top and the legs of the table. The chairs appear to be colorfully mismatched until one looks closer at the tables and they realize the colors and carvings of the chairs match those of the tables.

The walls are painted with various murels depicting secens from famous battles and times of note in history. The difference is the inclusion of various supernatural creatures such as vampires, werewolves, and what looks to be humans casting magic spells. Along the walls are confortable looking booths with tables just as elaborate as the ones on the raised platform. The windows are stained glass and colorful but Melissa can tell they don't allow for much daylight once the sun comes up. The place is well lit by electric lighting and candles, however.

The place is packed, even for the later hours of evening. There are three people behind the bar. Two younger women, either in their late teens or early twenties and one older gentleman with long grey hair and shockingly blue eyes. His head turns to look Melissa over and give her a slight nod in greeting before going back to the patiently waiting customers.

Melissa is surprised to find she does not sense any predator's taint here. She does notice a few people who are dressed to the emo extreme and might be younger kindred, but she senses nothing else.

Melissa returns the nod to the grey-haired bartender before gazing again at the painting and stained glass windows. She wonders if this was an establishment owned by kindred or some other supernatural being or if it was a mortal who was open to the supernatural kind.

It’s too late for her to look for others around her to see if any Shadows reacted to her beast even though they had masks on. But that does not mean she could not look for other signs of undead behavior. Walking up to the bar, she positions herself at an available space by the bar, resting her arm on the table waiting for the attention of the bartender. In the meantime she watches him and the emo mortals” for signs of breathing or lack thereof.

Melissa looks around at the other customers as one of the girls comes over to her. "Hey there, welcome to Common Grounds. What can I get for you today?"

Melissa does notice that a booth in one of the far corners has four people sitting at it and none of them seem to be breathing. So far as she can tell everyone behind the counter is breathing, although one can always be fooled by an old kindred who knows how to mingle well. There are one or two more that could be kindred, but it is difficult for Melissa to tell unless she stares at them longer.

After scanning the room, giving the table of no-breathers one last glance. Melissa turns to the female bartender and says "Just a Guinness if you have it." after waiting for the woman to bring her what she ordered, she leans closer to the bar and says in a casual tone of voice "I have to say I'm quite impressed with the setup. I didn't expect I'd find a supernatural friendly bar so quick." watching the bartender and her coworkers to see how they respond to her comment.

The girl frowns slightly then glances at the grey haired man before her smile returns and she shakes her head slightly. "I'm sorry hon but we don't sell alcohol. We're a cafe." She nods as Melissa continues to speak. "Mayor Dunn and Mr. Vidal wanted a neutral place for all the supernals to meet." She gestures toward the grey haired man with a fond look. "Oliver offered his place. That's one of the reasons we don't sell alvohol. I don't know about the wolves, but the vamps can't drink it anyway and well having a bunch of drunk humans around just isn't a good idea if you have other kinds of people in the mix. Can I get you our low fat mocha late? It's really good."

Melissa smiles and shakes her head before saying "Oh yes yes, that sounds fine. Sorry, I'm not used to seeing bars in cafe's where I"m from, I just moved here." Melissa wonders what the girl glanced at Oliver for in response to her odd drink request.

"Thank you." she says in responses to the drink offer. "Yes alcohol and mixed company when they aren't comfortable with each other can spell trouble. I hear there was a bit of it outside here not too long ago." If she needs to turn to Oliver for someone ordering something off the menu, what's she going to do after hearing this offhand comment.

The girl backs up and starts preparing Melissa's late. At then mention of the other trouble, she hesitates for a second or two but returns to the task at hand. "Oh yes, that. We aren't sure what happened really. I mean, the police came and talked to everybody but no one saw or heard anything. It was strange too cause we're open twenty-four hours and no one remembers hearing any kind of commotion."

She glances at Oliver once again as she steps to the register and starts to ring up Melissa's order. The older man stays where he is, sitting on a stool at the other register shuffling through what looks like recipts.

The girl places the late in front of Melissa in a plastic cup and smiles. "Three fifty please. I was actually working that night too and I don't remember anything out of the ordinary. I guess that's why they're looking at the vamps for this one." Her mouth snaps shut just after the words escape her lips and she turns a little pale before giving Melissa another shakey smile. "Not that I think they had anything to do with it, of course. But I guess the cops don't know any better."

Melissa smiles at the waitress as she pays her for the drink and takes it. "It's ok, I understand what you mean." she says as a way to convey she has not been offended. The waitress may actually agree with the police but Melissa doesn't want her to give her any reason to believe that she should censor herself now, regardless if she thinks Melissa is a vampire or not. "It doesn't seem like it's effected your business at all." She says as she looks around the room. "Has something like this happened before or are people just generally that lax around vamps?" If the public consensus was that vampires did this, Melissa would think that the place would be deserted of mortals.

