Bath Camarilla

The cold of the after Christmas period was still not letting up, especially along the river. A mortal boatman tied up his craft and swiftly hurried towards the nearest pub, thinking of the warm fire and cheap alcohol inside.

The large black raven watched the boatman, amber eyes reminiscent of a wolf’s tracking the movements of his prey. With a quiet caw and a shake of the head, the bird’s eyes tear away from the boatman who has disappeared into the maze of streets. Looking left and right, the bird hops twice and then launches into the air. Finding refuge out of sight behind some bushes Regulus steps out a few moments later.

Wolf eyes scan the area once more before he blinks and plain human looking eyes survey the scene. Stepping forward he walks to the edge of the river and looks out, waiting.

From the shadows and under obfuscate Christine regards the Gangrel staring out over the water, apparently oblivious. Her hands twitch, and the temptation to prank him by shoving him into the river is overwhelming.

...no Christine... He's a friend... but still... he should be wary...

Silently she gathers up a handful of snow and forms it into a slushy ball and lets fly. It catches Regulus with a soft, wet splat on his back.

Christine giggles, and still under obfuscate, takes off running along the riverbank into the park. As she goes, her song trails behind her. A playful challenge:

"...om pah pi kallee kalesta... om pah pi kallee komsee....om pah pi kallee kalesta.... om pah pi come play with me..."

In an instant, Regulus whips around. The snow soaks into the back of his waistcoat as he grins. Still showing off a mouthful of large teeth he looks around once more and sees that the area is deserted apart from the faint trailing song of his Malkavian friend. With a shimmer of energy a huge white wolf stands where he was. Raising its head he sniffs the air, then an ear twitches.

He takes off bounding through the snow, four legs faster than two and he closes the distance to the source of the song. His tongue lolls out of his mouth as he leaps at the approximate source of the muic, his intention to knock Christine into a snow bank.

Even if she weren't trying to run through snow, Christine wouldn't be moving as quickly as Regulus, with her heavy skirts hampering her movement as they do. And her obfuscate is somewhat hindered by her laugh as she runs, revelling in the sheer joy of movement.

It's no surprise to her, or to Regulus, that his leap catches her squarely in side, and barrels her into the snow which lies thick on the lawn of the park. She lets out a shriek of laughter, as she falls, and her top hat goes flying.

Giggling manically, she raises her hands as the large wolf stands over her.

"I surrender!"

The wolf looks down at Christine, amber eyes blink once before he winks. Regulus opens his jaws and gives Christine one long lick up one side of her face. Grinning a doggy grin, Regulus carefully steps off the young Malkavian and bounds to where her hat has fallen.

Picking it up gently between his jaws, the wolf trots back and drops the hat in Christine’s lap. Tilting his head, Regulus lays down and then rolls over in the snow. Nestling deeper into the snowbank his tail wags furiously which throws loose snow everywhere. Raising his head to look at Christine, Regulus grins again and let’s out a huff.

"eeeeewwwww!!"

Christine laughs and pushes Regulus away as he licks her face, grinning widely at him. She receives her hat with a smile.

"...thank you, Cú..."

And then she hits him on the nose with another snowball.

Regulus let’s out an explosive sneeze as some snow goes up his nose. Rolling back over he rises to his feet before positioning himself parallel to Christine and using his tail to sweep great handfuls of loose snow in her direction. Looking directly at Christine, the giant wolf winks again.

Huffing once more, Regulus bounds deep into the snow and using his back legs begins to shower Christine with even more snow. Looking over his shoulder, she can see the thick muscles of his wolf form moving under his white fur.

Christine retaliates by pushing herself up and gathering up double handfuls of snow and dumping them over Regulus, laughing manically all the while. But it's no time at all before Regulus' digging has her covered in snow and she changes tack.

"Catch me if you can!"

She runs laughing around the snow covered lawn, grabbing handfuls of snow and throwing them at Regulus. Most of the throws go wild, which make her laugh even harder.

Letting out a growling bark, Regulus takes off in pursuit. Great bounds send him clear of the snow with each movement, it’s clear he’s holding back to allow Christine to stay just a few paces ahead of him. At times he twists in the air to deliberately intercept a handful of her thrown snow.

Regulus let’s his tongue loll out of his mouth as he pants, finally gathering his legs beneath him and leaping forward to knock Christine over into yet another deep snow drift. Standing above the red haired singer, Regulus begins to enthusiastically lick all over Christine’s face. The barrage of affection only continues for a few long seconds before he returns to a sitting position, his amber eyes watching her.

Christine giggles manically at her impromptu wolf-slobber facial, wriggling and trying to push Regulus away, with limited success.

"That tickles!"

He backs off at her push, and she looks at him, her storm grey eyes glittering with merriment.

"...thank you for cleaning my face so thoroughly... "

She leans forward and wraps her arms around his neck (he can easily break free if he wishes) and dries her face on his fur.

A breath in, and she goes rigid for a moment, before she very deliberately breathes out. Still hiding her face, her voice rigidly controlled, she says:

"...Emer... grant me your strength... please... don't let me have ruined everything... "

Another breath, and she pulls back to look at the wolf, idly stroking his head. She's calm, but slightly not there, in her usual way.

"...did you have a good Christmas? "