Private Finished A Tour of the MCSS

Tidying up the last rec room, Natasha stopped to chat for a minute with two people she knew extremely well. One was a patient of hers who came to her for acupuncture and to help deal with stress and the other was somebody she had met shortly after arriving on the island. Both vampires were actually playing a game of chess and talking about the old days.

"I am sorry Emmanuel, Victor, but I have a few things to do yet. Have fun with your game, and remember, I do fully expect to take on the winner," she teased, only half-joking as it was one of her favourite past times. How could it not be? She was Russian and had grown up playing versions of the game across the centuries.

Finally, shortly after ten, everything was almost in order and the various common rooms were organized, offices cleaned, and even the small twelve-bed dormitory wing for guests, feeders who needed a place to stay short term, who were down on their luck or those recently turned that had nowhere to go could find support and guidance until they learned to adapt to there new situation, had been tidied up.

The whole place still smelled new, of new paint, furniture, hardwood floors, etc. Natasha had sunk a good portion of her personal savings into building the MCSS, and had received donations from established vampire families, among them people she was friends with, along with monies from dear friends she had known for years. Even dear Julian had given her his blessing along with a special bonus when she left the Vasile Coven. A bonus she used to acquire a few things for the center.

"Ally Kat," Natasha said when one of the monitors came in for her shift and whose name actually was Allison Katherine, "Can you call my daughter for me, and just let her know I'll be home late tonight?" she explained as she rushed off to make sure the blood reserves had arrived before her visit with the Minister.

The Manta Carlos Sanguine Society (The MCSS)

@Kada

Stepping up the stairs, the clickety-clack of her high heels could be heard on the hardwood as she ascended the steps wearing a dark blue fitted 50 styles day suit with black leather kid gloves. The vampire witch was not soundless as a lot of vampires, or even demons, who had started visiting the centre, were. In fact, she had not been graced with a lot of the stereotypical vampiric abilities, and had rarely socialized with other vampires over the course of the centuries, and yet, since working for Julian, she suddenly found herself drawn to her kind more and more.

As she ascended from downstairs, Natasha sensed, before she even saw the people waiting, the emotions in the room. And if she had to guess, as she entered the room, the feeling of impatience mixed with something else, maybe curiosity, came from the child/like figure in the room, and the feelings of calmness were from the two that flanked the child.

"Minister Popov, I presume?" Natasha asked politely while offering him a gloved hand, her Russian accent distinguishable as she pronounced Popov exactly as a Russian speaker might. She didn't actually know much about the Minister, and she had only been informed that he often appeared as a child or a full grown man. Natasha had quite honestly not known which person to expect this evening.

"I am Natasha Lockwood," she said warmly as she introduced herself, very used to and comfortable with greeting people she had never met before. "And welcome to the MCSS."

Normally, most people may have found it odd that "a child" looking person could be so gallant. But Natasha was from a time and place where princes and kings were often young children with better manners than many adults and simply accepted the greeting. In fact, she found it actually quite nice to be transported back to a moment of such gallantry.

"Pietro then," Natasha said with a warm smile that barely hid her fangs at his insistence. "We have been expecting you, in fact, my daughter was curious to meet you. Unfortunately, she has school today, and could not be here," she informed the Minister.

"Shall we begin the tour, or would you enjoy a refreshment first?" Natasha asked as she made a small head gesture for him to follow her down some stairs to the basement area that held the bulk of the MCSS and its installations.

"I am not sure it's the politics that interest Kiyomi," Natasha admitted with a grin as she flashed a look at Pietro. "as much as the idea of a vampire Minister," she told him as they descended the stairs. "She is quite taken and very interested and invested in learning all she can about vampires."

Once they had descended down all they could go, a good thirty to forty feet, the room opened up into a large concrete space that was warmly lit and filled with comfortable chairs, tables, sofas, and even booths where vampires and other feeders could visit, have something to eat or drink, play games - as were Emmanuel and Victor who just nodded and bowed their heads slightly at their presence and returned to their game of chess - or just hang out.

"This is the common area," Natasha explained as she stepped a little to the side to allow Pietro and his assistants to enter the room freely. "It's soundproof and energy neutral, designed to allow everyone to relax and just mingle, and play games," she said as she looked at Victor and Manny and smiled at the two vampires, who she knew, could feel even their curiosity, it was palpable to her, were trying their hardest not to be gawking teenagers right now.

Natasha glanced at the Minister and smiled at his observation about the place so far. "That was the general idea I was going for," she told him matter-of-factly, somewhat pleased that he had picked up on it, "a home away from home."

Smiling at the chess players who kept throwing glances their way, Natasha gestured for Pietro to walk with her so they could talk more privately as she told him about her ideas for the MCSS.

"If you will follow me, I will take you to the dormer area," Natasha then said to Pietro as she excused herself and took her leave of Manny and Victor.

Leading him and his entourage out of the common area, pointing out a few things along the way, Natasha finally began to talk. "The MCSS is going to be a place I wish I had had when I was turned," she confessed. "I want it to be that place where, not only vampires, but others who need it whether they be demons or energy feeders, can come to for help or support, or when they feel the need to be with others who understand their problems," she told him.

"I didn't have anyone to teach me, or tell me that something was normal, or okay, or help me deal with anything, if I am honest, and quite frankly, looking back now, it was terrible at times to not know what was happening to me," she told him unabashedly.

"My mission as it were, is to give others what I never had. I want the MCSS to be that place they can turn to when they need to feed and don't want a casual hook up to get it, or when they feel alone or misunderstood, or quite simply when they have no place to go and are in need of a helping hand," she explained as they entered the small dormitory wing.