"Oh no." The girl says waving her hands to emphasize her point. "Mr. Vidal-" Oliver clears his throat loudly behind her and the girl pales again before correcting herself. "Prince Vidal I mean, is very strict about those kinds of things. There really isn't a need for it. The ah kindred are supplied in one way or another. Most people around here either find them fascinating or they are indifferent to them really. With all the voodoo practitioners around here it's kind of hard to find vampires and werewolves interesting. I mean, they deal with evil spirits and other wierd stuff all the time so why would something as er harmless as a vampire matter much?"

She stops and thinks for a moment, frowning a little. "Now that I think about it, there hasn't been a death related to blood loss like this since before the reveal. The vamps are pretty ticked though. They don't like it if they are blamed for something they didn't do."

Oliver clears his throat again and the girl jumps in surprise. "Oh uh if you need anything else Oliver can get it for you. I have to start inventory in the back. Have a nice night." Before Melissa can respond, the girl turns away and rushes through a door behind the bar.

Melissa was about to reach for her wallet to tip the waitress but then she is off, puzzled by exactly what in their exchange caused her so much anxiety. Obviously Oliver working behind her could be wishing that she keep her mouth closed on the issue, perhaps his relationship with Prince Vidal is closer than just the friendly business owner reaching out to the supernatural community.

This is definitely a moment where Melissa wished she'd better honed her skills on mastering the shadows more, she would have loved to have followed the bartender behind the bar. All in due time. In the mean time she takes her coffee and turns around, casually people watching as she scans the room again, keeping slight focus on the table she suspects might be kindred while also briefly scanning past the bar again to see if Oliver is giving her any attention since it was clear that he was listening in on their conversation.

Oliver is looking at her when she glances his way. He smiles and nods again, then comes over and leans against the bar, his hands folded in front of him. "So, you said you just moved here. I will assume then that you have spoken to the proper individuals and they are aware of your presence. My question, however, is not where you are from or who you are Miss, but why have you come here asking so many questions of your own? And please, do not feign simple curiosity. I think we are both intelligent enough to know better then that."

Melissa returns the smile when Oliver approaches her, even though a tinge of anxiety runs over her when he mentions proper individuals. She figures he is close to the Prince but wonders exactly how close.

"Of course." she says extending a hand"Yes I have spoken with the proper individuals. My name is Melissa. My apologies for seeming too invasive, I truly did not intentionally come here to probe about the recent incident, I realize that is another person's job. But when I realized that this was the place mentioned in the papers, my curiosity did turn into an overall concern for us kindred citizens since the media seem to have no problem implicating us into this mess. Hence my questions, I suppose you could say advocacy for our kind is important so when something like this pops up I tend to let it get the best of me."

Oliver nods his agreement and his eyes flick to the table of the suspected kindred before returning to meet hers. "Yes I can understand your concern Melissa. I am Oliver Croft, by the way, the owner of this establishment as I am sure you guessed." He extends a hand and if she takes it, he will shake briefly then return to leaning on the bar. "However, in this case I must admit even I am having a hard time believeing kindred are not inbolbed. You see, not only were the victums drained of blood, but they also had the correct puncture marks and bruising around the wounds to indicate the bite of a vampire. Kind of hard ot ignore when it is glaring you in the face like that."

After shaking the hand of Oliver, Melissa nods as he shares with her the new bit of information the media have left out. Interesting indeed. If this was a vampire, were their actions to leave the bite marks exposed for others to find a form of negligence or defiance?


"I'd have to agree with you Mr. Croft." she says leaning a bit closer to him, "I was not aware about the wounds. For this type of situation, was the Sheriff given priority in examining the crime scene before the police did? Or did the police get jurisdiction since as of now they can't prove it was kindred?"

Oliver gives her an odd look and glances again at the table of the suspected kindred. He takes a few steps further away from the table, walking toward the register his employee had rung her up with and leans in close. "If the crime is suspected to be of a supernal nature they give it to that task force. Since there isn't any proof that it wasn't kindred, and the evidence screams that it was, they give it to the experts. In other words, we have our own on this one. If it's kindred, they may be the only ones who have a chance of finding them. If they do, I would say it would be a very bad night to be them. The Prince is livid right now. There hasn't been a murder of this type so openly flaunted in a very long time."

"I can't say that I blame him." she says, wondering just how he is responding to this recent turmoil. Acknowledging the odd look her gave her earlier, Melissa realizes that despite being candid about her asking questions, it may be unsettling him or at the least, bringing her more unwanted attention and so she takes her coffee and says "Well, thank you for your time Mr. Croft. I'm sure this won't be the last time I'll be supporting your business." with a gentle smile, leaning away from the bar but still close enough to listen to him in case he decides he is not done talking to her despite her initiation to end the conversation.