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<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'">|| LOCATION ||<br/>
Darke Manor - Idris' Old Quarters<br/>
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|| TAGGING ||<br/>
<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#ffffff"><a class="link link--internal" data-proxy-href="/proxy.php?link=https%3A%2F%2Fblackdahliaroleplaying.com%2Fmembers%2Fcressray.9607%2F&amp;hash=e579978b8582d61c3826dda91e4bff9a" href="https://blackdahliaroleplaying.com/members/cressray.9607/">Veronica Sterling</a></span></span>​</div><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'"><br/>
Veronica Sterling. Veronica. Another daughter, adopted by her husband in secrecy. As Auriella poured over the documents, she was both parts detective uncovering a harsh mystery and a woman scorned by the lie she'd uncovered. Yet all the while, she felt her anger slowly morphing into something else, something she couldn't quite name or place. She was tired, so tired, of uncovering Vincent Darke's secrets. His secret drug dealings, his secret firearm dealings, now a secret daughter he'd built a life for, a daughter that he'd honed into… what? What was she? Notes from Vincent's own hand indicated that the girl was a bit unstable with more… bloody desires and urges, yet he also doted on her for her intellect and her emotional maturity. Had that been where Vincent was off to when he was gone months at a time, to visit this daughter he'd claimed for himself and hidden from the world? <br/>
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Suddenly, Auriella had an intense desire to flee from the room. But before she left Darke Manor altogether, she needed to stop by Idris' old quarters, where the girl had lived her entire life before she'd decided to move out on her own in her twenties. However, those documents about Veronica had mentioned the Culling… and from the very little Idris had told her, the Culling is what the Zodiacs had come to dub the killings of Supers across the globe. And if Vincent Darke was in any way involved… she was going to expose him to Idris, to the Zodiacs, and have him dealt with for his treachery. <br/>
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Auriella loaded as many of the documents as she could into her pockets, stacked together, folded in half neatly, and then tucked away out of the view of anyone she may pass. She placed the box back in Vincent's closet and then grabbed the other box for herself, full of Idris' childhood documents, pictures, trinkets, and at the very bottom the document she was not able to put in her pocket. Striding towards the door, she nudged it open and stepped out into the hallway… into carnage. <br/>
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Two servants lay in the floor, their heads caved in, blood splattering the walls. Had it not been for her profession, Auriella's stomach would have rolled at seeing people she vaguely knew scattered along the hallway like ragdolls waiting to be tended to by children. Slowly, Auriella swallowed and placed the box she carried on the ground. Reaching under her coat and to her hip, she unholstered a 357. SIG she kept on her person at all times. Sure, a bit too much pistol for defensive carry, but goddamn if it wouldn't blow a golf-ball sized hole in anyone who attacked her. Sliding down the hallway, she caught sight of partial bloody footprints, as if whoever responsible had accidentally stepped the toe of their shoe in blood. The tracks lead all the way to her daughter's old room. Perhaps a villain wishing to dole out the Culling on Idris Darke? That would never happen. <br/>
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"Stop right where you are, don't move! I'm Detective Darke of the Casoria Authorities." Auriella swung into the room, gun first as she moved to face the intruder. Though as her iron sight settled in between two beautiful eyes, ashen hair framing the perpetrator's face, Auriella gasped softly. <br/>
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"Veronica?" Auriella breathed, as if she knew the girl who then addressed her as mother. A surge of fear washed through her. And yet, also a feeling of… sadness. Sadness that the girl had only ever been raised by Vincent, not by someone with a tender heart to teach her kindness and compassion. To teach her control. Slowly, Auriella's gun lowered, her dark eyes watching Veronica as she holstered her gun, a sign that she was no threat to the girl. <br/>
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"I've only just found out about you dear, but… It is very nice to meet you, as well." Auriella's instincts kicked into hyperdrive. An individual like Veronica had to be handled with care, no matter the situation. So Auriella focused on controlling her fear, pushing it to the back of her mind as the mother within her surfaced. <br/>
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"Are… are you looking for something darling? Perhaps I could help." Auriella offered, her voice gentle and warm even as she kept her distance. Oddly enough given the circumstances and the time, it suddenly struck Auriella that it had been Vincent who had named Idris... Auriella had wanted to name her Veronica. </span><br/>
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